I do not own Glee or The Hunger Games.
Rachel is laying on the floor with her head on Santana's lap. The girl is running her fingers through Rachel's soft brown curls. They rushed back to Rachel's house from the bakery. Her parents were tired of her moping around so her mom told them to go home and find something else to do. Instantly the TV was turned on to the Games. Never have either of them watched it so much. Santana was worried about Rachel watching Puck change on TV. They were too young to notice any big changes in Finnick when he came back home, but they knew that he struggled. More so when he went to the Capitol every year.
Santana strokes her hair, tuning out her thoughts of Puck changing. It was lunch time here but early in the morning in the Arena. The screen was divided into three different sections. On the left side it showed the Careers camping on the beach. The male Tribute from District 7 decided to work with the Careers, making four of them. Below that was Puck's alliance, it was hard to see into their shelter but it seemed like the Gamemakers maneuvered it to where you could see in the opening slightly. He was on guard with Mason, the tribute from 12, while the girls slept. Then on the right side, it showed the girl from 7, walking around. She looked scared, but who wouldn't be when they're alone to fend for themselves.
"She looks thirsty." Rachel whispers, staring at the screen.
"I don't think they've shown her drinking any water. Just sips every now and then from the bottle that she got from the Cornucopia."
"Nothing has happened in two days." Rachel rolls over so she's looking up at her friend with worried eyes.
Santana sighs and brushes the hair off her friend's forehead. "They're probably planning something to make them start killing again."
She glances back at the TV. "Do you think he's okay? He looks tired."
Rachel doesn't get an answer. She knows it was a stupid question. Sitting up, she looks at Santana. "It looks like Finnick isn't doing anything to help him."
"Rachel, he found a way to get them water. Granted it took those people from 12 to figure it out, but it helped. Look at the girl wandering around alone. She would probably kill everyone for that tool just to drink some. Things from sponsors are going to get more expensive as the Games go on. I don't even know how much it cost to send him the things for his stitches."
"You're right. I'm sorry."
Rachel puts her left hand in her lap, twisting around her engagement ring. She wasn't even thinking about planning a wedding while Noah was in that Arena. She couldn't bring herself to do it. Not while she watched him get a knife thrown at him then how much pain he was in when the girl was fixing his shoulder. Every groan she heard made her cry. When the knife dropped out of her mouth she completely lost it. That night when they turned off the TV, everyone took turns holding her that night. Rachel would have nightmares about seeing him die. His mother was holding her hand around 3 a.m. and kept saying that the girl did a good job fixing him up and that he would be fine. Emily was sort of the town's unofficial nurse and many people went to her for help when they needed it. Better than some of the other women around who could heal wounds. Everyone knew that his mother was having a hard time convincing herself what she told Rachel.
They look at the screen when something looks like it's happening. The Careers are standing up, the boy from 7 staying to guard the camp. The brunette looks like she's angry, animatedly throwing her hands up in the air and it looks like she's screaming at the blonde then storms off in one direction. The guys look at each other then head off in another. The screen splits up into more squares.
Rachel looks at Santana worried. "That Clove girl is headed towards Noah's camp!" She points to the screen as if her friend couldn't see it herself.
Santana sighs. "He'll be fine Rachel."
Once Rachel turns back to the screen and she can't see Santana, she looks at the screen. She wouldn't admit this to Rachel, but she's worried about her former fuck buddy. (Rachel ignores it and refuses to speak of that ever happening between the two.) The sun is starting to come up on the screen and Santana feels like she's holding her breathe the entire time. She can only hope that Puck and Mason are prepared for anything. This can't be good as the girl gets closer to the camp. Rachel reaches back and grips her hand as they watch. She's trying to be strong for Rachel, but she doesn't know how much longer she'll be able to take this. She just wants him and Finnick back home.
Finnick and Emma are looking at the screen in their designated room at the Games Headquarters. Quinn is standing behind them, on the phone with a sponsor trying to see about getting Puck and Scarlett some warm food. They managed to send some broth down for them after Puck had his stitches put in, but they didn't want to use all their resources. Sponsors were happy to see that they were smart in building their shelter. Emma sits down and looks at the screens some more. They've got views on every part and could see every person. The Careers seemed to have figured out that certain things go on in certain areas of the arena, much like the tributes from 12 did. They found an area on the beach that they deemed safe and set up a camp. It was obvious they didn't care about being in the open because they think they have the advantage over everyone else.
"Do you think it was smart of them to team up with 12?"
Finnick looks over at Emma then sits down, putting his hands into his pockets. "Why not? If someone attacks them, 12 has the least impressive weapons."
"Don't underestimate the machete. During my Games, someone's ally lost part of their arm trying to run away from one. He didn't get far." She grimaces at the memory and opens up her water bottle.
He makes a face then turns back to the screens. "Alright. But we better hope that ours are better fighters."
"We can send them food in a few hours. Does it look like anything is going to be happening soon?" Quinn walks up behind Finnick and puts her hand on the back of his chair, leaning forward, her face next to his while looking at the monitors.
"I don't know. Looks like the Careers are up to something." He looks at the screens again. The four of them are sitting around a fire and talking close together. "Looks like that girl hasn't had a drink in days." He points to the girl from 7 on the screen.
The girl is leaning against a tree. She's pale and then leans over to vomit. She begins to shake and collapses on the ground, gripping her stomach tightly. Finnick looks at the screen and his heart is breaking for her. He would pay out of his own pocket to get Puck water if he was in that situation.
"Poor girl. She's not going to last long." Emma looks away from the screen, wiping away a tear.
"Yes, well, we need to worry about ours." Quinn walks away, her high heels clicking against the floor. "Figure out a time to send that to them." She calls over her shoulder.
He rolls his eyes at Quinn. "What's wrong Emma?"
"It's so wrong. Why aren't her mentors helping? She's been snacking on nuts and that can't even be helping."
"I know it's hard to watch, but we have to focus on Puck and Scarlett. At least we're helping someone by sending them food." He hates having to say anything like this to her, but it's the reality of their situation.
But just as he says it, a small parachute floats down to the girl. It looks like a gallon of water and some clear broth. She looks over to it, confused. Finnick thinks she might be hallucinating, but then she reaches out and flinches because the pot is hot. Taking small sips of water, she leans back against the tree and closes her eyes. He's relieved that she won't die from dehydration. It'd be an awful way to go, but in the Games, any way is a bad way to die.
"Looks like nothing will be happening soon. Let's send it now. It's been a day and a half. It's nighttime, no one will see it." She gets up to go talk to Quinn about sending stew and bread.
Finnick looks at the screens, looking at Puck. "Something is going to happen soon. Be prepared." Knowing that his best friend can't hear him. He looks down to his watch and sighs. Another appointment to get to.
The next day they're sitting in front of the screens, all three of them. Puck and Scarlett look much better after having something than dried fruit in their system. Especially Puck. He's been getting protein from fish nearly all his life. It's the guys turn to watch out, the sun peeking out ready for the new day. Finnick was exhausted, he had another 'meeting' late last night when Emma was watching. He had gotten barely any sleep and he was leaning back in his chair with his feet crossed at the ankles, his feet up near the monitors. The girls next to him were talking, about what he didn't know, when he notices something on the screen.
"What are they doing?" He drops his feet to the floor and pulls up closer to the screen.
Quinn's head snapped to the screen along with Emma's. The Careers were huddled around their fire, discussing something. One stays behind while the girl goes off alone after looking like she threw a hissy fit, the boys walking in a parallel path with her in a different section. Emma looks over to where Puck is, not seeing much since they built their shelter well. It looks like the boys are up on watch again. The girl is walking right towards their camp.
"Shit. I hope they're prepared." Finnick slams his hands down on the counter, stands up angrily and starts to pace.
"Finnick, please sit down." Emma looks at him worriedly. She's about to stand up when he glares at her. She knows he's so tired. The Capitol has been keeping his busy with his appointments and then he was so determined to get Puck home that he was functioning without sleep. He would come into the Headquarters either in what he wore to his appointment with his shirt unbuttoned, perfume filling up the small area from his shirt or come in wearing denim pants and a shirt, only to go change into dress pants and a button up shirt. He didn't care how he looked to her or Quinn.
"I need some coffee."
Quinn stands up and pushes him to his chair when he moves to stand up then goes off to look for some for him, seeing that he's clearly stressed out and tired. He takes Quinn's seat instead next to Emma and stares at the screen, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. Just then, he sees someone in the shelter move. They must have heard her.
He's staring so hard at the screen that he barely recognizes that Quinn is standing next to him with coffee, sugar, cream and some pastries. She clears her throat and pushes them towards him a little more. He snaps the tray from her and she jumps back, almost twisting her ankle when her heel slightly slips.
Finnick grabs her arm to steady her. "I'm sorry Quinn. I'm just a little on edge right now."
"It's okay Finnick." She smiles sadly and sits down next to him, grabbing her own coffee while Emma grabs hers. They leave the food for him though.
On the screen it shows the girl from the Careers inching closer and closer until they hear a thud and she falls to the ground.
Mason is leaning against the bush that's to his right, Puck leaning against the bush on his left, making sure the bruised area isn't against anything. The girls are in the sleeping bag taking a nap. They both want more of the stew that they got last night, but it's all gone. Back to eating dry fruit and meat.
"We should go fishing soon. I'm a man, I can't survive off fruit. And that dry meat shouldn't even be called meat. It's disgusting." Puck stares out at the trees. The sun is starting to come up, so he takes his glasses off and tosses them towards the backpacks. Mason does the same.
"Fine with me. The girls should stay here, watch the shelter while we go out." Puck looks at him questioningly. "Look, if it comes down to me and them, I don't think I could kill them. If we're gone and something should happen." Mason shrugs and quits talking, thinking Puck would understand.
"Good point." He looks back at the girls then back out. "How do you think they would fight if those two are the last ones who make it to the end? They're getting really close."
"Yeah I know. But hey, if it gets to that point we won't have to worry about it." He says darkly.
Puck sighs as Mason shrugs then watches as the dark haired kid moves forward a little bit. A twig snaps followed by a curse coming from whoever made the noise. Puck reaches back for his slingshot, loading it with a rock. They sit, waiting for the person who was coming. A girl walks into their view and Puck takes a shot. She screams then falls down on the ground, clutching the spot behind her right ear but a bit lower on her neck. Puck gets up and runs to her, rolling her over. He sits back on his heels when he looks into her eyes. Tears are rolling down her face at a steady pace.
They're almost the exact same color as Sarah's. Hair the color of Rachel's maybe a shade darker. Is it possible that Clove could look like his future daughter if he ever has one? Suddenly he's overcome with guilt for hitting this girl. Mason runs over and looks at him.
"What are you doing? Kill her." He says in a hushed but harsh whisper.
Puck looks up at Mason, shaking his head. "I can't."
He looks at him then back at the girl. She has tears in her eyes and it looks like she can't move at all. Maybe her head is hurting too bad. "I'll take care of it."
The girl whimpers and Puck looks back her. "I'm so fucking sorry Clove." He steps backwards with his hands behind his head, slingshot in his left hand. Puck can't even feel it when a stitch pops out and sweat is falling into his wound. Mason sits behind her, putting his right arm across her body and around her jaw on the left. He thinks that he hears Mason humming to her, his face by her left ear. He takes a last look over his shoulder, she has her eyes closed with a slight smile on her face then he focuses on his shoes.
A snap echoes through the woods, the sound of her neck snapping, then a canon. Voices are coming through, shouting her name. There's only a few people who would have the balls to scream like that here in the arena. Careers. He looks at Mason who is standing up, brushing her hair out of her face.
"Does she have anything useful?" Puck looks at her body.
"No, nothing we don't already have."
The voices are coming in closer and they know the hovercraft is waiting on them to move. They move back over to their shelter, not wanting to wake up the girls. Mason pulls cover over the front of them even though it's hard to see them already.
Cato, her District partner runs into the area where her body is. "Shit! Marvel, she's fucking dead." He pulls her up and examines the body.
"Cato, how did she die?" Marvel is staring at her lifeless body.
"Snapped neck. You didn't hear that over there?" The blonde looks over at Marvel, his pupils are dilated and he's suddenly very scared that the hovercraft will be collecting his body as well as Clove's.
"I didn't think it was the sound of her neck breaking! I've never heard anything like that before." He crosses his arms over his chest.
"There's not even a sign anyone was here!" Cato cries out frustrated.
Marvel looks around. "Well where the fuck could they be? We weren't that far away." He looks up in the trees looking for a body when he notices something flying. "The hovercraft is here."
They both look up then back down at her body. "Grab her knife. Just one less person to worry about." Cato chokes out then looks at her one last time. "I want to kill whoever got her. There's only five people it could've been."
"You won't even know who to kill."
"I don't care. I'll make all of them suffer when I see them. They'll all pay for her death." Cato moves out into the woods then watches as the hovercraft pulls up her body from the ground. Marvel follows behind him, wondering what Clove must have meant to him to be this angry about her death. They were Careers, this is what they're training to do.
Mason looks over at Puck. "Should we go after them?"
"No. Even though we have an advantage, pissed off Careers will result in us being dead. Adrenaline is pumping, especially in Cato. We'll get him though."
Mason nods. "Let's wake them up so we can get some sleep. Fishing at night may be smarter right now. At least when it's dark they won't be able to see us."
Puck nods and reaches over to wake up Scarlett. She stirs and looks up at her partner, only to see that he looks upset. His eyes aren't as green as they were yesterday. Sitting up, she puts her hands on either side of his face while Mason has his back turned to them while waking up Cara.
"What happened?" She whispers, concern dancing in her eyes.
He swallows and looks down. Puck knows that Rachel won't be able to see this, they're too well hidden, but he needs to get it out. "Clove. He snapped her neck, but she just looked likeā¦" His voice trails off then he looks into her eyes. "Her eyes were like my sister's. Almost the same color hair as Rachel."
Scarlett bites her lower lip and glances over at Mason. Still trying to wake his partner up. She runs her hand over his scalp. "Remember what they told you. Don't think about her here. Look at you, you're freaking out about this." She pulls out his necklace and drags his hand up to rub the gold star. "That's the only way you think about her."
Puck is shocked at the way Scarlett just spoke to him. Her hands fall to her side and then reaches around for some dried fruit and nuts to eat. He knows she's right, but why is she helping him? At some point they're going to have to break their alliance. Mason leans against the tree trunk and pulls the jacket over his shoulders and instantly falls asleep. He lays on the ground facing away from everyone while absentmindedly rubbing the star as he falls asleep.
Scarlett and Cara are watching out through the trees when she hears something rustling behind her. Both heads turn towards Puck and notice that his face is covered with sweat. She looks over at the other girl.
"When did we last change his bandage?"
Cara thinks for a minute. "I think after he woke up the day we put them in."
"Shit, it's been almost two days?" The girl shrugs and looks back at him. Scarlett moves towards him. "Puck, wake up."
He opens his eyes tiredly and stares at her blue ones. "What?"
"We need to change your bandage." He shakes his head. "Yes, now come on."
Puck sits up as she unzips his suit and gently pulls it off his left shoulder. Mason is still fast asleep. He winces as the bandage pulls away from his skin, ripping off anything that may have stuck to it and dried. His eyes are closed when he hears Cara gag, he looks over at her.
"Sorry." She looks down to the ground then away from his face.
"It's infected. And when did you pop a stitch?"
"Probably earlier after we got Clove. I didn't even feel it."
"You might be getting a fever." She wipes his forehead and sighs. Pulling open the first aid kit she pours the disinfectant over it and finds some fever pills. "Take this. But we may need to find a way to show Finnick that you need medicine for this"
"Want me to run outside and let them take a look at my shoulder?" He teases but then wipes his forehead. "It's so fucking hot out here."
"That could be the fever." She looks at him and gently wipes his shoulder. There's pus in the parts that she can see.
"Maybe you should go outside. They won't be able to see in here to notice that you need medicine." Cara adds in gently.
Puck nods his head and makes his way outside, looking around for anyone else. He walks a little bit before he sits against a tree, wiping his forehead. Scarlett follows him out and sits next to him, dabbing his forehead and starts to wrap a bandage around his cut.
"I'm not a fucking baby Scarlett, I can do it myself." He pulls the bandage from her hand and fumbles around with it.
Not wanting to make him mad or make him feel less like a man, she watches as he tries to wrap it around his shoulder. Scarlett just looks away until he makes a little 'ah ha!' sound. She looks back and sees that it's not wrapped that well but she doesn't say anything. Noticing more sweat trailing down his face and onto his chest she worries that Finnick won't tell there's something wrong.
"Maybe if we talk about it?"
He grunts and looks over his shoulder at her. "What are we supposed to say? Hey Finnick my shoulder has pus in it and I'm sweating like hell?"
"I don't know Puck!" Scarlett stands up, waving her hands in the air and looks down at him. "Don't push me away. I'm just trying to help you survive so you can get back to your precious fucking girlfriend." Her chest is heaving slightly from being angry and frustrated. She throws her hands over her mouth and walks away.
Puck reaches for her, feeling bad that he just pushed her to snap at him but he's not quick enough. Damn fever. She's walking around picking up the nuts they knew were safe. He tilts his head back till it hits the rough bark. All he wants is to go home. Who is even left? He tries to think about it but the sweat almost dripping into his eye distracts him.
"Scarlett." He says pathetically. Everyone will be watching this and he's acting like a baby. It might even piss Rachel off but he needs Scarlett here as much as he hates to admit it.
She stops what she's doing and looks at him. "What?" Her tone has a certain acidity to it and it's not something he wants to hear ever again.
"Come back over here and sit down." He watches as she thinks about it then walks back over. Handing him a few nuts she begins to eat hers. "I'm sorry for being an asshole."
Sighing, "It's fine." She looks up into the trees, barely being able to see the bright blue sky. Something catches her eye and she squints. "Puck!" She points to a small silver parachute falling to the ground.
He lets out a breath. Fumbling around to get the small vile off, she pours a pill into his hand. He dry swallows it and sighs contently. "Thank you." Puck looks up and knows that Finnick is probably smirking at his pathetic ass.
"I'm pretty sure you have to take these every four hours or so. Let's get back in now that we have this."
He nods at her and stands up, walking back to the shelter slowly while they look around. When they get back, they both notice that there's some greens and rolls. He looks at the two allies and raises an eyebrow.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Haymitch decided that he wanted to send something I guess." Cara shrugs and pushes some towards them both. "You've been sharing with us, it's only right that we do the same." She smiles innocently and goes back to eating her share.
"Get your medicine?" Mason mumbles, his mouth full of bread.
"Yep." He shakes the small vile, wanting to take them all at once.
"You'll need to get some rest after you eat." Scarlett tells him then bites into her food.
"Should be a nurse or something like my mom is. You nag like one." He looks at Scarlett which earns him a glare in return. He smirks and inhales his food, laying down afterwards.
Puck wonders if they're all trying to figure out how to kill him when he's asleep with how much he's been sleeping since he got the stitches. He closes his eyes and prays that they'll open again in a few hours.
As he sleeps, Scarlett looks over to Mason and Cara. "Things are a little too quiet around the arena. Something is going to happen soon. I think we need to decide if we're going to go look around and hunt or just sit here like ducks."
"Going towards the Careers and coming up with a plan might be smarter. We outnumber them 4-3 now so we have the upper hand." Mason looks over to Puck. "Even with him injured."
"Plus we have his sling shot and the arrows. We could easily take them out. Right?" Cara looks between the two of them.
Scarlett thinks the girl is a little too innocent for the Games. But it's one of the things that makes people mad when younger kids are Reaped. She knows she is pretty innocent herself but there's just something about Cara. They've bonded while the guys have been asleep and she knows if it somehow comes down between the two of them, she'll want the younger girl to live. They all nod and make a plan to collect more nuts tomorrow and pack up the camp. They'll discuss it with Puck once he wakes up to make sure everyone agrees one more time.
