THE CAREERS WERE MAKING CAMP IN THE WOODS. Apollo and Hunter used their strong hands to haul logs and make a base of sorts.
Pearl had just finished fishing for the day, which required an outing that was a bit far away from the forest. She hadn't seen Opal in a bit, and Pearl had ever intent to give the girl some of the fish she caught.
She wandered through the beginning of the woods, softly calling the girl's name. "Opal!"
Pearl knew she was in Opal's territory, because she saw the small shelter that the girl made. She grew worried when she continued to receive no response.
"Opal."
It was silent again, and Pearl was about ready to give up. She started to walk away when she heard someone running towards her.
"Pearl!"
Opal caught her off guard by pulling her into a tight embrace. Pearl relaxed and slowly put her arm around the girl. Only their breathing was heard in the emptiness of the forest.
Pearl pulled away and offered the basket to Opal. "I went fishing specifically for you."
Opal's face lit up again as her hungry eyes scanned all of the food in the basket. "I feel awful, Pearl. I don't want to take away all the food you've collected."
"It's ok."
Opal smiled. "Thank you."
"I won't be with the Careers much longer, I promise," Pearl said before her and Opal parted.
It was true. Pearl really had to make a move against them soon. She was still struggling to figure out how she was going to take on all of them.
She was heading back toward the base of the Careers.
"Where do you think you're headed?"
Pearl turned around at the sound of the deep voice. It belonged to Hunter. He slowly walked towards her, while brushing some of his dark locks back.
"Hunter... toward our base."
Her stomach twisted in knots as he neared her. Pearl knew that he knew. He must have been stalking in the distance while she spoke with Opal.
"I always knew you would choose that District 12 girl."
He wasn't wrong. Opal was more human than any of them were. She was pure and she was what a true ally should be.
"I was just giving her some food. I couldn't let her starve after what she did for me," Pearl tried to explain.
Everything became more intense when she noticed the extremely large knife in Hunter's hand.
Hunter was close now. He took the knife and lifted her chin up with it. Pearl looked up in fear and fury.
"If you were loyal, you'd kill her. I tried to warn Apollo about you from day 1. I never quite understood why he took such a liking to you," Hunter snickered.
Pearl gripped her trident hard. She would have stabbed him right now, but he could easily slice her throat if she tried. Pearl wanted to be able to go home. She couldn't imagine Marie watching her beheading on live television.
"I honestly think he might have a little crush on you, which is honestly adorable. But here's the thing Pearl; I couldn't care less how pretty you are. All that matters is me winning these games."
That was a backhanded compliment if Pearl ever heard one. Did Apollo really like her? She thought of the Career's overly friendly actions towards her.
Pearl tried to look away from Hunter and think of her next move. Why hadn't he killed her yet? He was just taunting her.
Hunter lowered his knife and suddenly grabbed her by the throat with his open hand. Pearl was immediately spun to face him as she felt her body lift off the ground.
She reached for the strong hands that were clasped around her throat, but she came to the realization that she was choking.
Pearl tried to force out Hunter's name in a beg for mercy, but she couldn't speak. She felt her body begin to shut down.
Her trident had already fallen to the ground.
Pearl suddenly used all of her strength to kick Hunter straight in the chest. He yelled and then let her go. Pearl fell to the ground. She considered running, but had a much better idea in mind.
She crawled towards her trident and then sprung to her feet. Pearl was quickly knocked back onto the ground by Hunter landing practically on top of her.
Pearl had really underestimated Hunter's strength. She had no clue how he only got a score of 7 in the training evaluation. Her smaller body was struggling. Her hand still had a hold on the trident.
So, she lifted it up towards him. Pearl plunged it into Hunter's chest. His mouth widened as he became limp on top of her. Not the best move. Pearl had to fight to push his larger body weight off her.
She got up with her trident in her hand and stared at what she believed to be a dead Hunter Gibon.
Before Pearl could even process what she did, Hunter got back on his feet weakly. "You think you can kill me?"
"I mean, yeah."
Pearl threw the trident at his bloodied body and he fell to the ground harder this time. Hunter was really gone this time.
Pearl had killed Hunter.
The cannon boomed.
A pool of blood began to swarm Hunter's body, and she felt bad looking at his lifeless face and completely messed up dark hair. She hated Hunter from the beginning, but she didn't really mean it when she thought about killing him.
But Pearl truly had no reason to feel bad. Hunter attacked her and tried to kill her first. She was just defending herself.
It was now that she knew she was in Career exile. As soon as they found out she killed Hunter, they would try and hunt down Pearl.
There was a chance that Hunter told them before he died. They could be searching for her right now, and Pearl knew that she had to get far away from the Career base. It wasn't worth the risk of going back to get supplies, even though she would be loosing important resources. Pearl had her trident, and that was what mattered.
She had to find Opal.
Pearl had figured out that there were nine turned remaining, including herself. All of the Careers aside from Hunter were alive, which once included her but also four others. Both District 3 tributes were gone, and she was the only one who remained from District 4.
There was one boy left from District 5, but the girl was dead. Both District 6 tributes were dead, and the same with Districts 7 and 8. There was a boy left from District 9, Ruth. There was a girl from 10, Amanda. Both District 11 tributes were gone, and only Opal remained from District 12.
The games were beginning to come to a close, and Pearl wasn't sure how to feel. Both her and Opal couldn't survive. Even though they weren't allies anymore, she didn't want to have to kill Apollo. She didn't want to have to kill any of the other tributes.
Pearl wandered through the woods until she found Opal trying to start a fire. Pearl immediately rushed over.
"Opal, that could get you killed. The smoke will show other tributes where you are."
Opal turned around in surprise, not expecting to see Pearl standing behind her. "What happened to heading back to the Careers?"
"Hunter found out I was allied with you. He tried to kill me, but I killed him first. I'm their enemy now."
Opal continued to try and light a fire, despite Pearl warning her against it. She suddenly knew why, as it started to feel a lot colder than normal. Pearl felt tingling chills throughout her body and her skin grow red. She was freezing. What was with the sudden temperature drop?
"Is it just me, or is it really cold?" Pearl asked the District 12 girl.
Opal laughed a bit. "That's exactly why I started making the fire."
Pearl watched as singular flurries began to fall from the sky at an unusual speed. Small patches of white fell across her face and onto the grass. It was snowing.
She had never heard of it snowing in the Hunger Games arenas before. She hadn't even seen it rain or have much weather at all.
Pearl had to make sure she wasn't imagining things when the snow started to come down thicker and faster.
"Snow," Opal noted.
"Snow," Pearl repeated in a much angrier tone.
President Snow did this. He wanted the tributes to be under his reign, even while fighting in their lives for the arena. Not every tribute was smart enough to recognize it, but Pearl was.
Snow was calling all over them, and they didn't have a choice. Pearl wondered if this was a response to her misbehavior throughout her time as a tribute. If it snowed much more, the tributes would be buried beneath snow and forever forgotten in the arena.
Pearl's wishes were unfortunately unconsidered. The snow kept coming down at a more rapid pace.
"What do we do? We're going to freeze!" Pearl exclaimed, clearly beginning to panic.
Opal began to run and gestured for Pearl to follow her. Trident in hand, Pearl sprinted after her friend. "You know the tiny mountain? There's a cave, and we should be able to seek shelter in there!"
Pearl nodded as the snow only got heavier and heavier. She had never seen it come down and stick to the ground so fast before. Capitol technology really had become advanced thanks to the newest president.
Her and Opal hid in this rather small cave. The snow piled onto the ground outside, and the lakes froze. Pearl wondered how many other tributes were able to survive.
She really didn't want it to come down to just her and Opal. Pearl desperately wanted to get out of this arena, but she couldn't kill Opal. She knew that she would have to take her own life.
It was freezing. Pearl had never been so cold in her entire life. It got cold during the night in District 4 due to all of the bodies of water, but it never got this cold.
Opal took notice to the rose in Pearl's hair. "Where did you get that from? It's pretty."
Pearl knew she couldn't tell Opal the truth. She couldn't just tell the girl she got it from Coriolanus Snow, the tyrannical and psychotic president of Panem. She wasn't normally a liar, but she had to be.
"I found it in the woods," she lied.
Opal smiled, curling herself up into a little ball. It was hard to be comfortable in a cave made out of stone.
"I've got to get comfy somehow," Opal mumbled with a small laugh.
Pearl admired how enthusiastic Opal seemed to be in such a tough time. A big change in the arena like this only meant it was getting towards the end of the games.
The cannon boomed twice and Pearl got chills.
The boy from 5 and Amanda from 10.
7 tributes remain.