The 73rd annual Hunger Games

Chapter 21

Athena POV:

My hand hurts. Why does my hand hurt? My eyes fly open. My hands are in fists. I realise that I'm still holding my knife. The blade cut deeply into my pale flesh, leaving crimson red dribbles down my palm. Fuck. I groan as I pull my sleeping bag off me. No one is up yet. I grab my water bottle and first aid kit and rinse the cut out with water. I wrap gauze and bandage wrap around my hand and call it fine. I return the supplies and take out a chunk of meat. The fire embers are completely out now. After I eat, Harrison, Oakley, Wade and Felix wake up. Lillian always sleeps in so I'm not surprised. The sun peeks over the mountain and shines its golden rays over the valley. Today, I am determined to get at least five tributes. The others eat as I sharpen my knives.

"What happened to your hand?" Oakley suddenly asks.

"Oh uh, I just cut it," I shrug.

"Oh, ok." She turns back to her food. I notice a different atmosphir between Oakley and Felix today. Their usual joking selves are quiet today. I notice Oakley sneaking repetitive glaces. I chuckle to myself knowing what's going through Oakleys head. Lillian finally wakes up and the others finish their breakfast.

"What's the plan for today?" Asks Felix. I look from Wade, to Harrison, to Oakley then shrug.

"I think we should all group up. Lillian and Harrison, you can... keep watch again. Felix and Oakley, you guys can go north towards the mountains. That leaves Athena and I. We'll go back to the forest," Wade says confidently. No one objects. We pack our bags and head out in the assigned groups. We decided to enter the woods in a different spot than we have been for the past few days. The forest is much thinner here. The trees don't have branches until the very tops. The sun shines in rays through the thin foliage. It would be so pretty if we weren't tracking down people to kill. The ground is patches of dirt and grass which covers our tracks nicly. About half an hour of walking, we come across a crackling noise. Fire. I only have to look at Wade for him to understand. We run towards the noise. Two boys are huddled together under a tree. They have a small fire going.

"Aw look. Are you cold?" I ask in a taunting voice.

"P-please don't kill us!" One begs.

"Aw, ok. I won't kill you." With that, Wade slashes one in half with his sword. Then cuts the others head off. He wipes the blade on one of the boys' shirts.

"Job well done," I chuckle. We set off again in the same direction that we were going. We get to a large river and have to pull our pants up to our knees. The water is cold but refreshing. Wade splashes water over my face and I yelp as the cold water hits my face.

"Oh it's on!" I grab a handful of water and chuck it at Wade, then run out of the water and away from the river. He runs after me. He grabs my waist and spins me around, laughing.

"Heyy," I whine.

"Sorry, sorry," He gives me fake puppy dog eyes. We continue walking until Wade stops me.

"Hear it?" He asks.

"No?" I respond, straining my ears. But then I do. I do hear it. "Yes, I do now."

"C'mon." He runs off in the direction of the noise. A girl is standing by a small bush gathering berries. She hears us and whips around.

"Hi there!" Wade smirks. Out of nowhere, she drops her berries and grabs a knife from her pocket and runs towards us, screaming. We leap to the side just as she lunges towards us. We glance at each other and see we both wear the same surprised expression. Wade draws his sword and I pull my most lethal knife. As she jumps at us a second time, we're prepared. I leap to the side and chuck it in her direction. It catches her in the gut and she screeches in pain. I pull another and run towards her. I leap onto her and tackle her to the ground. She raises her knife and goes for my head. I dodge but the blade catches me in the upper thigh. I grit my teeth as another wave of fury overruns me. I stab my knife into her shoulder and she screams again. She pushes my shoulders away but I hold my ground and press my blade to her neck. I smirk at her as I slide my blade across her neck and she takes her last breath. I roll off of her and try to stand. I'm losing blood rapidly and the pain is unbearable. By the look on Wade's face I can tell he's seen the gash.

"I'm ok, really," I assure him.

"No you're not. It's ok to not be ok." He looks so concerned it's funny.

"Ok you're right. I'm not ok." I grimace as I sit back down on the ground.

"Let's go back to that river and I'll help you," He suggests. He slings one arm around my waist and helps me up. I grimace in pain but keep limping to the river. Luckily we were not too far away. Once we get to the river I sit down on the bank. Wade looks at me expectedly and that's when I remember I have the first aid kit in my bag. I chuck my bag at him and he starts digging through it. He grabs a bunch of stuff -much of which I cannot name- and brings it over to me. We both look down at my cut and realise the fabric of my pants is in the way.

"Um, can you roll them up?" Asks Wade.

"No! I obviously can't! The cuts at my thigh!" I roll my eyes.

"Ok, ok sorry," Wade mumbles. "Then what are you going to do?"

"I'll just take them off," I shrug. "It's not like I'm naked." I inch the pants down my legs slowly so as to not hurt the cut. Once I get them off I chuck them into the river to get the blood off. Wade's face flushes at first but he regains his composure. First, he rinses the blood from the cut, then puts like four different creams on it, then wraps it in gauze and bandage wrap. He then goes to the river and washes my pants out.

"Thanks," I say as he slings the pants over a rock to dry.

"No problem," he replies. I scoot myself onto a rock and watch the easy current carry away the leaves that fall into the river. Wade is hesitant to sit beside me so he sits as far from me as he can.

"Why are you so scared of me all of a sudden?" I tease.

"I'm not! It's just... your like.."

"Like what?"

"Naked." He blushes as I chuckle at him. I move even closer to him just to make him blush even harder.

"Look at you, Mr. Confidence. So scared of me because I'm... pantless?" I turn to look at him, his face inches from mine. He looks into my eyes and I can see my reflection in his. His breath brushes alone my cheek as he leans in and kisses me. Not the same heated kiss as the night before the games, but soft and passionate. When we break apart, he's breathing heavily even though he didn't do anything to make him breathe like that. I sit back down next to him and we stare at the river in silence. We don't need words to know exactly what we're thinking. A half hour later, my pants are dry and I change into them. My leg feels a bit better. Wade offers to piggy back me and I let him. He's very strong. Once we get back, everyone is already sitting at the camp. Felix smirks at us and I feel my cheeks redden. Once we get to camp Wade puts me down and I limp over to my sleeping bag. That's when they all notice the gash in my pants leg and the bandage poking through.

"I'm fine. We got it sorted," I shrug. Oakley smirks at me and I give her a harsh look. We have our usual routine: Eat, watch the list of dead tributes, sleep.