[29] - Rochelle

I groan as the sun appears over the horizon, bathing me in a wave of heat. My mouth feels as dry as the desert around me; my tongue feels like sandpaper. It's been two days since I pushed Mandy down the sand dune, two days since I killed her. I may have managed to escape Princess and Zinnia, but an even bigger threat has slowly crept up on me: dehydration.

I quickly unscrew my canteen, as if water could've magically appeared inside it overnight. It's still just as empty as before.

"Please, Ramona," I croak, but I don't think she'd even be able to understand me considering how hoarse my voice has become. "Please."

She said she would help! Ramona told me, she promised me, that she would try her hardest to protect me. And where has that gotten me in here? She hasn't sent me a single sponsor gift since I entered the Arena. So much for having her on my side.

I need to find August. He knows his way around this desert; surely, he'll be able to keep me alive in here. If I don't find him soon, I'll become irrelevant to him. The twist will be released, the partners will be dissolved, and I'll be useless to August. I need to find him before that becomes the case. Without August, I'll have nobody left on my side to protect me, and with Princess and Zinnia on my tail, my days will be numbered.

I think the dehydration is starting to take over my mind; the sandy dunes around me blur together, and I start to forget where I'm going. I can feel my heartbeat thumping in my aching skull; after a while, I get so dizzy that I fall to the ground.

So this is it, then. I trained for six months to have a chance of survival in here, I maneuvered my way through this year's twist, I survived a week in this hellish wasteland, just for me to fail now. I wish I would've just died at the beginning like Diego rather than suffering all this time for nothing. If I had any moisture left in my body, I'd have tears streaming down my face; my eyes burn, but there's nothing left in me.

Shadows swirl around me as the heat of the sand soaks into my back, making me feel like I'm on fire.

The shadows around me swirl into a familiar shape - is that August? I sit up, my eyes clearing for one hopeful moment, but I'm completely alone here. Nothing but me and the sand. I close my eyes, collapsing back to the ground. I want to scream, but I know that at this point, it could rip my throat to shreds. I dig my fingernails into my palms, but I'm losing strength quickly. The sun is getting hotter and hotter on my face; I can't seem to escape the scalding heat. If only I had kept Mandy alive; the one thing she knew best was how to escape the heat...

The wind whistles as it passes by my face. It's just me and the wind now. Me and the wind and the sand. Just me and the sand and the wind and...

"Rochelle!"

My heart leaps out of my chest; like a stray dog that's been electrocuted, I feel like I've just licked an exposed wire. I try to look around, but my vision's too blurred to make anything out.

Am I hearing things now, too? I read a lot about dehydration before coming in here - part of August's plot to impress the Gamemakers - and I never read anything about hearing things. Someone's around here, and someone's spotted me.

Finally, I feel something block the beating sun from my face. Without the heat on my skin, I feel like I've been doused in ice. I crack my eyes open to see a boy staring down at me. The boy who I've been trying to find for all this time, for all these days. The boy who I thought I'd never see again.

"August," I groan. Well, I try to speak, and I end up choking instead. August drops to his knees next to me, fumbling through his bag.

"Stay right where you are," August says frantically, like I'd have the energy to run off even if I wanted to. He slowly tips his bottle over my lips, only letting a few drops pass before taking the water away. I make to grab the bottle - I need more! August pulls away, shaking his head.

"Small sips," he insists. "Trust me."

I just close my eyes. August pours some water on his fingers, and he swabs my face and neck with water before fanning me with something from his bag. He pours me a few more drops before repeating the process.

"You'll be fine," August says, but it sounds like he's trying to convince himself more than me. "Keep your eyes open, okay? And make sure you're breathing."

Under August's supervision, I slowly start to feel my strength returning. My determination returns with it; I'm not going to sit here and die, not today. I can't believe how close I came to this all being over, but now I know just how much I'll have to fight to make it out of this Arena.

As August slowly nurses me back to health, my mind starts to work again, as if the water slipping down my throat is simultaneously greasing the gears in my mind. I become conscious of where I am and how I got here, and more importantly, what needs to be done now. The first part of my plan - finding August - is finally complete. My work isn't done; I have a lot more to do, and I can't give up now.

"I've been looking for you this whole time," I finally say when my voice returns. "I don't even know how long it's been now, but I didn't give up."

"I'm so proud of you," August says. Are those tears in his eyes? "I can't believe I ever doubted you, Rochelle, really. You're stronger than I ever gave you credit for."

There he goes again, giving me more credit than he should. Why can't he just believe that I'm weak like I want him to?

"Well, I almost died today," I sigh. "If you hadn't found me, I really think I would've been gone by now."

"The fact you survived this long on your own is still impressive," August insists. "Or did you start out with the others?"

"I did," I explain, "but clearly I'm not with them anymore."

Time for the waterworks. "Princess and Zinnia tried to kill me, August. They tried to get rid of me so that you wouldn't be a threat to them anymore. You can't trust them, August, you can't!"

"I won't," August promises. "Not after they did that to you. The only people we can trust in here are each other, and that much is obvious now."

Relief fills my mind at August's words. He's buying everything that I'm selling to him, and it looks like he's paying more than full price, too. Everything is going according to plan.

"Good," I sigh. "Do you know if anything happened yesterday?"

In reality, I just want August to bring up Pollux's death; I know it must've been announced last night.

"I was so delirious that I was seeing things," I explain. "I don't even know what was really happening."

August exhales, his eyes turning to the sky. He looks uncharacteristically vulnerable right now; I can tell that Pollux's death must have been a major blow to his sense of security in here.

"Pollux is dead," August says after a moment of silence. "They announced it last night."

I sigh, closing my eyes for a moment. It's time to let August know the truth, or at least part of it. "I know," I admit. "I was there when he died."

August's eyes widen, and I can see the gears turning in his head as he begins to realize that I must've been the one who killed the biggest threat in this Arena...

"It was so scary, August," I say, and the tears in my eyes return. This time, some of them are real. "When I was with Princess and Zinnia, Mandy from Nine joined us, and the others tried to kill her too, so I ran away with Mandy to find you and Pollux. Finally, we found Pollux, but you were nowhere to be found. Before we even had any time to say anything, Pollux tried to kill me with his spear, but he missed and struck Mandy instead. They both died in front of me."

Now I'm sobbing. The feeling of Mandy's neck against my blade has haunted me every minute since I killed her. I had to do it, though. I had to. Pollux was too dangerous to keep in this Arena, and it was my last chance to do something about it before it was too late.

"I'm sorry, Rochelle," August whispers, carefully wiping the tears from my face. "You've been through so much in here just for being my partner."

"It's not your fault, August," I insist. "Don't put the blame on yourself. What the others do is outside of our control. And I'm still here, aren't I?"

"I should have kept my eye on Pollux," August mutters. "He was too dangerous to leave roaming the Arena. I was with him at the start, you know. With Calder, too. When Valentina and Venia announced that the pairs were going to be released, Pollux tried to kill both of us, but it obviously didn't work."

"I think the twist destroyed him mentally," I say. "He didn't know how to act anymore, and he took it out on the people around him."

This seems to reassure August somewhat. He's clearly worried that after Pollux's death, he'll be the next to go. Luckily for both of us, August is a lot smarter than Pollux was.

"I think you're right," August sighs. "I'm just glad we're both okay now."

Agreed, August, agreed. Now let the true Games begin...