Come Back to Me

XX

Gretchen opened her eyes slowly at first. Every morning spent in the arena had started the same way so far. Either you woke up fast and sweaty from a mix of the dreaded heat as well as the night terrors you were desperate to escape, or you woke up slowly, mistaking your surroundings for the home you had known before. The place you'd give almost anything to return to unharmed. Until you realized the laspe of judgement. Whether it be the uncomfortable feeling of the hard ground setting in beneath you, or maybe the sweat and dirt rubbed into your goosebump ridden skin, or in worse instances, the recognizeable sight of the next death sentence you'll have to tangle with for the simple fate of survival. The sudden rush of fear and adrenaline is learned to be the quickest way to rouse any tribute from their once peaceful slumber. As her eyelids flew open, her Olive green orbs scanned the desert area surrounding her fast and intently. She promised to keep watch, and to wake anyone if she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. To make matters worse, her allies already didn't trust her. Whatever trust truly meant under the current circumstances. Getting one of them killed wouldn't exactly help her case, not that she could truly blame them. Of course if everything had gone to plan, she'd be hunting them herself. With the Careers. But she messed up. Let her tongue loose one too many times.

Her focus slowly made it's way to the sky after deeming it safe to leave her allies asleep. It was early enough that a majority of the sky was still dark, other than the light accent of pink along the tips of the hills of sand in the distance, as well as the sun starting to make its appearance. She thought about awakening her allies especially because she was thristy and the container was tucked away in Cordelia's pack but, no one would want to try to see their fight in the dark. No harm in letting them rest up for as long as they could. So about another hour passed before she grabbed a nearby stone and threw it at Cordelia, startling her out of her slumber. Carter jolted awake at her gasp, easing when he noticed she was okay.

"I didn't hurt you did I," Gretchen wondered in a hushed tone. The girl in the tree shook her head as she undid the rope, "good. Sorry I didn't know how else to wake you without being too loud."

Cordelia nodded out of understandment, stilling so Carter could climb out of the tree. He took Gretchen's kukri and hit it against the trunk of the tree Parker was tied up in, rousing him by the time Cordelia had organized her pack and climbed to the ground. She laughed at the look on Gretchen's face as she realized there would've been an easier way to wake them. They sat in their usual circle, dividing up the roots and some of the food packs evenly between the four of them just as they had done every morning since they had come together. Grethen shook her head, almost deliriously.

"Are you alright?" Parker wondered, in his first attempt of kindness towards her in days.

She nodded, "Just a little groggy. Probably because I stayed up all night."

"We have a little time, even minutes of rest will be better than nothing." Parker advised.

"He's right." Cordelia said after a drink of water.

"Thank you." Parker feigned appreciation as he pressed his hand to his heart dramatically.

Cordelia was back and forth when it came to Parker's sense of humor. Sometimes she fed into it and sometimes she wished he knew when to quit but right now, she was more than grateful for the distraction. Her laugh came out light and airy. Gretchen took his advice as well as his pack to use as a pillow, drifting off in no time. Things fell silent, other than the chirping of insects that were bringing in the start of the day as well as Gretchen's light breath, the air growing tenser by the minute. The tributes still had a little over half an hour journey to the Cornicopia and that was assuming Gretchen was correct in saying the Careers would've set up camp there. Which none of them doubted. After all, that's one thing that was very reliable in the games.