The Fifty Fifth Annual Hunger Games

The Fourth Day

Sterling groaned, the pain in his leg taking over his thoughts. Breathing ragged and forehead sweaty, he could hardly get any sleep the night before, not being able to focus on anything but his injury. The sun was rising on the fourth day in the arena as he opened his eyes, but he couldn't keep them open for long. Augusta watched him struggle to fully wake up with worried eyes as the rest of the group started to wake.
"I think I might know something that could help him if we can find it in the woods. It's a root that makes a paste that can stem the spread of bacteria," Augusta muttered, looking up at Rosilee who was also watching their injured counterpart.
She nodded. "He needs anything we can get. Take Newton with you."
Augusta looked to the District 5 boy and he nodded. She took a deep breath and one last glance at Sterling before they stood and exited the cave together.
Jasper rested his hand on his partner's slouched shoulder. "Should we still be trying to help him? He looks on the brink of death..." He whispered.
She turned to him with wide eyes. "Why would you say that?" She asked, shocked by his seeming lack of compassion.
"Rosilee, do you want to live? I'm sorry, but he's holding us back. Maybe we should just go off on our own." He suggested, voice still soft should Sterling be conscious enough to hear him.
"We can't leave them. We need them, and they need us. I won't let the Capitol break me down to someone with no humanity left," she turned and went to sit against the wall of the cave near the entrance.
He sighed and ran a hand down his face before going to sit next to her. "I don't want that either. But I do know that I need you to get home."
She looked at him for a moment before asking the question she was dreading. "What about you?"
"Let's just... not think about that right now, ok?" He hung his head, not being able to look into her eyes.
"I don't want to go home without you, Jasper."
"Rosy, I..." he looked up into her glassy eyes. "I did this, I volunteered, so I could protect you. So that I could get you home. So that I didn't have to watch you die on a screen. Please don't let that go to waste," he placed his hand on her cheek gently.
She leaned into his touch, closing her eyes and trying not to cry.
"Help! Help, it's Newton!" Augusta cried, bursting into the cave.

The 8 and 5 pair had been wordlessly searching the forest floor amongst the trees for the root they needed. Augusta had picked up a few berries along the way as well.
"We should try to look by water. There would probably be more there." Augusta suggested, looking around her for some sign of a stream, when something hanging from a tree caught her eye. She followed it down to the floor of the forest, her eyebrows stitched together in confusion. "Newton, wait..." but it was too late.
His foot landed in the middle of a circle of rope and vine and suddenly he was hoisted into the air with a yelp. "Help!" he wailed. She tried to use the blade in her hand to cut him down but she was simply too short.
"I... I'll go get help!" she began backing up away from him.
"Hurry!" he pleaded and she took off running in the direction they came from.

"Help! Help, it's Newton!" she cried, bursting into the cave as Jasper and Rosilee were sharing a moment. She felt a twinge of embarrassment for walking in on them, but the adrenaline running through her covered it in an instant.
The twelve pair shared a glance and Rosilee nodded before Jasper jumped to his feet. "Where?"
Augusta led him through the woods to the clearing they had been in but their feet hadn't carried them fast enough.
Lying in the middle of clearing was their District 5 partner, blood still bubbling from the slice in his throat. Jasper took a sharp breath before bending down to examine the rope around his ankle. He looked back at the girl behind him, frozen in her spot with tears in her eyes and hand clamped over her mouth. "We need to be more careful when scavenging."
She barely heard him through the blood pounding in her ears. She had seen mangled bodies before thanks to the dangerous factory machines in her district, but she couldn't help but feel like this was her fault. She ran. She couldn't help him. And now he was dead.
"The drones will be here for him soon..." he rested a hand on her arm and she jumped, snapping out of her trance. She swallowed thickly and nodded, following him back to their shelter.
Rosilee stood when they returned, but the look on their faces and lack of the third member tells her what happened. She hung her head and sat back down, feeling defeated.
"I don't know what we're going to do. Even the trees are dangerous now," Augusta muttered, plopping down.
"What if..." Rosilee looked up at them. "This may sound crazy but..."

"No. No way." Jasper shook his head, arms crossed. "They'll kill you immediately."
"They wanted us on their team at one point! I can just talk to the one who wanted us. The one from four. Levie, right?"
"If she's still alive!" he argued.
Augusta sighed, watching Sterling carefully. His head lolled to the side and she could see him fighting to keep his eyes open. "He really needs help..." she muttered.
"I can stay far away from them. Go in broad daylight and talk to them from far enough so I have room to run if things turn bad. And you can go with me and watch from the side," Rosilee tried to convince her partner.
Sterling groaned again as he shifted again, catching their attention. "This is such a bad idea," Jasper sighed, looking away from him.
"Please?" Rosilee looked at him with pleading eyes, and Augusta matched her look.
When he turned back to them, his resolve had crumbled. "Fine. But only Rosy and I will go."
Augusta nodded. "We'd need more help to get him anywhere anyway," she said, gesturing to the injured boy.
Jasper didn't understand why Rosilee was willing to put her life on the line for them, but with one team member down, they were getting desperate. Too desperate he thought.

Prosper stood and stretched when he woke up, groggily joining the rest of the group outside the cornucopia.
"Morning, love bird," Caster said slyly, not bothering to look up at him.
The blonde growled and moved to tackle the taller boy again but Chanel caught his arm. "You want another black eye?"
He backed down, still grumbling and sat down to sharpen his sword. "We're going after the elevens today," he decided.
"We already have a plan." Caster stated bluntly, earning another sharp glare from the District 1 boy.
"Without me?"
"Well you were still asleep."
"If it wasn't for your princess we wouldn't have to at all."
Caster finally looked over at him, danger in his eyes. "If I recall correctly, there were two people on guard, and you were eating one of their faces last night."
"You fucking prick..." he moved to get up again but Lyssa's foot to his shin shut him down.
"Me, Jack, and the fours are going." Holstein spoke up, trying to keep the conversation on track.
"Are you serious?" Prosper grunted, but a glance at a huffy Ajax confirmed his question. "If you don't come back with both of their heads, I'm going after them myself," he stood, returning to the shelter of the cornucopia.

As the sun began to set again, the group prepared to take on the pair that thought they could steal from the careers and live to tell about it. Jack tossed one of the axes to Holstein before finishing his sharpening job on the other. Levie tightens the belt of knives around her waist and gives one a practice throw. When they're all ready, they set off for the woods, deducing that they would stick nearby and search for water after analyzing what they had taken from their supplies.

When the group had gone, and the sun had fully set, the stars making an appearance, Lyssa went to find Prosper and attempt to... console him again. But when she turned the corner, she heard the boy she was looking for and her district partner in deep conversation.
"He thinks he can tell me what to do and then do whatever the fuck he wants with no consequences." The blonde growled.
"We could make it without them you know," Ajax pointed out. "Both of us have more training than all of them combined."
"Sure, but I'm not leaving without taking some of them out first. Specifically that four dick."
Lyssa's eyebrows pulled together, as she listened to them discuss how they'd like to kill their allies. Keep your friends close, but enemies closer, right?
She finally turned her attention away from them when she heard yelling from somewhere in the tree line. I guess they found their targets.

After the stars began peeking through the trees, the sound of running water caught in Levie's ear. She held up a hand to silently stop the group before gesturing to the direction of the sound. When they approached the stream, they saw the outlines of the thieves. Caster poised himself to throw his spear into the back of the one nearest to them, but the boy managed to pull his partner out of the way just in time. Caster cursed under his breath and launched himself forward, the rest of them following shortly after.
He wrenched his spear from the earth as the pair tried to run.
One of Levie's knives struck the girl in her back and she fell forward. "Go Fallow! Run!" she cried before Jack was on her back. The boy kept running but not before pausing to launch an arrow into the group. Holstein threw his axe after him, but just as the handle left his fingers, the arrow struck him just under his ribs.
He gasped, stumbling back from the impact.
"Holstein?" Levie turned to him with wide eyes when he stumbled. He looked down and when she followed his eyes she gasped.
Jack and Caster rushed to his side to help him stay standing. "We've got to get him back," Caster steadied them and Jack nodded, pulling ahead to lead the way as Holstein held onto the four boy.
He was wading in and out of consciousness, his vision swimming as he was practically hauled back through the woods. They had barely made it to the cornucopia before he collapsed, the exhaustion of holding himself up becoming too much. Chanel and Lyssa rushed to his side, but his glassy eyes were already staring blankly up at the sky, his last breath shuddering past his lips.