The art of War

Chapter 8:"No one good ever makes it out of the game."

It was the fifth day in the arena, Blake and his group had been moving around trying to navigate the caves underground. It had been an uneventful couple of days, they'd mostly been moving around underground while also trying to continue on with their activities. Only 2 people had died in the past days. Viscera from 10 and Flint from 12. They didn't know how the two had died but it was two less people for them to kill. They'd run out of food and they couldn't get any gifts underground, and if they could they weren't getting any. At the moment they were looking for a tunnel. Once they'd come to one Blake and Grove helped Rush out first and Siren went after, followed by Solar, Ivy, Blake and then Rush and Blake helped pull Grove out from underground.

"We need to watch out for the mutts, I've seen them at every entrance we've passed in the last few days. We'll go in groups of three. We'll stay out here tonight to eat but after that we go back underground. Got it?" Ivy asked looking around at everyone and they nodded.

"I'll go with Solar and Rush." Blake shared and they all split up. Solar climbed up on the high tree branch while Blake and Rush were scouting for smaller forest animals. Gripping the knife he saw a small lizard in the distance and threw it killing it, Rush grabbed the lizard handing the knife over to Blake. "Thanks." Blake nodded as they heard a deer fall in the distance and Rush went to collect it while Blake held out his hands and Solar jumped down off of the tree into his arms.

They then regrouped in the mountains and Siren began skinning the fish while Grove skinned the deer and Solar was cooking the meat. As they finished most of their food Blake was on watch with Siren, he had Solar asleep in his lap trembling, Blake put his jacket over her as Siren was picking at some leftover cooked deer meat. "I didn't think it'd be this way."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked curiously.

"I was a volunteer, I thought I'd get in and out, I thought it'd be easy. But everything is exactly how I thought it would be, but one thing is different." Siren shared laughing and shaking her head. "I actually like you."

"You should focus on winning." Blake demanded.

"I'm not so fussed." Siren shrugged her shoulders. "I mean I'm older than my fucking mentor. There has to be something weird about that."

"Not really. Finnick Odair, he's a guy that will never be forgotten." Blake shared giving her a tender smile and he brushed her hair behind her ear. "You'll never be forgotten either."

"I will. This year there are a lot of memorable people, and they all outshine me. Alexis is a scary bitch with a really good psycho face. You have Butch, he's tall, muscular, good at everything and from district 11 no less. Then you have Augustus, he's just too incredible. Then you have the sweethearts from 5. It's just you all outshine me. I'll be forgotten." Siren shared bitterly her eyes narrowing as she absent mindedly ate some of the meat.

"I'll never forget you." Blake offered giving her an encouraging smile.

"Really?" Siren asked.

"Yeah, the sexy girl from district 4 who managed to seduce me with just a touch and a look. I mean I haven't lusted after anyone this much since my ex. I haven't even touched or looked at another girl since her. And well you put an end to my abstinence." Blake shared nudging her, his blue eyes closely watching as she laughed looking over at Blake.

"So that must mean you like me." Siren cheekily muttered.

"Yeah. I guess I sort of do." Blake nodded kissing her cheek tenderly. "I don't want to think about the end of this game, I just want to live in the moment. Is that okay?" Blake asked and Siren nodded kissing his cheek.