Firecracker: The 99th Games Book One

Arena, Day 3 Part 2

Kikue was in the middle of divvying out her alliance's dried fruit when she heard the chattering voices outside the mouth of their cave. She looked up, alert.

Hinata frowned, crawling a bit closer to the mouth of the cave. He listened, the other two frozen in utter silence.

"...Careers," Hinata whispered, retreating back to the others and tossing their things back into backpacks. "The girl from 12 has a really distinct accent and the guy from 10 is really loud and raspy. I'd know them anywhere. And they're getting closer."

"Should we try to sneak out before they get here?" Touma asked worriedly.

"I don't think we'd make it in time," Hinata muttered. "We're better off going further in to the cave. Everyone grab something."

Kikue nodded, gathering two backpacks in her arms. Touma took the third, and Hinata grabbed his bow and quiver of arrows, loading one in the bow just to be safe as he began backing further into the cave. Taking Touma by the arm, Kikue pulled out a knife from one of their backpacks and clutched it in her free hand, heart racing.

He might trip. Biting her lip, Kikue gripped Touma's arm tighter, watching him closely. Touma had his eyes glued to the ground, carefully choosing every step to make sure he wouldn't lose his footing. His determination was admirable, but they had no time to lose on "careful." What do we do? Should Hinata carry him again? But if we get attacked, he won't be able to use his bow. Will that bow even be helpful against those Careers?

It was all they had. She had to trust her teammates if they wanted to make it out of this okay.

But the Careers were getting closer. They still weren't deep enough into the caves to be hidden. Kikue gripped her knife, hating how loud her breathing sounded.

"We--we have to hurry," she whispered. "They're too close. Can we move faster?"

"I-I'll try," Touma whispered back, taking bigger steps across the cave floor as they followed. Hinata kept his bow pointed towards the mouth of the cave even as it disappeared from view.

For a moment, as they backed themselves into a nook of the cave, the alliance was safe.

And then Touma sneezed.

Loudly.

The sound echoed around the cave walls just as the Careers' voices got loud enough to distinguish what they were saying. Kikue went rigid, hooking her arm around Touma and dragging him further back into the cave. Hinata cursed under his breath, following.

"There!" a perky female voice yelled. The girl from 2--Laurel, was it? "I heard someone from further in!"

"Well, let's get 'em!" the boy from 10 exclaimed gleefully. Evan, if Kikue remembered correctly.

He had received an 8 in training; if push came to shove, Hinata's 8 could match him and Kikue's 7 wasn't far behind. But Touma...

As much as Kikue hated to admit it, their third alliance member was a liability. She had known that when she decided to stay by his side to protect him, but it didn't make it any easier to accept.

"Here, tribby tribbies!" Laurel cooed. "We just want to talk! And show off our pointy sticks!"

"Ye mean swords? We only got one o' dose." Every tribute had memorized the name Adel Beck; that accent of hers was unmistakable.

"Keek," Touma blurted, nearly crashing into a wall. "K-Keek, HiHi, i-it's a dead end."

"What...?!" Kikue slammed her hand into the stone wall, then diverted to the right wall and chipped at the stone with her knife. "No...! Th-there has to be a way out, w-we--Hinata!"