Wave ~ Hunger Games [1]

forty-five

+ then there was two +

We kept running on the dense ground, the birds having abandoned us as we ran down as mall hill, wanting to get as far away from them as possible. We had probably made it to the other end of the arena by now, the trees here not as tall as they were before, and the large leaves blocking out the sunlight over the canopy. I panted as pain seared throughout my whole body, blood trickling down all of my skin from the chunks that were missing that the birds had eaten from me.

"I can't run anymore" Ridley said through his heavy breathing as he clutched onto his side, which was completely torn apart and his skin ragged and bloody as he ran a bit slower. "Can you hear them?" I asked him as I buckled over as well, setting my hands on my knees as I took in large gulps of air. Now that we weren't running anymore the pain from all of my injuries was finally kicking in, being so painful that it was making me light headed.

"No" Ridley breathed out as he closed his eyes tightly, trying to breath through the pain as I looked back the way we had come, trying to figure out if Fuse's body had deflected the birds away from us. "He's dead" Ridley said to me as I looked back at him, his back up against a tree as blood ran down the side of his leg. I nodded my hand at him, knowing that he thought I was looking for Fuse, hoping to see him walk through the trees with just a few cuts and scratches.

"Let's see your cuts" I said to him, pointing my trident at him as he lifted up his arm, letting me see the large chunk of his side where his skin had been ripped off by the birds. He had a few minor scratches and cuts over his arms and legs, but I don't think he was focusing on them, instead the pain shooting from his side. "You have a big one on the back of your neck" he said to me as he nodded at me, making me lift my hand to the back of my neck for blood to stain the tips of my fingers. "I can feel it" I said with a hiss as I wiped the green slime that came from the inside of the birds off of my cheeks.

"There was thousands of them" Ridley said as I let out a sigh, my chest still falling and rising rapidly as I looked down at my arms. There was a large scratch that led from my elbow down to my wrist, but it was just another one of the many injuries that was risking blood poisoning and infection at this point. "The red beaks, it told me they were muttations" I said to him, signalling to my own nose as he looked up at me with a confused expression. "The poisonous fish I found, the had red gills, I'm guessing it's a way to determine mutts from the real animals" i said to him as he bowed his head, putting his hands on his knees as he buckled over.

"We should try and go a bit further" I said to him as he looked up at me, squinting his eyes as he let out a deep breath, trying to straighten up. "I can't stand" he said as he leaned against the tree for support, his face looking pale as I stared at him for a moment, trying to think pf what to do. I couldn't leave him behind at this point, not after just losing Fuse, I felt obliged to get him through the rest of the day and maybe it was because I had told him I wouldn't hesiate to kill him as soon as we got in.

"Okay, come on" I said to him as I walked over to him, picking up his machete as he took it from me in his hand on his injured side. I grabbed his arm, bending down as I put it around my shoulder, holding my trident in my hand as he leaned against me. I took a small step forward, which was increasingly difficult as Ridley dragged his legs along behind him, meaning I was basically half dragging him and half carrying him along the ground. We were going slow but we were still moving, which was what was important at this point.

"We need water" I said to him as I let out a breath, his arm sitting against my neck wound which was stinging with the touch of his warm skin. "Fuse had the bottle" Ridley said to me through a clenched jaw, his arm glued to his side as he tried to keep all the blood from leaving his body. "We need to find some before nightfall, or we will be dead by the morning" I said to him, knowing that all the supplies that we had been saving for the next few days were probably either lying on the ground next to a dead corpse or somewhere in a hovercraft making their way to the Capitol at this point.

"You think they did that to get us all into the same area?" Ridley asked for a moment, my breath heavy as I took another small step, hauling the boy along with me. Ridley wasn't too tall, but he was heavy, which meant that by having to support him it was taking all the energy out of me. "How many are left, do you know?" I asked him, not even thinking about the fact that a tribute probably hadn't killed another tribute in a few days now, and it wasn't very exciting until there was a murder.

"6?" he said quietly, even though it sounded more like a question, to which I didn't know the answer to either. "Maybe 5, I have no idea" he said to me as I stayed silent by his side, trying to mentally count who was left. I couldn't even think straight at this point, the only two I was sure about was Ridley and I, which didn't really offer any help. "Whatever it is we are coming closer to the end now" he added after I hadn't replied for a moment, trying to figure out how many canons I had heard since the projections last night, the only one I could vividly remember was the one that told us Fuse was dead.

"Don't talk it makes it harder to carry you" I said to him quietly as I let out a painted break, dragging him along as he moved his legs to the best of his abilities. "Sorry" he mumbled as we both stopped talking, the sound of both of our pants as the leaves rustling under our feet filling the still air.

——

A/N: hey guys, here's another chapter for you
are any of you guys reading Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?? I just got my copy today so i've been reading it and so far i'm quite enjoying it! it's super excited to see what the Hunger Games used to be like during the earlier days so I'm super excited to finish it, let me know what you think in the comments!! (no spoilers)
please don't forgot to vote and comment and I will hopefully see you soon