Twelve year old Raelyn Everway trembled as she hid in the arena of the 72nd Hunger Games. She was in the final four after she managed to avoid the poisonous water that killed almost everyone off. Being from district four, she knew a lot more about water than most and being the smallest tribute gave her an advantage. She ran her shaking hands through her messy dirty blonde hair and tried to think. Her thoughts swirled around each other, making completing a thought an impossible task.
"Everway, snap out of it, it's time to go."
She flinched at the volume and looked at her district partner, Birch Silverwing. He was eighteen and built like someone who worked out all day every day. The fact that he decided to become allies instead of just killing her in the beginning shocked her.
"I'm coming, just trying to think about what to do next." She said as quietly as possible. Finnick and Mags had warned them about the Final Four. Things go from almost peaceful to murderous in seconds. Calming what little nerves she could, Rae got up. She couldn't see straight after the gruesome fight with the guy from ten. If Birch hadn't been there… she wouldn't still be here.
"Come on Rae just a little faster," Birch coaxed as she moved as fast as her deteriorating body could. He was a little better off, but not by much.
"I'm sorry, I'm coming." She mentally pleaded for him to not decide she wasn't worth the trouble. She could survive alone but she wouldn't survive a fight. Rae has little to no experience with weapons, since she only had a year at their district's academy.
They approached what looked like an empty clearing and scoped out the area.
"Let's rest here, I'll keep watch first." Birch claimed as he slung his bag off of his shoulder, wincing as it brushed a wound on his forearm.
"Okay, I'm going to go and get more water."
"Don't get any from the creek, go to the pond." He yelled after her, knowing she already knew this.
"I will, don't worry." She called back as she swiftly strided to the pond closest to their camp. As she was filling their flasks she heard movement behind her, and was soon knocked to the ground. She yelped and looked up to see the district one female looking down on her smiling.
"Well look who's still kicking… literally." She said as she caught Rae's attempted foot to the face. Smiling coyly, she twisted her ankle until it snapped.
Howling in pain, she screamed for Birch.
"Rae I'm coming!" She heard him yell, she weakly managed to block most of the hits. Luckily, the girl from one didn't have a good weapon anymore. So Rae fought, with every ounce of strength her twelve year old body had left to give. She got in a good kick to her stomach which was hard enough to throw her off of Rae. Scrambling away, Rae grabbed her knife with the familiar feeling of dread settling in her stomach. With wild eyes, the girl lunged again, only to be met with the sharpness of Rae's greatly concealed blade. Letting out a choked cry, Rae scrambled away with the same horror as when she had to kill two others in the days prior. Birch got there just in time for the canon.
"You okay there Everway, you look a little green." He let his eyes wander and soon enough he laid his eyes on her backwards foot and turned a little green himself. "Okay you can keep being green." He paused and assessed everything. "I'm not sure what to do," He muttered. "Let's try and get you standing. We need to go." He said as he helped her up. Nausea swam through her and she groaned, "I can't walk, there's no way." She glanced at her foot and tried not to gag.
He sighed, "I really didn't want to have to do it like this but…" Her blood ran cold as he reached for his trident and looked at her with dread in his eyes.
She scrambled out of his arms and looked at him with pleading eyes, "Birch…"
He walked towards her and she could only think to do one thing. She threw her knife with perfect precision. The skill she kept hidden from everyone. Sobbing, she squeezed her eyes shut as the canon rang out. She was now alone.
