Stargazer • The Hunger Games

TWELVE

"What's todays plans?" Moss asked us, this time he was less dark and slightly happier. Well as happy as Moss could be and I doubted he could ever look at the world in a positive light.

"Well since it is my day." I trailed off, looking up at the sky in hope for some ideas. "I want to get off this ledge and go back to the forest, maybe the lake? Up here on the mountain top is just too far from home for me."

"Whatever the birthday girl wants." Moss sighed, sliding off his rock towards the rest of us. "Anyone want breakfast?"

We silently ate our meagre supply of dried fruit and bland rations. After we were slightly less hungry the four of us packed up our makeshift camp and headed off down the slope. It turns out the Clover is frightened of caves, she just never told Moss when they had first taken up refuge in the tunnels. With the network of small, pitch-black tunnels out of the question we decided to try plan B; the slope.

It wasn't as steep as it had looked from out ledge. A path wide enough for a single file led it's way down along the path of the waterfall. The plan was good but it had one fatal flaw. It was open and we could be easily spotted by tributes or worse, careers.

"How much farther?" Clover asked in front of me. She wasn't much of a walker.

"The tree line is not far, we can rest in there." Moss pointed out to the evergreen trees that sprouted out of the ground a few hundred meters from where we were walking.

We then continued walking though Clover did stop every so often to rub her feet. Her excuse was that walking was never something she did much. In Seven she spent her days climbing trees and not walking over bare stone and tough grass. When we made it to the tree line I welcomed the cool shade of the pine's. It was nice to not have the sun blaring in your face all the time. After several minutes of walking I was stalled. Moss and Clover kept walking but Eric grabbed my arms from behind and held me tightly in place. "Do you see that?" He whispered in my ear.

"See what?" I looked around. Nothing but pine trees, grass and the other half of our group were in my vision. There was nothing alarming to my knowledge.

"To our left near the brambles thicket. Watch the shadows." Eric instructed, keeping perfectly still behind me. Slowly, my eyes travelled to the brambles and I watched it intently. Sure enough after a few moments I noticed something worth my attention.

"Other tributes?" I asked Eric while keeping my eyes on the brambles. Sure enough I saw it again, two shadows flickering behind the thicket. They moved like humans.

"I think so." Eric agreed. At this moment Clover decided to turn around, noticing that they were now ahead of us by a far bit.

"Alice! Eric! Why did you stop?" Clover didn't need an answer because at that moment the shadows became people and our reason for stopping become clear. Thorn from Eleven and the boy from Ten raced out of the shadows. Thorn had a crossbow pointed at Eric and and boy had a knife that was targeted for me.

"Run!" Eric yelped from behind, pushing me towards Clover and Moss. I had my small dagger in my pant pocket which I quickly slid into my hand, gripping it for dear life. I was faster than Eric and outran to the others. Moss had a knife held firmly in his hands and Clover was already climbing up the nearest tree. If I lived past these next few minutes I would be sure to compliment her skill. Skidding up next to Moss I spun around to see what Eric was doing. He had taken the scenic route towards us, dodging behind pine trees to avoid the arrows of Thorn's crossbow. Putting Eric's situation to the side I faced my own mess. The boy from Ten ran towards us, his brown eyes were wide with fury. His face was bleeding from a cut wound and he looked desperate. The boy who I didn't know the name of scared me to no ends. When he came within range of swinging at us he boy did his best but it was futile. His balance and perception was off and he swung at thin air.