Day Eight

Rosemary

They waited until after breakfast to move. While Xavier and Kyler went to check the snares they had set the night before, Rosemary wandered around, brushing snow aside to look for edible plants. The snow in the arena continued to fascinate her; it didn't melt, it wasn't made out of water, and it didn't change, yet it was wet, ice cold, and packable. It also hid a lot of vegetation underneath its thick, white coat; she didn't know if other Tributes had figured that out yet but she begrudgingly thought it was clever of the Gamemakers to hide something so obvious in front of them.

Rosemary gathered dandelion greens, pokeweed, and she even found some blackberries. With enough to feed all four of them, she started on her way back to her brother. She only walked a hundred feet away, tops, so it didn't take her long to get back. Xavier and Kyler were already back as well, showing Rye the two squirrels their snares had caught.

Rye looked no better in sunlight. He was still sickly, still pale, and it looked like it took him all of his strength to even sit up and eat. Rosemary fussed over him like a mother hen, feeding him medicine and more healing herbs, before joining Xavier to make a fire. Kyler skinned the squirrels while they got it lit up, and soon they were balancing the meat over the fire.

"Do we need to cook this stuff?" Kyler asked about the dandelions and pokeweed.

"The dandelion greens you can eat raw," Rosemary pointed them out, separating the pokeweed from the greens. "The pokeweed, however, needs to be cooked or you could get sick."

Kyler made a face, one that told Rosemary that he was simultaneously impressed with her knowledge, while still being annoyed about the fact they'd have to cook the plants. Rosemary used one of the metal containers that had come down in a sponsor's gift as a makeshift pot to cook in when there was nothing else to use in the arena, filling it with water and the plants she had gathered, and put it on the fire. They all ate some berries as their food cooked and then it wasn't long before they were digging into their modest meal of roasted squirrel and boiled plants.

It's better than nothing, Rosemary reminded herself. It's better than a hungry stomach.

Rosemary got Rye to drink a whole extra canteen of water before they moved on so that he would stay hydrated. After refilling it, they started walking deeper into the mountains to find a place for Rye to hide during their plan. The four of them whispered amongst themselves–though Rye wasn't in his usual talking mood, rightfully–as Xavier and Kyler carried Rye between them until they found a little cave that looked suitable enough for a hideout.

Once they checked to see that nothing was living inside of the cave, they started to make Rye a comfortable place to rest. Rosemary laid her parka over him once he was settled and smoothed the damp hair away from his sweltering forehead. His fever just wasn't going away.

"Here, take these before we leave," Rosemary fed him more medicine and herbs, which he took without complaint. This time, Rosemary added some valerian root that she found on the way, which would make him rest a little better while they were gone.

"Can we go over the plan one last time?" Rye asked raspily.

Xavier nodded shortly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Kyler, Rosemary, and I are going to split up and build fires. Once we're done, we'll meet back here and then head out again. I will be going to start the first and the third ones."

"Kyler and I will be going to the Cornucopia to get the supplies. We'll start the second fire on the way down."

"And then the fourth fire will be the rest of the supplies," Kyler finished. "All right, meet back here when the sun's at the highest point in the sky?"

-

An uneventful hour and a half later, Rosemary was making her way back to Rye's hideout. Nothing had really gone badly while she built her fire, closer to the Cornucopia than the others, and she was glad to find that the boys were sitting with Rye, eating a light lunch, when she got back.

"Here," Rye weakly handed her a beef stick and a couple of the blackberries that were leftover from that morning.

His hand was shaking so hard it looked like he was going to drop the food. It was horrible to see her brother like this, so physically weak. He had never been in such a state and if she wasn't so busy trying to get the supplies he needed, she would have surely been freaking out. Having something to do, something to focus on, something to accomplish really helped her out when things were going bad.

Rosemary quickly grabbed the food with one hand and then clasped the shaky one with her other. She ate her whole lunch holding onto his hand, hating the way that his hands stayed freezing long after her body heat had seeped into him. It was cold in the cave, almost more so than the rest of the arena, but not enough where his hands wouldn't be able to get warm under normal circumstances.

Slowly, they finished eating. Xavier was the first one done. He started gathering fire-starting supplies, just some flint, dry kindling he found earlier, and some matches, and also shouldered his ax, just in case he were to run into someone and needed to defend himself. He left before Rosemary and Kyler did, nodding his see-you-laters and good-lucks.

Then it was Rosemary and Kyler's turn to go. Rosemary took Rye's bystaff and made sure her green vest of knives was snug against her torso, giving her some sort of protection with its kevlar-like fabric. While Kyler grabbed his sword and busied himself with making sure they had enough water for the trip, Rosemary said goodbye to Rye.

"You have to be careful, Rose," Rye warned her, gripping her hand tightly, like he didn't want to let go. "Please come back."

"I will," Rosemary gave him a closed-mouth smile and pressed a sweet kiss to his clammy forehead. "I'll be careful and I'll be back and you're gonna get better."

"I love you."

"I love you, too, weirdo." He was worrying her. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand at attention. "Don't you dare die while I'm gone, okay? You're going home."

Rye laughed breathlessly and nodded. "I'm going home, got it."

Rosemary smiled at him again and left the cave. She was terrified of losing him. He just had to hang on for a little while longer. They get the anti-venom and everything would be okay.

"You okay?" Kyler asked her once she caught up to him.

"Just worried," Rosemary glanced at the cave just before they left its view. She saw that he was looking at her worriedly and she smiled tightly, trying to make him feel better. "I'm okay, promise."

"Okay, I'll drop it," Kyler grinned. "How long do you think we should wait after we see Xavier's fire to start the second one?"

"An hour, maybe two," from there, they'd go straight to the Cornucopia, not wasting any time. An hour after that, the third fire would go and the Careers would be led away from the second one–and in extension, the Cornucopia, since they were closest–so they wouldn't catch Rosemary and Kyler if they were still there.

They had been walking close to forty-five minutes, the sun setting deeper into the sky, when Kyler checked again to see if they could see smoke in the air. "Okay, I see smoke. We'd better get there."

Rosemary quickened her pace and Kyler easily kept up with her. "We're almost there."

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the second fire. It was built as tall as Rosemary, who stood at 5'4 on her best days, could make it without toppling over. Kyer added a few more branches to the top and then they started the fire. It caught on pretty quickly, even in the snow, because the pine needles were so dry and flammable. The flames were warm and even though it was cold and they probably would have benefitted with some heat, they had to leave. The Careers would be coming.

"Let's go."

-

Evening Eight

Rosemary

There was still blood staining the snow on the ground around the Cornucopia. Rosemary could practically see Biff slitting Cain's neck in the exact place that she had almost been killed by him. She could see that Cain was not the only one who bled. Some of the blood looked fresher than the eight days they'd been in the arena.

Maybe someone was injured. That could potentially make things a little easier.

She was hopeful, until they both caught a glimpse of Arielle. The female Tribute from Four had been left behind to guard the Cornucopia and their supplies.

"She's good with knives, but look," Kyler nodded at Arielle and gestured to his side. Rosemary focused and saw that blood had stained the side of her white jumpsuit. Arielle was the one who was injured. "She's hurt."

Without speaking, they seemed to know what the other was thinking. Rosemary didn't want to kill anyone, but she was in the Hunger Games, and she wouldn't be able to get Rye out alive if she wasn't willing to kill anyone. She knew what they had to do. They needed to kill Arielle.

'Separate and attack," Kyler mouthed to her slowly; she nodded, telling him that she understood.

Heart beating fast, Rosemary went to the right, while Kyler went to the left. She sneakily ran over to the back of the Cornucopia. She was gasping and she didn't know if it was because she couldn't breathe or because she was panicking. She couldn't see Kyler anymore, as he was supposed to be on the other side, and when she looked for Arielle, she didn't see her either.

Shit, she cursed to herself. Her eyes widened when she heard the sound of someone's grunt nearby and leapt out of hiding. Shit, shit, shit!

Around the mouth of the Cornucopia, she saw Kyler and Arielle engaged in battle. It seemed that Arielle had surprised Kyler when he went to sneak up to her. There was a cut on his cheek but otherwise, he seemed unharmed so far. Now, it looked like he was gaining momentum. His weapon was more suited to close combat, while Arielle was better with throwing knives. The most she could do was back away and throw, and so far none of them had stuck.

"Find it, Rose!" Kyler yelled and at first, she thought he was yelling at Arielle until she comprehended that he had said her name.

Rosemary took off toward the tower of supplies, about a hundred or so feet away from the Cornucopia mouth. She heard a scream come from Arielle but tuned it out so she could focus on finding the anti-venom. Luckily, the tub with the medical supplies was painted a bright red with a cross in white, compared to the dull gray of the others, allowing her to locate it quickly.

Rosemary had to push several tubs out of her way to get to the medical supplies and all the while, she could hear Arielle yelling at Kyler about something. When she finally got to the tub, she slipped it off the three tubs it was towering on, scooting out of the way so it wouldn't knock into her, and pried off the top.

It was a chaotic mess in the medical tub. Supplies of all kinds were everywhere and not at all organized. Rosemary slipped off her backpack and started grabbing at supplies, putting them in her pack to bring back with her. She made sure to get some bandages and wraps, anesthetic cream, and stuff to clean wounds...She kept an eye out for the anti-venom the whole time, hoping that she would have luck like she did with the tub and it would be in a different color.

Alas, her luck was not that good.

Rosemary glanced back at Kyler and saw that he was still occupying Arielle. She had to do this quickly and calmly.

She inhaled deeply and started looking through whatever vial she could get her hands on. Antibiotics, rubbing alcohol, anti-itch salves, balms for burns and open wounds, and then finally...a small vial of anti-venom.

"Yes! Thank the stars," she whispered, slipping the anti-venom in the hidden pocket of her backpack.

She took the time to gather every single vial she went through into her backpack and then hurriedly zipped it back. Jumping to her feet, she ran over to where Kyler and Arielle had been fighting; both Career Tributes looked tired, but ultimately, it was clear that Kyler was winning.

Rosemary pulled one of her knives out of her vest and held it loosely between her fingers.

"Arielle!" she screamed, getting the girl's attention.

Arielle whipped around, apparently having forgotten her presence whilst fighting off Kyler for her life. Rosemary let her knife soar through the air and Arielle's eyes gleamed with amusement when the knife ended up being several feet away from her.

That was fine, hitting her hadn't been Rosemary's intention.

Before Arielle could even open her mouth to laugh at Rosemary, Kyler was slashing his sword across her back, severing her spinal cord in one clean cut. Arielle cried as she fell to the ground, paralyzed, but Kyler didn't let her stay that way for long, plunging his bloody blade into her heart.

Boom!

For a moment, both Rosemary and Kyler stared at the girl. A beat passed and then another.

"Kyler, we have to light the fire," Rosemary was the one to bring Kyler out of his teary-eyed trance. She knew he felt horrible, but they still had to do the last step of the plan.

Kyler shook his head, pulled his sword out of Arielle's chest, and ran toward her. "Do we have anything to speed it up?"

"There was rubbing alcohol in the med kit," Rosemary ran to the blue tub and searched for the second squeeze bottle of alcohol. "Here, here!"

With shaky hands, she uncapped the bottle of alcohol and started spreading it everywhere, making sure not to oversaturate one place so she wouldn't run out. Kyler followed behind her with matches and within minutes, the supplies were aflame, smoke burning dark in the air.

They didn't stay to admire their masterpiece.

"Let's go!"

They ran away from the Cornucopia, but took a different route back to Rye's hiding place than the one they first came down the mountain through. The terrain wasn't as familiar to them, but they managed to keep moving despite Rosemary tripping here and there, or Kyler scraping his neck on some of the pointy tree branches.

They had to be at least one mile out from the Cornucopia when they heard something over the noise of their own breathing and footsteps. Rosemary and Kyler scrambled to a stop to listen and stared at each wide-eyed.

Loud thumps, like a herd of footsteps were accompanied by the crunch of snow and the angry huffs and curses coming from the Career Tributes' mouths. Rosemary quickly pointed at the trees and they practically leaped onto two trees nearby, using all of their strength and speed to get to an acceptable distance between them and the ground–and therefore, the Careers.

Rosemary held her breath as she saw Biff and Cleo walk into view, followed by Gully from Four. They all looked furious.

"Clearly it was meant to be a trick," Cleo spoke spitefully. "Four fires, right after one another? We fell for it like fucking idiots."

They hadn't noticed Rosemary or Kyler up in the trees, too busy complaining to one another. They passed under the trees that they hid in but Rosemary's heart continued to race as they kept moving away from them.

"There was a cannon," Gully spoke up, a menacing note in his tone. "It better have been one of those siblings."

"We can only hope," Biff scoffed. "But this has them written all over it."

"Whatever, let's just get back to the Cornucopia and try to salvage some of those supplies," Cleo picked up her pace and soon she, Biff, and Gully were out of sight.

Rosemary and Kyler stared at each other for another ten minutes, continuing to keep their mouths shut. Finally, they shuffled down their respective trees and grabbed one another, just to make sure they were well and alive.

"They're gone," Kyler whispered into her hair as he pulled her into a hug. "They don't know it was us."

"That means Rye and Xavier are fine, too," Rosemary sighed into the fabric of his jumpsuit right over his heart. "Come on, we should get back."

Kyler nodded but it took a few seconds before either of them moved, still entangled with each other. Rosemary realized that she quite liked his hugs, of feeling strong hands holding onto her and keeping her tethered to the Earth. She sighed and then let go of him, knowing that they had to get back to Rye. This was not the time to be hugging boys and getting attached to them.

Both of them would probably be dead within the week.

As they walked back to Rye's hideout, they didn't speak in case someone would overhear them, but the silence was comfortable. To Rosemary, at least. She and Kyler had gone through a lot of days together, most of them featuring some kind of stretch of silence and he hadn't shown any discomfort at the silent pauses. She knew that some people, like Kline, couldn't stand the quiet and often thought that any time anyone wasn't talking was painfully awkward.

The adrenaline that was once pumping through their bodies had faded away, so they journeyed much slower than before. Still, they made it back only a few minutes after the sun faded away. They found both Xavier and Rye outside of the small cave they left Rye in earlier that day, eating while making quiet conversation.

"There you are," Xavier pointed out their arrival, causing Rye's head to snap over to her.

"Rose!" he beamed at her, still pale and tired. "You're okay."

Rosemary wrapped him up into a tight hug and sat down in the snow next to him. "I'm great. Here," she pushed off her pack and found the hidden pocket, pulling out the vial of anti-venom. "Take some of this. A small swig should probably do."

She uncapped the vial so his shaky hands didn't have to and handed it over. Rye took a small sip of the medicine and then handed it back to her so she could reseal it shut. The medicine wasn't instant in anyway, but Rosemary could have sworn she saw his cheeks pinken.

"You guys hungry?" Xavier passed over a squirrel to Kyler, who took some gratefully, and then another one to Rosemary. "We don't have any greens. We didn't want to take a chance and accidentally eat something we're not supposed to."

Rosemary laughed and dug into her squirrel, sighing at the gamey taste in her mouth. It was too bad that she wasn't getting out of the arena, she'd love to have a better last meal than a slightly pink squirrel. Still, it filled her belly, so she couldn't complain. She and the others were fortunate enough to know how to catch animals and gather plants for food. Some of the other Tributes definitely did not.

Boom!

None of them even flinched.

It was almost ironic, the timing of the cannon, because the Capitol's anthem starting blaring throughout the arena only a moment later. There was a moment when nothing but the Capitol's seal was projected up in the sky, and then two portraits appeared.

"Arielle, lion of God," Rosemary whispered, holding her fingers up toward the portrait of District 4's female Tribute and then to the girl from Seven. "Myla, merciful soldier."

Joining in on Rosemary's salute, Rye kissed the middle three fingers of his right hand and held them to the sky as the Capitol's seal disappeared and the anthem finished with a flourish.

Eight more Tributes to go, Rosemary thought to herself, glancing over at Rye. Soon, we'll have to split from Kyler and Xavier.

Rye, who was looking back at her, must have been thinking the same thing. He gave her a sad smile and she wondered if it was because he knew how attached she had become to Kyler. Still, they couldn't play all of the Games with alliances and no matter how much Rosemary liked Kyler, they were both doomed from the start.

Though they weren't lovers by any means, they were certainly not the first Tributes to have chemistry between them. They also wouldn't be the last.

-

Night Eight

Haymitch

Haymitch could finally relax for a moment now that Rosemary had hand-delivered the anti-venom to Rye. Hopefully, they'd finish eating and then go to sleep for the rest of the night. Rye needed all the rest he could get as he was healing and soon they wouldn't have Kyler and Xavier as buffers if a Tribute attacked them randomly.

Granted, they wouldn't have their protection, either. And Rosemary, no matter how good she was with a bystaff, was not at par with Rye and was not strong enough to take men like Biff and Gully–and even Kyler and Xavier–down. She was too small, and unless Rye's life was at stake, she wouldn't have much motivation to save herself.

His stomach turned as that brought up resentment toward himself. He had promised Rosemary to focus his attention on Rye, and he had kept that promise. It wasn't because he didn't like or respect Rosemary, but Rye had better odds of winning the Games, and Rosemary had made it clear that this was what she wanted. Still, it didn't help his guilt. It wouldn't help his nightmares after Rosemary was killed, either.

A fresh tumbler of whiskey slid on the bar in front of him, and due to the stench of expensive cologne, he could tell exactly who was paying him a visit.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Finnick?"

He looked at Finnick, who smirked back at him. Haymitch wasn't entirely fooled, noticing the sadness he got in his sea-green eyes every time one of his Tributes was killed. Even when he stopped caring, Haymitch felt the same way.

"A congratulations drink for you," Finnick nodded at the bartender, who slid four shots in front of him. He swiftly threw one back without wincing and grabbed another, raising it in Haymitch's direction with a tight smile. "A couple shots of mourning for me."

Haymitch took a sip of his drink. "Sorry about the girl."

Watching the Hunger Games was very odd as a Mentor. You'd root for the other districts' to lose, because you want your own Tribute to win, but still mourn with them when their Tributes are murdered in the process.

"She was a good fighter, but as soon as she took that hit the other day I knew she'd be a goner," Finnick shrugged and took another shot. "I did think your boy was gonna go first, though."

"His sister is very determined to get him out of there," Haymitch grumbled. "Once he's better, I think he has a shot."

"I think that's true...but," Finnick dragged out his words, shrugging a little. "There are a lot of strong guys in this Games. Gully, District 2, the one from Seven...There's still nine more Tributes to go. Well, eight if you don't count his sister, and I'm sure he doesn't."

"Oh, fuck off," Haymitch waved his hand at Finnick, a chuckle breaking from his lips. "There's still a long way to go, that's for sure."

"Well, well, looks like it may just be eight to go now, anyway," Finnick took his last shot and nodded up at the flat screen above their heads.

On the screen, where the Games were on twenty-four hours of the day, even when Caesar and Templesmith were granted their screen time–in which case, there was a square at the bottom of the screen that kept the arena in view and if something exciting happened, they'd switch screens–was District 7's girl and Finnick's remaining Tribute. Four had grabbed Seven from the arms and was practically squishing her to death with his strength as he screamed in her face.

To put it delicately–as much as Haymitch was able to do so–the kid had turned into a full-blown psychopath when he discovered that his district partner had been killed during the plan that Rosemary, Rye, Kyler, and Xavier enacted. He'd almost killed the girl from District 2 and would have if the one from District 1 hadn't stepped in, and then went on a rampage, sprinting through the forest toward where the first fire had been lit.

Well, he had found someone, but it wasn't who had been responsible for his partner's death.

The poor girl from Seven was fourteen at best and she was sobbing hysterically as he shook her and yelled in her face.

"DID YOU KILL HER? YOU DID, DIDN'T YOU? YOU KILLED HER."

"I didn't kill her!" snot flowed out from the girl's nose at the same speed as the tears fell from her eyes. If it had been another kid in another time or place, Haymitch would have turned away in disgust. The girl, however, was forced into the Hunger Games and deserved his respect until the day he died. "I swear I didn't. It was that girl from District 12 and–and–"

Haymitch set down his glass onto the bar with a thunk.

The kid from Four didn't seem to believe the girl, interrupting her before she could add anything. "You think someone who can't throw a knife can take down a Career?"

"The guy from Two was with her," the girl wailed. "He stabbed her, I swear. She set your stuff on fire and he killed her. It wasn't me, I swear. It wasn't me. It wasn't me."

The girl kept repeating her words as she wept. Four, on the other hand, finally seemed to believe her. His eyes had narrowed drastically, and his chest pumped rapidly from the rage flowing through his body. With a flex of his hands, the girl's cries stopped and the cannon boomed.

He dropped her body on the ground, sending it one last kick, and then turned to leave before the hovercraft appeared to take the body away. As he walked away, the hidden cameras followed him, catching him as he muttered,

"I'm gonna kill them. I'm gonna rip the flesh off their faces and–"

Swiftly, the program moved into the day's highlights and both Haymitch and Finnick looked at each other in shock.

"Hope we don't have another Titus on our hands," Haymitch grimaced, remembering the cannibal who went crazy in the arena.

"Maybe he's just a raging psychopath," Finnick didn't look much happier with his own Tribute. "Let's hope he doesn't come across your girl and the one from Two. Who the fuck knows what he'll do?"

"I'm guessing he's gonna rip the flesh off their faces."

A smirk crossed Finnick's lips. "You're such an asshole, Haymitch. We should gets drinks more often."

Haymitch hummed and drank his whiskey, his thoughts running a million miles an hour. How was he going to get Rosemary out of this?

Well, if it was up to her, he wouldn't.