Safe and Sound

Chapter 13

Rose decided that we should probably take out the weak then wait for the strong to be arrogant and something happen to them. If that doesn't happen, in comes plan B. Plan B is that we lead them to something dangerous and then bad things happen. I thought it was a good idea. So we decided to go along with it. But we needed to stay low, so that no one found out we were taking them out. I mean, of course they would, but like so they don't know it's Rose and I. 

We staked out where the weaklings were and studied them. This took awhile, but it would pay off. We all wanted to win this thing, now didn't we? The first victim that we found was a girl from District 5. She looked somewhere near twelve or thirteen. It was hard to tell without actually knowing. 

We waited for her to leave to go somewhere, but we knew that she was going to come back. We had found some poisonous berries a bit before. It went a bit like this.

**Flashback**

"May! I found some berries!" Rose exclaimed coming over to me. We were searching for some berries and nuts. I took one look at the berries and instantly knew they were poisonous. I slapped them out of her hand. She looked at me shocked. I just shook me head and snickered.

"That's poisonous. You're lucky you have me. I took those sessions in training and you can tell those are poisonous just by looking at them," I explained. Rose just looked shocked. I shook my head again, a smirk tugging at my lips.

**Out of Flashback**

I smiled at the memory. We always had fun times. She was very lucky she had me or else she would be dead already. 

The little girl from 5 left a bit ago and we rushed to put the berries somewhere where she could easily see them. She would think they were good berries, eat them and BAM. Dead. I know it was cruel, but I needed to win. But thinking about that, what would happen if it came down to just me and Rose? Or me and Liam? I shook the thought out of my head, not wanting to think about that, till the time came. 

We rushed back to where we were hiding. The girl came back and saw the berries. She made a quiet celebration, she found food. She took the berries in her hand and ate a few. We waited. She ate another one. We waited. She started to choke a bit. I can't watch this. We both turned away because this wasn't pleasant to watch. Once we heard a cannon, we turned back and she was on the floor dead. We heard a bit of gagging before and I tried to block it out, but it was no use. I felt bad for the girl. I looked over at Rose. She looked at the girl with a sullen look. I turned to the girl also and made the same expression.

We should do something. I got up and picked a single snow flower I found. I went over to the girl and laid it down on her chest. I bent down and placed a stay piece of hair behind her small ear. I smiled a bit and jaunted back over to Rose. She smiled at me sweetly. It felt good to do a good deed for something bad you did. 

We trekked around some more for more weak tributes. I didn't want to do this. I couldn't take it. I wasn't a Career and I couldn't just kill them like it was no problem. I would feel bad for the rest of my life, which probably wasn't going to be that much longer. I stopped dead in my tracks and Rose looked confused. "I can't do it." She cocked her head to the side. I didn't clarify enough to her. "I can't kill these innocent kids just like no problem. They are actual people and we can't just kill them. We should wait for the Careers, they pretty much do this everyday, to do the job for us. I can't live with myself if we just kill these innocent children," I explained further. She nodded.

"But what should we do then? Because I don't know what to do in this besides survive. We need to do something," She added.

"We can do something for them. Not kill them. Let them live just a bit longer and maybe they have a better chance. I can't just kill them, Rose!" I raised my voice. She backed down. Once I set my mind to something, you couldn't stop me from doing it, unless you wanted to get hurt. I let out a big sigh to calm myself. We then walked more, hiding if anyone came near us. The same concept happened for the next few days.

****

On the seventh day of the Games, we were getting more game for our lunch-time routine and we heard rustling. I did the fire sequence again and so did Rose. Out came four Careers. They heard us! Oh my gosh, I don't want to die! I slowly crawled backwards, and Rose followed my lead, careful not to step on any twigs. We got a safe distance away to run as far as we could. I think they followed us, but we lost them far back. I let out a deep sigh. I was panting really hard and Rose was doubled over, panting as well. I slid down against a tree and shut my eyes. It was hard to run when your foot is twisted. I looked down at my injured foot. It didn't look so bad, but it was still hurting. I winced as I touched it.

Rose looked over at me and had another sympathetic look, but it was soon wiped off her face by something coming out of the bushes and pouncing on her. I let out a large gasp and got my knife out. I started to stab at the figure and soon enough, it was dead. I rolled it off Rose and she was still alive. Her face was scratched and so were were arms, but other than that she was fine. I picked her up and sat her over where I was sitting. I ran off to get things to heal her.

I found leaves and some string. I found out where Rose got the string for me. I ran back as fast as I could to Rose and mended to her face. She was close to tears, but she was strong so she wouldn't let anyone see her cry, even if no one was around. If she was just with me she might cry, but the whole of Panem was watching. She winced as I mended to her. I coaxed her into being okay and she was fine. She was ready to move on. I was praying for a sponsor to be nice and give us something for wounds. It was hard. 

It was getting late, so I helped Rose up into a tree and I followed her. We perched ourselves comfortably so we could sleep. I soon felt my eyes droop and I fell into a restless sleep.

****

I woke up to the sound of a beeping. My eyes peeled open to find something up in the tree. I climbed up to the mysterious sound and sure enough it was a gift from a sponsor. I got all giddy inside and took the package off the parachute. I situated myself back where I was when I woke up and opened the gift. It was medicine to help with Rose's scratches, my gash, and a bandage to help with my foot. I gasped, but soon covered my mouth. Did I give us away? I hope not! I crawled over to Rose to wake her up and she started to stir. I made her fully wake up. Once she did she looked at me like she was going to kill me. I shrugged it off.

"Look!" I whisper-shouted, pointing to the package. Her eyes went wide and a smile appeared on her face. She started to jump in her tree. It started to shake and she stopped. She had an "Oops" expression on her face. We both laughed. I situated myself in front of Rose and started to rub the contents of the gift onto her scratches. She did the same on my arm and she bandaged my foot. I felt ten times better than I was two a few minutes ago. I let out a exasperated sigh. So did Rose. We both jumped down from the tree and started to move again, now more freely because the medicine was working its magic already. 

"So what are we going to do now?" Rose asked. I just shrugged.

"I guess just keep walking and protect ourselves if we get into a fight or something," I suggested and Rose agreed. I nodded and we did exactly that. 

I really do hope I can win this game.

Ha. Hope is a funny word. 

hope 

v. hoped, hop·ing, hopes

1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.

That was funny because it was very true. I did hope and I hoped a lot and this was a case of hoping for me. 

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A/N- Sorry for my rambling at the end... I didn't really know how to make it longer because I know what exactly will happen, but I need things to happen in between... Alright guys. I'm super sorry about not updating yesterday, but I had a long day yesterday of finals and I had to go to pizza with my family and I was there FOREVER! But I'm updating now and the usual update will be on Friday. So yeah... Enjoy yourselves, have a good one! 

-Cyn <3