"Not to sound gloomy or anything, but do you actually have a plan once we do get to the dam?" Davis asks me.
"Damn," I say softly, letting my mind wander.
He frowns at me. "Annie...? Earth to Annie! As you recall, we haven't had anything to eat for a while. Can you make a trap with your newly acquired rope and catch us something to eat?"
I give myself a shake. "You're right...I could, but I'm really not hungry right now." My stomach growls, giving away my lie. Davis rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to speak, but I interrupt him, "Yeah, yeah, I'm awful at lying. Here, I'll even shout it out to everyone in Panem so they'll all know I'm bad at lying. How's that? LISTEN UP, PEOPLE OF PANEM! EVERYONE SAYS I'M AWFUL AT LYING. THAT'S A LITTLE SECRET I DIDN'T REVEAL AT THE INTERVIEW!"
Davis reaches out a hand and clamps my mouth shut. "Shut up, you idiot," he hisses. "What if some other tributes hear us?"
"Who cares?" I ask irritably, brushing his hand away.
"I care," a voice volunteers.
We both freeze and spin around, and I relax once I recognize that she's the girl from District Twelve. Lillia, I think her name is. "Oh, how lovely of you to show up! You must've realized that our trio is down to two, and wanted to tag along!" A sob threatens to escape. Monika. Gone.
She blinks at me. "I'm surprised that someone from Four would team up with someone so..."
"Different?" Davis supplies.
Nodding, she says, "Yeah...different. And I had no idea the little girl is dead."
"What's wrong with being different?" I snort. "Not everyone's the same, you know."
I think of the boy from Monika's district, Don. Would he care that she's dead? Did he care about her, at all?
Turning back to Lillia, I ask, "What do you want, anyway? Allies? No, I can't imagine people allying once they're in the arena...Why did you show up now?" A sudden thought occurs in my mind, and I blurt, "Have you been spying on us?"
Lillia snorts, too, as she replies, "Spying? Why on earth would I do that? I don't fancy killing you, if you're harmless."
"Have you killed anyone?" I demand, immediately suspicious.
You've killed too, a small voice points out in my head. But that was different!
She gives me a look that reads, Duh! We're in the Hunger Games, remember? I recoil immediately and announce, "No thanks, I don't need you to take pity on us. And...I'm not as harmless as you might think."
My stomach growls again.
Perfect timing.
"Perfect timing," Lillia echoes my thoughts. "I've just trapped a couple of grooslings. Fancy sharing them?"
Davis opens his mouth, no doubt about to agree, but I interrupt him yet again. "No, I'm fine. We're leaving, Davis. Davis?" I'm wary, because frankly, I've had enough of people poisoning our food. I wish that this whole not-trust-your-allies thing can just end already. Davis, however, remains transfixed on the grooslings she holds up, and eventually I give up trying to persuade him to leave.
Lillia suggests to light a fire to cook them, but Davis at least was still in the right of mind to point out that we'd be spotted if there was smoke.
We ended up arguing over it for quite a while, and my stomach's growling didn't get any better. "What's so bad about eating it raw?" I counter finally, tired of their arguing. It was pointless, and we were wasting time. Besides, Lillia was the one who caught them. Surely she had some idea as to how she was planning on eating them beforehand?
"I still think a fire's the easiest way," Lillia protests.
"Fine by me," I shrug, standing up. "But don't blame me when every other tribute comes to this area and kills you."
"An empty threat," Lillia mutters.
I ignore her and draw Davis aside while she creates a fire. "Can we really trust her?" I ask Davis.
"She has food," says Davis.
"Are you really going to trust her just because she has food?" I continue. I can't believe this! Davis usually acted cool and collected, and a couple of days into the Games, all he cares about is food? What happened to protecting-me-so-I-can-win? What if he got food poisoning and died? Had he not learned from Monika?
"She has food," Davis repeats. "That's good enough for me."
Frustrated, I sigh, "You're hopeless, Davis. I say we ditch her and continue on our journey." When Davis doesn't respond, I pinch his cheek. "Earth to Davis!" I mock his earlier words, "Care to return to the living?"
Davis rubs his cheek. "Ow! That hurt, Annie!"
"Well, then, don't daydream about food in front of your enemy," I snap. I'm annoyed, because I'm bothered that he 's paying more attention to Lillia than me. I mean, Lillia wasn't even attractive or anything!
Hold on, why would I care if Lillia is good-looking? That's not my business!
I'm trying to survive here! I groan. What's wrong with me?
A cannon in the distance breaks me out of my thoughts. I wince at the loud Boom!, and was about to scream when Davis stuffs a mouthful of cooked groosling meat into my mouth. The juicy taste satisfies my growling stomach.
"Hot!" I yelp as I swallow the mouthful. It was delicious, despite being hot, but I wasn't about to give Davis and Lillia the satisfaction that they had won. "That wasn't very funny, Davis Odair!"
I could almost imagine Finnick teasing me in a similar fashion.
"I had to distract you somehow, didn't I?" Davis simply says.
I turn to Lillia, who is happily eating her own groosling meat. She stops, with grease still dripping out of her mouth, when she saw that I had been behaving strangely when the cannon sounded. "Why are you scared of cannons?" She asks with her mouth full, not bothering about manners at all.
I ignore her and pick at another piece of meat. "None of your business," I respond calmly. "I didn't even bother telling Finnick, so why should you know before he does?"
"Oh? What does it have to do with your mentor?" Lillia presses, eager to get something out of me. At least she wasn't going fangirly over him, like the girls from the first three districts. Perhaps she's not so bad after all, if she's not into Finnick.
My cheeks feel warm as I mutter, "None of your business."
Besides, I'm sure most people will only make fun of me for being scared of cannons because of a nightmare. Better not take the risk.
"If you share what's troubling you with others, you'll feel better," Lillia offers. "Mother always told me that."
"No," I say, "And that's final." I'm not letting the whole of Panem know that I still have dreams about my dead sister.
Lillia groans in defeat.
"Where's your district partner?" I ask, changing the subject before she can think of something else to say. "Or do you all have some abandon-your-district-partner-so-you-can-win agreement going on that I don't know about? As far as I'm aware, I'm the only tribute who's allies with the tribute from the same district. What's up with that?"
Lillia cleans up the campfire as she says darkly, "We just don't want to witness our fellow tribute's death."
Must be a trend this year, I think. In previous years, it was normal for the district tributes to team up with each other. This year, not so much. Had Finnick noticed it, too? I glance at Davis to see if he's noticed, but the only clue he provides is pressing his lips into a thin line. I wince when I remember him kissing me to quiet me down, and Monika claiming that he liked me. There was nothing I could do to console him.
Would it be hard on him if he saw my death? At least I won't burden him anymore afterwards.
I've come to accept my fate, and I was willing to kill myself if I had to in order to spare Davis the pain of having to kill me at the very end.
Finnick's words echo in mind, reminding me of his decision to let me live and have Davis die so he won't have to suffer the way Finnick did. But then, Davis would be able to see Finnick again, right? I know that the two brothers must be exceptionally close to each other, if Davis can tell Finnick's feelings when no other person can.
Would Ellie have done the same for me?
Ellie...
"Perhaps it's better if we all split up here," I choke out. I don't want to, because I'm safer with others, but I don't want to suffer when the time comes.
When the time comes.
"Oh, it'll certainly be better if you split up. It'll be much easier for me to kill you off," a voice hisses from my left. "One by one..."
I spin around, but I can't see anyone. "Did you hear that?" I ask hesitantly.
Davis and Lillia both shake their heads. "No, nothing. Why, did you hear something?" Davis is instantly alert, drawing out a knife he'd gotten from one of the bags.
"N-never mind," I stammer. I must be hearing things. "Er, on second thought, we should probably stick together..."
I swear I heard a growl from deep within the bushes. I venture closer to the bushes to investigate, but I notice the sharp thorns on them, and withdraw at once. I don't fancy getting pricked if what I had heard was part of my imagination.
"Hey, look, another parachute," Davis points in the air. This time, he's the one who opens it, and we find that it contains another piece of rope.
Well, if Finnick approves of our teaming up, then it's good enough for me.
Disclaimer: The Hunger Games belongs to the amazing Suzanne Collins.
Is Lillia trustable? Will she trick them? You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out! ;)
Special, special thanks to MellarkIsJHutch for being the 200th reviewer! 206? You guys made my day! Thank you all!