[Flowers] • The Hunger Games

Seventeen

Madge's condition worsened.

Her hearing was seemingly entirely gone from her left ear. On top of that, she'd started to experience starvation. Her body was far more emaciated than it had been days previously.

Gale had brought her to the cliffs to the southwest of the arena. Over by Thresh, though not close enough for him to pose a threat. Gale guessed that the careers wouldn't want to engage Thresh after he'd seen Rue's name up in the sky.

They assumed Cato had killed the boy from three, as his name also littered the night sky the day Rue had died. With Marvel gone as well, that took the career pack down to just Cato and Clove. Then, there was Madge and Gale. Thresh, of course, and then Foxface was still out there somewhere.

6 tributes left.

2 from district 2, 2 from district 12, 1 tribute left from from 5, and 1 from 11.

Asteria noticed how close Cato and Clove were now. Somehow impossibly more than before. They'd gone with the whole star-crossed lovers thing with Gale and Madge because it was a smart strategy for tributes from twelve. Give the Capitol something to root for. But that same strategy wouldn't work for the careers, the Capitol just wanted them to kill each other. They were seen as powerful, advanced above other tributes. That play would never have worked with career tributes.

But she suspected that, maybe before and maybe even sometime during these games, Cato and Clove were the true star-crossed lovers of these games. Both were probably top of their class back in district two. Both were the best of the best. They understood each other better than anyone else. They found solace in one another. But that would only last so long. Their food had run out and now they, too, depended on hunting to survive. And hunting animals seemed to be a much bigger challenge for them than hunting people.

Foxface was smart. Dangerously smart. But Asteria gathered that she hadn't eaten in a while. She was becoming paranoid, even staying up for hours if not days in fear of Cato and Clove. She needed something. Some goddamn anxiety pills, maybe melatonin to sleep, or caffeine to keep her going.

Thresh was strong. Surviving well enough. He'd dropped quite a few pounds since the games had started, same as everyone else, but as far as supplies and injuries went- he was the best off by far. He'd kept to himself for the duration of the games. But he was now having trouble catching food, same as everyone else.

"Hey, kid- I'll take watch over them for a while." Haymitch offered, seeing her glued to the screen once more.

She shook her head. "I can't go deal with the sponsors anymore. It's fair that I stay here and watch them." She told him.

"Asteria. It's fifteen days into the games for them." Haymitch reminded her. "It's been nine for us. You've hardly slept or ate anything. You're still recovering from a pretty advanced medical condition. Besides. The game makers aren't letting sponsors through right now at all. I think they're cooking something up." He told her.

She sighed.

"We're so close, Haymitch."

"I know." He nodded. "But watching them ain't gonna change what they do. If we can't get them anything anyways, then you might as well take a break. I love you to death, kid, but you're starting to lose it." He told her.

She laughed a bit. Just an hour ago, one of the avoxes had refused to eat part of a strawberry for her. She'd lost it, gone completely mental and made a mess of the kitchen. Only to later come to learn that the avox was just simply allergic to strawberries.

She was on edge. And already being a paranoid personality with underlying mental health issues didn't pair well with that edge.

"You said there were riots in district eleven?" She asked.