[35] - August

"Come on, August," Rochelle groans. "I'm serious, you need to focus."

We're wandering through the empty desert, ducking between dunes to stay in the shade. All morning, Rochelle's been trying to convince me to plan for the end of the Games, but I'm not in the mindset to do that right now. Rochelle wouldn't get it - I've had to spend my entire life planning and strategizing, and I'm sick of it. All the hypotheticals are too much to handle - what if Sylverthorn announces that I have to kill Rochelle? Who would be my biggest threat if Princess would be the next one to die? What if the Gamemakers just dropped a giant boulder on us now so I wouldn't have to think about hypotheticals anymore?

"I can't," I say again. "You think about it, Rochelle. I can't right now."

"You know more about this than I do," Rochelle presses. "We made it this far, August, and we've been very careful. Everything you planned beforehand, everything you made sure to teach me, helped me get here. Nobody thought we could do it - I didn't think we could do it - but we're here now."

"Right," I retort. "All that planning for the Games, and it was all for nothing when they threw us in opposite ends of the desert for a week. We were lucky to get here, Rochelle, but clearly whatever we were doing before was working. So I'll continue doing that."

Rochelle rolls her eyes. "It's not that simple, and you know it," she says. "The Games aren't over, August. Just because Pollux and Zinnia are gone, doesn't mean that we can just lounge around until the Games end."

"I know that," I say, irritated. Does Rochelle really think that I'm letting my guard down? On second thought, she's right, in a sense - I really don't feel threatened by any of the other tributes left in here. I can't see a scenario where I don't win the Games, unless Princess outmatches me by some fluke.

"We need to be prepared for what's coming, August. Just start with the basics, okay? Who's left in here?"

Rochelle knows how to get me going - instantly, I'm reminded of the days when I would wander the desert alone after being abandoned by Pollux. The only thing I could do was think about the other tributes - who's my biggest threat, and who will be the next to go?

"There should be seven of us left," I sigh. "There's you and me, obviously. That's a start."

"Right," Rochelle cuts in. "Let's start from the bottom and work our way up. Who are we the least worried about?"

I think for a second, shifting the straps of my backpack on my shoulders. "That would probably be Hazel from District Seven," I say. "She wasn't even at the Feast, so it's likely that she's immobile and in need of water."

"Well, she could have skipped the Feast because she already had water," Rochelle suggests.

"Unlikely," I argue. "Valentina and Venia said that water was something that every one of us needed when they announced the Feast. I'm sure they wouldn't say something like that if it wasn't true."

"That makes sense," Rochelle says with a nod. "Alright, so Hazel's probably the next to go. Who's the next weakest?"

"Garrick," I tell her. "The boy from Ten. He's lucky to still be alive; we both saw that he wasn't in great shape at the Feast, and he didn't even get the chance to collect much water before Calder tried to kill him."

"Hopefully, that'll take him out before we have to," Rochelle says.

"I want to say that Lyssa is the next weakest, but I haven't really seen her fight," I think aloud. "Both her and Calder could be serious threats at the end if they make it that far, but I'm confident that I could beat them."

"You definitely can," Rochelle assures me. "I mean, after all those years of preparations, you could beat anyone, I think."

"That's true," I concede. "Princess shouldn't be underestimated, though."

Rochelle glances at me before returning her gaze ahead of us. "Princess is definitely your biggest threat, August," she sighs. "It's just unfortunate how much she's trying to take advantage of you."

Rochelle's words catch me off guard. "What do you mean?" I ask, but I'm not sure that I want to hear what Rochelle's about to tell me.

"I mean, Princess has been making advances on you since the beginning," Rochelle says matter-of-factly. "I can't speak on what things were like between you before you got here, but since you arrived all she's done is suck up to you. It's actually genius if you think about it - if she can appeal enough to your ego and make you feel attached to her, you won't want to kill her, will you?"

Somehow, I feel instinctually defensive of Princess, but this response makes me feel even worse. Have I really been manipulated this whole time?

"Of course I knew that," I say feebly. "But things have always been that way between us. She's just like that, I guess."

"Okay," Rochelle says with a shrug. Part of me wishes she would argue with me and convince me otherwise, but she doesn't seem to have anything else to say.

I follow Rochelle between two steep sand dunes; she wipes sweat from her neck as we walk before reaching for a canteen from her bag.

I can't hold myself back anymore. "Was she really taking advantage of me?" I call.

Rochelle pauses, glancing back at me; something about the way she turns makes me think that she was expecting my outburst.

"Listen, I don't know the relationship between you and her like you do, August," she says gently. "I can only base my assumptions on what I've seen. Princess only allowed me to enter the Arena with her so that she could bring me to you. She only did it so that she could prove her loyalty to you. She protected me - or at least, stopped Zinnia from killing me - so that she could be responsible for reuniting us, and by doing that, she'd automatically have bargaining power over you. You'd owe her something later."

You'd owe her something later. Has Princess been playing me like a fiddle? I always thought that she had my best interests at heart; I never considered that she could turn on me. It would make sense, though. Her whole life, Princess has always gotten what she wanted. Right now, she wants to win the Games; that means that she'll do whatever it takes to achieve that. Would she really betray me just to win the Games herself? When I frame it that way, the answer becomes increasingly obvious.

Whatever. Now, I know that Princess can't be trusted. I was naive to think that anyone could be loyal to me in here other than Rochelle. Unlike Rochelle, Princess knows that she has a chance of making it out of here alive, and she'll do whatever it takes to make sure that that happens, even if I have to die in the process.

"What's the plan, then?" Rochelle asks, watching as the sun dips over the horizon. "You're the expert."

"I don't know," I sigh. I feel even more confused now than I did before. "For now, we just have to stay alive."

"Sounds like a plan," Rochelle says with a grin.

It's not long before the Panem anthem plays once again to reveal that no tributes died today.

Seven remain; Hazel, Garrick, Lyssa, Calder, Princess, Rochelle, and me. And as of right now, five of them want me dead.