My Hunger Games, Game 2: THE REBELLION

5. Good Mourning

Violet, Aspen, and Edin woke up in the tree, facing the sunrise. It was beautiful. The light was strewn across the sky. 

But the Hunger Games do not allow for any moment of peace, any moment of kindness. 

"Good morning," Edin yawned, and then he added, "Honey."

"I'm not 'honey' - Violet is, and she - where is she?"

"Violet." Edin looked around frantically. 

"Where where where where where where where..." Aspen kept repeating, as if that would help. 

It didn't. 

Violet had gone. 

. . . 

Ashton had wandered away from camp. Not too far, just over the thermal border. One side of the Arena was a frozen wasteland with a lot of hills, where he, Joey, and Jace had camped out, and the other side was a mix of forest, plain - and there was a dam on the other side, too. He hadn't explored too much of it. So he decided too, to see if there was a safer place to camp, to see where he could get food. He told Jace he'd be back in an hour, max. 

. . . 

Violet was sprinting away from the tree that Aspen and Edin were hiding in, tears streaming down her face. Why? Too much pressure, the alliance was. Too much pressure. She didn't want to have to kill either of them and she knew that if she stayed with them and fought on their team until the end, they would have to turn on each other. She decided to separate from them and die on her own. 

. . . 

Ashton had reached the forest, past the tributaries that spread off the ground around the Cornucopia, and into the woods. He didn't bother to pick any supplies up, they had all gone with dead bodies. 

. . . 

Violet was sitting on a thick tree root, out in the open, basically. But then she heard a noise. Footsteps. She thought fast. And she realized - not today. I do not die today.

. . . 

Ashton staggered back with a knife in his chest, threw his head back, and screamed. For Ashton also thought he wasn't going to die that day. 

The cannon went off.

. . . 

Jace put his shaking hand on his forehead. He was quietly, bitterly laughing. He shouldn't have let him go.

Joey called his name out. 

The scream, the cannon.