𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬

𝟎𝟗. 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐬'𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲

— 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐱 —

━━━━━━ ☽【❖】☾ ━━━━━━

Rex was the last person I'd expected to come to my rescue. So the moment he stepped between Rena and myself, it was like I'd seen a ghost. There were several emotions clouding my judgement, but primarily I felt an overwhelming joy.

And just like everything else about the games, the second you think that you have a chance of surviving, the gamemakers switch the odds on you. It might have been a fair fight: Lux and Rena versus Rex and me. But we'll never know. Because that's the moment the entire mountainside shook and came crashing down in an avalanche of snow.

I'd seen Harlan and Honey sneak away when I'd been foolish enough to take on both tributes from district two myself, so that's where I guided Rex. The kids had a head start, but it wasn't long before we caught up and their expressions matched my own at the revelation that Rex was in fact alive.

"How?" Harlan laughed with wide eyes, all the while shooting an 'I told you so' look in my direction.

"Run now, questions later," Rex corrected as he scooped Honey up onto his shoulders.

We ran as fast as we could, but it was no match for the snow bearing at our heels. The white powder was only a mist at first, but the pressure that followed was intense. The cold ice burned my skin and the roaring drowned out any other sound from my ears. The air was crushed from my lungs and my mind began to panic. In a moment of unwelcome deja vu, I was drowning once more. Only I couldn't swim to escape this fate, my arms were pinned to my sides as I helplessly fell the rest of the way down the mountainside. And despite the fear I experienced on my own behalf, it was only greater for Harlan as the boy's chances of survival were less than my own.

Only once the equilibrium of my mind settled did I recognize that I'd reached the end of my descent. The clothing that the Capitol had provided prior to the start of the games were not intended to last five weeks. The winter coats were the first things to be destroyed, and the gray sweatshirts that now served as a top layer did little to protect from the ice extracting my body heat.

My body involuntarily shuddered at the chills that crawled down my spine while my teeth chattered. My arms remained pinned at my sides, and I couldn't tell whether the pain in my leg was from the cut Rena had given me earlier or if something else was causing more damage to the untreated wound. My fingers and toes felt like pins and needles were constantly being jabbed into them, and my face burned from the course ice it brushed against whenever I moved.

"H-Harlan," my voice quivered and his name came out as a whisper, as if there was some underlying fear that shouting would only add to the snow pile I was buried underneath. "H-H-H-Harlan."

I tried to pull free, crying out in both frustration and pain as I remained stuck. And then an uncontrollable coughing fit was summoned as the snow was caught in my throat and lungs.

"Hey, I'm here." Rex's voice was the equivalent of a soothing comfort as he freed my face from the snow. "I'm gonna get you out of here. You're gonna be alright."

"W-where's H-Harlan?" My teeth continued to chatter while Rex slowly started the process of digging me out from under the snow.

"Let's just get you out first," Rex insisted, not exactly answering my question.

I tried shaking my head, but my neck remained safe. "N-no! You h-have to find Harlan f-f-first."