The 25th Hunger Games (fanfic)

Chapter 38: The Games

Author's Note: Hey! This is dedicated to SherlySpirit. Thanks for fanning me! Please, please, please check out the 'CONTEST'! IN RETURN FOR ENTERING THE CONTEST, I WILL DEDICATE A CHAPTER TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATES IN IT!!!!!! Thanks for reading!

The cannon is what wakes me up.

I sit up, startled. The boom of the cannon interrupted my sleep, just at the break of dawn. I loudly yawn and look out the window. I can just see the sun creeping over the trees, like it was an actual living being. It's such a beautiful sight, a sight that doesn't belong in an arena full of hatred and murder. Of course, the sun and the sky are all holograms. And the weather is just set by the Gamemakers. In fact, it seems as if the temperature is rising quickly. I take a quick glance around the room. Yes, Crystal is still alive. It wasn't her cannon that went off. She is wide awake, not falling asleep on the job. She smiles at me and then raises her eyebrows, questioning the death of another tribute. Eight left to go. 

It has to be thirst. I remember in science being told that a human can only go a maximum of three or four days without water, depending on the person. But that's in a regular climate. Here, in this scorching heat, it won't be just two days. It's got to be dehydration. 

"Let's eat, I'm starving," I mutter, realizing that we didn't eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner yesterday.  My stomach grumbles, backing me up on a statement. She gives a little laugh and then points to he backpacks. 

"Eat, and then we'll organize the supplies," she states. I nod.

"Have you ate yet?" I ask. Her face turns slightly red. 

"I ate like a pig," she jokes. "But we still have a lot!" Her frantic eyes crack me up, but it's hard to laugh on a literally empty stomach. I'm almost out of energy as I crawl over to  the large pile of food and supplies. It looks as if while I was asleep, Crystal dumped everything out. Most likely so we can organize it again. We have more than enough food, enough to last us five days if we're careful. We haven't touched the deer Veronica cut, so I decide we'll cook it tonight. I grab a banana, two slices of bread (which finishes off our loaf), and the final fruit pouch. I scarf it all down, and finish off a bottle of water also. Even after that, I can't help but want more. 

"Have some more," says Crystal. She's always been able to read me like a book, knowing each thing I would say next. I sheepishly grin and take some strawberries. I'm still hungry, but I dare not ask for more. Crystal walks over to me and sits beside me, staring at the large pile, which is half her height. 

"OK," she starts. I sigh. She's going to go babbling on and on about organization. "All of the food goes into your backpack, Zac. Supplies into Veronica, and the weapons into mine. Got it?" I nod. Crystal and I get busy, putting item after item into the packs. I cannot believe what all I'm seeing. Food, weapons, supplies, it's a miracle that Crystal could even stand up under the weight of it all. It takes a tiny bit less than an hour, but when we're done, I have trouble zipping up the backpack. I've made a mental list of everything we have, considering my amazing memory. When we're done, we have the following:

In my pack, we have 5 bottles of water (full), the deer that Veronica wrapped up in plastic, two packs of strawberries, a banana, an uncooked rabbit, a cooked goose (?) leg, four packages of dried meat, three cans of soup, five packs of crackers, two loaves of bread, a package of cheese, two squirrels, a can of vegetables, and a coconut.

A lot of the weapons didn't fit in the backpack, but I count all of the weapons, which are: A whole new quiver of arrows (totaling to 21 arrows in all), my bow, five knives, a flail, three maces, two spears, and a sword.

In Veronica's pack, we have a pack of matches, two rocks, the medical kit, Veronica's sleeping bag, some rope, two nets, some paint, a small shovel (which means that the Careers must have found the underground river), a flashlight, and a compass.

"What now?" asks Crystal, once I finally zip up my backpack. I sigh and look around. She has a point. We have a bounty of food and water right here, so what else to do? But it doesn't change the fact that we are in our own house. It won't take a genius to track us down. What happens if somebody decides to sneak into the house? Cody could be here any second. There's really no place to hide, so how are we supposed to camouflage? I think for a minute before responding. 

"We need to have some sort of defense, some way that if somebody breaks in, they can't get to us. Either we need to put up some traps, or we need a place to hide." I look over at Crystal, and she looks at me. She begins to mess with her fingers, meaning she's thinking pretty hard. Her gaze is distant, probably coming up with some evil, sophisticated trap.

"Well, we can do the one trap we learned how to do in training, where we dig a hole and cover it up," Crystal notes.

"In fact," I respond. "We can do several of those around the house." Crystal nods, and then gets back to thinking. I think too, of all the traps I know. Nothing comes to my brain, but I keep racking it, trying to find the perfect trap for what we need. When nothing comes to my brain, I decide to open up all of the backpacks and look at what we can use. I reach my hand inside of Veronica's pack, but the thought of her brings it right back out. I stare at the pack for a few seconds, remembering that first day when I met Veronica. I had almost shot her, but thought better of it. Memories surface up, and when Kate comes to mind, I clear my head and get to work. My hand suddenly touches the net, and I pull it out. One of the nets is extremely thin, while the other is fairly thick. We can use the thin one for the holes, and the thick one for another trap. My mind flickers over to when I got entangled in that net in Private Training. Yes, that's the perfect trap. The only thing is: I have absolutely no idea how to set that.

"How about we set up one of those traps with the net?" I ask. "You know, by the door maybe. So if they step on it, they get pulled up and caught in the net?" Crystal seems to run this through her mind for a minute, and then agrees with me. "Do you know how to set one of those?" I ask.

"No," she answers honestly. She starts to fumble with her fingers, and I flash back to Private Training, when I was entangled in that net. I remember looking up, through the smoke. What had I seen? I focus really, really hard, hoping to remember, but I can't. 

"Aha!" Crystal exclaims. "Training. I was watching those kids from District 5 make those sophisticated nets, and then when they even lightly stepped on it, up they went." I stare dumbfounded at Crystal, surprised she remember step-by-step how to set one. She shrugs and grins.

"Come on, let's go set it before I forget how." I follow her to the front door, where we decide to build it. Crystal and I use one of the rocks as an anchor, and the other one as the trigger. Most of the time, I just sit and watch her, and only do something when she tells me to. She finally uses some rope and the net and attaches it to an overhang over the door. When it's complete, Crystal stands up and smiles.

"All done!" She exclaims giddily. She begins to clap quietly, and my eyes go wide open. I don't believe it...

"Should we test it?" I ask. 

"No!" She exclaims, stopping me in my tracks. She turns me around so I face her. "If you test it now, I'm afraid I won't be able to put it back together." I give a small laugh and go to the living room, picking up the shovel.

"Now it's my time to shine," I remark, heading to the back door. The floor over here is tile, meaning it will be extremely hard to dig a hole right here. I pace around, examining the floor. Finally, I try to just dig, so I place my shovel on the ground and step on it. It doesn't move an inch. I try it again and again, but the shovel just won't go into the ground. Even after I jump on it, there's not even a crack. Crystal starts to giggle, and I shush her. My mind races itself until finally, I have what I need. I go back to the living room and grab the set of matches. I run back to the back door, crouch down, and pull out a match. I light it up and then drop it onto the tile, but it just puts itself out. I try again, with the same results. I sigh, think for a minute, and then grab the paint. It's the most flammable thing we have. I use my fingers and paint a large circle in front of the door, where the hole will be. I hold my breath as I light one more match, ready to light the paint. I stand back, knowing the paint will go up in flames, weakening the tile, making it easier to dig. I begin to ease the match closer and closer to the paint, until....

WHOOSH!! The paint goes up in flames, the light flickering and dancing on the tile. But the tile isn't the only thing on fire. The remaining paint on my hand is also in flames.

I'm on fire.