Scars That Never Fade- A New Generation of Hunger Games

Chapter 19

I woke up, my face warmed by the crackling of fire. Dazed, I wondered if I was dead? Was I dead? I deserved to die. Thanks to me, Mayara was dead and back at home, people that loved her were grieving. I looked up to see Volker warming his hands in the fire. Noticing I was awake, Volker handed me a slip of paper and a small lighter.

STAY WARM. STAY ALIVE. -H

Haymitch must've sent it. The warmth of the fire felt wonderful on my freezing skin.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," I said, hoping Haymitch saw it. If I made it out alive, which wasn't likely, I'd thank him a thousand times.

There wasn't anything else to say, for obvious reasons. As I felt a little stronger, I killed a couple of chipmunks with my knife and Volker and I ate them.

"How long was I out?" I asked Volker. He held up two fingers.

"Days?" I asked, surprised. He shook his head. "Hours?" He nodded. "Any more cannons since I've been asleep?" He shook his head no. I felt a little disappointed, not because I liked it when people died, I just didn't want to be the one to kill them. At least that meant Romy was alive, hopefully.

Volker stood up, putting a finger to my lips. Could he hear something I couldn't? He clenched his fists, preparing to fight someone or something. I was worried. What was going on?! I stood up, not ready to fight, but I was willing if it meant protecting Volker or possibly Romy.

Out of a bush sprung Althea. She grinned devilishly. I steamed, I hated that girl.

"Oh," she snickered, "look who it is! Little miss princess and her protector!"

"Shut up, Althea." I pulled my knife out.

"Oh, so you know my name? That's surprising, princess!" She took out her bow and arrow, grinning madly.

"I am not a princess!" I yelled.

She pulled her arrow back. "It's time for you to go now! And for everyone to see how the real star is!"

I charged at her, ready to kill. But suddenly, Althea dropped to the ground. A knife peaked through her chest, her tongue lolling out and her eyes rolling backwards.

BOOM. I realized excitedly what this meant. I took Althea's bow and arrows from her limp body, slinging them over my shoulder.

"Hi, Fern!" a small, raspy voice said from a tree above.

"Romy!" I exclaimed. She hopped down from the tree with ease, pulling me into a hug. "Did you just..."

"Kill Althea?" she finished for me, "Yeah. I didn't want to kill anyone, but I just wanted to protect you." I was impressed. Where did she learn to do that? Looking at her again, I was frightened. Red circles encompassed her big brown eyes. She looked ill. She stumbled sideways, and I prevented her from falling down.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"It's cold...and...and..." She fell down again. "I haven't had anything...anything to eat." I immediately dragged her mostly limp body to where I had recently been resting, right near the fire. She groaned and rolled over on her side to face the fire.

"Volker, can you check all of our backpacks for any food?" I asked. He nodded his head in agreement. Hopefully there was something in there, but my heart sank when I realized all of my food had gone down in the lake with Mayara. He looked back at me, shaking his head. He did, however find a blowgun in Romy's bag.

I worried to myself. Romy looked close to death, and if I didn't get any food soon, she would surely die. I promised I would protect her.

"Please, Romy, stay alive. Stay alive, stay alive. Please!"

Volker looked over sympathetically. There wasn't much we could do. The dark of night eliminated much chance of finding animals to kill. I began to cry. Romy was my friend, and in the end I knew I needed to sacrifice my life for her. I had grown comfortable with that fact at this point. My tears froze on my cheeks like tiny icicles.

"Please!" I sobbed.

"Please!" mimicked a deep, annoying voice behind me. It was the boy from Eight, Kav I believed. He was huge and held a mace. Volker stood up.

"Whatcha gonna do, mute boy?!" he laughed. Quick as a fox, Volker took out the blowgun and shot it directly in the boy's chest. He toppled to the ground. Volker sat down sternly, a look of despair spreading over his face.

"Thank you," I managed, still recovering from the close call. From the sky rained a small package. I caught it with my freezing hands, and tore it open immediately. It was a piece of bread, and what appeared to be tomato soup. I sighed shakily.

"Romy," I urged. The little girl moaned, and her pain caused pain in myself. "Romy, it's food. It's for you." Volker and I helped her sit up. Slowly, she dunked the bread into the soup, smiling at us as she ate it. A wave of relief flooded over me. I looked up into the sky, thanking whoever sent this down. The second Romy finished, she collapsed back into a sleep. She still looked sick, but at least she had food in her stomach.

Like last night, the anthem of Panem played, and I prepared to see the faces in the sky. Althea's appeared first. Then Kav's. Then Blaise's. I wondered who could've gotten her. Mayara's appeared last. I thought it odd that last night, she and I were watching the faces in the sky and tonight, I was watching hers.

Volker paced around, looking unable to sleep.

"Would you keep watch?" I asked. Day two of the Games had come a close, and so far I had only gotten two hours of sleep. Volker nodded at me. I slowly drifted off, the guilt of Mayara's death eating away at my conscience.