Songs & Seas | Hunger Games

VIII.

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WHEN THE SUN ROSE MARIA ROSE WITH IT. She slept in that tree that night. The mutt circled her all night long. Every now and then it would jump at the bark trying to get to her. It growled below until the sun came up and it just vanished. Much like Percy's body which was no longer there. Did the capitol come and take him? Or did he end up like Poppy buried in the snow to be found?

She was thankful to have a sleeping bag and gloves otherwise she probably would have froze to death. Once she deemed everything was safe. She began to unwrap herself from the sleeping bag that she'd secured herself in. She took her pack and began to put everything back inside it.

She finished the last of her drinking water last night. Climbing down from the tree she decided she wouldn't venture any further up the mountain and instead search for water elsewhere.

She made sure to keep one knife in her hand as she made her trek back through the cornucopia and into the snow-covered forest. She definitely wouldn't be going back to that mountain. But she can't help but think that mutt spawned out of nowhere. She must've been nearing the edge of the arena.

At the sound of a stick breaking, she whipped her head around just to find nothing behind her. Her eyes narrowed on a tree, slowly walked towards it with her dagger pointed out ready to strike at anyone behind it.

Swiftly she jumped behind the tree startling the person on the other side who had a terrified look on their face. Maria immediately put her knife down.

"Arch," she sighed with relief wrapping her arms around him just happy to see him alive.

Archer had tears in his eyes as he clung to her waist. "Maria," he said trembling. "I'm really scared Mari"

Maria pulled away from him. She bent down on one knee. "We're together now. Come on you can help me find water."

The pair stuck together as they walked through the forest side by side. Archer was recounting his tale of the bloodbath and how Cecelia instructed him not to go for it just as Rhett did Maria. The only difference is Archer listened. He went straight for the forest and didn't stop running until nightfall. He attempted to sleep by a boulder but was too anxious with the thought someone would come by and kill him.

Taking the two pieces of bread out of her bag he passed one to Archer who smiled at her gratefully.

BOOM.

The two stopped in their tracks when a canon blew.

BOOM.

And then another mere seconds after that. The pair looked at one another.

"Come on," Maria tossed her head to the side for them to keep moving.

Soon they could hear running water in the distance. Following the sound, it wasn't long until they found the source. There was a small stream that was half frozen and covered in white powder. Archer ran towards it ready to finally have something to help with his ongoing dehydration. Maria grabbed the back of his jacket halting him to a stop.

He looked up at her confusedly about to ask what she was doing but she put a finger over her mouth before pointing off to the far end of the stream. The boy and girl from 3 were crouched down by the river's edge filling their own bottles. Blair and Trench were their names if she recalled correctly.

Maria pulled Archer down to the ground to hide behind a nearby bush. Her eyes remained on the pair. They sat down and began to drink their water hungrily downing their bottles in under a minute. Maria's eyes went wide with realization and she pulled Archer down.