My mind repeats Mac's words until they are the only words I can focus on.
We become a victor by killing everyone else.
Killing.
Murder. Slaughter. Death.
What the hell is this place?
"Eleven are dead already, so there are thirteen tributes left, including us," Mac continues as if he hadn't just flipped my world upside down. "The career pack should be our first target. They're the strongest. If we knock them out, then–"
"Wait!" I stop him. "Career pack?"
"Oh, right," Mac nods. "The careers... they're the group of tributes that are the strongest, I guess. They've been training for these games for their entire lives, but Sapph, we have too."
"So you want to... what? Massacre them?" I scoff, shaking my head. I carefully dig into my pocket, my fingers curling around my knife. I keep it there as I continue, "Mac, I don't think I can do that."
"Do what?"
"Kill."
Mac stares at me for a moment before breaking into laughter. It's not soft this time. If anything, it terrifies me. My grip on the knife tightens.
"Sapph, three of those kills I mentioned earlier were you," he says simply.
My entire body goes numb, and I can't stop it from trembling as my mind whirs. I want to deny it. I want to tell him I would never do such a thing, but I can't.
Because I don't think I know myself anymore.
"Don't worry," Mac continues. "Muscle memory. Your mind may not remember how to do it, but your body will."
I'm slow with my response. "Okay."
Mac claps his hands and pushes himself to his feet. He holds a hand out for me to take, and I do so hesitantly, allowing him to help me stand as well.
"It's getting dark, so I'll keep the first watch," he says. His words come out like an afterthought as he starts to dig through his backpack. He pulls out a blanket and a hot water bottle. "And then in the morning, we'll leave. If we keep moving, we'll keep our warmth."
I nod and start climbing a nearby tree to sleep. Mac stays at the base of the tree, leaning against it and keeping an eye out for other tributes.
When I find a branch thick enough, I lean back on the trunk and try to get comfortable, but I can't. Not when my mind can't stop repeating sick verses to me.
I'm a murderer.
I'm a murderer.
I'm a murderer.
Sleep doesn't reach me that night. And I don't think it will for a long time.
⋆✧⋆
Two cannons go off in the night. One for the girl from District 8. The other is for the boy from District 10. I watch their pictures paint the sky in the middle of the night. I can still see them, even though their faces are long gone and the music has stopped.
They now sit beside the boy with no chest and the girl with the gash.
⋆✧⋆
Mac wakes me up after four hours so he can sleep, and my eyes stare into the darkness until the sun breaks through the sky, turning the world around me orange. I don't focus on anything in particular until I hear a familiar beeping.
YOU ARE READING
THE MISSING LINK ✧ GLOSS HUNGER GAMES
FanfictionI don't know who I am. I don't know where I am, or where I'm from. All I know is that there are people who are trying to kill me, and God keeps sending me love letters. ⋆✧⋆ Sapphire Jones died in the arena of the 66th Hunger Games. Her life should h...
