Chapter 17: Turning Point

I woke up slowly the next morning. My muscles ached and I felt like drifting off again before something against me moved. Confused, I furrowed my brow and lifted my head. My squinting eyes fluttered open in surprise as they made contact with Andrew's vibrant hazel ones only inches away and I realized that I had been heavily leaning against him for who knows how long. I quickly shuffled back a few inches before he caught my hand and I could feel my cheeks flush.

''Sorry,'' I mumbled, embarrassed as I took my hand to give him his space. I continued on by saying, ''Morning,'' in my deep and rough, just-woke-up voice.

''Morning,'' he smiled. ''You don't have to say sorry, you couldn't help it.''

''I guess,'' I trailed off, the memory of how close we'd been the night before coming back to me. I felt my cheeks get hotter and so I busied myself with rearranging my hair out of my face and into a ponytail. The sun had already risen, so we no longer had the excuse of the cold to be close to each other. My perspective had totally changed from what it had been less than only twenty-four hours ago. This was brand new.

''How long have you been up?,'' I asked.

''A few hours,'' he shrugged. ''I tend to wake up with the sun.''

''That's… a while,'' I said biting my lip and cursing myself to think of having slept that way and him just sitting there. Good gracious was I embarrassed, probably because I'd never done anything like that with anyone, except for maybe my mom and brother. I did feel a bit better to remember though that Andrew had been leaning against me too, so the action hadn't been one sided; and also, what else could I expect after falling asleep shoulder to shoulder?

Spotting a pile of plants and dried fruit in the corner I said, ''Could we eat? I think my stomach has almost shriveled out of existence,'' and, as if in reply, my stomach growled audibly.

''Of course. I had some yesterday after we got back, so you can have the rest. You probably need it since you haven't eaten since the snake,'' Andrew said.

''All right,'' I agreed and gratefully took and ate a stalk of soft yarrow and then a handful of dandelions. The slight bitterness hardly threw me off. By that point I was ready to eat raw pine needles.

''After you eat, we should go and check the snares and then clean our cuts. If anything gets infected it could cause blood poisoning.''

I sullened at that unhappy prospect. It was an easy and almost unpreventable way of dying out here in the games. Keeping wounds clean and covered, if possible, was very important and was favorable to help them heal.

''That sounds good.'' After a pause I asked, ''Did anyone show up last night during the anthem?''

''Not besides that boy from District 11. There are six people besides us still alive and it's been a week. I think things will start coming to a head soon. There might be a feast or something to bring everyone together.''

''True,'' I replied, ''but we don't really need anything. And plus, the alliance is still camped out at the cornucopia, which makes is really dangerous. Some of the careers like Hawk, Sanara, and Amber are still out there.'' I could still feel my old bruises from Amber's boot and I grimaced.

''They're going to start hunting us again,'' Andrew said monotonously.

''I know,'' I replied quietly. ''I hope that they don't find Lemongrass.

''She was nice,'' Andrew admitted. ''Good with a spear too.''

I nodded and finish eating a mint leaf, leaving some food for later by putting the rest of the stalk in the pile. I then leaned over and smiled as I picked up the real metal spear that we had gotten from the District 11 boy.

''Take the big knife too, just incase you lose the spear,'' Andrew suggested.

''Trust me, I won't drop the spear this time,'' I said, brandishing it.

''No, but you might want to throw it, and what would you have?''

''Mmm,'' I consented and took the knife as well.

Then we crawled out of the hollow and wove around the huge boulders to enter the forest. We were overjoyed to discover a rabbit caught in one of the snares, and so happily went to the stream to clean our cut legs. I also took off my head bandage and tried to see what the scratch looked like from the reflection of myself in a still pool. Thankfully, it wasn't deep and had begun to scab over.

''It's looking better,'' Andrew commented as he came over to examine it.

''Thanks to you,'' I replied as I carefully wiped away the dried blood. ''Are your arms sore?''

''From what?''

''Pulling me all the ways back to the stump, of course,'' I laughed.

''Oh, yes, they are a bit. You're not that heavy though,'' he shrugged.

''Mmmm,'' I said disbelievingly, ''I know how hard dead weight can be, especially over such a long ways. What was it, probably a mile or more?''

''You helped me farther,'' Andrew said.

''Okay, but I was totally out of it, and you did walk and stumble a lot of the time,'' I countered.

''So we're even,'' Andrew finished.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, the pull of a smile forming on my lips.

''What?,'' Andrew asked.

''Nothing, nothing,'' I chuckled. ''I should've just said thank you so you could say you're welcome.''

''You're welcome,'' Andrew laughed and we looked at each other, smiling. We held each other's gazes for a long moment before I finally looked away to put my boots back on.

''We only have one more trap to check, right?,'' I asked.

''Yes. It's the farthest one, next to that old badger den,'' Andrew said.

''Ah,'' I said, remembering it.

We finished putting our shoes on and then began trekking through the forest. The day was almost unbearably hot and I was really wishing for a ftresh shirt, one not soaked with sweat. The days after the huge storm had been boiling and dry. The plants and pine trees were devoid of moisture and the leaves cracked beneath our feet. Being in the games, this quick change didn't really surprise me.

However, at the first smell of smoke, I was surprised, as well as quickly frightened.

''Shae, we need to go,'' Andrew said, alarmed.

''Wait,'' I said, ''do you hear that? Someone's screaming from that direction. I - I think it's Lemongrass! Hurry, let's go! She's in trouble!''

We both ran closer to the smell of smoke and the sound of yelling until we caught sight of fire through the trees. I suddenly saw where the screaming was coming from. There, crouched next to a boy caught half-way under a burning trunk, was Lemongrass, calling out for help and coughing violently from the thickening haze of smoke.