The Last Hunger Games

Chapter 35 - Truth or Dare?

For a minute or two we just sit here, looking at her dead body, her innocent face, until the hovercraft claw comes down and we are forced to the edges of the rooftop. Once the claw is gone we do nothing.

And by that I mean literally nothing. Jack lays down, his jacket over his face, and every now and then I see his shoulders shake from tears. For a reason I don't understand I cannot bring myself to cry. When I do eventually cry though, I find that it's not for Violet, but for Celestia. I sniff and tears roll down my face, one after the other. I take a deep breath and come back into reality, only to see that Jack's shoulders have stopped moving. Is he dead? Oh, please don't let him be dead.

I crawl over on my hands and knees to remove the jacket from his face. He doesn't move, only his eyes, which continue to blink. He seems frozen in grief, and I don't blame him in the slightest. 

Everyone he's ever loved is dead. 

He's completely alone.

And so am I.

I lie down next to him, not because I like him back or anything like that, but because I think we could both use a friend right now. He's lost his little sister and I've lost my cousin, who might as well have been my sister we were so close.

"Can I ask you something?" Jack says all of s sudden. If he's asking me to be his girlfriend, now is not the time or place. And the answer would be no, obviously. 

"Go ahead," I reply. 

"Why are you still here?" he says. "I mean, now that Servius and Vi are both... gone, you could just kill me. I don't care and I know you hate my guts anyway."

"Well, maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were."

"Really?"

"No," I lie.

"Didn't think so," he laughs. I've never heard him laugh before; he has a nice laugh. Dammit Avita, get your thoughts back on track. "But seriously, why are you here?" he continues. "And why are we even allies in the first place? Of all the possible alliances, I think this is the most unlikely."

"You've got chatty," I say. "I guess I'm just here because I don't stand a chance in this place alone."

"You really think I'm going to make a difference? I saw you fight that mutt, I'm just a waste of food and water."  

I laugh a little and put my hands behind my head. The blue sky is blinding but I stare at it anyway. 

"Can I ask you something now?" I ask, because there is a question or two that have been lingering at the back of my head for a while now, and I could do with getting them answered. 

"Sure," he says, but I catch a hint of... is that nervousness? In his voice.

"Why did you save my life from the mutt? I mean, yes maybe I could be a bit of help, but you just were just so quick." Surely he didn't save my life just because he likes me? Of course I'm glad he saved me from the mutt but that would be a pretty lame reason as to why. 

"Same reason as you I guess," he says. "I wouldn't stand a chance alone in this place."

"So you chose your harmless sister and that pig disguised as Servius as allies? What help were they going to be?" I say.

"Servius knew what was edible and what wasn't, and Vi could tell the time from the sun," he replies. 

"Oh yes, because those two things will win you the Games for sure," I say. We laugh a little. 

"Why are you so sarcastic?"

In a more serious tone I reply, "Well it's either that or cry. After Celestia died I realised that if I cry about her for the rest of the Games it won't get me anywhere. If I win, I'll cry enough tears to flood the Capitol, and if I don't....what more could I lose?"

He doesn't say anything for a minute and neither do I. Then he says in a more than a whisper but less than a proper talk, "You know, I don't think we're as dissimilar as we thought." I look over at him; he's staring at the the sky. It's not the real sky of course but it's nice to trick yourself into thinking that it might be. Nice to trick yourself into thinking you may see the real one again one day. 

(A/N: Apologies to everyone who's been reading this that it's taken me so many months to update! I hadn't realised this was in my drafts until just now, so that's why it's been published!
Anyone have anything they want to see happen, please comment and let me know! I don't use PMs, so comments are fine! Anything at all, I'll see what I can do (nothing too radical, obviously)
But yeah, sorry again but thanks for reading! 

:)