Chapter 14

I wake up to find Mercury sitting at my feet, roasting something over some coals. It was light out, probably ten in the morning. Barely any smoke was coming from the smoldering coals, but still I'm worried. I sit up.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"I shot some of these," he replies, showing me a squirrel type thing. "I thought I'd treat you guys."

Uhg, why does he have to be so sweet about it? I think. "Well, thanks, but when's it gonna be done? We might be sending smoke signals to the other tributes," I make my voice higher, "'We're here! Come kill us now!'"

He waves his hand through some light smoke and shrugs, "It's not that much." He takes a knife and checks the inside of the animal, "It's all done anyway." He hands me the stick, then starts stomping out the coals, waking up the others.

"Happy third day alive!" I say, waving the meat.

"Wow," Rom marvels, "How'd you find that?"

"It surprised me in the middle of the night so I shot it," answers Mercury.

"Surprised?" I ask.

"…Yeah."

"You mean scared?"

"At least I shot it," Mercury mumbles.

I laugh as I cut up the meat and pass it to the others. After we're done eating we set off again. Mercury and I form a silent plan on how we handle our new ally. I lead with Telly by my side, while Rom walks behind me and Mercury walks behind him. That way, eyes are on everything, and everyone.

"Where are we going?" Rom asks.

"I'm trying to find water and shelter," I reply sighing, like it's obvious.

"When are we going to fight someone?" he asks impatiently.

"Our strategy is survival. Going on offense all the time will eventually get us killed."

"Unless you're good," Rom states.

I almost punch him, but I clench my fist, take a deep breath, and unclench. "Let's keep moving."

We walk for a while. Then, Telly spots something.

"Ez," she says, "there's a river!"

I look to where she's pointing, and I see crystal water trickling over rocks. On habit, I shake my water bottle, checking the amount of water inside. It's probably at its last few drops.

"Let's go," I say, while I recklessly start running toward the river.

While I reach it, I drop my bag and dive in. Telly's right behind me, along with Rom. Mercury, instead of just leaving his bag on the side of the river, starts taking his shirt off.

Of course, I think. He keeps reminding me how sweet he is, and how much he doesn't remember anything. This has been the best few weeks ever, I think sarcastically.

The water is up to my chest. I'm wading in the water, when Mercury does a cannon ball right in front of me, drenching me with water. I hit him in the arm. He feigns pain, and tackles me under the water, and flips me over. Not once does it cross my mind that we might be having too much fun. When we come up for air, Mercury is close to my ear.

"I remembered something else," he whispers. I notice Rom and Telly having a water fight. Splashing each other playfully, not even noticing us. "The Opening Ceremonies, I held your hand, and you never let go." He intertwines our fingers together. My heart flutters and I feel like kissing him, but I can't rush it too much.

"Anything else?" I ask.

"No, but you could tell me," he says, getting too close.

"Well…"

"Of course!" Someone yells from behind us.

Mercury and I fly apart. Telly and Rom stop playing. A girl is standing on the other side of the river bank. Her face is flushed with red anger. Her once blonde, curly hair is now mangled and frizzy. Her right arm is burnt.

Mercury curses, "Tiamy."

"Your ex?" I whisper.

"My crazy ex," he confirms.

"Of course you'd find another girl." She struts into the water while she slips a throwing knife into her hand. I start backing out of the water. "Don't move!" She throws the knife at me.

I'm barely able to take a breath before the knife grabs the edge of my shirt and I'm pinned to the bottom of the river. There's a stinging in my side and I see blood flowing to the surface. I try to pull the knife out, but it's lodged between two rocks. I struggle, trying, now, to rip my shirt to get to the surface, but the fabric is strong. I see Mercury try to help me, but Tiamy tackles him and starts trying to gut him. Rom tries to help him, and Telly disappears from the water. Mercury, Rom, and Tiamy are thrashing around in the water, and I realize, I can't breathe. My vision goes spotty, and I try to make one more escape. I see Tiamy go slack, as I start to lose feeling in my limbs. I might be seeing Mercury's face, but I lose consciousness, before I'm sure.

. . .

I start coughing before my eyes open. I'm at the river where we were attacked. Telly is trying to feed me something.

"Hi," I croak.

"Hi, Ez," she says, happily.

"Where are the boys?"

"Went scavenging. They're probably not too far from here."

I nod and lay down. "What happened?"

"After Tiamy got you with her knife, she tackled Mercury and Rom tried to get her off of him. They fought for a while, and then I shot her with a dart," she explained.

"Oh," I say, "nice job." I'm not sure if I should be congratulating her or not. It's her first kill, but it's her first kill. This game is so twisted. It shouldn't even be called a game.

She laughs half-heartedly, like she's thinking the same thing.

"Is she awake?" I hear someone ask.

I look in their direction. It's Mercury, followed by Rom.

"Yes, she is," I answer.

He gives what he has in his hands to Rom. He sits down by me.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

"Well, my side hurts," I nonchalantly answer, pretending my side isn't burning.

"I figured," he laughs. "We tried looking for some leaves or berries that help the healing process, but we couldn't find anything."

I smile at him then make the mistake of examining the wound. It's wrapped in bandages, and blood is still soaking through.

"We keep hoping for a parachute," Rom says.

I totally forgot about sponsors. I really hope my heritage doesn't affect the sponsors.

"C'mon, Peeta," I mutter.

Mercury gives me some berries. Telly and Rom decide to go scavenging again. I'm suspicious about Rom, but I let him go. Mercury takes my head, and props it up on his knee. The sun is just starting to set. Mercury removes some of my hair from my face.

"So," he says, "Do you have something else to tell me that I might remember?"

"I feel like you'll think I'm crazy or desperate," I answer.

"I know you aren't," he smiles at me.

He starts leaning closer. Everything slows down. I close my eyes. I feel his breath on my cheek. Then I hear bells. Our eyes snap open. I look up and see a parachute falling from the sky. I smile, but I'm also sad inside: No kisses for Esmerelda. Mercury lets my head down, and picks up the parachute. He sits by my side, and opens it. Inside is a bowl of some kind of salve.

"Um…" Mercury begins, "Should I, or do you…?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll do it," I say.

I start to open the bandages. The cut is gruesome, there's mostly blood coming out of it, but I see some puss oozing from the edge. "Ew," I whisper. I start to put the salve on my wound. It dims the stinging feeling in my side. I rewrap my wound and wait for the Rom and Telly to come back.

A/N: More romantic mush, haha. Oh well, I like mush sometimes. I'm excited for the next chapter, which is pretty much what I say after every chapter. So what were you/are you going to be for Halloween/Trick-or-Treat? I was a candy passer-outer. I know I'm lame, but I was lazy this year. Anyway, review, favorite, follow, ect. :)