The Hunger Games: The Crankiplier Story

Presley

"Hey, Ethan."

"How'd you get up there?"

She giggled a bit and began to climb down the tree.
"I climbed up to take shelter from the rain."

It felt weird seeing her again. She crouched down next to me.
"I'm honestly impressed that you're still alive."

She quickly looked down at my marks that I was covering.
She moved my hand away from it to see it better.
"The acid rain got you good." She mumbled.

All I could do was nod. "It's mainly my legs, I can barely move."

She quickly grabbed her bag and dug into it.
"Don't worry, I got something."

She pulled out a small container and opened it. Inside was a type of healing cream.
"Where'd you get that?" I asked.

"Got an early sponsor."

I chuckled for a second. "Wow, good for you."

I pulled away my hands from my legs, allowing her access to apply the cream.

"Just warning you, this is probably gonna hurt." She said. "Are you ready?"

"Just fucking do it..." my eyes slammed shut as I looked away from the marks.

She scooped some of the cream with her finger and tapped my mark. The minute she touched it I flinched. It began to burn again.

"Fuck!" I grunted and quickly covered my mouth.

Presley wasn't really fazed my reaction, it's like she did this before. After a little bit, the burning stop. The cream resting on my leg and arm began to feel soothing. I removed my hand from my mouth and tried to breath again.

She then put the lid of the container back on and placed it back into her bag.
"Thank you." I sighed out.

We both turned over to Anika's body, as it was being lifted away by an aircraft.
"Sad that the cream couldn't help her." I joked.

"She didn't deserve it." Presley added.

We were quiet again as we watched her body get carried away.
"What about the other guy?" She asked.

I looked back at her, unsure of who she was referring to.
"Other guy?"

She cleared her throat before answering.
"Mark?" She asked. "From your district?"

I was quiet again. I hadn't thought about Mark in a while.
"I don't know." I mumbled. "I haven't thought about him."

I fidgeted with my jacket for a moment, it wasn't too hidden as Presley noticed it instantly.
"He was talking about you during the interview, wasn't he?" She smirked with a smug attitude.

"How'd you know that?"

"I could tell by how he was describing you."
She said.

I chuckled quietly.
"Well, yeah but..." I paused for a moment to sigh.
"I can't think about that now, we're better off dead anyway."

"Together in death." She giggled.

I laughed through my nose before admiring my burn marks again.
Both of us looked up realizing how dark it was getting.

"The Careers might come back, we can't stay here."
I said. "I think I can walk now."

She got up to her feet and volunteered to help me up.
I tried to put less weight on her shoulders but she was pretty strong for her age.

Eventually we found a small cave under a tree. She sat me down and sat down because me.
The night fell as Presley zipped up her jacket for warmth. I could tell she was exhausted.

"You can rest if you want, I'll watch I case anyone comes by." I told her.

"You sure?"

I giggled. "You need to rest, Sadie."

Presley looked up at me with a face of confusion. My jaw dropped the moment I realized what I did.
"I mean, Presley." I said quickly. "Sorry."

She smiled. "It's okay."

She used her backpack as a pillow and rested her head and Curling up into a ball.

I rested my head on the back of the tree and looked out. Until I heard music from the distance.

I looked up to the sky to see a symbol.

It was a promo for the fallen...