A change in the rules?
A victory for two district partners?
How is that being allowed?
Am I hallucinating again?
No, that's impossible. Only shimmery glimpses of visions remain as the tracker jacker venom slowly exits my body. And slowly indeed, as the bleeding from the massive gash in my leg has been slowed by not only time but all the dirt and leaves that I used to camouflage myself. A futile attempt, really. Puss oozed from the wound last time I had seen it, and I was famished and hadn't had water in days. Surviving these games would be impossible for me; I had known that from the beginning. I could only hope it would be possible for Katniss.
But she wouldn't come to be allies with me, that much I was sure of. Even if she was doing well enough to come find me, she wouldn't do so, because she hates me and has long ago deemed me untrustworthy. I could see it in her eyes when she realized I was with the Career pack, and had known she couldn't see all the love in mine. How silly, how completely ridiculous of me to even think for a second she would come find me, that she would heal me and kiss me and the two of us would make it home and live happily ever after. I knew none of that could happen. She would never come to find me and even if she did, I was past healing. I was dying. I'm dying. I was shocked by how sure of this resolution I was. So why not let myself hope, if this was the end then.
I drifted away from the arena in my mind as I did my best to ignore the pain radiating from the gash down my thigh. I wished Cato had killed me, but he wasn't that merciful. Slowly, he was losing his mind like so many others in the arena, that much was evident in the rage he had displayed earlier. But that didn't matter, because right now I was back home, baking side by side with my father, the familiar smells of baking bread and cookies filling the air. But my mother crashed into the room yelling, shattering the vision. And then I was gazing at the back of a girl with two brown braids down her back as she grinned and sung so sweetly the birds stopped to listen. I would gaze at that girl so many times over the years, so many times I would try to work up the nerve to talk to her, yet my efforts would be fruitless. The memory was shattered just as quickly as the first, knowing she had no idea I'd even existed prior to the Hunger Games. So I moved on from the memories as none gave me any comfort.
I envisioned an impossible future, but one I had dreamt about so many times. Katniss and I were home in District 12, and she loved me. We were a couple, holding hands and kissing and I was so happy, just so happy. I would visit the Meadow and woods with her, where she so often slipped away to in order to feed her family. And she had chosen me over the boy she'd known for years, Gale, in these visions. He stood by, jealous of us, finally seeing what I had been through all those years I watched them together. My eyes slip shut at the idea, and I smile despite the pain.
Before I realize it, it is morning and the sun is brimming over the horizon. Not that it matters if I'm awake anyways, there's nothing for me to do other than wait to die. Or wait for Katniss. The thought startles me. But was the rule change just another vision, a dream? It didn't matter anyway, I reminded myself. Katniss wouldn't come to you.
Still, nothing to do but wait. Wait to die, wait for another tribute, wait for the sun to set and night to fall. Time passes strangely as I lie there, as unrecognizable as a rock, covered as I am in my surroundings. The time passes swiftly sometimes, the sun moving across the sky in a way that had me wondering if I was imagining it; other times I just focus on each breath.
In, out.
In, out.
Katniss.
In, out.
Where is she?
In, out.
Have Cato and Clove caught up to her?
In, out.
This process is agonizing, but still I have nothing to do but wait. That's when I hear quiet sloshing through the water, a sound that disrupts the babble of the stream that I'd listened to for so long. Well, this is it. Game over.
The noise came closer and closer to me. Adrenaline seemed to trickle slowly into my veins, my body too depleted to have normal reactions to danger. I tried not to move and give away my hidden position. What's the point? Are you looking to suffer further? My mind seemed to question its own sanity as I watched a tribute emerge from around the bend in the river. I squinted through the mud, knowing opening my blue eyes would give away my position. It was a girl, I realized.
But it wasn't Clove.
It wasn't the sly red-head.
It wasn't anyone I expected it to be.
It was Katniss.