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Hey sorry this took so long to get uploaded, I haven't forgetten you guys!
25
The White Wolf
The kids this year were ruthless. Troy had found the perfect hiding place for him and Annie, but the rest were not fairing as well. It was day three in the arena and though it was later than I wanted, I finally got the go-head to send them some bread.
"Hope this helps," Lacy winked when she handed me the check. Lord knows what she would have me to do make up for it later.
"Thank you."
It paid for ten bread rolls, freshly baked, with a slab of butter and a flat wooden tool to spread it with. Had it been a knife, the price would have skyrocketed. I packed each of them carefully under the watchful eye of the gift monitors, making sure not one crumb was left behind. I held the last crescent roll in my hand and said a quick prayer that it would help Annie come home. And then for love and luck, I kissed it before tucking it away amongst the others.
"All set," I said casually, strutting out of the room so the package could be delivered. Annie hadn't been able to sleep for the two nights she spent in the arena because she kept having nightmares. This third day she had a hauntingly ghostlike look to her and moved as if she were sick. She didn't feel like eating the dried foods found in the pack and certainly didn't feel like plotting any death traps with Troy. I guess I could count myself lucky he'd stayed with her this long.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Day five. There was so much action going on with the other tributes, the gamemakers hadn't chased Annie and Troy out of their hiding place yet. They did run out of food however, but it was easy enough for me to get the funds to send them some staples. I had to hand it to Troy again, he was doing an excellent job and stopping Annie from saying my name in any way that suggested we knew each other outside the games. But the Careers-Both from One and the girl from Two-were plowing through the population and only ten were left alive altogether. There was two minor earthquakes too that had knocked rocks down on one kid and took out the frame on one of the abandoned houses. The houses, from what we saw, were all but empty on the inside. Minimal, rotted out furniture, broken windows with tattered curtains, and floors made of nothing but a few broken planks that would fall over at the slightest disturbance. But they were also sort of charming. Pale, broken things you could see straight through, all of them having an untold story. They reminded me a little of Annie.
The mentors from all the Districts had an event tonight to talk to sponsors and aspiring gamemakers. I dressed up in a sharp suit with blue trim and a silver tie. It was a swarthy affair and everyone was dressed up to the nines. I wasn't feeling inspired to flirt tonight, so I took refuge next to Johanna Mason who was sulking on the red couch in the lounge corner.
"What's wrong, you don't like parties?" I asked, sipping some green drink from a pointy glass.
"Not especially."
"Sorry about your girl out there, at least she went fast."
Johanna nodded tightly and kept her gaze set forward. "Every year." The screen closest to us showed a shot of Troy and Annie trying to catch fish in the river with the spear, but any fish available were bony and practically inedible. She looked really sick.
"You seem pretty concerned with them," Johanna commented, "haven't come to grips with the fact they're going to die?"
I snapped my eyes back on her, "Excuse me?"
