Silence [The Hunger Games]

Chapter Twenty-Six

The sound of the Panem anthem jolted me awake from a nightmare where I watched Jonah and Logan fight each other to the death. Reassured by Logan sat next to me, I looked up to the sky to see the deaths of the day. Three faces appear on the projection. The boy from 3. The girl from 7, the sadistic smiley one that attacked me at the Cornocopia. I shuddered seeing her face again. And then finally, the boy from 11.

 “Fourteen left,” Minerva commented casually.

 “Who died the first night?” I asked, realising I had no idea who I was competing with.

 “Layla from One. Both from Five. Both mine and Kai’s District partners. And both from twelve,” Clementia recited grimly.

 “That leaves five Careers,” I said.

 “Four,” Clementia corrected “Minerva is with us.”

 Minerva raised an eyebrow at me, challenging me to answer back. Not wanting to give her the satisfaction, I sat up to inspect Kai.

 “How is he?” I asked Logan.

 “Worse,” he replied simply.

  I shuffled over to feel Kai’s temperature. It was higher than ever, and I shook my head in despair.

 “Maybe we should take him to the water. There is a little pond near here, I saw it when I was hunting yesterday. We could dip him in and cool him down a bit,” Logan suggested.

 “That’s actually not a bad idea. I’ll stay here with Minerva, you and Raven can go.”

 We packed some food in a rucksack, and as carefully as possible, Logan picked up Kai’s frail body. In silence, we walked to the little pond, and set Kai down on the ground. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in the new scenery. Then his eyelids fluttered and he closed them again, tired from the effort.

 “It’s nice here,” he muttered.

 “We’re going to put you in the water, OK?”

 Kai exhaled wearily. We took it as permission, and removed his boots, trousers and top. Slowly, we slid his body into the water. He gasped slightly at the cold, but his face immediately relaxed a little once he was in properly. I took it as a chance to wash some of the dirt of him, and in my opinion he looked ten times better. He looked up at me, and managed a weak smile. I smiled back, and stroked his hair.

 “Thank you for bringing me here,” he whispered, smiling. But then his eyes widened, and he stared fearfully ahead. “It seems like a nice place to die…”

 I thought he was talking madness. I thought it was the fever talking. Until I heard the cannon. And saw the arrow sticking out his chest.

 Kai was dead.