There's Nothing More Important than Family, chapter 18

Someone slaps my face. And a second time. I still can’t see anything, but I’m aware of sharp pains in my leg and my arm.

“C’mon, Zan, wake up!” Nathan mutters anxiously. He slaps my face again, and my vision returns.

“You really need to stop that.” I mumble, and I rub my sore cheek. Nathan sighs in relief. I’m in an unfamiliar place, by the base of a mountain. The trees are very thick. There are bandages over my chipmunk bites, but the skin on my hand where the spikes got me is red and raw. My upper arm hurts too, but I can’t figure out why. I remember falling on my back, not my arm. Everyone else is covered in bandages except Jason. I guess none of the chipmunks bit him.

I sit up, feeling dizzy, and I almost topple over. Nathan catches me hastily before my head hits the ground. “Whoa, careful there.” He says softly.”

“It’s a wonder you’re alive.” Says Breah seriously. “That venom may not have been fast acting, but it’s lethal. Toxic to humans. I recognize the acrid smell; it’s a type of really strong pesticide we sometimes have to use, but we try to avoid it. When we do use it, we have to stay clear of the orchard for days.”

“If it’s lethal, how am I still alive?” I whisper.

Jason grins and tosses around a box wrapped in a silver parachute. “Our first gift from a sponsor!” he says cockily. “Breah injected the antidote into your arm a couple minutes ago.”

“So I haven’t been out for long?”

“No, you’ve been out all night.” Corrects Breah. “We didn’t get the medicine until four or five minutes ago.”

“I didn’t even know we had sponsors!” Jason exclaims. He’s playing hacky-sack with the medicine box. “We didn’t get anything before now!”

“We didn’t need anything before now!” Nathan points out. He helps me stand up and I lean on him. I still don’t feel well, but considering I was just half-dead, I think I’m doing pretty good. Jason struggles to make a fire, since I’m not ‘well enough’, and eventually he gets one going.

“Hey, I never had any reason to build a fire back home!” Jason explains as I laugh at him. He used up five matches, since they kept burning out. “My mom used to make the fires and do the cooking and all that. When she died, we ate nothing but take-out and nearly froze to death every night.”

“What was your mom like?” I ask.

“She was friendly, and pretty. She had a hot temper. When mom and dad got into fights, she usually won. They both had Career training, but hers was better; she’d been training longer. My parents never got along. They hated each other.”

“Then why’d they get married?” I say.

“Their dads were friends. They kind of pressured the two of them to get married. I don’t even know why or how I was ever born. My mom called me a miracle, but my dad called me a mistake.”

“What about you?” Nathan asks Breah. “What’s your family like?”

“I lived with my grandmother. My dad left when I was five and my mom committed suicide a week later, leaving me to take care of my little sister. My grandma is insane, so I provide for both of them. I see my father at work, sometimes. He married another lady, a merchant, and they have four kids now. When he does talk to me, he pretends like I’m someone else’s kid and like he doesn’t really know me.”

“You have a job?” I wonder aloud.

“Yes. In District 11, as soon as you can walk, you start work in the orchards. It’s tedious, but it pays for food. My grandmother has a small jar full of savings, too, but it’s almost gone.”

“What’s your sister’s name?” asks Jason curiously.

Breah’s face muscles soften. “Kendra. She’s nine. It was her birthday yesterday. My gift to her is making it to the top ten, I suppose.” She sighs. No one knows what to say to that, so we sit by Jason’s feeble fire in awkward silence. I know I could’ve done a better job. Breah’s staring off into the distance, probably thinking about her sister. The way she was talking, I don’t think Breah believes she’s going to win. If she’s given up hope, what chance do I have?

To break the silence, Nathan talks about our family. I hear him tell a story about how I once got my leg stuck in a gopher hole, but that’s a lie; he’s the one who got stuck.

Three years ago, we were playing hide and go seek ‘home free’ in our backyard. All of us were playing, including our parents (not Katie, she wasn’t born yet). I was ‘it’, but I thought that was so unfair, since Alex cheated and everyone else was faster than me. The second I finished counting, Nathan sprang up from behind a tree and sprinted towards ‘home’. I started crying in frustration, but that quickly turned into laughter. Nathan was steps from the birdbath we used as ‘home’, when he tripped and got his foot stuck in a gopher hole. It was hilarious; his leg was buried knee-deep in dirt and his other knee was bent awkwardly towards his chin. I never knew he was that flexible. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t get out. David tried to pull him, but he wasn’t nearly strong enough. In the end, it took the combined strength of Mom, Dad and Louisia to lift him out. Nathan turned bright red and didn’t say a word all night, we was so embarrassed. Now, I hear him twist the story and make me seem like the clumsy one. I laugh at how Louisia, David and the others who know the truth are watching at home. I don’t tell Jason and Breah the truth, to protect my brother’s fragile ego. I didn’t mind the others laughing at me; it makes me feel accepted.

Suddenly and without warning, Jason cries “Shh!” interrupting the laughter. He listens intently for a second, then orders, “Pack up the tent. Someone’s coming, I can feel it.” We do as he says and he instructs us to hide in some thick bushes. We dive into them just in the nick of time. Just as we are concealed, the Careers march into our campsite. They look thin, but determined.

“Are you sure you saw smoke here?” asks Mahogany impatiently.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Grunts Dane. “The fire’s still burning! Whoever built it sucks at building fires, though.” I hold in the urge to laugh out loud, and Jason blushes.

“They were here.” Satin declares. “We just missed them.” I see what must be the katars in her hands. They have dried blood splattered all over them and I nearly vomit.

“Why are we looking for them, anyway?” complains Mahogany. “Let’s go back to camp; I haven’t eaten in eight hours!”

“We’re the only ones left!” adds Vella. “I doubt they’ll be able to hide for much longer. The gamemakers will somehow draw them out.”

Kelly scowls. “Are you questioning my authority?”

“No!” Vella replies quickly. I see Dane smile, impressed at Kelly’s power over the others.

“Good.” Says Kelly. “The quicker we get rid of them, the better. I don’t count on being in the arena much longer.” The Career pack begins to walk away.

“Who says you’re going to win?” demands Mahogany.

I barely hear Kelly snicker and say, “As if any of you could beat me!” The Careers start bickering, but they’re too far away; I can’t hear them. We wait a couple minutes longer, and then Jason signals that the coast is clear.

“Now what?” I ask nervously.

“We know they’re hunting us now.” Replies Breah. “We can’t stay at one site for too long. I don’t know where we should go next.”

“We need to get to high ground.” Nathan says simply.

“Why?” I question.

“He’s right.” Jason says. “Did you hear Mahogany complain that he was hungry? He wanted to go back to the Cornucopia, which means there are still supplies left for them. If we’re high enough, I don’t think they’ll come up to get us. They won’t go too far away from their food.”

“We should get going, then.” Says Breah. “They know we’re on this area; they might come back here.”

Everything’s already packed, so we start walking back to the biggest mountain. It takes ages, but we eventually find the highest flat spot right near the top. The sun is just beginning to set when we finish with the tent. Jason tells me not to light a fire tonight, since that’s how the Careers found us last time. Breah immediately goes to bed, but Jason and I keep Nathan company as he takes first watch. We are concealed by nothing and the tent is bright red, which to me, is worse than the smoke from a fire. Jason assures me that if the Careers do see us, we’ll see them coming before they reach us, but I’m not so sure. If the person on watch dozes off like Addalie did, then we’ll all be doomed.