The Hunger Games : The Songbird's Legacy

Chapter V

I don't care about how much noise I'm making as I run back toward camp. All my survival instincts from the arena are kicking in, because I know I heard something from the camp. I crash through the trees, swiping branches away from my face as I run wildly. Finally, I skid to a stop to see Maude, Alma and Aria clinging to each other, their eyes filled with terror. I don't realize what's so terrifying until I look down at the ground.

Teresa is lying, wide-eyed, on the ground. Still. Her chest isn't rising or falling, her face has that lifeless look, and I know, without a doubt, that she's dead. Maybe it's after seeing so many dead bodies in the Hunger Games, but it doesn't really sink in. I'm not concerned, until I hear a muffled sob coming from the young girls. I gently place my fingers on her eyelids closing them over her blue-gray eyes. Fold her hands over her stomach, as I had watched Reaper do for every dead tribute. Then I look up at the girls, blinking tears out of my eyes. "What happened?" I ask. She looked fine, with no physical wounds on her body. "I-I don't know. One second she was fine, the next..." I knew what Alma meant. Died in a split second. I looked down at her body, and the only thing I noticed was that there was something on her hands. I spread them open, and saw a thin, reddish purple juice. Then I saw it. A few berries by where her hands had originally been, that must have fallen when she died. I knew, in that moment, without a doubt, that she had died from poison berries. "Did she eat the berries?" I ask, forcing my voice to be calm and even. Maude nodded, shaken up from the death, even though she barely knew the woman. I studied the berry carefully for a moment, making sure I never picked another one like it. The problem was, it looked very similar to another harmless type of berry that I had been eating. Worried that I wouldn't be able to separate them correctly, I tossed all the berries into the trees.

I don't know what to do with Teresa's body, so I just cover her with leaves and pack up camp. Even though the berries were what killed her, the camp has lost its homey feel. I start thinking back to my home, where the Covey is. Tam Amber, Barb Azure... How would they make enough money with their two singers gone? I force the thought out of my head. They would have to survive, because there was no way I could go back. I would be in danger, and I couldn't just leave these two random girls out here to fend for themselves. No, my only hope was that I could find my way to District 13, and hope that there was indeed a civilization there.

After only an hour of walking, as the sun was just starting to descend from its peak, Maude began slowing down. "I'm thirsty," Aria whispered. This was the moment when fear or dehydration hit me most. I couldn't leave them in the woods, and they would be slow and dehydrated. I wouldn't be able to find water. They'd die. "I'm sorry, I don't have any water left." I say to Aria, smoothing her orange hair comfortingly. She looks at me with scared teal eyes and I feel awful. "Hopefully we can find some soon," I say, shooting her a false smile. Because the truth is, I don't know how long it is going to take before I can find water again. Alma had barely said anything to me, unlike Aria, who had taken an instant liking to me. Maybe she saw me as a survivor, someone who could help her. Alma, I think blames me for her mother's death. And she wouldn't exactly be wrong. My ignorance, picking those poisoned berries, was what ultimately led her to die. And they had survived so long on their own without me, just for Teresa to die on the first day. Maybe I was wrong to think that we could make it to Thirteen, to civilization. Maybe we should just turn back now, back to Twelve before we all die. Then Maude starts singing, quietly at first, but louder and louder as the mockingjays begin to join in until her music fills the trees.

"Are you, are you comin' to the tree?
Where they strung up a man, they say, who murdered three
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree

Are you, are you comin' to the tree
Where a dead man called out for his love to flee?
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree

Are you, are you comin' to the tree
Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free?
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree

Are you, are you comin' to the tree
Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me?
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree."

It was the same song I had sung to Coriolanus, the Peacekeeper of Twelve. The part that clicked most in my brain was the "Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me." That was exactly what I had sung when telling Coriolanus that I knew he had indirectly killed Sejanus. That I knew I was next. Then he shot the woods, aiming for me. He had actively tried to kill me, and may think he succeeded. To return to Twelve would be a death sentence to me. Coriolanus knew that I had no reason to trust him anymore, so could betray him. He would kill me to silence me. And if the games had proven anything, it was that I was a survivor who would fight for my life. To me, there seemed no point in throwing it away now, not after I had killed for it. I was going to survive, out here in the wilderness. I was going to save these girls. I promised this to myself as Maude started the next verse of her song, though I would never see the Hanging Tree again.