Battle Scars

Chapter 26: Picturesque

Chapter twenty six: Picturesque
When I awoke, it was already morning. Mitch had apparently shifted us so that we were now, instead of sitting on the dirt by the water, we were under a small shrub. I looked up at him questioningly. He put his finger to his lips when he saw that I was awake.
"It's the best I could do," he replied, in a soft whisper. "I was about to fall asleep on watch, so we had to move incase someone came back. And I think someone has." I listened intently for a few moments, and could hear voices. They seemed to be getting closer to us as well. I looked up at Mitch in alarm.
"The water," I stated. "Quick." We half ran, half dragged ourselves across to the water, and slid in as quietly as we could. Well, to be more accurate, I helped Mitch drag himself, since I was well able to run myself. We swam as best as we could over to the underwater ledge. The water was deep, but we could sit comfortably, with our heads just above the water. I looked at Mitch, and stifled a giggle. This was so stupid. He smiled, and put a finger to his lips again. I listened carefully. The voices were now audible. Mitch pointed up with a finger. They must be directly above us. I hoped neither of us would sneeze or anything.
All three of them were there - Vikk, Jason, and Ryan.
"They must have walked on down the ravine," said Jason's voice.
"Either that or they're somewhere dying," replied Ryan. "The ravine's quite deep, there could be a cave at the bottom somewhere that they might have dropped into, and that's why we can't see them."
"Either way I doubt they'll be going anywhere in a hurry," said Vikk confidently. "It's pointless to wait here for them. Let's get rid of the remaining tribute, and we can come back for them."
"There's water at the bottom," came Ryan's voice, sounding alarmingly close. He must be leaning into the ravine. "Guys, they could have drowned in there."
"No, or else we would have heard the cannons, idiot," said Jason.
"Oh, come on, let's go," sighed Vikk impatiently.
"Vikk," said Jason. "You do realise that one of those two has contact with their mentor. It's not any of us, and if it's not you it can't be the remaining tribute either, because she's from your country." "Yeah, yeah, I know, there's not much we can do about that," replied Vikk. "Anyway let's get going. If we don't kill this tribute today we risk another earthquake or something from the game makers to increase the action."
Footsteps could be dimly heard retreating from the edge of the ravine, and their voices diminished until we could no longer hear them. They were gone.
We stayed in the water a little longer, before finally swimming to the edge, and climbing out. I looked at Mitch, and suddenly remembered his mentor.
"Please tell me it is you who has the mentor support, and Vikk's not lying to his teammates." Mitch chuckled.
"How do you think I knew the guys were coming this morning?" He asked. I felt my eyes widen.
"What else have they helped you with?" I asked incredulously.
"It's not as big an advantage as it sounds," he replied. "It removes the element of surprise that anyone might have against you, and gives you someone to talk to when you're lonely, so there's that that's good about it. But there's not much else they can do. They can't fight for you, you still have to do that yourself."
"So what you're saying is, your mentor told you where I was, and you came and tackled me and got your stupid drink bottle back?" I asked. Mitch laughed at the memory.
"That bottle wasn't for me, you idiot," he chuckled. "That was an effort to prove to the other guys that I wasn't planning anything with you. We knew you'd taken it, they were looking for you too. You're just lucky I found you first." I raised my eyebrows.
"Are you kidding me?" I laughed. "They're lucky you found me, you're the only one that I can't actually beat in a fight." He rolled his eyes playfully.
"Whatever," he laughed.
"Hey, what's your mentor's name?" I asked. "Just out of curiosity."
"Jerome," he replied. "He's my best friend."
"Hey Jerome," I laughed. Mitch appeared to be concentrating for a moment.
"He says 'Hey' back," he smiled.
"How does it work?" I asked. "This communication thing, I mean."
"It was something extra inserted into the chip that we got in our arms before the games. They activated it after the corn bloodbath. You just have to talk inside your head, and they will hear it. They can't hear all your thoughts, just when you want them to."
"Wow, that's actually really cool," I smiled.
"Who's your mentor?" He asked me.
"My older sister, Emily," I replied. "We're pretty close." He nodded.
"That's cool," he replied.
"You know," I said, "I've just realised that if we were in any situation but this one, this ravine would be picturesque." Mitch laughed.
"Why can't it be picturesque now?" He asked. "We can't get out of the ravine right now, so we might as well enjoy it while we can." I laughed too, and agreed with him. I laid down on the warm sand, and Mitch lay beside me. Our clothes were still wet from being in the water, but in the hot sun they would soon dry.

A/N: we won't talk about how long it took me to spell "picturesque" right lol :)
and also... #Merome!!!!!!! If you were wondering why Jerome wasn't in this story, he was awaiting his surprise entry :):):)