It takes a while, but I'm finally able to close my eyes against the afternoon sun and drown out the noise from the other tributes. Soon, I'm being nudged awake. "Your turn to guard," says Xavier from 3. I yawn and sit up, stretching out my limbs. Then I stand up and head over to the horn. Brion's already there, with the two backpacks. "Is anyone awake?" I whisper. "Just the tributes from 3, but they should be asleep soon. We'll leave after that." I nod and sit down next to him. Brion looks over his shoulder into the mouth of the horn. "He's awfully quiet in there." I look back as well. "He's probably sleeping," I respond. "No, I'm awake," the boy responds. I can't help but let out a little gasp; I have to remind myself that he's tied up and that he can't hurt me. "So, you two are planning on leaving?" the boy asks. "What makes you think that?" snaps Brion. The boy chuckles softly. "You just said you would leave after everyone falls asleep." I give Brion a look, and his head droops a bit. "Oh yeah," he whispers.
I hear a noise coming from inside the horn, and suddenly he's right at the opening, scooting forward little by little. Brion grabs a knife from his pocket and points it at the boy. "Don't you come any closer, or I'll kill you right now." The boy laughs softly. "No you won't. I'm your insurance policy. You kill me and they'll kill you." Brion doesn't budge. "I said don't come any closer." The boy finally stops. There is silence for a moment as we observe each other. The boy is obviously well-built, judging from the way the ropes tied to his arms almost disappear under the muscle. He has straight brown hair that swoops down over one of his eyes; I never noticed their color before, and I can't tell what they are in the dim moonlight. "So, you're planning on getting out of the alliance while you can. I can't blame you," says the boy. "When I eventually die, someone else will take my place. And once people realize it might be them, they'll still try to kill people to stop it from happening." He laughs, and then stares directly at me. Now I can see; his eyes are a deep brown, like the mane of my horse back in district 10. The boy speaks again. "So here's the deal. When you leave, you're going to untie me. I promise not to kill you, and we go our separate ways. If you don't, I'll scream when you leave and alert everyone. They'll kill both of you, and everything will be all peaceful again." I groan aloud; we have no choice. "Fine," I say through clenched teeth. The boy smiles and backs up into the horn, hiding in the shadows once again.
One hour later, Brion stands up and checks to see if everyone's asleep. When he reports back and says that we're all clear, I turn and whisper into the horn. "Ready to go?" The boy scoots forward eagerly. Brion hands me his knife, and I turn to face the boy. "If you try to hurt me at all, I will scream so loud that the tributes from 1 will hear me, wherever they are. Don't even think about it." The boy nods and gestures to his legs. I take the knife and get to work. A few minutes later, I cut the last rope from his arm. The boy stands up and stretches out his arms and legs. He turns to me and brushes the hair away from his eyes. "A pleasure doing business with you," he whispers. Then he turns, grabs a backpack from next to a sleeping tribute, and starts walking towards the forest. "Come with us." The words escape my mouth before I even know I've said them. The boy stops and turns to face me. "What did you say?" "Yeah, did I hear you correctly?" asks Brion. I sigh, and repeat my invitation. "Come with us." The boy stands in front of me looking completely bewildered. Then he answers. "I don't make alliances." "This wouldn't be an alliance. Or at least not one like this. You could leave whenever you wanted to," I say. "I just don't want to see you captured again." The boy takes a menacing step forward. "I won't be captured again!" he whispers forcefully. I still sense the hesitance in his voice. "You're the only tribute on your own. Don't you want someone you can rely on?" I ask. I extend my hand forward. The boy stares at it warily. Slowly but surely, his hand extends forward until it meets mine in a handshake. "All right," he says. Then the three of us walk off together towards the forest, leaving the camp behind.
It's quiet as we enter the forest. The boy reaches into his backpack and pulls out a flashlight. Light illuminates the dark grove of trees ahead of us, as well as the bats that hang from them. With a few screeches and squeals, they fly up into the branches of some higher trees. I love most animals, but I cannot stand bats. I don't like most nocturnal animals; you can never see what they look like unless they're gnawing at your face. The boy turns to me abruptly. "You got a name?"