10: Cordelia

I watch out into the darkness, letting silent tears trickle down my cheeks, getting stuck on my jaw or falling in the crease of my lips. I watch and wait, wait for Jotham to come back, so we can take on the Careers together. I watch and wait, watch and wait, watch and wait for what seems like eternity.

"He isn't coming back Annie, you know that, right?" Seger says softly into the night. Of course I know. But I don't, I do but I don't. I can just about see his face so he must be able to see mine. I nod violently, trying to knock it into my head that Seger is right. He is, of course. But he isn't. He isn't he isn't he isn't.

We sit in a pain tinted silence for the night; I still watch the spot where he left. Where is he now? Fighting the Careers? Exploring District sections? Allying with the Careers to take us down? I shudder at the last thought. No. He wouldn't ever do that.

"Annie, go to sleep now, you're exhausted"

"You haven't slept since the Games started" I say shakily. Seger reaches into his pack and pulls out a small plastic sheet lined with foil- tablet casing.

"Mags sent me these on the first day," he begins. The pills are golden like the Cornucopia and seem to glow slightly in the dark. "The Mentors take them when the Games start, it keeps you awake and you don't become tired. I don't need sleep." He explains.

"Why?" I ask. He shrugs.

"I don't know... Better chances, I'm more alert, safety, protecting you."

Protecting me? Why me? Why does everybody want to protect me?! I'm nothing to the Capitol, just a girl from one of the Districts who has managed to stay alive at the expense of other people. Don't think that. I tell myself. I turn to look at Seger, who is turning the tray round in his fingers.

"Protecting me?"

"Yes, protecting you. Since the Reaping I've realised just how much you deserve to win. You're so innocent, I saw you let that girl from 1 go free. You're just good. There's no other word for it. You cried on the train when you thought you upset me, you waited patiently while Chiara moaned at you, you let the prep team do god knows what without a complaint. You cried when you saw your sister upset at the Reaping, you didn't care about yourself, only her... I almost think of you as my sweet little sister, who as a brother has a job to protect..." He trails off. I can feel a tear coming to my eye, and I rest my head on his shoulder.

"You don't have to do that, Seger. I appreciate it, I really do, but don't risk your life for me" I whisper.

"I don't have to, but I want to" He replies. I'm stumped, and I think through his words as I unwillingly fall asleep, swirling Finnick's bracelet round my wrist. I wonder if it's all a plan to protect me, Finnick, Seger and Mags willing to risk anything to get me out. And I don't know why.

I wake up to the soft morning light warming my eyelids. I open my eyes heavily and see Seger next to me. He's got something out of his bag and is running it through his hands; it looks like some kind of medallion.

"What's that?" I ask him, craning over to look at it.

"My District token, from Lia," he tells me sadly.

"Lia?"

"Cordelia Jessen, we were going to get engaged the day we both became ineligible" he practically whispers. Just like Jotham. Cordelia must be the girl holding his hand when I was behind them the day before the Reaping. I watch him twirl his medallion around his fingers; he is even risking the happiness of his future fiancée to save me, the medallion is probably the only thing keeping him sane.

I'm near to losing my sanity. Very near, it's not going take much for me to go over the edge, Finnick's bracelet is a soother, but it isn't a bandage.

I suggest breakfast a while later, and we snack on nuts and bread. I decide to try some bread from District 7, it's very sweet and chewy, and I find little bits of crushed fruits inside; it's a lovely change from the bland stuff we've been consuming. I eat nearly a whole loaf of the stuff until my stomach can't stretch to fit more in.

"Have we got any plans for today?" I ask. Seger shakes his head as he dreamily watches the swaying grain stalks being tinted lighter by the sweet sun rays. It's true, we're not hunting the Careers down and Jotham's gone, we have plenty of food here, and we won't run out of water anytime soon. We have more weapons than District 4's entire Peacekeeping squadron, and this is nice, relaxing. Sometimes it doesn't even feel as if were in the Arena.

At some point during the day I get restless, I rise and wander to the grain stalks, breaking a few smaller pieces off of the large, thick, golden foundations. I got back and begin weaving a bracelet, braiding it round, occasionally incorporating blades of grass it. By the time I'm done the bracelet planned is the size of a necklace so I hang it under my hair instead.

Afternoon comes and goes peacefully. We both don't need to talk as the silence is comfortable and welcomed. Dusk arrives and the horizon gets closer to us, the colours become more muted and greyscale. It grows warm and the grain makes a near crackling sound around us. I'm drifting into sleep when Seger shakes me back to my senses.

"Annie, grab what you can and run" he says urgently. I turn around and see a sunset orange glow illuminating around the back of the Cornucopia. The crackling is singeing grain and flames as they crackle and snap through the field. This isn't a nice warm evening, this is a fire.

High on adrenaline I grab my backpack, hastily stuffing 3 loaves of bread into my backpack and pick up four knives and three of Seger's spears, and were both sprinting through the field. I can tell he is struggling to keep up with me, running is one of the only things I can do without hurting myself or other people. The barley and wheat stems scratch against my hand as we run for our lives against the fire that's sweeping carelessly and effortlessly towards us. I run out of breath after a few hundred metres but we can't stop, not now. The weight of the weapons in my left arm is making me lean over, and the backpack now feels like it weighs 120 pounds. But I don't stop, I carry on until every limb, every organ, every living cell inside my body is begging for me to stop, screaming in protest as I force them to move. My heart feels like heavy rain on a metal plate, drumming quickly and loudly through my chest and ears. The fire is gaining on us, the smoke begins making me choke throwing my breathing off track, and it's lapping at my feet, teasing and taunting me in an attempt to get me to succumb to its raging, scalding inside. We reach the wasteland again but stumble for another few metres before collapsing in a heap of choking, wheezing, panting and gasping. I clutch my sides as a stitch so powerful it could knock down a house courses through them. I choke and gag, my body unable to adapt to the fiery conditions. The back of my hamstring is burnt on my right leg, the flames have scorched and obliterated the jumpsuit around it and pink, hissing flesh rages violently. I give myself a few minutes to regain a breathing pattern and just lay on the ground, the pain from my leg spreading around me. I remember the cream Finnick sent, and I fumble around for it and find it, spreading it thickly all over the burn. The result is brilliant as it was last time, and I gulp down a flask and a half of water to cease the sandpaper feel of my throat.

"You ok?" Seger says coarsely after a while. I nod and place a bit of bread in my mouth. "Well they're smart, I'll give them that" he mutters.

"Smart?" I wheeze

"That fire wasn't natural. They started it to get us out the field because they want us closer to the Careers. They'll do anything for the show." He says. I agree with him, but that last sentence should not have been spoken, it's borderline treason. I decide to leave it, we're camp less now, we have enough food for another day, but after that we'll have to forage.

"What now?" I ask.

"New camp, I guess"

"Where haven't we been?" We haven't been a lot of places, but we need somewhere convenient, with decent protection and a good supply of stuff" I list off. Seger looks thoughtfully at the ground, and I notice little bits on black dust, presumably from the grain, in his blonde hair.

"I'd say District 2. I went there on a trip a few years ago, there's a mountain there called the Nut. I reckon there's gonna be a resemblance, with a Cornucopia inside. We can go to the top and just camp out. Only risk is them catching us"

He has a point, I went to District 2 a few years ago too, the mountain is huge, and seeing as 2 only uses the inside of the mountain the Cornucopia will be inside it somewhere, not on top.

"Good idea" I agree, and once again, we're up and moving. I try to comply with the complaints of my exhausted limbs until we're at the base of the mountain, when we both begin hastily climbing. The cannon shoots through the Arena when my legs start wailing in protest again. It's so, so hard to ignore them. But I do, and soon enough we've found a small inversion in the face of the mountain. We stumble inside and slump on the cold, stone floor. I pull my blanket out of the backpack and wrap it tightly round me like a shield.

"I have some cloth and a tiny bit of wood Jotham gave me in my bag, should we make a fire?" Seger suggests. It can't hurt, its freezing, the Careers are most likely below us, and if they're not we can easily see them approaching from up here. I nod and he pulls a small log and several small bandages from his bag. I remember the matches I found in mine earlier today, and I try and stop my hands from shaking so I can strike one. I manage to and we get a small fire glowing, giving off a soft glow and a bit of heat into this dingy and cold cave. We sit in quiet again for a few hours, until I gather the courage to ask

"Seger, what happened to Irving?"

Seger looks over at me and takes a deep breath.

"He was Reaped 9 years ago. We all believed in him, everyone did, he allied with the Careers, as most do, and they went around, killing off other Tributes. It wasn't nice, seeing your own brother kill other people in such an unforgiving way, my Mother was distraught, my Father refused to watch, so I just sat and watched alone. Then the third day came, same day as now, when they told him to get water from the pond about 50 metres away, he had his back to them, and one of them threw an axe at him. He died straight away" I feel tears welling when his voice breaks "But the hovercraft didn't come on time," His voice cuts off behind a wall of tears.

"In time for what?" I ask softly.

"You could see everything, brains and blood. The laughing from the Careers..." he whispers.

"Oh, Seger" I say, scooting over to him to sit by his side, putting my head on his shoulder. He looks down at the floor, and I can hear the noises of tears he is desperately trying to shield. "It's okay, you can cry" I tell him. He shakes his head and stares coldly into the fire.

A small crunching sound comes from outside the cave.

"Did you hear that?" I ask. He nods.

"Yeah, I'll go check it out" He gets up and heads to the mouth of the cave, and I follow shortly after. I run my hands along the walls of the cave, the entrance so tight I barely have to stretch my arms.

"ANNIE RUN!" I hear Seger shout. Run? No, not without him. I run to the cave mouth and spin. Seger is held in a chokehold by Aziah.

"NO! SEGER! GET OFF OF HIM! TAKE ME!" I scream, running to them. Seger is trying to resist against Aziah but he just holds him tighter. I'm suddenly caught in a iron tight grip and hear the arrogant whisper of Cartier in my ear.

"Oh no you don't, 4"

"Get off of him!" I screech. I don't care if they kill me, just don't kill Seger. Please. I continue struggling against Cartier, but my attempts are useless, he's too strong.

"Now, 4" Aziah begins, freeing one hand to pull a hatchet from his belt, "you're both going to learn why you should've allied with us"

I stare in horror as Aziah delicately traces around Seger's neck with the hatchet, sneering cockily. He isn't. He can't do that.

"We're going to kill you just as we did your brother" he sneers. Just as they did his brother.

Just as they did his brother.

A/n-

Hi! So sorry about no chapter yesterday, I'm at my grandparents this weekend so didn't get the chance to finish it, but here we are! There (should) be one tomorrow, fingers crossed!

-G :)