Run-Part One

NOTE: This is a Hunger Games one shot type thing. It'll probably be like 3 or 4 parts long.

-

"You have to run, Julia," Grey speaks softly. His hand on my shoulder makes no effort on me standing up. I cannot feel my ankle, only a sharp pain.

"I-I can't," I whisper. "My ankle, it hurts."

Grey closes his eyes and snaps his lips closes. He shoots a look towards Kirsti and Lincoln, the tributes from District 9. We formed an alliance with them 3 days ago. I don't know how, but the four of us had managed to stay alive in this death trap. "Can you at least stand up?"

I shake my head. "I'll try," I softly say. I grab onto Grey's arms and start to hobble upwards. It takes all my strength, but I manage to stand up, with the help of Grey, of course.

The next feeling I have is being picked up. I'm slung over Grey's shoulder. We were off running.

Running again. It's all we seem to do these days.

-

"We'll just stay here overnight, or at least until we get caught," Kirsti says, braiding her long brown hair. It makes her look nice, with her hair out of her face.

I quickly nod. "What's the plan about the Careers, though?"

Lincoln shoots me a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," I begin, "we know that the main Careers are Jada and Beck, right?"

"Right," Kirsti agrees. "But what does that have to do with anything? They're going to try to kill us, why do we need to know who they are?"

I bite my bottom lip. "Well, maybe if we find their weaknesses, we could -"

I hear a snicker. "Please, Jada's from one and Beck's from two, they can slaughter all of us in less than a minute. They probably don't even have weaknesses!"

I don't know how to respond to that, so I don't. I cross my arms and lean against the thick tree branch. The four of us are hiding in a tall tree, it's large enough for us to be spacious about how we're sitting.

"How's your ankle?" Grey asks, scooting closer to me. His fingers gently traces onto my ankle and I wince. Grey's fingers retract and he sits up.

"It's a little better. Doesn't feel like heaven though," I force a small chuckle. "I can survive, though."

I see Grey crack a smile. He moves on the tree branch so he's directly across from me. "I've just realized something, what ever happened to the male from your district?"

I'm from District 7. The male tribute from my district was named, Neal. I haven't heard from Neal since right before the games begun. Let's just say, our relentionship was critical. "I don't know. He never showed up at night time when they showed all the dead tributes," I say flatly.

Grey nods. He switches positions, as if ready to jump down from the branch - but I doubt he will, we're over 50 feet in the air. "I should go try to catch a squirrel or something. We need to eat, don't we?"

I dimly nod. "Sure. Be careful, okay?"

Grey laughs. "I'll be okay."

I nod again. Grey starts to climb down the tree. I keep my eyes on him the entire time. Once he reaches the bottom of the tree, he runs off into the woods.

He ran away. But he'll come back.

-

I guess I've fallen asleep, because I'm woken up to a loud shouting. "Come on down!" the person, whoever they are, yells. I can tell by the voice who it is: Jada.

I peer down from the tree. A tall girl with dark skin and messy black hair smirks up at Kirsti. I gulp quietly. I stare at Jada. She has a long knife in her hand. She'll kill us all I can just feel it.

I glance at Kirsti who locks her eyes with mine. I shake my head and Kirsti looks back downwards. If she didn't, out cover may as well be blown; it doesn't seem like Jada knows the rest of us are up here with Kirsti.

My eyes suddenly flicker across from me. Grey is there, a long, deep red scar, well more of a scab, flows across his cheek.

"Grey, what the hell did you do?" I hiss.

He smiles a cheekily grin. "Ah, I came across Salvatore. Don't worry, though, I took care of him."

He must've killed him when I was sleeping, though I think it's odd how the cannon didn't wake me up. "So, what're we going to do? Kirsti is stuck; Jada'll come up here if she needs too."

Grey lifts his shoulders up and down. "I don't know," he says.

I roll my eyes. "You're such a help." I suddenly feel foolish for trying to make a joke in this situation. This is a life and death situation, I bet I was just making it worse...way worse. I shake my head and peer down off the tree branch again. This time, Jada wasn't alone. Next to her, was Beck. His thin figure was almost invisible in the forest.

"Jada," Beck began. "Why don't we let her be?"

I heard Jada snicker very loudly. "Hell no!"

"The fire, though. We can get away, she might not be able to though. And if she does try to get away, we have Neal."

Neal.

Jada sighs. "Fine," she glances up Kirsti. “You’ll die, bitch. Let’s go Beck.”

Something else was said, but it was muffled. I couldn’t hear. I then hear a yelp, then feet running away. This was it.

I bring my knees closer to my chest and peer down the tree. My hands on another branch to stable me, or in other terms, so I won’t fall.

“Neal,” I say. “Hey, Neal!”

The boy with pitch black hair looks around the treetops until his green eyes settle on my frame. His expression softens, but I can see his knuckles whiten around the grip of his pocket knife. His cheeks puff out quickly. “It’s you,” he says.

“Aren’t you glad to see me? Or are you going to kill me? Should I tell Six you’ve betrayed District 7?” Six Talons is our trainer. His name isn’t actually Six Talons, but he won by ripping his opponent’s face off. Gruesome, yet utterly brilliant.

“How the hell would you tell Six? You’re just going to die, Julia,” Neal shoots back, lowering the knife just a tad.

“I won’t die. Neither will she,” – I point to Kirsti – “and neither will Lincoln or Grey! We’ll get out of
here alive. Unlike you,” I spat.

“Oh, Lincoln and Pinkie are here too?” Neal asks, sarcastically.

I shake my head. “Just fuck off, Neal.”

Out of the corner of my
eye, I see a shiny glint of silver. It was by were Lincoln was asleep. I also
saw a pale white hand. My breathing stops. “Neal…” I stutter. “Who else is
guarding with you?

Neal bites his bottom lip. “No
one, Beck told me to be alone.”

I stare at the sliver,
which is now metal. It was a metal sphere. The sphere was being carried by a
boy with milky white skin and brunet hair. I don’t know his name, but he was
from District 3. “Lincoln!” I shout out, quickly standing up in the tree,
griping the base off the tree.

Kirsti, Grey and even Neal have
their full attention towards the boy and the sleeping Lincoln. Me yelling his
name must have woken him up, because Lincoln’s eyelids flutter open. He looks
at me. His blue eyes fill with tears as he realizes what’s happening.

Next thing you know, a cannon
blows off, shaking me. I grip the tree as hard as I can. “He’s coming down,
Neal,” I murmur. With all my strength, I climb the tree and get to the spot
where Lincoln lies lifelessly, a long sphere in his chest.

He boy smirks at me. “I can
fight bare handed,” he says.

I ignore his statement. “You’re
going to die. You’ve killed my team, my friend. You sick bastard,” I say. My
hands quickly collide with the boy, and he lets out a loud scream. I watch as
the boy flies to the ground. He lands on a dry patch of grass. His neck is
broken – I can tell from the angel he’s lying at. I hear a cannon. Dead. I’ve
killed someone.

I glance at Kirsti, her
eyes are wide, but filled with pride. “Let’s get out of this damn tree,” I say.
Kirsti nods and we both start to climb on down.

Once we reach the bottom,
Grey is already down there, the weapon Neal had is now in his possession and
Neal nods. “I think if Pinkie has it, it’ll be more useful. So, where to now?”

I ask no questions about
Neal. I shrug. “Should we start to the Cornucopia? Nothing ever hits that
place,” I say.

Kirsti nods again. “Fine,
but we have to keep a keen eye on our surroundings.”

And with that, the four of
us travel towards the heart of the game. The place where we should avenge our
friend’s death. We can survive this. We can win this. We can do this. We can
run away from it.

Yeah.

We can run.