Day 20- The Games (Day 13)
The next morning Fern woke before me, but barely, as I was stirred by the movement as she moved away from me. "Sorry," she apologised. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"No matter," I say cheerfully but quietly. "You heard any sound of Jade or Varro."
"Not a peep," she replies. "We gonna check it out?"
"How's your knee?"
"I guess we'll have to see," she says, gingerly pushing herself up, first putting her weight on her good leg, then slowly, grimacing, transferring it. A smile breaks out on her face as she does so. "It's not too bad," she says. "I can still feel that it's not right, and I'm not gonna try jumping on it or anything, but I think I can walk."
"That's great," I say with a genuine smile. "Let's go then."
I give Fern a hand climbing out of the burrow, not wanting her to risk that knee any more than absolutely necessary, but we're soon outside without too much hassle, to find a sponsor gift waiting for us, draped in its silver parachute. "Again?" I say, stunned, "Someone's really watching out for us,"
I check the area as Fern goes to open the package, but I'm fairly confident that Jade and Varro have moved on. The muttation's carcass is still in place though, with a couple of gaping wounds, clearly from Varro's sword.
Fern's voice jolts me back to the situation at hand. "It's a sling!" she calls out, trying to keep her voice down but barely managing such is her obvious delight.
"That's great!" I reply. "Either someone's got a soft spot for you or they're just a fan of a bit of romance."
She nods, before something seems to click. "Ha!" she exclaims, "Now I can fight too! You haven't got any reason for me to have to run now, not that I was going to anyway."
"I guess not," I say, much less enthusiastically. I know that Fern was never going to run and leave me alone, especially once we had kissed, she's too stubborn, but I also know that having a weapon, while making her more able to defend herself, will also make her more of a target. "Just don't go getting into a fight just because you've got it," I say warningly.
"Aww," she says in a childish voice, stepping over to ruffle my hair. "Are you worried about me?"
"You know I am," I say with none of her good humour, turning to look into her eyes, our faces inches apart.
"Hey," she whispers, cupping my face in her hands before kissing me softly. It goes on and on, neither of us wants to end it, but eventually I pull back. "I'll try to be careful," she whispers.
"We should get moving," I say, not wanting to go any further with a subject that I know will only lead to upset.
"Why?" she says. "We're okay for food and water, plus we don't know how far or which way Jade and Varro have gone."
"I don't think it's a good idea to stay still too long," I say, shaking my head. We should at least go to the river, collect some stones to use with your sling and top up our water. And besides, we're probably going to finish our food tonight and move out tomorrow, wasn't that the plan, we should start collecting some berries and stuff so we're not totally out."
"We could probably make the food last another day…" she mutters.
"No way Fern," I say, "I know that by leaving it we're really admitting we're right in the Games and that's not where you want to be, it's not where I want to be either, but we can't just stay holed up in that burrow. We'll end up trapped or worse, we're at the complete mercy of the gamemakers."
She sighs heavily, "I know. You're right, it'll just feel so real once we're back out in the forest. That little burrow has started to feel safe, even though I know it isn't."
"Come on," I say, taking her hand in my right, holding my staff in the other. "Let's go."
We wander to the river and I spend a while keeping watch while Fern collects stones to use as a sling bullets and refills our water bottles. We then wander around collecting berries and trying to get our bearings a bit and decide where we're going to go tomorrow.
We stop for lunch at an indeterminate time, each eating in turn while the other keeps watch before walking some more. We find Jade and Varro's trail, much more noticeable than the one we're leaving, with Varro's clumsy trampling of plants and heavy bootprints in the muddier bits of soil, and resolve to head in the opposite direction the next, day. I climb a tree to try and work out where in the arena we are, Fern having now taken my previous role as the one unable to climb a tree, and work out that we're fairly close to the edge of the forest and also, it looks like, the edge of the arena. Jade and Varro's tracks are heading back along the river closer to the lake where I met Fern and the Cornucopia beyond it, so it looks like we might have to go in a similar direction to them after all.
I'm just about to start climbing back down when a cannon fires. I freeze. It could be Fern. I daren't call out to her, so instead rapidly scramble back through the top layer of branches so I can see down to ground level. I finally feel like I can breathe again as I see her still standing there, safe and sound.
'Go up' she mouths up at me, pointing upwards for emphasis. I nod and do so, guessing that she's thinking what has just crossed my mind too- from the treetops I might be able to see where the hovercraft collects the fallen tribute.
I am proved correct moments later, as the hovercraft flies over, close enough that I catch a glimpse of the pilot in the cockpit, before dropping to near-ground level not too far from our position, near where the river bends before almost doubling back on itself.
Not waiting for any longer, I drop hurriedly to the ground. "We should get back towards the burrow," I say urgently to Fern, starting to walk even as I do so. "It wasn't far from us at all, near the river. I'm guessing either Jade and Varro turned on each other or ran into someone else, but we can't follow the river any further now."
"Okay, she says," quickly falling into stride alongside me. We are twitchy as we walk back, Fern holding her sling loaded and keeping her other hand on her knife, while I hold my staff in two hands and we are both constantly scanning around and listening out for any sound of anyone else.
The arena certainly isn't the place to make the most of the new change in our relationship, with all our attention focused on staying alive the whole time, but before too long, probably early evening, we are back at 'our' burrow.
As soon as we're back inside Fern wraps her arms around me and pulls me into a kiss which I gladly reciprocate. This goes on for a good while, before we just sit in silence before a bit, holding each other.
Eventually it is neither Fern nor I that break the silence, but the sound from outside of the anthem playing. We hurry outside, to see Varro's angry glare staring down at us from the sky. "Shame." I say coldly. "I was hoping he might have gotten Jade. Every tribute that dies increases the chances of us meeting her, which is something I really don't want."
"Look on the bright side," says Fern emotionlessly, "at least they can't double up on us any more. "If we do meet Jade at least we'll have her outnumbered. That has to count for something right?"
My mind says it will count for nothing if one us is killed by a shuriken within seconds, but I'm hardly going to say that to Fern, so I instead settle for. "Sure, I guess."
"So just six of us right?" says Fern as we re-enter our hole in the ground. "Us, Jade, Grove…"
"Jeremiah from eleven and Coulette, the little girl from three," I finish for her.
"I don't want to have to kill anyone," she says softly.
"Well hopefully you won't have to," I say. "Leave that to me."
"What if we're the last two left Rory?" she whispers, sounding terrified.
"Just don't…" I say, a slight edge to my voice. I can't bear to even think about that right know, never mind talk about it, and even though the alternative is just as awful, I push it from my mind. I can tell Fern understands, as she changes the subject hurriedly, though she's unable to hide the fact that as she does so, she is wiping away tears.
I feel my own eyes stinging too as she says, "There's been a bit of a shortage of gamemaker attacks compared to some other Games, don't you think?"
"Yeah," I reply, my voice not sounding quite right. "Just those tree lights. I'm sure there are some more colours of those that we haven't found yet." Even as I speak the final word my voice cracks and I feel my tears starting to break free, looking through them to see trickles streaming down Fern's cheeks too.
She tries to speak, but nothing comes out and suddenly I can't bear it anymore, so I do the only thing I can think of to change the situation, I lean in and kiss her, fiercely. She replies in kind as we obstinately ignore our tears and instead concentrate on each other. It's completely different to any of our previous kisses, filled with desperation, as if it could be our last chance, which for all we know it could be. The look Fern gives me when our eyes meet does nothing to change the annoyance I feel at the fact we're being filmed the whole time- but for that I feel like it could have gone further.
Eventually, after what seems like hours, we break apart, though barely. "We should really get something to eat before we go to sleep," I whisper, brushing some loose hair out of Fern's face before reluctantly pulling away and sitting up. "Keep our strength up."
She nods wordlessly and we eat in an awkward silence which continues after we are finished. Eventually Fern breaks it. "So is the plan to head towards the centre of the arena tomorrow?"
"I suppose so," I say tiredly. "Although I think we should aim for the mountain more than the lake, maybe head round the other side of it to the river where I was before I met you, seeing as Jade appears to be heading along this river."
"Will our water last long enough to get round there?"
"Should do," I reply, "if we're really desperate we can get some from the very end of the lake where we met without being near the river at all."
"Okay," Fern agrees quietly. "Shall we go to sleep then?"
I murmur in agreement, and we settle into each other's arms, with my prevailing thought that each new day is just new opportunities for it to be the last for one of us.