Olivia wakes up. Her back aches as she sits up straight. She quickly looks around. Great, no one has found me, she thinks relieved. The sun is already peeking through the trees. Sadly enough, the warmth of the sun gets easily overthrown by the cold harsh wind. Olivia stands up and thinks about what direction she should go to. If she goes to her right, she will go to the hill where she found some berries yesterday. But it will take her closer to the cornucopia than she is now. I could go the complete other way, but I have no idea what I'm going to find there. She can feel her stomach growl. Looks like my belly has spoken, she thinks. She grabs her walking stick from the ground and starts walking towards the hill.
The wind is howling as she passes the many trees and rocks. She puts her hood on and sternly continues walking. As she approaches the hill she can already see a green-blue coloured bush next to a big oak tree. As she climbs up the hill she can get a small view of the arena as a whole. She can see trees almost everywhere. On the other side of the arena there is some big cliffs with a waterfall. As she reaches the top of the hill she sees a big grass field stretching out before her. The big oak tree provides some cover from the wind. As she walks to the bush, she can hear footsteps. Someone appears to be running somewhere at the other side of the bush. She leaps to the tree and listens carefully. The footsteps get closer and closer until at once it stops. Olivia carefully peeks around the tree. The shadow of the tree provides a nice hiding spot. She sees Keith standing about 5 yards away from her, with one hand leaning against a tree. Should she say something to him? Will he try to kill her? Of course not, she thinks. Keith is her friend.
''Keith,'' Olivia says calmly as she walks from behind the tree.
Keith looks in shock at Olivia. His eyes widen.
''It's okay, I'm not going to do anything,'' Olivia tells truthfully.
Keith slowly walks backwards before turning around and sprinting away.
''Keith wait!'' Olivia screams as she starts to run after him. The cold air blows against Olivia's face as she tries to avoid running into any trees or bushes. Soon she learns she is never going to keep up with Keith. The fast pace of Keith fades as Olivia slows down her running.
Wes is already awake. He couldn't sleep at all last night. The freezing wind and the thought of getting killed kept him from even closing an eye. Instead he just listened to the sounds in the night. No cannons unfortunately. But in the midst of the night, he could hear the chuckling of water somewhere in front of him. Wes hasn't drunk anything since the games begun, so looking for a river might be a good idea.
Wes stands up and stretches his back. He zips his vest up unto his chin and grabs his blade. With the wind blowing at him from the side, he starts walking forward, hoping to hear the sound of water again. After walking for just a mere 50 yards he softly hears the trickling of water. The sound encourages him. He starts to sternly quicken his pace. As he keeps walking the ground slowly turns from flat to a slope. After a while he sees the river. It's a small river from probably just 4 feet wide, but the water seems fresh. Wes sits down on one knee next to the river. He dips his finger in the water and puts it in his mouth. It seems drinkable, he thinks. He makes a bowl out of his hands and starts drinking the water. As he looks downstream, he sees someone walking towards the river. Wes drops the water out of his hands and quickly lays down on his chest. He carefully tigers to some big rocks next to the river. There's a small crack between the rocks through which he is able to look down the river. The person is Mari. She opens her backpack and grabs a little metal flask. Wes watches as she walks to the river and fills the flask with water. She takes a few sips and fills it again. Mari takes a quick look around as she closes the flask. As soon as she turns around and walks towards her backpack, Wes stands up and jumps over the river. He sprints towards some trees. The big oak trees provide a good cover. Wes peeks around the tree and sees Mari standing with her back towards him. He starts to silently walk towards her by leaping from tree to tree. As he starts to get close, he stops behind a tree that's behind Mari and a little to her left. Wes looks around the left side of the tree. Good, she is still not looking in this direction, he thinks. Wes carefully squats down and grabs a pebble from the ground. As silent as can be, he steps from behind the tree, now in full view of Mari if she turns around. Wes holds his blade in his right hand. With his left hand he throws the pebble over Mari and into some bushes to her right. stunned Mari looks up towards the direction of the bushes. Wes quickly runs towards her. Just as she turns around he swings his blade at her. Mari falls down and the little metal flask falls into the dirt. The sound of a cannon beams through the sky. Wes grabs the flask and refills it with water. He also dips his blade in the river, washing off the blood. He puts the flask in the backpack. Wes looks down at Mari. He feels sorry. Don't think too much, he tells himself. If I win these games I have a chance to take out the capitol. I'm wondering if there will be any alliances. Maybe I should check to see if there are any teams at the cornucopia.
Courtney opens her eyes. She is lying on the tall grass. As she turns around she sees Shayne lying in front of her. He has his hoodie over his head.
Shayne slowly wakes up. He sees Courtney looking at him. ''Hey,'' he whispers as he stretches his arms.
''Hey,'' Courtney says softly.
''What are you thinking about?'' Shayne asks curiously.
Courtney smiles. ''Jango,'' she answers. ''My neighbours are taking care of him.''
Just as Shayne wants to respond there's the loud sound of a cannon. Shayne and Courtney look at each other terrified. Shayne sits up straight and looks around. He sees Noah lying on the grass and Lasercorn sitting against a tree. Ian is not with them though.
''Where's Ian?'' He asks in panic.
From behind Shayne, a dead rabbit gets dropped between him and Courtney. Courtney gets up as well. They see Ian standing next to them with a spear in his hand.
''Don't ask me how, but I caught breakfast,'' Ian says with a smile.
Shayne breathes a sigh of relief. ''I thought you might have been killed. We heard the cannon,'' he says.
''That wasn't me, that was my long-eared friend there next to you,'' Ian says jokingly as he drops the spear before Lasercorn.
''I've got some matches in my backpack. We can make a fire,'' Noah says as he stands up.
''Do we really want to make a fire?'' Lasercorn asks. ''The smoke will tell the other tributes exactly where we are and because of the excessive amount of bushes in this area, they have a good chance of sneaking up on us.''
The group looks around doubtingly.
''He's right,'' Ian speaks. ''The cornucopia is not that far away and at least there people can't sneak up on us.''
''Okay, let's go,'' Noah says.
Everybody grabs their weapons before they set out towards the cornucopia. The cold temperature makes the group walk with a quick pace. Noah is walking in front. Shayne catches up with him. He looks at Noah, who is deep in thought.
''Worried?'' Shayne asks.
''Sort of,'' Noah answers. ''I'm thinking about who could've been killed this morning.''
''Well, we know that Sohinki, Joven and Anthony have died and it wasn't one of us,'' Shayne tells. ''So it was either Wes, Mari, Keith or Olivia.''
Noah stops walking and holds Shayne back. ''It wasn't Olivia,'' he says as he points in front of him.
Shayne looks and sees Olivia walking in the same direction as them. She hasn't noticed them. Shayne looks back at Lasercorn, Ian and Courtney. ''Olivia is walking front of us,'' he says softly. ''What are we going to do?'' He asks.
Ian shrugs.
''Olivia!'' Courtney yells with her hands besides her mouth.
''What are you doing?'' Lasercorn asks Courtney slightly irritated.
In the distance they see Olivia turning around.
Courtney runs past the guys and towards Olivia.
Olivia smiles as she sees Courtney running towards her. She gives Courtney a hug.
''I was worried you might have been killed,'' Courtney tells.
''I'm okay, and I'm glad you are too,'' Olivia says laughingly.
In the meanwhile, the guys have approached them. They greet Olivia happily. After catching up for a while, Noah says, ''Let's go to the cornucopia. Ian has caught a nice rabbit.''
Just as they start walking Lasercorn says, ''Are we just going to let her into our alliance?''
The whole group turns around.
''There are only 8 people left, and with Olivia we have an alliance of 6,'' Lasercorn tells slightly annoyed. ''You guys are acting like this is some kind of happy camp adventure.''
There's an awkward silence.
''It's okay Lasercorn,'' Ian tells calmly.
''No, it's not okay. We will soon be the last group standing and what happens then?''
''Then we will split up and everyone will have an even chance,'' Shayne speaks.
Lasercorn thinks about Shayne's answer. he lets out a big sigh.
''You can trust us Lasercorn. If we're going to kill you, we will let you know,'' Courtney tells jokingly.
Lasercorn laughs. ''I guess you're right.'' He sticks his spear in the ground. ''I'm going to gather some wood for the fire. And I also need some time to think.''
''I'll help you,'' Ian says blissfully as he hands over the rabbit to Olivia.
''Noah, can we borrow your backpack to carry the wood?'' Lasercorn asks.
''Yeah, sure,'' Noah answers as he hands over the bag.
Lasercorn opens the bag and takes out the little wooden box with matches. ''Here,'' he says as he hands the matches to Noah. ''If you guys start a small fire with some dry leaves or something, we will come bring the bigger branches.''
Noah nods.
''We'll see you guys soon!'' Ian says as he waves them goodbye.
The group starts walking towards the cornucopia. Wait, my knives are still in the backpack, Noah thinks. He gasps as he turns around. He sees Lasercorn standing behind Ian with his arm around Ian's neck. He is holding one of the throwing knives to Ian's throat. Just as the entire group turns around, Lasercorn slashes Ian's throat. Ian's body falls to the ground. Lasercorn turns around, grabs his spear and sprints off into the woods.
The whole group stands frozen while looking at Ian's body. It's almost unreal. The sound of a cannon brings them back to reality. They all run towards Ian's body.
''I'm going to run after him. If I sprint I might be able to catch up with him,'' Shayne tells as he peers into the woods.
''No, Shayne,'' Courtney says. ''Lasercorn has a spear. That means he has a big distance advantage. Running after him will only put you at risk.''
''Then what are we going to do?'' Shayne asks with a bitter expression on his face.
''Let's stick to our original plan. We'll go to the cornucopia, have some food and then figure out our next step.''