Jesse
The buzzer goes off but I'm still stunned and confused, standing on my plate. The first cannon unfreezes me and I glance at my surroundings. There on a metal plate about five meters away from me is… Finnick. Thank god it's not someone I have to kill. He looks at me suspiciously, thinking I might hurt him and I smile to reassure him. He smiles back lightly and runs towards me.
"Where's Hope?" he asks, frowning.
"I have no idea. I didn't expect it to be just us here. There must be two tributes battling it out in different parts of the arena," I say.
"But where's the Cornucopia?" he asks and I shrug.
"The Game-makers were clever. Splitting us up, I mean. I don't know why they didn't think of it at all. We'll have to be more alert since we can run into trouble at any time. Hopefully, they split up the careers, too. We might have a chance," I reply.
"Yeah. I think we should go look for Hope but it's going to be hard with no weapons to pro…" he trails off, staring at something behind me. I spin around abruptly; thinking that someone else had found us already when I notice what Finnick was staring at… two backpacks and next to each of them a weapon; a bow and arrows and next to the other a trident.
I instantly catch on. The bow is for me. Snow thinks he is helping me by giving me a bow that I could give to Hope to make her trust me. He's clever for an old man that I have to admit. Obviously, the trident is for Finnick. We sprint towards the items, not wanting anyone to jump out and take them before we can. I reach them first and throw the backpack over my shoulder, loading the bow and an arrow. I'm not bad at it even though it's been a while since I held one without faking being rubbish.
Finnick catches up, looking at me surprised. "What?" I ask, confused. He shakes his head and I realise he must be shocked to see me run so fast. I shrug it off and start walking in a random direction, not bothering to check the contents of the backpack. I hear Finnick's footsteps behind me and look at the floor to see what we're standing on; rock.
That's why our footsteps are so loud. We can't take our shoes off because we could cut our feet and we can't afford injuries, especially since we might need to be strong to help Hope if she's in trouble when we find her. Just thinking about Hope makes me feel a warmth that I had never felt before I met Hope. I hope she's okay.
We walk in silence for a while, both of us with our weapons at the ready. We walk as silently as possible for what seems like forever but must be only a few hours. Since I had training years ago I don't even break out in a sweat but that's a completely different story to Finnick, who has sweat pouring off him and is panting.
"Let's take a break," I finally say and Finnick sighs in relief. I cross my legs on the hard stone floor and open the backpack. I find a large bottle filled with water, some herbs to clean out water when we find some later, a tub of cheese and crackers, a thin blanket that probably won't last two days and an empty bottle.
Altogether it's not bad. I grab the bottle and pour water down my throat, not drinking to much as it might need to last a while.
Finnick goes through his bag and also finds a bottle of water, a handful of cold meat that I think might be chicken, a thin blanket and two knifes. He hands me a knife and I take it gratefully. "Where to now?" he asks and I glance in each direction.
"We'll go straight ahead. That's where I was planning on heading anyway. If we can't find her we'll just keep searching. I just hope she isn't with that Jeremy. He's the last person I trust," I admit. I bet the Capitol loves this bit of 'gossip' as they call it.
"So, you've seen the way he looks at her, too?" Finnick asks and I nod, grimacing. Hope seems to be the only one who hasn't noticed the long glances he directs her way. "So, what Hope said at her interview wasn't true?" Finnick smirks. I'm surprised he can be so… so calm in a place like this.
"What?" I ask.
"You know, about the crush thing?" Finnick presses, wiggling his eyebrows.
"I don't know," I huff. "What are trying to say anyway? That she likes me?" I chuckle. As if. She'd never like me. She probably feels sorry for me because I'm a lonely orphan that acts weak.
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Finnick replies. "Jeremy isn't the only one that looks at her."
"Whoa! I don't look at her like that!" I nearly yell.
"I know, calm down. But you do look at her with love in your eyes," he grins. Love. I don't know what it is. I barely knew my parent's. No memories except blurry like flashbacks that probably never happened.
"I don't love her," I say. He rolls his eyes and I stand up, wanting to carry on searching instead of talking about something that I don't even know about.
Finnick let's the subject slip and stands up. It's then that an arrow flies out of nowhere and pierces my backpack that I had just slung over my shoulder. I have my bow loaded in no time and aiming in the direction that the arrow came from. Could this be it? Am I going to die already? I hoped I'd at least be able to see Hope one last time.
I hear footsteps and it's not Finnick or me as we are both frozen to the spot. There are large rocks surrounding us, the person could be anywhere. That's when I see what looks like a foot behind a rock. I aim my bow in that direction and gesture at the rock with my head, letting Finnick know where the person is.
The person jumps to their feet so fast it's like a blur and another arrow is flying, this time in Finnick's direction. "Duck!" I order and he drops to the ground just in time. The female tribute, Sarah Ashford, is to busy glaring at Finnick to notice one of my arrow's heading in her direction. She's loaded her bow and aimed it at Finnick again by the time she notice's something coming at her from the corner of her eye. She's too late. I squeeze my eyes shut and hear the thud as her lifeless body hits the floor. The cannon goes off. My eyes open. The girl was from District 1 but the place doesn't matter to me. I still killed her. I feel like a monster and she's only my first kill. I might have to kill again.
I press my three middle fingers of my left hand to my lips and hold them out to her in a special gesture that I learnt from District 12. I help Finnick up and he does the gesture too before grabbing his backpack and trident. I pull the arrow from my backpack and put it with my other arrows. I grab my bow and backpack and follow Finnick, letting him lead the way.
All I can think about is that girl. I should have seen it coming. It's not that I didn't think someone would find us. I just didn't think it would be so soon and she's a career I thought she'd be looking for her teammates.
Ten cannons later and finally we come upon a forest with tall tress that I might be able to climb and insects making quiet noises that you can only hear if you listen closely. The sun starts to set but the heat doesn't disappear with it. Sweat starts beading on my forehead and my shirt feels sticky. My eyes are drooping with exhaustion and a tired glance at Finnick tells me he's feeling the same. I throw my shirt over my head, not being able to take the heat any longer. I start to wonder if the insects could kill us as their making noises that resemble something I can't place my finger on.
The sticks lying on the forest floor seem to be breaking from all around us and I swear the temperature has gone up even higher in one minute. I feel like I'm on… Wait. I feel like I'm on fire. I turn around to see the flames at exactly the same time Finnick let's out a scream.
My eyes widen and drop to the blonde haired boy now standing opposite me- and right in front of the blazing flames.
AN: I decided I'd let you know that both Finnick and Jesse are safe but ten more cannons did go off and Hope and Jeremy could be one of those unlucky tributes. What do you think about the chapter? I know it's not my best but I don't think it's that bad. REVIEW!