𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟕𝟔𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 ✔️

𝕏𝕍𝕀

For the first time in a while, I sleep through the whole night. In the morning, Aurora shakes me awake.

"Time to get up," she says softly, and I can instantly tell something is wrong from her tone.

I slowly sit up, afraid that I'll look up to see Phoenix with his sword pointed at my head. When I look around, however, there are no dangers in sight.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, and she just gives me a tired look.

"Isabelle and Phoenix went looking for more tracks," Aurora sighs. "As if the three tributes we killed already weren't enough."

"I don't know why we're tiring ourselves out by following all these kids around," Axel grumbles, and I turn around to see him sitting with Vesta. I forgot they were here too.

"I feel like the others will die or kill each other if we let them," Vesta adds. "We're putting ourselves at risk."

"I don't know," I sigh. "Whatever Phoenix says, goes."

"Why, though?" Aurora says quietly. "Why don't you say something to him?"

"It's not that easy," I snap back. "I'm trying to stay alive."

"What if we ran off right now?" Axel suggests. "Go off on our own."

Vesta opens her mouth to respond, but we hear footsteps approaching from nearby. I grab my spear in preparation, but it's just Phoenix and Isabelle. Phoenix offers us a grin, lifting his sword in victory. "We found tracks!" he announces. "Two sets. Let's go."

Vesta and Axel glance at each other, and Vesta is the one to respond. "Count us out," she says. "We're exhausted. Why don't you and Isabelle go?"

Phoenix pauses for a moment, as if incredulous that Vesta would talk back to him. "We need backup," he explains passionately. "Who knows who the tracks belong to. Isabelle and I can't take the other tributes one-on-one without the risk of getting killed. If we outnumber them we'll be stronger."

"Why don't we just stay here?" I suggest. "Those two will probably die soon anyway. Or we'll see them at the Feast."

Phoenix steps forward very carefully, lowering his sword so the point is mere inches away from my throat. I swallow nervously, inching back a bit.

"Get up before we have a problem," Phoenix says, his eyes dark. "Now."

I stand, putting my hands in the air. "Fine," I concede. "I'll go. But Aurora stays here. She can guard all our supplies. That way we can run faster without our backpacks."

Phoenix mulls over the idea, eventually nodding. "Deal," he mutters.

"Same with Vesta," Axel says, catching on to my idea. "I'll come with."

Phoenix and Isabelle look at each other for a moment before nodding. "Let's go then," Isabelle says, and we follow them.

I glance back at Aurora and Vesta as we walk away. Both of them have the same message written across their faces. Come back alive. Please.

I was right - it's much easier to run without our bags. Hopefully, Phoenix and Isabelle can kill the other tributes quickly and we can go back to camp. At that point, Aurora and I can split from the others, with or without Axel and Vesta.

It only takes about thirty minutes to reach the set of green footprints. It's pretty straightforward since all we have to do is follow Phoenix and Isabelle's footprints from this morning.

Luckily, it only takes another hour to find the other tributes. Well, it's unlucky for them. But I want to get back to camp as fast as possible.

The tributes are the couple from District 7 - Vance and Willa. The two of them got pretty good Training scores, and they're some of the most skilled tributes outside of my alliance.