Only One Boy (Hunger Games Male OC Book 2)

Rumble

Thunder boomed and I felt my heart sink a little.

Ugh, everything seems a little worse when Cedric isn't here.

Lightning lit the clouds up in blue and I felt like I was missing something.

"How's he doing?" Kell asked as he entered the room.

I stared at the TV and at the live feed of another player setting up camp for the night but what they didn't know was he was about to be ambushed.

"Amauters." I mutter.

"Xander?" Kell asked.

I blink at the sound of my name then look away from the TV to groan and rub my eyes.

"He hasn't been on screen all night." I groan as I rub my tired eyes. Kell and I took shifts in watching the Hunger Games for a sign. When Cedric left he made it sound like he was so sure he was coming back. But they hated to say that the odds were against him.

Cedric's one and only ally consisted of a thirteen year old kid who was already injured. It looked like a bad deal.

"Take a break, I'll watch." Kell said.

I rub my eyes, ready to refuse but then I see the time. I've been up almost a full twenty-four hours. If I got tired I'd get sloppy and miss something.

I nod and get up.

"Yeah, I could use a walk." I mumble.

Kell orded at me and took my seat, opening a bag of chips and watching.

Only Kell could watch people be brutally murdered and still have an appetite.

I turn and leave the living room. Cedric shared his mansion with the two of us but more often than not it was used for meetings.

When I step outside, the cold night air was a relief. It was fresh despite the smoke that came from the bonfires some of the boys were still burning. Being able to stay up this late was never even heard of before Cedric challenged Lecter to a fight. The day was embedded in my mind like it happened only an hour ago.

Some boys ran by me and shot me meek looks. Cedric's right hand man didn't often wander around at night. Kell did that. I had the morning shift and Kell stayed up at night. We took shifts so the boys wouldn't get restless without a current strong leader. When Cedric left for the first games it was fine because the boys knew the plan. Now, uncertainty was taking up all the space in the District. Kell and I told them we had a plan, that we knew exactly what Cedric was doing but in reality, we had no idea. We were going off of pure faith in our leader.

At least, I was. Kell was going off of loyalty.

I had more than loyalty. I had trust in Cedric. I owed it to him, it was the least I could do for everything he did for me when we were getting our training after physical alterations. If it weren't for him I most likely would be dead today and it would be because of Eric.

Almost as if he was summoned, Eric and his loyal group came into sight as they ran towards me.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

It wasn't Eric who stopped but one of his followers who hesitated for a moment to say "There are intruders in the District."

My eyes widened in surprise.

Cedric told me to make this place a fortress. It was easy when all of the boys were trained to be weapons and soldiers. We had a few warehouses of weapons and ingredients to make more as well.

I just didn't expect anyone to be dumb enough to actually attack us.

I cursed under my breath and turned and ran after Eric and his group.