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Chapter 16

I try to be sneaky and quiet while hunting. I wish I had grabbed Tigerlily's bow before she had been carried away by the hovercraft. She had, though, taught me how to make a bow and a few arrows. I get to work, whittling away at a warped stick for the bow, chiseling on a piece of stone for the arrowhead, and debarking a stick for the arrow. In the end, I lay my arrow and bow on the snow to admire my work. I smile, sling my bow over my shoulder, and keep my arrow under my belt. I creep through the trees, searching for any sort of animal for food. I suddenly spot a sort of deer running through the woods. I ready my arrow and follow the deer. I corner it. The poor animal stares into my eyes as if to say, "Don't do this". I suppress a sob and am about to shoot my arrow when the deer lunges at me, teeth bared.

"Mandolyn!" I yell as the teeth sink into my neck. I bite back a screech and try to stab the mutation of a deer with my knife, but I'm frozen. Even though my brain is screaming at my arms to move, to get this-this thing off of me. But I'm paralyzed. The deer lets go of me and runs off. I lay on the snow, blood dribbling down my jumpsuit.

'I bet the head Gamemaker Gale Hawthorne is preparing a cannon for me right now,' I think. 'But I'll prove him wrong.'

I pass out. 

* * *

I open my eyes.

"Mandolyn?" I choke out. "You-you died."

"Well, I'm here now." She has worry lines across her face.

"Why are we running?" I ask in confusion. My memory is fuzzy.

"Don't joke with me, Eve." She sounds serious. I feel lightheaded. Mandolyn places me on the ground and hands me a cup filled with a strange liquid.

"What-"

"Just drink it." Mandolyn sounds out of breath. I tentatively raise the cup to my lips and drink. Pain from my neck that I hadn't noticed before suddenly subsides.

"What happened?"

"You really don't remember?"

I nod.

"Well... you went hunting, and you screamed my name, and then-"

"No, no. I know all that. Just... how did you survive? And where's the rest of the group?"

Mandolyn turns away from me.

"Mandolyn?" I ask. "Where's Tigerlily?"

She looks into my eyes, tears glistening on her cheeks.

"They-they died. Tigerlily was killed by Jack. You were there! How do you not remember?"

"I-I don't know. One minute, I'm being attacked by a mutant deer and passing out, the next I've lost my memories. Can you-can you help me?"

Mandolyn sighs, pulls me close to her, and tells me everything. Some of it rings a bell in my mind, the rest of it just sort of slips away.

"...and here we are," she finishes.

"And here we are." I sit up and stare into my now empty cup of medicine. "But there's one thing I don't understand. How come I lost only some of my memories, but not all of them?"

"Maybe... maybe the mutt's venom, or whatever, was meant to get rid of the important memories, like Tigerlily dying, or me 'coming back to life'. It was also probably meant to kill you."

"Huh."

Silence.

"Mandolyn?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you helping me? This is the Hunger Games."

Mandolyn sighs. "First of all, you're my ally. Second of all, you're like the younger sister I wanted but never got. Growing up with a younger brother was torture. But now that he's..." she trails off. "I'm just saying that you're always there for me. I should return the favor."

I hug her. "Thank you," I whisper. As the Arena dims, Mandolyn and I curl up together. I hate the silence. It allows me to think about all of the problems with being an ally with someone.

"Oh no," I say, my eyes growing with realization.

"What?"

"Only one person is getting out of here. That means..." I don't need to finish my sentence for Mandolyn to get the idea. She nods solemnly.

"I know. But let's not worry about that until the time comes, okay?" she says. "Now you need sleep. This time, I'm going hunting." 

* * *

I'm riding on the back of a deer. I'm bouncing up and down on it's back. Someone calls my name from behind me. I try to make the deer stop, but it won't. I look behind me to see Mandolyn chasing me. I try to yell her name, but when I open my mouth no sound comes out. Then someone else screams my name from the treetops. Tigerlily is crouched in the branches, Lila's axe still embedded in her back. Tears stream down my face as Mandolyn yells my name again.

"Eve... Eve... Eve! Wake up!" The real Mandolyn says. "I got breakfast." She holds up her prize: a frozen beaver.

I sink my teeth into the meat and take a sip of water.

"What were you dreaming about? You kept saying, 'Mandolyn', and 'Tigerlily' over and over again," Mandolyn tells me, her mouth full of beaver. I explain to her my dream, and she nods.

"That explains it. In your dream, you had no voice and no control. Maybe that's what it was like to lose your memories. You lose control, you lose your way of communicating."

"Yeah. That's exactly what it's like."

Mandolyn nods.

"Eat," she says. I take another bite, and for once I'm glad to have someone take care of me.