Defenders of Panem (Being Rewritten)

Chapter 26

Day 5

Jem's POV

I recline further into the sand, letting the sun's warmth continue to wash over me. "Jem." I let out a sigh. If I ignore the voice, will it go away? "Jem. Wake up." Wake up, I don't want to leave my beach. Cold fingers touch my arm, jolting me from the warmth of District Four and into the cold morning of the arena. Collin is crouched next to me. His hand is still pressed against my shoulder. I bolt upwards, nearly knocking my head against his.

"What is it? What's wrong?" My head snaps from one end of the camp to the other, trying to see an impending attack.

"Easy." Collin says, hand out to calm me. "I didn't mean to startle you, but I can't get Meg to come down. She hasn't slept all night, she keeps insisting she needs to keep watch. She refuses to listen to me, and I thought you might be able to get through to her."

I look up and sure enough, Meg is seated up high on a large tree limb with a foot dangling down. I can barely make out the bow across her lap, arrow gleaming in the morning sun. I look back at Collin, eyes still fixed on Meg. I can see the worry in his scrunched brows.

"I'll talk with her." I say standing up. Collin moves his eyes back to mine. "Why don't you try and get breakfast started? The leftover rabbit from last night is in Meg's pack." He nods, reaching for the bag as I step quietly over a still sleeping Jace. I take a quick once over the camp, noticing Chrystal and Karter's absence. I shoot a confused look to Collin, and he reads the question in my gaze.

"They're spying on the other groups." He states quietly, to not wake Jace. I nod, accepting the answer with ease and hoist myself up the first branch of Meg's tree.

It takes several minutes to climb up to her level. She barely acknowledges my arrival on the branch next to her. I take stock of the dried streaks left from old tears on her cheeks, and the puffiness of her eyes. This is the most evidence I've seen of her tears in my years of knowing Meg. She hardly ever cries, and tries to avoid anyone seeing the evidence when she does.

"Meg, what's going on with you? I've never seen you like this." I ask gently. I can see her hesitation in answering. I adjust my position to allow both my legs to hang in front of me on the branch as I wait for her to respond. One must have patience when dealing with a Cassabone. They'll answer when they're ready, and if you push too hard, they shut down completely. Not that I have any experience with any other Cassabone's but she must have gotten it from somewhere. Right?

Meg continues to avoid looking at me after several moments. I'm beginning to think she's not going to deem my question worthy of a response when she lets out a quiet sigh. "I don't want to lose any of you guys. I've already lost so many, and I don't know how I'll handle losing my team as well." Her words are barely a whisper, and I strain to hear them. I watch as new tears fill her already tired and bloodshot eyes. I know this isn't everything, but I'm amazed she said this much. There's a bigger personal story here of hers, but I know better than to push.

"Meg, you're not going to lose us." She lets out a breathy laugh. I know she doesn't believe me. Hell, I don't know if I believe me either. I release a sigh of my own and decide to change topics. This is a conversation that shouldn't be broadcasted to everyone. "C'mon. We can't have you starving up here. Please come down and eat with us?"

She finally looks at me, tears fading from her eyes as they do. "Okay." She whispers. "I'll come down." Her face changes to one of disgust shortly after replying. "What is that smell?" She looks down and I take a sniff of the air. I look down at the camp to see Collin stomping out a burning piece of rabbit. Seriously. I gave him one job!

Meg and I climb down the tree at an alarming speed to meet Collin at his cooking monstrosity. "That's the last time I let you cook." I tell him, staring at the charred rabbit...or what's left of the rabbit.