hunted • haymitch abernathy

fourteen

fourteen; IT'S NOT WATER

Ember's left eye twitched as Wiress continued to mumble useless words to herself as she slept. Beside her, Blight huffed in annoyance, and Johanna groaned as she rolled onto her side and her eyes fluttered open. Ember supposed it was so she could glare at Wiress' unconscious form, as she somehow spoke more in her sleep than she did awake.

"If Everdeen didn't want her, I'd be gutting her here and now." She ground out through gritted teeth, rolling her eyes when she caught Ember's stern expression.

Blight snorted, "Then we'd lose Beetee, and Everdeen didn't want either of us in her alliance at all."

Ember grinned, "Haymitch tell you that?"

"Of course he did." Johanna laughed before she lowered her voice to mock the man, "'Now Katniss doesn't want either of you, but Peeta does, so it's not gonna happen!' Everdeen didn't want us, so we're basically trash."

"Haymitch does not sound like that," Ember spoke, tone laced with her amusement as she watched Johanna tilt her head so she could stare in her direction, "And don't call yourself trash."

"Yes, Mom. He absolutely does." Johanna snickered while Blight nodded to agree with her, "You just don't want me making fun of your beloved."

Ember scoffed, "He's not my beloved."

"Fine." She groaned, "I'll stop making fun of your intended then."

"I thought you guys were married until two years ago." Blight shrugged, smirking at the woman who sent him an incredulous look, "Johanna had a field day with that one."

Ember shook her head but couldn't fight the smile that spread across her face.

"Fuck, it's hot," Johanna exclaimed, "And my mouth is so dry."

"Maybe stop running your mouth about murder and my love life." Ember laughed.

"Fuck off, Tides." Johanna sent her a dry look, "Blight, are you sure the only water source you saw was from the Cornucopia?"

"Yeah." He muttered, diminishing their hopes, "There was nothing that I could see besides that. I suppose we may find something, maybe a pond if we hiked further than a treeline covered. They can't have left us in an arena like this without it."

"Maybe they hope we'll dehydrate." Ember mused thoughtfully, frowning when Johanna shook her head with a scoff.

"It wouldn't make good television." She laughed maniacally, "We can't slaughter one another if we're thirsty."

Ember's thoughts drifted to Woof dying in her arms after she'd murdered Bran in violent revenge, and then Mazie, who just wished to return the favour. No, all three of those murders, as well as the three others that she hadn't witnessed or taken part in, were pure entertainment for the Capitol citizens. It would be a cold day in hell before the Gamemakers let their playthings fall victim to a dry mouth as opposed to a sharp blade or curled fists.

"Try to get some more sleep, Jo."

"Not possible with Nuts screeching in her sleep." Johanna spat out irritably, "And that stupid storm."

Ember glanced to her right as she watched the storm that lit up only a sliver of the arena sky, and she frowned, "If it comes any closer, we'll have to move to avoid it." She murmured.

Blight grunted his agreement while Johanna continued to glare darkly at the sky as she moved to make herself more comfortable against a nearby tree, closing her eyes tightly.

"You get some sleep as well, Tides." Blight spoke after a moment, Ember glanced at him and moved to protest, but he quickly cut her off, "Honestly, you look like shit. I'll wake you if anything interesting happens."

Ember was inclined to agree with him, and she felt terrible for it. Despite his words, she knew the real reason she didn't want to sleep. She would relive Woof dying in her arms and how she felt taking not one but two lives with little to no remorse, which terrified her. When she had been a child and had to kill to leave the first arena, she remembered the disgust and loathing she'd felt toward herself for years afterwards. When she had been in the clear after the bloodbath, she had vomited up the contents of her stomach.

Today, now, she only felt nothing toward Mazie and Bran. Ember was more disgusted and horrified over feeling nothing than she was over plunging a serrated blade into a man's abdomen half a dozen times and breaking a woman's wrist so she could distract her enough to drive a dagger into her chest.

She settled back into the moss-covered tree and frowned at the feel of it against her back. She didn't move, only crossing her arms over her chest as she attempted to rest. Closing her eyes, she grimaced as she saw the last smile Woof had given her and the looks on the faces of Mazie and Bran when they realised she'd gained the upper hand.

Ember felt as though only seconds had passed her over when she was startled into consciousness by Blight, who had shaken her awake.

"What's wrong?" She mumbled, feeling liquid hit her face.

"Water." Blight gasped out happily.

Her eyes opened, but she could barely see anything in the darkness of the forest. She felt the liquid hitting her face, and she breathed a sigh of relief at the feeling.

"Finally." Johanna groaned. Somewhere near where Ember remembered her sitting earlier, she heard rustling, "Hey, wake up!"

Mouth dry and tongue feeling as though it were sandpaper, Ember tilted her head to the sky in contentment, and she raised her arms to cup her hands together. It filled in her hands, and she lowered her head to her hands, only to pause when Beetee stopped them all.

"Don't drink it." He gasped out as the rain began to fall against the unlikely group, "It's not water."

Ember squinted as she tried to see what the rain was, if not water. She leaned forward as the droplets began to fall harder, so much so that it was starting to hurt. She moved her arms to protect her face against the onslaught and felt the liquid drip down her arm, sticky, hot, wet.

It was a familiar feeling, one she hated.

"Blood!" Wiress exclaimed, and Ember despised that it was the first time she had made sense.

"RUN!" Johanna screamed.

Ember rushed to her feet and blindly reached for Wiress, who she remembered had been the closest to her, her panic easing for only a moment when she felt fingers wrap around her wrist. She could barely make out the others beginning to run, and she quickly followed after them, pulling Wiress behind her.

The rain began to fall at a painful rate as they stumbled further into the forest, trying to escape the blood which fell from the sky.

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this is a bit on the shorter side compared to the last few chapters but i wanted to split this chapter with the next otherwise it probably would have ended up being way too long. i'm on a roll this week, though. i posted a few new stories in the last week and updated about three stories tonight so hopefully, i'll get another chapter of this out before i lose this newfound motivation.

anyway, drop a comment letting me know what you think, or any predictions you have for the rest of this book and thank you so much for 60k reads!

thanks for reading!

~r