Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don not own Hunger Games or any of the characters, they belong to Suzanne Collins.

Cinna crept up behind me and rested a hand on my shoulder, almost sensing my anxiety, and one on Peeta's – we both swivelled our bodies to face him. From the moment he came into the room, I could tell he was there because he had a faint aroma of summer air and strawberries, although I had only been fortunate to have strawberries once – on my birthday about four years ago… Gale, of course. Generously he'd traded a whole day's prey for jus a couple of sweet strawberries, which we sat and ate together on the outskirts of district 12. Nobody knows that but him and me. I never had, and I doubt I ever will have, another moment so perfect ever again.

Peeta and I took off our headphones once more; my eyesight was blurry from staring so fixatedly at one spot for such a length of time.

"Time for a break perhaps?" I shook my head rapidly.

"Only for ten minutes, you can have something to eat and drink – refresh yourselves, then come straight back here" Cinna tried to reason. Shyly, Peeta looked at me for approval –I ignored it.

"No Cinna, I can't leave – I can't-"

"Katniss, you can't stay here forever either, you can watch from your room if you wish." He gave me a kind smile.

"Thank you, but I have to be here." Even though the thought of food was tempting – especially a breakfast prepared by the Capitol – my mouth watered at the memory of such tastes, smells and, to me, exotic delicacies, I knew I had to be here. Peeta's eyes widen.

"Go," I insist. He left with Cinna and then other mentors were moving, getting up and leaving their tributes alone. A few returned after short breaks – some didn't. Most had sat in pairs or threes, no district had more survivors than that though. For those lucky districts with a few mentors, there was less pressure on them and they could mostly carry on living their lives of luxury.

Once the sun had begun to scald the earth, several of the mentors had returned; they all wore similar expressions; of helplessness, of tiredness, of boredom and a familiar blank stare. Sadly I felt that these mentors had only returned to check they were still in the game, to make sure their tributes were still alive or in some cases, tribute. Slightly twitching he slept; from where I sat it looked uncomfortable and I could only be grateful that there was a soft bed for me to crawl into at any moment. However I couldn't imagine leaving for any period of time, suddenly I thought back to Haymitch – how I wanted him here, last year he'd had to cope on his own; and every year before that. I'd been here for less than a day and I already feared that I couldn't do enough to protect Emily and Gale, I didn't want to see them hurt or afraid or alone. I hated not being able to reach them, so close but yet so far. As I sat silently rocking backwards and forwards on the chair with my knees pulled up to my chest, I now worried about the way the sun was beating down on Gale's back as he lay flat on his stomach in the bright light, he was burning, tanned skin turned pink, then red – yet he was still asleep. All the awful possibilities that he could get sun-stroke, burnt so badly he couldn't move, I could see how he was getting dehydrated as the beads of sweat dripped off his body – momentarily dampening the sand before sinking deep into the ground.

Everyone had to return for the Gamemakers to explain that when our tributes slept, we should too in order for us to be alert and there for them when they were in need. It made sense I guess, but I still refused to leave. However, I needed to go to the toilet, so I had no choice but to beg Peeta to stay and watch for any dangers that might come to either Emily or Gale. I thought to myself how I'd feel if I trusted Peeta and he let me down, I couldn't let him do that to me again – I'd have to be very careful around him from now on. I came back minutes after. Emily had awoken and started searching for berries, but there was little around her, making what I felt was a bad decision she headed back towards the Cornucopia.

Now I could plan more carefully, watch the others in plain daylight; suss out their weakness, strengths and more importantly how I could help Gale take each one out n the easiest way possible. A tent was shown on screen; it was incredulous how Jacob and Stephanie had been able to sneak that out in its not so small bag in their hurry to escape the pandemonium, then had managed to set it up in the dark and survive without being attacked. They were obviously very lucky. Another pair had stuck together; Gabriel and Trisha, the two outcasts, nothing special or interesting, distressingly I wondered how long they would last in the games. I then found what I had mostly been looking for – the careers, this year I could point out both tributes from districts 1 and surprisingly 3, as well as the boy from 9 – Mark, who was now the sole survivor for his district. This left a muscular boy from 2 on his own, Shilo; again the girl had been hit by several of the stones and had not lived through the attack. Another I noticed was Jack, much further away from the careers, he was the one who'd spoken to Gale during one break from the training sessions, he had found Elsie from 10 and both appeared to be planning, or talking, but the conversation was serious from the look on their faces. She had with her a couple of knifes and a flask, which she sipped complacently before offering it to Jack. I guess he hadn't wanted to stay with the older girl, Maddie and Elsie was hard to miss with her short, shiny, chopped, blonde hair and soft clear skin, she practically glowed, she must have escaped the chaos easily or else she would not look like the clean angel she appeared to be. Her partner had been Ben, who was jumped on by Ray – one of the careers and had now been taken away. I was pleased she was not alone, often the sweet looking girls were the ones targeted and they were not hard to kill. At least if Jack was with her she might have a chance of a prolonged life.

Amazingly Zeena, the girl most injured in the arena at this point in time, had been the first to crawl towards water – she managed to find the small pool of water after going south. She sat by the shallow lake and splashed cool water on her face then cupped her hand to wet her hair and wounds. Although she still looked like she could give up at any second, she managed a smile as she cleaned herself, then drank as much as she could, slumping on her side and shutting her eyes, still with a perfect grin at success and hope. The rest of the day was not eventful, I was grateful that a large bird had surfaced, the first form of life other than odd fallen trees and of course the tributes. It swooped and blocked the sun's light for just seconds, but enough to cause Gale to stir. Cinna brought me a drink of orange juice that I guiltily gulped down as I was thirsty, not a patch on how Gale felt, I'm sure. There was so little in the arena – I assumed this was to provoke more fights, not only was there a food and water shortage, but the heat made everyone a lot angrier that they might be otherwise. As well as this there was a key factor which would probably make this one of the most dangerous games yet; there was no cover, no shelter, nowhere to hide. Gale had become lost, he couldn't remember which direction he'd come from so he walked, not even in a straight line, but maybe as he had nothing else he could do, I was thankful that he'd managed to get nearer to the start unharmed and found a knife, which must have been dropped whilst someone was running – he showed a slight smile for the first time in the games and slipped it into his pocket, patting it gently, for the added dramatic effect.

Peeta sighed and slumped further into his seat beside me.

"Please Katniss, nothing's happening, let's just get some fresh air or something?" Not with you, I thought to myself, I hated having to sit next to him and trust him with something more important than my life – Gale's. I turned to him and stood up, we hadn't had our headphones on anyway as there was little to hear so we'd given up trying to listen.

"Why did you have to do that to me?" I asked him straight.

"Katniss, I thought it was true, why else would you volunteer – it's just stupid," he knew exactly what I meant and my mouth opened in awe in response to his words.

"Just because you can't understand how much one person can mean to you, you don't know what it's like to have a real friend you care that much for. Gale means everything to me, as does Prim, I couldn't watch him be sentenced to his death and I can't leave him now either. I won't go and sit and have a nice meal and a drink, or a shower when he's in that arena, tired, hungry, thirsty, alone and waiting to die!" I shouted at Peeta, still no-one could hear, but I hated Peeta with every bit of me right now and I needed to show him how I didn't care anymore. He thought there was still a chance of us being together. Not a chance in hell I said to myself.

"I detest you for doing that to him, for making him believe I didn't care for him, when I care more for him than I ever did and ever will you. I despise you for ruining everything, for taking Gale away from me and you still can't understand how I can feel that way about him, can you?" He was hurting and I was glad I was the one doing this to him.

"Everything in that arena wasn't real, I never liked you, or loved you, I can understand that now – yes Peeta I used you to survive and I felt I owed you something from the time you threw me the bread. Even that gesture wasn't just out of the kindness of your heart was it? You wanted to go against your mother, you wanted to rebel and that was your way of trying to get what you wanted, if all of what you said last year was true, you wanted me, didn't you? How else could you remember that much about me, if you meant it why can't you see how much I love Gale?" Peeta left at the words of me declaring my love for Gale. I'm sure I haven't said that and meant it in that way before, but it was true. Peeta knew that, which is why he walked.

Gale chose that moment to break down and I watched helplessly as he coughed and collapsed on the dry ground, I had a feeling he was almost trying to show me that he needed me. Now I allowed myself to cry, now I ran off to find Cinna or at least someone who could help me contact whatever sponsors we had and send Gale help, if there were enough sponsors for Emily I could to the same for her too. Where was Cinna when you needed him? I physically ran into Mal, she stumbled a little and put her arms out to steady herself.

"Please, Mal how can I find the sponsors and send something to the tributes?" She watched me and turned me back towards the room I had spent the last day inside, she sat me back down and pointed at the screen.

"It's a touch screen, Kat, all you have to do is touch the button here and it will show you the sponsors and everything you can send." This was the most help she'd been from the start and I was only too grateful.

"Thank you so much," I had no more time to waste – Gale had quite a lot of sponsors, quite a lot of money was riding on him as this year's winner; partly because of Peeta's and my performance last year, but mostly because Gale was such a wonderful person, anyone could tell just by setting their eyes on him, his interview was heartfelt and he deserved to live. I found a flask of water on the list on the screen in front of me, I touched the send button, it made a quiet bleep and I closed my eyes praying for Gale to receive a silver parachute of hope. Falling from the sky and landing in front of him, the flask brought Gale just what he needed – to know I was still there watching him every second and that I cared. Sparing a few seconds to do the same for Emily I saw she had even more sponsors than Gale; I couldn't work it out, but I was glad that they both had a chance and the help they needed. She grinned and drank the water hurriedly, whilst Gale sipped his, knowing it may have to last him a while. I was elated with happiness that I was able to help them with something.

As night fell in the arena, the sky was lit up with the first set of announcements, the anthem played and every person in the arena watched the sky for what would not be the first time. Just the five deaths from last night; Pauletta – 2, Michael – 7, Amanda – 8, Kathryne – 9 and Ben – 10.

Elsie quietly wiped her eyes and lay down for the night, Jack was still with her; he hugged her in a friendly way then lay next to her, although I knew he wasn't planning on sleeping from the way he stared into oblivion. A few of the mentors were watching this screen as Elsie had fallen asleep; Jack pulled a knife out of her pocket. I wondered if he was going to hunt for food, how wrong I was…

Everyone was now watching the main screen, some stood up, and I think most of us knew what was coming. Her mentors were frantically trying to find something they could send to help her, but she was fast asleep and I don't think they had anything to help her; her mentors were a young man and a middle aged woman. I stared in horror as he pulled the blade down swiftly into her stomach, her eyes snapped open and she was screaming, writhing in pain, drawing as much oxygen out of the air as she could before belting out more sound. Jack quickly stifled the noise with one hand and pulled the knife out as her body bled uncontrollably, just as before – heartlessly – he stabbed her for a second, fatal time in her chest. She lay limp on his knees, as he stood up, letting her head fell onto the ground. From her he gathered everything he could, emptying her pockets and filling his own, with knives, small, what looked like marbles, a bracelet and her bag. He even took off her jacket, with her name on it, for himself, stuffing it into the satchel. District 5's mentor stood in the centre of the room, no-one moved or made a sound, we heard the siren to announce another death; Gale heard it and he looked worried, maybe for Emily? The cold-hearted boy stood up, taking one last look of disgust and walked away. The helicopter came down and took her lifeless body away.

Author's Note

Another chapter up! Hope you like this one, just to say thank you again for reading and reviewing; I've had over 1,000 hits to this story, which is amazing! Also the idea of the character Jack was borrowed from hungergamesfan51 so thank you again for that : ) and also to Liana111 again for the names of nearly all the tributes, (if I haven't mentioned them yet, I will do soon) it helped a lot in deciding different character's personalities and the whole story really! Just as the games are starting to heat up, does anyone want me to do a chapter from another point of view? Gale's, another tribute, Gale's mother, one of his brothers or someone else, let me know in a review or PM me thanks for reading =) (coolbeaniostwilightrules7)