"Allies?" "Always."

Chapter 10

Sixty seconds. That's how long I have to find Katniss and deside. I look frantically for my lover. There, four spaces away, she stands. Six seconds later, she spots me. I point behind me, to the woods. She nods and faces me.

Thirty-six seconds remain. Trees? Suplies? The trees mean safety and Katniss, but we need the supplies or we'll be dead by morning. I don't have a choice. I may be risking death, but to keep Katniss alive, I have have to run straight into the lion's den.

I ready myself for the final seconds, wanting to make a run for it. There is a remainder of ten seconds. I look back over to my sweetheart. This couldn't be the last time I see her. She's looking at me, at my posture. I have one leg slightly behind the other, ready to sprint. She lightly shakes her head. It takes away from my focus when the gong sounds.

I run straight ahead. I have my hand on one strap of a backpack, but the boy from Nine reaches it at the same time. I yank it from his grasp and he spits blood on my face. I quickly wipe it from my eyes and grab the bread.

Someone trips me. I fall to the ground. The boy from Four is above me. I grab a sword, that just happened to be an arm stretch away, and stab it through his stomach. Blood gushes all over me and in my mouth. It tastes horrible! I spit, collect my dropped items, grab a few knives, and run to the forest.

When I get to the edge of the trees, I call her name. I repeat this process three or four times until she climbs down from the tree next to me. I chuckle. "Look what I got, my little possum."

She smiles as I dump everything on the ground except the bread. There is the bread, four knives, a thin black sleeping bag, a pack of crackers, a pack of dried beef strips, a small bottle of iodine, a box of matches, a rope, a pair of sunglasses, and a half-gallon plastic water bottle. As soon as I lay eyes on it, my hand flies to the top. Dry, bone dry. "How hard would it have been to fill it up?" I say, mainly to myself out of anger. I have my sword and that is everything. "They did have a bow." I admit. "But I would have died if I got it."

"Then I'm glad you didn't." She embraces me. I hold her back, probably smearing the blood all over her. She doesn't seem to notice. I'm not sure how long we sit there in each others arms, but when she lets go, it seemed too short. "How's your hand? Oh my God! Is that blood?!" She touches her fingers to my forehead.

"Yes, but it's not mine. That's not mine on my shirt, either." It's soaked in blood of District Four's male.

"But are you okay?"She pleads for an answer.

"Yes, baby. I'm okay." I smile and unwrap my hand, using the cloth to clean my face. "We can't use this can we?" She shakes her head. I throw it into the trees behind me. We load the bag back up. I keep the sword, Katniss the knives.

We stand and begin to walk away from the cornucopia. A booming noise makes me stick my hand out to stop my lover. It's the cannons sounding. I carefully count the disturbing sounds up to the number Eleven. Eleven dead. Two because of me. I am the reason they are dead, that they won't be with their families. No! I shake my head. I can't think like that. If I do, I'll never get through these Games. My mind will be dwelling on the losses forever.

My stomach growls. I don't dare break into our precious suply of food. Katniss grabs a knife and cuts some bark from off of a pine tree for me to eat. I have to admit, it is a little hard to choke down after having the finest food in the world for a week, and fresh bread my whole life.

I'm not so empty now, but my body is screaming for water and for me to go pee. After a few minutes, I go to the bushes to take a leak as Katniss searches for some edible plants. It feels awkward to pee on national television, but it feels so good to have my bladder empty.