Magnets (Hunger Games Marvel/OC)

Chapter 4

Magnets 4

Chapter 4

Another day passed with no sign of the Careers. Silas and I ate, trained, hunted animals, and reset our snares. It started to rain, and the river in the cave rose about three inches. This worried me. "I can't swim," I pointed out to Silas when he asked why I was so nervous.

"You can't swim?" He repeated, and I detected a hint of a smile on his voice.

"Shut up. Not all of us come from the fishing district, right by the sea." He had a full-blown grin on his face by then. I punched him in the shoulder lightly and laughed.

That night in the sky, we saw the boy from District 6. No surprise there.

We fell asleep that night, but not before I suggested we go check and see if the Careers were still out-of-commission the next day. Silas agreed, and we snuggled down into our sleeping bags.

Dawn seeped through the opening of the cave, and footsteps on the rocks told me Silas was already up. I slipped out of my sleeping bag and rolled it up, stuffing it in my backpack. Silas produced a slice of bread and an apple from nowhere, handing it to me.

"Where'd you get this?" I demanded.

"Sponsors." I shoved my mouth full and swallowed, hoisting my backpack up on my back.

"Ready to go?"

"You bet." In hindsight, maybe choosing a shelter closer to the Careers' camp would've been wise, but it would also mean it wouldn't be as good a shelter, and the Careers would find us faster. It would be close enough that we didn't have to hike through half the arena to get there, though. But it was too late now. We picked our shelter accordingly, and walking never hurt anybody.

We arrived to see the Careers gathering weapons. The handsome boy grabbed a net and a spear and walked out into the woods by himself. We turned to go then, because the District 2 tributes were heading our way. That was when the explosions began. We ended up running through the woods as quietly as we could, just like the first day.

"Katniss!" It was an ear-piercing, gut-wrenching shriek, a clear cry for help. I couldn't ignore it. Silas grabbed my arm.

"No, Roman! No! We can't!" I pulled away from Silas, deviating from the path, and sprinted off in the direction of the voice. I had to see who was making the noise, if not help them.

"Katniss!" It screamed again. The voice was easy to follow. I emerged into a clearing, Silas close behind. At the same time, the Girl on Fire burst from the other side of the clearing, saw what I saw, and gasped.

The girl from District 11, I think, was lying on the ground ensnared in a net, calling out Katniss' name. She rushed to the girl's side. "Rue!" She said. I turned around, feeling eyes on my back, and saw the handsome boy emerge from the bushes. He had an evil smirk on his face. It faltered a bit when he saw me, then flicked back into place. I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Katniss had gotten Rue out of the net, and was standing there holding her, when the handsome boy threw the spear in his hands, straight into Rue's stomach.

I held up my battle axe, ready to fight. The horror from Rue hadn't sunk in yet. As I'd predicted, however, there was another death attempt, except his time on the handsome boy. I'd have to learn his name soon. Katniss pulled out her bow and arrow, and with one shot, fired the bow straight at him. I stretched out with my axe, deflecting her arrow, as the handsome boy pulled a knife from his pocket.

"What the crap?!" Katniss shrieked at me. "Are you on their side? You're a Career?!"

"No, I just don't like to see people killed."

She gave me a weird look and turned back to Rue. Silas was just standing there wide-eyed, watching the whole thing go down.

Katniss started singing, and I walked over to Silas, but the handsome boy stopped me.

"Hello. Thanks for saving my life, even though you don't know me."

"No problem." I swallowed harshly before impulsively adding, "If I could've, I'd have saved that girl, too." His eyebrows raised in shock.

"Why? She's just a pawn on the path to victory." He twirled his knife in his fingers, grinning maliciously at me. Anger flared up inside me. How could he say that?

"She was a human being! She was a daughter, a sister, and a person. A human being!" I emphasized, turning and stalking away in anger. He caught my wrist.

"Wait! I'm sorry, I owe you. I shouldn't make you mad; you can just as easily kill me. You're like lightning with that axe." He whistled, smirking. "How's about joining the Careers? We could use reflexes like yours." He didn't let go of my wrist, but leaned forward, and whispered in my ear, "Especially since Glimmer died." I froze.

"I'm sorry for killing her," I whispered. I was fully aware that if he took it the wrong way, I would die almost instantly.

"That was you?" His eyebrows raised in surprise. "You dropped the Tracker Jackers?" I shook my head, widening my eyes.

"No, I cut her with my axe."

"Oh, that was you. Wow, those were some pretty slick moves." I didn't know what he was trying to say, but I guessed it was a compliment. "She was too slow to run away, especially because of the wounds." So I did kill someone after all, but indirectly. I did kill somebody. I stared at the ground.

I was vaguely aware that he was waiting for a response, so I said in a shaky voice, "Really? I didn't realize..." He smirked, obviously noticing my emotional distress.

"You're avoiding my question. Want to join the Careers?" I shook my head, and saw him get a little angry.

"I'm already in an alliance," I quickly explained.

"I don't like being told no," he warned me.

"I have to go," I quickly explained as I heard Rue's cannon and Katniss' sobbing. I felt a pain in my chest. Another human life lost.

"Wait." He caught my arm again. "My name's Marvel."

"Roman," I said. He blinked in surprise at my outdated name, but didn't comment. I was named after some civilization long before Panem.

"About me owing you... just know, Roman," I felt a chill go through my body when he said my name. "Just know we won't spare your life; I just won't be the one to kill you." He smirked again, let go of my arm, and walked, well, more like strutted, off, looking over his shoulder once to wink cockily at me.

I turned and ran through the forest. Something in my brain registered someone running beside me. I ignored it and ran faster, getting closer to the shelter with every footstep. Once I got backed against the cliff wall, I held up my battle axe and rounded on my opponent. It was just Silas. I huffed out a breath and lowered my weapon.

"What's wrong?" He asked anxiously. I shook my head.

"I saved that Career's life, and he just turned around and said he and his friends were going to kill me."

"What did you expect?" He said gently, rubbing my shoulder.

"I don't know..." The realization I killed Glimmer was beginning to sink in, and I didn't want it to, or else I'd go crazy. "Let's do something today. Something productive. I'm tired of the same old thing." I had to get my mind off it.

"Do what? You don't want to kill tributes, and what else is there to do in the Hunger Games?" I shrugged.

"I don't know, what can we do?" That was when I heard another cannon.

"This will be over soon," I said ominously.

"Tell me about it," Silas echoed.

Since the Careers' supplies were blown up, we couldn't steal from them. All we could do was stay alive.

The days passed like heartbeats.