Pregnant in the Games

Chapter 13: Separated

Dedicated to @xoxEmilyxox for being super awesome and nice to me!

The next morning, I woke up with a bad feeling in my stomach. It was more than just the morning sickness. I looked around me, half expecting to be ambushed by someone. At some time in the night, Talon took over watch. Nothing seems to be wrong. But I can't shake the feeling that something is terribly wrong.

I'm not the only one awake. Chris and Tetrick are both still sleeping. Jessica, however, is laying on her side with her eyes open, watching Talon. I don't think she's noticed that I'm awake yet. Slowly, she sat up. Then she whispered, "Talon."

He heard her, because he turned around and looked at her. He smiled when he saw her and leaned against the tree, arms folded across his chest. "Hey, Jess. What's up?" He made no attempt to lower his voice.

"I just wanted to thank you for defending me last night. If it weren't for the sponsors, I would've been dead by now. It's nice to know that I'm with a group of people who have supplies and can get food. I feel a little less dependent on the Capitol now," She said.

"It's no problem. Chris is just slow to trust, understandably. You'll be fitting in just fine pretty soon here."

Jess smiled at him. He smiled back. Well they wasted no time getting friendly with one another. They seem to like each other very much. And I mean like. 

That's when I heard it. The soft, familiar snapping and cackling. For a moment, I thought nothing of it. It's just the sound of fire. Yet, as another moment passed, I realized that we had no fire burning right now. This fire is comng from somewhere else. I snapped to my feet and saw, out in the distance, a wall of fire moving our direction. Talon noticed me looking and looked, too.

"We have to go!" He screamed. I scooped up the backpack and woke up Tetrick. Talon woke up Chris. Both of them were slow to get up. By the time they were both aware and on their feet, the fire had practically reached us. There was no time to grab anything else. We ran.

Jessica and Talon were at the head of the pack. Chris was right behind them. Then Tetrick and I were behind her. We were running in the direction of the tall grass, where we met Jessica yesterday. The fire ran after us, as if it was set on chasing us down and killing us. 

We were so focused on running away that I didn't notice the guy standing in front of us. He made no attempt to hide and seemed to have no interest in running away. I didn't notice him until I heard Tetrick scream. I stopped in my tracks and looked over at Tetrick. The boy who was standing there stuck a knife straight into Tetrick's thigh. Acting on impulse, I took my knife out and stabbed the boy in the stomach. He dropped to the ground, dead. I ripped my knife out of the boys stomach and turned to Tetrick. He had collapsed on the ground, clutching his thigh. Luckily, the blade only went in halfway. I ran over to Tetrick, grabbed his hand and ripped the knife straight out. Tetrick screamed as I did this and he squeezed my hand so hard, I thought that all my bones might shatter. Chris, Talon and Jess didn't notice that we had stopped running. They continued to run. 

"Tetrick, we have to go," I said nervously. The fire was approaching quick. Tetrick's still on the ground, clutching the wound. Clearly, he's in serious pain. But we'll die if we stay here. I leaned over and put my hand beneath his body, hauling him upwards. He was like dead weight, but as soon as he was on his feet, he started to run with me. 

Our progression was too slow for comfort. My back got hotter and hotter as the fire faster approached. We weren't going fast enough. If I take off right now, I can save myself. However, if I take off... then I leave Tetrick here to die. That's not an option. I'd rather die with Tetrick then let him die alone