A/N: And we interrupt this regularly scheduled rant to give you great news. Death is returning to the hunger games and it's going to be big. Stay tuned to find out who.
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Maggie rolled her eyes and sighed heavily at the pair. Nate and Sophie were fighting again, surprise! They had found a fork in the road and immediately started arguing about which way would be best. Sophie kept pointing towards the right with the plants as her proof of safer passage. Nate naturally refused to listen and pointed towards the left. He was under the impression that it would be the safer passage. They both were of the opinion that they were right and neither one of them was all too willing to admit to being wrong. Maggie huffed in annoyance again. They really knew how to act their age at the most inopportune moments ever. It was a wonder no other tributes attacked. You could probably hear the quarreling brunettes for miles.
"No, we go this way and we won't get killed!" Sophie's eyes were dancing dangerously towards the boy. Maggie could tell she was at the end of her rope. Nate could even tell she was at the end of her rope, but he just kept pushing. He enjoyed making her angry and all.
"The way you're pointing doesn't have any game trails or water tracks," Nate pointed out cleverly. He knew he was right and he was not going to be told no for very long.
"That's the point! We go my way and we'll avoid the other tributes. We'll be able to circle around later and collect supplies. We just filled our water bottles. We won't go hungry or get dehydrated if we follow my path!"
"You know what," Nate considered her option for a nanosecond. Well, he pretended to consider her option for a nanosecond. He was really just doing it to tick her off anyway. "Why don't you take your road and I'll take my road. Let's see who's right by the end of the night!"
"Fine, but don't come calling for help when you fall down a ditch and break your neck because you're running from other tributes!" Sophie turned around and started walking. She was silent as she stomped away from them. It was disconcerting to say the least.
"Bye," Nate waved off towards her. He couldn't hide the smug look of triumph on his face. Maybe with a little luck she'd get herself killed so he wouldn't have to do it. "Maggie and I will be looking out for your picture in the sky tonight!"
"Actually," Nate snapped towards Maggie in surprise. She looked a little shy but determined. That was worrying. "I'm going with Sophie," she said.
"What?"
"You heard me," Maggie chuckled at his shocked face, "I'm going with the little Princess."
"I'm not a princess!" Sophie growled back. She didn't even stop moving. She just kept trudging along. She was nothing if not very determined.
"That's your nickname so get over it!" Maggie called back.
She looked back at Nate and smiled sadly. She patted him on the shoulder and quickly raced towards the other female tribute. Sophie didn't even have to turn around to know who was following after her. Maggie sounded like an elephant pounding through a bunch of drums when she walked through the leaves.
Nate stood there stunned. Maggie actually left with Sophie. He just lost both of his allies in one go. How did he lose Maggie to Sophie? It wasn't fair. Nate glowered at the both of them and turned around in defiance. He would show them. He was going to find some shelter and laugh when their images appeared in the sky. He would show them.
He twirled towards the path at the left and started marching.
Nate was still brooding over the fact that Maggie chose Sophie over him after an hour had passed by. He stopped for a moment to look around and noticed something funny with the tracks in front of him. He stooped down low and prepared himself accordingly. The young man crept closer towards the tracks and froze.
There was a trip wire right where he was about to step. The young man followed the wire and noticed it led towards the trees. He traced the wire in the trees and was horrified to see a pulley above the ground. The wire traced back to the ground exactly where the unusual tracks passed through. If that wasn't a set up…
Nate slowly backed away from the odd tracks and kept a careful eye on his surroundings. He looked down and noticed a rock. He carefully examined the rock to determine if there was anything wrong with it. He sighed in relief when he confirmed it was just a rock and picked it up. The boy chucked the rock towards the trip wire and waited. The rock hit the wire perfectly and the trap swung into action. The ground immediately swooped up into a net and bounced into the cavernous hole it was covering up. The net bounced out with nothing but claw marks and holes. There was only one thing to explain it.
Nate swiftly grabbed an arrow and carefully placed it on his bow. He raised the arrow and prepared for the kill. The monster had no blood and would be looking for it soon. Sure enough, the monster appeared. It had the head of a bunny five times bigger than any normal sized man. Its teeth were that of a tigers, each as long as Nate's leg. The thing was big and its pink nose was looking for him. There was only one shot that would work.
Nate drew another arrow and aimed for his usual spot. The monster sent its head out more and turned towards him. It launched its open mouth towards him with blood basted breath. Nate fired off his two arrows into the thing's mouth. Then he ran for his life.
He heard snapping and hissing behind him. The scent of blood was everywhere and there was a loud thump coming from behind. The Earth beneath quaked with the effort of the creature behind him. Nate swore a few oaths and then quickly darted to his right. He fell towards the ground and rolled towards the trap. He hopped onto his feet and hope that the hole was still there. It was and he took advantage of it. The boy from District Twelve jumped over the crevice in the ground and hit the other side hard. He found the nearest tree and started climbing up.
The monster was bouncing towards him at a wicked pace. Nate barely even had time to climb the tree before the monster mutt was back in his sights. The tiger bunny was easily as big as the monsters in the stories you were told as a little one. The thing was as tall as the trees and its body was shaped like a cat's with a bunny tail. The thing looked blind with rage. It apparently didn't enjoy having arrows shot into its mouth.
Nate quickly drew two more arrows and aimed. There was a spot in the things throat. It was red and parted the fur every time the thing breathed. It was the only place that would work. He just had to time it right and he would end the monster's life. He just had to wait until the spot opened again.
The monster sat down on its back paws and began to sniff the air. It turned its tortuous head towards him and grinned. It slowly felt around the hole in the Earth and started towards him.
Nate waited.
The growled at him and started pawing the Earth. It slowly crept towards him and the stench of blood filled the world again. The creature lifted its head just a little bit and revealed its throat. The fur rippled in the spot and began to grow apart.
Nate fired his bow.
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"We should go back for him," Maggie suggested softly. She knew Sophie was still mad, but she knew it was time to cool off. Nate could get into trouble and neither one of them would be able to forgive themselves if he got hurt or killed. Sophie would see that eventually, hopefully.
"He's the one that abandoned us," Sophie waved back to her. Apparently she wasn't going to be easy to convince this time. How did Nate get her to do anything as easily as he did? It wasn't fair. "He can come find us."
Maggie stopped walking at that. How could the other girl be so certain Nate would see he was wrong? Nate never admitted he was wrong. Even when he knew it he still refused to budge. It was one of the things he had in common with his father. Nate never admitted to being wrong. How could Sophie possibly think he would admit it to all of Panem?
"What?"
Maggie blinked. Sophie was a quite a few paces further ahead and then suddenly she was right there in front of her. She must have stopped and walked back just to question her behavior. How was she so silent? It wasn't fair. Oh, well, she was here wasn't she?
"We need to go back," Maggie turned on her stern face and watched the other girl recoil in disgust. Nate and Sophie hated each other, sure, but they did care about each other too. It was time to remind Sophie of that fact. "You know how much he likes to find trouble."
"He can get his neck broken for all I care," Sophie snipped. She wasn't looking Maggie in the eye though which was a definite tell. Maggie had convinced her to go back. She was just being stubborn about it.
"Come on," Maggie took her friend's hand and started skipping in the direction they came from. "We can tease him about it later. He's probably in some puddle right now grumbling about the fact that he should have listened to you and other choice words unsuitable for children ears."
"I hope he twisted his ankle," Sophie trudged behind her begrudgingly. Her shoulders sagged and she looked put out, but she was following. That was all that mattered.
Maggie smiled at her small accomplishment. She had finally gotten Sophie Devereaux to do something. Usually it was Nate complaining that got her to stuff. This time it was Maggie. This was already becoming a glorious day. Now all she had to do was figure out how to get them to get along and she would be all set. She liked her allies.
"Come along, little Princess," Maggie called with a smile, "You can tell Nate off when we find him."
Sophie muttered a few unintelligible words. Well, they were intelligible they just weren't exactly words that needed to be repeated. She was still holding on to Maggie's hand though and she seemed to be calming down.
"I'm not a princess," she grumbled. Then she continued using words that the game makers were probably just bleeping out. They didn't exactly encourage swearing during the games but they did nothing to stop it. They probably figured it was the least they could do for the unwilling participants of their entertainment.
Maggie just smiled wider and continued with her musings. Nate was probably stuck in a tree somewhere trying to think of a way to come back without saying Sophie was right. If anything it would be highly entertaining to watch.
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"Dammit!" Nate cursed through the woods as he worked to follow Sophie and Maggie's trail. He'd already gotten lost five times following some of their false trails. It was bad enough that she was right but did Sophie really have to make him work to find them? "How am I going to explain this?"
He was furious. Of all the times his stubbornness had to get him in trouble, it was now. He should have just killed the girl when he had the chance. Then it really couldn't be his own stupidity to blame for the problems he kept running into. Then he could at least blame fate. But no, he had to be smart and she had to be smart and they both had to be smart enough to form an alliance. How was he going to explain this to the girls?
Nate continued walking for some time before he noticed something was wrong. He stopped and stared. The boy dropped down to the ground and observed the footprints he was following in confusion. They were bigger than Sophie's and Maggie's. They were even a bit wider. They weren't even making an effort to hide themselves either. They were male footprints and they were going in the same direction as Sophie and Maggie. Worse, there were three sets of footprints and one of them was carrying a spear.
Nate hopped to his feet and started running silently through the woods. Sophie and Maggie were in trouble. Somebody else got the same idea Sophie had and they were prepared for a fight. He had to warn the girls before something happened. He had to get there before the other group.
Just my luck, Nate thought bitterly to himself. He was trying his best to ignore the panic. Panic seemed to be the only thing pouring through him though. I get out of one mess and immediately land myself into another. Hopefully it would make it in time.
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Maggie was still holding Sophie's hand when she felt a sudden pull from it. She turned towards her ally in confusion. Then she rolled her eyes.
Naturally Sophie Devereaux would find a plant and immediately start inspecting it. In fact, she let go of the blonde's hand and started stepping closer to it. It was a large green leaf with red spots on it. It didn't look like such a big deal but Sophie was staring at it with a smile.
"It's food," Sophie explained simply. She didn't even look up from the plant. She acted like she knew exactly where Maggie was and didn't need to look up. It was a leaf. How was a leaf so important?
"We can always pick it up on the way back," Maggie hummed towards her. Yes she was impatient but she didn't exactly like staying in the same place for very long.
"No," Sophie giggled at the plant, "You don't understand. The food is the flower and the flower only comes out at certain points in the day. The leaf gains green spots when the flower is about to bloom. You go ahead. I'll catch up. It should only be a few more minutes anyway."
"You'll come back even if it is Nate?" Maggie asked. She had to make sure. Sophie and Nate were liable to abandon each other on a dime if she didn't make them promise her. They both seemed to only be loyal to her. It was kind of nice actually.
Sophie groaned and actually moved away from the plant to roll her eyes. Then she pursed her lips and said, "Yes, I promise I will go back for Nate."
Maggie smiled widely at that and nodded. Sophie rolled her eyes again and immediately went back to staring at the plant. The Seam girl laughed and twirled around. She was going to go get Nate. Sophie would join her as soon as the plant was done with its job anyway. The girl walked past a bundle of trees and paused.
She saw something in her peripheral vision. It was orange and shouldn't have been there. Maggie turned her head and stepped forward a bit. There was a clearing not too far from where she was standing. In it there were bushes as high as her knees. The girl from District Twelve moved closer to inspect it. She found the source of orange and raised an eyebrow. It was a backpack.
It was on the back of the boy from District Eleven. His name was Thresh if Maggie's memory was right and it usually was. The tributes from District Ten were with him. They were all creeping through clearing as quietly as possible. They didn't seem to be aware of her and she was glad. They were walking through the clearing with their spear and knives drawn. They looked ready for a fight. One of them looked injured.
Maggie kept careful watched and eyed her brunette ally warily. She was too far away to warn Sophie with her voice. All that would do would be to give them away and get them both killed. If she said nothing than they probably wouldn't even notice the District One girl. Sophie certainly didn't know they were there and they were just being as quiet as her. She was just going to watch and wait. Hopefully the danger would pass without a hitch.
Just then two things happened at once. The flower bloomed and Sophie stood up. Thresh ordered his allies to stay back while he checked it out. He noticed the other tributes movement. That wasn't good at all.
Maggie looked towards her friend and tried waving her hands to get her attention. Sophie was oblivious and packing away the flower unaware of the danger behind her. Thresh was creeping closer to the clearing and then suddenly stopped. He recognized Sophie immediately and grinned savagely. He raised his spear high with victory shining in his eyes. Sophie was gently tucking the flower of food into her backpack with a smile on her face. She took a step forward and Thresh pulled the spear back.
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Nate was carefully racing through the woods at top speed. He knew he was getting close. He felt it in his bones that he was getting close to the girls. He just had to keep running. He had to warn them. Then he felt his foot catch and he fell forward. The boy mentally yelled at himself for not being aware of his surroundings and tried to figure out where he was. He glared at the decaying log that tripped him and picked up his pack and the arrows that spilled on the ground. He quickly made certain his ankle was fine and stood up. He found his bow a few feet to his left and swiftly moved towards it. He picked up his bow, looked up and stared.
He was on a hill overlooking small cliff. He was just high enough where he could see the division in the trees that marked a trail and the tiny clearing beyond that. Then he saw a flash of orange and immediately went to seek it out. His eyes zeroed in on the source instantly. There near the end of the clearing were the two tributes from District Ten. They were both looking towards the east ward section in fear and wonder. Nate's eyes immediately followed the source and he felt his heart freeze.
Thresh was standing by the edge of the clearing with a spear raised for the kill. Nate followed the line of sight with hope that it was just a deer. Then he saw Sophie and Maggie. The two girls were some distance apart and neither one of them looked like they were aware. Maggie was running towards Sophie and Sophie was walking forward. Thresh drew back the spear and then released it. He knew immediately where the spear was going.
Nate refused to move his eyes away from the spear's destination. He watched as the thing made its way closer and closer to his allies. Then he watched Sophie and Maggie collide and disappear over the little cliff. The spear disappeared with them.
"No!" Nate groaned.
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"Sophie!" Maggie screamed at the top of her lungs. There was no pause in her actions. She ran in front of the spear without another thought. The two girls tumbled and stumbled through grass and leaves. There was no difference between Earth and sky as the entire world became a circle of both. The girls continued rolling and falling until there was nothing left to support them. They met the Earth only a moment later. Maggie and Sophie both collapsed onto the ground in pain, but for two very different reasons.
Sophie pushed herself to her feet to see what happened. She looked to her left and her right with her weapon ready for attack. She twirled around to check her back and saw Maggie lying on the ground. There was a spear sticking into her chest and blood everywhere. "No!"
"Maggie!" Nate called out from somewhere nearby, "Sophie!"
"Nate, help!" Sophie shouted at the top of her lungs. She rushed towards the District Twelve girl and tried to stop the bleeding. She knew she couldn't but she had to try. "Nate, they stabbed Maggie!"
Soon enough there was a rattling of leaves coming from above. Sophie prepared her knife for the kill just in case the footsteps weren't friendly. Nate appeared out of the bushes and hurried towards them. He ignored Sophie's knife and stared at Maggie in shock.
"What happened?" Nate demanded with wide eyes. He crouched beside his fellow tribute and held her hand. It was already too late and he knew it.
Sophie rustled around their bags to find something that would help Maggie out. She knew there were some plants that could fix this mess. She had already used some of them before. She did her best to ignore the prickling in her eyes. She was from District One. She didn't cry.
"Sophie, what happened?" Nate snapped at her. For some reason he knew she wasn't responsible for this mess. If it turned out she was he wasn't sure what he would do. Maggie had a spear in her chest and Sophie didn't. But the way she was rustling around through their bags meant it wasn't her. He ignored the relief at that knowledge. He was too busy mourning Maggie to even consider what any of that meant.
"I don't know!" Sophie cried out in disbelief, "One minute we're hunting up some plants and the next minute we're tumbling down the hill and she's got a spear in her middle! What am I supposed to do? I can't find the plants!"
"Sophie, I'm dying," Maggie croaked with tears falling from her eyes freely. Nate cringed at the news and Sophie just stared. The male tribute tried his hardest to ignore the distraught look on the District One tribute's face. He could see her mind working very hard to lie about the truth. He also knew it was a pointless lie.
"No," Sophie shook her head stubbornly. "No, Maggie, you're not… you're not dying. You're going to be fine."
Nate placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. He held Maggie in his right arm and shook his head. "No, Sophie," he said. It was all he could do.
Sophie's expression hardened into anger at the news. She clearly couldn't understand what was going on. "Why did you do that?"
Maggie just grimaced a smile of pain and replied, "You're my friend. Friends save each other."
Sophie kissed her. It was small and brief and on the top of her forehead. But the female tribute of District One kissed Maggie. Nate just continued to stare. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the jumble of information. Maggie saved Sophie and Sophie kissed her in gratitude. Maggie was dying in his arms and he was obsessing over the fact that Sophie kissed her on the forehead. Maggie's blood was on his hands, but Sophie kissed her. Why did that matter? Maggie was dying. That's why it mattered.
"Maggie," Nate stuttered out painfully slow. He needed to get his head back in the game. "Who threw the spear?"
"The boy from district eleven," Maggie whimpered. Her eyes were now focusing on the treetops. Her gaze was disturbingly glassy.
"Anyone else?" Sophie's tone was too cool. It was too thunderous really. Nate couldn't help but agree with the deadly tone. He was going to help her bring pain and vengeance on the person responsible for this.
"The tributes from district ten as well," Maggie nodded. Her voice sounded so small. Nate closed his eyes in frustration. His friend was about to die.
"I'll get them for you," Sophie promised quietly. Her eyes were already on the watch for her prey. Nate knew that he was going to have his handful when it came to planning their revenge. He just hoped the brunette would actually listen to him before beginning her blood bath. He wanted their revenge to be perfectly vicious.
Nate suddenly felt a peculiar weight in his arms. It felt like something just left them. He looked down and found Maggie staring up at him. Her eyes were murderously blank. Sophie noticed this too and whimpered. She reached towards the other tribute and cried, "Maggie?"
Maggie's cannon fired.
Nate swallowed back the tears at that. He slowly placed Maggie to the ground and carefully took her pack. He turned towards Sophie and reached out to her. He put his fingers underneath her devastated chin and made her look him straight in the eyes.
"She's gone," Nate explained in the gentlest voice he could muster. Sophie sniffled at his words but did nothing else to acknowledge his words. "But we have to take her pack and get out of here before the hovercraft takes her home."
Nate pointed to his left and kept his eyes level with hers. "We're going to go that way just like you said and find shelter like we planned."
Sophie nodded her head and began to gather their stuff. Then she stopped and headed in the opposite direction of where they agreed to go.
"Sophie?" Nate followed her out of fear that she would do something stupid. Even with Maggie dead they were still allies.
Sophie didn't wander far. She bent down near a patch and began picking flowers. Nate thought it was odd but he didn't comment. He instinctively knew those flowers were meant for Maggie.
The girl from District One quickly raced towards their fallen comrade and started braiding the flowers into the blonde tresses. The flowers were blue and pink and matched Maggie's pale skin and eyes perfectly. Nate closed their friend's eyes and Sophie placed another kiss on the girl's brow. Maggie now had a wreath of pink and blue on her head. It looked like she was sleeping, if they ignored the spear.
"Come on," Nate pushed the district one girl in the right direction.
The horrid melody of music that played Maggie to her eternal sleep immediately stopped. The hovercraft appeared and they both refused to watch it take Maggie away. They couldn't stomach seeing it. They needed to keep going. They needed to find secure shelter. That was the goal they had before Maggie left them and they were going to make certain her idea came through. There was just one other thing they had to do.
"Let's go get some revenge."
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The boy from district ten squealed in pain as Nate stepped on his back to keep him down. The male tribute of district twelve snicked his arrow into the boy's skull without a moment of pause. He smiled when the cannon sounded.
A girlish scream forced him to raise his head with wide eyes. There was no need to worry. Sophie had just slashed the throat of the female tribute of District Ten. Her cannon sounded just as Thresh, the male tribute of District Eleven and their greatest enemy, made his appearance.
Thresh raced towards Sophie with all of his might. He held a bloodied knife in his hands and there was anger blazing in his eyes. His face was distorted in hatred and fear and his tongue was lagging from his mouth as he moved closer and closer to his target. Death was clearly on his mind.
Nate quivered an arrow and shot it through the dangerous tribute's heart. The boy fell down right where Sophie had been standing moments before. She had merely stepped to the side and ignored the stream of blood falling on her clothes. Thresh's cannon fired off and their vengeance was complete. It was time to move on.
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The two continued their journey to shelter in silence. Nate was secretly afraid that Maggie hadn't told them every single person involved in her death. He wanted to get as much ground between their victims and shelter as possible. He didn't want to chance the fact that there had been more allies involved. He was pretty certain that was why Sophie hadn't said anything. Ordinarily, she would have chatted it up to keep everybody's mind off of the horrors of the day. Of course, today wasn't a normal day so that might have been the cause of her silence. They hadn't even talked about their alliance now that Maggie was gone. It seemed like a bad idea. Either way, Nate was grateful for it. He didn't really want to end his alliance until at least the final eight.
Nate noticed the first set of boulders only moments later. He looked back and smiled at Sophie. She returned the smile and sighed in relief. He slowed the pace down for her and kept walking as quietly as possible. Thankfully they were both used to traveling in the woods silently. It kind of made Nate miss Maggie more at the perfect silence they created. He just stuffed those feelings down and ignored them as best as he could. There were times to be sentimental and there were times to survive. Right now they needed to find shelter. Everything else could wait until then.
"Hey Nate," Sophie coughed out when she was certain it was safe to speak. "I'll teach you which plants are edible if you teach me how to use a bow!"
"Sounds like a plan," Nate agreed as they continued walking into the rocks. "We'll find shelter and then start first thing tomorrow morning."
"Are you sure that's safe?" Sophie demanded in confusion, "Won't someone come looking for us or something?"
"Ordinarily they would," Nate nodded at the question as he continued looking at the rocks around the stream, "but we're getting down to crunch time for the hunger games. Everybody's either getting too sore to fight or too hungry to think about anything else. We all need to regroup and rework our strategies. This is the part of the game where things get interesting."
"Alright," Sophie sighed at that, "I guess finding some cover should be good."
Just then a set of boulders the perfect size appeared in his line of vision. The boy tribute studied the massive rocks carefully and was pleased to see there were three of them locked together. They looked completely untouched. There weren't any bones or signs of life anywhere near it. It was perfect.
"Found it," Nate smiled at the set of boulders not too far away, "There should be a cave in here that will keep us safe from the elements."
"That looks like it could work," Sophie beamed at the pile of rocks that were just right. Nate nodded his head and continued walking towards the boulders he found. "What, no comment about how the little princess from district one doesn't mind sleeping in a rock?"
"No," Nate shook his head with sadness at the nickname, "Not today."
"For what it's worth I'm sorry about Maggie," Sophie mumbled out before she could stop herself. She meant it too.
"I know," Nate couldn't help but stop at that. She meant what she said but she didn't realize what just happened. Maggie died for Sophie and Sophie repaid her by decorating her hair. She even avenged Maggie's death with tears in her eyes. It was something he would never forget.
"We can stop being allies if you want," Sophie fought off the tears at the bitter memory enveloping her mind at the day's events.
"No," Nate turned back and grabbed the district one tribute with a violent shake, "We're not splitting up now! Not until we absolutely have to."
"Okay," Sophie nodded her head in agreement. There were tiny glints of wetness sparkling in her brown eyes. Nate could tell she was fighting the tears because of her district's reputation. He pulled her into a hug as he tried to fight off his own emotions. Maggie left them with the task of staying alive. He was going to make sure they did it.
"We should go ahead and set up camp," Nate released the girl and ignored the tears on his cheeks. He was going to keep Sophie alive for as long as possible. She was all he had left in the games.
The girl just nodded and sniffled again. She raised her head up high and started towards their little camp. Nate smiled in pride of the way she held herself together. They were going to make it through this. They had to win for Maggie now.