kill for your love - the hunger games

(011) the remains of carnage

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act one. 

(chapter eleven, the remains of carnage)

the arena, 72 ADD.

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"NOW THAT I THINK about it," Cedar said. "We don't have that much supplies."

It was day three and early in the morning once more, the four of them leaping from land piece to land piece. No cannons had gone off and they hadn't seen any tributes, footprints, or mutts. They had access to clean water and had some reliable food. But they all knew that two packets of crackers weren't enough. 

"Yeah." Justice nodded. Juniper looked at the back of his head oddly. "I mean — two packets of crackers ain't gonna last... so, what do we do?"

"I'd ask the Clairvoyant." Cedar smirked as she punched Ash in the arm. "Come on, oh greatness, what should we do?"

Despite the teasing, Ash replied, "Well, if you lot want more supplies, I'd suggest going back to the Cornucopia. Maybe there's extra food there, better supplies. Hey, we might even get a few more weapons."

"And if there's tributes there?" Cedar asked. 

"The Careers' won't go back there. They'll be hunting for tributes in the outer swamp regions," Ash told her. "District Three boy will be hiding somewhere. Dallas will be playing it safe most likely. Wing and Hermes are smart enough to not go back to the centre of the arena. And if they did, they would have done it yesterday. All kills came from the outer area and hence, unsafe."

"But today?" Juniper asked. She wanted to run into Wing and Hermes. "What's today like?"

"I don't know." Ash shrugged. "No cannons. And didn't I say no-one is going to die day three?"

"Oh, yes, don't disagree with the Clairvoyant." Justice shrugged as he peered at a multi-colour butterfly that fluttered past him. "You know, despite this whole Hunger Games thing and mud, this would have been a nice location."

"Just wait until the tourists come in here afterwards," Cedar said. "They'll be all over this, taking selfies next to blood patches where their favourite tribute died."

Juniper gulped. After every Games, the Capitol opened the arenas up as tourist attractions. They always advertised it on the television, footage of people posing with their cameras next to the spot where a tribute died, taking photos of where the final two fought, or petting the mutts in that Games that the Gamemakers had sedated just for tourists. It was sick and cruel. It was inhumane. 

"Hey!" Ash laughed. "I can imagine that... you know, someone could die right here" — he kicked the root of a tree that they were passing — "and some silly Capitol person comes by a few months later and takes a selfie with the blood patch."

Everyone laughed and for a moment, Juniper felt at peace with Justice, Cedar, and Ash, but at the sound of a boy yelling, they were all reminded of the situation they were in. Since the child's yells sounded so young, they could only imagine it was the tribute from Three. But no cannon followed and the only sound was the flock of birds hawking as they flew away from the disturbance. It looked to be on the other side of the arena.