kill for your love - the hunger games

(012) the murders of juniper and justice hale

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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act one. 

(chapter twelve, the murders of juniper and justice hale)

the arena, 72 ADD.

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A CANNON BOOMED AROUND the arena. Its explosion was so loud that it caused Cedar, Justice, and Ash to wake up from their slumber, Juniper standing up carefully as she raised a brow, looking up at the sky. It was still dark, but had to be very early in the morning since some of the stars were fading away. 

"Who do you reckon that was?" Ash asked. He rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.

"I say boy from Three," Juniper muttered as she sat down. She was exhausted considering she had been on watch for the last two hours. It would've been Cedar's turn next. "Dallas might have injured him, left him to rot. The kid must have died from them now. Explains his screams."

"Lord..." Cedar grumbled. She had taken her hair down and her brown, mud-stained locks were cascading down her back, framing her freckled face. "Poor kid..."

"I'm just assuming, though," Juniper added. 

"So that's eleven tributes, including us," Justice perked up. His hair was a mess considering he had tossed and turned all night after his watch. "Seven not... what you gotta say about that, Clairvoyant?"

"I'm saying it's about to become real messy soon," Ash muttered as he slouched down. "It's day four and there's eleven tributes. They'll do a Feast, induce another bloodbath, as I said before."

With the other three feeling down about that fact, Juniper was practically bouncing. It had been four days. Four days too long for Juniper and her confidence on dying was slipping. She had been so sure, but now, as the others pulled out food and their bottles, Juniper staring at them, she wasn't. Because she had built an alliance with them. And Juniper Hale didn't want to die, but she had to. She just had to and so did Justice. She just hoped that Wing and Hermes would be at the Feast that was surely going to be announced soon. 

And, oh, did Juniper hope because suddenly, another cannon echoed around, causing everyone to jump as they stopped eating and drinking. They all stared at the sky, waiting as if another were to go off. 

"Okay, who was that?" Cedar asked quietly as if the murderer of the tribute could jump out any minute. 

"That has to be Wing or Hermes." Ash shook his head. "It can't be a Career... unless Dallas got to one of them... or unless they got to Dallas..."

Juniper begged for it to not be Wing or Hermes. She begged for it to be Dallas or a Career because if Wing or Hermes were to die, her way of exiting the arena was gone. And she would have to resort to something she did not want to do. 

But why didn't she do it in the first place? Why didn't she just step off of the pedestal the first chance she got? Why didn't she just drown herself in the moat? Why didn't she just stab herself in the heart? It was all because of Justice. He would never agree to such terms and it had to be done by Wing and Hermes. But Juniper hadn't seen them since the hovercraft on the roof. She feared she would never see them.