87th Games: The Aftermath

Iron Sharpens Iron

I woke up with a start. I tumbled a meter out of bed and onto the ground. Groaning, I picked myself up and dusted the mud from my knees. As I opened my eyes I felt an instant headache and a deep pain in my neck that I knew wouldn’t go away any time soon.

Lumen and Cole had put me in some sort of hammock between two trees presumably deep into the woods.

It still smelled like rain and I could hear promising gush of a nearby river. Spending 6 months in the hunger games I was proud of my honed skill navigate my way through the woods using just my ears. I had learnt time and time again never to trust my eyes as looks can be deceiving.

My natural instincts took over and I hurried to quench my ever growing thirst. The birds seemed to be chirping away at each other and mucking around above me. Every now and then I would hear a black frog croak happily, seemingly following me as I trailed aimlessly through a non-existent path. Sometimes if it jumped fast enough I would see him, it had a beautiful yellow circles on its back and blue spots around his legs. The frog was beautiful but also looked a little old and rugged, when I looked close enough I saw it had lost the entire colour from its belly as well.

“No, she doesn’t know anything” I heard Lumen state adamantly. I could also hear the river gushing behind them, knowing they must have come here to talk away from my ear’s reach.

“Are you sure?” Cole asked in a disbelieving tone.

I had no idea what the hell they were talking about but I immediately crouched down and covered my mouth. I knew myself well enough to know I would probably yell something out or run in guns blazing and subsequently ruin everything. The black frog caught up to me and continued to croak beside me. I wanted to cover its mouth too.

“No, not yet” Lumen chastised.

“How do you know?” Cole asked; a sound of disbelief still prominent in his voice.

 “Shhh” I whispered to the frog, hoping it would understand. It was getting louder and louder.

 “I just do. She will find out soon enough”. She paused for a second before saying “when she is ready”.

Ready for what? What do I need to be ready for?

 I tip toed back to my hammock with my trusty frog croaking behind me. He was a little bit cheeky but I thought I could use all the companionship I could at this moment. I instinctively felt for the bracelet around my hand and let out a sigh of relief. I had no idea what the key was for but wasn’t about to go and make that public.

I heard Cole and Lumen’s footsteps and hurriedly got back into my hammock and pretended to be asleep.

“Shut up Cole” Lumen said earnestly.

“All I’m saying is she needs to be ready. We can’t go if she’s not 100% healthy, that’s all”.

“Whatever” Lumen snapped, shooting him a glare thereby closing the conversation.

 I opened my eyes a little and proceeded to yawn.

“Ah she’s awake” Cole surmised. I was a bit worried to see him holding the brief case, but was glad it was still ultimately in our hands.

“Obviously” Lumen replied. She was annoyed about something but I had no idea what. I must have skipped out on their last bit of conversation.

“Thanks for saving me you guys” I grasped the back of my head and pleaded with it to stop hurting.

“It’s fine babe” Lumen winked at me.

“We will wait until your head is healed and will make the trip to the station.”

“We’re going to be catching a train? Won’t peace keepers be crawling around everywhere?” I asked, a little bit worried at the idea of sneaking under the nose of the Capital.

Lumen snickered. “You lived an entire 4 months in the hunger games arena but can’t fathom the thought of sneaking around?”

I shrugged. “You have a point. But right now it’s life and death”.

“It was in the Hunger Games too” Lumen added.

“ohh check mate” Cole interjected. I decided not to reply. He had the same kind of arrogance Zane had, the kind where the only way to let him loose was to leave the situation alone so he couldn’t win anymore. He had the natural charisma of Zane and reminded every single second that he died to save me and there was nothing I could do. It made me think back to the day but ultimately made me feel like I had a pit in my stomach.

I got off the hammock and started to pack my things.

“Look..” Cole began.

“I don’t really want to hear it. I have a headache” Just like Zane, Cole knew when he has pushed a button and knew immediately how to reconcile it.

“I know, but there’s something you’ve got to know”

I looked up at him, sensing the seriousness of his voice.

“When we get to the station, we will be meeting the Bushmen. We are going to buy horses from them and scour the land from there to the district 13”

I nodded. Seemed like a good idea.

“But the only thing is...” Lumen added.

“Is there something you’re not telling me? I heard you two talking before saying I was ready and that I needed to be healthy and all that. What the hell was that about?”

They both averted my glaring eyes.

“It’s just we have no money with us”

“Well no shit Sherlock!” I replied angrily.

“and well, we need to get money somehow” Cole replied quickly.

“Wow, you’re a captain obvious aren’t you? Is anyone actually going to admit what you were talking about before? Or am I just going to stand here becoming more and more angry?”

They averted my glare once again.

“Great. Well I’m here with primmy pritsy little Lumen who has never gotten into a fight before, and arrogant Cole who seems to have forgotten all of his district training and has lived in the woods all his life. Am I the only one that can even protect myself out here?” I was beginning to loose it.

“We were kind of hoping you’d say that” Cole admitted, rubbing his chin.

“Why? So I could beat the both of you and continue this quest by myself?”

“Um. No. So you can win us money” Lumen whispered, afraid of my answer.

“By doing what exactly?” I roared. None of this was making sense and my headache seemed to be the cause of it.

“By fighting to the death” Cole said quickly.

I took a deep breath.

“How dare you assume I was to kill people just willy-nilly! Who do you think I am? I am trying to free Arrow and save the Capitol and you want me to fucking kill someone so we can win money?”

“No, no, no, calm down Scar. It’s not like that anymore, it’s kind of like a boxing match. It’s run by the bushmen and when you’re fighting in the ring no rules apply. So you could kill your opponent but most don’t choose to anymore. If you want to save Arrow you can get us money to ride to his facility or we can walk and have these kinds of arguments every second of every day.

“Fuck” I let out a deep breath, feeling quite a little exasperated.

They looked at each other and then back at me. I guess that’s what they needed me healthy for. That’s why the needed me to be ready. So I can win money and get to Arrow sooner. The only thing is I may have to sacrifice my life to do so.

Iron sharpens iron so I guess man sharpens man.

~

Little short and sorry for lack of updates. Been so busy with university, barely have time for anything else. gaaaaaaaah comments and votes welcome. x