Chapter 13:

Whitney's POV:

So far I have been able to survive the games by completely staying away from the other tributes. I've been living on the different fruit and berries in the forest. I don't dare catch a rabbit and cook it, a fire would bring too much attention.

I'm honestly surprised I've survived this long. I even made it to the final eight! I had thought for sure I wouldn't make it past the first few days. But here I am, day eight and still alive.

I am walking to find a new tree to stay in; I've been trying to keep moving every day. I pass by a tree with one of the fruits I've been eating the entire time. I grab one and take a bite into it, and keep walking. A few seconds later, I fall to the ground.

Lauren's POV:

Kendall and I are sitting in our tree, eating some of the food we received yesterday. We are talking about everyone back home.

"How do you think James is holding up right now?" I ask. "He's probably sitting there pulling his hair out over the stress of us both being here."

Kendall gasps. "James, pulling out the hair he works so hard at to make perfect?" We start laughing at his joke, but are interrupted by a cannon going off.

I frown slightly, deep in thought. Another tribute has died. Kendall notices my frown and tries to cheer me up. "Hey, just think, Lauren. One less tribute until the games are over!" he says. He has a point, but still, if one of us makes it out, then that means the other is dead.

"I wonder who it was," I say quietly, mostly to myself. But I won't know until later.

Kendall and I decide to set some snares for rabbits near our tree, since our food is starting to get low. We end up catching four rabbits. I skin them and make a fire to cook them. I figure we can save whatever we don't eat now for later.

We stay in our tree since there is no need to move. We eat our food and talk about random stuff. I'm so happy to be with Kendall and talking to him, that I didn't even notice it was evening already.

We sit back against the tree and wait for the sky to get dark and for the dead tribute to be shown. I lean my head on his shoulder, feeling completely at ease.

Finally, the anthem is playing with the Capitol seal being shown. Then Whitney's face is up in the sky. The seal returns and the sky goes dark. I fall asleep shortly after.

I wake up late in the morning. Kendall is already awake. We are starting to get low on water, so I decide to head to the stream to fill up our containers.

I jump down the branches and land softly on the ground. I keep my ax ready, because you never know when you might come across a tribute. I walk a couple trees away, and I hear the sound of a branch being broken.

I get behind the nearest tree. The sound came from past the tree Kendall is in. It's definitely another tribute. I sneak a quick peek past my tree and see that it is Glam, and he is walking right towards me. Oh no he's seen me. But wouldn't he be running towards me if he had seen me? Maybe he didn't.

He is almost to my tree, I can tell by the breaking branches under every foot step. He really doesn't care about how much noise he makes. But why would you, if you were a Career who feels completely comfortable with their strength?

He walks past me tree without noticing me. Now's the chance to kill him. I leap out from behind the tree with my ax above my head. He hears me and turns around in time to stop my ax with his sword. We start fighting, neither side making any hits to the other.

I think he is going to attack on my left side, and prepare to stop the sword on that side. But he is feinting, and he takes a swing with his sword towards my arm.

I scream out in complete agony and fall to the ground on my knees. Burning pain. That's all I can feel from the stump that used to be where my right hand was. It's starting to gush blood, and all I can do is stare at it.

Glam raises his sword above his head dramatically. This is it, I guess. Looks like I won't be winning the games. Hopefully Kendall will win. Wait, Kendall is still in the tree! Maybe he can save me!

But Glam is starting to bring his sword down. I see everything in slow motion. The sword slowly coming down on me. I close my eyes, just wanting him to get it over with. But suddenly he is coughing, and some warm substance hits my face. I peek out of one eye and see Glam has fallen down, with a knife protruding from his neck right where his jugular is. A cannon goes off, meaning he is dead.

I fall over from the pain in my arm. It's too much to bare. Kendall is running towards me. "Lauren! You're going to be fine, I'll help you!"

"Kendall, who are you trying to kid about me being alright?" I quietly say. "I just had my hand freaking cut off! And you say I'm going to be alright." I laugh I tiny bit. "Ok just grab my ax and get me to the tree. I have a medical kit in my bag."

He does as I say and carries me to the tree. He leans me against it and he climbs up and gets the medical kit. He hurriedly climbs back down. "Ok so it looks like we have some bandages and some basic pain killers. Here, take these," he says and hands me two pills. I put them in my mouth and he brings a bottle of water up to my mouth so I can swallow them.

He starts to wrap up the stump with bandages. I cringe in pain every time he tightens the bandage. Damn, this hurts!

I swear loudly as he tightly ties the final knot. "I'm so sorry Lauren, for all of this pain. But that's the best I can do with what we have." The look on his face clearly shows what he won't say: it's bad, and if I don't get better treatment for it soon, I'll die from it.

He carries me up into the tree, and places me in the sleeping bag. The pain is just unbearable right now.

I lay there for who knows how long, trying to fight through the pain. Kendall is changing my bandages again. Then I hear a voice I never thought I would hear right now.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Gustavo Templesmith announces. "Tomorrow morning we will be providing a feast for you at the cornucopia. This feast with have something you each desperately need. So you might want to think twice about turning up the offer."

I look over at Kendall and I can tell he's already made up his mind. "No, Kendall. Don't go. You know how much bloodshed there is at feasts."

"I have to, Lauren. You heard what he said, there will be something we each desperately need. I bet it's something to help your arm. I need to get that or you're going to die," he says.

"Don't leave me here by myself. What if a tribute finds me? I won't be able to defend myself." I'm practically begging him to not go.

"Lauren, I'm going. You need that medicine that will surely be there for us."

"Fine," I say and turn away from him. He is going to get himself killed at the feast tomorrow for sure. And then I'll be by myself with no way of defending myself. I'll be as good as dead without him.

The night turns dark and Glam is shown in the sky. No one else. Tomorrow there will be several faces up there.

Kendall is changing the bandages one last time before I go to sleep. "Hey Lauren, I have an idea. How about I go to the cornucopia now to wait inside it so I can be the first to grab our item? That way, I can get out of there before the bloodshed."

It sounds like a pretty good idea, but that means I'll be spending the night by myself. "Alright," I say after thinking about it for a bit. "It sounds like a plan."

He finishes the bandage and gets all of his knives ready. He places some food, a water container, and the pain medicine on a thick branch right near me. "Alright, everything you might need is right here," he says, and places an ax on the pile too. "I'm going to leave now so I can make sure I have enough time. Goodbye Lauren," he says and kisses my forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too," I say, and then he is hoping down the branches. I hear him hit the ground and start running towards the cornucopia. I try to fall asleep, but it takes me several hours before I actually do because the pain is too much.