A Dangerous Game
Chapter Eleven: Alliance
"Hey, lover boys! Get up!" she nudged Kurt with her foot.
Another voice, this one more airy, chastised her, "That's not very polite, Santana."
Kurt rolled over, swatting at the object poking him in the ribs. He sat up, blinking, "What the… who are you?" He reached over to wake Blaine.
"Calm down we're not going to hurt you," this was the first girl. Kurt recognized her as one of the District Four Careers. She had a sharp knife in her belt. He eyed it cautiously, unsure if she was planning to use it on them.
It took him a few seconds to recognize the second girl. It didn't matter, because she extended a hand, happily introducing herself, "Hi, I'm Brittany."
Blaine squinted in the sunlight. "Good morning," he mumbled, "why did you wake us up?"
Santana snorted, "Well," she said slowly, "unless you want to be caught by that guy from Two and…"
"Sebastian?" Kurt jumped to his feet, grabbing his sais and the backpack.
"Yeah, that's it!" Brittany said cheerfully, "We've been trying to remember his name. San thought it was Sebastard."
Santana rolled her eyes. "No, that was a…" she laughed, "You know what Britt, never mind." She took Brittany's hand, then winced, and Kurt noticed a burn on her arm.
"Here," he dug around in the backpack and tossed her the gift from the day before. "This might help."
She caught it easily with her uninjured hand and starred at it suspiciously for a moment, "Thanks. Look do you guys want to team up for a while?" She then quickly added, "Not that we need your help."
Kurt looked over to Blaine. "Alright," Blaine shrugged.
"We should get moving," Kurt slung the backpack over his shoulders. Santana nodded, dabbing some of the cream onto a cut on Brittany's forehead and then onto her own burn. They headed back towards the tree line, where the fire hadn't touched. Blaine and Brittany were up ahead, finding a path through the brush. Kurt looked over to Santana, "Why did you warn us? You could have just left us there to be caught by Sebastian. For that matter, why didn't you ally with the other Careers?"
Santana was silent for a few moments, "They wouldn't let Britt ally with them. So she and I, we left. Went off by ourselves. As for why I warned you. Well you got a ten, although," she looked him up and down, "I'm not sure how you got a score like that. Your little boyfriend didn't do too bad either." She sighed, snapping a branch out of her way, "I have to protect Britt. This isn't something she can handle. I mean, she sort of lives in her own world. And that special place where she lives, yeah it's beautiful, but someone's gotta help her through this. I'd never just leave her. But I can't protect her alone. I have to hunt, and I can't just leave her behind when I do. I sort of have to trust you, 'cause you understand, right? You wouldn't leave Blaine any more than I would leave her. That's why I wanted to team up, help each other through this."
"Sounds good." He offered her a hand to shake, which she ignored.
"If either of you do anythin' to hurt her, I will end you. Got it?" She glared at him until he nodded, then turned away, picking her way through tree roots.
"Got it." He held a large branch out of her way, then followed her past it. "Do you know of anyone who is using a bow and arrow?"
She scoffed, "Oh you ran into her?"
"Yeah, she killed Blaine's sister, who is she?"
"I don't know, but she almost got me and Britt. That girl was a sharp shooter. Wouldn't want to run into her again. Maybe she was that girl who died in the fire? Hopefully at least…"
"Tina? Really? She seemed nice."
Santana starred at him, "Doesn't everyone? I mean not me, I'm a bitch. But that's the point of the Games isn't it? So the Capitol can watch us kill each other. Make nice kids become murders…" She scoffed, "They're probably blocking out our conversation right now."
"Probably," Kurt put his hands in his pockets. "I promised Blaine I wouldn't kill. He said he didn't want me to become a murder."
"Good luck with that. At some point you're going to have to… If you make it to the last two, you either kill or you die."
"Unless Blaine and I are the last ones."
"Pray that doesn't happen. I would never want Britt and me to be the finalists. She has to win this, she has to."
"You've already accepted it, haven't you?"
Santana frowned, "Accepted what?"
"Dying... here in the arena that is..."
Santana didn't answer. She pushed passed him, catching up with Brittany, who smiled and took her hand.
When night started to fall, they found a valley, a small river trickling through it. They had built a fire, small enough not to give off to much smoke but warm enough to defend them from the encroaching cold.
Brittany and Santana were fast asleep, curled up together by the fire. Kurt was sitting on the ground, leaning back against Blaine, who was sitting behind him.
Blaine put his arms around Kurt, kissing his neck. "You okay?" he whispered in his ear.
"I'm fine," Kurt glanced back at him, "really."
"No you're not."
Kurt looked back to his lover. "I'm scared Blaine."
"I'm here," Blaine breath felt warm against Kurt's ear and neck, "you don't have to be afraid if I'm here."
"I love you."
Blaine smiled, placing a kiss on Kurt's slender neck, "I love you too. Get some sleep, alright. I'll keep watch."
"Okay," Kurt mumbled, cuddling into Blaine's arms, mourning the loss of their blanket. He closed his eyes. After a few minutes Kurt whispered, "Blaine?"
"I thought you were asleep."
"Blaine, I wanted to tell you. That night on the roof. It was incredible. It meant everything to me. I never thought anyone would love me until I met you."
Blaine cleared his throat, "That was your first time?"
"Yeah."
"It… um… it was mine, too."
"I'm glad it was with you. I'm glad I got to experience that… with you… before…"
Blaine interrupted him. "We're going to survive this," he insisted, holding Kurt tight to his chest.
Kurt wanted to believe him.