No Place Like Home

Part 2

Once they had found a place to stop after the sun set, they finally got a chance to talk properly.

"So," Dan said, whilst sharpening his axe with a rock. "I didn't see you in the bloodbath. You head straight for the jungle or what?"

Phil shook his head and looked at his bandaged arm, as he'd taken the shoulder-length glove off, which Dan had done too.

"No," he said. "I hung on the pedestal for a few minutes, before I kind of... splashed to the land, I guess?" they both laughed. "And I'm a fast runner, so I outran most of the tributes, 5 of them were already dead before I was off the pedestal. I grabbed all I could, I knew I would get Pity sponsors, so I didn't worry much about the medicine and stuff. I saw the last few weapons were knives and a bow and arrow, so I grabbed them. And just ran, I couldn't find you during the countdown. So, I either suspected you swam quicker than everyone else or you'd died in the bloodbath. But I got into the forest and was having a breathing break when someone cut my arm, and when I turned it was Casey from District 7." – Ah, Casey, not Carly – "And you pretty much saw the rest." Phil smirked. "So, what about you, how'd you get out of the bloodbath?"

"Like you said," Dan smiled and put the rock and axe down. "I swam faster than everyone else. I had a run-in with Stacy from 2, but she went down quick. Got jumped by someone at the Cornucopia but axed them pretty quick. And killed Casey from 7 for you. And that's pretty much it."

Phil smirked, "I've only killed Mason from 3, and that was by shooting him at the bloodbath because I panicked."

They both chuckled, until Phil asked, "So why an axe? District 4 is known for fishing, District 7 is known for tree chopping."

Dan smiled and picked up his axe, "I picked the axes because they were the first thing I saw,"
He scratched off a bit of old blood from the blade.
"And I used to cut down trees for my dad, so he could take wood to the docks and use them to make fire, and camp overnight, waiting for the boats to leave. It was his job to make sure they got away safely, but some of the Bon Voyages were at like 6am, so he'd camp overnight."

Phil nodded, "Well, it's great you found a weapon that reminded you of home. I picked the bow because I'm good at aiming, not necessarily shooting."
They chuckled, they heard the announcement music, it was time to see who died today.

Laurie from 3

Mason from 3

Olive from 5

Ethan from 11 (who looked like the kid Dan axed at the Cornucopia)

Lucy from 6

Casey from 7

And then the music ended, and the hologram showing the faces of the dead people disappeared. Ah, he didn't kill Stacy, he just took her out.

Phil sighed, "6 gone already."
"42 more to go." Dan finished.
There was a pause until they heard a jingle coming from the sky, they both looked up to see a small silver box floating towards them.

"Yes!" Dan grinned and caught his first sponsor of the Hunger Games with both hands.
Dan opened the box and saw what it had inside, a vial.

He picked up the vial and read the note Haymich wrote and read it out loud in confusion, "'Liquid life, only use it if absolutely necessary. -H'"

"Liquid life?" Phil asked. "That's like the most powerful medicine in the Capitol, they use it to bring back the useful dead, you know, like game-keepers that drop dead. But you can't use it on people who've been stabbed or anything, it has to be internal death. Why would he send a vial to us?"

"And why only one?" Dan said. "There's only enough for one of us."
Phil paused and said, "We don't need it yet, do we?"

Dan shook his head and placed the vial in his belt and the note in the box, and a second later another cannon went off.

Dan looked at the sky, he couldn't help but smile, which left Phil confused.

"You like the cannons?" Phil asked.

Dan looked back at Phil, "Every time one of those cannons go off, it's music to my ears."

"But, why?" Phil asked, eyes squinted. "It only means that's another person dead."

Dan looked up and stared at him, before saying sternly, "Because it means there's one less person I'd have to kill."