One Last Hunger Games

Chapter 25

I wake up early the next morning out of habit. It is day three of the Games and I'm still alive. There are 13 people left, and surprisingly, I haven't joined the 11 fallen children. Yet. I don't know what tragedies shall happen in the days to come. Ava is still asleep. I'll let her sleep for a few more minutes, but we really need to start the day.

After a few minutes, I wake Ava. She sits up slowly, overcome by sleep. I let her take a small drink of the water bottle. I take a drink myself too. We walk with no destination. I don't have any weapons, so it will be hard to hunt. We haven't talked much. I know we both have to wake up a little though. Suddenly I hear a noise. The sound of rustling leaves. Both of our heads jerk around. There stands Maggie, the District 7 girl along with Noah at her side.

"Wait! Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you. We want you guys as allies," Noah says quickly. Ava looks up at me. I think she doesn't want to say anything. She wants to leave it up to me. "Sure," I say, suspicious. They get closer. "You guys have any weapons?" I ask. Noah smiles a crooked smile. "Yeah. Exactly what you want. A bow." My face lights up. "Let me have a go at it! We need food." Now that I say it, I realize how hungry I am. I haven't had anything to eat since we've been in the Games.

For the first time, Maggie speaks up. I wonder how Maggie and Noah found each other as allies. "Sure, I'll let you do it. Seems like you two are the hunters." Me and Noah glance at each other and nod. "You and Ava stay together and me and Noah can go hunt. Now that I say it, you and Ava should find something to eat too. Like berries or something edible."

Maggie makes her way to Ava. Ava coils up a bit. She probably doesn't know if she can trust her yet. Noah hands me the bow and the sheaf of arrows. I tell Ava and Maggie goodbye and me and Noah head out into the woods. We tell each other not to spread out too much though so we can still find each other.

"You look and I shoot." I tell Noah. Noah chuckles. "Bossy, aren't we?" I give him a death glare and prepare myself to shoot. After only a couple minutes, Noah scream-whispers "Right there! A rabbit!" Quickly, I aim and shoot it right in the eye. I go over to retrieve the arrow and pick up the animal so we can skin it and eat it. But I hear an ear piercing scream. "NO!"

My eyes fly over to Noah and we run. The voice sounded exactly like Maggie's. And then we hear the cannon.