She walks over to a tab that is still mostly intact. ´I´ll try it for good measure,´ I hear her say. She takes the bottle out of our bag and opens the tab. A very sad, small water flow comes out of the tab. The bottle fills for about a quarter, before the water stops. Tsara sighs and takes a very small sip before walking back to me. ´It's not much. Here.´ I take the bottle with my good hand and take a few sips. ´Tsara, what can we do?´ She shrugs.
´We need more water. We should focus on that.´ I take a shaky breath.
´Yes.´ I bite my lip. Tsara drenches the rag around my hand in some water. Now there is one very tiny sip left for the both of us. Tsara looks at the electric device. ´It needs about two more hours.´ I bite my lip again.
´Oh, no.´ Tsara tinkers with the device a bit. I shake my head and get a knife out of the backpack. ´I am going to see how much water is in the nearby tabs.´ She nods. I take a deep breath again. I look at her for a few seconds. I feel a tear roll down my cheek. This will never get out of my system. Even if I win, I will forever be reminded of this. I walk away.
At home in district 8, there is a man who everyone calls crazy Michael. He is a previous winner of the Hungergames, the fourtyeighth edition I believe. Apparently, during that year, the lovely game maker had decided to put a few small buildings in the arena. In one of them, the one michael strolled into, there were nests of spiders with toxic poison - basically a eight-legged version of a tracker jacker. These days, Michael lives on the streets of the winners neighbourhood. He refuses to get into his house and has more or less become a ghost. Right now, I think I understand how and way. I don't think that if I ever get out of this, I will be able to look at a piece of IKEA furniture, the same way he probably cannot see the inside of a house without thinking of an army of spiders. Well, I hope we'll get enough money to refurnish the living room.
I try about five tabs. One explodes, two refuse to work, the other two give just enough water to fill half the bottle. My hand hurts and I do not see any other tabs close nearby, so I decide to go back. I do not hear the sound of water migrating, so I assume the water system really is broken. Somewhere, I hear a cannon going off. I shiver.
´With how many are we left?´ I ask Tsara when I see her again. I throw my knife on the cart. She looks up from toying around with the electrical device. ´I am not sure, but I believe there are only seven of us left.´ I raise one of my eyebrows. ´They really burned through us this year.´ Tsara gives me an angry look. ´Oh, sorry, I did not mean it like that.' Tsara shakes her head a little.
´I know. Yet, uh, I think that means we might need to prepare for a final battle.´ I shrug.
´There have been too little mutilants yet for that.´ Tsara holds a finger to her lips.
´Hallie!´
´Oh, I do not care anymore. We might be able to kill the other five, or they'll drop dead, or whatever, but one of us will die anyway.´ I sit down on the cart. I don't know why, but I suddenly throw my arms around Tsara to hug her. ´This can't be a lot of fun to watch,´ I hear her whisper. I chuckle. My body tells me that feels wrong, and I agree. ´I hope so.´