The 130th Hunger Games

Chapter Fifteen

Paige is dead.

Those words are strange to me. I never thought I would hear them. But I am not exactly happy that Paige is dead, and I am not sad either. She was horribly mean to me, but did she deserve to die?

No. She just felt a little insecure about the "friendship" between Daniel and me.

Yes. She forced me into a fistfight with her and tried to kill me in it.

I don't know whether she deserved to die or not, and I don't want to think about it. Instead I think about home. It makes me sad, but I do not cry. The Hunger Games is showing me how to toughen up. And if I can look at dead bodies, I can certainly think about home without bursting into tears.

It is too hard to be around this camp, where everyone sits and grieves for Paige. I get up and start walking away. Nobody seems to notice until, unfortunately, Axel speaks. "Where do you think you're going?" he snaps. He's in an even worse mood now, thanks to Paige's death.

"I need to cool off," I say, craning my neck towards Daniel to signify that, like him, I am having trouble getting over Paige's death. But, of course, that's a lie.

Axel considers my words and nods for me to go. "Bring your sword just in case," he tells me.

I nod, pick up my sword, and head out of the camp and deeper into the forest. I'm lucky Axel liked my excuse.

I walk through the rainforest. The sun is high in the sky, and it's early afternoon, but I feel so tired.

I could try to find Jane, Damian, and Sabrina's camp, but that might not be a good idea. Before the 'schedule' was changed, I told Damian the Careers would be after them and so they should set a trap. And if they have set one, I don't want to end up falling into it.

I wander around the rainforest, not caring if I'll be able to find my way back to the Career camp.

I come across a huge tree that is so tall I have to squint to see the top. I realize it would be a good place for shade from the blazing sun.

As I sit down I feel something hard underneath me. "Ouch!" I mutter. I look down to see that's it's a fallen branch.

I toss it aside and try to relax as I listen to the soft whistle of the wind. Suddenly I see something in the corner of my eye and look down.

There's blood trails on the grass in front of me.

I scramble up to my feet and run away from the tree and the bloody grass. I don't want anything to do with that tree anymore. I don't want to know what happened there.

Feeling dazed, I consider just heading back to the Career camp, but I decide I'll just wander around the forest a little more. After all, it's nice to have some time alone.

I continue through the rainforest, starting to feel more peaceful, when, suddenly, someone-or something-crashes into me.

"Whatever you are, get off!" I yell, struggling to fight whatever is on top of me.

All of a sudden, the weight is lifted from me. I look around and see a boy standing over me. He is very skinny and his eyes are wide and afraid as he looks at my sword and me. He is barefoot.

He is Dusty. And he recognizes me as one of the Careers.

"Dusty?" I say quietly. He doesn't move, and I don't know why. And then I realize-he's frozen in fear.

I set my sword down beside me and stand up to face him, leaving my sword on the ground. "I'm not going to hurt you," I say, but his terrified expression doesn't change, so I kick my sword a few feet away from me to make him feel better. "I'm not even a Career, really. The Careers basically dragged me into their pack. But I have real friends here, and their names are Jane, Damian, and Sabrina. They have a camp somewhere in the rainforest. Have you seen them?" I don't know why I'm telling Dusty this. I don't even know him. But for some reason, I trust him.