Chapter 14.

"District 10: Cooper Hastings."

Eamon had heard so many cannons he was starting to lose count of how many tributes were already gone. He and Blair continued on through the wilderness, but their pace had slowed considerably as they moved towards the outskirts of the arena. She kept ahead while Eamon trailed a few feet behind her, and as he looked at her long, dark hair, launched into a silent argument with himself about how little hesitation she had in killing the District 7 boy from earlier.

You didn't hesitate to kill Axel y'know, said a smarmy voice in his head.

I didn't have much choice.

Still, what did you expect? She's a Career!

What did I expect? Something different. Or at least I hoped.

Best get those hopes out of here mate. Only one winner, you know that.

They stopped to take a breather at the base of a large oak tree. They placed their packs on the ground and shoved the food containers inside, without bothering to check what was in either. They would surely be on the move again just as soon. Eamon took the time to discuss what their plan was now.

"Find shelter, somewhere safe," she said simply. "Once we do we'll figure out what our next moves are."

Eamon nodded, "We must've run nearly two kilometres by now. Probably nearly at the edge."

"That'd explain the smell," she smirked, jerking her head at him.

"You're one to talk," he snorted. "You literally couldn't hold out two seconds at the Cornucopia before rolling around in th-" she cut him off by holding her hand up and frowning.

"What?" he asked.

"I hear something."

Eamon's hands tensed and reached instinctively for the glaive. But then he heard it too.

"It sounds like… water?"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Water of course, was just as important as shelter on their priorities list at that moment. They grabbed their packs and followed the sound of trickling water downhill to the base of the nearest mountain, where it became a torrential roar. When they found its source, it took Eamon and Blair's breath away.

It was a spring of crystal-clear mountain water, bordered on almost all sides by towering, moss-covered cliffs. A rushing waterfall originating from a series of stepped stone formations high up in the mountains blanketed the far side of the spring in a sheet of water. The basin itself couldn't be more than a few metres deep, but was very wide and was ringed with slimy, slippery pointed rocks.

"Careful," said Eamon warily, "This could be a trap."

Blair agreed. She holstered her sai, took out her pack and rummaged through it, hoping to find what it was that she was looking for. At last she pulled out a clear water bottle, and scooped it through the basin, taking care not to touch the water. After it was filled, she held it up to the light and examined it for a few seconds.

"Water seems fine enough to drink, at least."

She took a swig of it while Eamon skirted the moist dirt around the outside of it, wondering if this place had any use as a shelter. Probably not, since anyone who heard the water like they had would come looking.

"We can't stay here unfortunately."

"Yeah, I was thinking something similar," Blair said, walking over.

"Unless you feel like taking a swim real quick."

She raised an eyebrow, "This isn't exactly a holiday."

"Come on," he grinned. "I didn't get swimwear as part of my clothes, I was just curious if you did, that's all."

She stared at him for a moment before placing her hand on his shoulder and pushing him. He tumbled over the stones and into the spring with an almighty splash. He emerged soaking wet and struggling to tread water (in truth he'd never done much swimming given that District 9 was a more inland District).

"A simple 'no' would have sufficed," he glared. A wry smile touched the corner of her mouth as she began looking through her pack once more.

Eamon made to get out and possibly dry himself off, but now that he was right up close to the waterfall he noticed something off about it. Visible between the tiniest of gaps in the stream of water, he could see something behind it. Before he'd assumed that there was just an expanse of rocky shelf behind it. He drew closer and submerged himself under the pounding torrent, and his eyes widened at what he saw. He pulled out of the waterfall quickly and called to Blair.

"I found something," he beckoned.

"Yeah nice try," she scoffed dismissively.

Eamon shrugged and dove back under the waterfall. When he disappeared from sight and didn't re-emerge, Blair was confused. After a few moments it dawned on her exactly what Eamon had found, and she pulled her pack over her shoulder before jumping in after him. Behind the waterfall… was a small entrance.

It sloped upwards slightly, but then flattened out and widened into a spacious cavern the size of a small bedroom. Eamon was already standing in it shaking out the water from his clothes. Oddly, the floor was not covered in sharp rocks or uneven dirt but was smooth like sandstone. The contours of the walls rippled and undulated and were covered in strange markings.

"I think this'll do," said Eamon simply, dropping his pack and regaining his breath.

"You sure no-one'll find it?" asked Blair.

"I didn't notice anything until I was right in front of the waterfall. You didn't either, right?"

She shook her head. Still stunned, she turned her attention to the markings covering the walls. "What's with these do you reckon?"

Eamon walked over to the wall slowly and examined them. "They almost look like… people fighting?"

"Looks like there's about sixty or seventy of them. I… I think these are previous Hunger Games. Or some kind of representation of them anyway. Why would they put this here?"

"Maybe they thought it was fun to put in. Or maybe they're proud of it," said Eamon bitterly, turning away.

A cannon exploded, and Eamon jumped. "District 5: Alys Redding."

The cannon reminded Eamon what they were doing here. He couldn't afford to be wasting time joking about swimming or admiring cave paintings when so much was on the line. And the sooner he could get out there and find Madeline, the better.

"Okay let's take stock of our situation and then we'll figure out what our next move is," he said, straightening up.

"Mhm. What's in your pack?"

Eamon opened it for the first time and pulled out a big, orange sleeping bag. At least he wouldn't have to sleep on nothing but stone. Next, he pulled out a pair of large pickaxe-like objects. At first, he thought they might be used for fishing, but the arena seemed devoid of large bodies of water.

"Climbing hooks," commented Blair. "We make stuff like that back in Two."

At that moment Eamon realised how… nice it was to have someone with similar life experience and training beside him. He'd never had much in the way of people to talk to. But this felt remarkably comforting. It was difficult to stomach the idea that he may have to kill her eventually.

"Water bottle," he continued, "I'll fill that up in a sec. And… oh jeez, really?"

He pulled out the last of his pack's items – a bar of soap and a roll of toilet paper.

"Hey, I'm definitely thankful for that, we might be here a while," she said, barely suppressing a giggle.

Eamon scowled and threw the toilet paper at her. "Go on, let's see what you've got."

She pulled out a coil of thick rope roughly ten metres long. "No wonder this damn thing was so heavy," she muttered.

Blair then removed her water bottle along with a set of matches and what appeared to be a glossy silver oil lamp.

"That's a bit old school," Eamon pointed out.

"Still… open flame should give us mild heat and good light," she pondered. "Looks like there's plenty of oil which is handy," she added, checking the filler cap.

"So, no food in either pack, which is a shame. Guess we're going to have live with whatever is in these," said Eamon, holding up the lunchbox container.

Blair nodded, taking out her own and opening it, "Mine has… two pork sausages and five slices of bread. You?"

"Three bananas and a tin of… rice pudding I think?"

"Not exactly a feast but we'll make it work, I guess."

Eamon nodded as he put all their gear to one side and went to the entrance to fill his bottle with water. It was still something at least. He imagined Madeline was out there with absolutely nothing. But he knew her survival skills were great, and if anyone could find food or water where there was none, it would be her.

"You know I never said thank you," said Blair suddenly. "You know, for before."

"What happened?" Eamon asked. "You and Jasmine looked like you barely made it off your platforms."

"Ehh… my place in their alliance was getting uneasy. They didn't want me. Fine by me; I didn't particularly want to be with them either, even if my mentor insisted. But it's still pretty clear they see me as a threat, so they wanted me gone early. So, Jasmine tackled me right away and I think she was just trying to hold me until the others were done. Landon's probably the one that set it all up."

"What's Landon's deal anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you're his District partner, you probably know more about him than anyone. He seems… difficult. Any weaknesses? How'd he score that 11?"

Blair scoffed, "In his scoring session he asked for the biggest, strongest Peacekeeper they had on standby. And then he beat him half to death with his war hammer. Took three other peacekeepers to stop him from actually killing the guy."

Eamon recalled what Madeline had told him about the injured Peacekeeper she'd helped treat during her session. Landon had done that?

"So, he's freakishly strong and probably more than a bit crazy?"

"Not just that," said Blair, a dark look coming over her, "He's smart. Real smart. He's cunning and manipulative. That's how he turned the rest of them against me. He's good at getting people to do his dirty work and make it seem like a good idea. And all in a way where he appears to be innocent of anything wrong. He doesn't want me in the group not just because someone else from District 2 could steal his thunder, but because he figures I won't go along with whatever schemes he's got planned – and he's right of course. The rest of them? They might think they're all in a fair alliance, but really, they're just doing whatever he wants them to do.

"I see…" said Eamon slowly, mulling it all over. Landon sounded like the epitome of everything he'd been taught about Careers for years – only more extreme. And like Nott once said, he seemed arrogant, vain, and confident in his ability to plan. Maybe Eamon could use this to his advantage. Maybe.

"He's not the only one playing mind games though," he said casting his mind back to the Cornucopia, "You know Karmichael, the boy from 5?"

"The one who scored a 3?"

"Yeah it was a load of bullshit. Always thought there was something off about him. Saw him kill the girl from 8, he's got serious skills."

"Great. More competition to worry about."

"All the more reason to find Madeline. Preferably before the end of the day."

"Was wondering why you weren't with her," sighed Blair.

"Lost her at the Cornucopia. My own stupid fault too."

"Let me guess, now you want to run all the way back out there and find her?"

"I don't really have a choice."

"Sure, you do. And my answer is 'no' by the way."

"I wasn't asking."

"Well there's my answer anyway. We've just run two kilometres from certain death and I'm not about to go back out there and risk my neck, so you can find your little friend who will only hold us back."

She was starting to remind him of Nott.

"I can go and do it myself if need be."

"Well that sounds smart. You said you lost her. Any idea where to start looking?"

He was saved the embarrassment of having to weakly respond to that as their passive-aggressive bickering was interrupted by a noise outside. Both Eamon and Blair jumped up and started towards the entrance of their cave. It sounded like something… beeping? Whatever it was, it was getting closer. They couldn't see the source past the waterfall, but a small object landed in the middle of the spring with a splash, and suddenly they both realised what it was.

Eamon dove back into the warm waters and secured the sponsor container, dragging both it, and its parachute back to the cave. He noticed however that was alarmingly little light coming through the trees; was the sun setting already?

Nott, you idiot, thought Eamon bitterly. Maddie needs this more than I do.

He re-emerged spluttering, soaking wet after he'd just managed to dry off from entering the cave the first time. Through watery eyes he noticed that the container actually had the number '2' branded on the side, meaning that this was in fact Blair's gift. He handed it over and went to shake himself dry.

Blair took the capsule, bewildered that her mentor had elected to spend this gift on her instead of Landon. It opened with a hiss to reveal… a thermos? It was warm to the touch. She poured a cup of its contents to discover that it was hot chocolate. Chocolate was such a rarity in Two, but hot chocolate was the ultimate treat for Blair. On the rare occasions she could savour it, it never failed to make her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. She picked up the note from her mentor accompanying it.

Eamon looked back from drying himself off to see her stuffing the note into her pocket with a small yet beautiful smile on her face, and by what little light they had, a blush creeping into her cheeks. She looked up and saw him staring.

"Do you want some?" Blair asked kindly, offering him her cup. Their argument moments prior seemed almost forgotten.

"Umm… sure. Thanks."

It was rich and heavenly. They grew cocoa back in Nine of course, but he rarely got to taste it, even living with Nott. They finished their cup in silence before putting the thermos away again.

"You should get some sleep," said Eamon, nodding to the sleeping bag in the corner. "I'll wake you when it's my turn."

"What are you going to do in the meantime?"

It was getting late. Blair was right – he had no idea where Madeline could be and even if he did, he'd have even less chance finding her in the dark.

"I guess I'll read up on the history of the Hunger Games," he said, motioning to the markings on the wall.

24th Place: Cecilia Moreau - District 12 Female. Killed by Hilda Blythe.

23rd Place: Axel Costa - District 1 Male. Killed by Eamon Cunningham.

22nd Place: Ivanna Merchant - District 6 Female. Killed by Vesper Rhodes.

21st Place: Paige Delaney - District 8 Female. Killed by Karmichael Damocles.

20th Place: Owen Magnussen - District 8 Male. Killed by Landon Starr.

19th Place: Zoey Townsend - District 3 Female. Killed by Dennis Kessling.

18th Place: Spencer Nash - District 7 Male. Killed by Blair Lynch.

17th Place: Cooper Hastings – District 10 Male. Killed by Karmichael Damocles.

16th Place: Alys Redding – District 5 Female. Killed by Landon Starr.

Bit of a slower chapter, with not as much action going on, but we're really getting into the good stuff now. What'd you think of the interaction between Blair and Eamon? Or the revelations about Landon? Next chapter is quite an intense POV chapter, so look forward to that. Also noticing my average chapter length is getting longer as I write in more detail so... yay? It does mean of course that each chapter takes a little longer, so i hope that's not an issue.