Defenders of Panem (Being Rewritten)

Chapter 30

~Day 9~

~Jem's POV~

I finally wake up and it's around noon, everyone else is sitting a little further away from me talking quietly. I see that even Meg and Karter are awake but looking very groggy. They don't see me. I crawl over near them and listen in.

"I think our best chance is to attack them soon." Collin says, "They're injured and have even fewer numbers than us."

"Yes but don't forget that we're weak and injured too." Meg says. "Sure we have more numbers but how many of us can still fight after the past few days? My head is still pounding from those meds, and my arm won't be better for a few days, the medication speed up the healing but I won't be able to shoot for a few more days. And I'm NOT going to risk taking those crazy pills again. Especially not after last night."

"Yes you walking off definitely put us in a bad situation." Collin agrees.

"Yeah and all that 'Collin I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE YOUUUUUUU!'" Jace says mockingly, Collin and Karter laugh and I stifle a giggle.

"Oh shut up Jace!" Meg punches him in the arm, hard.

"Ow! Watch it! I got beat up last night saving you!"

"Ha ha ok then, I won't completely beat the crap out of you, if you swear NEVER to bring it up again! Ya got it?!" Meg says angrily grabbing the front of Jace's shirt.

"Ok ok! I'll shut up!" Jace says terrified. Meg lets go of his shirt. "So what should we do about the others?"

"Like I said we should attack while their weak!" Collin says determined.

"And like I said we shouldn't because we are in no condition to fight them!" Meg says also determined.

"Look let's just wake up Jem before we come to a conclusion." Karter says, I'm about to speak up when.

"No," Collin says, "She spent almost the entire night on guard after we fought the careers."

"Yeah and she had more than one near death experience with Silvia and Bradley. If I hadn't gotten to her, I don't even want to think about it." Jace says. If he hadn't gotten to me? I can't keep my mouth shut any longer.

"Oh please! If I hadn't gotten Silvia off you, you wouldn't be here right now!" Everyone jumps at my voice and turn around.

"Well if you think about it, I did save you from Bradley." Jace says, he does have a point.

"I had it perfectly under control."

Jace is unconvinced. "Yes I could totally tell by how his hands we're around your neck, and how you we're turning blue!"

"Yes and then you just HAD to come in and "save" the day, and then get nearly beaten to a pulp by the two people I was about to kill."

"Guys stop! We get it, you both saved each other! Congratulations! Now can you stop your just giving me a bigger head ache!" Meg says her face in her hands.

Collin puts his arm protectively around her. "I'm sorry Meg," I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Your right, I was just being stupid. And Jace," I turn back to him, "I'm sorry I should've thanked you for what you did, your right I would probably be dead if you hadn't."

"Your right Jem and I would probably be dead if you hadn't killed Silvia. I'm sorry, to both of you." Jace says sincerely.

"Ok now that we got all that out of our systems... Let's discuss what to do about the other group." Collin says slightly annoyed.

"Aright Collin." I sit down across from him; between to Karter and Jace. "But I've already heard what you think, and I agree with Meg."

"And may I ask why?" He asks.

"Well one, even with how dark it was I could see our injuries. And two don't forget about that cut on your arm."

"What cut?" Meg asks. That's when I realize how much they don't know.

"Last night at the fight, the boy from district 1 cut Collin, I got it clean and bandaged once we got back. He should be fine. Really Collin? You didn't tell her?" he shrugs. "We did it all for her, to get her back. How much didn't you tell them?"

"I just left out some of the nastier parts; the most important thing is that we all got out ok." Collin replies.

"You kept stuff from me?" Meg says shocked.

"Just a little but it wasn't very important stuff, and I didn't want to gross you out."

"Really? You didn't want to gross me out? You obviously don't know how much I've done and seen." Meg says angrily.

"I just didn't want to-" Collin starts. I cut him off.

"No, she needs to know exactly what happened. So then when we do fight them, and I can guarantee that we eventually will have to, she has to know where their weak points are."

"Ok ok fine we can all tell her! I don't even know half of what happened to you and everyone else." Collin says in defeat. We spend a lot of the day resting and telling our stories of last night. Meg was very interested in it; she gasped at all the right parts and nearly screamed at some of them, and she listened to each of us until the very end. In the end I even learned stuff I didn't know about last night.

Karter had tricked Alex into accidentally touching her own electric whip after he turned it onto a higher voltage; unfortunately he stepped on the whip causing him to be knocked out as well. Collin had a pretty even match with Charm. There were actually a few times where Charm almost had him, but as we all know in the end it was ok. Jace had a fair fight with the girl from 1, she had a spear and he had a trident so it wasn't close combat.

By the time we're all done telling what happened it was around dinner time. We try to ration our food as much as we can but by the time we're done there's just a small piece of squirrel and our reserves.

"Guys, we need food soon. We're almost completely out." I tell them.

"But I can't shoot." Meg says disappointed, "Not with this injury."

"Wait, Jem." Collin says, we look at him. "Can't you shoot? You might not be as good as Meg but something's better than nothing."

"Yeah but what about the careers?" Jace speaks up, "They're all over the woods now, and who knows what other mutts are in there. We can't risk it."

"He does have a point." Meg says.

"Well, what about the lake?" I ask.

"What about it?" Karter says.

"There has to be fish in there, I saw some in the stream once." I say. "Jace has a trident; we both know how to fish... well me more than him. So I think the lake is our best option."

They all think about this. "Alright, we can go tomorrow, and bring everything in case we don't come back." Collin finally says.

That night we see Silvia and Neon in the sky (since we technically killed them today). I look around at what's left of our group. Collin, Meg, and Karter have all lost their district partners. I feel guilty about killing Silvia, because she was Collin's district partner.

I think of everyone else in the arena, now the only ones from the same district are me and Jace, and the two from district 1. I think Jace realizes this too because he looks at me with tears in his dark brown eyes. I get up and hug him.

I let go and look at Meg, she nods understandingly. So does Collin.

"Did I miss something?" Karter asks stupidly. Meg rolls her eyes and we all burst out laughing, except for Karter who sits there with a dumbfounded look on his face. Collin volunteers for watch and we fall asleep under the stars.