Hey guys, srry for the long wait, my laptop broke down and I have only gotten a new one yesterday. Here's the new chapter, enjoy and review!
in fervent prayer.
They walked up the mountain, until the stars had disappeared in the black sky again.
"It frightens me," Jo said. "The sky is so black. It's not even dark blue, it's just like we're the only ones in the universe. You get it. It's so dark- so absolute."
"Are you okay Jo?" Dean asked.
She turned around and almost stumbled off the shallow path. "Wow- hey, how are you feeling?"
"Dizzy," She said.
Dean nodded. "Let's sit down, okay? Let's sit, and eat and drink and sleep for a bit, that a good idea?"
They sat down on a rock, and after he gave her a piece of dried peach to keep her busy, he checked her wound.
It had started to stink like rotten flesh. Dean hastily searched through their first aid kit, but there was no other stuff than the burn ointment. He cleaned the wound with a little bit of water and wrapped fresh bandage around it, with the cream on it. It was better than nothing, right? He took off his own bandage too and saw that his wound was closed, there was still a hole in his hand from where the flesh had burned away, but the skin had grown back already, even though it was still a bit reddish. He didn't wrap new bandage around his hand, just applied some of the cream, hoping it would heal better in the open air.
"You should get some sleep," Jo said.
"I'm fine," Dean said. He wasn't, he was tired as Hell, but he didn't want to sleep.
"You haven't properly slept in three days, maybe even four, just try, I'll wake you up in a couple of hours okay?"
Dean was so tired, he quickly gave in. He placed one of the blankets on the hard, stone ground, because, even though they climbed all day and had reached a higher altitude, it was still smothering hot.
He rested his head in Jo's lap, like they used to do in the Meadow, and she hummed a song, stroking his temple's as he dozed off into a dreamless sleep.
"Oh Mamma, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law.
Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home.
Oh Mamma I can hear you are crying, you're so scared and all alone.
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long."
When he woke up, he was still lying in Jo's lap, but she had stopped stroking his temples. She was staring at the stars.
"The nightlights are on," she smiled to him.
He got up, rubbing his head. "You said you'd wake me up after a couple of hours."
"I didn't specify how many hours." She shrugged.
They had breakfast (or lunch or dinner, Dean would kill to know the time) and wanted to get going again, when Jo noticed his feet.
They were bruised and bloody from walking on these goddamned stones all the time.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She said.
"Because there is nothing we can do about it," He shrugged, sipping from the water bottle. "Let's get back on the road." He looked up the mountain, "We can almost see the top! I bet we can climb it in a couple of days."
Jo smiled and nodded, she looked tired.
"Do you need to sleep?" Dean asked.
She shook her head. "No, I'm just- the heat wears me down and my wrist feels weird."
They started walking again, Dean was biting on his lip not to groan. Every time he put his foot down, a jab of pain pulled up his legs.
He saw Jo was doing the same, clenching her wrist.
They had been walking for a couple of hours when the Eagle appeared in the sky. Panem's anthem played and they showed the pictures of the ones that had died that day. It was a short list, the boy from 2, the boy from 3 and Crowley.
"Too bad Crowley is dead." Jo said.
"You don't mean that," Dean smiled.
"Nah I don't but we might be live on television." Jo shrugged.
They got up and continued their journey up the mountain, climbing up the path. It got steeper and steeper and sometimes the path changed into steps and then back into steep path again.
The stars were fading when they reached a platform.
"Let's rest here for the darkness." Dean said. His voice sounded rough and husky, like he hadn't spoken in days.
Jo nodded. She tried to sit down, but was too tired to control her movements and fell.
"Jo?" Dean said concerned. He sank down next to her.
She was shaking all over, like she was having a bad fever.
"Show me your wrist," Dean said, it was a demand, not a question, so when Jo tried to cover her wrist with her hand he clawed it out of her grip. It wasn't hard, she barely had any strength.
"I'll be fine," she muttered, trying to pull back, "I just need to eat something."
Dean let go of her wrist, grabbing one of their packs and gave her the dried fruit. "Compromise," he smiled, "You eat, I check your wrist."
Jo held out both her hands. Dean put the fruit in the first one and grabbed the other one for inspection. He unwrapped the bandage and held his breath when the stench of dead meat filled his nose.
"I guess the burn heal cream didn't work," He smiled weakly. "Oh- Jo, what have we gotten ourselves into?"
Jo didn't respond, she slowly chewed on the dried plums.
We're going to die, he thought, but he immediately tried to shake it away. They were still alive, and that counted. They were still alive thanks to his reaction skills and the backpacks.
They spend a weary night (day) on the ledge. Jo had caught a fever halfway through and Dean just wished they would never had climbed the goddamn mountain.
He had torn a piece of off his trench coat and dapped it in their drinking water. Dean carefully tried not to spill any of their precious water.
He cooled Jo's forehead with the damp cloth. Dean lent forward and touched her neck with his dry, cracked, lips. It's what his mother used to do when he or Sammy had a fever.
His lips didn't even have to touch her skin to feel the moist heat radiating from her body.
She tried to slap the cloth away. "I'm cold, don't put a cold cloth on me when I'm cold,"
Dean shrugged his coat off and forced it on Jo, wrapping her in the two thin blankets they got from the Cornucopia.
When he was done wrapping her up, she allowed him to cool her head and neck with the cloth.
"We're going to wait for the starlight and then I'm going to carry you down the mountain," Dean said.
Jo nodded and fell into a restless sleep.
After half an hour of dapping and cooing, Dean considered leaving her.
He cursed himself. He couldn't leave Jo to die, he knew he would never forgive himself.
But she was going to die. Obviously the poison was going to kill her and if it wasn't the fever, it would be another Tribute when they were found.
A couple hours of conspiracy later, Jo woke up.
"Pa?" she whispered husky.
"No, it's me," Dean shook his head, "Dean."
Jo smiled, she moved her hand but didn't have the strength to lift it up.
"Dean is a good guy," She said, "He shared lunch with me yesterday,"
Dean remembered that, it had been the first day of school and his mother had given him some bread and cheese for lunch. That was the day he realised that they had a good life, with food and warm clothes and coal for fire. Jo had been sitting on a stone wall, flesh and bones.
He had joined her on the wall, and gave her what was left of his lunch, the rest of his bread and the cheese. She had asked him if he wasn't hungry and he had claimed that he didn't like cheese.
He bet she didn't even have breakfast, she wolfed down the loaf and the cheese, smiling at him and thanking him. That had been the day they became friends and from that day on Dean and Jo had lunch together.
A couple of weeks after that he had fallen in love with her.
Jo kept babbling, about school, about Dean, about her father and the Games. She was delirious and had no idea what she was talking about, or who she was talking to.
Dean barely responded. He kept cooling her forehead, nodding and saying 'uhum' and 'yes' every once in a while.
The wound got dirtier as the night went by and right before the stars came up, Jo reached her ground zero.
"Dean," she whispered.
"Yes, Jo," he said absent. He changed the cloth, they were almost out of water.
"Why don't you just leave me here to die?" she sobbed, "Why nurse me back to health?"
"Because I care about you Jo," Dean said, tired. "And because your mom would kill me if I leave you behind."
"But what's the use?" Jo groaned frustrated. "I'm going to die anyway. And it's so goddamn dark in here, I wish there was a sun, or a moon, at least. I have no idea what the time is."
"You shouldn't talk like that," Dean shook his head. "Come on, let's go. We should get back to the river, the water bottles are almost empty and there is no path up anyway."
Jo motioned to her feet. "Take the shoes. If you're carrying me you need the shoes."
Dean softly worked them off her feet. He was tying the shoelaces when he heard a soft noise coming down the mountain. It was a soft clicking, like something was clacking it's teeth together.
Dean moved the contents from the smallest to the biggest pack, giving the empty one for Jo to hold.
He strapped the other to his back, hung his knives on his belt and secured Jo's sling and bullets to his belt too. She wasn't going to defend herself anytime soon.
He was busy tying the backpack to his torso when he heard Jo scream for help.
"Dean? Dean!"
It was a scream of pain and fear. This wasn't the fever.
Dean pulled his dagger, the big one with the clip point blade and ragged side. He dropped the empty bag and turned around.
Jo was surrounded by black scorpions, swirling over her like a dark cloud of smoke.
Dean lunged himself towards her, praying the scorpions weren't venomous when he felt the first pair of jaws sink in his ankle.
He literally had to dig Jo out from under the scorpions and when he finally succeeded, she was covered in little bites that were bleeding clear, red blood.
Red blood is good, right? He thought.
He swung Jo over his shoulder and started running, down the path from where they came. Dean could hear the scorpions follow them, teeth clacking violently.
He looked over his shoulder and saw the flock of scorpions rapidly closing in.
"Hell they're fast!" he swore, and he kept stumbling, tripping and almost falling down the mountain path at Gods speed, while he felt the blisters and wounds on his feet rip open.
For the first and probably the last time in his life he thanked the horrible circumstances in 12, that had malnourished Jo and made him stronger by making him mine all day long. It made it easier for him to keep up the fast, almost frantic running with a girl on his shoulder.
When the clacking died out, he slowed his running to a trot.
"Not- comfy-" Jo breathed.
Dean didn't even stop to shrug her in front of his chest, holding her back and her knees.
"Not carrying me over any doorstep, are we?" She smiled weak and pale.
"Getting your wits back, are we now?" Dean smiled, happy that she was with him again.
He trotted for a couple of hours, until he got tired and started walking. Jo suggested resting and letting her walk for a while, but he refused.
"We're getting out of range of those goddamn scorpions first."
Her bleeding had stopped, since she was lying still, but Dean's little wounds had kept bleeding. It didn't matter, they were only superficial and he didn't feel any poison running through his veins.
All of a sudden he felt a cold breath of air pass his ear.
"Shit!" he swore as he hit the deck, almost crushing Jo underneath him. She swore too.
"Shush," he silenced her.
"Balthazar, watch out," they heard a voice say.
"That's Castiel," Jo murmured.
"Yeah-" Dean nodded.
"Why, Cassie? Nobody is out here anyway, we haven't seen no goddamn Tribute for two goddamn days, since we left the goddamn Cornucopia. We've just been following this trail!"
"Don't call me 'Cassie'." Castiel said. His voice changed into a whisper and Dean couldn't follow the conversation anymore.
So Cas and Balthazar had been following their trail. Obviously, since there was only one way to get to the platform and that was this, and there was no one else up there. That could mean two things: they were going to kill them or they were going to try and team up.
Dean knew Jo was never going to team up with these two.
Cas and Balthazar had been talking for a while now, their voices an inaudible murmur, when Dean suddenly heard the sickening noise of clacking jaws behind them.
They were trapped between the scorpions and two other Tributes, whose motives were unknown. They didn't seem to hear the clicking.
"Dean- we need to run," Jo whispered.
Dean tried to swallow the lump in his throat. So now there were two options. Get killed by a flock of huge ass black scorpions or probably get killed by two other Tributes.