Chapter 14: Love and Death

Sage's POV

"Come on, we have to keep going," I murmur to Iris as I help her through the trees.

"Easy for you to say," She grumbles as she limps along.

I just laugh and pull her along. She isn't limping as badly and her leg wound is healing now. Her burn on her arm isn't getting much better though, but it's just barely starting to heal. Thankfully, it's not on her sword arm so she can still use her sword and knives pretty well.

No one had died in the fire, but now there are still eleven people left. It's getting into the second week now and I'm sure that the people back in the Districts and the Capitol are shocked that this many people have survived for this long. Usually after one week there's only around eight of us left and they'd be interviewing our families.

The Gamemakers can't really do much, they've already driven us together, but we're making an effort to stay away from the other people. There will only be time before a large fight happens. The Careers are safe in the island the Cornucopia is on while the rest of us are stuck somewhere close together.

Iris and I just keep walking through the forest. I really hope that we get something for her leg, at least, because it's slowing us down a bit. And right when Iris asks if we can rest, I see something fall from the sky. I give an excited hoot and reach up as I recognize the silver parachute. I rip open the tiny box that's about the size of my hand and take out what's inside.

Confusion hits me at first. I look at what I have in my hand and it seems to be a capsule of some sort. I shake it a bit and hear a liquid swish around.

"What is it?" I ask as I hand it to Iris who is lying on the ground.

She takes it in her small, olive-skin hands and turns it around and around. I notice that Iris and I don't look that different. We both have slightly tanned skin, but we're not nearly as dark as some people get in our district. Our skin is like the skin people have in District 12 up in the Seam. And then Iris has gray eyes while I have dark blue. The only thing that's a major difference is that I have very dark brown, or black, hair while she has a dirty blond.

"I think it's medicine for my leg," Iris says as she unscrews the top and a needle comes out.

I shiver and say, "Do you have to put it in your wound?"

"I think so," Iris frowns and says, "You'll have to do it, I can't."

"What makes you think I can? I hate needles," I say, but take it in my hands.

I fill the needle up with the liquid until there's no more left in the capsule. Iris pushes her pants down so that the wound is revealed. I grit my teeth and stab it into where the spear went into her skin. Iris gasps in pain as I push the liquid into her body and take it out.

"Did you have to do it so hard?" She growls at me, grabbing some nearby moss and pressing it down on the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Sorry," I confess, "I've never done it before."

"Obviously," She mutters.

"Let's rest for a bit," I suggest as I sit down beside her, "Let the medicine kick in."

"It already is," Iris murmurs, "I can feel the pain in my leg go away."

"It must be numbing it also," I figure as I lean back.

There's a bit of silence before Iris murmurs, "Thanks Sage."

I just shrug and look at my hands saying, "No problem."

"Well, while we're resting, I think I'm going to sleep for a bit," Iris murmurs as she settles down in the grass, "The medicine is making me drowsy."

"You do that," I whisper.

I watch as she quickly falls asleep and I hold my hand in hers, ignoring the slight pain from the burns on my hands. I rub the skin on her hand with my thumb, feeling its rough texture. She has a couple of scars already from the arena and the bleeding has stopped on her leg.

I'm memorized, really, by how beautiful she looks when she's sleeping. Even when she's awake she's beautiful. I remember after the Reaping I always thought of her as a little girl, a little girl who shouldn't belong in this place, but now I no longer see that. She's only two years younger than me, I know, and though she's small and the youngest, she doesn't act like it.

I stroke her hair with my hand as I watch her sleep. She tucks closer to me so that her body is pressed against mine. I could fall asleep like this, with my arms wrapped around her and herself so close to me. But the reality of the Games comes back to me, and I realize that only one of us can survive.

I hope it's Iris, I think. She deserves to live.

Iris' POV

I start to wake from the fogginess of the drug. The pain in my leg is completely gone, but I still feel the pulsing hurt from my arm. I open my gray eyes and see that I'm in the same place as I was. I'm closer to Sage and he has his arms around me. He smiles when he sees that I'm awake and I don't know why, but I smile back.

"How long have I been asleep?" I ask, sitting up slowly.

"Not long," He replies, "Maybe an hour."

"We should get moving," I struggle to my feet and am surprised that there's only a slight tingle of pain coming from my leg.

"Does it hurt?" Sage asks, his dark blue eyes flickering with concern.

"Barely," I shrug.

I dare and take a look at my wound. I'm relieved to see that it's practically closed up and healed. It'll leave a very noticeable scar, but that's alright. Whatever was in that medicine did a miraculous job.

"Thank you, Jake," I sigh before pulling up my pants and standing up straighter.

"How about your arm?" Sage glances at my right arm. I'm now glad I'm a lefty or else I wouldn't be able to defend myself as well.

I glance at it and see that it has healed a bit thanks to the drugs, but it's still that angry red color. At least the swelling has gone down. I just sigh and shrug.

"It'll heal eventually, and it's not that bad just when I exert myself," I say.

Sage nods, but he just stands there, staring at me. I stare back, puzzled by the look in his eyes and how tense he is.

"Something wrong-" I barely finish before his lips meet mine.

I have never been kissed before, but I know that this is a kiss in a life time. I'm shocked at first, but when his lips press against mine, I feel something bolt through me. Almost like lightning and I can't help myself when I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss back.

This feeling is so exhilarating and so breath taking and my skin tingles as he wraps his arms around my waist. I press closer to him and he presses close to me. The slight pain in my leg and the stronger pain in my arm suddenly disappear and so does my surroundings. All I can feel is Sage, his lips against mine, his arms around me, his breath on my skin, all sending me into a complete happiness I have never felt before.

He stops for a moment and looks at me. His breath caresses my cheek and his arms are still wrapped around me, but his dark blue eyes are taking on a serious look. A look as we know that only one of us can come out alive. But I barely think about that, and I don't even care. For right now, I don't even care about anything except Sage.

I reach forward and touch my lips to his. The lightning bolt goes through me again, through my skin, my hair, my lips, my blood, and finally my heart. My heart beats wildly; it has never beaten this fast even when I was in the gravest danger in the arena. But the arena is another world to me; Panem is off on another galaxy, all it is, is Sage and me. There's only a slight reminder in the back of my mind that remembers that probably the whole country is watching us make out, but I don't care and I barely even think of it before my thoughts are surrounded my Sage.

I don't know how long we stand there kissing, our bodies entwined and our hearts beating as one, but finally we both pull away. He holds me and smiles, a real smile, the first time that he has been truly happy since we have been picked to go into the Games. And I smile too; I can't even wipe the smile of my face because I'm just so happy. My heart is still beating rapidly and my hands are shaking a bit, but the emotions that soar through me are wonderful.

"Wow," He whispered, still so close that I can feel his breath on my skin. It makes me shiver.

I laugh weakly, still trying to recover from the kiss, "Yeah. I never thought that would…um, why?"

He just shrugs and says, "I don't know, I just felt like it was the right time."

"It was," I murmur as I rest my head on his chest.

He leans his head downward and kisses the top of my head and I smile, hearing his heart beat as I rest my head against his chest. We stand there for a bit, and it's finally the call of a mockingjay that snaps us back into reality.

"Was that a warning call?" I ask, leaning back so that we're a bit farther apart.

"I think so," He steps back, but he holds my hand in his, "We better go check it out, or get away from whatever it was."

"Wait," I say as I head towards a tree, "You wait down here and I'll climb up to see what's going on."

He nods and lets go of my hand. I'm a little sad, not having his reassuring touch, but I climb up the tree anyways. The tree's a bit tough on my hands, but I make it up. I leap from branch to branch with skill from climbing so many trees back in District 11. Since I was smaller I could scour the trees quicker in search of the fruits that hung there. I finally get to the top and steady myself on the branch.

I now see what the mockingjay had warned us about. A cannon goes off and I soon see a plane from the Capitol appear. It lifts a body that I can just barely recognize because it's close enough. I recognize it as Melissa, one of the Careers from District One.

I scramble down the tree and land beside Sage who looks at me expectantly.

"It must've heard the plane," I explain, "Because someone died."

"I heard the cannon," Sage nods, "Who was it?"

"Melissa," I answer, "District One."

"She's a career," Sage narrows his eyes in confusion, "I wonder how she was killed."

"I don't know," I shake my head, "But whatever it was, we better get away from it."

Sage's POV

Iris and I settle down among a fork between two branches. The tree was the only safe place to be, and we knew we couldn't go back to the river where Melissa was killed, so we settled down there.

The night soon comes and it gets cold. Since Iris lost her jacket in the fire, I give her mine as we settle down under Sky's blanket. I wrap my arms around her as she sets her head down on my chest. I smile a bit to myself, glad that she's here with me and that I got the chance to know her, to love her. Is it love? I think so, I think I fell in love with her ever since the Games started, but I would never let myself believe it.

"I hear the anthem," Iris whispers.

I look up at the sky as I hear the anthem also and see the Capitol seal. Melissa's picture floats in the sky before disappearing again. I sigh in relief and hope that one death will keep the audience busy for a while so we can have some rest.

"So that's ten of us left," I murmur.

Iris nods, "Daniel from District Twelve was killed in the bloodbath in the Cornucopia along with Megan from District Nine, May from District Ten, and Lucas from District Eight."

"I killed Megan," I sigh, "that's how I got my bow and arrows."

"Don't feel too guilty," Iris laughs a bit, "I killed Ash."

"Did you kill Melony too?" I ask, "They were killed at the same time. Sky and I were worried someone else killed them."

"Paul killed Melony, he saved my life," Iris sighs, "I asked him to be allies but he refused. He died in the flood."

"So did Emily from District Four," I murmur, "and then Sky was killed."

Iris flinched at that, but she continued on, "Yes, and then the avalanche came. Samantha from District Five and George from District Four were killed in that."

"And then Cole from District Ten and now Melissa," I add.

"That's it then," Iris pauses before continuing, "So that means for Districts Ten, Nine, Five, Four, and Three all of their Tributes are killed. Two, Six, and Eleven are the only ones who have both Tributes. The rest only have one Tribute left."

"That's still a lot," I frown, "and we're already in the second week."

"Don't worry," Iris settles down as she begins to drift off, "we can make it."

I just nod and once she's asleep I whisper, "I hope you're right."