My Games: Johanna Mason

Chapter 4

DAY 3

Crying, crying, crying.

Crying is all I can hear. The crying of all the families of the dead tributes and the people living in the districts without hope. The Games area symbol, a symbol of how helpless the districts are under the firm hold of the Capitol.

I refuse to be so helpless.

My arms and legs are stiff. I have a made myself uncomfortable by falling asleep before I remembered to shift to a comfortable position. I drank a bit of water while I thought about what the Careers said. If the water was poisonous in the crevice, where could I find water? Another river or lake? I realized that my water supply was running low, and I wanted to save the ice. I nimbly hopped down from the tree and silently jogged through the arena.

While I was jogging, I noticed a little bush with berries growing on it. I remembered it to be the exact same berry bush that was on the garden of my best friend Polly's family spices store. I never asked what the bush was called. When I make it home, I wouldn't be able to ask Polly or her family. Polly died of plague only weeks before the Reaping, and her family are still in mourning.

After what seemed like hours of walking, I could see snow-capped trees in the distance. The trees I had encountered so far where all green, likely evergreen, so the sudden snow interested me. I approached the snowy trees, lithe as a tiger stalking its prey.

The ground dropped a bit, and as I went down the slight depression I realized there was a river dividing the two kinds of trees. In addition, the ground on the other side was pure snow. I couldn't believe it! Water! Trying not to be too loud, I rushed to the river. By reasoning I assumed this water would be drinkable, so I gulped down liters and refilled my bottle. The relief was astounding. I cupped my hands in the water and took them out to drink. My eyes widened as I saw the blood in the water. Looking at the river, I saw that blood was flowing from the west - and possibly body parts, too. A cannon went off. I had a creeping feeling this was the work of Titus. I ran to the east, as quickly and quietly as I could.

I ran and occasionally drank some water. When I figured I was far away from the killer (and cannibal) I sat down and drank a little bit more, until I was, dare I say it, full. Who would've thought. I was in the Hunger Games, and I was full! Well, not exactly. I still needed a source of food. But in the trees of 7 I had been told that teenagers could survive longer than a week without any food.

Seeing the special arena this year and last year's disaster with Annie Cresta, I think the Gamemakers will want this one to go for a little longer than a week. As I climbed a tree not too close to the river, I almost chuckled. These games had been pretty entertaining so far. A tribute turned to cannibalism within three games and has killed and eaten at least one tribute, probably the boy from 8 too. How many tributes were left now? Twelve, because there were thirteen last night. I was halfway. Halfway to coming back home to Cervus, to a proper forest, to privacy and safety.

I wondered if there was anything else special about the arena. Mutts, if what Lance said about the crevice was true. More sections perhaps? Whatever it was, it would have to be good. The mishap last year was enough to disinterest much of the Capitol from the Games, though that wouldn't last long under Snow's watch.

The Games became so boring that the Gamemakers had to flood the arena, pretty much guaranteeing that the sole remaining District 4 tribute, Annie Cresta, would win. The problem was, though, that Annie wasn't the usual knight in shining armour career tribute. She had gone insane when she watched her district partner get beheaded in the early stages of the Games. Annie was also in love with Finnick Odair, also from 4, who won at the age of fourteen (youngest ever) about five years back. This was also problematic as Finnick was recently dubbed "the darling" of the Capitol, and was forced to be, more or less, a prostitute as soon as he turned eighteen, which was about a year before Annie was Reaped.

Thinking about victors made me realize that District 7 has about five victors, all of which are male. When I win, I would be the first female victor from District 7! I had a little rest while playing with the knives.

About an hour later, I realised it was going to be dark soon so I continued east, not exposing myself by walking too close to the river. I kept moving east until I was sure that I was past where the crevice was, maybe even past where the Cornucopia was. The only thing I noticed, though, was the snowy side of the arena.

Not much longer, I noticed a fork in the river. Between the two rivers was another section, which seemed to expand as the rivers stretched out. Looking closer, I saw that all the trees were a light shade of red, orange or brown. Autumn colours.

I looked across the river. Trees covered with snow, and trees with no leaves at all, exactly like during winter. Then I turned around and observed this section. Green all around, just like Summer.

Suddenly I was beaming. I bet there was a Spring section somewhere. I figured it out - the arena is divided into four parts, and each represents a season of the year! An interesting concept - I imagine it would do well in the Capitol.

I went to a tree a few hundred meters from the river and climbed it to the top. I thought I would try not to leave the summer section too much. I would to want to get lost in winter and freeze.

I laid peacefully in the tree, thinking about the arena until the sky blazed with the emblem and showed the face of the tribute whose blood and guts I saw in the water. To my slight dismay, it was Lana from District 3. I had talked to her and her partner Noel a lot during training.

I was tired, but it was dark and I thought it would be a good idea to check if the snow on the winter side was edible, and if so, to collect some. I climbed down the tree with my pack on and advanced past the river, wading through its shallow depths. Then I walked up a slight hill to get to the winter side. Before I could stop myself, I tripped and my head hit a tree trunk - hard.

That was the last I could remember before I saw black.