The Tournament of Life

Part 7

I didn't have any words for what my brother had just done, but I could quickly tell he wasn't exactly who I thought he was.

A cannon had sounded, one of the first.

"We need to go, now," Max packed up our stuff and grabbed my hand, but I was still staring at the boy in amazement.

I've never seen someone die in real life before. Only on television when they showed it back home.

"Aspen Jade Hunter!" He whisper-yells. My head snaps to his face, and tears fill my eyes.

"Come one, we don't have time for this," Maxwell says and yanks me out of the cave by my arm, leaving the boy and the sorrow behind. My survival instincts kick in overdrive, and I quickly rip the backpack from Max's hands and we take off.

I still couldn't get the picture of the dead boy out of my head, the scene replaying over and over again.

A silver parachute came in later that night, when both Max and I were tucked into a small burrow. Max was asleep, and I was up and watching for any suspicious behavior. I waited for a few seconds, then got up to retrieve the parachute.

Inside, more than half a loaf of bread waited for me to touch. I refrained from eating some then and there, it was really hard to resist.

"Max, get up. Dinner." I shook him awake, and he sat up to eat as well as I.

We each ate a handful of berries, three pieces of beef jerky, and a slice of bread.

I ask the question that has been on my mind ever since the boy.

"Maxwell, are you okay?" I put a red berry between my lips, and watch as he chews on jerky.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" It amazes me how much he is unfazed right now, because the boy is still dying in my head.

"You just killed a kid!" I say harshly, and I grab his hand.

"You can't kill people." The disapproval in my voice is thick, and he doesn't say a word for about a minute.

"I did. It's over and I was trying to protect you." He flips around on his side after finishing his last few berries, and ignores me for the rest of my watch.

-

A couple hours later, my eyes start to droop and I can't contain myself from leaning back on the dirt wall of this small burrow, and going to sleep.

"Aspen-Aspen help!"

I wake with a start, the small beads of sweat slowly dripping down my forehead, and my heavy breathing waking Max after me.

"Hey, hey," My younger brother calls to me, and lifts his hand to my shoulder.

"You're okay, you're safe." He says and pulls me into a hug, the sweet kid I know coming back and comforting me.

"That boy was in my nightmares." The small frown on Max's face tells me I need to stop, that he was just protecting me.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to help." Max is a child, he doesn't know right from wrong. He is barely mature yet and he doesn't understand it to the depth that I do.

"I know. I do." Now it's my turn to comfort him.

"But doing that wasn't right. From now on let me handle it, okay?" I recall the interview and remember how I said I'd kill for Max. Oh, what fun the people in the capitol must have with this.

"You rest up now, okay?" I say, gently releasing him and patting his head before he lies down with the knife securely tucked in his hand.

I settle back to my position, and out of the corner of my eye I see a movement behind a frozen oak tree.