𝙲𝙾𝙽𝙵𝙾𝚄𝙽𝙳 ° finnick odair ¹

24

Adrienne rushed over to her friend and ally, kneeling down in front of him. She slapped his face gently, seeing as his eyes were closed and his head was slightly tilted sideways.

The boy opened his eyes quickly and gave the girl a small smile. "Oh, hey, Addy." He said jokingly. "How'd it go?"

"She's dead." She said as she examined the boy's wound; he had a large slash across his stomach, going from his lower hip to the bottom of his ribs.

It honestly didn't look good; there was no way he would make it through the night. Not when he was losing blood more and more with each passing second and there was no way to stop it. Her heart swelled and aches at the thought.

"Come on." Adrienne said with a sigh, putting her backpack on, which was the only supplies they had left. She turned to her partner and grabbed his extended arm, hoisting him up and wrapping his arm around her shoulder for support. "We have to find shelter."

It was true. Night was coming quickly, and there was no telling what that night would bring.

•~•

She somehow managed to find a place for them to stay; an abandoned wolf's den under a large boulder. There, she set Vern up against the stone before setting her supplies down, exhausted from the long and rough travel.

The two tributes sat in silence for a while, the only thing breaking it being Vern's occasional dry and painful cough, causing him to groan in pain.

"Did I ever tell you...." The boy coughed again, wincing as he did, which made Adrienne's heart hurt more than it already did for the boy. "Did I ever tell you about my...friend...? Back in Four?"

Adrienne shook her head. "No. But I don't see why it matters at the-"

"I met this friend about three years ago. At school, if I remember correctly. Their name was...is Avery." Vern said, his voice weak from the blood loss. "Avery treated me as if I wasn't invisible like everyone seemed to believe I was. Whenever life got tough, Avery was always there for me."

"She sounds like a good friend." The blonde girl said with a small smile.

Vern smiles in return, thought it didn't quite reach his eyes like it always had before. "Yeah. He was."

Adrienne looked with wide eyes at the brunette boy. By the way he talked about Avery, who the blonde girl thought was a girl this whole time, she knew that he wasn't just a friend.

"After a while, maybe a year, of being friends, things started getting serious." The boy continued. "We started going on these little outings together, alone, and talking about things friends don't typically talk about."

"Wait, I thought you told Caesar there was no one back at home. No special someone. You lied..."

"Actually, I didn't lie. He asked if I had a girl back home, which I don't. I have Avery." Vern said with a cheeky smile before it fell. "But now I'll never see him again."

Adrienne's shocked face turned to a serious one. "Don't say that. You'll get out of here."

He shook his head. "Don't lie to me, Addy. I know I'm not living through this." The boy made a weak gesture to his wounds. "But you can."

"I'm not strong. I can't beat the careers."

"At the end of the day, the careers are the same as you and me; they're human."