It didn't take long before he lost consciousness due to the pain so I'm waiting for him to wake up; either that or the sound of his canon. At least he stopped screaming. It's clear that when the mutt bit him, he contaminated his bloodstream. His blood is turning black and thicker; soon, his heart will give up. I did my best to wrap his leg and I even tried to slow down the venom, or whatever the mutt tainted his blood with, by making a tourniquet. It's not going to save him, but it will at least give him a few more minutes. Hopefully. I used the rest of the water to clean my hands of all the blood, but it's still stuck under my nails. I gave up trying to rinse it away, even if I hate the feeling of my ally's blood slowly drying on my skin. The sensation makes me want to pluck my nails off. Maybe I deserve it.

I'm sitting on the ground next to him, the bag over my legs. It now holds the content of both of the remaining backpacks: one intact sleeping bag and what is left from mine, fruits, three bags of dried jerky, the last water bottle, Viviana's necklace, Adenias' copper bracelet and two knives. I removed his token from his wrist so I can give it back to his parents in case I survive. If it has any valor, even a small one, the tokens of the dead tributes are sent to the capitol and never make it back to the families. Sometimes, even if it has no value, it will be sold in an auction to citizens who liked the tribute. If I ever make it out of here, I don't know if they'll let me keep them, probably not as they're not technically mine. I need to at least try. Maybe I should retrieve those of my enemies too; maybe their parents would hate me a little less if I tried to bring back their child's token. Of course, it's never going to replace their stolen lives and they will forever have to live with the pain of having lost a loved one, a pain that I know too well. I'm probably over thinking anyway; the odds are not in my favor, no one under the age of sixteen ever got out of here alive, it would be an exploit.

"Finnick?"

I turn away, surprised. He's weak; I can hear it in his voice. At least he's alive and well enough to talk; probably not for long though. I touch his forehead; it's even hotter than earlier.

"Leave, I'm not gonna..."

Those few words sucked up a lot of his energy; he's panting, trying his best to get oxygen into his lungs.

"Shut up, I'm not leaving you. We're a team, remember?"

He tries to smile, but I can see the pain in his face. The sweat on his face forms a droplet that slowly runs down along his face to his neck. I watch it fall on the ground. It quickly disappears, absorbed by the earth. It's almost like it was erasing all proof of his existence.

"The mutts... They were angry."

"Yes, I guess you could say that." I respond, laughing in an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere.

"No, the game makers. Cedar..."

"Stop, it's the fever talking. Keep your energy for later."

For the first time in a while, he turns his head and look into my eyes. He knows that I understood what he was trying to say; they were Cedar's punishment for what he said during his interview, what he implied. We were just casualties. Maybe they are using the other deaths to mask the fact that they were sent only for him. They stopped chasing us once they caught him and made him suffer. I can't help but to imagine them shredding his body into pieces with their sharp claws, limb by limb.

"Win for us, you need to promise it to me." he whispers, having more and more trouble breathing and keeping his eyes open.

"Stay with me, don't close your eyes!" I almost scream at him.

I try to shake his shoulder to keep him awake, but it's clear that his life is fading away; there's nothing left to do for him, so I decide to do what I would have liked someone to do for me if I was dying like this. I try to get him in a seated position, resting against my chest. He doesn't react; he's too weak for that.

"Adenias, look at the flowers. They're pretty, aren't they? Remember when you asked me about the stars earlier and I told you they were magical? This is as pretty as them. This is what the sky looks like in the night when they start shinning." I whisper in his ear.

He opens his eyes a little and uses his remaining energy to smile at the sight of the glowing flowers. The petals do look like stars, I didn't lie about that. He deserves this to be his last image; he deserves at least a peaceful death after what we went through. He closes his eyes and I know he's never going to reopen them.

"Please... Stay a little longer. You're all I have left."

I can feel him fighting as he takes his last breath, a tear running down his cheek. Under the sound of the canon, I gently lay him down.

"I'm sorry. I wish we could all still be together, Viviana, you, Cedar, Anthos and me. I'm sure we would have been good friends if we were born in the same district. I don't regret meeting any of you; I just wish it would have been under better circumstances. I'll see you again, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day. I'll see you again, all of you." I whisper to his lifeless body.

I wait for the hovercraft to take his body away before leaving, walking in the field of glowing flowers. I can't look back, it's just a painful reminder that everyone's dead. I can't even see the beauty in the flowers anymore, I'm not even sure I'll ever be able to see the beauty in anything ever again. Something in me died with my allies tonight; I don't know exactly what, but the idea of killing other people to go home doesn't seem as revolting as before. I'm all alone now. I couldn't save anyone, but I'm going to make sure that their legacies lives on.

I'm going to win those Games. For them.

"I promise." I whisper, looking up to the dark sky.