The Hunger Games

Chapter 24

          “Danny no, you can’t, you can’t kill yourself!” I call out. I’m chasing after him onto a rocky hill. He won’t slow down. He going to jump, he’s going to kill himself so I can win. He can’t do that! “Danny, stop it!”

          Danny turns around and looks at me. “I have too.” He says calmly. “I just have to. Please, forgive me. I will always love you.”

          "No!" I screech. "Stop this at once! I will not let you kill yourself!" I'm now walking up to him, stomping my feet and glaring at him, dead in the eye.

          All of a sudden, I can’t move. My feet, stuck to the ground. My eyes are glued to him as he walks over to a steep cliff. He looks at me, shuts his eyes, and jumps. I scream, I scream as loud as I can. "No!"

          Boom! The sound of the cannon blows through the arena.

          I wake up with a jolt. Thank god, it was just a dream. I’m breathing hard. I must have drifted off during watch. Danny still has his head on my lap, and he’s sleeping soundly. I sigh. What should I do? We’re near to the end of the Games…it can’t end up with the two of us. What happened in the dream, it’s going to turn real! I should just leave. No, I will leave. I can’t take this pain anymore. I can’t keep us both safe and alive any longer. And he can’t protect me forever, and I can’t stay by him forever. No matter what, best friends or not, I have to win. I don’t want to watch him die, and that will happen if I don’t leave now.

          I get up and pick up my things. As I pick up my stuff, I see a hovercraft pick up someone. I’m not sure who it is. This is when I realize the cannon from my dream was actually real, just on someone else, and the sound went into my dream.

          I cover Danny in leaves and twigs so no one will find him, and he’ll be camouflaged as a bush. Most likely, no one will find him. I hope not. I’m just going to leave. Leave him here. And win. Win. I will win the 195th Hunger Games. No one will stop me. Nothing can.

          I leave him some food and water. I put on my backpack after I pack everything and begin to head off. Before I get too far, I realize I have forgotten to do something. I walk back and bend down above Danny. I give him one small kiss upon his lips and head off, not looking back. Knife in one hand, bow in the other. Ready to kill whoever or whatever gets in my way. I shake at the thought of murdering, even though I’ve done it before a few times since the Games begun. What have I become? The Games have changed me, in a bad way. I’m now a killer, a murderer. I’m probably as good as dead to some people now. I decide to go back to the lake to face Peter and Shimmer. I’ll have to kill them if I want to win these Games. I have to. I need to kill to win these Games. I really have to; it’s the only chance I have of winning.

          Shaylee is probably hiding out somewhere. I don’t think she’s killed anyone. She’s so doing a foxface. She’s probably going to end up killing herself so she won’t get murdered. Then again, if I know everyone left is a killer and much stronger than I am, and I don’t want to kill anyone, I’d probably kill myself by drowning myself or eating poisonous berries. It is a much less painful death than being stabbed in the back.

          My mouth begins to feel dry so I take out my bottle of water and drink the rest. After an hour or so, I sit down under a tree and rest. My feet are sore so I take off the boots and then my socks. My feet are covered with blisters and some blood from cuts. I put my shoes back on and get up. I start to get hungry so I hunt.

          I manage to take down two rabbits and a squirrel. Since I’ll become sick if I eat it raw, I make a light fire to cook it up. Once the squirrel is done, I take of the fur and eat it. It settles my stomach a bit, but I’m still hungry, so I cook up one of the rabbits and eat it. On a full stomach, I put out the fire pack my things and head off again.