Fractured

Chapter 13

*From Rowan's Perspective*

The hot sun beat down on me as I sat. I was making a place where me, Brisa, and the new boy could sit. I wasn't very happy about this Kham kid being with us. First, he would just be extra work and cost us more resources. Second, my number one goal was getting Brisa to the finale, but having him around made that harder. If he managed to live, and we ended up being the last three then I would have to kill him. There was no other option. I was not going to let Brisa sacrifice her life for this boy. I knew that she had a soft spot for kids, but she couldn't let it be her downfall. When I tried arguing with her she began practically begging me to let him stay. There was no way I could win that argument, but I did tell her if we got to the end that the boy had to go. She had nodded her head in solemn agreement, but I wouldn't believe that. She would never kill him, anyone could tell me that. This left me with the dirty job if he happened to survive. I had decided that when there were few tributes remaining I would sedate him at night with one of the needles from the gift, then kill him. Brisa would appreciate that he would be dying painlessly and peacefully. I suppose our 'helpful' gift could be used as a weapon. That would be it's only purpose now since Brisa won't let us use them. I understood her concern, but what she didn't understand is the Capitol wouldn't end anything against me, which would include her since we were in the same cave. The mentors would never send a gift like that, just as Brisa had said 'it would put our lives at risk'. That's how I knew that the capitol sent them, and trusting them was something I had to do. They had been right about Brisa coming to me, so I would trust them again, even though they had a different idea of what I was supposed to do with her. Brisa was never going to accept the gift, so I put her to sleep without giving her a choice. I knew she would be mad at me after, but it was worth it. She had a concussion and had a lot of physical exercise that day. If she didn't get sleep she would be in bad shape the next morning and I didn't need that. Letting her sleep naturally was not an option. Just the night before she had gotten a total of 2 hours of sleep in increments of 10 minutes. She needed rest, and that's what I was going to give her. I almost felt like I was betraying her, even though I knew it was for a good cause. She didn't know that no harm would come to use that night. So I did the right thing, well that's what I told myself through the two hours of being alone. I just hoped she would still trust me. Her loyalty was something I counted on.

I finished getting the water, and other supplies we would need to eat, out of the cave. I turned to see how Brisa was doing with the roots, I opened my mouth to say her name when my heart stopped. She had somehow fallen into the rapids. I bolted towards her just as Kham fell in too. This was no coincidence and it chilled me to the core. My thoughts become jumbled. Time froze as I was processing the sudden events. I assumed that neither Brisa nor Kham knew how to swim, and even if they did the current and rocks would make it difficult for them to get air anyway.

I snapped out of my daze. What had I done? I should've reacted quicker and because of my mistake, they could have died. My mind had finally come back to reality and I quickly went into action. I rushed to the edge of the water, only far enough away that I wouldn't fall in as they had. I saw nothing but churning liquid. The current had taken them downstream. I flew along the tree line, as I scanned the water for any sign of them. I started to panic, I hadn't found even the slightest sign of life. I stopped looking back, hoping I hadn't passed them, but as I turned back around I saw what looked to be an arm sticking out from the water. I rushed over, praying it was Brisa. The hand fell back under leaving me to search the water for the body. My heart lurched as the arm reappeared on the surface. There was a tree right on the edge of the water, and before I could think my actions through, I jumped for the tree. I grabbed the branch and quickly leaned out grabbing the hand. I pulled with everything I had, and somehow it felt like the person I was pulling had doubled in weight. When I finally pulled them up what I found filled me with fear. Kham; I had saved Kham, which meant that Brisa was still somewhere in the water. I didn't even look at him for a second longer. I wrapped my arm around him and swung both of us to shore. Once he was on the land and far from the edge of the water I ran for Brisa. She was the first to fall in so she must have been carried farther down. I ran faster than I ever had as I blinked away the tears that started forming in my eyes. I knew and thought only one thing