Young Writers Society

Des- District 10

I knew something was wrong when I woke up soaked in sweat. Immediately throwing off my windbreaker jacket, I looked around. Tree were quickly turning yellow, then brown, then grey and dead, the bark dry and crisp. Fiske was on watch.

"Fiske, what's going on?" I asked in a panic. He was looking at the trees in confusion.

"I don't know," he answered hoarsley, as if his throat was dry as well. "It just started fifteen minutes ago."

"Fifteen minutes?" I looked up at the sky and my heart dropped to my stomach. He was looking back at me. The boy from my district that I never got to know along with every other face of the dead. Rayda... the new kid that just showed up when the games started... they stared down at us blankly, they're eyes glossed over.

I let out a shriek, waking up Reed and Ryder.

"Wasrong?" Ryder asked sleepily.

Tears were rolling down my cheeks as I pointed up at the sky. Reed pushed my hand back down and looked at me hard.

"Don't look at them," she ordered, but her voice was just as shaky. "It's what the gamekeepers want."

I but my lip to keep from crying and grabbed one of the canteens. I was really thirsty.

"When did it get so dry?" asked Ryder. He also grabbed a canteen and took a swig.

"About fifteen minutes ago," Fiske answered again. The tree began to creek as the bark dried up and the leaves died out. "I think we should get out of here."

"Agreed," said Reed, picking up a pack. We each climbed down as quickly and as carefully as we could, but the wait seemed to be too much on the dying tree. I was on the ground with Ryder, but Fiske and Reed were still on their way when the tree began to wobble and a dangerous cracking sound errupted near the base of the trunk. The tree was going to fall!

"JUMP!" I screamed. The tree began to lean towards us as the cracking grew louder. I saw two shadows fall to the ground before the tree started to fall on top of us. We ran to the side just as the tree branches crashed to the ground and wood shattered like glass. There was a shot of pain in my leg. I looked down and saw a splinter sticking out of the side of my calf like a well shot arrow.

"Reed?! Fiske?!" Ryder hollered hoarsely before doubling over coughing. So much for a safe night.

Luce Avery - 8

As we tumbled through the arena in search of water, it slowly began to heat up. Before long, we were covered in a sheen of sweat and my throat started to burn.

"Edur," I gasped out slowing to a stop.

He looked back frowning, his eyes softening when he saw me tremble.

"We'll take a quick break here, okay?" Edur said tiredly.

I hated slowing him down, but my ankle throbbed and burned on every step and I didn't need to unwrap it to know that it must already be swollen with an infection. I nodded and he took my bag from me to lighten up the weight.

"Thanks," I mumbled, smiling at him softly, "What would I do without you."

He smiled back wistfully and for a moment, we just sat there in the stifling heat. The silence was broken by a distant snap of the twig.

My head shot up, eyes, filled with panic, "What was that?"

Ignoring the pain, I wobbled over to Edur and took his hand. Someone...something was coming this way.

"We've got to get out of here now, will you be okay?" Edur asked while scanning the forest.

I nodded and we started to run. Maybe that was a hallucination due to the heat, but nearby, I also heard a growl.

Alen



Alen was sweating all over his face but the heat was getting worse than Alen started to freaking out. his does not have any water and does not know where to find any water but at this rate of the tempature going up all the water in the arena. He had to think hard what is the biggest water source of water after thinking he know where he had to go now.Alen started off up a cliff to what direction to see if there was still water around the arena left.

After getting to the top Alen looked around and seen a small body of water on the other sideof the forest.Alen started to head for it at a brisk walk.

Edur

HEALTH: 78/100 HUNGER: 80/100 THIRST:65/100



Edur tightened his grip on Luce's hand as they ran through the forest. He knew there was a body of water here and hopefully, they were going in the right direction.

They were being chased. It was getting obvious as the snaps and rustles behind them slowly crept closer, closing the distance between them. For crying out loud, it was the middle of the night and the heat was high enough to kill.

"D-did you hear that?" Luce said coarsely.

He knew she was on the edge. Stamina was never her strong point, but now, the heat was also stifling. She looked like she was about to break.

"Hear what?" I mumbled distractedly.

"Water...splashing sounds..." she whispered. It was almost too good to be true.

"C'mon then, lets hurry," I told her, tugging her hand with me.

She nodded, too weak to say anything else and before long, I could hear the faint splashes too. A small, shadowy figure was by the shore, leaning over the water. Who was it? He squinted and against the moonlight, he could make at that it was a guy...dark haired too. Alen? He dared not hope.

We leaned against a tree to catch our breaths.

"Edur?" Luce inquired.

"I'm right here."

"I...I really don't think I can go on a lot longer, I'm really tired," she said without looking at him. He had a cold, gut churning feeling about this.

"My point is..." she smiled at him, "Promise me you'd fight like hell to survive. For me."

Edur frowned at her and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "Don't say stuff like that, you'd be fine, we'd be fine."

Snap.

He bolted up, suddenly aware of how close the thing was to them. All common sense thrown aside, he started tugging Luce with him again, running along the trees towards the figure.

Hopefully when two strangers are thrown together under one enemy, they'd become allies.

Ryder~

Ryder got a rude awakening from his Allies, and when he tried to find them; the are burned his lungs and blood covered his hands. Doubling over in a fit of coughing, he crawled until he had enough strength to stand.

I need to find water

He walked through the forest, coughing and hacking as he did. Hoping a lake or a pond would make it's way to his vision, it didn't. He collapsed to the ground in exhaustion before he could find anything.

Des- District 10

I ran to the tree and started digging through the branches to find Reed and Fiske. Ryder had passed out on the ground, so at least he wouldn't move.

"Reed? Fiske?"

There was a faint coughing coming from the trunk... on the other side of the fell tree!

"Reed!" I shouted, so relieved that she was okay. So was Fiske! I ran over to both of them. They looked a sight. Their hair and faces dirty and covered in dust, a few little holes punctured their clothes.

"Are you two okay?" I asked, brushing the dust and dirt off like I would a lamb or child that had decided the play in the mud.

Their hands quickly moved away from each other when I noticed they had held hands when falling. To just keep from getting seperated?

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine," Reed replied, standing up and stretching. "So much for being safe in the trees."

Fiske got up too. "Do we still have our water?" he asked. I nodded and went back to where I left Ryder. The packs were there along with the water, but Ryder was gone. WHAT THE--

"Ryder? RYDER!" I shouted. By the look of his tracks, he got up and stumbled off into the woods.

"Where's Ryder?" asked Fiske.

Tears started welling again. I had had it! My fists clenched, my eyes slammed shut and I screamed. It wasn't a scream of fright or of delight. This was angry. Never in my life have I gotten this angry before. It was so much... too much. First getting picked for the games, then that stupd Career slicing me with a knife, losing my own district partner, those horrible faces in the sky, the tree falling, losing Reed and Fiske for a moment only to have my joy snubbed by this. Too much.

"Des?" Reed asked uncertainly.

I choked from the dry air. "I-I don't know. I just left him here for a second and he's run off."

"So what do we do?" asked Fiske. "Go find him? Who knows what monsters are lurking through those trees. We're better out in the open where we have the vantage point."

"He's dying. He'll never make it on his own in there," Reed said simply.

"Then we've got to go find him. I haven't gotten this far just to let him die!"

"Des--"

I cut her off. "He WON'T DIE! Are you going to help me or not?"

Reed Willimon, District 11 female tribute: DAY 2, ABOUT 4 A.M.


Reed felt so sorry for Des. After Ryder had stumbled away, she had lost it. She was almost on the verge of insanity. Reed remembered watching past years of the Hunger Games. It was common for it to drive you a little mad at times.

The girl choked back a few tears, wanting to stay strong for Des, as she said, "He's dying. He'll never make it on his own in there." Pain from the thought of losing him, and from the physical pain she got when the tree toppled over, filled her voice. She rubbed her bruised hands and weary arm muscles before shouldering her pack. Thankfully, the green bag was only slightly beat up and its contents had survived the tree incident.

"Then we've got to find him," Des countered. "I haven't gotten this far to let him die!" Her voice was hoarse from the dryness of the air as she shouted.

Reed's eyebrows knit together in concern. "Des-" she started with concern, but was cut off by the 10 tribute.

"He won't die! Are you going to help me or not?" Des pleaded with distress.

"Of course! That's what I was trying to say," Reed replied sadly. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead. It's getting hotter, the girl thought tiredly.

Des started weeping. She knelt on the dry ground, her shoulder length hair covering her face. Fiske watched her and glanced over to Reed.

The District 11 female bent down beside her ally, rubbing her back. "Des, we're going to find him. I promise." Her voice was soothing and surprisingly calm. "He couldn't have gotten far. Everything's going to be okay. We'll be together again and then we can camp out and have breakfast, a little water, and then maybe we can check out the Cornucopia to see if there's supplies left. We'll be okay. We have to get moving, though. I know it's dark, but we can do it." She smiled to Des, even though she probably didn't see it. She drew in a breath, the dry air scratching her throat, and she started to sing just like she did before she went to sleep. "You can count on me like one, two, three, and I'll be there," Reed sang sweetly. She switched back to talking. "Don't lose hope, Des."

Ilija- District 10 Mentor

Ilija clenched his fists, stuffing them in his pockets to hide how upset he was. He knew it would happen. He had seen it before, five times to be exact. The games messed with the tributes' heads. They were only teenagers after all, maybe not even that old. To see humans slaughtered... Des was quiet and compassionate. She came from a district where the animals were slaughtered behind closed doors; where she milked cows and made friends with lambs and field mice. A battle arena was not for her.

He had wanted her to take those pills. Unfortunately the gamemakers would only allow him so much leeway. Those pills would have calmed her down, eased the stress... but she thought they were cold pills! She gave them away!

"Seems you tribute it losing it," a mentor remarked. She had no idea, but Ilija would not giver her satisfaction. He harumphed and turned away from her to watch Des. The other tributes had gotten her on her feet. Ilija couldn't help but feel grateful to them. On her own, Des would probably have died by now.

"Des, relax. Find Ryder and stay together. You can do this," he muttered. 'I need to get in touch with a sponsor and make sure this little hiccup won't effect any more gifts.'

His fingers brushed a smooth object in his pocket. 'I need to get her this.'

Luce Avery

Edur gripped my hand tightly, almost painfully and we ran through the undergrowth towards the shadowly figure. I squinted my eyes and dared not to hope it was Alen...was it?

We stopped just a few feet away and the boy, definitely a guy, resumed drinking and washing, oblivious to us. It must have been the splashes that drowned out our footsteps.

How should we approach him? Walking peacefully towards the guy was pretty much signing a death warrant if it wasn't Alen. Edur looked over at me questioningly, the same thought circling his own mind.

Suddenly, an idea struck. I gropped around for a small pebble or rock and without warning, I chucked it over to where Alen was. It hit the water just inches from his knee.

He stopped abruptly and stiffly turned around warily. After a brief pause, a familiar voice called out, "Luce?"

My heart stopped. Then, it started again, twice as fast.

I charged out to Alen and flung myself at him, tears cleverly disguised by the droplets of water spraying everywhere.

"Jesus, Alen!" I said, squeezing the living daylights out of him, "I thought you were dead!"

I drew back quickly and stared into his smiling, breathing face and spat out, "Don't you dare go off by yourself again."

Edur came up behind me and squuezed my shoulder gently, giving Alen a manly pat on the back in the process. I looked up into his light blue eyes and burst into another round of tears. Gosh, the teenage hormones.

After long bouts of drinking, we dried off (rather quickly from the heat) and caught up. For once, it seemed livable, almost bearable until I got the awful sense that we were being watched.

Something, someone was coming if not already here.

HEALTH: 65/100 HUNGER: 70/100 THIRST:85/100

Alen is sitting by the water drinking it as fast as he could not knowing when he would have to run. a rock came flying past his head then he said "Luce."
Then Luce ran up to Alen and hugged him and felt confused on why someone that ran from him was now happy to see him.Luce started to talk "Jesus, Alen!" then hugged him harder "I thought you were dead!."
"Well I'm not but I was starting to think that since Edur left me alone in the forest when he I guessed he found you I was alone in the game" Alen said to Luce.
luce turned around and said "Edur you left Alen alone and did'nt tell me Hello! he is from my district he is the closes thing to home and you left him to die" she did not look to happy.
Alen interupted " well I was alone I meet up with Reed and Des I shout a wolf down to save Reed and I asked her if I could team up with her but she said no for she could not trust me."

Kurr, District 11 mentor: (Sorry, I haven't been able to post this week!)

Kurr gripped the edge of his seat. The others, meaning Edur and a duo from 1 and 2, were quickly getting dangerously close to Reed and her allies. Reed, Fiske and Des had yet to locate Ryder, who was stumbling slowly away through the trees. The District 12 boy was still near the threesome, however. Kurr could tell from the digital map floating in the center of the room.

The mentor's heart felt like a dry twig, ready to snap, even though the man concealed this feeling to the other mentors. He knew that Edur and Reed were about to meet, and things were most likely going to go down in a sweaty, bloody fight. The odds were not in the favor of Kurr's tributes. He glanced over to Fern, and squeezed her hand gently.

Things in the arena were getting hot, and not just because of the cranked temperature. Battles were about to break out.

Edur

I watched as Luce ran up and practically strangled Alen. It was nice to see her brighten up after witnessing how tired she seemed. Luce still had dark circle under her eyes, but at least she got some spark back into them.

We stayed huddled in a tight group for a while, close to the shore yet still hidden under the safety of some trees. The heat was as heavy and stifling as ever yet there was something new to this. I gripped mine and Luce's bag tighter, a small fear churning in my stomach.

"Guys, do you smell that?"

EDIT:

Keep on forgetting this :/

HEALTH: 74/100 HUNGER: 75/100 THIRST:85/100

Veronica

Ryder was hurt and his allies were no where to be found. They could not find him anywhere. " Please. Please. Please. Get up Ryder you can do this." she said. Veronica knew she could not do this alone. She got up and walked around the room for a second trying to contain herself. She saw the tributes from 1 and 2 get close to Ryder. " Please get up. Please. Run." she said. He could be the next to die. She looked at the mentors and then at the screen. She took a deep breath. " Ryder your allies are close just hang on please." she ran to the phone and thought for a second. " I need meds. for the cut. Oh and I want to send a note please. Thank you."

Des- District 10

"Don't lose hope, Des," said Reed. I nodded and with their help was able to stand up. I pointed to the dry dust that used to be the ground.

"His tracks are going this way."

"Well then let's get him," said Fiske. He took the lead followed by me and Reed. Most of the trees were barren and what trees still had leaves were all brown and dead.

"RYDER!" I shouted, but was stifled by Fiske.

"You're going to get us all killed."

"Well then how can we find him?" asked Reed.

"Des can follow his tracks, right? I mean she's from animal country."

"Yeah, but his tracks are gone. There's nothing but dried up leaves covering the ground," I answered.

"He's sick, he couldn't have gotten far. Let's just keep going straight and keep our eyes and ears open," Reed said with finality. The plan wasn't whole baked, but it was all we had.

As we kept walking the trees grew a little greener, but it was still to hot for life. We were sweating buckets and our canteens were starting to run low.

A twig snapped, causing the three of us to freeze and find the source. All was still for a moment when-- a distant roar. The air stirred and an even hotter breeze blew in our faces.

"What's that smell?" asked Fiske.

"One of the wolf things?" I looked at Reed. She shook her head.

"Worse... RUN!"

We turned tail. In a few moments the place where we had been staning was swallowed up in flames.

"FIRE!"