𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟒𝟖

"it was awful. it was like the voices were right there... if i reached out i'd find the owners. i'd find you, doyoung or my sister... it sounded too real." jihyun said, wincing as renjun cleaned her wounds.

"but it wasn't real."

"yeah, i know that now. but in that moment, you just can't tell."

"all done." he muttered, tossing aside the cloth and ointment.

"why did it last so long though?" jisung asked. "it was nearly an hour."

"it was an hour..." jihyun corrected. "from the minute we lost the others and up until the force field broke."

"they tortured us for an hour." he sighed, placing his head on his knees.

"an hour... an hour of those jabberjay and a force field blocking off a certain area. even the jabberjay couldn't escape." jihyun mumbled and then suddenly she jumped onto her feet. "i figured it out!"

"figured what out?"

"it's a damn clock."

"what?" jeno asked, confused.

"the cornucopia is a clock. jisung, we discussed this. the twelve paths. they are representative of hours on a clock."

"i don't get it. why is that significant?" jaemin asked.

"jihyun, you're a genius!" renjun said, also jumping to his feet. at first he didn't understand what she meant but as he thought about it more and more it all made sense.

"i know."

"please explain." chenle mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"something happens every hour. the jabberjays lasted for an hour—"

"and last night i noticed something else happened but only in a certain section between the two paths..."

"so something happens every hour but only between the hours on the cornucopia." renjun finished.

"they finish each other's sentences." haechan gagged.

"concentrate!" jaemin slapped his back then turned to the two. "so that means staying in this area is safe for another eleven hours?"

"yes, unless we get chased out of here." mark said.

"don't give the gamemakers ideas now. this is why they kicked us off the cornucopia." jeno grumbled.

"most likely we'll come across other tributes and we'll have to move but we should do our best to stay here for another hour because the next section will be experiencing something right now." jihyun said. "this was smart for the gamemakers as it'll take out tributes that try to hide and will force some to run into each other."

"you know i'm so glad we have jihyun and renjun. the rest of us are so useless we'd die in the first day." chenle laughed.

"you're welcome." renjun shrugged, taking a seat again. "how much food do we have left?"

"not much." jeno replied, leaning over jihyun to grab a bag. his lips grazed against her cheek and then he winked at her.

she bit back a smile and tried her best not to get flustered because she knew it was all for show. the group had decided they would flirt and do certain acts, almost like fan service to feed the capitols delusions, to draw them in so they'd send in sponsors. they were playing a dangerous game, messing with feelings. someone was bound to get hurt.

"just some bread and boiled potatoes." renjun sighed when he looked into the bag. "let's ration this today."

he split a slice of bread evenly and passed it out to everyone with a small potato each. they finished eating within seconds and it really wasn't much to satisfy the rumble in their stomachs but they couldn't risk eating all of the food they had.