The 75th Hunger Games {COMPLETED}

Pain

I heard explosions and saw the fireballs fly past me. One exploded to my left and I almost lost my footing. I managed to hold myself up as I ran but not for long.

Another fireball crashed right beside me, sending my flying forward and burning residue from the molten fireball landed on the left side of my stomach and the top of my leg. I screamed as it hit me and I knew that I was alight as I hit the ground. The left side of my body was burning. The searing heat was all I could think about and I rolled around on the floor to extinguish the flame.

It was unbearably painful. Even more so when I stood up and tried to run, the fire was still coming. Tears streamed down my face and I drew blood in my mouth as I dug my teeth into my lip.

And then I could see it. A creek up ahead. My gaze locked onto it and I was determined to outrun the inferno and get some relief for the burn. I ran as fast as I could. Sweat was just dripping off me and the heat was so extreme that I was wailing out loud.

Ten more steps…five…two…one…I plunged into the water.

It was probably about chest height but I submerged myself fully. The cold water provided only a small amount of relief to my burn and I held my breath for as long as I could. When I had no air left in my lungs I emerged with a painful breath. I coughed and spluttered and crawled to the edge of the creek where I emptied the contents of my stomach. I tried crawling up onto the bank but only made it a short way. I collapsed on my good side and rolled onto my back, my feet still in the water.

I didn’t even feel like I had the strength to take off my pack. It took me all this time to notice that the fire was gone. The trees were only gently charred despite the intensity of the blaze and the massive wall of fire.

It made me angry; they were controlling it. How many others had felt the way I did as I ran? How many were too slow? How many just let themselves be engulfed?

I almost didn’t want to look down to my left, I’m afraid of what I’ll see. Even just trying to sit up is excruciating. I yelled out and just lay back. I started whimpering. There wasn’t really any other choice for me now so I dragged myself up to the trees without rolling over. I bit down on my lip again and yelped as I finally hid myself in the bushes. I managed to prop myself up against a tree. I could see the clear line ahead of me where the fire had disappeared, about a metre from the creek bed.

I looked down and started weeping at the sight of my red blistering skin on my stomach and the top of my thigh. My eyes darted around and I saw a plant that might help, but it was about ten metres away. It was more like a marathon for me. I managed to slip off my pack and started dragging myself over to it. When I was about halfway there I heard the cannon fire.

“Caius?” I whispered.

I started coughing again, this time it was just to get some of the smoke out of my body. I would probably be worse off by now if I had breathed in too much of it.

I tried to call out again, “Caius!” More coughing ensued.

I ended up coughing until I felt a little better. It didn’t help that I was crying at the same time; partly because of the pain, mostly because of the pain, but also because of the fact that I’m now all alone and in no state to protect myself.

I didn’t stop crying even as I made it to the plant. It was hard to dig up the roots with my hands shaking so badly. When I finally got it I realised that I needed a knife so I dragged myself back to the plant.

I sliced the root into thin slivers and lay them on the burns. Even the light pressure felt incredibly heavy on my raw skin. The worst part was that it only lightly dulled the pain. That wasn’t good, it meant that the burn was pretty bad, and I was going to need some proper Capitol medicine to nullify the pain completely.