Saving the Tributes || Demigods in the Hunger Games

.oOo. Jason .oOo.

"We've been walking for days," Nico groaned as I shook him awake for his watch. "I'm tired. I wanna sleep."

"Well, I've been keeping watch for the last two hours, so get up."

Nico groaned quietly and stood up. We had ditched the plains yesterday as Frank reported that the only person in there was Thresh, and he was doing fine, so we could rescue him last possibly. I was thankful for that-- I didn't want to go wandering around in that plain looking for someone who would probably smash all our heads in a rock.

I lay down on my back with a groan. I had just gotten used to the cushion of dried and flattened grass for a bed, and now I had to sleep on sticks and rocks and tree roots. I don't know how Thalia did this when she was with Annabeth and their friend Luke.

I closed my eyes. Might as well get the next two hours of sleep. Gods, I hated middle watches.

Before I knew it, Nico was shaking me awake. "C'mon, we need to move. Rue's pretty close by."

The small girl that resembled Hazel almost exactly, if Hazel were twelve. I'd completely forgot about her.

Maybe the rest of the tributes did too, I realized. Do any of you guys remember Rue? I asked the others.

There was a silence, like everyone's presences were missing. Hello?

I tapped Thalia on the shoulder, who was packing up. "Is the connection working?"

"Did you miss the conversation?" Nico whispered back. "Yesterday we established that the connection was dying out and that we can't rely on it anymore."

A wave of panic hit me. "Maybe I died out earlier than everyone else?"

Thalia shrugged. "It's possible." She thrust out the small first-aid kit we had snagged. Most of the supplies were still there, since we hadn't found any more tributes, and all the ones we did find were taken care of back at the tent. "You carry it today."

Nico looked down at his map, as we set off. Then he stopped moving. "I dunno if we should go to Rue today," he said slowly, handing us the map. He jabbed his finger at her label. "She's here."

By 'here', he meant just on the side of the massive clump of career tributes, Katniss Everdeen, Percy, and Annabeth. Almost all of the remaining tributes were right there.

"You might be right." Thalia idly played with her knife. "We should just head over though. Regroup with Percy and Annabeth, maybe." She unsheathed the weapon. "I'll hunt around."

My stomach growled at the mere mention of food. There was little to no wildlife in the plains, and we mostly survived off the food Nico snuck back from the tent. But here in the wild, Thalia was used to hunting animals. Granted, she had a bow and arrow then, and the only one in the arena was the one the careers had, according to Hazel. But she had a knife, and that was all she needed.

I hoped. I was really hungry.

.oOo. Leo .oOo.

I was so bored, I began to rewire the trap. There was absolutely nothing to do, and I had already built a bird with a remote control and taught it how to pick one blade of grass, bring it to me, go find another one, pick a single blade, and bring it to me (don't tell Cato this, but I didn't have any metal so I melted some of the weapons and used those to forge it). I literally made myself a beanbag from blades of grass the bird picked for me.

That was how much time I had.

.oOo. Frank .oOo.

My eyes burned from staring at the screens for so long. Yeah, it was better than being in the arena, but it was so boring. There was no action going on at the moment, since the careers weren't doing anything, but it was all tense. 80% of the remaining tributes were all in a fifty-foot radius. No, 70%. 60%. Yeah, 60%. I wasn't very good with math, since most of Camp Jupiter training was more fighting than normal school education.

A clock chimed midnight, and several people let out groans of relief. Everyone took 24 hour shifts that started and ended at midnight, which, if you asked me, was a horrible system.

I darted to the bathroom. As soon as I came out and finished, I stepped out and ran right into Piper, who was waiting with a frown. She pulled on my arm before I could apologize, and led me into the snack room. There were really weird foods there.

"Were you just waiting outside the men's bathroom?" I asked her. She rolled her eyes before looking at me seriously.

"I just saw the new mutt the tech labs were working on," she said in a low voice. "And if I'm right about them, they're going to take down a lot of people."

I swallowed hard, humor gone. "What are they?"

"They're like dogs," Piper tried to explain. "They look like a cross between a pit-bull and a wolf. And they attack like a cross between a pit-bull and a wolf too. A pit-bull and a wolf on steroids with a taste of blood in their mouths."

That definitely wasn't good. "When are they released?"

"They're not ready yet," Piper assured me. "They're going to be the grand finale. And you know, genetically modifying and crossing these things aren't quick either. They've got a while."

"Great time for the connection to fail," I muttered.

Piper picked up a stupid Capitol pastry in her hand and crushed it. "I know."

.oOo. Percy .oOo.

I could see Katniss staring accusingly at where we disappeared through the bushes. She couldn't see us, but we could see her.

"I thought you told her that we were coming back," I breathed to Annabeth. She shifted without rustling the bushes, something I failed at doing. My neck cramped.

"Excuse me if we didn't communicate properly," she said back. "Before I came to help you, I told her that we'd get them away. Then when I was on the ground, I only could mouth words at her. She might've gotten the wrong idea."

I wanted to crack my neck, but I knew better than that. "Can we at least wave to her?"

Annabeth pointed with her eyes at Marvel, who was facing us, staring into the distance. I didn't know if he was actually paying attention or not, but Annabeth was right. We couldn't risk it.

I sighed and moved... very... slowly... stretching... my legs... out... from... under... me... until I was lying on my stomach. Thankfully, any branch sounds were covered by the crackle of the career's fire.

It was going to be a long night.