The Capitol Games

Chapter 44

"Have you seen any of the others?" I ask Zora. "Where they're at, what their plan is?"

It's almost twilight now, and we're all sitting on the river bank in a small circle. The fireballs for this hour stopped a few minutes ago, and we all haul ourselves out of the water. We abandoned most of our outer layers of clothes a while ago and stuffed them into two backpacks, considering that the jacket, pants and socks were really hard to dry; all of us are in our inner white shirts and shorts. My burns started to pepper up with splotches of blood, probably from how I exerted them while trying to get to Zeke earlier this afternoon. Zora instructs Calla and I to reapply some of the burn cream.

While we did that, the others took inventory again. We were able to save Zeke's jacket, but his inner white shirt and outer blue shirt are little more than rags that are currently wrapped around bits of squirrel meat. He's wearing Kendall's inner white shirt now, which isn't too bad a fit, considering that Kendall was very tall. I think he feels a bit weird wearing a dead girl's shirt, which is totally understandable. The shirt is also a little snug for him, which I'm not complaining about at all.

Zora also made a sort of salve pack for Kace's arm wound. Apparently, the only thing really wrong with it is inflammation, and pine leaves are great for that. Kace's bandage is now greenish rather than it's usual reddish-pink, and he looks (and repeatedly tells Zora that) he's feeling much much better.

"Yeah, I've seen them." Zora says. She's sitting with her legs crossed under her, and her weapons belt is lying in front of her. "Jett, Leigh, and Summer have allied up. They were actually by the river on the other side of the cornucopia last I saw them yesterday, but I'm highly suspicious that they've moved now."

"Why?" Finnick asks, his eyes sharp.

"To hunt you all, of course." Zora says calmly, but her words send a sort of shock wave around our circle. I feel it too. "You're the biggest group. Jett's plan is to find you and take you out from afar, not engage in combat. Well, take me out too now, I suppose."

"With a bow?" I say. "He's good with it?"

Zora nods. But it's Kace who speaks. "He's good with everything. He was training to join the peacekeepers, it's all he wanted for as long as I've known him."

"The peacekeepers?" Addie says. Even in the dim light, her hair stands out starkly against her white inner clothes and pale face. "I didn't know Capitol citizens joined the peacekeepers."

"We don't," Kace replies. "Not officially, at least. You join the local police, and if you're good enough, you get secretly recruited to join the peacekeepers. You get relocated to one of the Districts, get resident qualification as well. That's what Jett wants. Or wanted, I suppose."

Suddenly, all the missing parts of the puzzle that was Jett falls into place. Why I've so often caught him looking at me weirdly. Why he's so calculative, so careful with all his actions and decisions. He's not just fighting to survive, he's fighting to get out of the life he has. Into a new life.

"The Hunger Games would be the perfect audition," Finnick says dryly. His face is stony and impassive, his eyes sharp and glinting in the dark light. This strikes me as weird because I've never really seen Finnick like this before. He's always been warm and grinning, oozing casual grace and confidence. But ever since the arena, he's been hard and sharp and protective. With a pang, I feel a strange longing for the old Finnick.

"Why are they keeping Summer around?" Kylie asks suddenly. "What use could Jett have for her?"

I blink in surprise at Kylie's sudden... curiosity? She usually doesn't contribute much to our group discussions.