The Hunger Games: Staying True. (Completed)

Chapter Sixteen; Lightning Storms. [Edited]

I'm not sure how long it takes me to move, but I know the blood has dried on my hands and on my face by the time that I do.

When I straighten, having been slumped over Reeve's chest all this time, I want to groan. Now that there is no adrenaline blocking out my pain, I feel my injuries stretch and twist and agony rushes through my entire body.

Shifting away from the corpse, I survey the area. Survey the two broken bodies, glance over my own. My shirt is ripped a little at the bottom where Larron yanked on it too hard, but my clothes are intact other than that.

My face feels like a hot iron has been pressed to it, and I'm suddenly glad that there's no mirrors around the arena.

I hope that I'm not as bad as my fellow Capitol citizens, but there is still a little bit of vanity in my heart, and I dread to think of the state of my face and hair.

The rest of me will be bruised and battered, and I think a few of my ribs might have some hairline fractures, but the injuries are not so severe that I can't move, so after I have screwed up the dregs of my strength, I stand with the aid of the nearest car.

I think of turning away, just walking back to wherever we dropped our supplies, but my chest aches at the thought of just leaving Reeve there in the dust. The hovercraft will come to get him soon, so I'll stay until then, and then I will leave.

But first, I search for the token he was allowed to bring in with him. It's selfish, and I curse myself for denying his family that little piece of him, but I need something, anything, just to have close while I finish these Games. I promise myself that if I live, I'll return it, and if I don't live, then I'm sure it will be delivered to them eventually.

His token turns out to be a bracelet, intricately woven with different colours of thick thread, looking to be handmade. It's beautiful, and I tie it around my own wrist.

"You'll get it back soon." I tell him, and brush back his dark hair from his forehead so I can press one final kiss there.

I get up and move away, perch on a nearby car at a safe distance. Keep watch over their bodies. I'm annoyed that Larron's body will be collected with Reeve's, but I don't have the strength to drag him somewhere else.

It doesn't take long at all for the hovercraft to arrive, and two claws descend from it's metal stomach, to hoist their bodies into the air. I watch, the wind tugging harshly on my clothes and hair, but I don't move until the hovercraft takes them away.

It takes a while to summon the energy, but eventually I get up, retrieve my ax and pace away, search for our supplies with agonising slowness.

Reeve left his backpack discarded next to my own. My daggers are on the floor, dropped from my hands when Larron grabbed me. Our things have been left untouched.

Emptying Reeve's things into my bags takes only a moment. His heavy tins of food I leave behind, but the smaller things like packets of dried fruit I take. His medicine too, an extra shirt, a pair of socks. I consider taking his sleeping bag, but it's too bulky, one will suffice for me.

When that's done I hunt for Larron's things. He must have had supplies on him, and it seems he had a bow and arrow as well.

I find it all, just dumped on the floor. He wasn't bothering to hide. He had no doubt he'd return for it all.

I don't take any of his supplies, I want nothing from him at all. A foolish decision really, but even thinking of touching any of it makes me sick. But I won't have anyone else coming along and taking the bow, so I build a fire and set his things alight, not caring that some of it might be able to save my life in the near future.