Dew of the Sea [Finnick Odair]

[19. Numb]

Evening 14

Rosemary

It had been three days. They had been constantly moving since the night after Rosemary killed Mars. Now that there were only eight Tributes left, including the four of them, they knew that their time in the arena was ending. Not only were they pushing into the third week of the Games, but there had been no deaths since Mars. They were all positive that the Capitol and the Gamemakers were getting antsy. Soon, they would interfere. Already the alliance had made a pact that they would split up upon the next death of a Tribute, but for the moment they stuck together to make sure that the Gamemakers didn't wipe them all out in one sweep.

Throughout the days, they had walked back through the mountains and to the forest where Kyler and Rosemary started their alliance. It was a long trek and Rosemary spent most of the time in the back of the pack, Rye a few feet ahead of her, trying not to cry out from how much pain she was in. It was a hard task, but she had to hide it.

Once the Games dwindled down to the last eight Tributes, cameras and reporters from the Capitol–all of whom worked personally for Caesar Flickerman–would travel to the respective districts to bother their families in an interview. This was the reason that Rosemary had to be strong; Peeta was sure to be watching her and Rye very carefully now and with the reporters shoving a camera in his face, she didn't want him to worry about her.

Her injury had weakened her very much; she knew it and so did Rye, Kyler, and Xavier. She was in a lot of pain and she had slowed down tremendously, it was pretty obvious. What they did not–or Rosemary didn't think they did, anyway–know was how her wound was affecting her beyond the pain.

Rosemary had been treating her wound everyday, twice a day, but it wasn't looking any better. Infection, she had thought grimly, when she saw the reddened skin and white pus bubbling up within the wound. She didn't understand, she'd been diligent in her cleaning and though they were running out of medical supplies, she redressed it properly every time.

It didn't matter how or why her wound got infected. What mattered was surviving the next few days until Rye had a chance at being the winner of the Games. She didn't have a fever yet, but she knew without antibiotics, she'd develop one soon. From there, she'd become septic and when her organs failed, she would too.

It scared her, dying this way. She had hoped that she would go quickly.

Maybe I still can, she thought. She would just have to put herself down. Rye wouldn't do it and she wouldn't dare ask him to, knowing that it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

There, she had a plan for when things got worse. And, unfortunately, things were getting worse.

"Doesn't it worry anyone else that we haven't caught a rabbit in two days?" Kyler asked while they set up camp for the night, digging burrows into the snow banks and camouflaging themselves as they saw fit.