- Heat Chapter 26
Day One, the rest of it.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the Bloodbath, as much as you could anyways. :) Now, on to the rest of Day One.
Brooke Nash –15-- --D4-- POV
I'm panting as I look at Kai on the other side of the hill. So is he.
"So, who wants to poke their head over and see if we've been followed?" I ask.
"You mentioned it," he says, smiling.
"Fine," I say. I humph at him, jokingly. I smile and lift my head over the ridge. I see the careers conversing in the Cornucopia, then they pick up some weapons and survival equipment and head for a grove of trees far away from us. "No sign of following," I say. "We don't want to go over there, though. That's where the careers are."
"I see," Kai says. "Come on down from there." I do, and look at him.
"What now?" I ask.
"Pick a direction that has cover and go there, I guess," he says.
"Sounds like a plan," I say. "Which direction?"
"Which direction has the careers?" He asks. I point in the general direction.
"I'm guessing that way, then," I say, jerking my thumb over my shoulder.
"I guess," he says. I grab my trident from the ground, Kai grabs his sword, and we start walking towards the grove of trees.
Aurora Dayton –17-- --D7-- POV
I and Cyder keep running after we cross the dip, until we run into a river. It's fast flowing, and the only way to cross it looks significantly dangerous.
"Let's not go that way," I tell him.
"Agreed," he says. "But which way do we go?"
"I don't know," I say. I point my thumb to the right. "That way?"
"Sure," he says, and we start walking.
Athena Fallow –17-- --D11-- POV
Sofie and me reach the treeline. We run for a few minutes until we're well in the desert forest. I stop, and turn to Sofie.
"So," I ask, "what now?"
"Now," Sofie says, "We find a secure spot, and set up camp. Nobody's around, and if we go any direction around the Cornucopia, we don't know if we'll run into somebody, so we should probably move a little in one direction to make sure that we weren't followed, but that's it."
"That sounds like a good plan, Sofie," I say. "Let's do it." We pick a direction at random and start walking.
Kaine Thomason –14-- --D8-- POV
I stop running once I reach the grove of trees, and consider my next move. I decide to keep walking out, towards the edge of the Arena. After about an hour of walking, I reach a fast-running river. I wonder which direction to go, and decide on right. I start walking.
Edmund Caden –15-- --D6-- POV
Once I reach the grove, I stop. I don't know what to do now, my plan didn't really extend this far, as I didn't know what the arena would be like. I decide to pick a path that keeps me at around the same distance from the Cornucopia, in what I think is a vaguely southerly direction. I start walking.
Spire Windell –16-- --D5-- POV
I reach a grove of trees, and slow my pace once I'm a minutes of running in. I decide that there's really no point in moving, so I set up camp and wait. I unsling my sleeping bag and lay it down on the ground. I decide to try to climb a tree to wait for Tributes to come into my kill zone. I lay a hand on the tree and instantly regret it. "Frack!" I shout, then quickly regret it. If anyone's around, they'll have heard me. Well, I'll just have to be quiet and make sure that if anyone comes, I'll hear them. I look more closely at the tree and realize that it's covered in many tiny spikes. I look at a few of the trees around the area, but they all have the same problem. I guess that I'll just hug up to the lower, un-spiked part of one of the trunks and wait. I have no intention of using my sleeping bag.
Abi Hendrix –14-- --D12-- POV
After we reach the trees, we walk for a few more minutes directly away from the Cornucopia. Eventually, I say, "We should probably walk some way not straight away from the center. Eventually, we're going to reach the edge."
"You're right," Wyatt says. "Where to?"
"Maybe over there?" Azalea asks, and points to the left.
"Sure," I say. "Let's go."
"Let's go," Wyatt says.
A few hours later… The sun is starting to set, and most Tributes are beginning to set up camp for the night.
Kai Presley –18-- --D4-- POV
After Brooke and I walk at a slow place for a few hours, the sun starts to get low.
"We should probably set up camp," I say.
"You're right," she says. She opens the survival kit, and pulls out a sleeping bag. She spreads it on the ground. I unsling mine and spread it next to hers. "We should start a fire," she says. "It'll get cold." I like that she's smart.
"Do you have any flint in that kit?" I ask.
"I do," she says, and pulls it out with a smile on her face. "We just need some wood."
"I can do that," I say. I grab my sword from the ground where I had lain it, and get to work demolishing a few tree branches.
"Let me help you with that," Brooke says.
"You can't," I say. "I don't think a trident is a very good lumber weapon. Anyway, I'm almost done. You can break off some sticks for tinder." She does, and within a few minutes, we have a pile ready for a fire. "Do you know how to use this?" I ask.
"I do," she says, and strikes the flint on the steel. She puts the spark to the wood, and it ignites. "Yes!" She shouts, a smile spreading across her face. She's pretty when she smiles. Am I really-- Yes, I'm really having these thoughts. Any you know, maybe that's okay. Galia was always protecting somebody, maybe she'd want me to go out protecting somebody. Especially somebody like her. Brooke is exactly the kind of person that Galia would want me to protect. Maybe that's good. I always wanted to die, now I'll die protecting someone. It's what Galia would have wanted.
"Kai?" Brooke asks, snapping me out of my reverie.
"What?" I ask. "Sorry, I was… thinking."
"I just asked if you thought that it got dark fairly quickly," she says.
"Oh. Um, yeah, it was pretty quick. Just a few minutes ago, the sun was setting, now it's dark. That's the desert I guess," I say.
"Yeah," Brooke says, absentmindedly. "So, what were you thinking about?" She asks me with a smile on her face, looking right at me. She moves, and tucks herself into her sleeping bag. Her hair spreads out under her head, and it looks cute. No, it looks adorable.
"Um… I was thinking… I was thinking about Galia," I say. "And you."
"How are we related?" Brooke asks.
"About that..." I say. "You know that Galia volunteered because she wanted to protect her best friend."
"Yeah," Brooke says, and nods.
"Right. That was always Galia. Sweet, caring, protecting. And you know that I volunteered because I couldn't bear to watch anyone else die, because I can't really live without her. What you probably don't know is that you remind me of Galia a lot. Your hair, your eyes, your smile. Your personality. You're sweet, you're caring, you're strong, you don't give up, and you're really funny. After Galia, I never thought I would fall in love again, never thought that I could. But I think that I'm falling in love with you. Not quite as much as I was in love with her, I could never love anybody that much again. But I do love you, Brooke. And I think Galia would want me to die protecting you. Would want me to finally come to her, having saved somebody's life. Somebody like her, who I failed to protect. So, Brooke, I want you to promise me one thing. I am going to die, not you. I don't want you sacrificing yourself for me. So, if I tell you to run, you run. Okay?" I look into her sea-blue eyes for a second before she responds.
"Okay," she says. "I'll run. But I need you to know something, Kai. I'm in love with you too. At least I think so, maybe. I've never really been in love before, so I don't know, you're the expert. But, I'm pretty sure that I at least really like you."
"You don't need to say that," I say, quickly.
"Yes, yes I do," she says, "because it's the truth, Kai. I love you." We both fall silent for a moment, then I look into her eyes. She stares into mine in return.
"I love you too, Brooke," I say, still looking her in the eyes. She sits up, leans forward, and kisses me. We kiss for a few seconds before she pulls away.
"I love you too, Kai," she says. She lays back down in her sleeping bag. "Want to snuggle?" She asks.
"What?" I ask.
"Snuggle," she says, patting her sleeping bag. "As in, get in, next to me, and sleep. We'll conserve body heat that way. And," she pauses, "it'll be nice. I've never slept in the same bed as anyone who wasn't related to me."
"Oh!" I say, slightly surprised. "Of course," I say. I snuggle into the sleeping bag next to her. She feels good, warm, next to me. She snuggles her head into my chest, and I stroke her hair. She kisses my chest softly, and within a few minutes, I fall asleep, still stroking her hair. The fire still burns, and our sleeping bag and shared body heat keep us warm.
Sofie Guinness –16-- --D5-- POV
After a few hours of walking, I and Athena decide to make camp.
"It's getting cold," I say.
"That's the problem with the desert," Athena says. "It gets hot in the daytime and really cold at night."
"Should we make a fire?" I ask.
"Maybe," Athena says. "On one hand, we might need the heat-"
"And on the other, if anyone sees it, it would give us away," I say.
"Right," Athena says.
"What if one of us stays awake while the other one sleeps?" I ask. "Keeps watch, that way, if anybody comes, we can alert the other one?"
"That's a good idea," Athena says. "But, what if somebody shoots you with an arrow while I'm asleep?"
"Then I'll scream," I say. "But I think that's a risk we'll just have to take. Besides, hopefully nobody will be walking around in the night, it's so cold, they'd risk freezing."
"Okay," Athena says. "I guess so. We need to get some firewood, then."
"I can chop some branches with the sword," I say. "Why don't you grab some tinder from the branches?"
"I could chop down branches too," Athena says.
"Yes, but I've been trained with a sword," I say. "It'll be safer, and faster that way."
"Fine," Athena says.
"I'm not saying you can't do it," I say. "Just that it'll be faster this way."
"Okay," Athena says. She seems placated by this answer, and goes to work gathering tinder from the branches I've cut down. Within a few minutes, we have enough wood arranged in a pile for a fire. "Next question," Athena says, after we have our file pile done, "do we have anything to light it with?"
"That's a good question," I say. "Let's see. What's in that bag you have there?" I ask. She puts the bag down on the ground and opens it, pulling out items.
"Okay," she says, pulling out the first item. "A pack of water, this will be useful." She pulls out a tube of something. "What are these?" She asks.
"Hand them to me," I say. She passes them over, and I examine them. "Ah-hah!" I say, as I find the writing on the side of the package that was covered by her hand. "Water purification tablets."
"Cool," Athena says. "Those will definitely be useful, if we ever find water."
"Yeah," I say. "So, what's the last thing in there?"
Athena pulls out a black mess and unfolds it on the ground. "A net," she says. "Not quite sure how this will be useful, but it could be."
"We could use it to set a trap," I say.
"That's a good idea," Athena says. "How did you come up with that?"
"One of my characters in the book I'm writing has the same idea," I say.
"You'll have to tell me more about this book," she says.
"I will, but first, let's get this fire started," I say.
"Right," she says. "I guess we can use the wood to make a spark."
"I guess," I say. "Let's go." After a few minutes of shaving down the wood so that it would be the right shape to spark, we finally rub it together quickly enough to get a spark, and light the fire. "Yes!" I shout, as the fire bursts into flames.
"Okay," Athena says. "So now, can you tell me about your book?"
"Sure," I say. "I really have two going, but the Capitol probably wouldn't approve of one."
"You know they could be watching right now," she says.
"You're right. Maybe I won't talk about that one. Let them live in mystery," I say. "Anyway, the other one, that's the one I read part of in my interview. You remember it?"
"Yeah," she says. "You called it a fiction adventure romance, right?"
"Yeah," I say. "It's about this princess named Luna, and a peasant named George. Luna meets George fighting an automaton army that's invading her kingdom. They start to fall in love, but then she figures out that he's the leader of the automaton army. He explains that while he created the automatons, he quickly lost control of them, and they started building more of them by themselves. The only reason he was still with the automatons is that he was trying to control them. She accepts his explanation, and they continue to fight the automaton army. Eventually there will be a big fight, against a giant automaton that the smaller automatons will have created to hold their master conciseness. Luna and George will win, they'll get married, and live happily ever after."
"Wow," Athena says. "That sounds really cool. One question though. What's an automaton?"
I laugh. "Right, sorry. It's a fancy word for a robot."
"What's a robot?" Athena asks.
"Oh. Right," I say. "You're from District Eleven, right?" She nods. "Okay. You know what a machine is, right? Like a car or an elevator?" She nods again. "Okay, so a robot is just a machine that can essentially be made, be programmed, to do something without human supervision. So, like, it could mine rocks automatically, by itself, and you wouldn't need a human. The automatons in my story are human robots, they look and move like humans. And in this case, they have human brains too. They think and act like people, on their own. Except they're not human, they were created by humans. They have intelligence, but it was created by humans. An artificial intelligence, I guess you'd call it. A simulation of a human made with gears and wires."
"That's cool," Athena says.
"Thanks," I say. "I think so." I pause. "You should try to get some sleep. I'll take first watch."
"I'm not tired," Athena says.
"Neither am I," I say.
"I guess we'll stay up then," Athena says. She pauses for a few seconds. Then, she says, "I want you to promise me something, Sofie. If you win, if I die, use some of your money to make sure my fiance, Alix, and my sisters, Alia, Ainsley, make sure they're alright. They're not rich. It's always been hard for us, since… well, you heard. Okay? Please."
"Of course, Athena," I say. "You didn't have to ask. Can you promise me something, though?"
"Of course," she says. "What?"
"If I die," I say, reaching into my shirt and pulling out the notebook that sits over my heart from its pocket, "promise me that you'll finish these stories. The ones that are in here. I'm going to write something about us, too. And if I don't get to finish it, I hope that you will. Promise me that, okay?"
"Okay, Sofie," Athena says. "I can't promise that I'll do them justice, but I'll try."
"Thank you," I say. "You really should get some sleep."
"Are you sure?" Athena asks. "I can take first watch if you want."
"No," I say. "I've got this."
"Okay," Athena says. "I guess we should have grabbed a sleeping bag, huh?"
"Yeah," I say. "Hopefully you like the ground."
"I guess I will," she says, laying down on the ground, putting her hands under her head like a pillow. She shifts her body a little bit, to get a rock out from under her ribcage. "Good night, Sofie," she says.
"Good night, Athena," I say. She closes her eyes, and I sit, staring into the fire. After a few minutes, I pull out my notebook, and start writing.
Sofie Guinness –16-- --District 5 Female Tribute for the 70th Hunger Games--
I rose into the arena, looking around, and trying to find my ally and new friend, Athena Fallow. As I stand on my platform, I wonder how I got here. I think back to the day of the Reaping...
Five days ago…
I look at myself in the mirror. I adjust one of my two braids, and my green eyes make contact with each other. I look down at my green dress. It looks nice. I walk out into my living room. My older siblings are already there, and as I come out, my youngest sibling, Kyler, comes out, with my mother, Willa.
"Hi, Sofie," My sister, Zia says…
I continue to write for a few hours, about the Reaping, the Justice Building, my thoughts, and Athena. Sort of like a journal, interspersed with a story, I guess. I start to feel tired, and tuck my notebook back in my shirt. I'll wake Athena up in a couple minutes. As I sit by the fire, I wonder what I should call my story. I shiver, as a sudden gust of wind blows the fire away from me. Heat, I think. That would make a good name. Heat, and the lack of it. I tap Athena's shoulder to wake her up, and after a quick conversation, we exchange places. I fall asleep as she stares at the fire.
Cyder Lamentian –17-- --D7-- POV
After a few hours of walking, I and Aurora debate setting up camp.
"Should we keep walking?" I ask. "Or settle down here?" We're at a point next to a slower moving portion of the river, with a small grove of trees around us.
"We can settle down," Aurora says. "We're not really walking anywhere anyway."
"Okay," I say. "We should make a fire, it'll get dark and cold soon."
"You're right," Aurora says. "I'll chop some wood," she says, and hefts her ax. "I'm good at it, you know." I laugh at her joke, and she smiles.
"Really?" I ask. "I never knew." She laughs this time, and I smile. "I'll grab some tinder," I say. We both work quietly, and in a few minutes we have nice fire going. It would have been easier with matches, but with a few throwing knives and dry wood, the fire was started quickly.
"So, Aurora," I say, "tell me more about yourself. Your family, your history. I know you a little bit, but not much about you. And, if you don't mind me asking, you said your mother died?"
Aurora takes a deep breath before answering. "Yes, she did. She died about a year ago. She was pregnant with her baby – my sister – then. She went into labor after only six months. She died, and so did the baby. Were you working in the forest around that time?"
"I don't know," I say, honestly. "Maybe."
"Okay," she says, and continues with her story. "So, I went into a bit of a funk – a depression – after she died. I just stayed at home and did nothing. My dad had to work two jobs to provide for us. So, Sophia, you know her, right?" I nod in the affirmative. "Right. So Sophia tried to fill in for me when I was gone. I trained the other kids a lot, but she couldn't do it as well as I could. She almost got one kid killed." She smiles a little bit. She notices the look on my face and adds, "No, he didn't die, he wasn't hurt that bad. Just, the thought of Sophia training someone," she laughs again. "Anyway, she eventually lead a whole group of kids, everyone who was in the forest that day, I bet, to come and get me, get me out of my funk and back to work. And they did. So that's what happened with my mom. Anyways, apart from Sophia, and now you, I guess, I don't really have many friends. Just my dad and me. My dad's a great guy, you know. He really tries. And Sophia, she's fun, she's loyal, and most importantly, she's honest." She trails off for a few seconds, before coming back to me. "So, Cyder, you said you had a girlfriend, this Juniper girl. Tell me about her."
"I wouldn't say girlfriend," I say. "I mean, I hope that we will be girlfriend and boyfriend if I get back, but up until Reaping day, I just had a crush on her. And apparently she felt the same way about me, we just never talked about it. Until she thought I would die, you know. Then she told me she loved me. And… and… and I told her the same thing. Because, I… I think I do love her, you know?"
"I know," Aurora says.
"What about you?" I ask. "Ever had a boyfriend?"
"No," Aurora says. "You should know that, I said that already."
"Forgive me if I don't remember every detail. And besides, I was hoping for more of a why than, 'I never had time,'," I say, making air quotes around 'I never had time', and saying it in a silly voice.
She laughs, and then responds, "Well, Cyder, you're not going to get more than that. It's true, I just never really felt that interested. Between taking care of myself and making sure my dad's alright, I just didn't feel like I had the time for boys. Besides, I didn't really want one. They kept asking me out though."
"You know why," I say. "Right?"
"Of course," she says, smiling. "I know exactly why."
"You surprise me, Aurora," I say. "You seem like a really nice person."
"Thanks, Cyder," she says. "You too. I think I am getting tired now. Do you mind taking first watch?"
"Not at all," I say. She grabs our one sleeping bag and unrolls it next to the fire.
She lays down, but before she closes her eyes, I say, "Aurora, one more question."
"Sure," she says, looking at me through tired eyes.
"You could have had a lot of other partners. You could have made some boy fall in love with you, and sacrifice himself for you. Instead, you agreed to be partners with me. Me, who has a girlfriend. Who wants to go home. Who would kill you, if it came down to that. Why?"
She sits up in the sleeping bag and smiles. "Cyder, if me turning down boys surprised you, this really will. Look, I'm not that kind of person, okay? I would never pretend to be in love with somebody, just so that I could win. If I fall in love with somebody, I would tell them the truth, but I would never use somebody like that. Okay?"
"I see," I say. "That really does make you a good person."
"I think you are too, Cyder," she says. "Oh, and by the way?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for the reminder that the person I just made a connection with and am trusting with my life while I sleep might slit my throat as I sleep."
"No problem," I say, jokingly. "Good night, Aurora."
"Good night, Cyder," she says. Then she lays back down, and closes her eyes.
Edmund Caden –15-- --D6-- POV
After walking in the same direction for what feels like hours, I finally get tired. I realized a few hours ago that I should have thought to grab a sleeping bag. Or some food. Or water. Oh well. I'll kill someone and steal theirs. But for now, I need to sleep. I put my sword down next to me, and attempt to lean back on a tree. After a few shouted curses and checking that I wasn't bleeding, I lay down on the hard rock instead. The leg wound that Lindsay gave me still hurts, and it's getting worse. I ripped off and arm of the shirt to stop the bleeding, but it still hurts. I need to find someone to take supplies from soon, or I might die of thirst and infection. I end up falling asleep on the hard rocks of the desert floor.
Kaine Thomason –14-- --D8-- POV
After a few hours of walking, I decide to settle down for some sleep. I think about making a fire, but then realize that I have nothing to light it with. Or a sleeping bag, darn it. I take the food and water out of my backpack, and nestle it under my head to use as a pillow. Maybe I'll find somebody who has a sleeping bag at some point. That would be nice. So would some flint and steel.
Topaz Hazard –17-- --D1-- POV
I and the rest of the careers decide to make our first camp in the small forest we're in, before continuing the hunt for that coward Spire tomorrow. We all unroll our sleeping bags, and Lily and Arc work together to set a up a tent for the two of them, while myself and Titanium work on getting wood for a fire. We get a large fire going, and all sit around it as we decide the watch schedule.
"I can take first watch," I say.
"Sure," Lily says. "Me, Arc, and Titanium will get some sleep. Then, Topaz, you can wake Titanium up next, and he'll take second watch. I'll take last watch."
"Why does your boyfriend get to sleep in?" I ask.
"What?" Lily asks.
"Come on, we all know that you two are sleeping together," I say, looking at Titanium.
"This is the first I'm hearing of it," Titanium says.
"Look, it's none of your business if we are or not," Lily says. "Arc will take first watch tomorrow night. We only need three watches a night. And lastly," before I can react, she is right in front of my face, one of hands holding my head up will the other holds a knife to my neck, "Don't question me, or I'll kill you myself. Got that?" I nod assent quickly. "Good," she says, and lets me go. I take in a deep breath.
"Understood, Lily," I say. Then I plot how I'll kill her. I'll kill everyone else first, then I'll torture her. I want to hear her scream. I smile as I stare at her, imagining her screams.
I'm shaken out of my pleasant thoughts by Titanium's voice. "So, what did you guys think of my kill of that pathetic girl? Pretty cool, huh?" Lily glares daggers at him, and I look away. I'm not getting involved in that.
"You think that was cool?" Lily asks. "Killing a poor defenseless girl like that?"
"Yeah," Titanium says. "Don't you?"
"I want to run you through right now," Lily says. "But we already lost Satin, so I won't. Not know anyway. I hope you die slowly and painfully. Don't talk to me, I'm going to sleep." She gets up and goes inside the tent.
"I'll go with her," Arc says, and follows her inside the tent.
"You should get some sleep too," I say to Titanium.
"Okay," he says, and gets in one of the sleeping bags around our fire.
Arc Woods –18-- --D2-- POV
I follow Lily into the tent, where she lays down on top of a sleeping bag. I lay down on the one next to her.
"Are you alright, Lily?" I ask, whispering so that no one else hears us.
"I'm… I'm fine," she says.
"No, really, Lily, what's going on? It's alright, you can tell me," I say. I reach over and slip of one of the shoulders of her shirt. I gently kiss the scar on her shoulder.
"It's… it's… it's that," she says, pointing to the scar on her shoulder. "My dad, he, he gave me all of these," she gestures to her body, even her arms are covered with scars. "Many more that you can't see too. And he… he would attack me in my sleep," she pulls up her shirt to expose her belly button. There's a large scar that goes right through it. "This one was when he stabbed me when I was sleeping. He excepted me to fight him off, with a fatal wound. The only reason I lived is because he had medical kits in the house. In the Games, I'd be dead. I remember that he kept attacking me until I fought back, as I lay, literally dying. So, when I see Titanium chopping a defenseless girl in half, I, I… It's just wrong. She didn't ask for this. She didn't sign up for this, she didn't volunteer. It's not like he was her ally, who she fully excepted to slit her throat in the night. She didn't even get into the games, where it was always understood you would be killed, especially if you let your guard down. If she were there later, if she were asleep, instead of passed out, she would have heard him before he got there. Then it would have been okay. If she was asleep and he slit her throat, at least it was her choice to sleep, knowing the dangers. But… but what he did… did you hear her scream?" I nod, and kiss her gently. "It's just… it's so wrong, what he did," she says.
"I know, Lily, and I'm sorry," I say. "Sorry for you. We'll kill him together, okay?"
"Okay," she says.
"We should get some sleep. Good night, Lily," I say, and kiss her. She kisses me again, and then lays her head down, eyes closed. I am sorry for you, I think. Sorry for all you went through. And sorry that after we skin Titanium alive, I'll have to kill you.
Lily Cross –17-- --D2-- POV
I snuggle up next to Arc. I feel like sharing with him why I feel that Titanium is so vile has caused him to trust me. It's amazing how easy people can be fooled. Show him a few scars, a little vulnerability, and he thinks that I trust him. I think that now he feels bad for his plan to kill me. Good for him. I don't feel bad. I would be happy to slit his throat right now. Although… I can't deny that it's been nice, having someone to be with, someone who cares, who's not my father. Maybe I'll try to find somebody like that when I get back. I need to remember not to get to attached to Arc. Or anyone here. I drift off to a sleep full of nightmares of my father, combined with new nightmares. Nightmares of killing Arc, nightmares of him torturing me like my father did.
Azalea Saffron –12-- --D9-- POV
After a few hours of walking, me, Abi, and Wyatt decide to make camp.
"We should make a fire," Abi says. "It'll get cold soon."
"Yeah," Wyatt says. "But what will we get firewood with? We only have knives."
"What's in that bag?" Abi asks. Wyatt pulls the bag in front of him, and pulls out a dagger.
"What about your bag, Abi?" I ask. She pulls it in front of herself, and pulls out a medium water pack.
"That's it," she says.
"We might be able to use these knives to cut off some branches," I say.
"If we were stronger, maybe," Wyatt says. "We would be sawing for hours to cut off these branches," he says.
"Then let's use the smaller branches," Abi says, pointing to another tree nearby, with thinner branches.
"That's a great idea," Wyatt says, a smile spreading across his face. He pulls Abi close and kisses her on the head. "I love you, Abi."
"I love you too, Wyatt," she says, kissing him back. "Now, let's get to work."
The three of us, myself and Wyatt working with knives and Abi with the dagger, quickly get a pile of firewood, and with some neat trick that Abi knows, we get a fire started quickly. Abi rolls out our one sleeping bag.
"Azalea, why don't you get some sleep," she says. "Wyatt, you should too. I'll take watch. But I do want to talk to you first, Wyatt," she whispers the last part, thinking I can't hear her. I go into the sleeping bag, and pretend to sleep, as Abi and Wyatt walk a short distance away to talk.
Wyatt Fritz –14-- --D12-- POV
"What did you want to talk about, Abi?" Wyatt asks.
"I… I… we need to talk about her," Abi says, pointing to Azalea. "What do we do if we're the last three left? I don't want to kill her, but… but… I'd be okay with dying, with her or you killing me, but I couldn't let her kill you. I want you to win, you know. We could make her promise to use her money to help our families, but… but I can't let you die."
"We might not have to kill her," I say, "Somebody else might kill her first."
"But what if they don't?" She says. "Then what are we doing? Keeping her alive just to kill her?"
"I don't know," I say. "We could make sure that we don't have to kill her."
"Use her as a meatshield?" Abi says, evidently shocked. "I don't want to-"
"No, no, Abi," I say, waving me hands to calm her down, "that's not what I'm saying. Or I guess it is. Look, I don't want to use her as a meatshield either, but…" I hold out my hands in a resigned gesture. "For now, how about we just see what happens, and understand that we might have to kill her. What about this? If it gets down to three other Tributes, and she's still alive, we'll slit her throat in the night. Make it quick and painless."
"Okay," Abi says. "I still don't like it, but I guess that we got ourselves into this. What were we thinking?"
"We were thinking of being good people, and that there was a scared little girl asking for help," I say. "I agree though, we shouldn't have done it. At least we can make it painless. I'm sorry, Abi, I should have thought of this."
"It's fine, I shouldn't have agreed. Now, you should get some sleep," she says. "I love you." She gives me a quick kiss. "Now go. Sleep. Rest."
"I love you too, Abi," I say, and walk over, laying on the ground next to Azalea.
Azalea Saffron –12-- --D9-- POV
I didn't hear everything they said, but I heard enough. "Meatshield… I don't want to use her… but we might have to kill… painless..." They're going to kill me in my sleep, or use me as a spear-cushion. They probably won't kill me tonight, they'll probably wait until not many people are left. I'll just have to kill them before their limit is reached. And here I thought their paternal instincts might kick in. Apparently, I didn't count on love. They both want the other one to live, even if that means killing a little girl. Ugh. I never know, maybe one of them will die, and the other one will decide that living without them is too much to bear, and let me kill them. There's always hope. Or maybe I'll just kill them first. I drift off to sleep with my troubled thoughts.
To Be Continued…
A/N: So, no more deaths! Yay! Lots of character development though. Day 2 is coming soon, and there will be death. So, tell me, who do you think will win? How do you foresee alliances breaking down? What did you think of this chapter in general?
The Fallen:
Satin Hermes, 18F, D1. Career. Stabbed in the back by Spire Windell.
Rianna Meade, 16F, D3. Killed with an ax by Titanium Sparks.
Lindsay Cutt, 13F, D6. Decapitated by Edmund Caden.
Twyler Onzui, 16F, D8. Throat slit by Lily Cross.
Angus Blush, Dem Blush, Miller Blush, 17M, D9. Stabbed by Edmund Caden.
Belinda Mosler, 15F, D10. Shot in the back by Satin Hermes.
Noah Jones, 17M, D10. Shot in the back by Satin Hermes.
Calyx Anther, 17M, D11. Stabbed in the chest by Arc Woods.