Grain & Blood | A Hunger Games collection

Sorry

Before I start I just wanna say sorry for no chapter yesterday. I'm on vacation, and there's no wifi. Plus, it's supposed to be a family vacation and I shouldn't be staring at screens all the time >.<

The two of us start running as fast as we can across the desert. Being chased in the trees is very different to being chased across an open expanse of nothing. Out here, there's nowhere to hide, nowhere to go and no possibility of getting away from the chaser, especially when there's two of them.
An eagle screeches overhead, a constant reminder that predators are constantly nearby. It's a surprise that I haven't run into any coyotes yet, but as this is such a large and harsh area the chances are that they just haven't found us yet. Or the gamemakers have turned them into some type of mutation and are going to add them to the fun at some point.
Nikki is beginning to tire, starting to fall behind a little. But to be completely honest, I couldn't really care. She was never my first choice of ally, just a spur of the moment choice, and now that I know her I'm surprised she's survived this long when she can hardly run. And me? Yeah, I haven't even reached my full speed yet.
She dies and I don't care. To be honest I don't think I ever did. I just need to get away, Nikki can be brutally murdered again and I won't bat an eyelid.
"Iris! Help!" She screams for the second time these games. And for the second time I keep going, not caring at all for her. She screams again, and this time I turn around. Not to help, not to feel sorry, just to watch. This time I know she's dead, her cannon echoes in my ears as a signal that I need to keep going.
But when I glance back to see if I'm still being chased, I realise that nobody is following me. The careers obviously want me to stay alive for a while, you know, to keep the games exciting.
I give up on running and start circling back to the woods. Nikki had nothing of importance on her when she died, and even if she did I wouldn't go back for it. Now that she's dead I want nothing to do with her.
Eventually I finish my wide circle and end up back in the trees. The heat is just so annoying, so very very annoying, and very very hot. I wish the gamemakers dropped the temperature just a little, maybe to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which is still hot but not as bad as 100.
But the gamemakers don't want that, no, they want us to go so insane from the heat that we decide to kill one another to get away from here. Or kill ourselves. Both work.
What do I want to do? I'm not sure, maybe I could just collapse in the shade of a tree and think back to home. Think back to the good times, the times when I was 10 and didn't have a care in the world...

Jonen and I are sitting in one of the trees in her back garden. We're both 10, and it must be around May, maybe early June. My feet are sore and I'm out of breath, so I must have just run in from the fields at the end of my shift. There's always a lot to do just before harvest.
"Iris?" Jonen looks up from the branch below.
"Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm just thinking about the reaping. I know we're not at risk, but in a few years we will be, and I wish there was something we could do."
"I know. I feel the same way."
I drop onto the branch where Jonen is sitting and squish in next to her.
"There is something we can do though," I've just had a brainwave.
"What? Run away to District 2 and become careers?"
"Jonen, we don't need to go to District 2 for that."
"You mean..."
"Yes. I mean that we can train here, in your garden, after my shift every day. That way we won't be safe from the reaping, but we'll be safe from other tributes,"
Her eyes light up and she drops onto the ground. "I'll ask my dad. Even if he doesn't say yes, we'll find a way. Same place, same time, next Wednesday?"
"I'll be ready."

Alright well I wrote an author's note at the beginning so I ain't doing another one now.

-Katherine