A Whole New Game- Chapter 6 -A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 6: Tracker Jackers

Eleanor


Thunk!

I jolt awake and whip my head around. I count all of our allies, making sure no one is about to try to sneak attack me. Lover Boy sleeps on, leaning against a nearby tree. Clove lays next to Marvel, curled into his arms, and Cato sits a ways away, his snores rattling the forest. Even Glimmer rests, motionless in her place by our extinguished fire.  

Must have been my imagination.

Then, the sound of unmistakable buzzing fills my ears. Tracker jackers. I let out a bloodcurdling scream as hundreds of the golden monsters stab my body. My allies are up within seconds, the thousands of tiny insects moving toward them as they awaken and run.
Clove, Marvel, and Lover Boy flee off in the direction of the lake, shrieking as they are attacked by the swarm. Glimmer begins to scream as the main cloud of creatures surrounds her, a second one entangling me in a haze of gold. I fall to the ground, convulsing as every inch of my body becomes coated in welts the size of walnuts.
I struggle to stand up and attempt to run from the deathly swarm. Pain radiates throughout my body and my head begins throbbing. The world around me is already blurring, and I forget how to run. My legs give out and I tumble to the ground. I try to scream again, but only a moan is able to escape my swollen throat. My limbs go limp and I can do nothing as the feeling of thousands of tiny needles caresses my body.

"Please," I plead, "make is stop."

Each of my slowly dying heartbeats seems to pound even louder in my chest. The noise makes the excruciating pain in my head even more difficult to bear. Despite the fact that every other part of my body has swelled up immensely, my eyes manage to stay open, allowing me to witness the whole, terrifying event. I can see another body lying near me, motionless; golden hair shrouding a swollen, purple face. Glimmer. My soon-to-be parter in death.
I can feel the venom slowly killing me on the inside. Salty drops sting my eyes, and a fat tear rolls down my swelled cheek.

This is it. What a humiliating way to die, by a bunch of over-glorified bees.

The world spins around me. The last thing I feel is a set a firm arms lock around me as my body is lifted off the ground before everything goes terrifyingly dark, the sound of the canon ringing in my ears.



Clove


I reach the edge of the lake, not having looked back since we first started running. I dunk my face in the cool water and will myself under for at least a full minute, hoping it will wake me up a bit and soothe some of the pain. I resurface, gasping for breath, and then repeat the process. After I have done this a few times, I begin to evaluate the damage.
I contracted the worst of the stings out of the three of us that ran, Marvel and Peeta only having a few minor stings on their hands and shoulders. Or at least they didn't look that bad when I flew past them.
I stare down at myself, the majority of my injuries on my hands and arms. My hands have swelled so much that it now looks like I am wearing giant, purple baseball mitts. I look away, preparing to wash them off in the cool lake water, when I suddenly see the grass near me begin to smoke. Startled I back up towards the lake only to find that the water in it is turning a dark, thick red. I can see faces emerging from under the surface, faces of the tributes from the first day at the bloodbath. The ones that we killed.
Every part of me begins to shake, and my breathing rapidly increases, as does my horror. The singing of birds turn into the screams of the dead, and soon enough, my own.

"Clove, what's wrong?" I hear Marvel's familiar, solicitous voice and turn to face him.

Instead of being faced with my lanky ally, I am now staring at that perfect face, pure from any flaws, sandy blond hair, and crystal blue eyes, that sparkle even in the shadows. Him.

"Clove? Clove, it's me Marvel. It's just the Tracker Jacker venom, Clove. Whatever you're seeing, it's not real." He speaks soothingly while slowly pushing the hair out of my eyes; I am paralyzed with pure fear. How are you here? You couldn't have followed me, not here. Not to the Games.

"She okay?" Peeta's voice breaks through from somewhere behind the two of us. I turn and find that I am staring at Carver, my older brother. But it's not the Carver I know, it is the hellish version of him. Blood pours from his nostrils and his usually perfect skin is covered in blisters that literately boil on his skin, exploding every now and then like bubbles in a tar pit. And his eyes. Where his once magnificent storm-gray eyes once glimmered, are now only grave, empty sockets. I can do nothing but scream in pure terror.

The being with Marvel's voice grabs hold of my arms fiercely and I am unable to move as he speaks to me. "Clove, calm down. It's just Peeta, and me, Marvel. You were stung by Tracker Jackers and they cause hallucinations. Which is what you are seeing now." I tremble in his arms. I stare, immobilized by his grip, and watch as snakes dance in his shimmering, blue pupils.
He looks at me for a moment before directing his gaze back the monstrous version of my brother. They both look at each other, Carver's hollow sockets gazing out murderously. They both then scan the area until Marvel's voice releases a short gasp, spying something off in the distance.
He turns to Carver. "Peeta, see those berries?" Carver looks over to the other side, slowly. "Yeah, I see um." How can you see without any eyes?

"Run over there and grab a handful. Eat a few. They get rid of effects of the venom. Then bring the rest over here. Hurry!" Carver begins to make his way over to the other side, moaning as he goes.
I begin thrashing and kicking, hoping that I can free myself. Yet my captivator's grip is firm. "Clove it's me. Just hold on one second. Peeta will be right back and then you'll be okay," he coos.

"Carver! Carver, help me!" I scream, my lungs feeling like they are about to burst, my heart as if it will pound out of my chest. Why are you listening to him Carver? Please! It's him, Carver!

"Clove, please..." Marvel's voice begs.

"Let go of me Evan! Just, please let go!" I begin crying hysterically, cowering in his grip.

"Evan?" he says confusedly. "Clove it's me, Marvel."

He attempts to wipe the tears from my face, but I flinch violently away from him. As I tremble with fear I watch as his hair catches fire and his eyelashes turn to spiders, which crawl over his face, though he doesn't seem to notice. My eyes feel as if they are about to pop out of my skull as I let out another execrable scream.
He looks back over my shoulder, to where Carver would have gone, and calls back to him. "Peeta, hurry! Her visions are getting worse."

"Coming! Grabbed as much as I could. There weren't many," Peeta's voice hollers back. I see the familiar black hair come shuffling around from behind Evan. Evan takes something from his hand, then switches places with Carver, who I uselessly attempt to punch as he pins me down.

"Careful, she's got a heck of a kick," he says to Carver, then turns back to me, his beautiful eyes gleaming in the sunlight. "I'm sorry Clove, but you have to swallow these. Whether you want to or not. So I'm sorry about this." Carver's grip is unwavering, his empty sockets boring into me as I struggle and convulse. Evan leans over my head, holding silver bullets. I scream as he shoves them into my mouth, their metal shells bursting with juice.
The second the tart liquid trickles down my throat I stop thrashing. The grass stops smoking and Carver pulls back off of me. Only he's not Carver anymore; his dark hair turning lighter and becoming shorter. His eyes turn from their haunting emptiness and slowly fill into Peeta's sky blue ones. His face is painted in concern and horror.
Marvel sits on the other side of me, looking as terrified of me as Peeta. His crystal blue eyes have faded back to their deep earth tone, his face no longer sending waves of panic through me.

It's them. My allies. My friends.

Before I can stop myself, I throw my arms around the two of them.

We all sit there a moment, a giant hugging mass, before I pull away. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," I gasp, my breath shaking as much as I am.

"It's okay. It's just the venom. That's what it does, makes you see things," Peeta says. He then looks to Marvel, who still has his eyes on me.

Marvel brakes his gaze and looks around for a moment at the forrest, scanning the tree line. "It will still take a few hours for the effects to ware off completely. The berries only help with the hallucinations, and will slowly reduce the swelling. We're all still going to be a bit disoriented. We should get out of the open and into a more secluded area. Don't want any of the other tributes taking advantage of our current weakness."

He gets to his feet and then continues to help Peeta and I up. We head out into the forrest again, Marvel talking about places to make camp. I only know that wherever we may be tonight, I will not be sleeping. I've already seen enough nightmares for one day.