Chapter 8

I open my eyes as the morning sun shines on them. The third day in the arena and I'm still alive. Well... Not for long. I remember that I'm still on the three, guarded by viscious Careers. And my arm is not strong enough because of the burn I got yesterday. Wait a minute...

I take a look at my arm and realize that the medicine Leetuek sent me worked. There's still a scar but it's not as gruesome as it was yesterday.

Just then, I heard someone calling me name softly. I look at the tree beside mine and see Seohyun on it. A smile spreads itself across my lips as I see her face. I'm tempted to jump across from my tree to hers just to hug her. But of course, I can't.

Seohyun points to something above me. I look up a notice a hive. No, not a bee hive. It's far more worse than a bee. It's a Tracker Jacker nest.

Tracker Jackers are genetically-altered wasps created by the Capitol. My mother has worked with patients who had been stung by Tracker Jackers. It was lucky that she knew how to cure the stings because if she doesn't, the patient would probably die. If not, the hallucinations brought on by the sting would be enough to drive the patient into madness. That's how powerful the sting is. Another bad thing about Tracker Jackers are, once you've became their target, they'll follow you wherever you go and won't stop until you're dead.

I look back at Seohyun. She points once again at the nest and then she points down. I know what she's trying to tell me. If I can find a way to cut the Tracker Jacker nest down, I can escape. Plus, I might have one less Career to fight against. But how am I supposed to cut it?

I look over to Seohyun again for an answer. She points again to the nest and waves her fists from side to side. Of course! The knife! I can use it to cut the branch! I nod to her. I mouth the word 'Run' and she gets it. Seohyun takes off, leaving me with the task. I climb from my branch to the branch the nest's on, trying to not make a sound that would awake the Careers. But I did notice something strange. There's only three Careers. Where's Taemin? I brush that thought aside as I take out my knife from my bag. There's a 100% chance that I'll get stinged but not as much since it's only morning and only a few Tracker Jackers are buzzing around their hive.

I reach their branch, at a not very safe distance. I watch them buzz in and out of their nest. I watch the needles stuck to their . How it's going to sink down into my skin and let the venom hallucinate me or worse, kill me. Suddenly, I'm not so sure if this is a good idea. I can't afford to die. Not now. But I don't think I've a choice. I need that bow and I need one of them dead. Plus, it's just a few stings. I probably won't die. Damn it. I'm just going to do it before more Tracker Jackers come out and the Careers awake.

I begin sawing the branch. It's hard and I need to hurry. More and more Tracker Jackers are coming out. I stop for a while and look down, making sure that the Careers are still asleep. Yup. All asleep. Well... Not all. Taemin's still gone. I guess I'd better saw faster before he comes back.

Oh, God!

I swallow my scream as I go back to sawing. One Tracker Jacker stinged me on the neck. It hurts almost as bad as the burn. I need to hurry. I can already see Key rolling from his usual position and more Tracker Jackers are coming out. I let out a small cry of pain as another stings me on my hand. Hurry. Hurry. Tears are falling from my eyes because another stings me on the neck. Hurry! Onew's eyes are moving.

Yes! I silently cheer as the nest falls from the tree. I jump onto the tree I saw Seohyun on and watch as the nest hits the ground and more than a thousand Tracker Jackers flies out. And that certainly waked the three Careers who are now shouting and trying to run away. Onew and Jonghyun grab as much as they can and ran away, abandoning Key.

Unfortunately for Key, more Tracker Jackers were on him than the other two who ran away. I sit on the tree, watching the whole thing. There's nothing I can do for him, anyway. Although, I do feel a little guilty. Still, he is the boy who tried to kill me with a bow.

I watch as the he falls to the ground and the Tracker Jackers buzzes away. I decide it's safe to go and get the bow now so and jump off my tree and walk towards Key's lifeless body. My vision is blur and I can't seem to walk straight. It feels like the whole forest is spinning.

But I manage to get to Key. My vision is blurred but I can Key's skin all swelled up. Even in a blurry vision, he looks gruesome and terrifying. But I'm interested in the bow and arrows in his hands than his swollen face. I remove Key's hand from the bow and smile at it. It's mine. It's finally mine.

"Run! Run!" I see three Taemins running towards me. "Sooyoung, run! Run! Now! Go!" They scream at me.

I do as I was told and run. I have no idea why and I don't know why there were three Taemins. Wait a minute... Three Taemins? God, the hallucinations... They're starting to get to me... Not starting. They already have.

I don't know where I'm supposed to run to. My vision's so blur that I bang into many trees while trying to run. My head hurts like crazy, too. I can pass out anytime. My skin crawls and glancing down at my hand, I am shocked as I discover that my skin is deathly pale unlike my natural light skin color. Everything around me spins wildly, out of control.

My feet goes weak and pretty soon, I'm on the ground and everything blacks out.

Hi, everybody. :) How was this chapter? I hope it wasn't boring. ^^ So this is day 3 in the arena where Sooyoung sets Tracker Jackers on three of the Careers. But what was Taemin doing when he the Careers were sleeping and Sooyoung was sawing? And why did he suddenly appear at the end when Sooyoung got the bow from Key? Oh, by the way, I might've just killed Key. But it's not confirmed yet, just saying. And how exactly did Seohyun find Sooyoung? And why wasn't Seohyun with Sehun when she found Sooyoung? And just where did Luhan disappear off to? These questions will be answered throughout the story. :) And sorry this chapter was so short.
 

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to check out the next one when it comes out. :)