15

"What do we do?" Prim clung to Peeta as the girl's strangled scream died away. Was it Rue? What if they just killed Rue!

The cannon boomed.

"Be quiet and don't move." Peeta rummaged in their bag and pulled out the sunglasses, jamming them on to his face. Prim caught a glimpse through one lens and barely held back a gasp. They gave him night vision! The trees were clear as day and the lenses illuminated human movement.

Voices startled her. "Let's get going," a young boy said. "If someone heard that scream, they'll be coming."

"Or they'll be running." Cato's voice. "Either way, it's more prey for us. Just sit quiet and listen for a few minutes."

The blanket of night muted their voices. Prim held her breath, but it only made her want to breathe more, so she buried her face in her sleeve. Hopefully the fabric would hide any noise.

Five minutes passed.

Ten.

Twenty.

Could Cato and the other boy still be there?

"I'm bored," a girl whined.

"Shut up, Clove." Leaves rustled as the Careers started moving again. Peeta reached back, pressing down on Prim with his arm. Footsteps scuffed past their log. "Let's go find someone else."

A few grunts conveyed there were more than just three of them. Cato, Clove, a boy, and…someone else. Did any of them have the night glasses?

Their sounds moved on and shortly after, a hovercraft showed up, lowered a claw into the forest where the girl screamed, and then sped away. Prim tried to glimpse the body it picked up, but it was too dark.

Please don't let it be Rue!

"We should get out of here," Peeta muttered.

"No." Prim couldn't leave, not yet. They'd be caught for sure. "They won't check here again for a long while. Let's just keep sleeping." As if she could fall back asleep after that.

Someone just died.

Too many people died today and she witnessed it. She couldn't help anyone, not even herself. She couldn't bear this!

"Just try to go back to sleep, Prim." Peeta's voice sounded pained. He left the night glasses on and clutched the hatchet and knife close to his chest.

Prim tried to sleep. She really tried, but the drifting in and out only left her exhausted and on the brink of nightmares. She ached for the sunrise, if only to move from this place. But Peeta needed the sleep. Somehow, he managed to fall asleep despite the chill, despite the death, despite the fear. But when light came, Prim shook him awake. Her tongue felt rough against the roof of her mouth. "Can we drink some of the water? And maybe eat something?"

"Sure," Peeta grunted, yanking open the pack. They each took one more sip of water from the tiny water bottle. It was half empty now. Peeta sliced a thick piece of bread for each of them. He cut it from the middle, and then pushed the two bread halves back together. "By leaving the ends on, the inside of the loaf will stay fresh longer."

Signs of a baker's son.

They crawled out from under the log, Prim's instincts on alert. This arena was huge, but she was certain someone—Cato—would be hiding nearby, ready to cut her with his machete. "Good thing they didn't have night glasses."

Peeta brushed dirt from his clothes. "Good thing you grabbed the backpack that did have night glasses." He handed her the other pair. "Keep these in your jacket pocket." He left the rest of the sentence unspoken: in case we get separated or in case I die.

"What now?"

He looked around at the forest. "We need to find water." With that, he took the lead into the forest.

Prim followed and cringed every time he snapped a branch or crunched leaves—which was…with every footstep. She was much quieter. Was it because she was small? Was it because she'd been around Katniss so much?

"I think maybe we should head back to the lake."

Her head snapped up. "No! That's where Cato and everyone will be." She'd seen past games. If the Career Tributes survived the bloodbath—which they usually did—then they owned the cornucopia.

"Prim, what if that's the only source of water?"

Her stomach turned cold. "It can't be. This is a forest, there's got to be a river somewhere."

"This is the Hunger Games. They made this arena. It doesn't work like real forests."

"Can we just look? For one more day? If we don't find water by tonight, we can go to the lake tomorrow, okay?" Today was different than yesterday. Yesterday, she was ready to die at the cornucopia, but she'd survived. And she didn't feel so brave today. She wished, by some miracle, she could go back home.

But that was selfish because, in order to survive, that meant Peeta and Rue would both have to die.

They walked for hours and her thighs ached. What was the purpose? Once they found water, then what? Prim wanted, more than anything, to find Rue and make sure she was safe. Tonight, when the dead tributes were projected into the sky, she'd know which girl died last night. Please, don't let it be Rue!

She and Peeta had long since stopped any talking. She couldn't tell if his footsteps were getting quieter or if the forest noises—birds, bugs, wind—were just getting louder. Something was getting louder, like television static.

Peeta threw his arm out to stop her. "Do you hear that?" His voice, barely a whisper, sent her nerves into spiraled terror.

"No." She heard nothing. Had he seen someone?

"That static sound…I think it's a river."

Her terror fled. "Where?"

He held a finger to his lips and they continued forward. As the rushing sound grew louder, Prim's excitement danced inside her. Water! They found it! They wouldn't have to go to the lake! It had to be a river. Nothing else could make that sound.

They passed a clump of trees and, in the distance, the ground sloped downward just a bit. A river. There it was.

She wanted to run to it, but didn't dare make so much noise. Patience. She would follow. Peeta remained on the alert, his hatchet held a little higher than normal. Large rocks and boulders lined the bank of the river as they got closer. Prim and Peeta rounded one and, on the other side…

…was a Career tribute.

Marvel, from District 1. He was bending over some sort of netted trap on the ground, weaving knots and tying off ends. Setting up a trap for some future tribute. But his head snapped up at their approach. His eyes widened and he leapt to his feet, yanking a dagger from the dirt.

Peeta was faster. He hurled his hatchet just as Prim knocked his arm, screaming, "NO!"

.

.

To be continued...

Please leave a review and let me know what you think of this story so far! Thank you! :-)

(New posts every week, sometimes sooner.)

~Feel free to check out my own dystopian book, A Time to Die (by Nadine Brandes), on Amazon~

How would you live if you knew the day you'd die? Parvin Blackwater believes she has wasted her life. At only seventeen, she has one year left according to the Clock by her bedside. In a last-ditch effort to make a difference, she tries to rescue Radicals from the government's crooked justice system. But when the authorities find out about her illegal activity, they cast her through the Wall - her people's death sentence. What she finds on the other side about the world, about eternity, and about herself changes Parvin forever and might just save her people. But her clock is running out.