Day 21- The Games (Day 14)
My first conscious thought upon waking is that Fern isn't nestled against me. The second is that is seems very light for underground. The third is that something is falling on me. Jolting quickly to full alertness, I realise the burrow is starting to cave in!
Scanning around desperately for Fern I can't see her, but nothing large enough to crush her has yet fallen, though it's only seconds away surely. I have already started to move towards the exit tunnel, grabbing my staff on the way, when her screaming voice, seemingly from the direction of outside reassures me she if safe.
I just about manage to scrabble into the tunnel in time, and quickly crawl through it, worried that it might collapse too, though it doesn't appear to be, and also in a desperate hurry to reach Fern, confirm she's safe with my own eyes.
Thankfully she seems to be fine helping to pull me from the tunnel as I reach the end before pulling me into a crushing hug once I'm fully extricated. "Thank god you're okay!" she says.
"I'm fine," I say reassuringly, patting her on the back. "How come you were already out?"
"I was just getting some fresh air," she says, "it was getting really stuffy in there. We should go," she adds rapidly, "I was shouting pretty loudly, anyone could have heard."
"We need to get the pack," I say, "it's got our water, we can't go without it."
Fern seems like she's about to disagree, but instead sighs loudly, realising I have a valid point. "Let's look then, quickly!"
"Have you got your sling," I ask as I clamber down into the earth-filled hole in the ground. "Yeah," she asks, starting to follow me, "why?"
"I'll get the pack," I say, "it shouldn't be too difficult, you load up that sling and watch my back."
"Okay," she calls back, barely bothering to keep her voice down now.
Thankfully I am proved right, I am able to locate the rucksack fairly easily and it isn't too troublesome to dig out, while Fern is still holding her loaded sling as I climb out. "Let's go then," I say, pulling the backpack onto my shoulders. "You lead the way, set the pace. I don't want to go too fast for your knee."
She nods before setting off in what we think is vaguely the right direction at quite a brisk pace. Every know and then I climb a tree to confirm our aim is good or correct it if it isn't, but we don't encounter any sign of anyone else as we approach the mountain at a reasonable pace. We stop briefly for a small lunch of what remains of our food, a little squashed from its ordeal this morning but still edible, while taking just a few sips of water each. As usual we take turns to eat, the other keeping watch, while I also keep watch for a bit as Fern practises with her sling, correctly pointing out that she hasn't used this one yet and wants to get a feel for it.
She's actually a very good shot, after the first couple fly off somewhat wildly she is able to give the tree trunk she's aiming at a good peppering. Once she's satisfied we head off again, slowing down a little after starting quickly again.
We talk intermittently, mostly about plans and tactics, what to do if we meet people, where to find food, how long it will take us to travel and where we're eventually aiming for.
Suddenly, a horribly familiar flashing catches my eye. I look to my right, tapping Fern on the shoulder as I do so, to see a flashing red light on a tree trunk. Spinning around I see them all around us. "We're surrounded," I say to Fern, thinking as I do so that they have probably just been switched on- you would have to be checking very carefully to see the bulbs without the accompanying light.
"Do you reckon there's any hope they might not be about to do whatever they're going to do right now?" Fern says quietly, as though a loud noise could start off the chaos.
"Doubt it," I say, and as if on cue on explosion from behind us and a sudden wave of heat give me an idea what red lights mean, confirmed moments later as I see a fireball shoot in front of us, smashing into another tree. "RUN!" I yell, seeing no alternative despite the forest of red lights all around us- if we climbed we'd just end up trapped in a forest fire.
Sure enough there is no let up to the lights as we run and soon we're virtually running through the middle of a full on forest fire. It's hard to tell as I feel like I'm burning all over from the heat of the fire around us, but I'm sure I've got several burns and Fern is surely suffering just as much.
After a few minutes of running at breakneck pace I'm actually starting to think the fires are being controlled so as not to kill us. The fire is all around us, but there's always a route out and onwards. Nevertheless we keep running, Fern managing despite her knee, probably just because the adrenaline is keeping the pain at bay.
Eventually, without warning we are clear of the fire. I don't stop running, but do glance around as I do so, and see that there are no red lights around us. I glance across at Fern as we run, asking with my eye if she's okay to keep running.
She responds simply by continuing to forge on, until eventually a glance over by shoulder reveals no sign of the flames behind us anymore, nor any smoke.
"Fern, Fern…" I pant, utterly out of breath. "Stop." She doesn't need a second invitation, falling to the ground instantly, barely bothering to slow her run, without looking back.
I lie down beside her in a slightly more controlled fashion, grasping her hand as we just lie there, trying to regain our breath. She squeezes mine firmly back, our actions saying what our voices are too tired too.
After a few minutes have passed I feel like I have regained sufficient air in my lungs to attempt a conversation. "Are you hurt?" I murmur, rolling a little to face Fern.
"No worse than you," she replies softly, also turning to face me. I wince as I get a clear look for the first time. The right side of her head is badly burned, as is her left shoulder and her left side, around her hip. There are also plenty more small scorch marks covering her faces, arms, legs and torso. I look over my own body to try and determine my own injuries, seeing as I can't feel anything in particular- I just feel like my whole body is on fire.
The worst burns are on my right forearm and the back of my right leg, but like Fern I am covered, with plenty of holes in our clothes. "How about your knee?" I ask.
She shrugs. "I'll tell you when I stand up."
I sit up to remove the backpack from my shoulders, which is painful, to reveal it is unsurprisingly also burnt, but not beyond use thankfully. Retrieving the water bottles I hand one to Fern and we both drink as much as we think we can get away with, relieving our smoke-parched throats.
"They're driving us together," Fern comments after we've finished drinking.
I nod simply, not knowing what to say. It's what you expect at this stage of the game, but we know what it means for us, the only reason we're both still alive is because we've managed to largely stay clear of other tributes.
Eventually after a good rest, we are sufficiently recovered, though still burnt and aching, to silently agree that we need to continue and walk for the rest of the afternoon, though our progress is pedestrian, with Fern's aching knee slowing us even more than our tiredness already would.
The weather at least is pleasant as we decide to come to a stop around early evening time. The gamemakers could be throwing anything at us at this stage, but maybe it's just the calm before the storm, perhaps literally.
We have reached the base of the mountain that rises up from near the cornucopia and stop upon finding not a cave, but an overhanging of rock that provides a little shelter and cover at least, with Fern's injury meaning getting into a tree won't be possible.
"You should go up a tree," she insists after I tell her I'm staying with her, but I get her to quieten down pretty quickly when I tell her I would rather die than knowingly endanger her, and with both of us on the ground we'll be harder to attack and a less enticing prospect for a hunter, even if we were both asleep.
Her eyes soften as I explain this and I think she's going to kiss me, but instead she just pulls me into a fierce hug which actually means more I think. I wrap my arms around her too in response and we just hold on to each other tightly for several minutes.
The sound of the anthem breaks the moments, with the sky revealing no-one has died today.
"They won't let it go two days without someone dying at this stage…" muses Fern. I agree internally, but don't say so, trying to avoid negativity. Fern looks at me sadly, before saying quietly "It's such a shame we had to meet like this."
'A shame' seems to be putting it lightly, but it's a valid point, so I mutter a noise of agreement.
"But then again," she continues, seemingly unperturbed by my unresponsiveness, "if we hadn't both been reaped then we never would have met. Of course I wish it could have happened differently, but I don't regret meeting you Rory."
"I'm glad we got to meet too," I say, "I just…"
She puts a comforting hand over mine as I struggle to formulate what I want to say. "I know," she says simply.
"You think if…we weren't in this situation," I say, substituting out the words 'one of us didn't have to die', "we could have…"
Again I don't need to finish what I am saying, as Fern steps in. "I'm certain of it," she says. "I've always thought…" she hesitates for a moment- "that…that to be in love with someone you just needed friendship and attraction, but with you, it's something different, something more than that."
I'm fairly sure that she just told me she was in love with me, albeit in a slightly roundabout way, so I should probably respond in some way. The weary-sounding sigh that escapes me probably isn't the ideal way to start, but I roll with it. "I love you too Fern," I say firmly, "And I wish we could be together and get married one day and…" I trail off. "But at least one of us is going to die in the next few days, everything just hurts too much, talking about this, about us."
She shakes her head. "If you die and I win, I want to have no regrets. I needed you to know that I love you, and I need to have happy memories of just us, not of The Games."
I nod. "You're right," I say quietly, even as I lean in to kiss her. When Fern eventually pulls away, we rest our heads together, not saying a word until she suddenly whispers. "Rory, if I die and you win…"
"Please don't say that," I say, reaching up to stroke her cheek, careful to avoid where her skin is burnt from our earlier ordeal.
"I need to," she says, "Please Rory…I need to know that if I do die, you can promise me two things."
"Go on," I prompt.
"Promise me that you'll tell my family I love them."
"I promise," I say, pulling her closer with an arm around her shoulders.
"And promise me you'll still try everything you can to win, and…carry on with your life if you do, just…just don't forget me."
"Never," I say firmly, "I could never forget you."
"And the other stuff?"
"You said I only had to promise you two things," I say with a half-grin, trying to lighten the mood, "I counted four."
"Rory…" she says, a little pleadingly.
"Will you promise me the same?" I ask.
"Yes," she says firmly, looking straight into my eyes. "I promise."
"Then I promise too," I say. "I promise to try my best to win even if…if you die, and I promise that if I do, I will try and carry on with my life, and I'll tell your family you love them and I will never forget you."
"Thank you," she murmurs.
"You're welcome," I whisper back, before leaning down to give her a soft, short kiss.
"So," she says after a moment, "are we even going to try and keep watches?"
"Not unless you can stay awake," I reply, "I am shattered from all that running."
"We've hardly had anything to eat either," Fern correctly points out. "Are we just going to sleep then?"
"I guess so," I say, "there's only four others out there and it's a pretty big arena. And we're at least a little hidden away here. Besides, we have the advantage of being the last alliance, unless Grove and Jeremiah have teamed up with each other or Coulette."
"I can't imagine Grove making an alliance," Fern says, before yawning ferociously.
I am too tired to continue the conversation either, and within minutes we are both asleep, just as the rain starts to come.