-Katlyn: Day 7 of the Hunger Games-

I slipped the sword out of Rhett's back.

"Didn't see that coming? Ha! Hahaha...ha...heh." With the fight over, nature began to settle and silence restored itself over the forest. I coughed. "Everyone, okay?" A small bird chirped in response, and I recalled that there was no one here."Oh...yeah."

I brushed my hand through my hair and sighed. Rising from the body, I sheathed my lone sword, the metallic sound ringing in the emptiness. My eyes drifted from the hole in the body and scanned the air around me. The dark plumes of smoke fought against the few dripping rain clouds. The fire swept across the distant tree line, out of control and hungry. The rain made progress, but it alone couldn't do anything but hold back the fire. There was no sign of the Capitol hovership either.

Just me.

And this dead guy here.

He attacked me first, so he deserves it, right? I mean, I was just trying to get some sleep. I hadn't slept since...well, I needed to sleep and then he just comes and starts shouting at me. Long story short, he's dead, okay? This is what they make us do to each other. This is how the Hunger Games work. There can only be one and all that. I do what I have to; including killing someone.

I need to get out of here. I've never seen what happens when the hovership comes, but I don't really want to know.

As I crept away, and left that guy, I felt a solitary trail of sticky red liquid dripping down from my head. Alone, it traveled across the contour of my cheeks and made itself into a small droplet on my chin. I dabbed the bead, collecting it onto my index finger. The bead lost energy to keep moving, so instead it tried to reflect the world around in a vain attempt to protect itself from being noticed. The drop dyed my eye a deep red. Unnerved, I hurriedly flicked the one drop from my finger.

Still my face had a single line running down it. I fought the impulse to wipe off the blood with my sleeve, and instead, found a nearby stream.

Thankfully not poisoned with ashes, I took a small sip of a clear pool. I couldn't stomach too much, but after I was satisfied, I splashed some water on the wound. While it did sting, it also offered some relief. As the water settled, a face stared back at me: cheeks puffy, hair all over the place, and eyes red from the ashes...and from crying.

I slammed my fist into the mirror, breaking the reflection. I sighed to myself. Another line of liquid fell across my face.

Evan would patch me up now. It'd be easy. Well, he'd complain a whole bunch, but then Chau would make some non sequitur remark, and I would have to hold his hand steady because he was laughing so hard. But then, I would watch him try to hold in his laughter with his adorable face and then I would break out laughing too.

Yeah. It would happen like that.

I gave up and wiped my forehead with my sleeve, damning the fabric to a lonely crimson stain.

"I'm fine. I was alone before. I've always been alone. I practically raised my siblings myself. I don't need to depend on anyone. There's nothing I can't handle. I know–"

"Antidisestablishmentarianism ."

"What? Who the hell is that?" My head span in every direction, attempting to locate the masculine voice from above.

Nothing. The only living thing I could see was a bird tilting its head at me, a lone confused woman.

It opened its mouth: "She sells seashells by the sea shore."

"So, you're a jabber jay then." It stared at me with its beady eyes. "The voice sounds familiar."

"Andrew, will you stop playing around with–" A different voice cut off immediately. But it already told me what I needed to know.

"So, that guy Andrew was playing around with some jabber jays, huh?" The bird fluttered at the name Andrew, but it couldn't have remembered the person who gave it a voice. It's a dumb bird. "Weird guy. I wonder how he died."

I leapt back as the bird began squawking, firing feather everywhere, apparently angered by my musings. The cries rang out past the enclosed space into the darkening sky.

"Shhhhh! Shut up." The bird sent out a long cry. Might as well try reasoning with it. "You're going to attract Matt or someone worse over here." Didn't help. The bird screamed louder and louder. "Shut up. Shut up!"

Instantaneously, the bird stopped calling out. It became completely still. After a second delay, it slowly dragged its head to stare at me with a single black eye. And finally, it opened its mouth.

"Don't stop and smell the roses."

And with that, it simply stopped moving. No twitching. No breathing. Just still. Its one eye frozen.

"Don't stop and smell–what's that suppose to mean?"

Whether it couldn't or didn't want to, I wasn't sure, but it didn't move to respond. I was about to try to poke it or something, but something else was odd. The bird wasn't staring at me, I don't think, it seemed to be staring at something behind me. I pointed my index finger, a red stain still upon it, and followed the bird's line of sight, eventually landing on a petite green bud.

Contrasting against the brown of the rest of the foliage, the bright bud seemed to be growing at a miraculous pace. I lowered my head to confirm the speed of its growth. Indeed, the bud quickly sprouted two leaves and head.

I checked with the bird behind me, and jumped a little: no more bird. There was no fluttering or flapping away; he just vanished.

I turned back to the plant, which to my horror, had blossomed into a beautiful blood red rose. It's smell drifting across the air. The smell drifted across the air like spoonful of pink molasses. It was so tempting to inhale deeply, but my conscious mind forced myself to heed the bird's warning.

I sprang backwards, head slamming against the tree behind me in an effort to pull away as fast as possible, but at that point, it was too late. The sweet smell fluttered into my nose.

For a moment, nothing happened; everything was calm and normal. Then, the dam between subconscious and realty broke, each pouring into each other in an effort to achieve an equilibrium that would break me.

The world turned greyish brown and flaming pink at the same time. The sky fell beneath my feet and the ground slipped into the trees. I could hear voices. Of Chau. Of Evan. Of Shelby. Of Patrick. A voice, tiny and insignificant, my own voice, screamed amongst the chorus. It told me to cover my mouth and to get away.

I tried to raise my arms of lead, but failed. I clenched my teeth and forced the hands to my face, covering my nose and mouth.

Finally, I ordered my legs to move. They mocked my attempt to command them and forced me to the ground. Around me, I could see the single rose multiplied exponentially. It started at 1. There's 2. Now 4. I lifted my body off the ground and dragged myself away. 8. I punched my legs, a shot of adrenaline shot through my head, clearing the pink clouds. 16. I scrambled up and began shambling away. 32

Shut up! 64.

They were spreading. 128. Everywhere. 256. I looked behind to see a growing sea of red. 512. I just had to keep running. 1024.

It's going to infect everyone.

2048. 4096. 8192...