Day Two (Afternoon)


Mason Paits's P.O.V. (D7)

CRACK!

I turn around sharply to face Brenda and whisper, "Was that you?"

She has a worried look on her face when she shakes her head. She puts a finger to her lips, then points in a direction, "There are three of them, over there."

"Can you hear who it is?" I whisper as I try to peer through the thick, jungle brush.

She nods, "I heard Flora's voice."

I nod. That means that Blake and Kierra are with her.

I make Brenda sit down behind a thick tree and tell her that I'm going to take a look. I hear her protest, but I am already on my way.

I jump silently over a log and land on the soft jungle dirt. I brush a few vines out of my pathway. Then I see them. Brenda was right. It is Flora, but Kierra and Blake are with her. Flora is walking a few feet behind them though. I am tempted to attack them, but I change my mind when I realize they are all armed.

Suddenly, Brenda sneezes, and the three tributes freeze in their steps. I curse in my head as they turn towards Brenda's hiding place.

Blake and Kierra start to walk over to check out what made the noise, but Flora stays where she is, holding her dagger out defensively.

I can't just let them kill Brenda, and I don't have enough time to think of a plan. I leap from my hiding place and land on top of startled Flora.

I catch hold of her wrist and squeeze as hard as a can to get her to drop the knife. She screams loudly, attracting her allies' attention. I punch her in the nose to get her to stop. But it's too late now. Kierra and Blake have already seen me, and are running over to us.

While I glance at the two tributes running at me, Flora's fist hits my cheekbone. I stumble back just as Blake dives on top of me. He drives me to the ground and holds down my arms. I start to wriggle, trying to free myself from his grasp.

"Get his legs!" Blake's calls to Kierra, who immediately obeys. I try to kick her hands away, but she still manages to get a hold of my ankles. I am now completely pinned to the ground.

"Now what?" Kierra says.

"Now, I kill him," Flora says evilly as she steps forward with her dagger.

"No! Let me go!" I shout, but what good does that do?

I can do nothing but watch her twist her dagger menacingly in her hand as she comes closer. I kick my legs and pull my arms, but still can't get out of their hold. I finally stop trying and close my eyes, preparing for the worst.

The next thing I hear is a whizzing sound followed by the gasps of shock from Blake and Kierra. Then there is a thud.

BOOM!

I open my eyes to see Flora's dead body at my side, with an arrow sticking through her head. Then Brenda comes into the clearing with a loaded bow in her hands.

Blake gasps again, and Brenda points her bow directly at him, "Get away from him, or I'll shoot you next, Blake!"

"No!" Kierra screams.

"I won't shoot any of you if you let Mason go, and leave," she offers.

I feel Kierra's grip loosen on my legs. Then Blake reluctantly does the same. I scramble to my feet and step away from them.

"Now go!" Brenda orders them. I've never seen her so vicious.

Without a word, the two of them turn away and run from the clearing, leaving us with Flora's body.

Brenda finally lowers her bow and returns the arrow to her quiver when their footsteps can no longer be heard.

I turn to Brenda in shock, "How did you do that? I mean, shoot Flora?"

"I listened for her voice, and fired," she says simply, still facing the way Blake and Kierra ran off.

I look back at Flora. The arrow went right through the back of her skull, and out her mouth.

"I guess I should say thank you," I say.

"Yeah. Next time, bring me with you when you check something out."

"Or how about next time, you don't sneeze?" I shoot back playfully.

She sighs, "Come on, let's just get out of here."

Jason Wolfe's P.O.V. (D12)

Two canons went off today already. Eighteen tributes remain, including myself. Maybe this will be over sooner than we thought. So far, Nathan and I haven't encountered anyone in the Games. I'm starting to think that Nathan is some sort of lucky charm. His alliance didn't meet any tributes during the last Games either. Even if we did run into anybody, I feel like we should be fine, since Nathan is so good with his bow.

"I wonder who else has found out about the floating islands," Nathan says from up in a tree. He climbed up there to look out for any unwanted visitors.

I shrug, "Probably everyone. The real question is, how many of them are on this island with us?"

Nathan doesn't reply until a few minutes later, "I guess Dean and Kaya are."

I look up at him. He is gazing intently in a certain direction.

"Wait, really?" I ask as I stand up and reach for my spear.

"Yes," Nathan says in a more hushed tone, "Stay low. They might have not seen you yet."

Once I have my spear, I flatten myself to the ground as quietly as possible. By now, I can clearly hear the footsteps of two separate people. The footsteps seem to be getting closer and closer. I suck in my breath to keep from being heard.

Just then, the footsteps stop and someone says, "Who's there?"

I look up at Nathan, who motions for me not to say a word.

"Dean, what is it?" Kaya's voice asks from what sounds like a few meters away.

"Someone is over there," he answers.

I slowly let my breath out. My heart is beating so fast right now, that I'm surprised I haven't had a heart attack. The next thing I know, Dean is standing less than a foot away from my eyes.

I slowly look up at him. He takes a step back and reaches for a blowgun dart. I scramble backwards and grab my spear. Then I point it directly at him.

Kaya steps forward with a dagger in her hand, "Don't you dare. If you throw that spear, I'll throw my knife. You're outnumbered."

Kaya's last sentence proves that they think I'm alone. I now realize that I have a bit of an advantage here. I have Nathan in the tree, with his bow.

Both tributes start to close in on me and I stand up, taking a few steps back. I wonder if I should just run, and lead them away from Nathan. No, that's a bad idea. I know that I can't take them both down alone. Which also makes me wonder what's taking Nathan so long to do something. Is he just gonna stay up there and let them kill me?

Suddenly Kaya charges at me, her dagger raised above her head. I slide to the side, avoiding her attack. Then I turn and whack her legs with my spear, tripping her. Then I face Dean. He holds his blowgun to his mouth, but before he gets a chance to fire it, I run over to him and push him over.

A blood-curdling scream cuts through the air. I turn around to see Kaya standing directly behind me, an arrow through her hand. Her dagger drops to the ground by her feet. She falls to her knees, holding her shaking hand with the arrow in it.

"Kaya!" Dean shouts as he scrambles to his feet. He runs to her side and examines the arrow in her hand.

Then he starts searching the area for who made the shot. His eyes lock on Nathan in the tree, who is trying to climb down.

Before I can do anything, Dean raises the blowgun and fires a single dart at Nathan. It sticks into Nathan's right calf. He stops climbing and his head rocks from side to side. Then his hands slip from the trunk and he falls. He crashes through some of the lower branches and lands on the ground with a thud. Fortunately, he was low enough in the tree to make it not a fatal fall, but he was knocked unconscious.

"Nathan!" I cry, but he doesn't respond.

Dean helps Kaya to her feet and pulls her away from the campsite. I don't go after them, because I can't leave Nathan here alone.

I run over to Nathan and crouch beside him. I check his pulse. When I feel the steady throbbing of his pulse, I sigh, knowing that he is still alive. Then I shake him, trying to wake him up. He finally starts to stir, but passes back out.

I decide to give up trying to wake him, and move down to his leg instead. I inspect the area that has the dart in it. The skin is a little red, but it looks fine to me. I pull the dart out. I hope it wasn't poisoned. Hopefully it was just a sleeping drug or something.

I stand up and start to drag Nathan into the cover of some bushes.

Jean Lawren's P.O.V. (D1)

I scowl when I reach sight of the cornucopia. Clarice isn't back yet. I didn't see her back on the forest island after we split up either. She must still be chasing Tai, or she got lost after killing him. I'm sure she did kill him, because I heard a canon shortly after we split. Too bad I didn't get to kill any of those girlies. They ended up getting away, so I decided to come back here.

"Where's Clarice?" I ask Liam and Brendan. They look strangely excited about something.

They both shrug their shoulders, and Liam says, "She isn't back yet."

"But we have something to show you!" Brendan says.

I roll my eyes, "And what might that be? Did you kill someone or something?"

They shake their heads, "Just watch."

I watch them as they both bend down and press small red buttons on their boots that I hadn't noticed before. The next thing that happens surprises me. As soon as they pressed the buttons on both boots, they started to rise slowly into the air like they were flying.

I take a step back, wide-eyed, "H-how are you doing that?"

Liam leans over and presses two green buttons on his boots and he immediately drops to the ground. He explains, "It's easy! You just push the red buttons on your boots to float, and to go back down, you press the green ones. We all have the same boots."

"So, you basically turn off the gravity?"

"I guess you could say that. You wanna try?"

"No," I reply, "I would like to know where Clarice is. She should be back by now."

Brendan drops back to the ground, "Do you want us to go look for her?"

I wave my hand, "No, she'll find her way back. I don't want you guys getting lost too."

"Whatever you say," Liam says as he walks towards the horn, "Let us know if you change your mind."

We all walk over to the cornucopia and start up a fire and cook some food. I continually look out towards the ring of trees, wondering if I'll see Clarice coming through them. But there is nothing. Where is she?

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top