The tension from Damien and Clay's fight still lingers in our group the next morning. Almost immediately, the boys jump back into their argument. It's frustrating to watch, and I can tell that Sienna feels the same way. It doesn't matter if we killed the boy or not, he's dead now. We all need to be as unified as we can, or none of us will make it out of this alive.
The boys' bickering continues nearly all day as we all lounge by the river. Finally, as the sun sets over the trees, I force Damien to make a halfhearted apology.
"You're right," my brother concedes as the moon flashes read. "We should've left him."
Clay is cut off before he can respond as silence covers the Arena, but he looks content. Three words flash in the sky above us: No Fallen Tributes.
After Damien's apology, the District Twelve boy's death seems to have been forgotten by the boys, but their fighting continues the next morning. Hearing them bicker makes me feel like a nail is being driven into my head... This is our fifth day in the Arena, and it feels like every day has been worse than the one before it. What happened to the fun group we had before the Games started?
As our brothers start bickering over the rationing of food, Sienna and I move downriver to pick more berries; with a limited supply of fish from the river, the berries we collect are practically our only food source.
"I'm sick of all this," Sienna sighs from next to me as I hold her bag open for her to deposit berries. "Those two need to get over it. We found the boy and they killed him. I think we all need to move on."
"The Games are getting to both of them," I mutter. "I think they realize that all of this is real. We're not just here to make spears and catch fish in the river. This is life or death."
"Do you think it's because they both have a chance of winning?" Sienna says, pulling her hair out of her face to glance at me. "I think the pressure is getting to Clay. He really wants to survive this but I think he's only just realizing what he has to do to win the Games."
"That's probably it," I sigh. "They're crumbling right now, that much is obvious. But don't forget the promise we made. Whatever happens with the boys, we have to look out for each other. Those two are so focused on winning that they'll forget about us eventually. We have to stick together, it's our only chance."
"I haven't forgotten," Sienna says with a small smile. "Don't worry. But let's not give up hope yet. You keep working on Damien and I'll keep talking to Clay. Maybe we can turn all of this around."
I nod, grabbing Sienna's hands as she helps me to my feet. She passes me my bag, and we wordlessly follow the river back to camp.
The boys are still exchanging jabs when we return, but they're both leaning over two fish. Sienna cheers at the sight of our dinner.
Clay nods at us as we sit nearby, but he continues his conversation with Damien without a pause.
"It would be stupid to throw ourselves into danger like that," he says, ripping the scales from his fish.
"I'm telling you, the only way to kill the others is to ambush them," Damien says passionately, glancing up at the other boy. "Their injuries can get worse over time. If we just sit around and wait for them to die, we give them time to become stronger than us."
"If we wait long enough, the Careers will turn on each other," Clay insists. "And we're not just going to be just sitting around, Damien."
I hear a faint sound in the distance, but it's hard to distinguish over the noise of the river. Could that be...?
"You don't think we're going to get weaker if we draw this whole thing out, Clay?" Damien cries. "We barely have enough fish to feed us!"
"Shhh!" I hiss, silencing my brother. My allies look at me, confused, but then we hear the sound again. A laugh.
"Did you hear that?" a girl asks in the distance, and the laugh stops. Even from a distance, it's easy to tell who's talking - Calista. Suddenly, the pieces fall into place. The girl who was laughing was Amanda... the Careers are approaching.
My heart drops into my stomach; I freeze at the sound of the other girl's voice. In front of me, I see the panic flash in Damien's eyes.
"I heard it too, I think," Trent says, a little bit louder than Calista. They must be getting closer. "A hissing sound. Maybe it was a snake or something."
His fish now forgotten, Clay scrambles to his feet, silently grabbing his bag and moving close to Sienna. He's breathing so fast that I'm worried he could pass out at any moment.
"Look, a river!" Amanda says; it sounds like their group is upstream from our camp.
"That must've been what you two heard," Midas says. "Nice!"
"We could try to hunt for some fish," Amanda suggests. "I don't see any around here, though."
"You can't see them from here," Trent explains. "They'll be deeper underwater. Let's go upstream - it'll be easier to catch them up there."
Finally, I release the breath I didn't even realize I was holding in. That was way too close for comfort - if I hadn't cut Damien off, the Careers probably would've heard us, and it all would've been over.
"What is wrong with you!" Clay explodes once the Careers' footsteps fade. "You could've gotten us killed!"
It takes me a moment to realize that he's talking to Damien. Damien was the last one to talk before the Careers arrived, after all. If the Careers heard us, we'd be in trouble. Still, though, that wasn't his fault.
"How was I supposed to know they were down there?" my brother says, raising his hands in surrender. "Nobody's come down here in days!"
"Well, there was your chance to ambush them," Clay says, pointing upstream toward the retreating Careers. "They're gone now. I guess we're going with my plan."
"Stop it," I interject. Now is not the time to be fighting. "We need to get out of here in case they come back. It's not safe here anymore."
"It's almost dark," Clay says, shaking his head. "We can't go anywhere at night."
"Whatever," Damien says, picking up his fish from the ground. "Let's just camp on the other side of the river from the night. They won't check there."
Nobody speaks as we wade across the river; when we finally set up a new camp, we wordlessly split the fish. I have to take off my shoes and socks, leaving them by the river to dry; the bottom of my pants are still wet, but I'll be too cold if I take them off, so I'll just have to hope they dry overnight.
"We have the first watch, right?" I ask Clay, but he shakes his head.
"I want to talk to Sienna about something," he says, waving his hand at me. "I'll wake you up later."
I give Clay a nod, laying back against the roots of a nearby tree. I won't complain about extra sleep. Hopefully, Sienna can convince Clay that all this fighting needs to stop.