Soon the moon was at it's peak and the national anthem began to play. The Careers raised their heads, looking at the sky. The fallen tributes began to appear. Jade counted them, most of them killed by the Careers. The one that wasn't was the girl from District 10. Only six of them dead, meaning eighteen of them remained.
Too many. Jade thought to herself. In comprison to the previous games, the Careers were slacking.
"Don't beat yourself up, we'll resume hunting in morning." Renjun told them, getting up to wash his hands. "Let's take turns guarding tonight."
Haechan was still slightly damp, so he offered to take the first shift. Since Jeno was wounded, he wouldn't take a shift tonight, Renjun offering to take two instead. After Haechan was Hyewon, then Bora, then Jade, giving Renjun the last few hours. After they had all cleaned up, they slowly fell asleep one by one.
...
Jade felt an arm shaking her, opening her eyes to see Bora.
"It's your turn." Bora said before standing up.
"Thanks." Jade replied before rubbing her eyes, stretching her hands in front of her. Bora made her way to her sleeping bag, soon falling sound asleep. She sat up from her sleeping bag.
The moon was shining bright, the night was peaceful. She looked around the arena, wondering where the other tributes could possibly be hiding. The mountain range was tempting. It was cold and isolated, a good hiding place, but also deadly. Without the right tools, it would be easy to freeze to death. Perhaps the Careers would head there after fully searching the other three quadrants.
After what felt like an eternity, Jade peeked at the fire that was slowly dying. Everyone else was fast asleep, so she decided to stand up, heading towards the stock of wood they had near Renjun. As she picked a piece up, another one fell, making a small noise. Jade winced as she watched Renjun's eyes flutter open, and seconds later, he had her pinned to the ground, holding a knife to her throat.
Renjun's eyes widened as he realized who it was, quickly hopping off her as he sat back onto his sleeping bag. Jade couldn't help but chuckle as she placed the piece of wood into the fire.
"Didn't know you slept with a knife." Jade said, taking a seat by Renjun's side. Renjun rolled his eyes.
"You should be glad I didn't kill you." Renjun said, returning the knife to his belt, bringing his knees to his chest.
"Go back to sleep, you still have a bit of time." Jade said. Renjun shook his head.
"I'm wide awake now, thanks to you." Renjun said, the corners of his lips twitching upwards ever so slightly. Jade nodded her head, allowing him to stay up with her.
The two sat there in silence, staring at the night sky as the fire burned in front of them.
"Aren't the stars nice?" Jade asked him. Renjun shrugged his shoulders.
"I mean they're not real. We're in the arena, Jade. Everything is created by the gamemakers." Renjun stated. Jade gave him a glare before looking back at the sky.
"Your words are depressing." Jade pointed out.
"My words are real." Renjun replied with a hint of sass. Jade rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say Renjun." Jade said before the two went back to their silence. Uncontrollably, Jade let out a yawn. She tried to cover it with her mouth but Renjun had already saw it.
"Go sleep." Renjun told her. Jade shook her head.
"It's not your turn yet, the moon is still high." Jade argued.
Renjun sighed before patting his shoulder. "Here."
"What?" Jade asked, staring at him. Renjun turned his head to look at her before wrapping an arm around her. He pulled her closer to him before forcing her head onto his shoulder.
"Rest." He told her. Jade tried to lift her head back up but Renjun held it down.
"You can pay me back tomorrow, just rest. Please." Jade knew that there was no arguing with him so she closed her eyes, falling into a light slumber.
...
Jade was woken up by Renjun's movements. He must have laid her down onto his sleeping bag because when she opened her eyes, he was already packing her sleeping bag for her.
"Wake the others up for me, would you?" Renjun asked her. She was confused as they sky was still dark, the stars still out.
That's when she noticed the smoke in the autumn forest. Barely noticeable but just enough for them to know it was there. It must have been started by another tribute to keep themselves warm.
Jade got up, shaking Haechan to wake him up. Haechan let out a small groan, causing Jade to cover his mouth. His eyes widened when he realized what was happening but calmed after seeing Jade's face. She motioned to the girls and Haechan nodded, proceeded to wake them up while she tended Jeno.
"Does it hurt?" Jade asked him, referring to his leg once he was awake.
"It's a little sore, but I'm fine." Jeno said but as Jade looked at the bandage, it was completely stained with his blood.
"Jeno, stay here with Jade. The rest of us can go." Renjun instructed but Jade shook her head.
"I want to go." Jade told him, hands on her hips.
"Then who's going to watch over him?" Renjun asked, glaring at her. Haechan let out a small sigh.
"I'll stay with him, you four go." Haechan said, giving in. Jade wore a proud smile as she made her way to Renjun's side.
"Are you sure you can handle this? We'll be killing another tribute." Renjun whispered into her ear. Jade nodded her head.
"I need to get over it." Jade said to him. Renjun gave her a small nod, letting her join then.
"Can we go now?" Bora asked, hands on her hips as she tapped her food impatiently.
"Yeah, let's go." Renjun said, following the two other girls towards the smoke.
...
The autumn forest was hard to walk in, the dry leaves and twigs cracking under their feet. This made the Careers travel a lot slower than they had originally intended.
"This is so annoying." Hyewon muttered as they walked.
Jade noticed a golden bell shinning in the moonlight, one of the traps built by the District 9 boy. She pulled Bora and Hyewon back, gaining Renjun's attention. As he saw the bell as well, he nodded, guiding the group around the path. Eventually, they found the fire.
The Careers hid between the trees, watching the District 8 girl, who was probably no older than thirteen, rubbing her hands together as she sat shivering. The poor girl must have been freezing, trying her best not to attract their attention but finally gave in from the cold.
"It's okay. I'll put the fire out in a bit. They won't notice." The girl mumbled to herself. Jade pitied the girl, but in this game of survival, she had made the wrong move. Jade felt Renjun's fingers lightly brush her back. It was a small sign of reassurance. They had to kill her. There's no other way.
"I'll make this quick." Bora said, clenching the mace she held in her hands. The rest of the Careers moved out of the way, letting her walk through.
"Who's there?" The District 8 girl asked when she heard a twig snap from under Bora's feet. Her eyes widened as she saw Bora's figure stepping out of the darkness.
"Boo." Bora said, a smirk on her face. The girl immediately went down on her knees, head down as she begged Bora to spare her life.
"Please spare me. I'll give you all my resources. I'll help you. Just please don't kill me." The girl begged.
"That's useless." Renjun muttered, just loud enough for Jade to hear. Jade couldn't help but agree. As a District 2 tribute, Jade knew that Bora had no sympathy for the girl. Bora and Hyewon were the only two Careers that have yet to have a kill and it was obvious that Bora desperately longed for one.
"I'll do you a favour and make it quick." Bora said, lifting the mace up.
"Please!" The girl begged but like Renjun said, it was no use. The mace came down, striking the girl on the head. She laid still on the forest floor, blood pooling by her head. Bora returned to the tributes, a happy smile on her face.
"Let's head back, I'm hungry." Bora said, making her way back to the Cornucopia. After a moment, Jade realized that the cannon hadn't sounded yet. Renjun must have noticed as well, as he suddenly stopped walking.
"What?" Bora asked them, turning around to look them up and down.
"Did you check if she was still breathing?" Renjun asked her.
"I striked her head, she's basically dead." Bora said but Renjun shook his head, taking out his knife.
"There's no cannon. Hyewon, go finish her off." Hyewon looked at Bora and then back at Renjun before hesitantly taking the knife out of Renjun's hands. Jade heard Bora muttered to herself as they stood there, waiting for Hyewon to return. When Hyewon came back, they heard the cannon sound just as she passed the knife back to Renjun. Renjun returned the knife back to his belt as they continued their way back to the Cornucopia.
...
"Why isn't it healing?" Jade asked, hands on her waist as she watched Renjun change Jeno's bandage. Haechan was cooking some fish over the fire. The gamemakers must have decided to add fish to the game, as Haechan had caught some with his trident, allowing them to change up their diet. Hyewon and Bora left for the summer forest, hunting for food and berries while seeing if there were any other tributes hiding.
"I'm not sure." Renjun admitted as he looked at the wound. Jeno winced in pain as Renjun washed it with water. Renjun stuck his hand out for the jar of medical balm. Jade passed it to him, but realized that something was off.
"Is that right?" Jade asked as Renjun took the opened jar from her hands.
"Of course it is, what else could it..." Renjun's voice trailed off as he looked at the balm. It was white and thick but smelt different from a normal healing balm. He brought the balm to his nose before throwing his head back in frustration.
"Give this to Haechan and pass me the iodine and another bottle of water. This is coconut oil." Renjun instructed. Jade carefully followed his instructions, watching as Renjun poured another bottle of water over Jeno's wound.
"How do you mix up coconut oil and healing balm?" Jeno asked, slightly angered. His energy was quickly depleting from the wound, and the burning sensation from constantly rinsing it was not helping.
"It was hot, I was tired, I made a mistake, alright?" Renjun said, gritting his teeth. Jade could tell that he was holding in his anger as well, probably frustrated at himself for making the mistake.
"Look, you'll be fine Jeno. We have all the resources we could possibly need right here, don't worry alright?" Jade said, trying to comfort him. She placed a hand on Renjun's arm, making him look at her through his bangs.
"And you, don't be so angry at yourself. None of noticed either so it's not only on you. It's on all of us." Jade told him.
"Whatever you say." Renjun mumbled, pouring the iodine on some cotton. "Hold his hand." Renjun said to them.
"What?" Jade and Jeno exclaimed at the same time. Renjun rolled his eyes.
"It's going to hurt like hell and you're going to need something to squeeze. Just do it." Renjun demanded. Jade reluctantly took Jeno's hand just as Renjun placed the cotton on his wound.
As Jade held Jeno's hand, Jeno's sleeve rolled up, allowing her to get a glimpse of a gold bracelet on his wrist. Jeno quickly rolled the sleeve back down, hiding the bracelet from her eyes. The bracelet was very familiar. It was an exact replica of the one she wore herself.
Before she could ask about it, Jeno's scream rang through the arena. Jade thought her bones had been crushed from Jeno's iron grip, massaging her hand as soon as he let go. Renjun couldn't help but giggle at Jeno's reaction while Jeno simply glared at him. He finished wrapping up his calf just as Hyewon and Bora returned, hands full of wood and berries.
"Fish is ready." Haechan called out to them. Jade and Renjun helped Jeno move from where he sat to their makeshift table with the boxes as Haechan and Hyewon brought them the fish and berries. Renjun was staring at the berries hard with a questioning look on his face.
"Did you try these?" Renjun asked the two girls. Haechan must have realized what was wrong as his eyebrows were furrowed together as well.
"Why would we try them, they're berries. We just picked them and brought them here." Bora answered.
"I can try them now if you want. I'm sure they're sweet." Hyewon said picking one up but Haechan quickly slapped her hand down, stopping her.
"They're nightlock, idiots." Haechan said.
"What's that?" Hyewon asked, curious.
"Didn't you two do the poisionous plant station? They're extremely poisionous. They'll kill you before they even reach your stomach." Jeno informed them. Hyewon quickly put the berries in her hand to throw them in the water but Haechan stopped her once again.
"The fish are going to eat them and who eats the fish?" Haechan asked her, holding her wrist tight.
"Here, just put them in here." Renjun said, handing her an empty silver container. Hyewon slowly nodded putting the berries away.
Suddenly, a cannon sounded in the distance signalling another death.
"I guessing a tribute was watching you gather them and probably ate them as well." Jade said, making the group of Careers chuckle.
———————————————————————————