Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter 13 Running

I am woken up a few times in the night by some animal or just the sound of the wind. It's hard for me to fall back asleep because I'm so scared. When I finally wake up when it's light, I can't fall back asleep- and I shouldn't. I try not to wake Levy up but the survival blanket crinkles when I move and he is aroused.

"Morning," he says groggily.

"Hey."

"Do you want to eat something?"

"Something small. We need to ration it."

"Yeah." He reaches into his bag and pulls out the box of crackers. He gives me two and takes two. Then he opens the meat and gives me a small piece. He also takes a small piece, then replaces them in his bag. We eat our small breakfast and fold the blankets to put them in our backpacks.

"We need to find water first," I say.

"Then we can see about getting you home." He smiles a little.

"You too," I remind him.

"Of course," he says. We put the backpacks on and pick up our weapons. We start walking.

"They're watching us," I realize.

"Yeah. Weird." He thinks about that for a second. We hike through the forest. It's really hard with all the undergrowth and no trail.

My throat gets really dry and I sweat a lot. I know we need water very soon.

Do we have sponsors? Will they send us water? I have no way of knowing. The only thing I know is: water is downhill.

I am in almost exactly the same predicament as Katniss was. I hope we find water. I don't want to die like that.

"Stop," Levy whispers. I freeze, heart racing. I hear some kind of rustling. It's very close. It stops. I start breathing again.

"Do you want water?" a voice asks. I look around but don't see anyone.

"Who are you?" Levy has an arrow nocked and has pulled the string halfway back.

"Patrick," he says. I recognize the voice.

"Yes we want water," Levy says.

"I can show you where it is."

"We can't see you."

"I don't want to die," he says almost playfully.

"I'm not going to kill you. We want water," Levy responds.

That's a good way to keep someone from killing you: make yourself useful to them.

"Put the arrow away," Patrick says. I don't blame him for being cautious.

Levy puts the arrow back in the quiver.

Patrick jumps down from a tree and stays a good ten feet away from us. "This way," he says. He starts walking, looking back at us every few seconds. It's a little to the left of where we were headed.

In a few minutes, I hear the sound of water and, a minute later, can see it. I glance around, suspicious, but nothing seems to be wrong.

"Take the purifier," Levy tells me. I take it out of his backpack and kneel next to the stream. I attach it to the canteen and start pumping the water. My dad would take us all backpacking sometimes so I know how to use a water purifier. It takes a while, but I eventually fill the canteen. I hold it out to Levy but he says, "You first," so I take a long drink. It's cold and refreshing. Then Levy takes it and drinks. I stand.

"Do you want some?" I ask Patrick.

"Um... no," he says. He looks distressed.

"Have you seen Marcy?" Levy asks.

"Yes. She.... Marcy, you can come out now," he calls.

I hear a little rustling, then see her. She runs over to us. "Hello."

"Hello," I say. "Do you want some water?" I ask her.

"No," she says.

"I told her to hide in case you were... a threat," Patrick says, nervously glancing around.

"Do you want to be allies?" I ask.

"Esther," Levy says with a slight warning in his voice.

"Oh." I realize I should have asked him first. "Levy, do you want to ask them to be allies with us?"

He sighs. "For now."

"Okay," I say, "So do you?"

"Sure," Patrick says. He gives me a strange look, then looks away into the forest. He looks very distracted.

"Yes," Marcy agrees, smiling.

"Do you have supplies or weapons?" Levy asks.

"Just a small backpack and a knife,"  Patrick says. He's kind of nervous, shifting his feet and looking around. These Games are probably making him anxious.

"Okay," I say.

"So what do we want to do?" Levy asks.

"Marcy and I were just planning on staying here," he says quickly.

"We should hunt down the others," Levy says. I know it's violent and inhumane but I see his reasoning. Only two are getting out alive and one of them will be me in his eyes. Everyone else is an obstacle that has to die.

"I agree. Kind of," I say. I am not thrilled at the idea of killing anyone.

"Can we leave Marcy here?" Patrick asks.

"We can't risk it. Someone could come along," Levy says.

"Yeah." I realize I'm agreeing with everything Levy says, but he's right. Marcy will be safer with us to protect her.

"Alright," Patrick says and glances around again.

We fill all our bottles with purified water and then start walking. More people will be closer to the Cornucopia because it is either familiar, they are hoping to get food or supplies from it, or they couldn't get very far from it.

It takes a while and we walk for a very long time but we finally reach the grassy field that holds the Cornucopia. I see the pile of supplies at the mouth that the careers are hoarding.

"I wonder if they're guarding it," Levy says.

"Probably. They wouldn't leave it like that," I say.

Suddenly, I hear a cannon go off. A minute later, a helicopter comes and reaches down. I can't see the body clearly. It was on the other side of the clearing. A few minites later, three people emerge from the trees and walk to the pile of supplies. Another comes from the cornucopia's mouth. It was guarded. They meet and start talking. I can't see them clearly from here.

They start walking to us.

We're hidden in the trees. Could they have seen us?

Levy starts backing away. I follow him.

Patrick and Marcy come too. By the time the careers reach where we just were, we're far away. We start running.

I hear a shout from one of the careers.

Crap.

I run for my life.

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