Chapter Ten:

I glanced up, and saw a beautiful pair of bright blue eyes. Then, I knew I was in trouble.

I caught my breath and my gaze took in several more pairs of the same colored sky blue eyes. The creature, a small white rabbit, confused me. Rabbits don't climb trees. The creatures smiled at me. I felt my heart thud with dread.

The first one jumped at me and sank its teeth in to my shoulder. Struggling to get away and get it off, I tried to climb down the tree. I wasn't sure what happened next, but somewhere between trying to get down, I became weightless. The rabbit was still clinging on to my shoulder. My eyes just barely traveled to see the ground when I smacked in to the leaves.

Pain. Dull pain. Then, a voice, coaxing me to stay conscious. I blinked a few times, and Ronan's face came to focus.

"Ronan," I groaned. "These stupid rabbits attacked me."

He snorted. "They aren't rabbits." He lifted the one, that was now dead, off my shoulder. "It looks like some kind of muttation."

I looked more carefully at it. "Yeah, you're right," I said softly. "I had the body of a squirrel and the face and ears of a rabbit." It had to be the creepiest creature I had ever seen.

"What'd you see?" Ronan asked.

"A mountain, and blood on the field, and the lake. The tributes probably hid in the jungle or the mountain. That's where the most cover is." I sat up, a little dizzily. "Five dead, Ronan."

Ronan nodded. "It's almost night time. You want to eat this guy for dinner? Another fell. It's dead too."

I squirmed. "It isn't natural. That's just gross."

"We could at least try. I'm really hungry, and I bet the others are too," Ronan said softly, smiling a little.

I nodded, picking up the ugly dead muttations. "Let's get back. There's nothing more to do here."

Ronan offered me a hand to help me up, but the second I was standing, my legs crumbled beneath me. I groaned. My knees hurt horribly.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," I snapped. "It's probably just shock."

Ronan scowled at me. "Here, hold these." He gave me my backpack, dinner, his sword, and my bow and arrows. He slipped one arm under my knees, and another behind my back. I wasn't sure how far away we were from camp, but Ronan carried me the whole way.

"What happened?" demanded Cedric, taking me from Ronan.

"She fell. Out of a tree," growled Ronan, taking the bunny squirrels from me. He held the ugly creatures up for both Faren and Cedric to see. "These attacked. I guess they're muttations. Carnivorous muttations. For heaven's sake, is everything carnivorous here?"

Faren smiled weakly. "We started a fire and set up a camoflaged shelter."

Ronan started skinning the bunny squirrels with Faren, and Cedric propped me up against a stone.

"You fell? Out of a tree?" he snorted.

I smacked him lightly with my uninjured arm. "It wasn't my fault. I climbed it really well until the stupid bunny squirrels attacked me."

Cedric sat down next to me, watching the fire for a moment. He glanced back at my eyes, and I watched his eyes, intrigued at the way the light of the fire made his eyes dark and beautiful. He said something, and it took me a moment to realize it.

"What?" I asked(really intelligently, too, I might add).

He smiled, making those dark eyes even more fascinating, but I forced myself to listen to his question. "So, 19 left, huh?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "I wonder who..." I couldn't force myself to ask. I hadn't gotten to know any of them. I had avoided them for the most part. Except, there was that one District 10 girl who wrestled with me at training that offered me a piece of chocolate cake at lunch. There was the District 6 boy who opened the door for me at the interviews. For some ridiculous reason, I was soft. I sighed sadly.

Cedric put a reassuring arm around me. "And no sponsor gifts," he said softly.

That caused a slight smile and a soft laugh. "Yeah, well, we'll get lucky sooner or later."

Ronan brought us our dinner, which was practically burnt, but I didn't care. I'd rather eat it burnt than normal, mostly because I was still terrified of those ugly bunny squirrels.

"You two want to share?" Ronan asked. "Or we could have it boys and boys, girls and girls."

"I'll share with Cedric," I said, making Faren blush a little and smile more widely when Ronan sat next to her.

Cedric pulled a piece of meat off and offered it to me. I opened my mouth like the way Hearth does when we have food fights. He grinned and put it lightly in to my mouth. Alright, I'll admit the thing was delicious. That doesn't make me like carnivorous bunny squirrels any more though.

We ate until it was dark, and then we sat there, watching the fire. Ronan smothered the fire eventually, not wanting the light to be seen. He hid the remains. It started to get dark, and I was about to fall asleep against Cedric's shoulder when loud fireworks burst out right above us.

After the fireworks, the images of the five dead tributes appeared. The District 1 girl. The District 6 girl. The District 7 boy. Both District 11 tributes.

"All of the Careers made it alive," said Ronan softly.

"I'll guard first. Sleep well," Cedric offered after a short silence.

I looked up at him. "Ya sure? I can stay up."

"No. I could stay up all night and watch you," he said, completely honest.

I felt horrible, as if my whole life was a lie. But, I knew what Haymitch would want right now. "Really?" I said, smiling as sweetly as possible at him. "Aw, me too."

"Really?" he said too.

"Yeah. All night."

Cedric grinned, although I could see the doubt in his eyes. "Sleep tight, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that," I whispered.

"Sweetheart."

We both laughed lightly. I kissed him gently goodnight, and rested my head in his lap.

Vividly bright bunny squirrels. High up in a tree. Poison rain stinging my skin. Trying to scream for Cedric, but not able to because the poison rain made my throat swell up with sores. Trying to run, but the bunny squirrels and giant spiders were relentless. I jumped up suddenly, my eyes flying open, gasping with terror.

"You okay?" asked Cedric, putting his hand on my back gently.

I stared at him in fear. I tried to use my voice, but when fear rendered me silent, I started to panic that the nightmare had been true. I started crying. Cedric threw his arms around me. I let him rock me back and forth as he tried to comfort me and silence my fears.

"Shh, it's okay. I won't let anything hurt you," Cedric whispered. "I won't let anything hurt you. I'll take care of you."

I whimpered, "I'm scared." I have never sounded so pathetically weak in my whole life.

"I know. I am too." Cedric kept rocking me gently until I stopped whimpering and crying.

Cedric hugged me tightly. I looked up at him and kissed his chin, as high as I could reach. His face relaxed in to a smile, and he kissed my forehead.

"Do you believe me now? I won't let anything hurt you as long as I can protect you." Cedric smoothed my forehead with his hand, and then kissed my lips. I sat up higher, putting my arms around him and holding him tightly to me.

I barely noticed the white parachute which fell down next to us. It was quickly followed by another. I turned to it, and Cedric turned to the second. We opened them up as quickly as possible. In mine, were 24 large bread rolls. Trust me, I have never been so happy to see bread in my life.

Cedric got a plastic tube, which made me giggle. He read aloud, "Helps reduce chances of infection and reduces swelling. Apply to any wounds, major or minor, and cover with a bandage."

I grinned. "Yes! Here, let's apply it, then we can wake Ronan and Faren and tell them all about bread and medicine!" I made a mental note to thank Haymitch and mom and dad if I ever saw them again.