The first thing I notice when I wake up is that nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing. I'm in the exact same position I was before. I suppose this is a good thing, since this means Liham's doing something right to protect us. There's a sudden itch on my back, and I twist my arm back to scratch it, and discover I can do so with ease. The rest has done me some serious good, and I've regained most of my strength. The first thing I do is flip my body into a vertical position, stretching and yawning, closing my eyes.
"Hey Liham, how far from shore are we?" I ask loudly, and after a few seconds of silence, I open my eyes, and squeal. Liham's not there. In his place is a muscular brunette boy with high cheekbones and a large assortment of freckles. He's staring at me like I'm a lunatic. I stare at him right back. Technically, he should be trying to kill me. Why save me? I'm sure besides my ability to catch fish that I am of no use to him. Unless that's exactly what he needs.
I'm actually tempted to laugh at our exchange of expressions, but it would be simply too weird under the circumstances. I relax my face, but I take a few strokes back, and immediately struggle to stay afloat, which is embarrassing. I try to force my thrashing arms under water so it won't be so obvious I'm a rotten swimmer, but to no avail. The pale skinned boy quickly swims foreword, expertly cutting through the water, and places his hands on my hips, but I pull away from him with a disgusted look on my face. What was he trying to imply? I'd met him, literally, less than a minute ago. I thrashed away from him, and the poor guy looked generally hurt. Maybe he didn't know the move was suggestive. Maybe he was really trying to help. What district could he possibly be from where this was not considered suggestive? I soften my face, but a new thought comes to me. What if I'm just replacement meat for when the sharks come?
I have no idea how to strike up a conversation with this kid, but I decide to give it a try. I clear my throat.
"Wh- who are you?" I ask demandingly, and don't regret it. He straightens, and looks very official and superior as he does so. I try to copy him, as I don't want him to feel superior in this situation, but just humiliate myself by dropping like a stone. I straighten myself out and lie flat on my back, as floating will humiliate me less than my current state. He clears his own throat, clearly puzzled.
"Uhm, Acton Dark, District 11. No need to tell me you're that Burnet girl," he says, and starts making circles in the water with his finger. "By the way, we're not alone. Chanua's finding fish somewhere. No worries, she has a GPS, she can get back to us," he says, but I was not worrying about Chanua's GPS. I'm worrying about being the only one who doesn't know either of the people she's with. And in this game, that's important.
"Hey," I say and switch my attention to him, "did you see anyone else? Anyone at all?" I ask hopefully, and his answer is immediate.
"Oh yeah, Chanua found some other tributes, about five or six, a mile or so from us. Let's just hope the sharks are after them, not us!" he says, and relaxes on his back, floating as I do. His words scare me. If Liham isn't dead already, he will be soon. I think I might fall asleep again, but I'm far too awake for that. I close my eyes and float for a bit, before a horrible thought comes to my head, and my head snaps up.
"Sharks!" I exclaim, and he doesn't move. I know he's heard me. "Hello?" I ask. He begins to laugh. This makes me feel like I've done something wrong, and I feel hostile.
"Burnet, with all of your movement, you'll attract all of the sharks for miles around. Just say still, and pray to The Capitol. Soften them up," he says, and I'm shocked. Why did he just say that? The capitol is probably furious with him, turning vegetarian monkeys into rabid, carnivorous, swimming monkeys that will come after us! Or something.
But I take his advice, relaxing on by back again, and just stare at the clouds for a bit. Then there's a sudden itch on my lips. I flick my tongue over it, just to discover they're horribly cracked and my tongue dry with dehydration. I'd felt it before, just never really thought about it. The more I patted my lips and tongue, the worse I suspected it was. I was thirsty, with no land, in the middle of the ocean.
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The next thing I know, Chanua's back, and I recognize her immediately. She has long, jet black, silky hair tied back in a braid down to her waist, with flawless olive skin and ebony eyes. I'd seen her when the games began, the sixty seconds before the game began. Her hands are cupped, supporting a pile of shellfish that can probably feed the three of us for three days. My eyes feast upon them, imagining the juice, when I realize that shellfish will have salty water, without any fresh water in sight. And yet, when she arrives, we barely glance at each other, and we feast. When we're all three done munching on shellfish meat, we glance up at each other, slowly.
"I'm Burnet. District t-" I begin, and Chanua interrupts.
"I know. District 12. I'm Chanua. District 9," she announces loudly, and frivolously paddles in the water, doing underwater flips and little games to amuse herself. I stare at her for a while, deciding that she annoys me. Truthfully, she's not too annoying. Anyone in her situation would be grumpy. But then she goes and has fun like this- it's just confusing. I settle back onto my back, and fall back asleep.
I'm only asleep for a few minutes when pure thirst wakes me up, and the first thing I do is moan. Immediately, a small parachute shoots down from the sky and a flask of water lands on my nose. I snatch it up, instinctively taking an immediate sip, when I remember Acton and Chanua. I call out, sounding like a crow with my broken voice, but it catches their attention.
"Hey! Water!"
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Steady arms cut through the water, left, right, left right, reminding they who they belonged to keep moving. For her, the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. He didn't know where she was. He hadn't seen her in what seemed like forever.
He travels for a while before stopping to rest, wiping his forehead of sweat, only to bathe it in salt. He sighs. Great thinking. How is he going to find her? He knows she's not already dead, but in the dead of night, probably during a feeding hour, she could be soon. He looks around, distracted, when something brushes against his foot, and he freezes, terrified. He knows what it is. It's already obvious.
He can just make out a shape in the distance, but he has to blink several times to absorb it. One side, then another… and it all comes together. A triangle, cutting effortlessly into the water thirty feet in front of him. Hungry for blood.
He was among a pack of sharks, around feeding hour.