savages.

eight.

Alfie

Alfie had really dug himself into a hole here. He'd formed a truce with Zak, who was burdened by the obvious hatred from the Capitol, and could easily be fired down by an unbeatable machine at anytime.

Nonetheless, Zak was still bearable company, and so Alfie walked by his side through the hazy heat of the city. "We really need some more water," he pointed out, shaking his empty canister.

Nodding, Zak stared ahead wordlessly. His hopes were clearly dropping, which wasn't the best thing to see. After a few minutes of silence, he finally spoke up. "I know they have it out for me," he muttered.

Alfie opened his mouth to question him, but quickly realised he was referring to the Capitol. "They haven't acted yet, though. It might not be that bad-" Alfie began, but Zak cut him off by roughly kicking his foot into the ground.

"They're waiting for the right moment... they're just sly bastards." He sighed, running a hand through his tousled hair. "I shouldn't have made an alliance with anyone; I'm just putting you at risk."

There was a period of silence as Alfie thought of how to respond and considered Zak's point. He knew deep down he was right, but...

"Is that... water?"

Both of the boys froze as they came to face a still fountain. "Is it clean?" Alfie questioned apprehensively as Zak approached the source.

He scooped some of the ever appealing water in his hands and... sniffed? "Seems fine to me," he retorted, but as he lifted it to his lips, Alfie shoved him.

"Jesus, don't be so trusting!" he snapped. "For all we know, it's.. poisoned or some shit! If I picked up a load of weird vials, who knows what the careers and Capitol could do." Suddenly, a lightbulb seemed to illuminate Alfie's mind. He unzipped Zak's backpack and pulled out one of the vials.

"Iodine..." Zak muttered, holding the small vial, and then his eyes widened. "Holy shit! It's a water purifier, right?!"

Relief flooded through Alfie's body as he scooped water into his canister and took the solution from Zak, adding a few drops. "Those vials... we need to look over them tonight," he insisted firmly.

They spent a while at the fountain, cleaning water and then drinking as much as they could, but as soon as they filled their canisters for a final time, they felt something. Was... was the ground shaking?

All of a sudden, the ground began to erupt in a series of violent tremors, and the pair of boys almost collapsed into the fountain. "What the fuck is happening?!" Alfie cried out, but he wasn't sure if Zak heard him.

Dust swept up from the ground, suffocating him as he attempted to stay on his feet the best he could. He heard a harrowing crash and just through the thick coat of dust, spotted a building crumbling like a sandcastle. For a moment, Alfie was frozen in fear, but somehow Zak managed to find him in the chaos and gripped his arm. "We've gotta get out of here!" he demanded over the deafening rumble of the ground.

Only managing to nod, Alfie allowed Zak to tug him away. The city wasn't particularly easy to navigate as it was, so with the dust of decades of neglect acting as a barricade, it was near enough impossible to find any way around.

Eventually, Alfie felt a hand grasp his arm once again and force him to the ground. He landed rather painfully on his right side, but he hardly paid attention to this as he heard Zak's familiar voice scream "Just get down! We'll wait it out!" over the deafening sounds of the earthquake.

Alfie wasn't sure if it was for the best, but nonetheless he ducked down, making himself as small as possible and attempted to wait for the tremors to cease.

It felt like centuries passed, but the ground did finally still. "You alright?" he asked Zak, who was attempting to steady himself on his feet.

Brushing the dirt off of his clothes, Zak nodded. "Yeah, I think so. You?" Alfie muttered a confirmation, before managing to regain his footing. "Jesus Christ, though."

Releasing a small, somewhat forced laugh, Alfie shook his head, checking all of his belongings were still intact. "We should probably keep moving," he stated.

Despite the reluctant look on his face, Zak agreed, and so the two of them began to walk again. "I suppose they didn't like us drinking that much," he retorted quietly, earning a rough chuckle from Alfie. He was probably right; they had struck gold with that fountain and their purifier, and there was no way the people in charge of the goddamned killing game would allow them to just take it.

They walked quietly for a while after that, dwelling on what they just endured. However, just as Alfie steed to round a corner, Zak suddenly grabbed him, yanking him backwards violently. Alfie opened his mouth to question him, but before he could, he heard it, too.

"Jesus, if we don't find anyone today after that shit I swear to God I might just turn on you," a female, malicious voice grumbled.

There was a chuckle in response, followed by a "I'd like to see you try."

The voices made his blood run cold. They belonged to the two from District Four, Billy and Ella, and Alfie knew he could never stand a chance against them- they were possibly the strongest tributes in the games. "What do we do?" he hissed under his breath, their footsteps drawing ever closer.

To Alfie's horror, Zak simply dropped Alfie's arm and turned to walk towards where the two beasts were prowling. Stunned into silence, he simply watched as the two gingers rounded the corner, stopping dead when they spotted Zak. Grinning with horrific evil, Ella's fingers curled around her knife, muttering "Finally," under her breath as she eyed him like her prey.

However, Billy stuck his arm out, holding her back. She shot him a look that could (literally) kill, shoving him to the side slightly. "You can't be fucking serious," she retorted.

"Don't. He's the one who punched the stylist," Billy stated.

Although with reluctance, Ella dropped her hands to her sides, to which Alfie was immensely confused. "You want to bring them down, don't you?" she demanded. They..? Was she talking about the Capitol?

Seeming perplexingly cool, Zak nodded. "I know you do, too." It was definitely the Capitol, Alfie thought.

Billy arched an eyebrow, stepping towards him. "If you weren't wrong, I'd have you dead for assuming things." His eyes drifted to Alfie, hovering a few steps behind Zak. Shit. "Who's your boyfriend?"

Presumably pondering how to respond, Zak turned his head to face Alfie, but his face dropped as he caught a glimpse of something just behind him.

Alfie felt his chest tighten in fear as he spun around to find what Zak was looking at, but he only had the time to process auburn hair and a chilling grin before the knife was lodged in his chest.