The Hunger Games - Through the Fire and Flames - Book 1

Chapter 15

I looked out over the cave and saw nothing but water, just a few hours ago there was just a small river and now it was gone. What were we going to do, was what I was concerned about. We couldn't go back so we had no choice but to move forward.

"We swim, there is no other way. I am sure I saw at least one ledge that was high enough to stay clear of the water so if we get inside we can find it." Raider spoke up.

Why was this kid always so pushy when it came to what to do and when to do it. But he did make a point. If we don't risk it we might as well kill ourselves now and save ourselves the trouble of being possibly tortured by the other Tributes. I put my arms through the bag that contained the food and handed the other to River who was stronger than myself when it came to lifting. I then passed my bow and sheaths to Phoenix before I just tossed the spears into the river below. Maybe they would be carried so far away no one could find them. Raider had the bag with the basic things like our sleeping bags and first aid kit.

I jumped into the water and pushed my self to the surface before I began a labored swim. It wasn't until I was a few feet away I realized I couldn't see. I called out to my brother and told him to have everyone put on a pair of the glasses and bring me mine. After we all adjusted to the night vision we began our swim to the closest slab of dry rock we could find which was a 2 1/2 minute swim inwards. Once we reached the rock it was a small climb across rocks before we were able to lay down.

After getting my lungs back to their regular breathing pattern I grabbed the back pack and that had our sleeping bags and passed them out. There were six of us so we had to pair up again. Two of the boys ended up sharing one, my brother shared with Tyne since she was small enough to fit with him and I shared with Phoenix. After we were stripped down to our skins we slipped into the sleeping back and shivered ourselves to sleep. I had no idea how Raider and Mitchelle felt laying naked beside each other but I felt more awkward than anything. I couldn't deny the fact that I was warmer with my clothes off at the moment then on but tomorrow we would pull them back on and hope they dried quickly.

After getting passed the awkwardness of the nakedness I was able to relax enough to fall into a deep sleep. When I woke the next day I was in shock when I heard voices from near the hidden mouth of the cave. It took me a while to realize I was in my sleeping bag alone. I looked around and saw Phoenix fully clothed and braced with a weapon. Beside him were the other four clothed as well. I quickly grabbed my clothes and got dressed before I hastily put our sleeping bags away and joined them with my bow.

"Do you know who it is?" I asked them in a quiet voice.

"It sounds like Layla." Just then her face appeared and we ducked down into a belly stance. "Over here its a hidden cave I bet you they went in here."

I heard Essence voice she sounded very angry. "Wait till I get ahold of them I'll kill em myself." I didn't doubt her.

I turned to my allies and nodded behind us. We grabbed our things and silently slipped from view. We climb behind a large boulder and made our ways to the top of it that over looked the entire cave. We were high up that we could see anyone entering and they couldn't see us. The sounds of splashing water grabbed our attention and I pulled a few knives from the bag. I thought it'd be smart to save my arrows for more long distance kills.

Sure enough I saw the five tributes swimming into the cave. Rayda who was a terrible swimmer made it five feet before the watter seccumbed her to her death. A blast went off. The other four kept swimming and didn't even seem to acknowlege her death at the slightest. I took aim at the leader near the from who was Essence and then stopped before handing the knife over to my brother.

"Essence" I whispered to him

I watched my brother take aim and then throw the knife. It whizzed across the room and lodged itself deep into her skull immeadiately the water began tinting red. A loud blast was heard and then a mighty roar emerged from Ethans mouth. Ethan wrapped an arm around his sister and used his other arm to propel them both to shore. The moment he was on two feet he went into a rage.

"You stupid scared bitches. You killed her, now I'm going to kill you. Don't bother hiding because I'll find you." Him and the final two remaining in his group went off down the other side of the cave and disappeared.

"Do you think they will find us?" Tyne said.

Phoenix shook his head. "He is from District 1 I highly doubt he could track a thing they don't have forests. What is he going to do track a jewel." He said with a slight snort.

"So he lied to get into my group?" I asked.

"I think he lied to get close to you so he could kill you." Phoenix replied.

I felt betrayed and stupid at the same time. How could I have allowed him to get past my gaurd. That made me wonder if what his sister said was true. Mitchelle shook his head at my question.

"I tested her myself when I challenged her in a hand in hand combat I gave her a piece of paper and she just crumpled it up and tossed it before she said 'what the hell am I suppose to do with a piece of paper.' She just wanted to talk herself up." Mitchelle explained. "Even so she was a terrible fighter she didn't even do anything but slap me if I got too close. She is also a terrible aim she threw a knife and it went off course by 3 feet."

I suddenly felt anger towards the District 1 tributes. They both lied and they both were riding on us expecting us to help them survive because they didn't know how to. Suddenly I was relieved that I didn't let her throw that knife. If she was as bad an aim as Mitchelle said she would have gave away our location to that girl and anyone else who might have been nearby watching.

"So what's the plan boss?" Tyne asked me.

I sighed as I leaned against a wall to think. "Lets go and eat." I said as my stomach growled. "After that we can hunt those traitors down and kill them one by one."

No body objected to my plan which was a relief so now it was time to do some cooking. I pulled several different fruits from the bag and began cutting them up into small pieces before placing them aside. I plucked a few mint leave and grabbed the miniature pot from another bag and began a gentle fire. The salty water would help draw the smoke smell from the smoke as it filled the air so I wasn't really worried about them finding us. After the fruit was warm I put out the fire and we all began eating warmed fruit cocktail.

"This is good" Phoenix said after he took a bite.

"Thank Raider he picked most of the fruits you are eating." In turn we all thanked him.

We each took time to get to know one another and what their best overall contributing skill was. I was good at hunting and cooking, my brother was good at turning objects into deadly projectiles (the rock incident from my youth reminded me every day). Phoenix was great at building things from scratch. Tyne whose real name was Alexis was good at climbing trees and finding sources of water. Raider was good at finding edible plants, better than I am. Lastly Mitchelle was good at creating traps. After getting to know my crew I knew I felt at ease.

Now that we ate and were rested a bit more it was time to hunt the other three. Where to go looking for them though. After a while I came to realize that each tribute was good at something they learned in their District. That was why the two from District 1 didn't know much they could hardly even swim. The only reason Ethan was able to get through was because of his muscles. Layla was the only one who was a confident swimming because she was from the fishing district.

I began thinking hard and realized they were only good on dry land so they would obviously go up. We gathered our things and set out heading in the direction we last saw the enemies.