The Price of Fame and Fortune (Hunger Games)

25

Oh my god, oh my god...OH My GOD!.

I felt my mouth open and close as I stared at the both of them. Both of them impaled. I could feel a slight tear roll down my cheek. I thought I'd feel...sick. Or hurt or like I should die for doing something so horrible but it felt...exhilarating. 

Oh fuck. 

I enjoyed it. 

I scoffed. Although it probably looks like a sob. I sniffed away the anger and turned to Liam. He ran his hand through his golden hair. The sun shining off him as if he's a god. His eyes met mine and he rose his eyebrows at me. "You alright?".

No. I never want to feel this way again. Instead I nodded. "Yeah, fine".

He nodded at me before walking up to the bodies and plying our weapons out of them. I tried not to vomit after hearing the squelch and cracking of bone as he did so. His eyes met mine as he handed me my bloody axe. "We should clear out before the hovercraft collects them".

I nodded and with a smirk to himself, Liam grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the scene. It was so casual that if it weren't for the blood staining our weapons I wouldn't even know it happened. 

So I told myself it didn't. We're simply looking for Tent and I guess we never found him. I bit my lip and walked a little faster so I flanked Liam's side. "So, where else do you think he could be?".

He shrugged. "Don't know, don't care".

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. 

I tried not to think of how disappointed in me Trent would be. We made a promise, a sacred promise and I broke it. I haven't ever broken a promise to him. Would he know?. Would see my face and be able to read me like an open book?. Would he look me dead in the eyes and ask me why I did it?. 

I shook my head. If I don't mention it then he'll never know. Even now my mind went to Johanna. How did she feel watching me kill someone for the first time?. Sick or proud?...

I bit my lip. "Do you think they're disappointed in us even more now?".

Oh shit!. I didn't mean to say that. I really didn't mean too.

Liam paused and looked down at me with a frown. "What we do in here is survival. Besides, they'll understand more than anyone else ever could. Right?".

I bit my lip and nodded to his expectant face. "Right".

And that was it. We don't talk about it. We don't mention why are weapons are covered in blood. We don't mention that it's going to keep us up at night. And we certainly don't mention them. The ones who've raise us as our entire lives to do just that. To be unfeeling and kill expertly without hesitation.

We decided to spend that night in the seventy-fifth arena again. It saved us trying to find food and water in uncharted terrain. Besides, the sand provided softness that other arenas didn't offer. Sleep on a beach everyone's too sacred to enter?, Or risk it all to sleep in some weird wasteland?. I know which one I'd rather. 

Liam was quick to retrieve baskets he'd weaved the night before and had instantly started fishing. Meanwhile, I'd cut two coconuts in half with my axe to make bowels so we wouldn't have to sip from the spile like savages. 

That night I didn't watch the fallen. I didn't want to see her face and be filled with regret or even worse, if I still didn't even feel that after seeing her picture. Liam stretched out on the sand beside me and had a content smile on his face. "Only fourteen left.".

I frowned. Ten dead already. How long has it been? A week? A few days?...I didn't even know. Time feels different in here. I bit my lip and lied down beside him, our arms were touching and together we looked up at the thousand of stars that shined down on us. "Fourteen including us?".

I felt him nod next to me. "Yep". 

Again we went back to silence. However, unlike all the other ones before it. This silence was content. It was peaceful and comforting. I guess it's because we were finally able to see what we'd be like as a team facing a threat. And well, it turns out we work good together. 

Liam sighed and turned his head so he stared at the side of my face. I felt myself blush under his gaze and turned to those gorgeous eyes. "What?".

He smirked and shrugged. "Nothing".

I scoffed and turned back up to the stars. I sighed. "It's hard to think its not even real".

He chuckled. "Nothing about this place is real".

I frowned and took a hesitant look at the ocean. "Those waves felt pretty real the other night".

I heard him sigh and rustle in the sand before I felt him cupping my cheek again. He was sitting above me and in any other scenario I'd say we would've kissed. But this is the hungergames and he's literally Liam Odair, that's an entirely different show. I stared up at him in confusion while those pretty sea green eyes pierced mine. "I'll teach you".

I bit my lip in slight fear at the thought of water. "I'm not going back in there".

He nodded and softly smirked. "That's okay, I know a place".

He stared me down now. As if daring me to tell him no. I get why he wants me to learn, if we get stuck in water somehow then I'll drag him down...dead weight. Or maybe even just dead if he doesn't think I'm worth the hassle. 

I huffed. "What about finding Trent?".

He shrugged. "Trent's lasted thing long, I'm sure another day won't kill him. Besides, nearly every second arena has some type of body of water. What would you have done if our arena this year was that swamp?".

I waved my hand dismissively. "I'd probably...slide in the mud, swing on a vine to avoid the water and climb a tree".

 Sounds like a pretty solid plan if I do say so myself.

Liam sniggered. "Pretty sure that's impossible. The vine would snap under your weight".

I gasped in mock hurt. "Are you calling me, heavy?!?".

He rose an eyebrow and held up his hands in defence. "Why Victoria, I would never call a lady heavy. Stupid on the other hand...".

And that was it. Suddenly we were rolling around in the sand together, chasing eachother down the shoreline in the dead of night. Laughing and squealing and well, having fun. Maybe even pretending we were on a normal beach and not in the very arena that freighted most of the country.