𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 ☘︎ 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞

𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 ☘︎ 12

Another day along and I wasn't faring too well. At that moment, I was sitting in a hollow, balling my eyes out and not being able to bring myself to eat anything. I was weak, cold and hungry, but my body just wouldn't be able to handle it.

I had tried to hunt, but every time I threw an axe at something the boy from One pops into my head and I miss horribly. Anyways, I can't make a fire because my hands are shaking so much I would probably burn myself again. I was running low on my precious medicine.

Suddenly, I hear Claudius Templesmith's voice filling the arena.

"Attention, tributes, attention. The regulations requiring a single victor have been... suspended. From now on, two victors may be crowned if they both originate from the same District. This will be the only announcement."

I have a minute to take this in, then I whisper under my breath. "Austin."

For some reason, I now go looking for the boy I've hated all my life (bar the time when he saved it). Rue told me he was down by the lake, so that's where I'll start.

I go down to the small pool of water, then notice something on the rocks. When I lean down to touch it, I realise it's blood. Cato must've made him pay the price for saving me.

I run faster, axe in hand in case I run into anyone but the boy I'm supposed to be in love with. I look on the ground, in the trees, everywhere, but I can't see-

Suddenly, a hand grabs my ankle and I would've gone flying if I hadn't grabbed a tree to stop myself. "Austin!" I yell, looking down. All I see is rock and dirt. But no-

Suddenly, a section of the rock opens its eyes and I see him. Just like he showed me, he's been using his camouflage skills. "Oh my god, Austin!" I shout crazily.

His body is buried under loads of pebbles, moss, mud and stone, but with a lot of hard work, I uncover it and bring him into a hug. I can't help but enjoy this. I really think I might be falling for him.

"I guess all those hours decorating cakes paid off," I say, smiling slightly. He had this nice home and there I was, hunting in the woods to try and keep me and my family alive.

"Yes, frosting, the final defence of dying," Austin says sarcastically.

"You're not going to die," I say sternly.

"Says who?" He raises his eyebrows at me.

"Says me," I shut the topic down firmly. "We're allies now, if you heard."

I choose not to mention how somehow, I always lose my allies.

"Yeah, well, it was nice of you to find what's left of me," Austin rolls his eyes.

I bite my lip. "Did Cato cut you?"

"Yeah, left leg, up high," he winces.

"Okay," I say. "Well, let's get you into the stream and wash you off first."

This is easier said than done. I try to drag him, roll him, and push him, but none work very well. I get one full rotation when I roll him, but I have to stop at the edge of the stream because of the horrible, horrible noise he's making. Maybe this is better.

"Okay, Austin, I'm not rolling you all the way in, just to the edge," I clear with him.

"Okay," he nods.

I start to slowly drench him, trying to clean all the mud and dirt off him, gradually revealing his clothes. He tells me he has injuries on the top half as well, so I decide to conquer these before I look at his leg.

Once I finally get his undershirt off, I see a few small burns and three tracker jacker stings. I'm slightly reassured because I can fix this much.

I scour the bushes for Rue's leaves that she helped cure me with, then dig the stings out of the lumps. I internally thank Rue for all this knowledge that she passed on. If it wasn't for her, Austin'd probably be nearing death.