I Won't Go Down Easily - A Hunger Games / Hot Chelle Rae Fan Fiction

Chapter 10

Climbing the wall was a much harder feat than either of them had expected. Twenty five feet isn't that much of a distance, but vertically it definitely is, especially when your life is in the hands of a very weak, untrustworthy vine. But Aria and Ryan tried not to think about that.

Ryan was about three feet ahead of Aria; he had a lot more upper body strength then she did, and so he reached the top of the wall first. Aria saw it as her opportunity to momentarily stop and catch her breath. She looked down at the cracked stone pavement beneath her, trying to distract her mind from the burning in her arms. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. "Oh shit, Aria, you might want to come up here..like now." The panic in Ryan's voice was evident.

She decided to not ask questions and continue climbing; now was not the time to panic. The burning was growing more prominent in her arms and she was beginning to hear loud voices. Okay, maybe now was the time to panic. With only a few more feet left, Aria pulled herself up to the top, as Ryan grabbed her arm and helped her sit on the top of the wall.

"Is it the Careers coming this way?" She questioned, hoping she was wrong. But Ryan nodded, confirming what could possibly be the end of their lives.

"It's all four of them -- Cameron, Emerald, Jamie and Thalia." Aria exhaled loudly, shaking out her sore arms.

"Do you think they'll be able to see us up here?" Ryan bit his lip and looked down at the pavement before responding.

"I don't think so. It's almost dark, and it will be hard to see anything, let alone us, twenty five in the air."

Aria nodded in aknowledgement, taking a drink from her canteen and passing it to Ryan. She wished the edge of the wall was thicker, balancing on a little less than a foot and a half was okay for now. But if they were stuck up here all night, it would be a serious problem.

"Is that them?" Aria questioned, pointing out what appeared to be a group of four, turning down their corridor, but she couldn't exactly tell. Ryan also squinted into the fading light to the approaching figures,

"Yeah, it looks like it.." He trailed off, the Careers were directly below them now. The two of them were too high up to hear exactly what they were saying, but they could make out their loud laughter. For a fleeting moment, Aria felt envious of how loud they were, confident no one would try and kill them, they were far too intimidating. Oh, to be a physical threat. Aria let out a small sigh, taking the opportunity to survey the maze.

Each section was a little different than the one it was next to, contrary to her earlier belief it was all the same. There appeared to be four sections, altogether. The walls were much too high to see where everyone else was --with the exception of the Careers of course-- but something glistening then caught her eye. Water. It was in the section next to their current one, reflecting the fading artificial light. Aria nudged Ryan, pointing to what appeared to be a lake in the middle of the section. And of course that section was a dead end; making any attempt to get water very dangerous.

Ryan shook the canteen, revealing there was only a small amount left. It wouldn't even last through the night.

"We need to get over to that water, and soon," Ryan muttered, biting his lip and looking up to the almost black sky. Biting his lip appeared to be one of his nervous habits, Aria observed. She nodded in response to him, hooking the canteen back to her backpack.

"But how?" Beneath them were the Careers, who appeared to be making camp. Ryan followed her gaze. There was no way down. Unless..

"We could climb down the other side of the wall and go from there?" He offered. Aria thought about it. It did sound tempting and like a good idea. They know the exact location of the Careers, so they wouldn't have to worry about them. But..Aria ran her hand across her neck wound, she really did not want another encounter similar to that one. And there was still a lot of tributes out there.