Swinging From The Branches ~ Lexyon Perti

Clawing Out ~ Day 2

It was a castle, a giant, ancient castle that you only hear of in stories-but this was no story, this was all too real.

Reality hit me hard as I realized I was both starving and dehydrated. Unzipping my pack, I unscrewed the top of the canteen and poured some of the liquid into my mouth. It was pure, filtered water just like back at the hotel. I stopped drinking and closed the canteen once again turning to my next objective, food.

The forest seemed too quiet for my taste, birds were always chattering in the trees back home. I looked hard and wide for any signs of life other than my own footsteps but to no avail. The shrubbery was thick nearly everywhere and I knew I could use it as a hiding place if the need arose. 

This may actually remove the need for shelter, if I can curl up in one of these bushes or under a fern and disguise myself enough, no one will think to look twice!  I smile happily at the revelation. Now I was thinking like a survivor.

As a constant reminder, my stomach protested its lack of food for the day. My smile dropped as I thought fast, what could I possibly eat? Examining the area proved futile and I resumed walking aimlessly through the woods, stopping occasionally to listen for any life. The protests from my abdomen had become stronger as the day went on until I finally found something, fruit!

I rushed over to a vine, recognizing the fruit as a strawberry or something similar. Having found no other options, I gathered as many as I could, checking that they looked ripe, before popping one into my mouth experimentally. The sweet juice danced on my tongue as I savored the small treat, noting that I was not dead yet. The gamemakers had been kind this once, it would seem that I would live to see another day. Double checking the surrounding area I loaded my goodies into my pack, carefully wrapped in the tarp, before working my way through the foliage, not having much of a purpose. I could look for other tributes, but I don't have a weapon and I don't know who is looking for friends and who is looking for foes. I figured it was best not to find out just yet. 

The quiet had been disturbed by a cannon, signaling the end of another tribute's life. Unconsciously, I wondered who it was and who the killer may be. The careers could very well be out of the castle by now and on the look out for tributes like me, alone and defenseless, the perfect kill.

An easy kill.

Now unsettled, I decided that making camp would be the best, if not to just wait out the rest of the day. Now that I could see the sky I assumed it to be around four or five in the afternoon. Trees definitely make good shelters, but there is no way I'm sticking myself up there anytime soon. Examining the area, I found a thick, leafy fern sprawled at the base of a tree not far from me. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be hidden from other angles and well shaded from sunlight or rain-though either would get through easily. This would be camp, at least for tonight, I thought to myself as I crawled under the fern, discovering it to not be deep enough to cover me to my liking. 

"Alright, digging. Not like you haven't gotten your hands dirty before." I sighed to myself as I raked my hands through the soft dirt. At least it would be easy to dig myself a hole. 

Finally satisfied with the shallow hole I had created, I took my pack off and fished out my token. Laying the pack beside me and nestling my body into the hole, I opened my journal and began reading it.

A World Without Peacekeepers

Today, big brother had a run-in with what we call "peacekeepers", they are supposed to keep the peace but they are always really violent when they do so. Personally, I think they like to cause trouble and they get paid for it too! Most of them are really mean and scary, and they give me and mama weird looks. Mama can't talk anymore, 'cause she did something wrong. Now we are always looked at by the peacekeepers and I wish that they would just go away or leave us alone. 

If there were no peacekeepers, maybe everything would be better, everyone would be happier, mama would be able to talk! No one would have to hide in their houses at night 'cause of curfew and we could cut down less trees! Cutting down trees is hard work for a 13 year-old, but I only cut small branches(next year I can do the bigger ones!) But the peacekeepers, if they all left then maybe people would obey laws 'cause big brother told me that they like to defy the authority 'cause they are screwed up or something. Maybe we could replace them with someone else who isn't bad and just enforces the law without being all mean about it? I want to live in that world, I'm sure less people would be bad...

I remember the incident, when Xavier had taken a beating for taking my rations instead of me getting them. I had been sick, I think, and he had been so nice to go get them for me but the peacekeeper thought he was stealing. It was unfortunate, and from then on we all got our own rations, regardless of circumstances. The thought was provoking though, what if the peacekeepers suddenly vanished? Chaos would ensue, definitely, but after that maybe there would be hope of a less restrictive force. Maybe these games would end.

Time ticked by slowly as I reread entries from my journal, laughing at some and tearing up at others. The sun was slowly descending and light was fading, forcing me to close the book and dig out my tarp for the evening. I carefully wrapped myself up in it, covering most of it with dirt afterwards to minimize the reflective surface. Through the fern leaves I could see the Capital Logo appear in the middle of the sky, and the Panem anthem begin to play as three more faces joined those of the dead.

Dayta - District 3

Ally - District 5

Sodi - District 8

Three faces I hardly knew. Dayta had a family to go back to and honestly, I was surprised at her passing, she was a career, wasn't she? Ally and Sodi I knew nothing about, thanks to my anti-social behavior during training.

How many of us were left now? I think for a moment as I add up the current deaths. 15? 

I was happy that I had made it so far in the games, granted I was only on day two, yet an uneasy feeling remained in the pit of my stomach. I still had no idea whether or not Marshall was alive, if he was all the better for our district-then again, that would be a problem in the future. If he wasn't alive then I am our only hope. I close my eyes for the night, sleeping significantly better on the soft dirt. Not knowing about my district partner worried me, and so I silently made a pact with myself.

District 7 needs a victor. I am determined to be that victor.