A/N: TW: Chapters contains a mention of cannibalism.
The next morning, Simon and Leah left before the sun rose. They were as quiet as they could be as they walked to the cornucopia. "The sky is full of clouds," Leah whispered. "Hopefully it will just be rain."
"Hopefully," Simon said. The sun was up by the time they arrived at the cornucopia. Most of the careers were still asleep, but Martin and the district two girl were missing. They snuck around to the back of the supply pile.
"I'm going in," Leah said. "Cover for me."
Simon nods as Leah moved to behind a rock. She aimed her crossbow at the nearest landmine. She waited until she had a good enough look at it before she shot at him. She quickly dove behind the rock to avoid the blast.
Simon was hit by the blast. There was a ringing in his left ear, and then there was no noise. "Simon," he heard Leah call out after a few moments. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah," Simon said.
"I've called you about fifteen times," Leah said. Simon felt a cold liquid on his neck, fearing that his ear was now injured. They started to walk back towards the camp in silence, moving fastly so they wouldn't be spotted by the careers.
Once their cave came into view, it began to rain. From the moment the first drop hit the ground, they knew it wasn't water. There was soon a burning sensation on their bodies. "Acid rain," Leah said. "Use your backpack as a shield."
Simon did as told as they made their way up to the cave. They were about halfway up when Leah tripped into a puddle of acid. "Agh," she screamed. Simon's hearing had been off ever since the explosion, but he heard her scream loud and clear.
"Leah," Simon shouted. He ran to her and helped her up. He wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her back to the cave. Once they were back at the cave, he leaned Leah against a wall. That's when he took in how scared her face was. It was gnarly, and her chances of surviving were little to none.
"What happened?" Abby asked.
"She fell into some acid on the way up," Simon explained, frantically. "Do we have anything that can treat this?"
"It's too late," Leah said. "This is what the capital wanted."
She grabbed Simon's face. "If you win the games, please take care of my mother," Leah pleaded. "I was all she had."
Leah's body then went limp. Her death was confirmed a few moments later by the sound of cannon fire.
A helicopter came a little later to grab Leah's body. This was put in place during the twenty-fifth Hunger Games, also known as the first quarter quell when one of the tributes started eating the bodies of the other tributes.
Abby, Simon, Nick, and Bram were sitting around in a circle. "I think I know what Leah meant when she said this is what the capital wanted," Nick said. "I noticed that she barely received any gifts from sponsors, even though she was in the top three."
"After the stunt, she pulled at the interviews it wouldn't suprise me," Abby said. "The capital wants to destroy any spark of rebellion. It's screwed up really."
"Yeah," Simon sighed. They were surprised when they heard the intercom come on.
"Attention tributes," Cinc said. "There has been a change to the rules. For the first time in Hunger Games history, we are allowing two victors if they are of the same gender. That is all."