The Trials of Neo City [WINWIN • YUTA]

🖤 29. Ascolta 🖤

"His skin is pale and flaky. I don't know what's going on." Yuta's voice was frantic as he wrestled Shotaro's jacket off, examining his arms and neck. "What's wrong with him?"

"Has he eaten? It's been days." Sicheng looked between the two with wide eyes, remembering how sick Renjun had looked last year at home in District 7 before he received any tesserae. Shotaro now looked like he had some sort of an infection or rash and his body couldn't fight it off because he hadn't eaten. His was thin and his breaths were deep and raspy.

There was a silence as Yuta stopped examining Shotaro's body. "He refused to eat any of it. Not just the tribute's body, but any rats or bugs, anything." Yuta realized, looking at Sicheng worriedly.

With his worries confirmed, Sicheng frantically dug through his bag, taking out a small container with dried fruit and opening it. He held Shotaro upright so that he wouldn't choke and as quickly as he could, he fed it to Shotaro hurriedly.

Shotaro coughed, his shaky lips not wanting to take the food in. Still, Sicheng made sure he ate all of it, helping the boy chew it and everything. Shotaro's weak body slumped against the wall as Sicheng fed him the last of the rations, tossing the container to the side and checking Shotaro's pulse and temperature the best he could. He dragged his hand against Shotaro's forehead, nodding to Yuta that he seemed okay and stable.

The sun was coming up finally over the dusty streets. At some point, Yuta decided that they needed to get farther away, putting Shotaro on his back and trekking farther into the city.

Sicheng followed, the trio only taking dark alleys to avoid getting caught by other tributes. If it were just Sicheng and Yuta, maybe they could fight other people off and win, but they were carrying an ill and unconscious Shotaro. If they got attacked now, they wouldn't stand a chance unless the person was alone.

Yuta kept mumbling to himself, his eyes darting from street to street. Just as Sicheng was about to ask Yuta what he was looking for, the oldest boy gasped and hurried towards a bridge underpass with a smile on his face.

Sicheng followed anxiously before noticing the murky blue-green water below the bridge. His eyes widened and at that moment he realized just how much his head ached under the hot morning sun, having run out of water rations last night.

"I had no idea there was any water here." Sicheng remarked, suddenly noticing how thirsty he was.

Yuta nodded and smirked. "The other Careers probably don't even know it's here either. We found some kind of river last night, but they're not smart enough to figure out that a river doesn't flow one way."

Sicheng only watched as Yuta threw a rock into the water and watched it sink. Still, he didn't want to get too close to the stream considering everything in the Games was meticulously placed -especially to kill.

Instead, he sat on the riverbank where Yuta eventually sat down with Shotaro's head laid on his legs. Sicheng sat close enough to Yuta, but kept his distance. He didn't dare dip his feet into the water.

"Sicheng, right?" Yuta asked, voice barely audible. He raked his hands through Shotaro's matted, light hair and looked up at Sicheng through his own red bangs.

Sicheng nodded, not knowing what to say in response. He knew Yuta's name well, what else was he going to ask him?

There was a cannon so suddenly in the morning sky, which made Sicheng jump. He would never get used to the noise, he doesn't think.

"Where's the kid?" Yuta asked quietly, looking around as if to see something. Sicheng's eyebrows furrowed, not understanding what Yuta was asking.

"The kid? You were hiding with the boy from Three, right?" Yuta elaborated, dipping his foot into the river's water.