In This Together (The Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Alliance

"Do you think it's Emilia and Declan?"Tristan whispered.

"No," I shook my head. "It's four pairs of footsteps. It's gotta be the Careers." The moment the words left my lips, Tristan yanked me behind one of the large rocks surrounding the waterfall.

"Stay low," he ordered. We crouched, and listened.

For a while, we heard nothing but the footsteps on the stone and dirt. After about two minutes of not moving, when my foot was starting to fall asleep, an unfamiliar female voice spoke.

"Are you sure they went this way?"

I cast a panicked glance at Tristan; he held a finger to his lips.

"I saw them myself!"

I frowned. The male voice sounded familiar. As I tried to figure out who the voice belonged to, the footsteps moved continually forward. I tried to slow my breathing to make it less noticeable, and I noticed Tristan doing the same. We were moments away from discovery. If what these Tributes said was true, and they really did see us come this way, they would most certainly check behind the few rocks that were in the area. It would only be seconds before we were discovered.

"Tristan? Celia?" The voices called quietly. I could tell they were very close now, maybe only a few metres away.

"Water!" We heard their cries as they spotted the waterfall. I watched as they ran into my obstructed view of the waterfall.

All the fear in my mind washed away at the sight of one girl.

"Emilia!" I sprinted out from behind the rock and embraced her in a hug, ignoring Tristan's cries of warning. I knew it was a stupid move, but the sight of my best friend made me think irrationally.

"Cece! We've been looking everywhere for you," she smiled at me.

"I knew you went down this tunnel," I recognized the man whose voice sounded familiar.

"Declan!" He grinned at me.

"Wait..." Tristan had stood up by this point, leaving the cover of the rock. "Who are you?" He gestured to the other two people observing our reunion. Cursing myself for not noticing them earlier, I drew out my knife, unsure if I would be able to use it should things come to that point.

"Whoa there," the lady with dark brown hair smiled down at me. She looked around 30 years old. "Don't worry. We aren't here to hurt you."

"Yeah," the man next to her, who I now recognized to be her district partner, added. "We're here to ally."

"Ally?" Tristan snorted in disbelief. "Is this true?"

Emilia and Declan nodded in confirmation. "They talked to us during the private sessions. We wanted to discuss it with you, but since you guys went for assessment first we didn't have the chance," Declan explained.

"Anyways, I'm Riyla Mellark, and this is my brother Tale," Riyla introduced herself. Tale shook my hand.

"Ah, yes. You're the tributes from District 12, descendants from Katniss and Peeta Mellark I'm assuming?" Tristan gestured toward Riyla's hair, which was in a side-braid. It looked like the hair trend had been passed down through Katniss' family.

"Yes. That's why we were picked for the Games," Tale sighed.

"Me too!" Everyone turned to look at me. "My ancestors supported the Mockingjay Rebellion."

"Really? What's your last name, Celia?" Riyla asked, interested.

"Deen."

"Doesn't strike a bell but if they were undercover they might have gone by something else," Riyla shrugged.

"So, is this our alliance?" Declan asked.

Tristan seemed hesitant, but I liked Riyla and Tale. They seemed nice and they were related to Katniss, so how bad could they really be?

After a moment of quiet contemplation, everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Our alliance was settled.

"Did you hear the cannons go off?" Tristan asked, "The waterfall muffles most sounds."

"Yes," Emilia answered, "Ten cannons. Seems like a lot, doesn't it? Almost half of the tributes."

"The Careers are strong this year, even if they're missing you two." Tale nodded grimly.

"We might as well set up camp here for now," Riyla decided. "We have plenty of water, and we all managed to grab some packs with food in them."

"Yeah, and when it gets chilly we can burn the packs for warmth!" Tale added.

We decided to set up camp behind the boulder Tristan and I had been hiding behind earlier. When taking inventory of our weapons, Emilia discovered we had two bows and ten arrows, which she immediately divided among Riyla and Tale, my knife, two other knives and three swords. After she made sure everyone had something to defend themselves with, we divided up the food.

"I'm glad we all made it through the bloodbath. Our mentors said it was the biggest challenge of the Games," Riyla sighed as she nibbled on her crackers.

No one argued with what she said. It was the truth; all of the weakest tributes were usually killed in the blood bath. If we had made it past that, we had proved ourselves worthy to sponsors.

I was just filling up my water bottle for the second time when the Capitol anthem started playing and the cave walls lit up with the faces of the fallen.

The Dead:

Rhys D3

Trina D5

Deckster D5

Kayla D6

Kellen D6

Nya D7

Wyatt D7

Suri D8

Lilias D9

Finn D9

"Come on, let's get to sleep," Tristan urged. I blinked my sleepy eyes and laid out the sleeping bag Tristan had given me from his pack. He kept the blanket for himself.

"Who wants to go on first shift?" Declan asked.

"I will," Riyla stood.

"Me too," Tristan jumped up. I guess he still doesn't completely trust the duo from District 12.

"Okay. Whenever you two get tired wake up me and Declan alright?" Emilia insisted.

"What about me?" I piped up, annoyed that the alliance duties weren't being shared with me.

"You and Tale can take over tomorrow night," Riyla decided.

Confident that I was an useful asset to the team, I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to drift off.

I had survived my first day in the arena.

...............

I realize I have officially passed the 100 reads" mark on this story! That makes me really happy. As I type this, I have 108 reads! Yay!

QOTD: Now, if I were (not saying I am, but if I did) decide to write a backstory on one of the characters, who would you want me to write it on?