Chapter 19: Friendship Never Dies

Iris' POV

"Run, Sage, run!" I scream at him as we barrel through the forest, flames of fire descending down upon us.

"Come on!" He yells back as I limp along, clutching onto his hand for dear life.

And you would think you would know what would happen. But no, instead of me falling, it's sage who falls. He crumbles to the ground and screams as the fire engulfs him. I scream, putting my hands to my ears, trying to block out his desperate cries of pain. I just stand there, horrified, as I see him being tortured by the fiery creatures.

But then, as Sage wreaths on the ground, engulfed in flames, Peter appears. His lips are drawn in a snarl and he's holding the sword with Sage's blood. Fury and heartbreak rush through me and I leap towards him, but I'm held back.

I look behind me and to my horror, see Sky. His pale blue eyes have a hungry look in them-vengeance. I try to get out of his grip, but he's too strong. And then another hand grabs me. A scream escapes my mouth as I recognize Faith. Then Ash comes too, and finally Peter comes over to me, the bloody sword still in his hand.

It's all the people that I have killed. And as Sage's attempts weaken, I try to get out of their stony grips, but it doesn't work. I slowly watch him die and watch the people that I have killed get closer to me, holding weapons, ready to do the same to me as I did to them.

That's when I hear a canon.

I gasp and sit up straight, my body trembling and sweat running down my body. It takes me a couple of seconds to realize where I am. I recognize the tent and I take a deep breath. It was all a dream.

"Did you hear that?" Nyla asks, sitting up, her green eyes wide.

"The canon?" I ask, thinking it had been in my dream instead of reality.

Nyla nods and glances around. Then her whole body freezes as she slowly asks, "Where's Sabine?"

"Shit," I hiss and we both jump to our feet and rush outside.

We look over at the Cornucopia and see the hovercraft appear over it. It's too far to see who the body is as it's lifted from the ground. I can only hope it was one of the Careers.

"They'll show it in the sky soon," Nyla says, but her voice is filled with worry, "I'm sure she got out in time."

I don't say anything, because it's a fat chance that she did. Sabine went anyways even though we told her she would get killed, I won't be surprised if she ends up in the sky tonight. But I can't help feeling sad, because I knew that if we weren't in the Games, we would be great friends. All three of us.

Friendship never dies, even when the person themselves has died, I remember what my mother told me when one of my friends was chosen for the Reaping the year before I went, but she never came back.

Will I come back? I wonder silently. Will I see my family again? Or will I just be one of the countless children that have died in the arena? Like the children that I, myself, has killed.

"Look!" Nyla's voice shakes me out of my thoughts.

I look up at the sky as I hear the anthem play and see the symbol of Panem appear in the night sky. I bite my lip as I wait for a picture to come up, and I just hope it wasn't Sabine, it wasn't Sabine, it wasn't Sabine…And when her picture appears in the night sky I can't help but screech in horror.

Nyla's face pales and she stands there, staring at Sabine's picture in the sky with her mouth wide open. My palms are pressed against my face as I stand there, horrified, saddened, and wondering what we should do next now that we're outnumbered. But why would Sabine do that? Didn't she take our warnings seriously? Now she just gave the Careers an upper hand! If she was here-

And then I stop, because I know that she's not here. She's dead, I'll never be able to talk to her again. I sink to my knees as I realize that my friend (and I honestly believe she was my friend) is dead.

"What are we going to do now?" I ask, my voice rough and scratchy.

Nyla shakes her head and murmurs, "I don't know. I don't think there is much to do."

"We can't just give up, though!" I exclaim, jumping to my feet, "We have to fight!"

Nyla looks at me, as if unsure, but finally she says, "And how are we going to do that?"

"I…I don't know," I shake my head as I start pacing around, "We need to think up of a plan. We need to take the Careers by surprise. We need to fight."

But she just sighs and says, "Iris…"

"No," I wave my hand, "no, we are going to win this thing. I won't let the Careers win."

"What are we winning, really?" Nyla asks, "What is it that we win? Money and fame from killing innocent children?"

"We win our life," I growl, crossing my arms and stopping in my tracks.

She sighs and then asks, "Then how are we going to do this thing? You know, against the Careers?"

"We attack," I sit down so that I'm facing her, "at the Cornucopia during the day time. Noon to be exact. I'll take my sword and you can grab the knives. We have to take them out one by one."

Nyla narrows her green eyes, intrigued now, "I think I can make something, you know, a trap, with the right equipment of course."

"What kind of trap?"

"Sort of like a snare," She begins to explain, "It'll latch onto their ankle when they step on it and dig into their skin, causing extreme pain. It'll make them fall and unable to fight back or get out."

"How would you make it?" I continue in my questions.

"Thorns, vines, and whatever else I'll need later on," She says, "you leave it up to me, and you make sure that we have enough weapons to secure us."

I nod and then pause asking, "Do you think this will work?"

Nyla shrugs and smiles, "If not, at least we would've gone out with a fight."

I lean back on the grass and then ask, "How long will it take you to make these traps?"

"A day, at most," Nyla shrugs, "I would say two days from now at noon we should attack."

I bite my lip like I always do when I'm nervous, but finally I say, "Alright, let's do it."

A/N: Yeah, I know, not a very long chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else to put in there. The next chapter will be much longer and interesting, but it won't be the last! Stay tuned for more chapters!