I wake up, my throat as dry as a desert. I take one of the water bottles out of my pocket and drink a whole lot. Then I close my eyes and lean my head back, savoring the taste of the water, the satisfaction of my throat calming me. I open my eyes, closing the water bottle and stuffing it into my pocket, and carefully climbing down the tree. I jump down and run back to the Cornucopia, where I bet the Careers are angry as hell. I think maybe Nabil came back already. After seeing sunlight in front of me, I start walking and duck under leaves, and then there it is. The Cornucopia sitting in front of me, and on its right are the Careers, who stop what they're doing and stare at me. I calmly walk over to them, counting to see if there's an extra person who could possibly be Nabil. "Where were you?" Monur asks, trying to cover up the anger in his voice. "Looking for my trident," I lie, my lips forming a sarcastic smile to tease him. He rolls his eyes. “Whatever.” he mutters. “We’re going hunting for 10 today.” Everyone nods and follow him into the forest. I stay still for a second. That’s when Grace approaches me. She opens up her hand and inside are berries wrapped in a red handkerchief. “Nabil dropped this next to me while I was sleeping,” she says in her sweet, quiet, innocent voice. “I’d like to share it with you.” “Thank you,” I say. “But you have it.” I push her fingers on top of the berries and seal her hand. “You need it more.” I then reach for my pocket where I take out a water bottle and hand it to her. “Don’t share it with anyone,” I whisper to her. “Come on!” Verben yells. Grace smiles and hides it in her pocket, then she takes my hand and we run to the others. “Where could 10 be?” Monur asks. Everyone shrugs. I think for a moment. “District 10 provides meat for the Capital.” I say. “My best guess is they’re probably hunting for animals,” “Okay,” Monur says. “Does anyone here know how to find an animal?” “Me,” Grace steps up. “Great,” Monur smiles. “You lead.” Grace looks at me and sighs, walking in front of everyone and takes a deep breath. Then she bends to the ground and grabs a few leaves, then she squeezes them. “What’s she doing?” Jazel asks, not trusting the process. “Just trust her,” I say. “This way,” Grace says. “Follow me.” We all follow her into the forest. Who knows what’ll lie in here? A mutt sent by the Capital? A bloodthirsty murderer? It’s been about half an hour. Still no one in here. Suddenly, the cannon goes off loudly. Who could it be? What if it’s Nabil? I take a deep breath in and out. “Hey,” I say. “Umm, did Nabil come last night?” “He did…” Jazel starts, looking at me. “Until we sent him to get more food.” “Ah.” I say, my voice barely over a whisper. Monur looks at me with this look. I side-eye him before Grace interrupts our silent argument. “Come on,” she says. “Let’s keep going.” As soon I start walking behind everyone, Monur grabs my arm and makes me face him. “Listen, I don’t know if you’re falling in love with this guy, but it better not interfere with our hunting. Being part of the pack is a privilege.” he whispers with an angry yet calm voice. I look up at him as I fiddle with my black clover bracelet from home. “I don’t,” I say, my voice cracking. “I don’t have feelings for anyone. I just need him for, food, you know.” “Good.” Monur scoffs. Then he follows the rest of the Careers. I stay still, questioning my life choices. My thoughts are interrupted as I hear Grace screaming. I run over to the others as they’re fighting someone with a trident. The girl who stole my trident. Monur and her begin fighting, the girl throwing her trident and Monur ducking. She jumps over him as he’s still bending down and retrieves her trident that was piercing a tree. Jazel tries to throw an axe at her but she dodges it and quickly runs to Jazel and throws her on the ground. Monur runs over to Jazel in worry. Verben doesn’t have a weapon, so he hides behind a tree and she decides to leave him alone. That’s when she approaches Grace. I run behind her and pull her hair, then spinning her around aggressively and then pinning her to a tree. I then pull her to the ground, grabbing the trident out of her hand and point at her heart. “Yeah!” Verben cheers. “Finish her off!” Monur yells. I look at the girl’s terrified expression. I close my eyes and breath heavily. I just can’t stab it in her heart. I open my eyes. She looks at me and quickly runs away. “What were you doing?!” Monur yells. I breath in and out. “Whatever.” Jazel scoffs. I couldn’t. I couldn’t kill her. I couldn’t take away someone’s life. I just couldn’t. It would mean losing myself.
