Terrance and Wiress spent the next few days setting up traps along the stream and in hiding. They would take turns investigating if they heard someone else tangled in a trap. Beetee watched them work and sighed. Thankfully for the trapped tributes, both Terrance and Wiress ended their lives in the least painful ways. However, he knew the Gamemakers were getting bored with them. After gushing that District Three had made it past the third day, the commentators were getting bored with District Three's methods.
"Wake me up if I start to snore." Terrance quipped as he lay down in his camoflaughed sleeping bag. Wiress laughed and playfully smacked him. Beetee chuckled as well. Terrance was almost always woken up several times during his sleeping shifts for snoring. "Night!"
"Night." Wiress whispered. "Good night, love." She whispered smiling. Though she said that every night, Beetee still cried when he heard it.
"You say that every night to our mentor." Terrance muttered. Wiress blushed causing Beetee to laugh. Several other mentors stared at him. "Sorry."
"Beetee, check the map." Haymitch said around loud gulps of some sort of liquor from a bottle several hours into Wiress' watch.
"What - oh -" Beetee paled. There was a pod near Wiress and Terrances' campsite that was blinking. That meant the Gamekeepers were about ready to set mutts loose or intervene in the arena.
"Whacha gonna do about it, Geek Squad?" Haymitch asked. He staggered over to Beetee's station. "You gonna save your girl, Geek Squad?" Beetee's fingers shook as he pressed buttons on his tablet that sent Wiress some night-vision glasses and a knife laced with tranquilizer.
Wiress saw a silver parachute floating from the sky. "Beetee?" She asked. "Is something wrong?" She put the glasses on and gasped as she looked toward the trees. Three animals of some kind were slowly moving toward them. "Terrance?" She shook her district partner. "Terrance - get up! Hurry!"
"Huh?" He asked groggily.
"Mutts!" Wiress looked toward the woods. She saw at least three mountain-lions slowly coming toward them. "Get up!" Terrance sat up. Suddenly they heard the mutts growling.
"RUN!" Terrance yelled. He grabbed Wiress' hand and they ran toward the creek.
"MUTTS! RUN!" Wiress yelled in case other tributes were in the area. She and Terrance dove into the creek and swam down a way hoping to throw the mutts off from their scent. They saw two other tributes climb down from a tree and run toward the creek as well. They were a second too late as the mountain lions pounced on them. "NOOOOO!" At the sound of another tribute's screams of terror and pain Wiress pulled out the special knife and began running toward the pack.
"WIRESS! WE CAN'T SAVE THEM!" Terrance called. "C'mon!" He grabbed her and wrestled her to the ground. "C'mon!" They began running again. Suddenly Terrance screamed and was thrown to the ground.
"TERRANCE!" Wiress yelled. To her horror, a mountain lion was on top of him. She began plunging the knife into the animal. She screamed as she was clawed across the face. She aimed at its chest and kept stabbing it until it rolled off her district partner obviously dead. "Terrance?" Wiress asked shakily.
"You can't help me, Wiress." Terrance whispered. He was bleeding profusely from his arms, torso, and abdomen.
"I - I'm sorry - I - I shouldn't have stopped - I'm - I'm sorry -" Wiress sobbed.
"Don't worry about it." Terrance muttered. Wiress held his hand and brushed the hair away from his face.
"Thanks - thanks for - everything." She whispered.
"Yeah." Terrance said. "Same to you." He paused. "Listen -" He said as his breathing got heavier and more irregular. "There's - this - geeky awesome guy - waiting for you - ok? You gotta get out of here - for him - ok?"
"Ok." Wiress whispered. She closed Terrance's eyes after his cannon sounded.
"You saved her, Geek Squad." Haymitch grunted before walking back to his station. "Sorry about the boy."
"Get up, honey. Get up." Beetee whispered looking at Wiress. She was laying face down on the ground crying several yards away from Terrance. She hadn't moved even though the hovercraft had picked him up a good ten minutes ago.
"I – I can't – I can't –" Wiress sat up. She looked at the knife she used on the mountain lion mutt. She closed her eyes and raised it angling it toward her chest.
"NO! WIRESS! NO!" Beetee yelled. He didn't care that all the mentors were staring at him.
"If she do that, her family dies." Seeder muttered. "Ain't no one told her, probably."
"Beetee –" Wiress whispered. "I – I can't do this – I – I love you – but – I – just – can't –" Tears ran down her cheeks. She clutched the knife harder. Beetee looked at her vital signs that the tracker was monitoring. Her heart-rate increased.
"She's nervous. Look at that." Mags said pointing with a gnarled finger.
"Beetee –" Wiress whispered. She closed her eyes and images from both their lives flashed before her eyes. She was twelve and asking the twenty year-old inventor about his newly-designed wire. She was surprised at his approachableness and blushed when he said, 'My, you're probably the smartest one in the first-year class.' She was fifteen and walking across the stage at the academy to receive the certificate as proof of obtaining the I-Squared scholarship. Her gaze met Beetee's, and she was taken aback by the intensity of her grief that was mirrored in his eyes. She was eighteen and accepting his offer of an internship at I-Squared. She cried harder as she remembered how they grew closer throughout the semester. She closed her eyes and thought about their nights before she entered the arena. I can't leave him now. Not like this. "NO!" She yelled. She plunged the knife into the ground. "They can't take me!" She yelled. "They won't win." She whispered. She picked up her and Terrance's packs. Though she was still shaking badly and stumbled a few times, she walked away with resolution. She would do everything she could to not let the games tear her away from the man she loved.
"She's a strong one." Mags said clapping Beetee on the shoulder.
"Girl, you sho' showed 'em." Seeder whispered. Beetee sent her some water and a small basket of bread rolls from District Three.
"Thank you, District Three." Wiress said smiling. "Thank you, love." She whispered.
"No – thank you." Beetee said through his tears. "Thank you for showing them the strong young lady you are."