My Hunger Games

Chapter Eleven

"Who did you kill?" Rhett asks him again. Ashton looks at all of them before answering.

"I took out Savannah. I woke up in the middle of the night, heard someone moving around. I told Kendahl to get some rest, and that I would take another watch. So, I snuck out to investigate. The girl couldn't see. She literally couldn't have seen me coming. I took her sword, and, well... I'll spare you the gory details. Bottom line is, she's dead, we're not, there's five of us, and two of them. No one's seen District Four since the collision where you guys went head to head."

"How did you know about that?" Karalyn asked. He shrugs.

"The arena has ears, my dear," he tells her. "I did what I had to do. Not like anyone else was gonna do it. We need to start making moves like this. If they're stupid enough to be traveling alone in the dark, especially when they can't see, that's their problem." 

"You could have gotten yourself killed. What if the others had gone after you? Or Niall and Annie?" Karlayn tests. Ashton brushes it off.

"Then that would be my problem, cupcake. See? I can call you so much more than Princess." He winks at her, smiling devilishly before stripping of his outer layer, taking it outside to clean off some of the blood that had gotten on it. Karalyn growled, laying back down under the tarp blanket. 

"Kendahl, we should probably treat your burns again," Rhett told her. She agreed, and stayed still and patient while he helped her. it stung just a little, but her burns were already looking so much better. "You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah," she smiles. "Can we go outside? Maybe the snow will help." Rhett nods, helping her outside. Alone in the tent, Luke rolls over onto his side, pulling the blanket off of Karalyn's face. 

"Why are you so upset?" he asks. She frowns, looking up at him.

"Because he makes me so frustrated," she admits. "This whole game does! I hate it, and I just want it to be over."

"I know..." he whispers. "But we're here, and maybe instead of focusing on the games," he tells her. "Just focus on being here, in this little tent," he smiles.

"This tiny tent that we all have to squish into, how cozy and romantic," she says, her sarcasm clearly noted.

"It could be, under the right circumstances," Luke shrugs.

"I don't think these are them," she sighs. 

"Well, sometimes things are so unexpected that you don't even know they're possible until it's already over," he whispers, leaning closer to her and kissing her on the lips. When they pull away, neither of them can say anything before Ashton is back inside.

"We need to make a fire," he says, glaring at the two of them. Not subtle, but not too forward. "Do we have any of that gasoline left?"

Annie stepped out of their cave with her gun, following Niall into the woods. They were going hunting, and poor Annie refused to be left behind this time. Plus, she would be good backup for him, now that there has just been a killing near there. "What if it was one of the careers that died?" Annie asked Niall.

"I highly doubt that," he says. "But if so, we might be expecting a visit from one of them soon. If they can find us, which I highly doubt as well." Annie nodded. After a while, Annie heard movement in the woods, and instantly armed herself. Niall had too. 

"I could have sworn I just saw-" Annie says before seeing it again. "There!" She points her gun in the direction of the large ominous shadow she had seen out of the corner of her eye, but when she had turned, it wasn't there anymore. "Niall, I swear, we're not alone in these woods," Annie whispers. "Something, or someone, is out there."

"No, I saw it too... Annie, stick close by me." The two of them went back to back, pointing their weapons and turning slowly in a clockwise circle. "I think whatever it was, it's gone now," Niall says after a few minutes. 

"Think again," Annie says, shooting a dart into the beast that she had seen. It took the thing down after a few seconds. Approaching with caution, they saw that it was a type of mutant arctic wolf, looking a good size or two bigger than normal. It was wearing a color, where the dart had struck it in the neck, that read the number 3 on it. "Judging by the stature, Female," Annie says, blowing off the top of her gun, sticking it back in the belt on her uniform.

"District Three," Niall says. "Do you think there are more?"

"No doubt in my mind," Annie says. "We should be more careful. What do we do with her?" Niall shrugs, lifting the poor beast, and bringing her into the woods, lying her down. 

"Now we leave her in peace, and get what we came for. Then, we plan out what we want to do from there."

"You mean whether we want to join them?" Annie asks.

"Something like that," Niall says, kissing her on the cheek.

Ashton pours just a very small amount of the gasoline on the pile of sticks that they had gathered and put into a fire pit, lighting it with one of the matches that Kendahl had picked up. The main reason for the fire was to melt some snow to wash his jacket, and dry it so he could wear it again. But, it also kept the others warm, since it wasn't so warm in that small tent, and they were starting to get colder by the minute. 

Rhett had grabbed some of the bread and cheese that came with their supplies and passed some out to each of them. Luke had his arm wrapped around Karalyn while Ashton angrily dried his jacket over the fire. "Won't the smoke tip them off?" Kendahl asks.

"At this point in the game, anything tips anyone off. If they want us, they'll come get us, regardless," Ashton answers with a monotone. When his jacket is dry, he puts it back on, and huffs into the tent. 

"What's his deal?" Rhett asks. Karalyn groans.

"I have no idea." Getting up, she excuses herself for a moment and follows after Ashton. "What's your problem?" she accuses him.

"What? I don't have a problem," he clearly denies. 

"I think you do! You act all furious, build the fire, and then storm back in here to mope around so we'll feel sorry for you! Well that's a load of bullshit, because this is the Hunger Games, dammit! If you wan't to feel bad about something feel bad that the Capital has forced you to be here!"

"You don't know anything about me," Ashton brushes her off, turning away. She drops to the floor, as he is, and crawls over to him.

"Oh really? Because right now I know that you're pissed, for god knows what reason, and quite frankly, I can't understand your motives! You waltz into our alliance, expect us to trust you, and yet you keep secrets from us! What are you hiding?" 

"I'm not hiding anything," he states.

"Then why are you being completely irrational?" To shut her up, Ashton grabs her face in his hands, pressing his lips harshly against hers, kissing her roughly before pulling away.

"That, is being completely irrational, Princess," he presses, leaving the tent.