Safe and Sound || Hunger Games

Chapter Eighteen - Long Awaited Answers

Chapter Eighteen - Long Awaited Answers

When I woke up, I expected to still be buried into Grayson's chest. However, I wasn't. I was on my own in the sleeping bag, which made me think for a second that all of the day before had been a dream. I unbelted myself and sat up, only to be restrained by my legs. That confirmed that it hadn't been a dream. I ran my fingers through my plait, feeling the mockingjay flight feather that Grayson had weaved into it. So where is he? I thought as I unbelted my legs and put my belt back on. I looked about and saw that Grayson's backpack was nowhere to be seen. I packed away the sleeping bag, then put my backpack on, along with my quiver. I then picked up my bow before climbing back down the tree.  couldn't see Grayson anywhere.

"Grayson?" I called out. I sincerely hoped he hadn't run away. We're allies, of course he wouldn't do that. He's not like that. I walked a few paces forwards, nearing the thicker trees. "Grayson?" I called out, a bit louder than before, into the forest.

"Over here!" I hear a cheery reply from somewhere behind me. I spun around to see Grayson emerging from the trees, holding his backpack in one hand. I sighed with relief. "You were still sleeping so I went out to find a water source. I took your flask so I could get you some too, I hope you don't mind that. I thought you would be feeling thirsty if I was. I found more than just water. We're in luck." He unzipped his backpack and pulled out something that was wrapped in a sheet of plastic. He must have taken that from my backpack. He unwrapped it and held it out to me. I walked over to see that he was holding a few Katniss flowers.

"Grayson, you amazing human being, you." I said, smiling. I looked up at him, amazement clear on my face. He shrugged. And put the stash back in his backpack. He reached in and pulled out my drinking flask. He gave it to me. It felt heavier than usual. He had found a water source.

"It's day seven, right? That means we've been in here for about a week now. There's ten tributes left. I think that's gone quite fast. Fourteen in six days." Grayson said as we started walking back towards where he had found the pool of water. I nodded in agreement, blowing the air out of my cheeks. "Oh, have you got my belt? I didn't want to take it off of you because you were still sleeping."

"Yeah, sure." I took it out from my pack and gave it to him. He put it back on again and we continued walking. As we walked, I looked at Grayson, who was looking up to the sky. "So, what horrors have you had to face since day one?" I tried to say it causally, but secretly I was really interested and wanted to know what Grayson had to fight through. Grayson looked back down from the sky and furrowed his eyebrows, as if in thought. That couldn't have been a good sign. He had to think about what had happened to him.

"Um, well, on day two or three I got stung by a Tracker Jacker on my shoulder and the base of my neck. I think that's why it bled so much when your arrow scraped it. All that's left are just faint marks where I was almost stung to death, nothing major I don't think. I was obviously stuck under the power of the venom since then, meaning it was quite fuzzy and extremely frightening. I then found some leaves that soothed the stings. But do you know what I found when I was stung?" Grayson answered. I tilted my head to the side as Grayson stopped walking and pulled his backpack off. He unzipped it and pulled something long and silver out. I gasped.

It was my first arrow and mockingjay feather.

"Where did you find this?" I asked as I took it from him. He head somehow managed to connect the feather to the flights of the arrow.

"I can't remember exactly, but I do know that I didn't know where I was, or if I was coming or going. Then I saw these and I guess I immediately through of you. I made the connection between the feather and the arrow. And even though I was crazy because of the venom, I knew I wanted to find you. Because you can always trust a mockingjay. Even the flammable ones." Grayson said, taking back the arrow and putting it back into his backpack. I smiled at him. "Where was I? Oh yes, so I had found your arrow and you feather. A couple of days after that, I was walking along talking to myself, probably. I still had traces of venom, so almost everything seemed to scare me more than it should, but I was more or less back to my original self. The leaves that I had found had helped great deal. So yeah, I was walking when I heard a massive growl. I turned around to see this massive lion muttation. It looked like it had just eaten something, because its jaw was still covered in blood-"