After the screen turned black, I looked to Thresh. His face was blank, showing no emotion whatsoever. I don't know what I was expecting from him; to yell and scream, to cry his eyes out, to show his grief. When I knew Rusty had died, I could barely stop myself from crying.
"Thresh, talk to me." I brought my hand to his face. "Thresh, say something. Do something."
"Stay in the ditch. I'm going for a walk."
I grabbed Thresh by the arm before he could stand up. "You can't! There are Tributes out there. They'll kill you if they find you."
"I'll be back soon."
I released Thresh's arm and he dressed himself. He then climbed out of the ditch and calmly walked away. Just as he left, there was an announcement: There could be two Victors this year if they were from the same district! Of course, this was done to be sure that the two "lovebirds" survived. The Capitol wanted Katniss & Peeta to survive because it meant more interest in the The Hunger Games. This meaningless slaughter was a meal ticket for President Snow and anyone else who stood to gain from it. In the games, however, there was losing than gaining. Me and Thresh had lost friends, and in the end we would lose each other. I knew that Katniss and Peeta were probably cheering, knowing their little scheme had paid off. Lucky them.
I got back into my clothes, ate a small meal, drank some water, and waited for Thresh to return. It wasn't until sundown that he returned, and I ran to hug him. When I was able to see his face, I realized that he had been crying.
"I'm sorry that I was gone for so long. Are you okay?"
I shook my head. "Forget about me. What about you? Are you all right?"
"No, I'm not. I'm angry, Sionnach. I'm angry at The Capitol and whoever thought it would be fun to cut down Rue. That little girl had everything to live for and she could of won. Don't get me wrong, I don't know what I'd do if you were killed, but-"
I smiled and kissed Thresh. "You miss her. I miss Rusty. I know it hurts, but what do you think they would want us to do now?"
"Fight like hell."
"Then that's what we'll do." I took Thresh's hand and squeezed tight. "We'll do it together."
When night came, Thresh and I made love again. We decided to remain at the ditch for time being, because there weren't any cameras around. Most likely they were focused on Katniss and Peeta. As we laid in each others arms, I knew I had to ask Thresh the question that had to be asked eventually.
"Will you kill me when the time comes?" I asked.
"No! Never. When there's only the two of us left, I'm gonna kill myself."
"I won't let you. I'm going to be sure that I'm killed before you."
"This is insane, Nach! We're arguing over who needs to die. I don't want to think about that, I wanna think about how we're both gonna come out of this alive."
"You heard Mr. Templesmith, Thresh. Only Katniss and Peeta have the chance of being the only two to survive."
"Not if we..." Thresh cut himself off and sighed.
"What is it?" I asked.
Thresh turned his head towards me. "We could fake our deaths."
I felt my eyes grow wide. "Fake our deaths?"
"If we did this, we could get out of this place and then run away together. Maybe even get married, once you turn eighteen of course."
"Thresh, we'd never get away with it. We're not actors, you know."
"Nach, we need to try. If we want to get out this alive and stay together, then we need to try."
I nodded, knowing that Thresh was right. If we were to remain alive, then we had to fake our deaths. We just had to figure out a way to do it.