The Hunger Games: Wroetostar, Merome, Pooflan & Minizerk

⫷Chapter 9⫸

Pete's P.O.V.

Kara and I had managed to meet up after the bloodbath, having started on opposite side of the Cornucopia. Neither of us managed to get much gear, I had run away as fast as possible because on both sides of me were the girls from 3 and 4 and I didn't want to be anywhere near them, but Kara had ducked in and had managed to snag a small backpack, a knife and a lighter.

She sighed as she fell into my arms, squeezing tightly. I just held her for a moment as we hid in a clump of bushes, well aware that there were still 6 bodies lying around the Cornucopia that hadn't been picked up because the careers were still there, digging through the supplies.

Kara and I weren't afraid of the careers, we had a very fragile alliance with them- it wasn't anything special but we had decided that if we came across each other, we wouldn't kill each other. They had all the supplies, but we had each other and some degree of protection and reassurance.

"What's in the bag?" I asked- it had been about 5 hours since the games had started and we had only just met up. I figured she had been through it.

"Two bottles that are empty, some packs of food, another knife, some rope and a jacket. Not much but it'll get us through." She handed the knife to me, smiling. "We should get on the move, find somewhere warmer, I don't want to light a fire just to keep warm."

I agreed with her and as we were surrounded by a snowy forest, we needed to move. I thought I had glanced mountains off in the distance and some flatter area opposite me, and I hoped it was warmer than it was here.

"Let's go then- this climate sucks."

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Kara and I climbed into a tree when the anthem started, playing on a holographic screen above the arena. We had been walking for hours, trekking through the forest which slowly faded from snowy, to a regular forest and then into a humid and pretty warm forest with tall and spindly trees, foliage blocking the sunlight.

The tree we found was on the edge of the regular forest but it had a touch of the climate from the spindly forest, making the temperature nice enough to sleep in without a jacket. I watched the seal as the faces of the fallen tributes showed up.

The first face surprised me- it was the boy from district one. Normally the careers, which included us, made it through the first day, but I supposed that it must have been an accident. Someone got the weapons before him, he wasn't defended well enough. He had seemed capable enough to fight.

No one from 2, obviously, as Kara and I were both still alive and kicking. No one from 3 or 4, the girl from 5. The girls from 8 and 9 and the girls from 11 and 12. 6 down, 18 more to go. I was interested to note that only one guy had been killed, the boy from 1 no less, and 5 girls were gone. No district had both tributes gone, but then again others could be injured.

Kara mentioned as the seal faded that she had been several injured but their faces weren't up there including one of the boys from 7, the girl from 10 and the boy from 11. She said she couldn't judge exactly how badly they were injured, but there was some blood.

Oh well, I thought, wrapping the rope around mine and Kara's waists so we were secured to the tree branch. Chances were someone would get to them before we did.

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Somehow both of us slept through the night uninterrupted, waking as the bird started to sing. The forest around us was completely void of human life other than the two of us and for a moment we sat in silence, enjoying the peace that we knew wouldn't last.

"Ready to go?" She asked, untying us. I nodded, my hand already gripped tightly around the handle of the knife.

"Hunt on the move? We need something to eat because the nuts aren't going to last very long." Another nod.

We didn't need to communicate as we walked, we instinctively knew where the other was going to step and what direction to go in. There was no point in leaving markers behind because we weren't going back that way and it would be another way for enemies to track us. In my mind, I ran over everyone we needed to fear.

The girls from 1, 3 and 4 had clearly formed a pack but with our agreement, they would leave us be. I assumed that others had made groups as well but with one of the boys from the 7 pair injured and the boy from 11 down too, they weren't threats and neither were any groups they were apart of.

The ones I was particularly worried about was the boys from 3 and 4- they had made no secret of their alliance during the interviews and neither of them was injured according to my knowledge- they would reek havoc if they decided too. The boy from 10 could be a problem as well, but only if he wasn't a lone wolf.

We stopped at a river to fill our bottles and Kara dipped her feet in- she looked gorgeous in the light and although I knew there was no chance of us both making it out alive, if we hadn't been reaped then I knew I would have married her. Kara saw me staring and stuck her tongue out.

Afterwards I visualized that moment, capturing her cheeky grin permanently in my mind because only a moment later a spear was launched through the trees, striking her in the leg. Her scream of pain was piercing and although my first instinct was to help her, I leapt to my feet to see where the attack had come from.

Through the tree bounded two boys- the massive boy who gave everyone a death stare from 10 and the boy from 6, someone I had taken particular notice of. Well I was now. They were clearly working as a team.

"Pete!" Kara cried, wrenching the spear from her leg. Despite the fact she was bleeding everywhere she still stumbled to her feet, holding her knife out as best she could. I stood in front of her, blocking everything I could.

The boy from 6 lunged at me first and his knife found home by sliding across my arm, drawing blood. I yelped but wasted no time making a stabbing motion at him, surprised and sickened when it struck him in the chest- he stumbled and fell back, choking. A cannon boomed, signalling his death.

Kara screamed again as the boy from 10 aimed at her, a knife launched in her direction. I didn't know it hit until after I had hit him as well, my knife, still sticky with blood from the first boy, cracking his skull and plunging deep into his head. I gagged as blood poured from his body, stepping back.

"K-Kara?" I stuttered, my eyes wide with shock. I had just killed two people. "Kara?"

I turned and almost screamed, collapsing to my knees. The knife had found her- striking her in the neck. The blood pouring from the wound as she lay on the ground was going to be fatal, I knew, it was too late to save her.

I held her in my arms as she died, the life fading from her eyes. Another cannon boomed, signalling the boy from 10's death. I sobbed brokenly, cradling her.

"Kara..." I pleaded. "No... please..."

Her cannon boomed in the distance, her eyes half closed. They were blank and staring off into the distance. I closed them, my body shaking with sobs as I tried to process what had happened- Kara was gone and I had killed two people.

I knew the gamemakers would want me to leave, so I shakily packed everything up and took the bags from Kara and the two boys, their weapons and jackets too. I left Kara behind me, curled up on her side.

I wanted revenge. I might be injured, but I was going to get back at everyone. I had the determination to win.