Song Suggestions: Kid Cudi- "No One Believes Me" AND Chase Holfelder- "Every Breath You Take" (Police cover/ minor key version) (I imagine this from Capitol/ Snow perspective.)

A/N: Sorry this chapter took an extra week. I was sick last weekend. To make up for it, I cobbled two chapters together, so it's twice as long as normal because I love you guys!

A/N 2: As always, love all the reviews and feedback. It really motivates me to finish!

Voices of the Dead

The bright sun woke her. She did not know how much time passed, but she guessed it to be late afternoon. When she struggled awake, a bright pair of grey eyes stared at her.

"Oh, thank god." Gale said, "I assumed you'd wake, but—"

Prim gave a sob and lunged for him. Gale grabbed her up, holding her tight. He smelled, but she didn't care, suspecting she reeked beneath the sweat and blood soaking her clothes. She was never happier to see his face. It was a small scrap of home in this forsaken place.

"But the monsters?"

"What?" Gale tugged them apart to look at her with concern.

"The darkness. The monsters were in it."

"Fuck, Prim, was that what was in this place? I can see something did a number on you."

"Everything went dark. It was a slimy, black fog. It had something in it and well… didn't you see it? How did you get out?"

Gale sat there, forehead pinched in confusion.

"Well, that solves that theory."

"What theory?"

"I suspected each area contained its own trials of some sort. Nightmares in here," Gale sat back and pointed to the barren landscape beyond, "And insects in the forest."

"Insects? But it was fire the first time."

Gale nodded.

"Yeah, it seems to change with each gong. There's something to it, but I can't quite figure it out yet."

"When's the next one?" Prims insides shrunk in on themselves. She did not want to face the nightmares again. It nearly broke her. She entered the games with reasonable fears of death, not horror and monsters and being eaten.

"I suspect midnight. There was about twelve hours between the gongs. We need to get off the ice before the next one comes. It's too dangerous."

"How did we survive though? The nightmare won. Our torches went out. I gave us sleeping pills to make death easy, but now I'm awake, and I'm not sure how." Prim placed a hand to her head. It throbbed with a headache

"Maybe that's how you beat it, by going to sleep. How else would you defeat a nightmare?"

"Huh?"

"Each trial has to be defeated. I've figured out that much so far. With the fire I jumped into a pond. It did not burn me underwater."

"I jumped over the river with a rope."

"Someday I'm going to want that whole story." His face opened into an infectious grin, "I'm sure I'll be real proud of my little duck saving herself."

"How did you escape the insects?"

"I found some sweetgrass and burned it."

"Well look at that," Prim said, "Gale Hawthorne using his knowledge of plant life."

Gale reached out and tugged on her braid.

"I'm real glad I found you. I was running from the forest, trying to find a way out of this hellhole when what do I see but two young ladies snoring away in the snow, a few burnt logs near them. Sleep must have ended the nightmares, but it left you in a precarious position. You're even luckier you weren't sleeping long enough for frostbite."

"Well I'm glad you found me." Prim said while struggling upwards. Her knees wobbled, and Gale steadied her. She leaned over once she caught her balance and picked up her pack, slinging it on her shoulder. Gale already picked up the small knife, giving it an appreciative glance.

"Okay, let's go."

"What about Ruby?"

Gale's grey eyes pierced her.

"I was hoping you weren't on a first name basis."

"She's dying."

"Good."

Prim felt her anger build in her. Didn't he understand Ruby's blood would be on their hands?

"I'm not leaving her."

"Sometimes, Prim, you need to think beyond your incessant need to mother ever single repulsive creature you find."

Prim tightened her grip on the strap of her pack.

"If you want to leave, go on ahead, but I'm staying with Ruby. We're allies."

"Allies? Help me, universe," Gale sighed and looked up to the sky and then looked back down into the snow. "Fine. Whatever. Wake her up and let's go. We don't need to waste any more time."

Prim shook Ruby until she groaned and slung her arm over her shoulder. She was still groggy but was conscious enough to tremble upwards with her. She gave a groan of pain even though Prim tried to be gentle. It wouldn't be long now. The trials left her with wounds on all the visible parts of her skin. Ruby's will to live was the only thing driving her. Prim had seen people expire from much less.

"Are you alright to move?" Prim asked.

"I'm fine," the answer was breathy, "We survived." It was all the girl could manage. Prim did not have time to explain anything. They made several steps and then several more.

"Just leave me," Ruby said, but she didn't stop and neither did Prim.

Gale rocked on his feet with their pace.

"We're too loud and slow. Someone is going to take this as an invitation to attack, even if we are three in number."

It was a risk. There was absolutely no reason to bring Ruby along, but still Prim could not let her go.

For a while nothing was left but the crunch of snow beneath their boots. The wind picked up the white powder and swirled it in the air. It wasn't a blizzard, but it created a thick fog in front of them. It was why they didn't see the sharp rocky cliff in front of them until it appeared just feet from their noses.

"Whoa," Gale said, glancing up.

"Where do we go now?"

"Up or around."

"Both options seem like they will put us at risk."

"I bet you anything the desert is beyond this."

"How sure?"

Gale glanced at her. Icicles clung to his hair and the morning shadow of stubble surrounding his mouth. His face looked beaten and bright red from the sun glare. The wind picked up around them. They had a brief reprieve after the nightmare from the blinding snow, but it was coming back, and this time they did not have a fire to protect them. They had to reach the desert, or they would turn to ice.

"Sure enough to insist we start climbing."

Gale was right, as usual. He did not see what he wished to see; he saw the reality. And the brutal truth to the situation was that they had to somehow scale a cliff wall, beaten and raw themselves, with a dying girl.

"We need to leave her," Gale motioned to Ruby.

Ruby did not respond to the threat. She worked on her labored breathing, though her eyes had enough life to narrow.

"If I leave her now, what worth is it to survive?"

"Think of the baby, Prim," Gale said, his lips in a thin hard line.

Prim had never seen this side of him: cold and brutal. It was much like Cato, except it didn't match what she had built up in her head about him all these years.

"I am," Prim said, hand going to her stomach. With the lack of symptoms and fear of the games, she had forgotten she was pregnant. It still didn't feel real. "How would I ever be able to face my child if I left someone to die cold and alone?"

Gale brushed off the ice as he ran his hand over his mouth and on the back of his neck.

"Dammit," he said in defeat. "Stay here while I look for a moment for the best way up."

Gale took off into the whiteness, following the line of the cliff. She looked up, trying to judge its height. It was impossible to see with the cold fog.

"When you leave me, please just kill me." Ruby gasped, "Be merciful. Don't just leave me for the next nightmares."

"I'm not leaving you."

Ruby would not have to wait for death; death was chasing her. Prim guessed it to be within the day. She had seen it plenty before, the slow decline. How it teetered forever, before plunging quickly.

Gale appeared. She did not hear him come, and she marveled at his ability of silence. Years of hunting in District 12 served him well.

"There's a section a little bit down that might be a solution, but, well… you'll just have to see."

Prim did not like his cryptic answer. She wanted to grill him like normal, but a dying girl clung to her, and she just did not have time. She followed Gale at a stumbling pace. She felt the wind like tiny slaps. Half her body was numb, the other half burning, and it was only getting colder.

They arrived, and Prim sucked in a breath. A small cave stood before them. It looked as if a large cannon shot straight through the cliff face. It was pitch black with no exit she could see.

"No way," Prim said.

"It's the only way. We can't climb with dead weight. The wind is picking up out here, and if we don't get to the other side now then we might as well give up and go to sleep again. Look," he said, suddenly angry, "I voted to put the girl out of her misery and climb this bitch. This cave is your choice."

"How do we know it will get us to the desert?"

"We don't." Gale said, "But at least we are facing down the fear, right? We wouldn't be giving into the game."

Facing the fear. Facing the fear. Facing the fear.

The words electrocuted her mind and she wasn't sure why yet. It was as if she held a puzzle piece without understanding the final picture of the jigsaw. She filed it in her mind for later.

Survival was a mixture of skill and taking stupid chances.

"Okay," Prim agreed. "Let's go."

Ten Minutes Later

Gale walked into the cave first before Prim entered the darkness, letting the feeling of slime once again wash over her. Every nerve in her body wanted to scream at her to turn back. She just survived a nightmare, and now she was plunging herself back into another one.

Gale tugged at the rope. They had it tied around each of their waists, so they wouldn't separate and get lost. After only several feet, the sound of screeching reverberated as the entrance to the cave vanished, leaving them in total darkness.

"What just happened?" Gale asked.

"Our exit closed." Prim answered

"We need to keep going," Gale said, "There's no use looking back."

"What if the nightmares are here?" Prim asked. Nobody answered the question.

Prim wondered if the cameras could still see her in the dark. She felt alone, the only thing connecting her to the world the rope tied around her. It tugged on her waist, reminding her that Gale was only a few steps forward, and Ruby breathed at her back.

Prim

"Yes?" Prim answered. The voice crawled down her spine. It was familiar and female.

"I didn't say anything." Gale answered.

"Did you Ruby?"

"No," she managed.

She stepped along into the darkness. The only noise around them was the scrape of boots against rock, her foot scattering gravel as she went, and the labored breathing of three occupants. She could not see a thing. The lack of sight felt claustrophobic, as if she was stuffed into a box, unable to move.

Help me, Prim

"Shit," Prim said, "tell me you hear it? It sounded like… like my sister."

Prim couldn't say her name. Not here. Not in this unholy place.

"I heard her too," Gale answered, sounding choked, "But I don't think we're hearing the same thing."

"This is another trial, but not a formal one," Prim said, she wanted to cover her ears as she once again heard her sister's voice. This time it was crying. "We need to somehow beat its design. Like the fire and the nightmares."

"Ignore it," Gale said. "That's how we'll beat it. It's using individual grief. I think… well, I think it wants to make us stay."

"How am I supposed to ignore that?" Prim asked.

"Cover your ears." Gale said in a moment of inspiration.

"But…But…"

It would leave them without hearing, a sense they required to navigate the darkness, plunging them into a hell where they stumbled without anything. It would be easy to give into insanity.

"Do it," Gale said, "make loud noises as well to cover up the sounds."

Gale began making loud screams. Prim followed, giving a low hum, drowning out her sister's voice that was becoming more insistent and frantic. The more she listened to the voice, the more she wanted to obey it. She felt the tug on her conscious thought. It scared her enough to increase the level of her voice to a near scream.

Gale joined her, and they pushed forward at a frantic pace, bumping into each other. At one point Ruby lost her footing. Gale did not want to slow down and nearly dragged Prim down as well.

They tumbled out of the cave without warning and into the hot desert sand. The fine particles sucked up their nose and covered them, shifting down into all the creases of their clothes and folding into their hair. They sat there sputtering out the grit, still holding their ears, stunned at the instant change of scenery.

Prim stood and brushed off the sand from the legs of her pants and glanced back. A small boulder sized hole was left from their exit. It shrunk as she watched it, until the cave disappeared into smooth stone. A screech sounded to her left and about fifty feet down the cliff face another hole was growing out of the stone.

The bright, blinding sun in the desert section of the games allowed a better view of the cliff face. It jutted near to the clouds, much higher than she originally thought, and much too high to climb. It was fortuitous that Gale found the cave because there wasn't a way over that she could see and judging by the way the cliff face went on for as long as she could see it both ways, there was no way around either. Only through. And to do that, a person must face the voices of the dead in complete darkness, with only blind faith to get to the other side.

"The Gamemakers are real psychos this year," Prim said, hoping Quintus heard her. She couldn't help but hate him for the horrors he put her through, while still confused at his role in The Circle and his interest in her. "At least we made it."

Prim glanced at Gale. He had stood as well, but he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were fixed downwards in a stony expression.

"Some of us, at least," he added.

She glanced down. Ruby lay on her belly on the sand. Her face turned to the side, mouth open with blood dribbling out.

Prim leaned over and felt her pulse. It was faint and weak.

"She's not dead," Prim said with an exhale of breath.

"I'm not sure why you care," Gale said, "Don't try to save her. There's no point. It would be cruel"

Prim managed to push Ruby over, reaching out to brush the sand off her rose tattoo. It looked buried under dirt and grime.

"Cruel?" Prim asked, "Saving someone is never cruel."

Prim lied. There were times that saving someone was cruel and letting them die was mercy. But she did not even have the supplies to make Ruby comfortable. The injustice burned in her, a fierce fire that she refused to put out.

Prim stopped when Gale reached down and placed a hot hand on her neck for comfort. It felt pleasant now, coming from the cold, but Prim knew soon the unrelenting sun would burn and dehydrate, suck the water from their skin and sizzle it off them.

"There's nothing you can do."

"We'll see," said Prim

An idea came to her then: she could address the audience as a friend. Without rebuke. She would call in a favor.

Prim stood and faced the cliff wall. No doubt it was riddled with cameras.

She smiled. Gale sensed something was wrong and moved his hand from her neck to her upper arm as if in warning, but Prim pushed it off.

"Citizens of Panem and the magnanimous sponsors, today I come to you to ask a favor." Prim placed a hand to her heart, "Today I ask for mercy for Ruby Rose."

"Prim," Gale warned. He was right. This was dangerous and unpredictable. It could do the opposite and call down their wrath for daring to entreaty them, but she had to try. What was the use of being the darling, if she couldn't use it?

"Tell me, my friends, where is the fun in infection and sepsis? Where is the entertainment in a slow, meaningless death? She received an eight, a score entailing a warrior spirit, one I'm sure she'll show you if you come together and send the medicine to heal her. It's up to you, but I'm sure you agree with me that if she lives, she'll make the games more interesting. Her death would only be a waste right now. If you don't agree, if you don't care if she survives, then I ask for you to send me something to relieve her pain as she dies."

Prim stopped. The people of Panem and the sponsors would either hear her petition and send something or they wouldn't, but at least Prim could sleep knowing she did everything possible.

"Prim," Gale said again. "Let me help you give them what they really want." She thought he was once again trying to warn her against saving Ruby, but instead when she turned to face him, he surprised her by leaning down and kissing her lips.

Everything in Prim wanted to protest, but the cameras watched. Instead, she found herself relaxing, leaning into his warmth. It felt nice, like lying down in the grass on a summer's day. If she had never met Cato, she could imagine herself drowning in the peace it provided. Gale took the opportunity of her participation and deepened the kiss, opening her lips and letting their tongues touch. He gave a sigh. Prim pulled back sharply at the noise in surprise and touched her lips.

Gale breathed hard as she watched him. He didn't kiss her like that for a story or the cameras. It was deeper and more intense than it should have been. He wanted that for something else. His motives confused her now.

"It worked," he said before she could say anything.

A tiny beep sounded as a package floated down from the sky with a parachute guiding it. Gale snatched it as it came closer. He opened it, sliding the box apart.

He glanced up.

"It's burn cream and antibiotics. From District 1. It seems they agree with you and want their girl to fight another day."

Prim just smiled and got to work, healing her ally. After, they curled up against the wall as flat as possible to get out of the sun, tugging Ruby's unconscious body into position. It was not the best place to rest, it was easily seen from any angle, but Prim doubted anybody would be prowling in this brutal, desert heat to begin with. She assumed they'd be safe at least until nighttime when the desert came alive.

It wasn't until later she found the note, curled up on the bottom of the box. She slipped it out as quickly as she could, hoping nobody saw her. She waited until the light began to fade to read it, pressing her hand to her eyes as if exhausted,

It read:

When fear is a choice, the circle is the key. It was signed with a Q.

Several Hours Later

Ruby gasped awake just as the first star twinkled in the sky. The sound of a distant cannon woke her.

"We'll have to get moving soon," Gale said.

They slept the rest of the afternoon and dusk, knowing instinctively that their biological clock would be opposite here. Day is for sleeping, night is for terrors.

"She's not ready yet."

"Water," Ruby gasped, her voice sandpaper.

Prim took out her canteen and gave Ruby the last few precious sips. She tipped her head back, letting it pour down her throat. Gale looked disapproving but held his tongue. He still thought Ruby was a lost cause, but Prim understood they all were. Snow did not put them in the game to let them out alive, at least not without destroying them first.

"We'll need to find more water and fast. Nothing matters more in this death trap. Without it we won't survive, let alone the leech," Gale said.

Prim ignored the cruel nickname.

"We still need to give her more time."

Ruby shoved the canteen back into Prim's hands.

"I'm not sure how I'm alive and…" she looked down at her arm, "healed." Her burn was closed up and pink. Only one more application and it would only be a scar. "But not being dead means I need to keep myself alive. I'm with Mr. Ruggedly Handsome here, It's not about whether I'm ready or not. I either do or die."

Ruby struggled to stand, and Prim went out to catch her. Their eyes met and hers were surprisingly vulnerable.

"I'm not going to ask how you convinced the sponsors. I don't care."

"Okay," Prim helped her make a few steps before she shoved her arm off and did it herself, spryer than she thought she'd be.

"But I am going to ask why."

Prim took a moment to think about that, to put her thoughts into words.

"I couldn't save my sister, but I could save you."

Ruby nodded at that, but her face stayed in a grimace as if not really liking the answer. They continued their wobble into the distance.

An Hour Later

The forest was still, the desert was loud. Hoots and calls and growls echoed around them. She could feel them in her bones, almost supernatural. Prim doubted anything here was truly natural. She kept an eye out for plants, but so far, the only ones she found were shrubby things that provided no nutrients. The hunger started to gnaw behind her ribs, the sharp pangs, the fog in the mind. If she let it continue, it would consume her until she'd become like the animals around her, ravenous, willing to do anything to cease it.

The only thing she found for water was a barrel cactus. She ripped the knife into it, letting them tear bits of fleshy pulp off to squeeze to get just mere drops. She sucked on it after to get everything out. Tiny needles were left on her tongue after, and it wasn't enough water to hydrate, but it wet her mouth enough she could think.

The stars hung over them, and the moonlight glinted off the white sand, rising into high dunes, as if waves frozen in a state of breaking. They continued to walk through the thick sand, sliding down the crest of the hills when they lost their footing. The did not dare stop, not with the sounds of predators around them.

She did not fear an attack from another tribute, unless a career. It would be three against one. However, she doubted whether Gale would stick to her creed.

"Look at it while it's dying," Gale had told her what seemed eons ago, attempting to train her to be comfortable with death. Prim assumed his lesson would evolve with the games. No, he did not carry the same ideals, and neither did Katniss. She wanted to come to terms with that, but it still pinched something inside her heart.

Ruby stumbled again, this time from sand instead of injury. The medicine the capitol sent was some powerful stuff. In mere hours, she went from deathbed sick to lethal tribute. Prim went to help her up, but Ruby already straightened before she got to her.

"You are slightly insane. You know that, right?" Ruby gave a half smile. "I'm healed. I don't need you. You should be scared I'll kill you."

"Well, are you?"

"Not yet," Ruby said, "At least not until I repay the blood debt I owe you."

"Blood debt?"

"Yes, in my district, if someone saves your life, you are required to do the same in return. Though, I must warn you that when the debt is repaid I'm probably coming after you first."

They stood in a brief uncomfortable silence. Prim looked up to the stars. They were beautiful, even if she knew them to be fake. She found the little dipper, the one Katniss showed her when she was little.

"I wonder what time it is."

Ruby flinched.

The gong was coming soon. It was just a waiting game. A countdown until facing death.

"We've had fire, insects, nightmares. What's next? The ancients?" Ruby said.

Prim wanted to laugh, but in this game, it was a real possibility.

"So I've been thinking," Prim said. "About the games. Each one has a theme, right?"

"I guess in a broad sense."

"Well not a theme, but a plan on how things should go."

Something niggled at the back of her mind, an insistent peck at her conscious as if she was looking over some important thread that she needed to finish the tapestry.

"So… what's your point?"

"Well shouldn't we be trying to figure out about this one?"

Gale was a significant distance away from them, and he just now noticed they stopped. He motioned with his arm to hurry up, a grumpy look on his face. He had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around his mouth to keep the sand off. Prim gave an appreciative look at the figure he cut, half-naked. A part of her would always love him, despite also loving Cato, and she felt her breath catch. She wondered how the tight muscles in his abdomen would feel under her fingertips.

"We need to keep moving," Ruby said.

Prim wished she could tell her about the notes from the Circle, about the way Snow smirked at her as if he knew exactly how it would all play out in the end.

"But—"

"Listen, it doesn't matter. We know about the gongs. We know they are just trying to scare us, playing on our fears and all that shit."

Playing on our fears. Playing on our fears. Playing on our fears. The words bounced around her head as she walked. And then suddenly she understood. She was in the air, dangling hundreds of feet in the air. The nightmare walked on the earth. The fire raged.

"It's our fears," Prim said out loud.

By this time, they had caught up to Gale. When she spoke, they both pivoted with confused expressions.

"What are you going on about?" Gale whispered.

"Who knows," answered Ruby, "She keeps talking about figuring out the game and how this one is special."

"Not special," Prim said, her whole body still, "Personal. It's not just anything they're throwing at us. It's fear… our fear. Our personal fear."

For Snow, this game was about revenge. It was an iron fist against the districts, and the victors who wanted to defy him. It was personally crafted to be a special hell for each tribute.

She remembered the note from the Circle: Fear is your enemy and your greatest weapon. They were trying to warn her the whole time. She just couldn't see.

They must defeat the fear to get rid of it, using it as a weapon against itself, like falling asleep for the nightmare and jumping in water for the fire. It all made sense now.

"I'm not following."

"Months ago, Snow asked me what I feared. Stupidly, I answered him truthfully."

"And," Ruby asked, impatient, "What did you fear?"

Prim glanced at her.

"Heights."

"Fuck," Gale said. He likely remembered the time he wanted Prim to climb the tree to hunt a deer and she refused. She dissolved into a pathetic puddle of tears before he gave up.

"The fire?" Prim asked.

"Not mine," Ruby shrugged her shoulders.

"Not mine either." Gale looked thoughtful. "But there were a lot of tributes still alive at the time."

"The nightmare though," Ruby said. Her face went pale. "I used to dream about things grabbing me in the night. I told my older brother once. If it was geared toward me, how did Snow…" She stopped and breathed hard through flared nostrils, "How the fuck could he know that? That experience was made for me. I just know it."

Gale pulled down the shirt covering his mouth. "How come its different in each place though? The insects in forest I had to battle definitely weren't my fear either."

They thought in silence. They really should keep moving. They were out in the open, and the gong could go off any moment, stranding them in the middle of chaos.

"Maybe it only plays off an individual in that section. The Gamemakers choose one of them and they play that tributes fear," Ruby said.

It felt true, though they would have to go through more gongs to test the hypothesis.

"It's fucking insidious, I'll give them that," Gale said.

"It's clever," Prim admitted. What better way to punish them, then to kill them all with things they feared the most?

Gale was shaking in anger. His fingers twitching as if he wanted to use them in some violent way.

"I haven't had mine yet." Gale whispered.

They understood. The next gong could be his. It would be his if they were the only tributes in the desert.

"So what are you afraid of?" Ruby asked.

"None of your fucking business."

He twisted and stalked along the edge of the sand dune, intent on ignoring their question.

Prim almost reminded him that it was their business if they had to face the fear but was interrupted by the typical music of the announcements, the tally of the dead. It stopped them in their tracks.

The boy from three came first. A face shining and then gone, forgotten. Next came the girl from district 5. And then Brighton's face came up with his district number 6. Prim's heart clenched, but she didn't have time to mourn because his face vanished and was replaced with the girl from 7, and then the boy from 10.

Prim gave an exhale she hadn't known she was holding. She doubted Cato would die so easy, but it was a relief to see he was not amongst the dead. And neither was Theodora.

Five tributes down in total, including Brighton. It left only eleven total. Prim had a sudden understanding that they were whittling down fast and soon the major players had to face off.

Midnight

The gong rumbled under their feet. Sand tumbled down the hill. All three of them nearly lost their footing, crouching down to keep balance.

"Shit," Gale said.

They hadn't found shelter yet or a way out besides heading to the pyramid, which would be a death trap. The desert was narrow and long. On one side was the cliff, separating the desert from the ice. It was riddled with disappearing caves, filled with dangers and not adequate to bring any measure of safety. The border to the forest was a long row of tall cactuses too dense and prickly to push through. The spikes jutted out longer than normal, almost like knives. She had forgotten about running into them at the beginning until she saw them again.

When they first found it, Gale's face fell into a frown.

"Well, that would hurt like a bitch," Gale said, "I guess we're stuck here for now until we find a way to get around it."

They ran into no other tributes. It began to feel as if they were the last people alive on Earth. Prim figured most people preferred the safety of the forest. The desert and the icy wasteland were wildcards nobody really wanted in their hands.

When the gong finished its rumble, Gale snapped straight up, glancing around in apprehension. This was the worst part, the waiting, the expectation that something terrible made its way towards them, with no way to escape it.

The turned to each other with wide, wild eyes. Gale opened his mouth as if to speak, but then blindness. A cloud of sand rose from the ground and overcame them. It filled her mouth and came into her ears and nose. She coughed but more came and soon she felt like she was suffocating. Prim pulled her shirt over mouth, like Gale did. It gave her only enough reprieve to stay alive.

Was someone scared of sandstorms? It seemed an odd fear, and it definitely wasn't Gale's. He grew up in a forest, with no concept to create a fear of the desert.

Without her senses to guide her, she reached out to grab at her companions, but her arms came back empty. She frantically waved and walked forward, but she missed a step and tumbled, making a few twists down the dune. She landed with an oomph, reeling in shock. It wore off quick, and she was grateful to find she sustained no injuries.

The sand stopped mid-rotation, a world of suspended gold floating in the air. It glinted under the moonlight like a world of sugar. Then it dropped, sucking back into the Earth.

That was weird.

A part of her hoped that was the end of the fear, but it felt too odd and misplaced. Too easy. Her nerves bounced around. Somehow, she knew it wasn't the fear at all, just the beginning.

"Gale," she couldn't hide the tremor in her voice, "Ruby?"

Nobody answered her. Prim stood up and attempted to brush away the sand. It was an exercise in futility. Sand filled every crevice of her clothes and body. She would probably shake it out for weeks and still find some more.

Prim began the task of climbing the dune, expecting to find someone when she got to the ridge, but there was no one in sight.

She walked around the dune and up and over and searched the ones next to it.

Nothing.

Nobody.

Prim attempted to control the fear of losing Gale again. She always forgot how much she loved him until he was taken from her. He was just around the bend, she assured herself, he had to be. He was Gale. The consummate survivor. The boy who taught her to fish and nock an arrow.

How was she still here and they weren't? It's just part of the fear, Prim reasoned. Maybe instead of sandstorm, it was invisibility. Maybe they were all wandering the dessert alone, attempting to find each other.

Just like any other fear it would only end when she discovered the key to unlock the nightmare, the way of overcoming the horror.

She hadn't had time to come to terms with all that happened to her so far in the games, the death she saw. With just her and the sand, and hours wandering under the moon and blinking stars, her mind spiraled into darkness, attempting to drown her.

She was alone with just her thoughts, as she walked along. Despite herself, memories kept focusing on a blond-haired lion, but if she thought too long, it also made her remember the sound of a snapping neck.

"Prim?" A voice called out, sudden and clear, as if she called him to her by thoughts alone. It crossed the desert that had been silent since the sandstorm.

She'd know that voice anywhere.

The sun rose in the distance. Spilling color on the grey canvas around her. The figure stood in its path, creating a black outline against the burning light. He held a weapon she thought resembled a machete. He seemed a dream, as if her recent thoughts brought him to life.

"Cato?" Everything in her cried in relief. He walked closer, until the sunlight colored him too, glinting off his golden hair, the same color as the sand around them. The blue in his eyes seemed to glow. He still managed to look handsome, even in the middle of the games. Her thoughts couldn't do him justice.

When he reached her side, he lifted a hand and trailed it down her cheek.

"Hello, little bird."

She wanted to cry. She wanted to leap into his arms and tell him everything that happened to her. She wanted to spill her fears until they no longer welled inside her. But instead she jerked back a little. Something was off, but she wasn't sure what.

"What's wrong with you?"

He tilted his head to the side.

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you mad at me? For not staying in place?"

"No," he smiled and trailed a hand down her cheek again. "How could I ever be mad at you?"

Coming from anybody else, she would blink and call it normal, but Cato was not usually so forgiving. She reached out her hand and grabbed his. It felt warm. He gripped it back with the same amount of strength.

"Come with me," he said.

Maybe she was too paranoid. Maybe living through a literal nightmare fucked her up enough that nothing seemed normal.

"Are you real?"

In response, he tugged her forward and gripped her tight to his chest. She heard the thump of his heart under his shirt, smelled the salt of sweat. Up close, his skin looked grimy, as if he had rolled in the dirt, a sign of living hard.

She lifted the edge of his shirt to see the gash of a scar down the middle of his chest and she found the little birthmark she loved so much near his hip.

"I'm here, Prim. I'm real."

Prim's fears vanished, and she gripped him back, enjoying the way he made her feel safe, if only for a moment, something she didn't think she'd ever feel again. Hours wandering in the sand alone messed with her head.

"Come, let's get out of here."

Cato unraveled from her, still gripping her hand, tugging her to the side of the desert with the cliffs.

"But Cato—"

He tugged her hand, and she almost lost her footing. She tumbled after him, unable to keep up with his pace. He stared forward, not looking back at the weird angle he was dragging her. The uneasy feeling returned.

"Stop," she said.

But he did not listen to her and kept tugging. She tried to extradite herself, but his grip was iron, and the only thing she succeeded in doing was nearly injuring herself in the process.

"Cato, stop!" She screamed, "We can't be together. Snow—"

"You need to follow me."

Again, there was something weird about him. Did they drug him? She gave up resisting his pull. It was futile. She decided to follow him to see where he was bringing her. When they stopped, she would try to reason with him again. Try to explain why them being together made them a target even bigger than they already were.

They walked what must have been a mile until the cliffs rose up in the distance.

"We've been to the cliffs, and I can already tell you that nothing is there."

"We must get there before it gets too hot."

"But why?"

"It's where I sleep during the day."

Tension coiled in her belly, twisting with each step. It wasn't until she got closer that it felt like doom. Something was off. Her instincts screamed at her, but she wasn't sure what.

The cliffs were closer. The shadows stretching out towards them.

"Almost there," he said. It came out robotic.

"No, Cato, stop!"

He twisted around with a glint in his eyes.

A person appeared behind him. Cato blocked her view, so that she could not see it until a figure loomed over his shoulder. Just as tall with black hair and grey eyes. Gale's face twisted in a sneer, moving as silent as a ghost. He snarled with teeth bared. She almost yelled with a warning, but before she could, Gale lifted a knife in the air and stabbed Cato right in the neck.

Prim was frozen, unable to move with the horror, unable to understand what just happened.

Gale yanked the knife out, blood squirting with it.

"Die fucker," he stabbed him again in the back, so forcefully the tip exited his chest wall. Blood squirted from the neck wound again, arcing up with each pulse. Cato looked at Prim, eyes wide for a second, as if not able to believe it himself.

There was nothing to do for him. Prim knew this already. The knife hit his jugular. It would only take a few moments. Prim's mouth opened in a silent scream.

Gale yanked the knife from his back and quickly stepped away. A blossom of color soiled the front of his shirt.

Cato placed a hand to the neck wound.

"I'm dying," he gurgled and then folded to the ground.