Hunger Games 1

Chapter 28: Alliance (1)
I fell into a nightmare, waking up from time to time, only to feel that greater horrors awaited me.All the painful things, mine and other people's, unfolded before my eyes and convinced me it was real.Every time I wake up, I think, "It's finally over", but this is just the beginning of a new torture, how many more ways do I have to see Prim die?How many times have you experienced your dad's last moments before he died?How many times have you felt torn apart?This is bee venom, an elaborate weapon that implants fear in the human brain.

When my consciousness gradually recovered, I still lay quietly, waiting for the next terrible memory to hit me, but finally, I felt that the bad effects of the bee venom had slowly disappeared, and my body was extremely tired and weak.I lay on my back, maintaining the fetal position, and raised my hands to my eyes. I could see that the ants didn't exist, and they didn't touch my eyes.It took so much effort just to stretch my limbs, my whole body - every part of my body - was in excruciating pain, and I sat up slowly, slowly.I was lying in a shallow pit just now, and instead of the hallucinated orange-red bubbles, there was a pile of fallen leaves.My clothes were very wet, whether it was the pond water, or the dew, or the rain, or sweat.For a long time, all I could do was sip the water in the bottle and watch a bee fly among the honeysuckle bushes beside me.

How long have I been confused?I lost normal consciousness this morning, and now it's afternoon, but the stiff joints feel like more than one day has passed, maybe even two.That said, I have no way of knowing exactly how many pros have been stung by tracker bees.Besides Grimmer and the girls from District [-], there are boys from District [-], a boy and a girl from District [-], and Peeta.Did they die from bee venom too?Of course, if they were still alive, the first two days must have been as horrible as my situation.How is Lulu?She's so small it doesn't take a lot of bee venom to kill her.But... the tracker bee probably wouldn't sting her because she was in a good position.

My mouth was filled with the stench of rot, and drinking water didn't help.I climbed to the honeysuckle bushes, picked a flower, gently pulled out the stamen, and dripped the nectar on my tongue.The sweet taste spread out in my mouth and down my throat, and it brought me back to fond memories of summer, the jungle and Gale back home, and the words we said the morning of our parting.

"Honestly, we can do it."

"what?"

"Get out of District [-]. Run away. Live in the woods, just you and me, we can do it."

Suddenly, my mind was not with Gale, but with Peeta.Peeta...! "He saved my life!" I thought to myself.When we met, I didn't know what was real and what was an illusion caused by bee venom.But what if he really saved me?My gut tells me this is true.But why?Was it the angel he himself talked about in a TV interview?Or just to protect me?If yes, then how did he hang out with those people?All explanations fail.

I wonder what Gail would do if the same thing happened to him?Then I dropped the idea, because Gale and Peeta had no comparison in my mind.

I also remembered the best thing after entering the arena, and that is the bow and arrow!I counted them, and counting the one pulled from the tree, there were a total of twelve arrows.There was no green venom from Grimmer on the arrow. I think it must be an illusion.But there is a lot of blood on the arrow, I can wash it off later.I shot a few arrows into the nearby woods, and it felt more similar to the one in the arena than the one I had at home.Who cares?It can be used.

With weapons, the situation has also changed. I still have many powerful opponents, but at this time I am no longer a prey that can only hide and run desperately. If Cato comes out of the woods now, I will not run away. I'll shoot an arrow at him.In fact, I was waiting for this happy moment to come.

However, I need to recover my strength first. My body is severely dehydrated, and the water in the bottle is about to run out.The few pounds I gained from eating and drinking in the Capitol before the race are now gone.My hip bones and ribs stand out even more than they did during the hard days when Dad died, and I'm covered in injuries—burns, cuts, bruises from hitting a tree, venom from a wasp sting.The poisonous sac was more swollen and painful than before. I used ointment to treat the burns and picked it up, but it didn't work much.Mom knew about the cure for the poison pack, an herb that sucked the venom out, but it was rarely used, and I couldn't even remember the name of the herb, let alone what it looked like.

"Water first," I thought, "and then I can hunt as I go." It was easy to tell which direction I was walking from the grass I trampled as I shambled past, so I headed the other way, hoping my opponent would The bee venom is still in effect.

I can't walk fast, and my joints hurt when I move violently, so I used the usual method of walking slowly when hunting.In a few minutes I found a rabbit and shot it with an arrow.The arrow didn't go through the rabbit's eye as cleanly as usual, but that was okay.After walking for about an hour, I found a small stream, shallow but wide enough for me.The sun was hot, and while disinfecting the water, I took off my coat and waded into the slow stream.I was so dirty that I splashed the water on my body to wash off the dirt, and finally just lay in the water for a few minutes, letting the stream wash away the smoke, blood and dead skin from my burns.I then washed and washed the clothes, and then hung them to dry in the bushes.I sat on the sunny shore and unraveled the braids with my hands.My stomach growled again, I ate a few biscuits and a little beef, and grabbed a handful of moss to wash the blood off my silver bow.

With my spirits up now, I treated the burn, combed my hair, and put on my damp clothes—the sun will dry it out in a few moments.Now going down the stream seems the smartest thing to do, I'm heading up the hill, which is my preferred direction.I will drink from the brook, and so will the prey.I soon got another bird that looked like a turkey, and it looked edible.In the evening, I prepare to light a fire to barbecue, and it is easy to hide the smoke at dusk. At night, I put out the fire.I slaughtered and cleaned the game and was very careful with the bird, but it looked fine, about the size of a chicken when plucked, only with fatter, firmer flesh.I put the meat on the fire and suddenly heard the crackling of the young branches.

I reacted quickly, and immediately turned to the direction of the sound, and put the bow and arrow on my back.No one, at least I didn't see anyone, and then I saw the toe of a kid's boot poking out from behind a tree.I immediately relaxed and grinned.It's fair to say that she can move through the woods like a shadow, otherwise how could she have followed me?I couldn't help but say:

"You know, they're not the only ones who can band together," I said.

For a moment, there was no response, then Lulu peeked out one eye from behind the tree trunk. "You want to unite with me?"

"Why not? Your stalkers saved me, you're alive to prove that you're smart, and it's like I can't get rid of you," I said.

She blinked at me, hesitating what to do.

"Are you hungry?" I saw her swallowing desperately, her eyes fixed on the meat, "Come on, I caught two prey today."

Lulu stepped out from behind the tree cautiously, "I can cure your sting."

"Can you? How to cure?" I asked.

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a handful of leaves.I'm almost sure it's the kind my mom used to use.

"Where did you find it?"

"It's around here. We always take this with us when we go to the orchard. There are a lot of beehives there. There are also a lot here." Lulu said.

"Yeah, you're from District [-], the farming area," I said, "orchard, huh? So you're flying around the trees like you've got wings."

Lulu laughed and I said something that made her proud.

"Here, come here and help me fix it."

I plopped down on the floor and rolled up my trousers, exposing the stings on my knees.To my surprise, Lulu put the herb in her mouth and started chewing.Mom usually uses other methods, but we don't seem to have many methods.After about a minute, Lulu spit out the chewed green herb and applied it to my wound.

"Oh..." I couldn't help shouting, and the herbal medicine evoked severe pain again.

Lulu giggled.

"Fortunately, you were sober at the time and pulled out the stinger, otherwise it would have been much more powerful!"

"Apply medicine to my neck and face!" I almost begged her.

(End of this chapter)