Chapter 25

TW: Mentions of shootings and blood

When it becomes dark, the hologram appears in the sky like the nights before. It was chilling seeing Adele's picture in the sky. Blake tries to hide her tears, one step closer to dying. Every second, it becomes more terrifying. The next tribute is a asian boy from district 10, Iken. He seemed smarter than the rest, but not smart enough.

"I don't remember seeing him during our training" Wintell furrows his eyebrows.

"He was from 10, quite a nice skilled person. He was really smart, but he had flaws. His name was Iken" Hendall sighed and rolled over to her side.

"Who's taking the first shift?" Blake asks.

"You can" Wintell lounges back, he stares up at the cave ceiling then drifts off. That leaves Blake the only one not asleep. The thought of being alive right now made her want to throw up. She couldn't take it anymore, the thought of all three of them being dead was already mortifying. She felt herself drifting off a few hours later.

She shakes Wintell awake, "Your turn, I can't keep my eyes open."

He nods and lets out an enormous yawn. Blake lays down on the hard stone floor, not being the most comfortable thing ever, but it works. She immediately falls asleep.

The next morning, Blake is being shaken awake by Hendall.

"Wake up princess, time to get ready to hunt" Wintell whispers into her ear. Blake's eyes immediately shoot open.

"Don't call me that," Blake grunts while trying to sit up. She grabs the flask that Finnick gave her and takes a sip.

"Hendall is going to stay here and man the fort while we go hunt," Wintell says. Blake gives him a confused look, why didn't he want Hendall to go with him?

"Why isn't Hendall going with you?" Blake asks.

"Because she can't really hunt, besides, you probably have more experience at this than I do" Wintell grabs his bow and arrows. Blake sighs and stands up, with her belt of kunais still attached.

"Ready?" he asks.

"Don't really have a choice do I?" Blake scoffs.

"That's the spirit," Wintell examines the exit of the cave, then leaps out, Blake following him. They head towards the forest filled with dead trees, and suddenly a cannon goes off. Blake and Wintell stare at each other with wide eyes.

"That couldn't have been Hendall?" Blake shivers.

"No, there's no way, Hendall's pretty good at fending for herself-" another cannon goes off. Blake stares back at Wintell.

"Hehe, there's an unlikely chance, lets just keep hunting" Wintell runs his hand through his hair nervously. Blake had a gut feeling that something was wrong. Once it was getting darker, Wintell and Blake had decided to head back to the cave. They had caught two jackrabbits. They finally made it back to the cave, Blake felt her heart racing.

"Hey, Hendall. We're back," Wintell calls out. They waited, no response.

"Shit!" They race into the cave, finding blood splatters around the cave. There was too much blood, it couldn't have all come from the same person.

Blake starts to tear up, "do you think she's actually-"

"Yup, there's no way she was able to kill two different people. She had to have died, the capital must have taken her body." Wintell wipes off the streams of tears rushing down his face. Blake sniffs, she starts to gather all of their supplies and hunt.

"We can't stay here then, we need to move" She hands Wintell a backpack. He just nods, they hurriedly search for a new cave. Finally, they stumble upon one. It is small, but would fit them both. Suddenly, the hologram appears. Shown this time was their fellow tribute, Hendall. Wintell fell to the ground, clasping his hand over his mouth to keep himself from screaming. Blake sits next to him, wrapping an arm around him.

"It's all my fault, if I had told her to come with us she wouldn't be dead" Wintell manages to say.

"Don't say that! You had no control over that, you didn't know that she would be attacked. Don't worry yourself over it" Blake lays her head on his shoulder, tears streaming down her eyes. They both look up to see a blonde girl from district 8, the other person who had splatted their blood on the cave walls.

"At least we don't have to go out seeking revenge" Blake jokes.

"Wintell chuckles, then sighs, "you remind me of my younger sister, she always was the sympathetic one. She always spoke out about her opinion. She wasn't afraid of anything."

Blake furrows her eyebrows, "was?" Wintell nods, leaving a pause in between.

"She died during school, she tried to save a kid from being shot. She was shot instead. School shootings are popular in district 5." Wintell mutters.

"I'm sorry about your sister," Blake whispers.

"It's okay, I've gotten used to it, but I try to protect more than step aside. I can't be the person that does nothing" Wintell says firmly.

"You're not, you stood up for Hendall when Serpen and Adele were trying to kill her. I'd say that's pretty brave considering they were both careers." Blake smiles, remembering that moment, so does Wintell.

"Doesn't it feel weird, referring to people we just met in a past tense?" Blake asks.

He smiles, "you get used to it, you get some sleep. I'll take the first shift." Blake agrees, she goes deeper into the cave to rest.

Miss me? I know I missed writing! I will be writing more often, don't worry.