Thicker Than Water

72nd Annual Hunger Games

"Hey four," a whisper came from too close and Kallan pointed the sharpened stick she'd made at the perpetrator. Her heart started again when she saw Ornam, the boy from 10 who told her he'd practically act as a bodyguard. Unfortunately, Ornam had no prospects, no family, just cows, he said.

"You can't do that," Kallan's breath returned to her lungs, and the color returned to her face. He seemed to be smiling, not just because he scared her, but because he found her.

"Relax, just me," he said. "Show me what you got so far. Though, I'm not sure your stick is gonna scare anyone off."

"It would've worked."

It turned out to have been 8 losses in the first day. Lochlan among them. 

"I'm sorry," Ornam muttered when Lochlan's all too young face appeared in the sky as they played what was recognizable as the anthem, but was just essentially a funeral song. 

"Why?" 

"He was from your district." 

Kallan shrugged. "We didn't exactly make an effort to get to know each other. And he seemed pretty confident that he was going to die," Kallan muttered, laying back on the moss beneath her. "Kinda wonder if he was trying to." 

"You think?" 

"Yeah, Finnick wasn't being much of a help to him, but I guess it makes sense." Mentioning her big brother made her throat tighten. She was going to get back to him, she had to. 

"Makes perfect sense to me," Ornam replied. "Get some rest, I'll take first watch, we can look for Birdy in the morning." 

She didn't want to, but she listened. She laid her head down on the ground and fell asleep to the sound of the frogs. 

They did find Birdy in the morning, she was running from a district 5 boy, who Ornam fought surprisingly easily, and Kallan realized he was keeping his word. With the boy laying on the ground with a snapped neck, Ornam breathed heavily. He wished it was harder, but he was just protecting his allies. But he saw the way it affected Kallan, her eyes looked different now. "He was after one of us," he reminded her, and she knew it was true, but it was the first kill she'd seen that close. And she knew she'd have to do the same. Birdy grabbed the spear off the boy, and though it's a weapon Kallan would've liked to have, she wasn't going near the body. "You should teach us how to fish," he said. He was smart, because it helped. 

Kallan didn't waste any time, jumping right into the water. Birdy didn't offer her spear, but neither of the others wanted to ask for it. "Want your pointy stick?" Ornam asked, and she shook her head. 

"I can use my hands, get ready to catch," she warned, to which Ornam gave her a funny look, before a fish was flying at his face, and he smacked it down to the ground, making both the girls laugh a little. It felt wrong to laugh in the Games, but it helped things slightly. Just slightly. Soon they had a few fish, and a small fire that Birdy lit for them. They cooked the fish, but Kallan's lower half never left the river. 

"What are you still doing in there?" Birdy asked her, fish still in her mouth. Kallan hummed, shrugging. 

"Feels safer," she said, just because she'd always been around and in water, it felt familiar. 

They stayed like that for days. Not in the water of course, but in the safety of the trees they'd found, hunting, making the water drinkable. Kallan's sponsors were getting bored, clearly, because 3 days in she was sent a gift. The beeping woke Birdy while Kallan was on watch. It landed in a tree, so Kallan jumped to her feet to get to it. It wasn't hard to reach, she pulled it down, and off its parachute. She scrambled to open it, finding a box inside. Upon opening that, she found a set of knives, and she let out a breath. That's exactly what she was hoping for. There was a note on the weapons that read your brother said you could use these. Let's see if he's right. But it wasn't signed. Whoever it was wanted to see Kallan... kill people.