Chapter 17 Chapter 17 The Third Campfire

The shock wave from the explosion was so powerful that it threw me far away, and the backpack behind me didn't play much of a buffering role.Luckily, the bend of my arm blocked the arrow in the quiver, the arrow did not fly out, my shoulder was not injured, and the bow was still held tightly in my hand.The ground was shaking with the explosion, and I couldn't hear the explosions one by one. The apple must have detonated many mines, and its fragments detonated many more mines.I tried to shield my face with my arms from the flying debris, some of which were still ablaze and fell beside me.The smell of gunpowder smoke filled the air, making it hard to breathe.

After about a minute, the ground stopped shaking.It gave me satisfaction to see that what had been piled up like a hill of supplies was now reduced to a burning ruin.Those professional players probably couldn't salvage anything from it. "I'd better run away," I thought, "they'll be on their way in no time." But when I stood up, I realized it wasn't going to be that easy.I was so dizzy that the trees around me and the ground under my feet were spinning.I took a few steps, but fell to the ground with a plop.I waited a few minutes for it to pass, but it didn't.I started to panic.I can't stay here, I have to run away.But I can neither hear nor go.I put my hand over my left ear, which was facing the direction of the blast, and it turned out to be bleeding.Am I bombarded deaf?I felt a pang of fear. I hunted by ear and eye, more often by ear.But I can't show fear.Absolutely not.I'm appearing on television screens across the country in Panham.

"No one can see the blood," I said to myself.I put the hood on and fastened the drawstring under the chin with my unruly fingers.The hat can absorb some of the blood.Now I can't walk, but can I climb?I crawl forward carefully.Yes, I can crawl slowly.The woods didn't offer me much protection, and my only hope was to climb back to the bushes Lulu had pointed out to me.I could not be captured by them in this crawling state, not only would I die, but I would die a slow, painful death at Cato's hands.Thinking that Prim would see this scene, I desperately and tenaciously crawled to the hiding place bit by bit.

Another explosion sent me face-down to the ground.It's an explosion caused by a falling crate.Then there were two more beeps.It reminds me of those last few packets of rice popped at home with Prim. It would be an understatement to say that I escaped just in time, for almost at the same moment I scrambled into the bushes Cato sprang out of the woods, followed by his accomplices.He was so angry that it was almost funny—it turns out that when people are in a hurry, they will really grab their hair and beat the ground with their fists.If only I didn't know that he did it for me and was pissed off at what I did.I was so close to them, I couldn't run, I couldn't defend myself, in fact, all of this terrified me.I'm thankful the camera didn't get a close up view of my hiding place, because I was biting my nails like crazy, and doing so to keep my teeth from chattering.

The boys from District 3 threw some rocks at the pile of ruins and then said something to the others, probably telling them that all the mines had gone off, so they started getting closer to the ruins. Cato, exasperated, set fire to the pile, kicking at the burnt bottles and crates while the others wandered about the ruins.The boy in Ward Three was doing a great job, and Cato must have thought so too, for he was yelling something at the boy.Cato wanted to pinch his head to his armpit from behind, but the boy from District Three hurriedly dodged away.Cato tugged on his head again with both hands, and I could see the veins popping in Cato's arms.

In an instant, the boy in the third district died. The other two seemed to be trying to calm down Cato, and I could tell he was going back into the jungle, but the other two kept pointing to the sky, and I wondered what they meant, and then I realized, of course, they thought that The person who detonated the mine must have died.They didn't know about the apples and arrows, they thought it was wrong to lay the mines, but the man who set them off was killed, and even if the cannons were fired afterwards, their sound would be drowned out by the explosion, and the corpses of the thieves who stole the supplies It was taken away by helicopter, so they retreated to the other side of the lake and waited for the organizing committee to take the body of the boy from District 3 away.They waited.

Then came the sound of gunfire, and the helicopter appeared and dragged the body away.The sun has sunk below the horizon and night is approaching.The emblem of Panham appeared in the sky and the national anthem was played.After a while of darkness, the image of the boy from District 3 appeared, and the boy from District 10, who must have died this morning, before the city emblem reappeared.Now they know that the person who set off the mine didn't die.With the light of the city emblem appearing in the sky, I saw Cato and the girls in the second district put on night vision goggles, and the boys in the first district lit a branch as a torch. Their faces were clearly visible against the firelight, serious There was a look of determination on revenge on his face.Several professional players rushed into the jungle and started a new round of hunting.

The dizziness has gradually passed, but the left ear is still unable to hear, and the right ear is buzzing, which may be a good sign.I don't need to leave my hiding place now.It was the safest place to be near the "crime scene" and they must have thought the detonator had escaped for two or three hours, and it would be a long time before I risked my escape. The first thing I did was take out my night vision goggles and put them on, which relieved me a little because at least one sense of being a hunter was still working.I drank some water to wash the blood from my ears.I was worried that the smell of meat would attract predators—the smell of blood was enough—and I ate some wild vegetables, stems, and berries that Lulu and I picked together, which was good.

Where is my little ally?Has she returned to the meeting place?Is she worried about me?At least, the images from the sky showed that we were both alive.I counted the remaining people, the boy from District 1, a man and a girl from District 2, Fox Face, four people from District 11 and District 12, there were only eight of us.The Capitol stakes must be hot at this point, and the TV station must be doing our feature, maybe interviewing friends or family.It's been a long time since someone from District 12 made the top eight, and now we're both in the top eight.Although, according to Cato, Peeta is about to be out, but Cato doesn't count.Didn't he just lose all his supplies too?

"Let the seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin, Cato!" I thought, "Let's begin the real games!" It was windy and cold, and I reached for my sleeping bag, and I realized I left it for Lulu, and I should have gotten another one, but the mines and all made me forget about it.I was shivering with cold.It was not wise to spend the night in the woods like this, so I dug a hole under the bushes, retreated in, and covered myself with leaves and pine needles.Still shivering from the cold, I covered my upper body with the plastic sheet again and put my backpack on it to keep out the cold wind.This is better.I thought of the District 8 girl who lit the fire in the woods that first night, and felt more sympathy for her situation, and it was my turn to grit my teeth and stay up until dawn.Some more leaves, some more pine needles, and I tuck my arms into my jacket and curl up in a ball.In a daze, I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, everything around me seemed distorted, and it took me a while to realize that the sun must have risen, distorting my vision with my glasses.I sat up and took off my glasses, when I heard laughter from the lake, and I froze for a moment.Weird laugh, but it shows my hearing is coming back anyway.Yes, the right ear is still buzzing, but I can hear the sound, and as for the left ear, well, at least the bleeding is gone. I peeked out from the bushes, terrified that the pros had returned and were going to trap me here for a long time.No, it's the face of a fox, standing on the ruins and laughing.She was smarter than those people, and found some useful things in the ruins, an iron pot and a blade.Her smugness baffled me, and then I understood what she was thinking, that with the pros being reimbursed for their supplies, she had a chance to win just like the rest of us.A sudden thought flashed through my mind to make an alliance with her too, but I quickly dismissed the idea.The sly smile on her face made me think the end result of allying with her would be a knife in the back.Now that I think about it, I think now might be a good time to shoot her.But she seemed to hear something, not my voice, she turned her head and ran quickly to the woods.I waited and no one and nothing showed up.But no matter what, if Foxface feels that danger is approaching, it's best for me to leave as soon as possible.Besides, I also want to tell Lulu about the explosion as soon as possible. Since I can't tell exactly where the pros are right now, there's no difference between going back along the creek and taking the other route, and it should be.With my bow in one hand and a large piece of cold bird meat in the other, I hurried on my way.I am very hungry now, not only want to eat wild vegetables and berries, but also want to eat meat, protein and fat.The journey back to the creek was uneventful. When I got to the creek, I filled it with water, washed it, being careful with my injured ear, and then headed up the stream.At one point, I found footprints in the mud on the shore. The pros have been here, but it must have been a while.The footprints were deep in wet mud, but had dried out in the sun's rays.I wasn't too careful about my footprints, I always thought my steps would be light and pine needles, not too deep, but now I took off my boots and socks and walked barefoot in the creek. The cool stream water makes me feel energetic.I caught two fish which is easy in a slow stream like this.Although I had already eaten the bird, I ate a fish raw as I walked.The other one is for Lulu. Slowly, the buzzing in my right ear became smaller and finally disappeared completely.I kept scratching my left ear with my hands, trying to get the thing that was obstructing my hearing out of it.Any help?Not so obvious.I couldn't get used to being deaf, and it left me feeling off-balanced on my left side, unable to defend myself, and even blind.I kept turning my head to the left, using my right ear to make up for the loss of left ear hearing, but just yesterday, my left ear was still very sensitive.As time passed, my hopes of regaining hearing in my left ear became less and less. When I arrived at the place where we first met, I was pretty sure no one had been here.There was no sign of Lulu, either in the woods or on the ground.It was strange, now that it was noon, she should have returned.No doubt she spent the night somewhere in the woods.What can she do when she has no lighting herself and the pros walk around wearing night vision goggles?The third bonfire she was going to light - which I forgot to explore last night - was the furthest from all of us.She may be very cautious when returning, but I hope she will hurry up, because I don't want to stay here for too long. I want to go up the mountain for a while in the afternoon and hunt on the road.But at this time, I seem to have no other choice but to wait. I wash the blood from my jacket and hair, cleaning more and more wounds.The burn was much better after the medication.Now the main problem is infection.I ate another fish.Fish were hard to keep in the hot sun, and it wouldn't be too difficult to catch another fish or two for Lulu, if she could show up. Hearing off balance, I felt vulnerable, so I climbed up a tree and waited, which is also a good position to shoot arrows from if the pros show up.The sun was moving slowly in the sky, I had to do something to pass the time, I chewed herbs and applied it to the sting, the sting was gone, but the skin was still tender; I combed the wet hair with my fingers , braided his hair; fastened the boot lacing from the back; checked the quiver, there were nine more; shook a leaf in his left ear to see if he could hear it, but he couldn't hear anything. Now that my stomach is growling with hunger despite the bird and fish, I know I'm going to spend the night on an empty stomach like I did in District 12, and on days like this, no matter how much I eat feel hungry.Just sitting in a tree with nothing to do felt worse, so I decided to eat something.Anyway, in the arena, I lost a lot of weight, I needed more calories, and now that I have a bow in my hand, I feel confident for the rest of my life.Slowly I peeled and ate a handful of nuts until the last one, and a bird neck, which is a good thing to eat now that I have time to get the bones clean, and finally a bird wing, and the bird Birds are history.But today I was really hungry, and even though I ate so much, I couldn't help daydreaming about delicious food, especially the refined food I ate in the Capitol.Roasted Chicken with Orange Cream, Cakes and Puddings, Bread with Butter, Noodles in Green Sauce, Braised Lamb Shanks with Dried Apricots.I sucked on a mint leaf to clear myself up.Mint is good, we always drink mint tea after dinner, it tells my stomach that meal time is over, so to speak. Now I am hanging on the tree, the sun is shining warmly, with a mint leaf in my mouth, and a bow in my hand, and this is the happiest moment since I entered the arena.As long as Lulu shows up quickly, we can go.The shadow of the tree became more and more slanted, and I couldn't stand it anymore. When it was approaching dusk, I decided to go to her.I could at least go find her where she lit the third bonfire, and see if there was any sign of her. Before I go, I sprinkle a few mint leaves we found not far away where the fire was last lit, and Lulu will understand that I've been here, while the pros don't. Within an hour, I was at the spot where we had agreed to light our third bonfire, and something was wrong.The logs were neatly stacked and flammable leaves were sprinkled expertly around them, but they were never lit.Lulu piled firewood, but failed to come back.I saw smoke from the second campfire before I detonated the mine, so she was having trouble lighting the third campfire. I had to remind myself that she was still alive, or, was she really alive?Was my better ear too deaf to hear when the cannon was fired this morning?Will she be in tonight's video?No, I don't believe it at all.There are a hundred other explanations for this.Is she lost?Met the beast?Or run into another player, like Sarrish, and have to dodge? I need to figure things out. After sitting in a daze all afternoon, now I finally have something to do, and I feel very refreshed.I walked quietly through the shadows of the trees, and let the shadows hide me.I didn't find any suspicious signs, no fighting, and the surroundings were quiet.I just stopped, but I heard that sound, I tilted my head and listened carefully, yes, it was the four-note minor of Luluping made by the mockingjay.So she's fine. I grinned and ran in the direction of the birds.Just a little way ahead, another bird sang this short little tune, and Lulu had indeed sung to the birds, and not so long ago, otherwise the birds would have sung other tunes.I looked up the tree hoping to find her, imitated the bird call and hummed the tune to let her know it was safe to join me now, another mockingbird imitated my sound, Chirping.Then I suddenly heard screams. It was a child's scream, a girl, no other girl in the arena could make that sound except Lulu.I ran away quickly when I heard the cry, I was afraid it was a trap, because I knew that professional players might attack me at any time.But there was another scream, this time clearly: "Katniss, Katniss!" "Lulu!" I yelled, so she knew I was around.So "they" know I'm around too.At this point, I'm hoping that the girl who hit them with a stalker bee and scored an incredible eleven in training will get their attention enough to distract them from Lulu. "Lulu, here I come!" I rushed to a clearing and saw Lulu was entangled in a net and was struggling hopelessly on the ground. She stretched her hand through the net and called my name when a spear plunged into her body. inside.