I'm still floating on the surface. It seems like I've been lying here for hours. The water has gone down a tiny bit. The plug was only small, as small as a normal bath plug. The arena must be massive. I decide to try and find Nick and Lucas. I start swimming around, looking everywhere. After a while I give up. It's no use. I can't find them anywhere. The sound of a canon startles me. I start swimming again. Looking around everywhere for Nick and Lucas. What if they've died? What will I do?
"Nick!" I yell. "Lucas!"
No reply. I float on my back and sob. What am I going to do? I won't be able to live without them. It'd be like a nightmare. Suddenly someone grabs my leg from underneath me. I sink back down and quickly rise to the surface again, rubbing the water from my eyes. I look at who startled me.
It's Nick!
"What was that for?" I ask, half angry, half relieved.
"I thought we needed a little joke to lighten the mood," he replies.
I smile and splash him.
"We may as well make the most of the last moments of our lives," I say.
"What makes you so sure we're not going to win?" Nick asks. I shrug. "We've made it this far. Let's get the thought out of our heads."
"How many are left?" I ask curiously.
"I think there are eight dead," he replies. "That means there's sixteen left."
I sigh. More people to kill.
Nick starts splashing me again. I splash him back. For the first time since the Hunger Games began
I smile. He smiles too, obviously enjoying himself.
"We can win," he says after a while. "We can go home."
"We'll try," I reply.
We start splashing each other again. After a while we stop and talk again.
"It's weird," Nick says. "It's almost like the water's draining."
I look around. It's gone down even more, revealing the tops of some of medium sized trees.
"That would be my fault," I say smiling. "I pulled the plug out. There was a plug in the ground."
"Wow," he replies. "The water was deep. It would've been so hard."
I nod in agreement. Just spending time with Nick again feels so nice. I can't imagine life without him.
"We should get to a tree," I say after a while. I've just remembered what Dale told us, about the dangerous creatures. "We don't know what could be lurking underneath us."
We swim over to a tree and sit on one of the branches above the water.
"We're doing pretty well," he says after a while. "It's nearly half way."
"I didn't think that I'd make it this far," I say. "But now, maybe we can win. I managed to get away from the Ruby and Emily, I killed Lachlan and we've been in fights with other tributes."
"You might have a chance at winning," Nick says. "I don't."
"What! You're better than me."
"No, I'm worse. You've been in more fights."
"You're not going to die. I won't let that happen."
We stay silent for a while. Soon it's getting dark. The water has gone down more but I think it'll take another day or two to fully drain.
Suddenly there's the sound of music. Nick points up at the sky which is now black. Writing appears saying "The Fallen". A picture comes up of each of the dead tributes. First is the girl from district 7. The boy from district 9. The girl from district 8. The boy from district 8. The boy from district 5. I'm pretty sure Nick killed him. The boy from district 6. Nick killed him too. The boy from district 1. I killed him. With the spear. Then there's the district 11 boy.
I try and work out who is left.
"Emily, Ruby and her district partner, Lucas and Charlotte, district 3, district 5 girl, district 7 boy." I say out loud.
"And the district 6 girl, the district 9 girl, the district 10 tributes, the district 11 girl and then us." Nick reminds me.
"Emily, Ruby and the district 5 girl definitely hate me," I say.
"The district 6 girl hates me for killing her district partner," Nick replies. "Also the district 7 boy."
I'm startled by my stomach growling. I haven't had any food since I got in the arena. I look through my bag for the food. I pull it out, all wet and soggy, tiny bits of mould on the skin of the apples and the meat. I sigh.
"Do you mind if I get some sleep," I ask.
"Go ahead, you need it," Nick replies. I close my eyes and in an instant I'm asleep.