Stay with me, always.

Chapter 19. Hunters & Gatherers

Sleeping on the sofa is not for the faint of heart. Some might claim that it's better than sleeping in a bed, but I'm not one of those people. When I woke up–for the second time–on the sofa, I decided it was time for a shower, and maybe a little breakfast. There was no action in the arena, all the Tributes sleeping as soundly as the people in this household. I looked at my pocket watch to see it was nearing six in the morning. The only person who might be up at this hour would be Eudora, and she usually doesn't arrive until around eight.

I headed upstairs to take a shower, somewhat pleased to find Petunia asleep on my bed. We really had gotten closer, her seeming to adopt me as her new human until Soarynn came back. Oh to be a cat who doesn't know what's going on in the world. I stood under the running water examining my bruises, most of them were fading, and my chin had healed nicely thanks to the Capitol's advanced medical care. I started to think about all the other people whose eyes were on Soarynn whenever she came on the screen. Sure my family was watching, but what of my classmates? Was the Mayor in Twelve watching, as his daughter was holed up with two scrawny children from Six as allies? A small part of me wondered if he missed her every now and then.

When we had dinner with him, he was very quiet and soft-spoken, so it was easy to see where Soarynn got it from. She never mentioned her mom, although my own Mother said she was pretty sure she died in childbirth. Soarynn rarely spoke about her past life, not wanting to upset Mother or agitate Father, and well, I didn't really care that much to be honest. Not much could've happened to her during the five years she lived in Twelve.

By the time I made it back downstairs, Mother was wide awake, sitting on one of the sofas in the living room while sipping tea. "Well isn't this a surprise," I said walking into the living room, "What? Me being up this early?" She asked looking over at me, "No," I said sitting on the chair across from her, "you not drinking an alcoholic beverage this early." She scoffed, setting down her tea, "Are you calling me an alcoholic Coriolanus?" I pondered for a moment, Mother did love to drink. "I guess I am," I said, looking her dead in the eye. "Well, it takes one to know one," she said, quite pleased with the shocked look on my face. As much as I hated to admit it, that was good.

"Has anything happened?" I asked, gesturing to the television. "Oh, no," she said looking at it herself, "although it hasn't stopped raining all morning in there, it must be dreadful." I think the whole thing is dreadful. I nodded, wondering when the rain would stop. We watched as the Tributes started to slowly wake up. Jessup was the first one, slowly unzipping his hammock, seemingly displeased with the weather as he frowned up at the sky. He pulled up his hood and began untying his hammock and stuffing it into his duffle bag that was hanging on a nearby branch. "Well he seems quite limber," Mother remarked. She wasn't wrong, Jessup knew his way around a tree, skillfully untying his duffle and securing his weapons before clambering down with ease.

He hit the ground with a thud and began studying it. I guess he was looking for tracks because he was soon a man on a mission, glancing up at the sky every once in a while. He eventually found what he was looking for, a wild turkey. We had one every year for the holidays, but I had never seen one alive, and so, ugly. Slowly, he pulled an arrow out of his quiver, and drew his bow, aiming at the foul. Within a second, the arrow pierced through the turkey's skin, causing it to let out a loud squawk. Suddenly it was as if the trees had some alive, several voices mimicking the turkeys' cry. Looking around, Jessup called out, "Hello." Silence. Then, the voices began to reply by the hundreds, "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello," Pleased with whatever that was, Jessup turned back to the turkey, ready to finish his first technical kill of the Games.

Soarynn woke up with a jolt, as the words "Hello," floated through the trees around the cave like a wave of water, getting softer as it passed by. "What on earth was that?" Arabella asked, rubbing her eyes. "I don't know," Soarynn admitted, "but we should get moving." Arabella nodded, looking at Leo still asleep, she gently began to shake him, watching as his eyes slowly opened. "Are we still alive?" Leo asked with a yawn, "You bet we are," Soarynn said as she stood up, dusting her pants off. "But it's still raining," Leo complained, glaring at the sky. "Well we aren't made out of sugar," Soarynn said, smiling at him.