Firecracker: The 99th Games Book One

Arena, Day 5 Part 1

Haruka awoke the next morning curled up on Faqir's chest. He mumbled to himself, admittedly not willing to sit up just yet. Sitting up probably meant dealing with the mean District 5 girl they had bargained their way into staying with.

"You up?" Faqir asked quietly. "Hey, I think Clare's getting fed up with us still being here. We should go. I was thinking we can hide at the ruins."

Haruka yawned, stubbornly refusing to sit up. "Aren't the Careers there...?"

"I can't see them anymore. They must have left."

"I don't know..." Reluctantly, Haruka pushed himself to a sitting position and stretched his arms over his head, looking around for Clare. She was nowhere to be seen, but he could smell smoke. Was she cooking something? "I just feel like that's a risky move. Is there anywhere else we can go...?"

"That has water, shelter, and places we can hide from more potential mutt attacks? No, not at all," Faqir replied, sitting up beside him. "I know it's risky, but it's...it's all we've got right now. Let's just try it and see if we can find a good hiding spot. If we hear the Careers, I promise I'll take you somewhere else."

"There is no reason we should be alive right now," Haruka muttered. "Clare already saved us once, can we not just stay here...?"

"Oh, no, she'll definitely kill us if we do that," Faqir said lightly. "Just a vibe I get. Come on, let's just try the ruins. Okay?"

Haruka stared at him, frowning. Faqir pulled his best puppy eyes and Haruka finally gave in with a huff, snuggling his arm. "Fine. But only because you've been really nice to me this whole time and I feel bad for never giving you that smooch."

"I'll exchange my 'good ally' points for it later," Faqir decided, patting Haruka's head affectionately. "Come on, up and at 'em. Maybe we can take some mutt meat from Clare!"

"Is that what she's cooking?" Haruka asked, unable to mask his disgust as he finally managed to stand. "That sounds...awful."

"Hey, whatever works," Faqir said with a shrug, rising beside Haruka. He gathered the two backpacks they had managed to salvage and left the Cornucopia, leaving Haruka to take his sword along. On their way out, they passed Clare, who was roasting a leg of the tiger mutts over a fire. "Sorry we overstayed our welcome. We'll leave you alone now."

Clare grunted. "Great. Good plan. Don't come back."

Haruka frowned, admittedly frustrated by Clare's seemingly contrarian personality. Why had she bothered saving them if she was just going to throw them back to the wolves afterwards?

Still, she had saved his life. Haruka offered a sincere "thank you" as he and Faqir headed for the ruins on the cliffs.

It took them the better part of the day to finally get to the ruins, braving an entirely silent jungle, tall rocks, and their own paranoia on the way. Evidently, the other tributes had cleared out of the jungle when the mutts attacked. Even the Careers were nowhere to be seen.

That made things easier, at least. Haruka heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed against the walls of a room in the ruined temple, slumping in exhaustion. Faqir sat beside him and Haruka snuggled into his shoulder, quiet for a moment.

"...I guess we can sit here for a while," Haruka murmured. "The sun is so hot...I feel like I need a shower."

"I mean, there is a river here," Faqir pointed out. "Runs pretty fast, but I bet we could pull off a bath. Assuming you don't mind seeing my scrawny a*s naked."