The 55th Hunger Games

Chapter 22

        In the morning I open my eyes to see that the fire has burnt out. No surprise there, because neither of us tried to keep it going through the night. Aponi still lies beside me, deeply asleep. I try not to disturb her as I stretch.

        I notice that my throat does seem to be feeling a little better. The tablet seems to have worked after all. Still I take another one for good measure, which goes down a little better.

        When Aponi wakes we make another trip down to the stream to fill our water bag using the last of the water purifier and return to the cave. The rain seems to have eased off a little and I have decided that Aponi was right. The gamemakers are not trying to drown us -at least not yet.

        I'm not sure whether or not Aponi notices the glances I keep sending towards her. The fact is sometimes I don't even notice that I'm staring. Sometimes I think I stare at her for over a minute before turning away. And then I wonder if it really is possible that I have fallen in love with her in only seven days. But if I really have, it is not a good thing. If this is what fairy tales call true love, it will not have a happy ending.

        'One of us must die' a voice in my head persists to remind me whenever I let my mind wonder off towards pitiful glimpses of the future with Aponi. I hate the voice, but it keeps me at my distance from her.

        When we return to the cave I decide to sort out the pack. It has been days since I have done so, and it would be a good idea to determine exactly how much food we have left.

        I pull the contents of the bag out and sort it out neatly on the rocks. We have the thermal blanket, the coil of rope, the surprisingly strong plastic bag filled with water, the empty bottle of water purifier. We also have the pair of gloves and beanie which Aponi has for the moment discarded.

        In food we have three small bread rolls, a small assortment of cheeses, some strawberries and grapes and a few pieces of meat. I also fish a handful of nuts out of the bottom of the bag which I guess Aponi also managed to collect at the feast. The meat will not keep for much longer. We must eat it soon.

        That is all I find in the bag, but a persistent feeling keeps riling through my head that something is not there. Then I realise what it is.

        "Aponi, where is the knife?" I ask.

        "Is it not there?"

        I shake my head, fruitlessly searching the empty bag again. Not that I miss it at all, but it seems decidedly unusual that it is not in the bag.

        "Perhaps it dropped from the bag during the feast." Aponi suggests. "I have not seen it since then."

        "Yeah, maybe" I say, but still a feeling of unease grows within me. I shake my head as if to clear it and repack the things, handing Aponi a leg bone of some kind of meat, and take one for myself.

        We eat the meat inside the chilly cave, and I find myself enjoying the food considerably more than I had yesterday. I barely fit the meat in my stomach, as it seems to have shrunken to the size of a walnut during my prolonged hunger.

        After being encaged in the cave for so many hours over the past few days, Aponi and I both long for sunshine. We are tired of the damp coldness of the cave, so we venture out into the warm light. We take care to conceal ourselves in a dip in the rocks, not wanting to be seen, and bath in the sun.

        "Are you feeling better?" Aponi asks me quietly.

        "Marginally," I reply, closing my eyes for a moment. "The medicine seems to be working, and my cold's going away."