𝐅𝐎𝐗𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 [EDITING]

eighteen

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I cautiously took Glimmer's hand and used it to help hoist myself up off the ground. Her other hand held the bloodied sword she had used to kill Thresh. "Glimmer!" I heard Cato yell from across the field, "finish her off and let's get going!" He said with a sadistic smirk on his face.

Glimmer let go of my hand and turned to meet Cato's eyes. She frowned at him, "why don't you get the fuck out of here before you're just the same as him." She yelled, using her sword to point to Thresh's body laying motionless on the ground.

Cato opened his mouth as if he was about to say something more, but closed it back up again. He muttered something, and ran away like he was nothing but a lost dog, and disappeared into the bushes. "So." Glimmer said, looking at me awkwardly, "alliance?" She asked with a smile, sticking her hand out for me to shake it.

"Sure," I said, taking her hand and shaking it gently.

Glimmer and I walked towards the small grey table in the middle of the arena, only three bags remained on the table; Cato had taken Glimmer's, and Clove's, as well as his own bag. The only ones that remained were mine, Katniss's, and Thresh's. Katniss's bag was, by far, the smallest, it could probably fit around my wrist if I wanted it to. Mine was about the size of my head, and Thresh's was massive. I took Katniss's bag, as well as my own. Glimmer heaved Thresh's bag of the table, and grunted with effort. We walked towards the the bushes in silence.

-🕸-

Glimmer and I sat beneath two trees, and warmed our freezing hands with the blaze of the fire we had made. The light from the flames danced across her face, making her look like one of the expensive oil paintings I would see hanging up in shops around my district.

She looked pretty, like, really pretty. I wonder if she thought of me the same way I was thinking of her, if that made any sense at all. Things haven't really been making any sense ever since I went into the arena, it just seemed way too crazy to be true. And not in a good way. Not in a good way at all.

I reached into my backpack, and pulled out the small bird I had caught, it looked like a quail, but I couldn't be too sure. "Want some?" I asked Glimmer, I could tell she was absolutely starving right now.

"Oh my god, yes please." She said with a grateful sigh. We roasted the small bird over our blazing fire, and dug into it. After I finished up my small portion of the bird, I finished up the berries that I had in my bag, since Cato had left, Glimmer had been left with nothing but her sword, so I gave her most of the bird. I realized that we hadn't even opened up the bags that we had got during the feast. I started with my own bag while Glimmer ate the quail. The bag was labeled with a big black "5" printed on the front and my name printed on the very bottom of the number. It was quite small, so it must not have been something too big or exiting, nor important. I didn't really need anything anyways, so I thought of what the Capitol had thought I desperately needed.

I let my fingers trace over the dark grey woven fabric of the pouch before using the navy blue drawstring to pull it open. Inside lay a small brown cardboard box. I carefully took it out of the pouch, and examined it for any labels that would tell me what it was. But, alas, there was no label, it was just the blank cardboard. Opened up the box, and took out whatever was inside. It was a black belt with gold accents and small pouches that were big enough to fit... that's what it was! It was almost identical to the belt that the boy from district 6 had to hold his knives. Well, I guess they were mine now. I took the six knives that I had put from my pockets and backpack, and tucked them snugly into the belt. I then put the belt around my waist, and tightened it so it fit. It looked pretty badass.

After I was done admiring the black and gold belt, I reached for Thresh's bag, it was by far the biggest out of all of them, and it was extremely heavy. "Jesus, this is so fucking heavy." I said with a quiet laugh, "how'd you even carry it the whole way here?" I asked Glimmer, I was genuinely curious.

"No idea," she said, her mouth still full of the quail I had caught. "I think it's like, weapons or something. Thresh didn't seem to have any, so maybe that's what he needed?" She said.

"Let's find out," I said while opening up the big black cloth bag. I looked inside the bag, and all I could see was shiny silver metal. I pulled out some of it, it turned out to be armour, but it was much too big for both Glimmer and I, so I put it to the side since we had no use for it.

The last bag I opened was Katniss's, it was about the size of my hand, and was a dark green. I pulled on the black drawstring, and looked inside the bag. There was a small tube of something, there wasn't any label on it, so I didn't really know what it was. I was assuming it was some type of medicine, most likely for treating wounds, or something of that sort. I stuck it into my bright orange backpack, just in case either Glimmer or I would need it.

The sun had set, and the sky was completely dark, the only thing illuminating us was the amber light of the fire. It's fiery tongue licking at the cold night air.

The Capitol emblem appeared in the sky, and just like every night, the anthem played, it echoed throughout the entire arena, rattling through my brain. The first face that appeared in the sky was Cloves, her dark brown eyes stared back at me and her black hair framed her childlike features. Thresh's face then appeared in the sky, his stone cold face held no emotion, almost as if he was nothing but a robot.

To my surprise, a third face emerged from the sky, her sharp features looked back at me, and pure anger was burning in her dark eyes. Katniss Everdeen. She was the last person I thought I'd see in the sky tonight. Now, I was nothing but two people away from winning this terrible game.