Chapter 12:

I wake up in the early morning. I look over to where Kendall and Angela were sitting the night before. They are still there. Kendall is sitting down facing the other direction, obviously on guard duty. Angela is laying down sleeping.

I wait a little bit before starting to silently pack my bag. It's about time I go show myself to them. I am just about done and I'm taking an ax out to have ready in my hand. Always best to be safe. Angela is sitting up, but it looks like Kendall hasn't realized she is up yet.

I see her raise her hand up behind Kendall, and my eye catches a glint from it. She has a knife in her hand! That bitch is going to stab my brother in the back, just like I thought from the beginning. I throw my ax towards her and I am satisfied when I hear the thud when it hits her in the back. She falls forward and hits the ground with the knife still in her hand. The cannon goes off.

Kendall is startled when he hears her hit the ground, and seeing she is dead, he pulls out a knife ready for the attacker to come out. Then he realizes that it is an ax in her back. "Lauren?" he says hesitantly. "I know you're out there."

I hop down from the tree and start walking towards him. "You know, she was about ready to stab you in the back. Like I told you from the beginning. You're lucky I was in a tree nearby."

"Why were you watching us from a tree nearby?" he asks. Leave it to him to care more about the fact I was watching them nearby then the fact that I just saved his life.

"I was planning on joining you as an ally," I say as I pull my ax out of Angela's back. "I've been in that tree since last night. I was searching for you all day yesterday, and I had picked that tree to sleep in before I saw you. I figured I would just show myself to you two in the morning because I was tired. It's a good thing I waited until this morning."

"Ok so now you're here. And now we'll be allies. I'm curious, why exactly were you looking for me? I figured you would be sitting in a tree somewhere waiting for tributes to walk past."

I look away as my eyes start to water. "I was with another tribute for the first five days, Gabriella from 8. I had saved her from being killed at the bloodbath because she was sitting there crying about Lucius being killed by Angela, and I pulled her along with me. We ran into the forest and worked together to get a lot of food. We stayed in the trees. Two days ago, we were looking for food. I was rabbit hunting and she was gathering berries. The girl from 1, Sparkle, found Gabriella when we weren't together. I heard her scream and ran towards her. But by time I got there, it was too late. Sparkle had stab her in the stomach. I threw my ax at her and cut her head off. I held Gabriella in my arms as she bled to death." By now, the tears are flowing freely. "So I decided to find you, because I didn't want to be all by myself."

Kendall pulls me into a hug and just lets me cry on his shoulder. "Shh, it's ok Lauren, you're with me now. I'll protect you."

We stay like that for a few minutes, but we are interrupted. A silver parachute is floating down right in front of us. "I guess Stefan has finally decided to give me something," I say and laugh. "Has he given you anything?"

"No, he hasn't," he says with an angry look. "Well we might as well see what it is."

We open up the package and inside is a large bowl of rice, chicken stew with mandarin oranges in it, and a giant pot full of hot chocolate. All delicious Capitol food. My stomach let out a loud growl as I smelled the food. We laugh and decide to go sit in my tree and eat it.

We spend the day talking about what had happened during the games, and other random stuff. And eat some of the delicious food. I find out that Kendall came across his mutt and it's scream was me. Clearly the Capitol realizes how much we care for each other.

After a while, when it was early evening, a thought dawns on me. "Hey, I just realized, it's the final eight. That means they were probably doing the interviews of our family and friends today."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the interviews," he says. "Who is left anyways?"

"Well there's us obviously," I begin. "Out of the Careers only two are dead; there is Glam from 1, Elesa and Brycen from 2, and Cress from 4. Then there is Blaine from 11. There's one other person, but I can't remember who."

Kendall thinks about it for a few minutes. "Oh! I know who! It's that girl from 10. What's her name now?"

"Something with a W," I say. I try to think about what her name is. "Oh it's Whitney! I completely forgot about her, but that's because she didn't impress me at all before the games."

So there's only eight tributes left. Seven more to die before someone is crowned victor.

Since it's late evening by now, we decide to get comfortable for the night. We pack up the remaining food from our gift, and lay in the sleeping bag. I snuggle up against him, glad to feel safe in my brother's arms.

The Capitol seal lights up the sky. The only face shown tonight is Angela. I'm glad that she is gone, that backstabber.

I fall asleep shortly after, and dream about the trees back home.