Caged | The Hunger Games AU ✓

xx. reunions

twenty - reunions

- - - ➳

nina and i have been together for almost a whole day now, and i am ready to slam my head into a tree. she is even more infuriating than haymitch and i never thought that could be possible. not once has a scowl left my face–i'm beginning to get slightly worried that it will permanently etch itself into my cheeks.

it's nothing short of a miracle nina has survived this long. she knows nothing about survival in the outdoors except for memory skills. i have refrained from asking what the heck she did in our three days of training, because i know the answer will only cause her to get under my skin even more.

the only thing she seems to be good at is throwing spears. and she only has one. and i only have a tiny knife. which means we're dead if we get attacked.

we walk quietly through the forest, slowly getting closer to the pond. the soft crunch of crisp leaves and twigs snapping under our feet fills the lack of conversation between us. luckily, we're almost to our destination, because i feel absolutely disgusting. sweat has caused the dirt to glue itself onto my skin and i know a fair amount of scrubbing will have to be done to get it off.

suddenly, nina tenses and freezes mid-step. i glance at her, confused, because i don't see any reason for her to stop.

"nina," i say, an icy tone to my voice, "what are you doing?"

"i heard something," she mutters, and i remember another thing that comes in handy– her acute sense of hearing.

i don't trust her much, but i do enough to assume that i should have my guard up. i slip the knife out of my shoe and twirl it before clenching onto it tightly. my knees bend in a fighting stance and i crane my neck as my eyes sweep around the trees for any signs of an attack.

it's quiet, and all i can hear is my own breathing and the faint breeze rustling the grass. nina slowly lowers her arm, which is holding her spear. "must have been a false alar–"

before she can reply, an arrow lands right beside her foot. as an immediate reflex, she chucks the spear in the direction the arrow came from, the wind whistling around it as it flies through the air and hits absolutely nothing.

"great job," i hiss through clenched teeth. "that was your only weapon."

nina seems eerily calm. her chestnut-brown eyes stay locked onto the place where her spear had vanished, void of emotion. "my mother always told me to accept my fate when i know it's coming."

i shake my head, confused, then grab her hand and pull her. "come on!"

her shoes slip on the ground, but nina manages to catch herself and run alongside me. she's surprisingly fast, and judging by her controlled breathing, she knows how to run well. i mimic her breathing patterns, looking behind me occasionally to see if anyone is behind us. all i see is the dizzying array of blurred greens and browns, which gives me nothing, so i continue my movements.

nina slows a bit. "the only way to" – she pauses to jump over a rock – "get them off our tails is to split up."

she turns into a mix of color as my legs push me farther away from her. "you have no weapon!" i shout back.

"i'm accepting my fate," she tells me seriously. "run, thalia. make it out alive."

and to my horror, nina changes direction and starts running in the direction of our hunter.

"no!" i shriek, because as much as i dislike her, she did save my life, and now she's doing it again. i can't handle it. i lose control of my breathing and feel like i'm falling into a pit of despair. carly and matthias are gone. i'm at the top of the career's 'most wanted' list. the only person willing to help me survive just sacrificed themselves for me. i'm all on my own.