☞︎ℍ𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝔾𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤 ~ 𝔸𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕪𝕤𝕥'𝕤 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 ☜︎

~Kidnapping~

My eyes widen to the size of dinner platters as I take in the scene in front of me. Oceania's standing in front of the careers- or what's left of them. 

Gleam's still there, but Cassia's gone. They're joined with another tribute I don't recognize. I wonder where the rest went. I know Etta and Dahlia are dead, sure. But I only heard one cannon. Was it Cassia? Could she even have a cannon shot, since she's already dead?

"Where's Cassia?" I ask, regaining my bravery. Oceania shakes her head in disappointment. 

"Dead. This is the hunger games. Most of us are willing to kill." She smiles at me in a way that suggests she might have gone insane. I don't return the gesture. 

Her smile also gives me a feeling that she might've killed Cassia, and if she can kill her friend then I don't want to stick around and let her kill me. 

I take a deep breath. 

Then I spin on my heels and take off through the forest, hoping they'll follow me. 

This was another part of my plan. Just a backup, though I didn't think on it too much because I hoped I wouldn't have to use it. 

I leap over a log, almost tripping on some small sticks that break under my weight. I hear the careers behind me, yelling. A trident whizzes past my ear, along with an arrow that finds the trunk of a tree next to me. 

I leap into a bush, then stay quiet. I hardly even dare to breathe. 

If the careers find me, I'm dead. That's it. It's over. 

But if they don't, I can follow them back to their camp, where they'll be keeping Aegis. Then I save him, we pick off the others, and... one of us dies. But I don't want to think about that, not right now. 

I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears. The careers stop right in front of my bush. Oceania shouts some orders, and they spread out. I watch Oceania retrieve the tridents she threw, and shiver when I think that the target of those deadly weapons was me. 

I could've died, so easily. And wouldn't that have been convenient for them. 

After a while of searching, they give up. Well, not really. Oceania huffs about losing me, and orders the other careers to keep a close watch on this general area. 

But generally, they've accepted that I'm gone. Which is good. That's what I want. 

I wonder how many tributes are left now. I counted five. 

Which means that every single one of the tributes, except Aegis, is hunting me down. Isn't that terrifying. 

I quietly follow them as they leave the area, being careful to stay behind trees and leap into bushes if needed. It's working well enough that soon I see their campsite up ahead, with a few small tents bunched up together. They have a lot of supplies, too. More than I could ever need in my life, it seems like. 

A muffled shout comes from one of the tents, and the tribute I don't recognize, who I now realize must be Lymit, reaches in and pulls out Aegis. 

I smile. So he's not dead, after all. 

"Should we kill him now? His death would be to our advantage," Lymit says. Oceania studies Aegis, seemingly unimpressed.  

"No, if we kill him we won't be able to catch the girl. She's trying to find him, I'm sure of it. She obviously cares about him, though I don't see why." She kicks Aegis's head, though I don't really notice. I'm trying to process Oceania's words. 

She said I care about Aegis. Which I do. But not in the way she thinks. I love him, yes, but as a friend. 

Now that I think back on it, I've never loved anyone as more than a friend or family. 

Maybe I just haven't met the right person. Or maybe I don't get romantic feelings. It'd be another  weird thing to add to my list. Which I'm not surprised again. 

I poke my face out of the bush I'm hiding in, ever so slightly. I'm trying to catch Aegis's eye, though it doesn't work until Oceania kicks him again, giving him a better viewpoint. 

When he sees me his eyes widen with excitement. I smile and then point to the tributes around him and then the sky. I have to repeat it a few times, but eventually he understands. 

I'll save him once the sun goes down and they go to sleep. Under the cover of darkness is where I work best.

I press my finger to my lips in a shhh symbol, then retreat back into my bush. 

I eat a bit of food and drink a bit of water while I wait for the sun to set, which seems to take a lot longer than it actually does. It seems like it's been days by the time the sky starts to darken. 

And once it's fully night, with a full moon lighting up the night, I take a final bite of berries and start off to save my friend.