SILVER • THE HUNGER GAMES ¹

| 16. SWEET SUSPICION

BOOK ONE

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

( SWEET SUSPICION )

JAMES' POINT OF VIEW

     THE BLOOD FROM MY FOREHEAD DRIED, sticking to the layers of skin it ripped open and constructing a scab with many indigo bruises clustered around the edge. I scratched at it, although that made it worse, and it bled a little more. Bella remained at my side, just in case we were ambushed on our travels, as some sort of guard. I still couldn't understand why. I was probably the most pointless teammate you could possibly receive in a fight to the death.

     Unexpectedly, is saw blood. Not mine, nor Bella's, but someone else's. I followed it, like a detective, or like when a Peacekeeper found something suspicious going on around the market. I attempted to become sneaky,me hitch immediately failed due to my feet plodding against the leaf covered ground. Finally, after travelling a few meters towards the blood source, I could see a head - a girl tucked away behind the leaves.

     "Hey, are you alright?" I asked as I searched around the tall hedge she was hiding in. For some reason, I suspected it to be the girl from District Seven. The small one that Silver said she had noticed on our first training day. She looked badly wounded. Bella was right behind me, holding her trident still soaked with my blood from yesterday, and defending me as I reached forward further towards the girl. I dragged back the outstretched branch blocking her from my view and stepped forward and held the girl's arm, "We can help you."

     Switching my eyesight, I spotted a pair of mystically dark blue eyes belonging to the petite girl before me. They'd seemed to hold fierce memories, those who taunted and tortured during the night. I'd seen those bloodshot eyes previously, and they were only belonging to those who had seen death, including the deadly aftermath.

     "Freya," the girl replied, "My name's Freya. I'm from Seven." She peered round out from behind the leaves, revealing that her injuries were worse than I had previously thought. Deep cuts and bruises stretched across her neck, blood trickling down the side of her jacket, and her hands shook like if she was freezing. She would have had a sponsor by now, but I didn't think Johanna Mason was the most likeable person in the world, if I was taking my example from when she shoved Silver and I out of the elevator.

     "Are you going to kill me?" Freya asked as I lifted her fragile body from the pile of scarlet she lay in.

     "Are you going to kill us?" Bella retaliated back, unsure of whether to trust the girl or not. Her faced turned pale as she heard those words and I let the uncertainty drop. That was innocence if I had ever seen it.

     "Let's get you cleaned up." I caught Freya's unsteady arm and carried her to a safer spot where we could all rest for the night that was now creeping up on us. I gathered a few soft leaves from near the huge jungle tree nearby and placed them as a pillow under her neck whilst Bella cleared up the blood. "Who hurt you, Freya?"

     "Careers. I lit a fire, with the girl from Nine," she paused and placed her hand on the blood-soaked spread across the left side of her neck, "and within a minute they'd found us. They killed Skye, then they stopped for a while and I hid. Afterwards, they chased me down. They had loads of different weapons too: swords, spears and really everything from the Cornucopia. But, they did say something about me not being the only easy kill."

     I stared at her. Who else was easier to kill? Someone the Careers wanted to dispose of? I searched through my mind, thinking of every single tribute that was still alive in the games. Twelve and Three. Suddenly, I thought realistically. Maybe it was someone the Careers felt threatened by? Someone else who got a high score.

     Silver, the Careers are after Silver, I thought to myself. My breath began to race heavier and heavier as I realised that the girl I needed to save could remain in a deadly trap unless I found her. We needed to find each other. Bella's worried eyes crossed paths with mine and they widened, the black abyss inside her pupils sending out a call to me. Freya's hand patted mine and she held her head up to face both of us. "Don't worry. I know where she is. Ottilie said something about her heading towards the lake about a kilometre away from here. They're spying on her," Freya stated whilst I thought. I looked at Bella and Freya with alarm, and also a sense of freedom, knowing that if we beat the Careers, we could have had a chance of getting out of there.

     "Tomorrow, when Freya's better: we're going to find Silver." I announced, running my Crimson stained finger tips through the back of my hair. "Whether you like it or not."

     And I was determined to get her back, no matter what the cost.

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