My Games: Johanna Mason

Chapter 6

DAY 5

The next morning, Cyprus woke me up early. 'If you want that plan of yours to happen by the end of tomorrow, we better get moving. I'll wake the others up.' I nodded as Cyprus gently woke Noel and Five. As he shook Satina, something fell out of her bag. I smiled (on the inside). It was an axe! An axe was just what I needed. My already high hopes rose even more.

'Hey Satina,' I asked once she was up, 'is that an axe in your bag?' Satina yawned, then replied. 'I salvaged it from the Cornucopia. Why do you ask?' I tried to look nonchalant. 'We could use it to collect wood, that's all.' That wasn't the only thing I would use it for, though.

Five tapped Satina on the shoulder and pointed to the left. She nodded. 'Five and I are just going to collect some water. Can you three go and collect the wood?'

Cyprus, Noel and I went to collect wood, but we didn't go too far. Cyprus and Noel both had swords from the Cornucopia, and they used them to chop off branches. Noel, who wasn't particularly buff, struggled. Cyprus made sure to help him.

After cutting another branch down, Noel said, 'are you going to use the axe, Johanna? There is a perfect branch to the left.' I turned and saw a small tree with a long, thick branch only stomach high. For a moment, I panicked. I calmed myself down and remembered that I needed to play weak.

'I...I don't know how to. I tried in training but...'

'Aren't you from the lumber district? You would have experience with axes then, right?'

'Here,' Cyprus walked over to me and moved me to the branch. 'Let me show you how to use it.' Cyprus looked back at Noel to cover me. 'Johanna's job back home was to collect the wood, not cut it down,' Cyprus lied.

Cyprus put his hand over mine and our fingers laced together. Plan aside, I had to say I enjoyed it. It was freezing out here, but there was something warm about the air when we touched.

'You have to thrust hard, and make sure you hit the wood with the sharp tip of the axe.' I almost rolled my eyes at how basic it felt. But this was important.

Cyprus did a demonstration, and elaborated on how to use the axe. Noel was listening intently too, and kept watch.

'Now I'm going to let go and you can try.'

'Okay.'

'Cut in three, two, one...'

Cyprus put his thumbs up. I lifted the axe, paused for some suspense and almost threw the axe down. It seemed to bounce off of the branch before slipping out of my hands.

'Don't worry,' Cyprus said in fake frustration. 'I'll do it.'

For a second, it looked like he winked at me.

A few hours later, we had lunch back at camp. Satina and Five managed to successfully fill all the bottles with water without any encounters with the careers or Titus.

'I don't even think the careers know that we are an alliance,' Satina remarked.

'Good then,' Cyprus said. 'It will be an advantage for tomorrow.'

I wondered just how big tomorrow was going to be. If all went to plan, it might even be the last day of the Games. All I knew was that not everyone in this group would survive. The plan would make sure of that.

'Speaking of tomorrow,' said Noel, 'should we set up?'

It was Satina who said, 'absolutely.'