4
I jump to my feet, the sound of screaming in my ears. It reminds me of the morning tortures back in District 11. Arro and Oregano are already fighting. I can see flashes of silver as Oregano slices his cutlass through the air. It almost looks like some kind of crazy dance. Beside me, Velvet is desperately trying to wake Jacque, who is still asleep. “Go!” she shouts to me. “Go help them!”
“Who are they fighting?” I ask, feeling a little disorientated.
“The two tributes from District Five,” says Velvet. “Storm and Thor, I think. They attacked us while we were sleeping.” I suddenly feel rather guilty. After all, Jacque and I were meant to be keeping watch. I want to apologise, but I don’t exactly think now is the right time. Velvet shouts again. “Go help!”
I take my stick from my belt and grasp the blunt end. Unsure how to use it, I practise swiping it through the air as I race into the battle.
The tributes from District 5 are both athletic, and strong. While Thor is muscular and big; Storm is strong in a delicate way, with a waterfall of curly black hair cascading down her back. She’s so pale it looks like she’s sculpted out of marble. They are both yielding swords, although I don’t think they really know how to use them.
I jump forward, and my stick meets Thor’s sword before it can hit Oregano’s head.
“You okay?” I ask Oregano breathlessly, ducking as Storm’s sword flies over my head. Oregano’s cutlass clashes against Thor’s sword.
“Yeah,” he pants. “You?”
“Good, thanks,” We work side by side, blocking swords as they fly towards us. “Did you have a nice sleep?”
“It was alright. Quite peaceful actually.” The noise of metal clashing against metal is all that fills our ears. Oregano has to shout. “Until we were interrupted, that is.”
The screaming I heard earlier is coming from Storm. With every swipe towards her opponent, Arro, she cries out like some crazy warrior. Arro’s doing her best to fend her off, but I can see she’s struggling. Storm and Thor may not know how to use swords properly, but they’re learning quickly, and that combined with the fury of their attack makes them dangerous opponents. After all, with Jacque sleeping and Velvet busy, we only just outnumber them. “I’m going to help Arro,” I say to Oregano.
He nods. “Be careful, Wren.”
Storm is facing away from me, so I decide to use this to my advantage. I rush forward and try to knock Storm’s sword out of her hand, but she moves at the last moment, and I miss. Just as I try a second time, she sees me, and slices my stick in half with her sword.
“Well,” I mutter. “That’s annoying.”
“Wren!” calls out Velvet from behind me. She’s holding up her sharpened stick. “I’ll take over. Look after Jacque,” she says, before leaping into the fight. I rush to Jacque’s side, and watch the battle from afar. Eventually, I turn away. I don’t want to watch the people I now call my friends fight, and eventually kill, the District 5 tributes—who, after all, are only children forced to play a gruesome and deadly game. The thought makes me feel sick.
I stare at Jacque’s face, watching him breath, until the worst of the battle is over. I glance behind me and see only Storm is left. It’s three against one, but she fights well. She manages to keep up against Oregano, Velvet and Arro for quite a while, twisting and ducking and leaping and swiping with her sword.
