𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 ☘︎ 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 ☘︎ 9

We need to find water. That, according to Haymitch, is the key to survival. And I know it is.

When the sky brightens the next morning, I arise to find Foxface keeping watch. We agreed a schedule last night, and I was happy to see she's sticking to it.

"I've realised," I say quietly, looking at her. "I've never caught your real name. I'm Willow Hawthorne, and you're...?"

Foxface smiled slightly. "Nina," she said. "Nina Williams. It's a... common District Five name, but I like it."

"It's... nice," I decide to say, feeling it would be rude to say nothing. "I just didn't want to continue calling you 'Foxface' because-"

"You called me what?" Nina asks. "Foxface?"

"It was just the red hair," I shrug, trying not to laugh as I change the subject. "We need to find water. We won't survive for long without it and the stupid flask I got in the bag isn't full."

Nina nodded, slightly amused.

I try to ignore how much I'm starting to like her.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

We instantly look for mud, because if the ground is wet and muddy, I know there must be a stream or a little lake nereby. We hike for about a mile, following the mud, before I find it. There, we wash ourselves, fill up my flask and just drink. Water is, after all, my new best friend.

I then try to make a bow to hunt with. Using the knife that Clove tried to kill me with, I shave the ends of two sticks down to a point, then use a flexible one to make the wooden bit of a bow. I don't manage to make one very successfully, but I do catch a little lizard with my knife. Using my so called arrows as skewers, I build a fire and roast it on it.

Nina and I share it, both of us very happy for some food.

"It's better than I thought it would be," commented my ally. "The lizard, I mean."

Again, I try not to laugh. That was something that I could imagine Rory saying, and I don't want to imagine Rory or my family at the moment.

By the time we're finished it's nearing night, and the sky is gradually beginning to darken. I've seen on previous games that the careers hunt at night, scouring the arena for idiots who leave themselves too exposed. So, to avoid this happening to Nina and I, we climb a tree and use my rope to bind ourselves to it, so we won't fall out of it and be dead meat.

It's when we're starting to settle down, not talking much, that the Capitol anthem starts to play, and a projection is shown in the sky. Again, this, along with the cannon, is the way that we know who is dead. The cannon happens as soon as the death has, whereas at night, the anthem plays and pictures of the dead tributes, if there are any, are projected in the sky.

I look at Nina warily before turning my head to the sky.

The girl from Three comes first, which means all of the career pack have survived today. I'm not surprised. It's only towards the end of the games that they start picking off each other. The boy from Four comes next, meaning the male tribute from Three is still alive. Next is the girl from Four, then the boy from Five.

I look over at Nina, who gasps slightly, mainly just because she knew the boy, I presume, and bites her lip. Not wanting to intrude upon whatever moment she's having, I look back at the sky.

Both from Six and seven, then the boy from Eight. Both from Nine and the girl from Ten.

Somehow, Austin and Rue are both alive. They're the ones I really don't want dead. I relax a little and decide to get some rest, but then I hear a little crack.