𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 & 𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐄. ᵀᴴᴳ[1]

9

AS THE MORNING TURNED TO AFTERNOON, THE ARENA TURNED INTO A HUMID NIGHTMARE. Sage guessed it was just past noon, but he could have been wrong. The gamemakers could be speeding up the day or slowing it down— but by the hot sun that managed to seep through the thick canopy of leaves above them, and by the way the air seemed to boil around them, he guessed it was the hottest part of the day. If it wasn't, and it was only going to get hotter— that alone would probably kill a couple tributes.

     Sage and Boyde had both taken off their jackets as the day had gotten more hot, Sage shoved his into his pack while Boyde kept his accessible around his waist. At first both of them weren't that bothered by the heat, or maybe they were just trying to show the cameras they weren't— or even each other. But at this point, both of them were visibly miserable. Boyde had to stretch out his collar every few minutes just to use it to wipe off his face as sweat dripped down his forehead and into his eyes. Sage wanted nothing more than to do the same, but the mere thought of touching his cheek even a little bit made his face throb.

"Do you think they're even on this side of the cornucopia?" Boyde questioned, there was still a whole other side of the arena that had been behind them when they entered the arena on the pedestals.

"Probably," Sage replied, "if Deedee saw any of us run towards to the Cornucopia, she would have too so she wouldn't be too far from us." he told him, "So why didn't you want to be allies with Opal?" Sage questioned.

Boyde sighed heavily, "It's a long story." he said, but then continuing anyway. "In the academy we never really got along. It's been no different the last few days." he added, his tone stayed level and showed no real emotion when he talked about his district partner. "Do you think it will stay like this tonight?" he questioned, changing the subject as he dried his face.

Sage shook his head, "No. It was cooler this morning, so it'll probably be cooler tonight and warm up again tomorrow." he said, "Before it starts to get dark though, we should find a place to set up for the night."

"I think we should stay in the trees," Boyde replied, "hell, if we can find one sturdy enough, we could probably find one we could climb." he said, looking upwards into the trees. He slowed his pace for a moment and pointed, "The branches look strong enough, we could take turns sleeping with our backs to the trunk."

"Is your rope strong enough to help us climb up to the branches?" Sage asked, from what he could tell, most of the trees around them didn't have branches starting any lower than two or three feet above them.

Boyde nodded, "If not, we could twist it with a few of the vines." he suggested, motioning to some of the low hanging vines from a tree near them.

"Let's plan on that then," Sage said, "if we don't find them soon..." he paused, he hoped they would. This early in the games, they were safer in numbers. "let's focus on finding water and maybe something we can eat."