Chapter 7:

Over the next few days, we made our way deep in to the forest. There were plenty of edible plants and the animals were easy to catch. We set up camp next to a small river. My alliance consisted of Bise, Silk from district 1 and Grunt from district 2. I could tell that Silk and Grunt didn't want me there, most of the time they just ignored me and sat with each other chatting or sharpening their swords. On the fifth day, we decided to move on. Ten were killed in the blood bath and since then four more had died. Silk's partner died at the blood bath when he foolishly decided to try and attack the strongest tribute, Vearu, who killed him in an instant. Grunts partner was still out there but from what he has told us about her, she is weak and would probably be dead within a couple of days.

We walked for what seemed like hours, tripping over branches and trying to make as little noise as possible. After a while we decided to stop for a break. Bise and I set out the food while Silk and Grunt when to gather fire wood. Suddenly, we heard the cannon boom. We saw the lights of the hover craft glowing in the twilight. I began to run in the direction of the hover craft. I got there just in time to see Grunts body being lifted up. In an instant, the hover craft was gone. I looked around to see if I could find Silk. Then I heard a soft whimpering coming from behind a large tree. I walked cautiously towards the tree and peeked behind it. And there she was, curled up in a ball hugging her knees. I knelt down beside her and stroked her hair. After a while I lead her back to our camp. Silk was in a state of utter shock and no matter how hard we tried she wouldn't tell us what happened, she just repeated "Mutts" over and over again. We decided not to question her any more tonight. I tucked her in to her sleeping bag and lay down beside her. Just before I feel asleep, she whispered in my ear "Thank you".

The next morning, we decided it would be safest to move away from here. We weren't sure if Silk was up for a long walk but she insisted she was fine. I suggested that we walk in the direction of the Cornucopia. We walked for a good 5 hours straight without a break. We were so low on food that we decided not to eat until it was absolutely necessary. Vey soon we were in the forest that bordered the Cornucopia. We set up camp and when we set out the food, my stomach dropped. There was barely enough food here for one person let alone three. Over the past few days, food had become scarce. The animals had learned to avoid the traps we set and strange possibly poisonous plants were shooting up everywhere. I shared it out between us and we tried to savour what little food we had.