[33] - August

"I told the girls I'd work with them," I tell Rochelle. She gives me a small smile, but I watch her slip her small blade into her pocket. Did she really think I would turn on her like that?

"That's a relief," Rochelle says, her eyes now bright. "What do we have to do?"

"I sent Princess and Zinnia away," I tell her. "They'll be about a mile away. I told them that I would wait here with you. The plan is that I'll wait for someone else to arrive - doesn't matter who, as long as it's not one of our partners - and I'll take care of them. Then, once the pairs are released, I would kill you and rejoin the others."

"I hope that's not the actual plan," Rochelle says with a laugh, but it's a forced one. She knows that she can't beat me in a fight if I actually turn on her. Luckily for her, that's not my plan right now. Rochelle's too valuable for me to lose right now.

"That's right," I confirm. "We're actually waiting for someone specific: Jasper. Zinnia and Princess have been watching this area all morning, and they haven't seen him yet."

"So we wait for Jasper to show up," Rochelle says, furrowing her brow, "and then we take out Zinnia?"

"Exactly," I say, impressed by Rochelle's deduction. Rochelle's always been smarter than she likes to admit. "If we can get rid of Zinnia before the twist ends, she'll be out of here without even having a chance to fight us."

"What about Princess, though?" Rochelle asks very deliberately. "If we get rid of Zinnia, she'll be on her own out in the desert."

I've been trying not to think about Princess - I feel awful about abandoning her like this, but I feel like it's my best option right now.

"I promised you that I'd do everything in my power to win the Games," I remind Rochelle. "I intend to keep that promise. Princess can take care of herself, and if she can't, that improves my odds anyway."

"Good," Rochelle says quietly. "Let's just hope the plan works, then."

I nod, but I'm distracted by a noise behind me. I glance over the crater to see a pair of tributes, helping each other fill their canteens. It's Arlo, the boy from Nine, and Lyssa, the girl from Four. They must have reunited at some point in the Games, just like Rochelle and me. Lyssa is clearly the stronger of the two - she seems to be doing much better than her partner, who looks like he's limping a bit. The pair fill their canteens as fast as they can, and then they're gone.

"I wonder how they managed to find each other in here," Rochelle says quietly.

"The boy probably stayed close to the oasis," I murmur. I can't think of any other way he could still be alive considering how scrawny he is. "The girl must've assumed that he was there and went looking for him."

"That's smart," Rochelle says, her eyes still trained on the basin of water behind us. "Maybe they're smarter than we thought."

"Never take anybody for granted," I recite Decimus' advice. "Everyone in here is smarter than you think if they made it this far."

Rochelle seems to think about that for a while. I watch as she traces shapes in the sand beneath her; her delicate fingers touch the surface of the dune gently, scraping just hard enough to leave an imprint.

"It's the seal of the orphanages in District Eight," Rochelle explains, breaking me from my trance after what must have been over ten minutes. Her drawing is intricate; she's clearly spent years staring at this seal. It's in the shape of a typical crest, with a coiled snake drawn at the center.

"They printed these in the tags of all the clothes we made," Rochelle says. "All of us from the orphanage. It was a marketing tactic - they hoped that people in the Capitol would pity us and buy the clothes we were making. Clearly, it worked; I heard they were slipping them onto tags of some of the regular workers, too."

"That snake doesn't look very inviting," I say warily. The snake looks like it's about to kill something, if I'm being honest, although I can't say how faithful Rochelle's sand sketch is to the actual seal.

"It's not supposed to," Rochelle says matter-of-factly. "The doctor who ran the orphanage knew what she was doing when she chose it. Supposedly, they chose it because snakes are almost completely independent from birth. They wanted the Capitol to know that they were trying to do the same thing with their orphans - as soon as we were working age, they sent us to the factories. They didn't want us to be nurtured, they wanted us to be independent."

"I guess that makes sense," I concede. I never really thought about how much the poorer Districts have to pander for support from the Capitol. I don't know if we have an orphanage in District One, but I doubt they try as hard to appeal to the Capitol compared to those in District Eight.

"There are snakes everywhere in the orphanage, too," Rochelle tells me. "Harmless ones, though. Nothing too dangerous. They're like our little pets, but they don't live very long."

I shudder a bit. I can't imagine living in a place so desperate that even snakes could be considered pets.

Rochelle turns at the sound of footsteps inside the crater, spraying sand over her creation. I look over her shoulder to see a boy sprinting towards the basin of water. It's Garrick, the boy from Ten; he's notably without his partner, and he looks desperate for water. I watch him dunk his head into the basin before pulling out his canteen.

I'm too focused on Garrick to see another boy running into the crater. He's only about twenty feet away from the basin when I spot him; he's got his knife raised, ready to strike at the unsuspecting boy in front of him. I have mere seconds to react, and all I can do is scream.

"Calder!"

Calder's body, filled with adrenaline, convulses at the sound of my voice, and he tumbles to the ground. The boy from Ten is just as startled, and he screams when he sees Calder behind him. Water sloshes from the boy's canteen as he frantically stumbles away.

I run towards Calder, and he rises to his feet as I approach; he doesn't look very happy.

"Not cool, August," Calder seethes. "I had a knife in my hand, man. That could have gone badly. When did you turn into the nice guy?"

"You know I don't care if the boy dies, Calder," I say, annoyed. "Only one more pair is going to die before we're free from our partners."

"Whatever, man," Calder says, wiping sweat from his brow. "I would've thought that you would want the pairs to be over more than anyone. I don't think it really matters who dies, but whatever. I'll just get my water and go."

"That's fine," I mutter. "Just remember, there are bigger fish to fry. You'll be thanking me later, I promise."

"We'll see about that," Calder sighs. "Bye, August."

I groan as I sit down next to Rochelle at the lip of the crater. By the time I've reached her, Calder's already gone.

"He didn't look happy," Rochelle notes.

"He doesn't see the bigger picture," I explain. "But Calder's never been one to take anything too seriously. He was mostly mad that I screamed at him when he had a knife in his hand. He'll get over it."

"We've seen almost everyone now, haven't we?" Rochelle asks.

"Pretty much," I reply. "Everyone except Jasper and the girl from Seven. She's paired with the boy from Ten."

"Now we wait, I guess," Rochelle says, laying back against the sand. "If Jasper doesn't show, we'll regret not killing the boy from Ten..."

I don't want to think about that now; everything in my plan depends on Jasper. If I can't kill Jasper, I'll still be attached to Rochelle for who knows how long. Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to rejoin Princess and Zinnia with Rochelle at my side - I'd be trapped on both sides.

Jasper doesn't appear, though. Hours pass slowly, and there's no sign of the small boy. I can feel my anxiety slowly rising as the day slips away; if I can't pull this off, I could be in serious trouble.

Shadows crawl across the desert as the sun begins to set. Rochelle lazily redraws her orphanage's emblem, but this time the snake has its jaws open, ready to strike.

I watch as the final few rays of sunshine dip over a dune in the distance. Next to me, Rochelle pulls out her jacket and slips into it. And that's when it happens.

I whirl around at the sound of footsteps to see Jasper running down the crater of sand. He looks eerily like a skeleton; I doubt he's eaten much in the last week. He doesn't even have enough energy to stay on his feet, as I watch his knees give way beneath him, sending him rolling down the hill of sand.

I waste no time, grabbing my knife and sprinting toward Jasper. It feels like my entire life, my entire future, depends on killing this boy. So that's what I must do.

Jasper doesn't even put up a fight - he's too far gone. His neck barely bleeds when I slash it, and he looks the same dead as he did alive. I almost feel bad for the boy. In a way, he was in the same situation as Rochelle - only a target because of his partner.

Finally, a cannon shot fires in the distance. I feel a weight lift from my shoulders - I've done it.

I'm free.

A/N - 33 chapters in... and Rochelle and August are finally separated! Do y'all think this will change their relationship at all? We'll have to wait and find out...

Also, this story has just hit 50 reviews, and I just wanted to thank everybody who's left a review, no matter how short, to let me know what you think about Twin Snakes. Not just that - anybody who's followed this story, added it to their favorites, or even just read it. Much love 3

Also, just wanted to quickly address some questions from a few guest reviews that I've been getting (Hi Bri, I see you!) since unfortunately, I can't respond to Guest reviews individually:

In this story, it's mentioned briefly that Ramona, Rochelle's mentor won about 25 years ago, which would land her Victory date around the 76th Games. Good observation - she actually won the 77th Games, which is why they're so close!

AND another great observation: For those of you who have read both Bleeding Hearts/Ultimate Crown and Rising from the Ashes, you will notice that Salacia Callendew and Vispania Callendew have the same last name - they are, in fact, related :)

This story has definitely been my most active one since I started posting over a year ago, and it has been so special to share and discuss Twin Snakes with you all!