𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔-𝙊𝙉𝙀
—𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸—

     𝙄 𝘿𝙊𝙉'𝙏 𝙈𝙊𝙑𝙀 from my spot over Aspen as River places a comforting hand on my shoulder, his worried eyes placed on the wound that rested on my side— one that I could no longer feel pain from.

"We need to go," River says lowly, as if saying it too loud would surely break me. "We aren't safe here, and you definitely need to get help."

"From who?" I question, my eyes dry. By this time, I had already cried away all of my tears. "No one here cares about anyone or anything."

"Casey, I care about you. And so did Aspen." The boy sighs, slinging a backpack over his shoulder. "And whether you like it or not, I'm sure he'd want you to live through the night. I made a promise to keep you safe, and I don't plan on breaking it."

"I don't want to leave him," I murmer, shaking my head. "I don't care about dying. I'm not scared anymore."

"You will get up and move, if I have to drag you. You have to get help, Case."

"I don't want help."

"Suit yourself," he sighs, grabbing my axe and stuffing it into the other backpack. He layers the second over the first, before bending down and lifting me onto my feet without so much as an effort.

He steadies me, wrapping his arm around my waist as I place mine over his shoulder. Without another glance at the bodies that lay on the ground limply, we move forward, searching for a new place to rest.

It's hard to move in the dark— but it makes it so much harder when the gash in my side begins to throb again. I wince as the pain returns, hitting me in a single wave.

"Stop," I say to River, reaching out to grip a random tree. "I can't— ouch."

"Sit down," he demands, tossing the backpacks aside as he grabs a flashlight. Shining the bright light on my shirt, I grit my teeth as I see the white bandage wrapped around my waist- something River had done while I was crying— has partially turned red and is soaked with blood. "Shit."

"I'm gonna die," I groan, sinking to the ground. "I'm losing too much blood in too little time."

"You're not going to die," River glares. "I'm here to ke—"

A small 'ding' sounds from overhead, cutting off River's current sentence. I squint my eyes, leaning forward slightly to see a parachute with a round silver container attached to the strings.

"Sponsors," I mutter, watching as River grabs the parachute from the air.

He opens it quite quickly, his eyes scanning over a note attached to the top of the container. "It's medicine from Johanna."

He pulls the cap off of the container, handing it to me. Inside is a clear cream, of which is obviously made in Panem. If it's as expensive as it looks, it could possibly heal my gash within a couple days.

If I live that long.

I don't hesitate to unwrap the bandage, wadding it up on the ground by my knees. I lift my shirt to expose my bloody torso, dipping my fingers in the cream. I bite my cheek to keep from yelling out as I spread it over the gash, sure to get a good coat over it.

"Do we have any more bandages?" I question with a sigh, putting the lid back on the container. "I could really use some right now."

"Yeah," River nods, digging into the backpack to pull out a long strand of the white fabric, before handing it over to me. "Here."

"Thanks," I murmer, moving to wrap it tightly around my waist.

"Do you want to go find Cato?"

I stop in the middle of tying the bandage, my eyes darting to the boy as if I'd heard him wrong. "What did you just say?"

"I asked if you wanted to find Cato," he shrugs, sitting down in front of me. "I figured you'd want to be around him, since he can keep you safe."

"But you're keeping me safe," I furrow my eyebrows. "Besides, Glimmer and Clove are two people I don't want to deal with right now. Cato is the least of my worries."

"I obviously didn't keep you safe," River rolls his eyes, gesturing to my wound as I finish tying the bandage. "Look what happened. And that was when Aspen and I were both there. Imagine how much danger you'd be in if it was only me when they attacked."

"What are you saying, River?" I ask incredulously.

"That you're better off with him."

"That's ridiculous," I scoff. "You're doing perfectly fine. It's my fault I got stabbed, I wasn't paying attention. I didn't move fast enough, and I didn't fight back as much as I could've. You had no control over that."

"But I was there," He narrows his eyes. "Doesn't that bother you— that I can't keep you safe?"

"I'm safe right now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, when there aren't any tributes around."

"And what difference does that make?" I question. "Doubting yourself doesn't help, River. I'm perfectly fine, and so are you. That's all that matters."

"But Aspen isn't," he shakes his head.

I suck in a sharp breath, as if I'd been stabbed in the chest. I gape as he continues, having the urge to slap him.

"He died, Case! I could've helped him, but I was too caught up in that tribute. I could barely protect myself! And you— you're hurt too. Face it, you're better off with Cato."

"I will always be here for you," I state with a glare. "And don't think that because of that . . . accident, that I don't trust you with my life anymore. Sure, it happened. But you're fine, and so am I. We aren't dead, are we?"

"No, but we could be if—"

"No 'if's' or 'but's'," I say plainly. "I'm not going to Cato. He's preoccupied with the other careers, and I have you here. He'll find us tomorrow, and everything will be fine. Now shut up and go to sleep."

"On the ground in the middle of nowhere?" He raises an eyebrow at my authority.

"If someone stabs us in our sleep, oh well," I chuckle with a shrug, placing my back against the tree and laying my head on his shoulder. "I wouldn't mind getting out of this hell hole a little early, would you?"

"Not a bit," He snickers, laying my axe beside me, and keeping his hand on his trident with caution. "'Night, Case."

"Goodnight, River."

___♕___

I wake in the morning to a soft crackle just ahead of me, a groan leaving my lips as I stretch. I furrow my eyebrows as I notice River is no longer at my side, but in front of a fire.

"What the actual hell?" I question, gaping at the fire. "River, what are you thinking?"

"Well, I figured it'd be interesting to lure a few tributes here," He says, turning in surprise. "I just lit the fire. I was about to wake you up, actually. We need to get out of here quick."

I shove against the ground, pulling myself to my feet. But as I stand and look down to my side— expecting the gash— I am shocked to see that only a small cut remains.

"Hold crap," I gasp. "This stuff really works."

River snatches up our backpacks, handing me my axe as we take off in a random direction. I glance over at him, before looking back at the fire.

"So what was the reason for lighting that fire again?"

"If we lure the tributes together, it's more likely for some of them to die. I was just trying to find a few ways to get these games over with quicker, and a fire came to mind," he replies. "It picks off a few more than what the kill toll for today would originally be."

"Smart," I nod, taking one of the backpacks from him, and shrugging it onto my shoulder. "So, where do we go now?"

"I was thinking that we could find a cave or something so we can wait the next couple of days out," he says, scanning the land ahead of us. "But we have to find some food and water first so we don't have to come back out for anything."

"Okay, smarty pants," I tease, "where do we find food and water?"

"There should be a stream somewhere around here," he states. "And we can hunt after we fill up our water canisters."

"How do you know there's a stream close by?"

"There's mud on the ground," he informs me, gesturing to my feet. "It's not too soggy, but the ground is damp. There's gotta be something around here."

"Wow," I mutter, not noticing the wet ground. "You really do pay attention."

"I try."

I come to a screeching halt as a girl's scream erupts far behind us, a cannon sounding immediately after. And it just so happens that the scream came from where River lit the fire.

"It worked," I nudge him with my elbow. "Nice job."

"Hold on," River holds his arm out, keeping me from moving forward. "There's someone here."

"What do you m—?"

"Shhh!" He rushes, shoving me behind a large tree. "There, look."

He nods to the distance in front of us where a small girl with curly black hair perches herself in a tree. She focuses on a stick in her hand, sharpening it with a rock.

"That's Rue," I murmer, stepping out from behind the tree. Without another word, I make my way over to her with River following suit.

The small girl looks up from the stick as I step on a twig, it snapping beneath my weight. She jumps with wide eyes, moving quickly to get higher up in the tree.

"No!" I rush out, stopping as I put my hands up. "Hey, I won't hurt you! I promise. You're Rue, right?"

The girl stops in her tracks, her eyes snapping over to us. "You won't hurt me?" She questions quietly.

"No," I assure her. "You don't have to come down if you don't trust us— I was just wondering if there is a stream or a lake nearby."

"It's that way," she says, pointing to our far right. "But I'd watch out, the career pack went that way last night."

"Thank you," I nod with a smile, turning to River. "Come on, we have places to be."

A cannon explodes in the sky not too far from us, making Rue wince from the high volume.

"You sure you want to go that way?" River questions.

"I don't know," I mumble. "I'm not so sure anymore."

_______