CHAPTER NINE!

UNDISGUISED HATRED.

KATNISS EVERDEEN CAN PRACTICALLY FEEL the hatred rolling off Emori Hadley in waves. The blonde had yet to even acknowledge any of them since Finnick and Reed decided they'd be joining forces, anger evident all over her face. Instead, she walks ahead of the group with a quiet Peeta Mellark to her left, cutting away at the vines that are in their way. Currently, he's the only one she can stand to look at other than Mags.

Peeta seems content in her company, not minding the way they have some sort of silent agreement to not speak but rather just stay together. He can tell she's angry, he's sure that anybody will be able to see it. All he can wonder about is why Finnick and Reed thought she'd be okay with allying with them and he can understand why she doesn't want to.

As Peeta keeps cutting down the vines, the brunette behind them seems to notice something is off. Neither Peeta or Emori seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary, continuing forward. It's then she discovers the shimmering that was much like the force field in the training centre.

"Peeta, no!" Katniss suddenly yells but she's too late, the boy strikes the force field with his sword and it sends him flying backwards, straight into the blonde girl who had only been a few steps behind him. The two of them tumble to the ground.

"Get off me, Mellark," the girl groans but when he doesn't move, she grabs his wrist — there's no pulse.

"H-he's not breathing," Emori struggles due to the weight of the boy on top of her. Finnick grabs Peeta and drags him off, staring chest compressions almost instantly whilst Katniss freaks out.

Reed crouches down beside a winded Emori and asks if she's ok which she shrugs off. She's still mad at him, furious even. The boy helps her to her feet as they watch Finnick try to bring the boy back.

"Come on Peeta," Finnick hisses as he continues compressions. Emori has to raise her eyebrows slightly, why would Finnick be so desperate to bring the boy back to life when in the end, it would mean there's one less person for him to kill?

"Peeta!" Katniss exclaims as the sandy blonde's eyes open and he looks up at the young woman who's still crying.

"Be careful, there's a force field up there," Peeta croaks and even Emori manages a small smile at his witty comment. However it fades into a look of disgust when the two kiss.

"Ok, calm it down. Can we move on now?" Emori deadpans and Reed nudges her a little with his elbow. The blonde rolls her eyes and holds her hand out to the fallen boy who grasps both her's and Katniss'. The two pull him to their feet.

"See, look at that. You guys make a great team," Finnick tries to encourage and Emori just snarls at him.

"Screw off, O'dair,"

Emori leans against the tree as Katniss scales one across from her. Finnick and Reed are speaking behind her in low voices whilst Mags sits on a rock not far from them. Peeta walks over to the blonde and she turns her gaze to him.

"Something I can help you with, Mellark?" Emori questions as she crosses her arms, the blonde male clearly no longer that intimidated by her tone.

"I wanted to see if you were ok? I know you broke my fall," Peeta explains and she nods.

"I'm fine," Emori shrugs in response as she watches Katniss slowly return to the ground not looking any happier which probably means there is no water in sight.

"The force field, it's a dome. We're at the edge of the arena and I couldn't find any signs of fresh water," Katniss says to her allies.

"It's gonna get dark soon. We'll be safe if our backs protected. We should set up camp, take turns sleeping. I can take first watch," Finnick interjects.

"Not a chance," Katniss scoffs.

"Would you rather I take it?" Emori says and Katniss sends the smug looking girl a glare.

"Honey, that thing I did back there for Peeta, that was called saving his life. If I wanted to kill either of you I would've done it by now," Finnick responds to Katniss and Emori snorts at his words, watching as he walks over to Mags.

The blonde spares the District Twelve tributes one last glance before going over and sitting beside Reed who has his eyes closed. The boy feels her presence beside him and looks to her, a small smile pulling at his lips — one she struggles not to return.

"I'm still mad at you," Emori mumbles as she rests her head against his shoulder, his head moving to rest on hers.

"I know," He smiles before he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep as well.

Not long after the duo, as well as everybody else, are awoken by the Capitol Anthem and as Emori slowly opens her eyes, she's met with the sight of the tribute she'd killed earlier in the day. She takes a shaky breath and Reed grabs her hand, the fact he'd killed earlier as well weighing on his mind. These are people they've gotten to know, no matter how little, over the past few years and the fact that they have to kill one another is horrid. President Snow is truly a horrible man, one who will hopefully get what's coming to him one day.

"That's eight," Reed says quietly to his friend who nods her head. Eight dead victors, eight people who the Capitol public adore are now dead due to their power hungry president.

Suddenly, they're interrupted by the familiar parachute — somebody has sent a sponsor gift to help them out. It lands near Katniss and the girl is the one who opens it up, pulling out a small metal object.

"Drink up?" Katniss mumbles confused.

"What is it?" Finnick asks as Katniss shows him.

"I think it's a spile,"

Reed and Emori decide to join the two of them as Katniss hammers the object into a tree. They all stand there and stare at it for what seems like forever until water starts to flow from the tree. Emori makes a sound which can be associated with disbelief as Katniss takes a drink followed by Finnick. Emori leans down and pulls the Mellark boy up and practically forces him over to it, knowing that he probably needs it the most out of them all.

Emori and Reed then have their turns as Finnick carries some over to the older woman in a leaf. The teens sit together as they also sip water from their own leaves.

"Think about it, if we hadn't of allied with them you wouldn't have water," Reed says to Emori who rolls her eyes and hits his arm.

"You're an idiot," The blonde laughs. "I'm still not happy with you,"

Reed pouts but then laughs, the girl curling into his side so that they can both go back to sleep. As they close their eyes, Emori cannot help but wonder if this was a sign — their luck was starting to look up. Maybe both her and Reed would make it out of here after all.