Safe and Sound (The Hunger Games)

Chapter 21 - Reunited Once Again

I feel my heartbeat faster and faster as the footsteps come closer. So this is how I die, being killed right in the open with no defense. I just hope they make it quick and painless.

The footsteps stop for a minute, and then continue faster towards me. "Oh god," I hear the tribute say. "Please, no..." He says. It's Elliot. He kneels down besides me and checks for a pulse. He sighs in relief when he realizes I'm still alive, and buries his head in my lap, sobbing. I want to talk to him so badly right now, it's killing me that I can't. My throat is tight and no words escape. I feel his arms slide beneath my knees and I am lifted off the ground. My head cradles in his shoulder as he carries me away. A single tear streams down my cheek, and I think he notices because he pulls me closer to him.

Because my eyes are closed, I feel my tiredness drag me to sleep. I try to stay awake as long as I can, but eventually I slip away from reality.

~

My eyes open and I am laying on the sand. I sit up automatically and face the sea in front of me. I catch my breath and dig my nails in the sand. I'm still in the arena because I am still in my tribute outfit. Where did Elliot go? I'm ninety-nine percent positive he was the one who carried me to safety last night. When I was paralyzed. I smile when I realize I can move every part of me freely and stand up.

The sky grows darker and clouds become thicker. Rain starts to pour down on the beach, and I am soaking wet. A clap of thunder erupts and I jump a little. The wind starts to pick up and I fall backwards on my back. I've only seen a strong storm like this once in my life, we call it a hurricane.

The waves become stronger and bigger in seconds, and crash to the perimeter of the jungle. I want to run, seek safety but my feet are stuck in the sand. The waves wash over my ankles, then my knees, then my waist. The sea level increases rapidly and all I can do is watch the last wave crash over my head, drowning me in the water to my death.

~

"Are you okay?" I look up and sit up automatically. That was a dream, this is reality. I can move again, and there is nothing holding me back. My head is dizzy, that feeling when you wake up and get up too fast. My hands find my forehead and cover my eyes. "Take it easy," He says as he kneels down beside me.

"Elliot," I say as I hug him. Tears are streaming down my face, but I don't care. I don't care if I seem weak. I don't care if I'll lose sponsors. I don't care. The only thing on my mind is that I'm safe with Elliot now. "I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too." He says, rubbing my back to calm me down.

"Where are we, and what... what happened to your arm?" I say while looking at it. There's a cut that runs from his elbow to his shoulder. Not a deep one, but something definitely to heal.

"It's a long story..." He starts saying.

"Tell me." I say.

"Uh... Well, we are in a hidden cave for starters." he laughs off, but then gets more serious. "Lets see... the last time we were together was the day Mason died." Mason died, right. He died right in front of me and I killed his killer. "Brandi, Toby, and I went to the Cornucopia as planned. We were collecting weapons and other things when three tributes, allies, started to pursue us. I was guard, so I called Toby and Brandi over as the three came closer. It was a bloody battle alright, I was cut here by the district six girl. I... I had no other option, I killed her." Elliot says quietly. I reach over to hold his hand, and he doesn't look at me. "I killed a complete stranger, a kid who was probably only fifteen years old. Maybe at home her family believed he could actually come home. That she would go home and save them from starvation. Not only did I kill her, but her whole family."

"You did it for defense. If you didn't kill her, she would have probably killed you." I say as calm as I can.

"After, Toby congratulated me in my first kill. It felt okay at the moment, but later that night, guilt took over me and I didn't sleep at all." He sighs. "The other two tributes were killed by Toby." How many tributes did Toby kill? The one from the first day I saw from the tree, countless at the bloodbath, my attacker on the first night, two more at the Cornucopia...

"Where is he now?" I ask.

"I'm getting there," he says, a little more hopeless. "Last night, before I found you, I suggested to Toby and Brandi that we should search for you and Crystal." Crystal, I remember leaving her last night. "Toby laughed, thinking I was joking, but then I told him I really wasn't, and he then got really serious. He told me that we should leave you two alone, hoping that someone or something would kill you two. He said if you guys weren't dead in a day, we would search for you two and kill you." Would Toby really kill off his district partner? Of course he would, he's a heartless killer. "I verbally agreed along with Brandi and then I offered to stand guard for the first shift. I escaped and fled to the beach, where I found you on the way in the jungle."

"So he's searching to kill you as well now?" I ask. He nods, and looks at the opening of the cave. "We are safe here, right?"

"I think so, we are hidden underground. The opening of the cave is hidden by bushes. While I was carrying you, I fell into what I thought was a hole, but was actually this cave." He explains. I sigh in relief and lay back down. "Now tell me your story."

My story. The one that began with Mason getting killed, and ends with me almost getting killed. "Mason died right in front of me." I say, just looking straight up to the rocks above me. "A tribute shot an arrow at his chest and he collapsed. And then I..." I can't do it, I can't tell him I killed someone. He'll see me as a killer, not the girl he knew back home in district four. "And then Crystal threw a knife at the girl, and she died." I say with guilt sitting in my stomach. "We spent the rest of the night together in a tree until an animal scratched her, and then the acid rain fell, and then the cornucopia, and then the fight, and then the nightmares, and then the..."

"A little bit slower, what fight?" He asks while laying down next to me. I replay the fight in my head over and over again.

"Crystal passed out from blood loss, and I tripped and fell and dropped her. A boy tribute grabbed me from behind in the acid rain and he wanted revenge. He told me that you killed his ally, and he would do the same to you." I say truthfully.

"I'm so stupid!" Elliot almost shouts. "I almost get myself killed, but also put you at risk!"

"I'm fine though, you are too." I try to calm him down.

"No," he says quieter as he sits up. "You don't understand how hard it is to live with myself, now that I have actually killed someone."

"I do," the words spit out of my mouth. He looks surprised with his eyes widened. "I killed someone." I say quietly. I sit up and bring my aching knees into my chest. "Crystal didn't kill Mason's killer. I did." I bury my head into my knees and close my eyes. No tears escape and I just sit there taking a breath.

The cave is silent for awhile, and I'm starting to think he doesn't love me anymore. "Why didn't you just tell me the truth in the beginning?" He says calmly.

"Because I thought that you seeing me as a killer would change your mind about me." I say.

"But it hasn't. We are both guilty for what we've done, and if we could prevent the fights from happening, I know we would. But we can't, and this is all about surviving now." He says as he wraps one arm around my back. "It's like you said, it's all about defense."