Chapter 25:

The Morning of Day Two

I am at peace right now, even if it won't last long at all. Beck is safe, as far as I can tell, from further infection and such, and the arena is quiet around me for the most part. I take the dagger I took from Killani out of my pants with the long rope of my dismembered hair. I can faintly see them both with the sliver of moonlight that slips through the trees around me. I'm so thankful I picked up the knife, but the hair is of no use to me now. I don't think I'll need a rope of my own damn hair, so I dig a small hole in the ground before me and bury my useless hair in there. In a way, I feel freer now without it.

I'm not tired, despite what's happened today. I lean back more on the tree behind me, and zip my jacket up to my chin. The temperature has dropped hugely. Shivering, I pull the sleeves down, so that they cover my shaking fists. I hope Beck is okay in this freezing weather. I hope Wade is safe, now too. And Katri and Sagitarria. I hate to admit it, but I somehow knew that sooner or later our alliance would fall apart. I hope we all meet later on, though. Right now, I just have to take of Beck and myself.

I know we're not safe here on the open, empty ground, but I have no possibility of climbing these trees around me. Especially not with Beck's heavy, dead-weight body. So I just have to hope for the best and sleep with the knife in my hand. I pull my knees up to my chest for more warmth, and stick my hands between them. I tilt my head back, and, feeling fairly safe and content with where I am, fall sleep.

…

I start at the sound of a crackling of leaves way too close to us. There's a faint hint at it being morning around us, with small cracks of light in the trees, but it's still too dark to try to find someone or to run from someone. I move to a crouching position and hold the knife tightly, but really, I'm afraid to use it. I'm not sure I would be able to kill with it.

The crunching of leaves stops, and I freeze. This means that they can see or hear me moving. I swivel my head around, searching for them. They could be hiding behind every tree, ducking in every bush. Hell, they could even be above me. I'm screwed if that's the case.

I step closer to Beck to check the wound on his back. He's still breathing, shallowly, but still. The blood still stains his jacket, of course, but I want to see the wound underneath. I have to see it so that I know if we'll be able to get up and run from the enemy that waits nearby.

But why would they have stopped at my movement if they were an enemy? Wouldn't they have just continued at us and killed the weak link? They could be more strategic though, so I still need to find his injury and assess it. I've no clue what Caine's medicine has done to help.

Slowly, I peel his jacket off of the arm that he rests on his side, and then the sweatshirt beneath that, and finally the green shirt. It's still a gruesome sight, a single hole that's much wider than it should be from when the arrow was pulled out, with dried black blood everywhere, but it's stopped bleeding, and I can see pink, new skin starting to form around the ugly wound. I actually cannot tell if he's stable and able to get up, so I just try shaking his shoulder after clothing him again.

"Beck, wake up," I say. His face is so peaceful, there's no way of telling if he's conscious or not. Damn it. "Man, you have to wake up. There's someone stalking us, and we need to get up and move, now!"

"Dammit, Beck, wake the hell up!"

He's still. The enemy could be closer now, what with all of my talking. I take a deep breath, and I know I shouldn't do this, but I have to, so I slap him clear across the face, an angry red hand-mark on his cheek. His eyes snap open, fear evident on his face, and I sigh in relief. He starts a small scream, but I slap a hand on his mouth. "Shut it. There's someone nearby. We have to get up, now."

I move my hand away, and stand from the crouch. He looks around the green forest surrounding us, more sunlight slipping in now, and tries to sit up, but can't. He puts his arms under his torso and props himself up. "Oh God," he says.

"What?" I hiss. "They're coming, Beck! We need to move right now."

"Briar, I-I can't move my legs."

I stop, staring at him. He's got to be kidding. He can't be paralyzed, he just can't. It's not happening. If this is a joke, it sure as hell isn't a funny one.

"Stop kidding around, Beck," I tell him, desperation in my voice, saturating the command part of the words. He looks up at me with the saddest look I've seen, with the innocence of a starving puppy. "Oh shit. You're not kidding."

"No," he replies quietly. "You're going to have to go on without me, Briar. I'll just drag you down. Leave me here."

It can't have come to this. I don't have to make this choice. I hear more footsteps around us, and I know they're going to come in now, they're going to kill us now. We're dead. I can leave him, I'm able to, but I refuse to. I've saved his life once, and I'm not about to throw that away. So I will stay here with him, and protect him in the face of danger. It's fight or flight, and I'm choosing to fight.

"I won't leave you," I say stubbornly, stepping in front of him. "How could I ditch a friend like that?"

"I'm telling you to save yourself. There's no use in dying over me. Just run away now," he pleads, and I look back at him, and I know he sincerely wants me to. But I can't leave him like this, I can't be responsible for his death. I would feel so guilty. I already feel guilty for Katri, for not waiting back for her.

"No." I stand my guard, and am not surprised a bit when I see the girl from District Four step out of the tress around our area. Ashby, I think her name is. She smiles when she sees us, proud to have found what she was stalking. I look closer, into her green eyes, and I actually see relief. But it's gone the second I find it, and she's back to us.

I expect her to have some weapon in her hand, because I have my weapon in hand, but she has nothing with her. I look at her in confusion, and she looks terribly confused when she looks at me. I realize I must look like a boy to her. I laugh a little bit, then stop myself, and remain cautious and guarded.

We don't say anything, just look each other up and down. She's really young, thirteen or fourteen, and I feel, for some reason, that she's not an enemy of mine. Ashby seems helpless and small with her freckles and small body. Her red hair is in one braid down her back, and she has a backpack on her shoulders. I notice her eyes on my knife, and I drop it, but not without hesitation. I know looks can be deceiving, and she may be an assassin for all I know.

"I'm sorry," she says with a trembling voice. She drops to the ground, onto her knees, less than five feet from Beck, and he flinches away from her a bit, but stops when she starts to cry. Head in hands, Ashby kneels before us sobbing and hiccupping and wincing, and I have no clue what to do, so I step forward, get onto my knees and try to comfort her. She moves from her hands to my shoulders, and continues to cry loudly.

I pat her back soothingly, as I did with Violet when she was really little, and a wave of memories flood to me, but I'm pushing them out, staying strong for the poor little girl and for Beck and for myself. I shush her, words of comfort whispered into her hair as I hold this stranger in my arms. I don't even know why I'm doing this, but it just feels so natural to me.

Eventually, she stops, and backs away from me. She stays on the ground, rubs her eyes, and looks up at me. Her lips are quivering and she herself is trembling, and I just want to help her, but I don't know how, and I'm just very confused right now about this girl.

"I'm sorry," she repeats. "I don't want to burden you two. Or scare you. But I can't be with them. You should have seen what they did to people… I thought I could do it, be with the elite, but I can't. They hurt me, they really, really hurt me."

I'm not so confused now. She was with the Careers, and she saw them torture people, kill people, and that kind of thing is hard for anyone, especially someone so young and innocent. And now she says they hurt her. I wonder what they did to her.

"How did they hurt you?" I ask gently. "Are you okay?"

She says nothing, just pulls her pant leg up gingerly, and shows a nasty cut that is still bleeding away. I bite my lip and inwardly wince at the wound. It's really bad. But why would they want to hurt their own person?

"Why?" I ask. "Why did they do this to you?"

She shivers, and then talks. "I tried to run. I tried to take something from the Cornucopia stash they had gathered last night, but as I grabbed the pack, they took me, and did this to stop me from running. They're brutal. I waited until they were asleep, and when the people on Night Watch people fell asleep too, I took my chance to run. I grabbed this backpack and slowly made my way away from them. It's way worse now, though. I don't know what they did, but I think they managed to sever through a vein, and now it won't stop bleeding, no matter what I do."

Oh man.

How do I save her and Beck and myself?

Will I have to leave her to save him and myself? There's no doubt the Careers will be after her and out for her skin, and there's also no doubt that if they find us all, we'll all be dead.

What do I do?

A/N: Hey, I'm so sorry you guys! I've been super busy of late, but finally I have found some time to write and update this story!

Thank you all so much for reviewing and following, and adding to favorites and such. Everything you guys do for this story makes me so happy, and I just want to continuously thank you all for helping me and encouraging me and everything.

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter! In my opinion, it was pretty boring, but I wanted some action to slip in, and I thought the 'escaped Career' idea is new and exciting, so I wanted to try it out. Tell me what you think should become of Ashby. Is she truthful? Or is she a Career spy sent to lure Briar and Beck to the Career camp?

Again, sorry for the absence. I feel awful, but I will try to update this as soon as possible!

Also: if you read my other story, Silenced Screams, I need your opinion. Do you guys want me to continue with it? I feel so bad about thinking this, but I haven't updated it in a while, and I've lost so many readers, I just don't know what to do. SO please, please, please give your thoughts!

Okay, I'm out. Thanks for reading!