Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Water Lily

Thank goodness I tied myself up beforehand.I had slipped off the branch, facing the ground, with my hands and feet straddling the branch through the sleeping bag, thanks to the straps that held me in place.There must have been a rattling sound as my body slid to the side, but the pros were fighting so hard that they didn't hear it. "Go ahead, 'cute boy,'" said the boy from District Two. "Go and see for yourself." I see Peeta, torch in hand, walking toward the girl by the fire.His face was bruised and blue, his arm was bandaged and oozing with blood, and he was also a little limping from the way he walked.I remembered the way he shook his head and signaled me not to grab supplies.In fact, he had been plotting to hang out with these people, which was the exact opposite of Haymitch's idea.

Well, I can bear to start with them because those items are so enticing.But what's going on now, it's a whole... different thing, he's with these professional beasts, killing the rest of us.No one in District 12 would do that.Professional players are too evil, arrogant, and well fed, just because they are lackeys of the Capitol.Generally speaking, they were always hated, except by people in their own district.I can imagine how people back home talk about Peeta, and Peeta has the guts to talk to me about shame? Apparently the noble boy on the top floor is up to another trick with me.But this was his last trick.Henceforth I shall long eagerly for his image to appear in the sky—if I cannot kill him myself.

The pros were quiet for a while, and when Peeta was out of hearing, I heard them lower their voices and say, "Why don't we just kill him now and save the trouble?" "Let him follow first, what's the harm? He's pretty good at knives." Yeah?This is the first time I heard about it, and today I learned a lot of interesting things about my friend Peeta. "Plus, he's the perfect person to help us find her." It took me a while to realize that the "she" they were talking about was me. "What? You think she's taking his romantic approach?"

"She might. She looks so innocent to me. Every time I think of her twirling around in that dress, it makes me sick." "I really want to know how she got eleven points." "I guess 'cute boy' knows." Peeta is back and they cut it off. "She's dead?" the kid in District Two asked. "No, but now she's dead," Peeta said.At this moment, the cannon sounded. "Can I go?" The professional players ran away.It was dawn, and the singing of birds came not far away.I was still awkwardly hanging from the branch, and my muscles trembled due to the long-term exertion, and I dragged myself back to the branch.I need to get down to the ground and continue my journey, but I want to lie down for a while and think about what I just heard.Peeta was not only with them, but helping them find me.It seemed to them that the simple-minded girl was to be taken seriously because she scored an eleven because she could use a bow and arrow.Peeta knows this better than anyone.

But he hasn't told them yet.Did he intentionally withhold this information, knowing it was a bargaining chip to keep him alive?What was he planning in his mind? Suddenly, the birdsong stopped.Then a bird uttered a shrill alarm.Just one sound, like the one Gail and I heard when the red-haired girl got caught.At this time, a helicopter appeared above the dying fire.A set of huge metal claws protruded from the plane and slowly and gently grabbed the dead girl's body into the helicopter.Then it disappeared.The birds were singing again. "Go." I said softly to myself.I crawled out of my sleeping bag, rolled it up, and put it in my backpack.I took a deep breath.The night, the sleeping bag, and the willow branches gave me good cover, so the cameras must have struggled to get a clear image of me, and they must be tracking me at this point.The moment I jump to the ground, it definitely gives me a close-up.

The audience must have been thrilled to have overheard the pros talking when they knew I was hiding in the tree and found out that Peeta was with them.It's best if I at least know something before deciding what to do.No confusion, no doubts, no fear.I want to move first. I climbed out of the thick branches and jumped to the ground.It was dawn at this time.I pause on purpose for a brief moment so that the camera can capture a clear image of me.I raised my head slightly, turned to one side, and smiled knowingly.Hey!Let them guess what I mean! I was just about to set off when I remembered my trick.Perhaps it was unwise to look at game when others were so close, but perhaps years of hunting had formed a habit, and perhaps the lure of the meat compelled me to look.I found a really nice rabbit caught.After a while, I peeled the rabbit skin, cleaned the internal organs, and buried the rabbit head, rabbit feet, rabbit skin and internal organs under a pile of leaves.I wish I had a fire because eating raw rabbit makes people sick.But when I thought of the dead "tribute" and her lesson, I decided to give up.I hurried to the fire she lit.True, the embers of the fire were still hot.I cut up the rabbit, threaded it on a branch, and roasted it over a dying fire.

At this point, I'm so glad to have a camera pointed at me.I want my patrons to see that I can hunt, that I'm not easily preyed upon by hunger, so I'm also a good bet.The rabbit was roasting on the charcoal. I broke off the blackened branches and blackened the backpack.The charcoal black deepens the color of the pack, but I think it would be better with mud.Of course, to find the mud, I have to find the water first... I put my gear on my back, picked up the branch, kicked some dirt on the charcoal, and walked in the opposite direction from the pros.I ate half a rabbit before I left and wrapped the rest in plastic for another meal.My stomach growled less after eating the rabbit, but I was still very thirsty.Water is the most needed thing right now.

As I walked, I thought I should still be the focus of the Capitol screen, so I tried to keep my face as quiet as possible.Claudius Templesmith and his partner must have been busy analyzing Peeta's behavior, my reaction.What will they say?Has Peeta already shown his true colors?How does this affect betting?Will we lose sponsors?Are we sponsored at all?Yes, I'm sure we have, or at least have in the past. Of course, what Peeta has done has taken a toll on us as a couple.Or, has he really affected it?He didn't tell others all about my situation, maybe we still have a chance to benefit from it.Maybe people think we co-planned this tactic, especially with the way I look happy now.

The sun was already high in the sky, and despite being shaded by tree canopies, the sun was still unbearably hot.I put rabbit grease on my lips to keep them from chapping, but it didn't help.After only one day, I was dehydrated and I had to figure out all the ways I could find water.The water flows down the mountain, so it should be right to continue down the canyon.It would help me a lot if I could find a game trail or a particularly dense patch of greenery.But the road goes on and on, and nothing changes around, gentle slopes, birds and the same trees. Little by little time passed and I knew I was in trouble.The little urine I pass is dark brown, my head hurts, and a small patch on my tongue is scorched.The sun hurt my eyes. I took my sunglasses out of my bag and put them on, but I felt awkward wearing them to see, so I put them back on.

It was not until late in the evening that I found a glimmer of hope, when I saw a handful of fruit-bearing bushes in the grass, and I plucked the berries to suck their sweet juice.But I lifted the berry to my mouth, and instead of eating it, I looked at it carefully.This berry, which I thought was a blueberry, was a little different. I opened one and found the flesh inside was blood red.Maybe this kind of fruit is edible, but I think it might be an evil trap by the organizers of the competition.Even the plant instructors at the training center told us to try not to eat berries unless we were 100 percent sure it wasn't poisonous.I knew this a long time ago, but I was too thirsty. Only when I remembered the warning from my instructor did I have the courage to throw it away.

The tiredness hit me too, but not the usual tiredness after a long walk.I had to stop and go, taking breaks now and then.I know very well that I can't stop, only keep looking.I thought of a new method. I tried my best to be as bold as possible, and staggered to the top of the tree, looking for traces of water.But looking as far as the eye can see, there is only a boundless and indifferent forest.I decided to keep going until dark before stopping.By the time I had to stop, the soles of my feet were already tripping. I was so exhausted that I barely dragged myself up the tree and secured it with a leash.I have no appetite at all, but I still suck on the rabbit bones to keep my mouth occupied.Night fell, the national anthem played, and I saw the head of the girl in the sky, obviously she was from District 8, the one Peeta went back to kill. At this time, the torment of lack of water was far greater than the fear brought to me by those professional players; in addition, they were going in the opposite direction to me, so it was time to rest.Water is scarce, and they may have returned to the lake to fetch water. Perhaps, the current route is the only one I can walk. The next morning, I felt even worse.My head throbbed with every beat of my heart.Every time I move a step, the joint hurts.I fell from a tree, not jumped, and it took me several minutes to pick things up from the ground.I knew in my heart that this was not the case, that I should be more alert and go faster; but I was too dizzy to plan very well.I leaned on the tree trunk, thinking about what to do, while carefully touching the surface of my tongue, which was as dry as sandpaper, with my fingers.How can I find water? Back to that lake?No, I can't do it.Counting on rain?There was not even a cloud in the sky.Then look for?Yes, this is my only option.A thought flashed through my mind, and anger woke me up. Haymitch!He can bring me water!With the push of a button, the silver-white parachute delivers the water in minutes.I know there must be sponsors, at least one or two people who can afford to buy me a pint of water!Yes, the water that comes here is expensive, but these people have money in their pockets, and they're sure to bet on me.Maybe Haymitch doesn't know how much I need water. "Water," I yelled, as boldly as I could, and waited, hoping for a parachute to drop from the sky, but nothing. Something is wrong, did I miscalculate the sponsor?Maybe they've held back because of Peeta's behavior?No, I don't believe it.There must have been a lot of people waiting to buy me water, but Haymitch refused.As my instructor, he should be in control of when the sponsorship arrives.I know he hates me, he's made that very clear.But does he hate me so much that he wants me to die?thirsty?He wouldn't do that, would he?If the instructor mistreated his "tribute," he had to explain it to the audience, to someone as far away as District 12.Even Haymitch wouldn't take that risk, would he?For better or worse, the people who usually deal with me on the black market, if Haymitch just let me die, I don't think they would welcome him back to District 12 either.If so, where did he get the wine?So... why?To torture me for my contempt for him?Did he pull all his sponsors to Peeta?Is he so drunk that he doesn't know what's going on here with me?I can't quite believe it, and I don't believe that he could kill me by negligence.In fact, he had been seriously preparing me, in his own unpleasant way.So, what is going on? I buried my face in my hands.Now I don't have to worry about crying anymore, I can't even squeeze a tear to save my life.What the hell is Haymitch doing?As much as I hated, was angry, and doubted him, I seemed to hear a small voice in my head speak to me. "Maybe he's sending you a message." A message.what's the message?Then it finally dawned on me that there was only one good reason Haymitch didn't give me water, and that was because he knew I wasn't far from it. I gritted my teeth and straightened up. The backpack on my body seemed to be twice as heavy as before.I found a broken branch to use as a walking stick and continued on.The sun is hot, hotter than the previous two days.I felt like a worn piece of leather drying and cracking in the hot sun.Every step is very difficult, but I will never stop, and I can't sit down. If I sit down, it is very likely that I will never be able to stand up again, and I may not even know what I am going to do. How easy it is for me to become someone else's prey at this time, any "tribute", even the petite Lulu can catch me.Just push me down and kill me with my knife, I can barely resist.But on the other hand, even if there are people in this wood, they can't find me, because I feel that another creature is a million kilometers away from me. Oh, and I'm not actually alone, there must be a camera following me.The scenes of those "tributes" starving to death, freezing to death, bleeding to death, and dehydration over the years flashed through my mind.Unless there is a fierce fight elsewhere, I must be in the camera. I thought of Prim again.She may not see live TV, but she will see the rolling news during school lunch.For her sake, I try not to embarrass myself too much. But by afternoon, I couldn't hold on any longer.My legs were shaking and my heart was beating fast.I kept forgetting what I was up to, and staggered as I tried to keep my feet on my feet.The crutch slipped under my foot, and I fell to the ground with a plop. I couldn't stand up anymore, and I closed my eyes. I was wrong about Haymitch, he had no intention of helping me. "It's all right," I thought, "it's not too bad in here." The air was already less hot, signaling the approaching night.A scent that wafts reminds me of lilies.My fingers touched the smooth ground and drew lightly on it. "It's a nice place to die," I thought. My fingers draw circles on the cool, slippery ground. "I like dirt." I thought, how many times have I found prey by relying on this soft dirt with animal tracks printed on it.It can also treat bee stings.Dirt, dirt, dirt!My eyes widened suddenly, and I dug up the ground with my fingers.It's dirt!I sniffed carefully with my nose again, it was a lily!Water Lily!I crawled, dragged my body, and crawled towards the scented place.Five yards from where I fell, there was a small clump of vegetation, and I crawled through it to find the pond.On the water surface of the pond, there are blooming yellow flowers floating one after another. They are lilies, my beautiful lilies! I really want to dip my head in the water and gulp and gulp down the pond until I can't drink any more, but I can't.With the last bit of conscious awareness I had left, I told myself not to drink.With trembling hands, I took out the water bottle to fill it with water, and then added an appropriate amount of iodine to purify the water. Waiting for the next half hour was too painful, but I insisted on it.At least, I think it's been half an hour, and that's about as much as I can bear. Drink slowly!Relax!I told myself.I took a sip and waited.Then take another sip.In the hours that followed, I drank the half gallon of water in the jug.Then another bottle, and I'll prepare another before retreating into the woods, where I can sip water and eat rabbit, and maybe even enjoy it, with a precious biscuit.When the national anthem was played, I felt better.There are no portraits of anyone tonight, and no one died today.Tomorrow, I'll stay here, rest up, camouflage my pack with mud, catch some small fish I see in the pond while I'm drinking, and treat myself to digging out lily roots from the pond.I'm curled up in my sleeping bag, clinging to the water that gave me life, yeah it saved my life! A few hours later, the sound of hurried running woke me up from my sleep, and I looked around in a daze. It was not yet dawn, and even though my eyes hurt, I could easily see that a wall of fire was falling from the sky.