The Capitol Games

Chapter 10: Hunting

We walk in silence, the only sounds coming from our feet step pining on the hard, cracked earth. Reddish orange is everywhere, even the sky. A small sandstorm has blown up, small bits of red dirt and sand swirling all around.
It's amazing how the climate changed so quickly, though, at the same time, completely expected. They could do anything to us in here. Starve us all if they wanted, or burn us to death. I try not to think of these things, but they keep invading my mind.
We've been walking now for some time, not finding a single living thing. I thinking going mad.
I keep hearing things, but I'm not seeing a thing. A sound, sort of scratchy and choked.
A voice.
Why would a voice be calling to me? We're all alone, I must be crazy, I think. Then I see it. Or rather, him. The blue haired man that killed the girl. The girl whose clothes I now wear. The clothes she died in.
It suddenly becomes too much. I collapse to my knees, sobbing into my hands.
"I can't do this. Not anymore. I can't. I can't. Dart, I can't." I say, choking on a lump that's formed in my throat. I try to hold back more sobs, but they end up reaching the surface, rolling from my chapped lips.
"I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't." I repeat over and over, stopping when my voice cracks only to start again, this time shaking my head slowly back and forth.
I see a shadow loom over me, and look up at its source. Dart looked down on me through the cloth, extending a wrapped hand. I shakily take it, and he helps me up, pulling me into a tight hug and whispering sweet nothings in my ear, assuring me that I was strong enough to survive.
"You're going to be okay. You're a strong girl, you'll make it. You can't give up. You can make it. I know it." He whispers to me, still wrapping his arms around my waist.
"Promise?" I ask, removing my face from his chest to look up at him.
"Promise." He replies, giving me one final squeeze, and releasing me from the hug.
After that, things were quiet. No one said a word. It was as if nothing had ever happened. I think back to only a few moments before, when I had been so weak and vulnerable. They were sure to have caught that on camera.
I'm lucky that I am spared the embarrassment, the cloth hiding the blush I was wearing when he hugged me. My cheeks heat up again just thinking about it. I sneak a glance over to him and study his features.
His slightly muscled body that flexed with every step he took, his bright violet eyes that could stare into your heart and make you weak in the knees. I snap myself out of these thoughts. I can't fall for him, we could never be together. I have to push my feelings aside. After all, I'll have to do it sooner or later. He is my enemy. He is my enemy. He is my enemy.
I force myself to chant these words over and over in my head, my words matching the steady rhythm of my feet as they slap the hard, baked earth. A thought breaks through my barrier, causing me to stop dead in my tracks.
I love the enemy.