We take it slow at first, both agreeing that the rich food from the Capitol won't do very well on our famished stomachs. We each have a small portion then I sit up to keep watch for the night and Austin goes to sleep.

Do people look younger when they sleep? Because right now, Austin could be the shy but boisterous boy that insulted me on my first day of school. He's apparently loved me every day since, though.

An hour later, he wakes. I only notice because he lays his hand on mine, which is spread out on the stone floor, propping me up. I look down at him and he smiles softly.

Suddenly, we hear Claudius Templesmith's voice again.

"Attention, tributes, attention. Commencing at sunrise, there will be a feast at the cornucopia. But this is no ordinary occasion. Each of you needs something desperately. And we plan to be generous hosts."

"Your medicine," I say immediately.

"No, you're not going alone," Austin warns me.

"Yeah?" I challenge. "And who's going to stop me? You need it, you can't walk and-"

"Willow, I'm not gonna let you risk your life for me-" he begins.

"You would do it for me!" I raise my voice. Bringing it back down, I look at the cave floor. "You have done it for me."

"Why are you doing this?" He asks.

I know I must say it, even if I don't mean it. "Because I can't let you go."

He kisses my cheek as I whisper. "I'll stay."

But a few hours later, when I see what his leg is like, I make a very different decision. It's worse, a lot worse, and I know if I don't do something quick, the cannon will be firing and his picture will be in the sky.

Taking my axes and giving my last glance to Austin, I walked out of the cave and away from it.

After they lost their supplies, I presume Cato and Clove must've switched camps, and are now hiding out somewhere else. They're the only other two tributes that the 'two can win' rule affects. Apart from them, there's Thresh and Nina, and that's all of us that are still standing.

Nina. I really don't want to think about her right now.

I always knew it would be inevitable that we couldn't be allies forever, but still... she was my ally. And I want her to stay alive.

I just don't want that to come at the expense of my life.

I arrive at the cornucopia and watch from the same foliage I did when I was about to blow up the supplies. From there, I see four packs on a table that stands before the cornucopia. One with 2 on it, the others with 5, 11 and 12. I focus my eyes on the last pack. I knew that medicine lay inside it.

Suddenly, I see a girl with red hair dart out from behind the trees. Nina! My head is filled with both frustration and admiration for her. Whilst the rest of us are no doubt huddled round the plain, plotting how to go and get out packs, she just went in and got hers!

She's such a smart person that there's no way the career's'll be able to kill her off, I've thought many times. But... that means...

I don't want to think it

Right. I decide I'm not waiting any longer. I'm one of the fastest girls at school, and I know I can do this.

I sprint to the packs, instantly grabbing the 12 one and running, but round the other side of the cornucopia, I meet a surprise.

Clove's running at me, throwing knives every second. One hits me above the eyebrow and I flip over on the ground. I get up almost immediately though and throw an axe at her. It only misses before she dodges. Then she grabs me and wrestles me to the ground.

This is it, and I hope for Prim and Posy's sake that it's fast.

I try to be a burden to kill, and we roll over multiple times before she settles on top, pinning my arms down with her heels. She pulls out a knife as we're both grunting, and I fight as she holds the tip close to my lips. I spit in her face, and she looks at me in anger and slices the knife down, but I dodge and roll to the side, flipping us over again.

She's stronger than me, though, and soon she's pinning me down again, smirking as she twirls the knife in her hand. Then she pins the blade against my neck. "Where's lover boy?"

My eyes go from angry to destraught and Clove laughs. "Oh I see... you were gonna help him, right? Well that's sweet... you know it's a shame you couldn't help your little friend... what was her name again, Rue?"

"Fuck- the hell- off!" I shout angrily, before she rams a hand over my mouth.

I struggle harder, grunting and spitting, but she doesn't care. "Yeah, well, we killed her, and now... we're gonna kill you..."

I close my eyes as I wait for the first round of pain to surface, but it never does. In fact, soon, I feel Clove's weight lifted off me, and I hear her scream.

"You kill her?" Thresh has pinned Clove against the cornucopia, his face inches from hers.

"No-" Clove splutters.

"I heard you! You said her name! YOU SAID HER NAME!"

"CATO! CATO!" She screams as Thresh bangs her against the cornucopia. She falls to the ground as the cannon goes off.

Thresh turns to me. "What did she mean, about Rue?"

"I-I-" I begin. "We teamed up. Blew up the supplies. But he got to her before I did, the boy from One. And when she died, I sung to her, and buried her in flowers," I look at him imploringly. "Do it fast, please, Thresh? Just... make it quick."

He looks at me for a second. "Just this time, Twelve. For Rue."

And with that, he collects his pack and leaves. I look at him in disbelief before scrambling to my feet and running off the plain.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

I arrive back at the cave half an hour later, carrying the pack with Austin's medicine in it. I come into the cave almost ecstatic.

"Austin, I got it! I got the medicine," I say, waking him.

"What's wrong? What happened to you?" Austin raises his weak arms to try to touch my face, which now holds a knife wound.

"I'm fine," I brush him off.

"No, you're not!" He fights back. And when I look in his eyes, I try to smile, but somehow I can't. He cares about me. Really cares about me.

Whereas I only care about him enough to keep myself alive.

I try to push this aside. I know Austin is a better person than me, way better, but I can't concentrate on that now, I need to focus on saving both our lives.

"The girl from Two, Clove, she threw a knife at me, but I'm okay," I try to shut the matter down.

"You shouldn't have gone, Willow, you said you weren't gonna go," he says worriedly.

"You got worse," I answer, taking the medicine out the pack and unscrewing the tub which it's in. It's a cream, like my burn stuff is, and I instantly take some out and put it on Austin's leg.

"You need some of that, too," he tells me, wincing because it obviously must sting. I sigh and let him take some out the pot and rub it on my forehead.

He does it gently, but it still stings a bit when the ointment makes contact with my wound. I watch as Austin's gentle hand takes care of me and after he applies it, I climb into the sleeping bag with him and fall asleep with my head in his chest.

I wake a few hours later, also rousing Austin. He immediately grabs my face and shouts. "You're so much better!"

Right enough, when I feel my forehead, there's no knife wound there. I can't even contain myself to look at Austin's leg, and rightly so. The once inflamed gash was now no more than a scar.

"We could go home," I say to Austin, just realising it myself. "We could, we're the only team left."

"We could go home," Austin grins at me.

I had accepted the fact that I was going to die before going into the games, but now, I was starting to rethink it.

Starting to.