I awoke, sitting up quickly and looking around. I was in a forest, asleep next to my bow and bag. Leaves were strapped to my hands and neck. Where tracker jackers had stung me.
I swung my bow over my shoulder, along with the quiver of arrows and my bag. I scanned the forest, looking for any signs of traps.
My gaze fell on a tree, that I sort of sensed something behind. I carefully walked up to the tree.
"Cassandra?" I called. She poked her head around the corner, looking very frightened.
"It's ok" I said.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
Cassandra and I sat around a campfire, eating some rabbit I had hunted.
"So, who's gone?" I asked.
"The girl from two, and...the boy from ten." Cassandra said, taking another mouthful of rabbit.
"And..." I asked, slowly.
"The boy from my district?"
Cassandra grinned.
"Yeah, he's ok. I think all the careers gathered all their things up by the river, but I didn't see him."
I frowned.
Was Rythian ok?
I kind of wanted to know. I was slowly admitting the love I had for him to.
Cassandra and I slept in a tree that night.
While Cassandra curled up next to me in the sleeping bag, I was gazing at the sky, thinking.
Maybe, we could find Rythian. But then I would eventually have to kill him. Unless the careers killed me first. Cassandra trusted me, which was good enough for now.
The next day, Cassandra and I formed a plan.
"You light this fire" I said, pointing to the pile of green leaves.
"Then move on to the next. I'll met you back at the camp."
Cassandra looked down and I crouched next to her, brushing her bright pink hair from her green eyes.
"Hey. I'll see you for dinner. Alright?"
She smiled and nodded.
"We need a signal. In case one of us gets held back."
"Ok, like what?" I asked. She thought for a moment, then whistled a simple four note tune. Then tune was repeated by the birds in the trees. Then repeated again further away. Then again even further away.
"Mocking jays" I smiled, glancing at my pin.
"Ok" Cassandra grinned.
"That means, we're alright, and we'll be home soon."
"Ok" I nodded, and we both turned and walked away. I was worried about her, but then realised that Cassandra was a bright girl. She wouldn't get hurt.
I stood on the edge of the forest, peering trough the bush at the stack of boxes. All the careers stood around it, guarding it. Each held a deadly weapon.
"Come on Cassandra" I whispered. I noticed the smoke a second before the careers and they all took off, running towards it. But there was someone left to guard it.
A small kid, wielding a spear.
I think his name was Sips or something. I waited till he looked away, then loaded an arrow into the bow. I pulled back, and that's when I noticed NanoSounds, the small girl, from District 3.
She ran across the field and took one of the boxes, before turning and running away, before Sips turned his head back.
She was good.
I aimed the arrow at the boxes before deciding where to fire it. I decided one of the mines around the platforms. They had all been dug up by the careers, and probably reactivated. I fired my first arrow, bracing for the explosion.
But I missed.
I loaded my bow again, grumbling slightly. I aimed it again, this time more carefully, and this time, when I fired it, it hit the target.
The mine exploded, as all the other mines exploded. The stack of supplies was destroyed.
And that's when the careers came back. Lalna pushed Sips, but grabbed him before he fell.
In one fluent movement, he snapped his neck. I stared, then turned and ran.
I ran through the bush, hoping desperately that Cassandra was all right.
I whistled the four note tune, a couple of times, walking through the bush around the camp where we were supposed to met.
That's when I heard her.
"Zoeya! Zoeya help!" Cassandra cried. My eyes widened and I ran through the forest.
"Zoeya!"
I burst through the tree line, finding Cassandra on the floor, a net pinning her down. I slid out my knife and cut the rope.
Cassandra sat up and I grabbed her, holding her in a hug as she cried. I pulled back and looked at her.
"You ok?" I asked. She glanced over my shoulder and screamed. I turned to see the boy from District 3, Honeydew, through a spear.
It missed me and I fluently pulled back and arrow and fired it. It hit him in the chest and he fell back.
I turned to Cassandra and paled.
She slowly pulled the spear from her stomach, her face blank.
I caught her as she fell, tears already in her eyes.
"Your going to be fine" I whispered.
She whimpered and looked skyward.
"You have, to win" she said, her voice already loosing breath.
"I will." I promised her.
She whimpered again.
"Can you sing?" She asked.
I nodded, and began to fulfil Cassandra's last wish.
"Deep in the meadow,
Under the willow,
A bed of grass,
A soft green pillow.
Lay down your head,
And close your eyes,
And when they open,
The sun will rise."
I closed Cassandra's eyes as they stared blankly, and lay her down. I screwed my eyes shut, fighting to hold in sobs.
After a few minutes, I stood up and walked through the forest, collecting a bunch of wild flowers. I came back to Cassandra's body, and placed the flowers around her, then in her hands, a clump of white roses.
I turned to face a camera in a tree, pressing two of my fingers to my lips, then holding them up. I don't know what will happen now. If the Capitol will even show that.
But if they do, then maybe, just maybe, somewhere, someone will fight back.
