Jewel's POV
She was scared.
Of course she was scared, why wouldn't she be scared?
Reagan had found her first, hiding underneath some stairs of some house. All he needed to do was follow a trail of blueberries that had probably fallen from her hand as she made her way back to her hiding place. Ellia had been right about the other tributes hiding on the other side of town.
"Do you want to kill her, Ellia, or should I just get it over with?" he asked, holding the girl by the collar of her jacket. She was small, with mouse-brown hair and sad eyes of the same color. Some berries and herbs sat in the corner, and I realized she had no other supplies. She probably didn't get anything at the Cornucopia, or didn't even try. I recognized her immediately as the girl from three. Honestly, I was surprised she wasn't trying to fight back; she had put up good marks in training. She just sat there, tears running down her face, "Please," she pleaded, "Do it quickly-"
"Reagan, hold onto her for a moment," instructed Ellia. She grabbed my shoulder. "Follow me, I need to discuss something with you."
She guided me over to the other side of the yard, near an old swing set. "I think we should keep her alive," She proposed.
I stared back at her, stunned. Where was the girl that had so nonchalantly killed Beau, our friend and ally?
"Why?" I asked, "She may have had a high training score and is handy with some weapons, but she was stupid enough to leave a trail. She would be a danger to keep around." I couldn't believe I was saying the words I was saying, explaining why it was in our best interest to kill a human being.
"Just hear me out," she said, rolling her eyes, "She could fight well if she had weapons and encouragement. We could use her as bait, as our lookout. If someone is after us, it will be her first."
"And if I disagree to using someone as a human barrier?"
She made a side glance to the bow and arrows on her back, "Well I don't really need you around her either."
Why discuss it with me if I didn't have a choice.
We made our way back to the stairs where Reagan was still holding onto the girl, who was now sobbing and convulsing.
"Let her go, Reagan," Ellia ordered, "We're not going to kill her."
He looked confused but released his grip on the girl. She fell to her knees, exasperated, her sobs growing slower. She only looked about fourteen years old.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" Ellia asked in a sweet tone of voice I've never heard her use before. She leaned down so that she was eye level with the little girl.
The girl sniffed and looked up, "Gadgetta. My name is Gadgetta."
"Well, Gadgetta," Ellia said while taking the girls hand in hers, "I think we could really use you."
Lottie's POV
"So you're saying that you fought off those kids from five by yourself? That's unbelievable," I remarked while packing my bag with some of the food and supplies that Silver had collected.
She shrugged. "I guess I was lucky."
"That isn't luck, Silver, that's talent." I zipped up my bag. "Silver, huh? That's an unusual name for someone from district ten. I could see it on somebody from one, but ten? Don't you guys like, raise cattle?"
She smiled, "My mother makes jewelry, so she works with different types of metal all the time. My younger brother is named Sterling." Her smiled quickly faded. "I wonder what's he's doing right now."
Changing the subject, I brought up my theory about the churches. "Do you know if there are other places of worship around the arena? They could be open too, if this one is. There's a chance we could hide there if something happens and we can't make it back here for whatever reason."
She shook her head. "I've traveled around here a lot; this is the only one in the entire town. Well, fake town."
I nodded, honestly disappointed. If we were on the other side of town and needed to hide quickly, we'd have no advantage. "So what's the plan?"
"Well, uh, my plan so far has been looking around, trying to help people I guess," she changed her focus to her own bag, "The boy from seven looked really weak, I gave him some water, but her refused to go with me." She sighed, "I knew he would try to kill me if he was well enough, but I think he was injured, and we could help him…"Her voice got very quiet, "Unless you really don't want to do that-"
"No, I think it's great," I coughed, remembering the boy from seven, how he had forced the young girl with him to go through training. How she had jumped off the plate, eager to end everything before the games even started. He must have been close to her, and I didn't want to know what that pain for him must have felt like. "Do you know where he was?"
Her eyes lit up, happy that I wasn't immediately shooting down her suggestion. "I took him under one of the bridges north of here. That way he could get water without moving. I think his leg was hurt. The water was safe, I knew that because I had tried it myself. I also left him some food I found…"
I remembered the iodine sitting in my backpack and felt its weight, suddenly aware that people have not had the same luxuries as I did.
"We'll go to him," I assured her, "And make sure he's okay."
Jewel's POV
Sunlight hit hard on our backs and we walked along the streets. Gadgetta followed closely behind, Ellia's pack on her shoulders. The noon sun was relentless, and after a while I felt the back of my neck feel hot.
"Ellia, who had the sunscreen?" I asked, not wanting to have to deal with the pain later.
"It was in Beau's pack," She stated. Reagan carrying Beau's bag, and he tossed me the sunblock. I didn't enjoy putting on the sunscreen and walking at the same time, but Ellia was certain that we keep going. We were heading to the northern side of the arena, according to her compass, a part that we hadn't explored yet. When we got to a bridge in the center of town, she stopped, looking around.
"What are you doing?" asked Reagan, "Wasn't it you that said we had to keep moving or-"
"There's something odd," she noticed, "Something very odd…" She sniffed the air. "What's that smell…"
"I don't smell anything," I said, annoyed. "We should keep going if-"
Ignoring me, she turned around in a circle, examining the area. "Why does it smell like blueberries if there aren't any blueberry bushes around here?"
"What are blueberries?" I asked, now extremely agitated.
"They are non-poisonous berry that I know very well," she explained, "My dad used to eat them all the time, coming home with packages of the stuff…" She sniffed the air again. "There must be some here somewhere…Look around, you three," She announced, gesturing to me, Reagan, and Gadgetta."
"Ellia, we have plenty of food-"Reagan tried.
"Just. Look. Okay?"
This was it. I was seriously going to kill her. If anybody got to kill Ellia in these stupid games, they had the greatest honor in the entire world.
I examined the trees on the southern side of the bridge, and Gadgetta the north. Ellia stood still, her eyes closed, while Reagan walked to the water. After a few minutes, I saw him disappear under.
"Hey Ellia, get here now!"
"Did you find them?" Her eyes had flown open.
"And more!" He yelled.
The three of us made our way to the water and under the bridge, following the sound of Reagan's voice. When we get there, we can't believe our eyes. Bushes full of dark berries line the ground before the water. Ellia was right after all. And there, right in the midst of it, was a boy with a bandaged leg, looking very, very scared. He was trying to get away, but he couldn't use his legs and could barely crawl. Reagan pinned him down to keep him from moving.
Gadgetta and I were shocked, but Ellia just shrugged. "Take care of him quickly, Reagan," She ordered, and turned her attention to the blueberry bushes. She quickly began piling the berries into an empty bag. Just give him a couple of stabs, he'll bleed to death eventually."
"Wait," pleaded the boy, "Wait, I can-"
Reagan proceeded to carry out Ellia's orders, and the boy's screams filled the air. Gadgetta started crying again, and I guided her away from the scene. Ellia filled her bag with berries, and then moved on. We all left the boy, still screaming, and slowly dying, without turning our backs.
Lottie's POV
We heard the screams and both had the same thought.
Instead of following the back alleys, because they were safer, we both made it to the main road and made a beeline toward the bridge. As we got closer, the screaming got louder, and we both knew who it was.
Underneath the bridge, in the midst of blueberry bushes, was the boy from seven, covered in blood. His screams had grown weaker, and he was barely moving.
Silver rushed to his side immediately. "Hey, hey, hey, you're alright, don't worry, it's all going to be okay. You're fine. You're fine." She held his hand. I merely stared.
"It was, it was the careers," he coughed, "And girl from three…" he eyes stared into the bridge above him. "I'm sorry, Ida." He stopped breathing, his body grew slack, his eyes glazed over, he died.
Silver clutched the body in her hands. "No, no, no!" Tears started falling from her cheeks. "If we had been a little quicker, we could have saved him, I could have saved him."
Ida. His district partner who killed herself. His last breath devoted to her.