HG OCT Round 1: The Boy

I leapt straight off the holding platform and ran as fast as I could to the big gold building which contained many weapons and boxes. A few other people seemed to have the same idea as me, although many just stood in the same spot, or wandered out looking confused. No one was attacking anyone, except for one boy on the other side who looked like he had gone completely mad. But it didn't matter to me, I was focused on surviving. And survive I would.
I dodged a girl with orange hair who was also running, and entered the gold structure. Finally I could catch a breath. I looked around at the items there, peeling my eyes for a gun. Sword, bow, knife. No, no, no. Didn't they have one? There! A small piece of metal poked out from behind a green backpack. I grabbed the pack and there it was, a small gun, nestled between a sheathed knife with a belt, and a piece of tarp.
I could hear running behind me and quickly turned to see the crazy kid waving a stick around with a wild expression on his face, his eerie green eyes focused on me. I gulped; no way was I going to face him! I picked up the gun and the knife for good measure, slung the bag over my shoulder and bolted out before he had time to react.
It appeared that a few other people had the idea of the Games and were starting to kill, if a little reluctantly, whilst many had chosen to get out of there as fast as they could. I headed for the wood nearby, shoving aside the tall golden grasses, and scampered into it, slipping behind the nearest tree. Before I went any further I needed to get an idea of the arena. From what I could see from behind the thick trunk, there was a large, perfect circle of a golden field of wheat and grass. Surrounding it in a semicircle where I was hiding, was a dark green wood, on the other side was a large green structure of some sorts.
I could see a few bodies lying on the ground, seemingly down from the green-eyed boy who I now remembered was called Jack Rackam. Who could forget him, he had attacked Freema Oiren! The rest seemed to have gotten the same idea as I had and ran for sanctuary in the forest or the green structure, not wanting to be in the open field.
I tapped my fingers thoughtfully against the bark of the tree and quickly came to a decision. First and foremost I needed water, a place to recuperate, and food. With that, I turned tail, and ran as fast as I could through the forest, slipping easily around the trees. I was determined not to stop until I had reached water or a safe location where I could see around me without too much hindrance.
I lost track of how long I ran for. For the first time, I was actually grateful for the long hours of intense training at the academy back home; at least it had given me the stamina to run so far. Finally, I crashed through some trees and to the edge of a ravine. I caught myself just in time and retreated quickly from the deadly edge. A small waterfall drifting from a creek fell from the top of the cliff and dropped into a river below. I breathed a sigh of relief and scaled a small tree to sit on a fairly thick branch where I could see the river below and any surrounding areas.
I carefully pulled off my backpack and opened it, surprised to find a large amount of stuff inside. An empty plastic bottle with (thankfully) iodine drops to purify any water I found, a rugged yet thickly lined oversized jacked which would hopefully keep me warm at night and a torch. There were also two cans of pumpkin and tomato soup, as well as a packet of dried fruits and some matches.
I then fastened the belt that had been found with the knife, and pulled said weapon out from the sheath. It was fairly well-crafted with a decent leather handle and sharp blade. The gun however was a different matter. It had a large barrel which would be difficult with my small hands, not to mention, keeping it somewhere would be interesting. After opening it up and taking a look at the bullets (of which there were only six), I judged that it would make a very loud noise when fired, and as there were very few, I would have to use this thing at only the direst moments.  At least I had the knife; otherwise I would be in deep trouble.
I figured this tree would be a good place to stay for the time being, but water was in definite need in case something happened. So I heaved my bag back on my shoulders, slid the gun into an uneasy place in the belt, scrambled down the tree, and made my way over to the creek, taking care to look around and make sure there was no one to see me. I wasn't sure about any of the other tributes and had a very vague idea of how talented they all were in terms of stealth and fighting ability. I was fairly sure that my district partner, Cyril Mors, had no idea how to move quietly, so I was safe from one person at least. My biggest threat at the moment was probably that blonde girl with the wings, if she flew over me now, I would be pretty much dead. I sat down by the creek and filled my water bottle with as much water as it could handle, and then put some iodine drops in, and sat back on my heels as I waited for them to take effect.
I wondered how my family was handling this, could they see me now? Was Vyn watching me and criticising everything I was doing? Probably. What about Lynna and Tane? Lynna was most likely placing bets on everyone; I hoped she was betting for me. Tane was the cautious one, I knew he would be telling me to look around and keep an eye on things. I could pretty much hear his voice now telling me to not be complacent.
Suddenly I jerked up and looked over the cliff. There, at the river's edge, stupidly stuffing his mouth with water, was a young boy. I frowned trying to place him as a tribute; I could vaguely remember that he was from District 6, what was his name again? Gary…Gareth? Garrett that was it! A complete and utter fool, he had only gotten 3 in his examination.
I rolled my eyes, now what? I could feel the cameras watching me as I decided what to do. The natural course would be to grab my gun and shoot him, the way he was floundering about it would be easy enough to hit him straight in the head and be done with it. Yet something held me back; as much as a I wanted to, and as much as I knew I could, my hand wouldn't move to my gun. He was so little, smaller than all the others and so innocent. Maybe I should just wait for someone else to kill him. But that wouldn't get me sponsors would it? Besides, was it really the smartest option to use the loud, precious bullets on someone so insignificant and puny?
I decided it wasn't. I put the lid back on my bottle of water and put it in my bag as quietly as I could. I gently started to lift myself up. Suddenly he looked up at me.
"Hey! Hey! Hi!" the stupid boy called. I froze. He stood up and began waving at me, "Hello!"
I quickly slammed my bag on my shoulder and bolted back into the woods; no way was I staying for someone to find me, I may as well let the others get him.
"Wait! Wait!" he yelled after me. Dammit was he following me? I heard a scrabble of rocks and raised my gun; there was nothing for it, I would have to shoot him. I stopped running and turned around, holding the gun in front of me and waited. A few seconds later, the boy crashed through the trees and stopped, staring at me with a huge grin on his face.
"Hello," he said with a cheerful wave. I glared at him, willing myself to pull the trigger. "Why run?" he said clumsily. I tensed my finger, dammit come on, just pull the trigger! He cocked his head at me. Just pull the trigger, I kept telling myself. "You Azlin, District 1?" How did he- "I remember, you're pretty." I felt my shoulders slump as I lowered the gun, how could I shoot someone like that? Maybe this was some sort of trick to get me to lower my guard. But no, his smiling face told me he was being genuine.
I sighed and slid the gun into my belt and glared at him, "What do you want?"
He shrugged, looking confused "Umm…hello…" Oh no, that's right, he couldn't speak much English could he? This was just getting worse and worse. "Mentor said find partner, learn."
I frowned, "Look buddy, I'm no partner; you don't want to stick around me. I can't take care of you and I'm not going to help you. OK?" he just smiled at me, blinking those big blue eyes of his. "OK then…" I turned around and began to walk off, but as soon as I did, I heard a patter of little feet following me across the dead leaves of the forest. I whipped around, "Go away." I told him. He just smiled benignly. I let out a big sigh, "You have no idea what I'm saying do you?"
"You're strong," he said. "I learn from you."
I put my head in my hands, this was going nowhere, "What can you do?" I asked him. He looked at me quizzically. "Uuh I mean, umm, what are your strengths?"
He stared at me then his eyes brightened, "Oh!" he ran to the nearest tree and scaled it faster than I could blink. I raised my eyebrows at him as he waved at me from a branch a few feet above ground. So he was a monkey; that was in no way going to help me. I rolled my eyes and waved him down.
"Come back down monkey-boy!" he jumped straight down from the tree and landed on the ground with a soft thud. I scrutinised him; damn he sure was scrawny, like a shrimp. He was tiny and blonde, and by the looks of it, all he could do was climb trees. I supposed I could use him as bait, but frankly, if we did face off against someone else, I was much more likely to be the target compared to him. And I couldn't exactly leave him out here on his own, even I wasn't that heartless. I clicked my tongue thoughtfully.
"We go now?" he asked hopefully.
"Azlin what are you doing?" I murmured out loud to myself. "OK fine!" I relented. "But here's the deal kid, get in my way, and you will most likely be killed, by either me, or someone else stronger and a lot smarter than I am. So just stick to whatever you're going to do and I'll stick to what I'm going to do and be quiet." I had no idea if he had understood me or not, but he nodded anyway. I sighed, hitched my back-pack on my shoulders and began walking through the woods as quietly as I could. The problem was, Garrett seemed to have no idea what "quiet" even meant. He was tramping over the deadened leaves without a single thought to being silent. After 5 minutes of testing my patience I stopped dead and turned to glare at him.
"What's the deal?" I snapped. "I told you to be quiet!"
He looked up in surprise and began sniffing. I rolled my eyes, now what? Suddenly a few tears began to fall down his cheeks. What the heck was wrong with him?
"Don't cry alright, I didn't mean it, just be quiet," I said hurriedly.
He shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his dirty hands as he did so, "Not you, home," he said quietly.
I rolled my eyes, great, he was a mamma's boy, "Yes yes home is very far away. If you win you can go home again alright?" I stopped myself. If he wins? Why the heck was I saying that? I wanted to win, to take home glory and see my friends and family. To talk to Tane again. That was what I wanted, and there was no way I was letting some stupid little boy get in my way. So why had I said that?
"Don't like this game," he sniffed.
I sighed and walked back to kneel in front of him, "This is a game to the Capitol, but to us, this is survival, and we're going to get through this. Stop crying now."
He looked up at me and wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeve, it seemed he had understood me a little. "S-sorry," he whispered.
I stood back up and brushed the dirt off my knees, "Don't be sorry, just come on, I'd like to find some good shelter before night-fall, and hopefully avoid any other tributes too."
He nodded and followed me, quieter this time, into the woods. I navigated our way through the thick trees, creating a brief map in my mind of the layout of the arena.
Suddenly I heard a rustling of branches, a squeak, and then silence. I span around and felt my stomach drop: Garret was gone.