Greater Games [A 72nd Hunger Games Fanfic]

Chapter 10

After a couple of hours of trekking through the thick greenery, we stop at the waterfall again. We check it first, to make sure there are no other visitors, then fill our almost-empty canteens.

"I think we're running out of water too quickly," comments Felix.

"We could go down these rapids," I suggest. "And we stay at the stream."

"Okay," he says.

We follow the rapids for while, then evetually the foaming waters turn calmer and calmer until it is just a slow moving stream. Small orange fish swim lazily with the current. Felix takes out a knife and is about to stab it, but I grab his hand. "No," I warn. "They're muttations."

Felix pulls his hand back and puts the knife back in his belt. "What'll we eat, then?"

I sigh. "I'll hunt, but I'm no good at it."

"We could collect plants," says Felix, and we agree on that and that I'll try to hunt.

I am still very stumped about why tributes are so rare upon our path, so I stay as unknown as possible. Now that my stock of arrows has been replenished, I do not worry about running low on weapons, so I use my bow and arrow. I had left the spear with Felix, since he seemed very useful with it.

I stay low, making sure I don't step on any twigs, running stealthily through the trees. A squirrel runs by me, but it is too fast and it scurries up a tree before I can position my arrow. I spend a while longer looking for game, but nothing shows up.

I return to our campsite by the stream to come across a very, very fat beaver. It's long front teeth are chewing into the mango box, which Felix probably forgot to put away. I'm about to scare it off, but my plans change. I load my bow, but it notices me before I shoot it. It hisses at me, and is about to run back into the stream, but I kill it cleanly. I wait patiently for Felix to return, and return he does, along with his empty canteen and his free hand absolutely stuffed with berries, roots, plants, and bulbs.

"I didn't think Careers bothered with survival skills," I say with a grin.

"They don't," he replies. "Anyway, I just picked whatever looked like they could be edible."

I frown. "You didn't try any, did you?" I ask. "Some might be poisonous."

"Well, if I tried one that was poisonous, then I'd be dead right now, wouldn't I?" he says with a laugh.

"Hand them over then," I say, beckoning to him. "I'm the one that would know."

We sort through the bunch, and I'm impressed with Felix. Only a few plants I find are deadly, so I through them back into the trees. There are a few ones I don't know, so I throw them away too, but the ones I am certain are edible, I put in the box with the mangos.

"So, will we save all this or eat some now?" I ask him cheerily.

"Let's eat some of-" I cut him off because of the glint of metal that is right behind him. I pull out my arrow and shoot at the boy from 11, but the tip of his sword still cuts into Felix's right shoulder. The arrow goes flying into Boy 11's upper arm, and he staggers back. He regains his ferocity in a few moments, though, as though the injury is merely shocking. I crawl over to Felix, who is lying on the ground, trying to stop the flow of blood from his gash. I take one of Felix's knife and begin slashing the air, the boy from 11 dodging each blow. I almost stab him in the back, but he fall forward just in time, then jumps to his feet and runs for the treeline.

I take out my lotion, which is running low, and rub it on the cut on Felix's shoulder. His face relaxes. "This should be just fine in a couple of hours," I say.