*Mature Hunger Games Warning*

      Warm wet air filled Hugh’s lungs as he stood looking over the bright arena city. He stood at the edge of a rooftop, the tips of his toes hanging over the streets. He took in the air, dusty, calm and moist. It would rain soon. On the horizon, Hugh saw a cluster of pitch clouds, grumbling and forward like a titan. Between the crimson sun, hanging dangerously low to the earth, and the approaching storm, it felt like the apocalypse was coming. But Hugh’s world had already ended, when Finn’s cannon had gone off earlier that week.

    Hugh looked over the edge of the building and down into the streets below, wide black roads lined with silver towers and gray sidewalk. He let out a sigh, arms limp at his sides. He wobbled back and forth, teetering dangerously close to falling off and shattering his body on the pavement. Tears dripped from swollen bloodshot eyes onto the curves of a white face. He swallowed hard, pondering on this next decision. Would he go limp? Fall forward and through the air, hitting the ground, a cannon blasting into the clouds? Or would he fall back, hitting his back on the rooftop of the tower, staring at the sky, as air slowly crept back into his body?

    Images slipped into his consciousness. A boy with light brunette hair, walking the boundary of death as he collapsed onto the sidewalk, the hot red sun beating on his pale face. The same boy, begging as blood flowed from his body and onto the pavement… Hugh closed his eyes, inching forward, his weight losing balance. But then other images came to him. The boy, Finn, smiling and laughing next to him- placing cherry blossom lips on his, soft like him. What would he want? Not this-not Hugh ready to die, looking down into his own grave.

    Hugh opened his dead Hazel eyes, stepping backward and onto the roof, muttering curses under his breath. Not today, Finn wouldn’t want that for him. Hugh wiped tears from pale cheeks with his hands, ignoring Finn’s dried blood caked under his nails and in his clothes. He was gone now, but he had to do this- for him. What a cliche, he thought to himself. Yet cliches are cliches for a reason, right?

    Hugh continued walking backward, taking in a long deep breath. If he were to win this, he had to stay calm. Panicking would get him nowhere. He looked to his side, his small black backpack slumped over like a dead body. He grabbed and slung it over his shoulder as the song of the Mockingjay, the Hanging Tree, began to rumble through the arena- a glaring of mournful trumpets and heavy strings. He looked up at the sky, the silvery blue projection quickly materializing into the clouds. An image of the Mockingjay symbol quickly faded to that of a young boy, the youngest in the games- Park Cawley. Hugh sighed. He figured it had been him or Pluto. That left five of them left.

    Hugh continued walking through a thick black door and down into the staircase as he thought, eyes still slick with tears. Five left- him, Shea Prescott, Pluto Ryder, Armie Stranger, and Merla Nik. He had never talked to any of them much. Pluto was quiet and weak, yet seemed strangely determined to survive and Merla seemed relatively harmless. Shea and Armie were the ones who worried him. Armie seemed damn insane and was the oldest. Shea seemed to be the smartest though. He had no idea how he’d survive the next few days- and what he’d ever do even if he did. But he had too, for him. For Finn.

    The bearing of Panem’s trumpets had woken Pluto from his sleep. He eyes fluttered open, bloodshot and dark in nature. His head rolled to the side, planting his cheek into soft soil- he was still the grove. His eyes floated around the area as his body began to shift and move, pain in his leg and shoulder. He looked down as the ache in his leg grew. It was wrapped in bandages, soaked in blood. He groaned as he rolled the rest of his body to the side- now seeing the girl crouched in front of him. He barely recognized the girl, her chocolatey brown skin now battered with bruises and dried blood. Her beautiful lips were swollen and her nose ever so crooked. It was Merla Nik.

    “Oh good, you’re up,” she said in a soft voice. “I had begun to worry you were gonna… Well,”

    “Bleed out?” Pluto sputtered, moving his aching body into a sitting up position. His whole body hurt like he had been hit with a truck. He groaned in pain.

    “Yeah, that,” she said. He looked down at her hands- they were covered in blood, no doubt his. He looked at her with drooping eyes, his mouth pursed in pain. He gently nodded his head before laying back down, relieving some of the pain and pressure building up in him.

    “He died, didn’t he?”

    “Yeah, don’t you remember?” she gently asked. “You took that club and hit in the head- it punctured his sku-”

    “Stop.” he spat out. “Please please stop,” he said clenching his eyes shut. Merla was silent.

    “I’m sorry, I truly am,” she said, a pause before Pluto responded.

    “It’s fine. Just I-,”

    “Just what?”

    “Just shit man!” he swore exhaling as he opened his cocoa eyes. “I killed him… I killed Park Crawley,” he muttered, his eyes chaotic as he looked up at the sky, the projection of Park’s still living face projected into the sky. The boy’s blue eyes and lifeless scowl burned holes into him.

    “Yeah, I’m sorry,”

    “Enough with the sorry. I appreciate it- it’s just that you shouldn’t be. He’s dead now, I can’t change that,” he sputtered out, his eyes wide and shaking with energy. Marla was quiet now nodding her head. Her bow sat on her lap, her quiver strapped across her back.

    “I didn’t mean to snap at you like that,” Pluto muttered after a few moments, shaking his head, still laying on the ground. “This is just all so much to handle,”

    “I understand Pluto,” she smiled. “I do. Days ago… Bettina, I-”

    “Say no more. I understand,”

    “Thanks,” she smiled again, setting her bow on the ground next to her. “I uh- I wrapped your shoulder and leg up in gauze. Shortly after it all happened you passed out. Blood Loss-”

    “And shock,”

    “Yes, that. The spike in your leg was ridged, it was a devil to remove,” she continued, before expressing how she did it all. Park nodded along, impressed. She saved him from bleeding out as well.

    “Hey Merla,” he interrupted as she explained her procedure.

    “Yes?”

    “I don’t know,” he started. “I really don’t know how I can repay you. You could of, you probably should have just let me die… Park deserved life just as much me,”

    “Pluto, we can’t all win this,” she said, Pluto, nodding his head in subtle melancholy. “Don’t feel indebted me. Just stay here with me. Have my back. Will you?”

    “At this rate, it’s only fair I die for you,”

Hey guys, I'm not dead believe it or not. Hope you all enjoyed this somewhat smaller chapter, remember to vote and comment if you have any thoughts you'd like to share! Top five!!!!!!!

QUICK SELF PROMO- I've published two chapters of my new Stranger Things Fanfiction so I'd appreciate if anyone interested in gay stuff/stranger things would check it out. Thanks guys!