The Capitol Games

Chapter 37

I'm proud of myself for not falling asleep. Whether that's a particularly bad thing right now, I don't care. Zeke almost nodded off multiple times through the night, but was always adamant to stay awake with me, despite me telling him multiple times that I'll wake him up at the slightest noise. As the sun slowly began to rise, the quiet chirping of crickets died down, and the rushing of the streams and rivers of the forest were once again heard. There weren't any incidents in the night, and that was only a small relief: I was more worried about what was to come. This wasn't going to be easy, and I knew that. Just because I was Katniss and Peta's daughter didn't give me any sort of extra protection. The gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee, made that perfectly clear.

As the sun starts to rise, people start waking up. By their faces I can tell that they didn't have the most comfortable sleep, and of course, I'm not surprised.

Mayra is the first to wake up, and by the look in her eyes, I doubt she slept at all. Calla takes Finnick with her to go check on the snares she set before we went to sleep. Addie and Laython take out the water bottles and go to fill it by the narrow river we found yesterday.

Kace winces as he gets up, his arm bandage soaked dark red.

"Is it worse?" I ask Kace.

"I don't know," he replies. "I think the bleeding has stopped, but I don't know how the wound is."

"Take the bandage off, then." Says Keaton. "Let's see."

Slowly, Kace begins to unravel the torn bit of white fabric that is wrapped around his arm. The material is stiff as he takes it out, and I hope the dried blood is an indication that his cut has healed over. As he drops the last bit of fabric away, I curse myself for being so foolishly hopeful.

Everyone keeps quiet as we look at his wound, and only the rapid rushing of the streams and the river ahead of that can be heard. The bleeding has stopped, but the wound is puffy and bright red. The skin around it is swollen as well, but has a purplish tinge to it, the veins in his arm particularly prominent. Inflammation.

"Oh no." I mutter "How are we going to heal that?"

No one offers any advice. Then Kylie asks, "Does it hurt really bad?"

"Not too bad." Kace says. "It feels sort of numb."

Finnick and Calla return, Calla winding her wire back into a neat coil, and Finnick carrying two dead squirrels. Addie and Laython also return, and Addie cringes slightly at the wound.

"We should see if there's anything in the cornucopia for that." Addie says, walking closer to Kace. "We can't just leave it like this."

"That's too dangerous," Mayra says, over the sound of rushing water. "We might get a parachute soon with medicine for him. I don't think we should risk going back out there."
"Well, Addie is right, we can't just wait around for it to get worse," Keaton says immediately, and I can see surprise flash ever so briefly in Myra's at his tone.

I don't bother asking Kace what he wants to do, because I know for a fact that he'll toughen it out for the benefit of the group.

"We'll split up." I say

"But Lian we shouldn't-" starts Finnick.

"No we should," I say adamantly. "There is no way all of us are going to go trekking up there, so I think four of us should go. Quietly. We can also re-fill on supplies."

"It's too dangerous." Zeke interjects, and by the look in his eyes I can tell that he knows I'm going to volunteer to go. "What if Jett or Safia are in there, waiting to ambush you?"

Finnick and Mayra give me a look that says that they wholeheartedly agree with Zeke.

"We'll scout," I say firmly. "Kace needs this."