Bernet912

“Are you sure this is going to work?” I swing my legs. Hadrian and I both sit perched on the edge of a cliff. We’re only eight or nine metres from the water, but that’s still enough to give us broken bones. Especially if the water is shallow. Hadrian is holding the twine that runs down to the hook he made.  Every few minutes, he recasts the line. I think he might be just as hungry as I am. “Yeah, about that. I’m beginning to have my doubts. There should be fish feeding somewhere this shallow, but it’d be better if we weren’t so hungry,” he says. I sigh irritably. “So now, after we&r

First came the rain She had always liked the sound of it Liked how it feel in crystal cascades Then came the thunder A deep rumble A warning Then came the lightning Brief, electric flashes of jagged, sharply drawn lines Then came the wind It was amplified to a howling a wail for a lost cause Then came the hail Turning the rain to sleet icy waves falling from the sky Then came the screaming A bloodcurdling cry mimicking the wind Then came the silence Just as suddenly as it had begun, the storm ended The storm ended with a deafening quiet Finally came the darkness and the girl, the storm bringer, unraveled Her black curls settled dripp

“Do you have any water?” Hadrian asks. “Look in the pack,” I snap back. It’s not his fault I’m in an irritable mood; my wounds burn from walking. I think they might even have started bleeding again. He pulls out one of the water bottles, and shakes it. Instead of water moving inside, there is nothing. He stops walking, which I’m secretly glad about. The back of my knees hurt, hurt more than anything. I don’t want to be the one that suggests we stop to rest. I slump against a tree trunk, and examine the wounds. I should dress them, but I want to reach somewhere safe first. Do the Careers reall

There was a girl an innocent girl until the dark stole her from the light And the dark broke her It washed the colour from her eyes and replaced the green with gold Her world bent over backwards because she no longer saw the light only the dark And then everyone shut her out When she smiled, it was no longer an innocent smile Nothing could hurt her anymore Because if it did She’d hit back And then the dark toyed with her She played with men She played with their minds until they broke too She was no longer innocent And then she gave up a part of herself She stopped feeling one thing there was left to feel; guilt Because she fin

He saved me. I told him I hated him, tried to kill him, but in the end he saved me. I can barely believe it. Hadrian is a Career. He sided with the Careers. But he still defied them. For me. Why? I run, faster than I have before. Running for my life. The forest has turned against me; it tries to hurt me, tries to slow me down. The pain from the back of my knees is excruciating. Each step becomes a stumble, as my body decides it can’t go any further. I try to will it on, try to push through the blinding agony, but collapse to the ground all the same. I can’t do it. I can’t do it. Hadrian saved my life; I should keep trying,

I hear voices. This is the first thing I process. My eyes snap open, and I see the late afternoon sun hanging low in the sky. The second thing I process is the voices below me. They’re loud, which means the owners aren’t afraid of being discovered. And they’re discussing how to kill me. “Couldn’t we just climb up there?” “She’s thirty-odd pounds lighter than you. You wouldn’t be able to get up there.” “You can’t climb up to her unless you want a long, painful fall.” The last voice is what really jars me into motion. Hadrian. That means the voices can only belong t

Sunlight. It hurts. It’s bright, a harsh midday spotlight. A spotlight that stretches around the arena.I remember where I am, and sit up suddenly. I can see the bank I fell down. It’s a good ten fifteen metres high, and very steep. I’m in a ditch of sorts. Debris from the forest is laid on top of me, stuck in my hair. I pull the worst out of my hair. It takes me a few seconds to freeze. My axe. My weapon.My only weapon. Where is it? I search frantically through the debris. I need to find it. It’s the only thing that I can fight with. Where is it? I see a glinting under dead leaves. I push them aside in such eager that

Fear has taken over. With shaking hands, bloodied hands, I lower myself down to where I was sitting before. I don’t trust myself to stay high in the trees. It might give me cover, sight, but I’m too afraid. I’m afraid of everything. The mutts, the tributes, being discovered. My biggest fear is death. Not only the physical pain. So afraid. Sunlight reflects off the glassy lake. It’d be beautiful, if I hadn’t seen how blood made the water red, a washed out crimson. There could be all sorts of hidden dangers in the lake. Did I ever consider the possibility of mutts? Of course not; I was too busy trying to survive.

A figure steps out of the trees. The boy from Five. Gladius’s ally. He wields a sword, a long, thin blade. I notice now that he’s at least a head taller than I am. He’s build similarly to Gladius. This makes him a challenging opponent. But I remember that if I want to go home, I need to be the last survivor. That require the death of all the other competitors. If the boy from Five is here, Gladius can’t be far behind. Everyone in the arena seems to have an ally, someone to watch their back. As the boy from Five walks towards me, I step backwards. His sword has a much longer reach than my axe, but he’s a lot big