Chester's eyes snapped open and he sat up, looking around wildly. Must have been a cannon, he thought darkly. Levi and Zephyr were both inside with him. He carefully crawled over to the entrance and unzipped it slightly, just enough to see Willow sitting a few feet away, shivering.
Alive.
Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, Chester closed the tent and laid back down, hoping he didn't wake his teammates. It was still cold despite the tent, the sponsor clothes, and the faint body heat they all still managed to emit. He wished he hadn't woken up. Falling asleep again would be nearly impossible. The cannon had scared him awake and he hardly felt sleepy anymore. But he knew he needed the rest, so he closed his eyes and tried to focus on nothing but his breathing. The steady pattern of his breaths had nearly lulled him to rest when another cannon sent a jolt of panic through his body.
There had been no sounds of a struggle outside, but he couldn't stop himself from peeking outside to see if Willow was okay. Once he confirmed that she was, he settled back down to try and sleep again. There was only one tribute left from the other group. If Levi and Zephyr had speculated correctly, it'd be Acton. It almost seemed too easy. Chester smiled as he curled up in an attempt to sleep.
Maybe he'd be home tomorrow night…
"Wake up!" Willow said, shaking Chester lightly. Levi was already sitting up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Chester propped himself up on his elbows and yawned.
"Morning," he greeted tiredly, blinking at the bright light that filtered in through the open tent flap. "Where's Zephyr?" he asked.
"That's the problem," Willow responded, biting her lip. "He's missing."
Chester rubbed his right eye with the heel of his head blearily. "What?"
"When I woke up this morning he was gone," Willow said. "I'm not sure which way he went. The top of the snow is frozen, so with the right footing you can walk on top of it instead of making a new path. I guess there's probably evidence somewhere."
"Maybe he just went to pick off the last tribute in the other group for us," Chester mused.
"What?" Levi asked.
Willow filled him in. "Two cannons fired last night during my watch. I guess they woke Chester up. Since we're all still alive, it was the other group. I don't know who, though."
"I hope Cedar's the one left," Levi muttered.
"Why?" Chester asked.
"I owe him a dismemberment."
Chester looked at Willow, who shrugged and headed outside. Chester followed after her, stretching his stiff limbs. While Willow began to lay out a small breakfast, Chester surveyed the snow. Willow was right—a hard crust had formed over the loose powder. It didn't look like there were any footprints around, so Zephyr must have left through the entryway. Tracking him would take some effort, if he even needed tracking.
Levi scooped up his meal from in front of Willow and shoved it into his pocket. "I'm going to follow Zephyr."
"Why?" Chester asked, an accusatory edge in his voice.
"Calm your farm," Levi sighed, taking a bite of his breakfast. "Just to see what he's up to. And, like I said, if Cedar's the one left alive I want to be the one to kill him.
A shiver cause Chester to tremble, and he wasn't sure if it was out of cold or fear. "Well what if I don't believe you? What if I think you two are plotting against us and you're just trying to escape with him? Willow and I aren't useless like you think we are, you know. We survived just as long as you did."
With another sigh, Levi turned to face Chester, his grey eyes dark. "Listen to me, kid. Personally, I don't care whether you live or die, okay?" The redhead from District 8 flinched. "But we're in this together, at least for now. I'm not buying this team business, but I could be wrong, and I won't kill you just because you're there. I know that you want to get out of this Arena just as much as everyone else, and four of us can get out then I'm not going to take that away from you. I'm not that much of a heartless bastard. If we can both win then that's fantastic, I'll gladly share it with you. You just have to trust me, okay? I'm going to follow Zephyr. I want to kill the last member of the remaining team if I can. Then we'll see what happens. Understand?"
Chester nodded meekly.
"Good," Levi said. "With any luck, we'll be out of here by tonight." Without waiting for Chester or Willow to say anything, he stormed out of the clearing, a knife in one hand and a piece of dried meat in the other. Chester watched him go, his mouth slightly open in shock. The crunching of Levi's footsteps carried out for maybe a minute before they final faded. Finally, Chester turned to face Willow.
"I feel bad letting them do all the work of getting us out of the Arena."
Willow put down her food. "Chester," she said quietly, "you don't actually believe they're going to let there be four Victors, do you?"
"Well, I mean," he stammered, "they said there could be."
"Yeah, but you remember what happened in the 74th Games, don't you? They did it to play up the romance between Katniss and Peeta. The Capitol citizens were crazy about them, so the Gamemakers just exploited that. But only Katniss escaped with her life."
"So then why have teams now? What's the incentive?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. To set our Arena apart from the last one where a bunch of people froze to death. They need to keep things interesting or they'll be the laughingstock of the Capitol. We're just playthings, Chester. It's a game."
"I just…I wanted to believe that we could make it out together, you know? Or make it out at all, for that matter. I don't want to die here, Willow," Chester said, tears in his pleading eyes. "Okay? That's it. I don't want to die here. I'm fourteen for fuck's sake. Sorry about my language," he added when he noticed her scandalized expression. "I just always maintained hope that maybe, just maybe I could actually get out of here. But I don't really want to have a future if that future doesn't involve you. Is that ridiculous and clichéd? Yes. I know it is. But I don't care. So I'm going to hold on to what the Gamemakers told us, even if no one else will."
"Maybe we can still make it out," Willow suggested lamely. "I guess it's pretty far-fetched to say that we can both get out. But one of us, maybe."
"I'll kill myself if we get to the final two.
"No," Willow said immediately.
"Why not? You deserve to win."
"You do, too."
"But you have your sisters."
"You have your parents."
"That's different. My parents will survive without me. But your sisters? What if your dad never pulls his weight as a father? What if they can't take care of themselves?"
"The District will watch out for them. They wouldn't let them die. I hope."
Chester fell silent for a few moments. "So then what happens if we're the final two?"
"We refuse to kill each other and see what the Gamemakers do. We are an experiment, after all."
He gave her a curious look. "What do you mean?"
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Willow asked. "And you're supposed to be the smart one," she added with a little smile before continuing. "They're seeing how cold it can get before we die. Well, not really. That'd be too simple. They want to see how cold it can get before we stop being interesting. You know, how adrenaline works in this temperature and such. We're not just tributes. We're lab rats."
"I'm honored," Chester laughed nervously, attempting to disguise how scared he was.
The fact was that his life—everyone's lives—was so finite. Not just because everyone is mortal, but because the Capitol never let anyone live once they decided they wanted them dead. Chester was doomed to die ever since he had been reaped. It was plain and simple. The skinny redhead boy had no chance at becoming a Victor. It was a miracle he was even in the final five. The fact of the matter was that he'd be dead soon and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
So he took three steps forward and kissed Willow. Who knew how many chances he had left?