Trust Me

“She was here,” I said softly, unable to form a coherent thought.

“Who was here?” Adri asked, but I could tell from his tone that he already knew who it was, but he just didn’t want to believe it.

“Ingrid. An arrow with my name on it in blood, stuck right through the heart of my shirt. Who else could it be? She wants me to know she’s here. She wants me to know that she’s following me, she knows where I am.” I murmured.

“Why didn’t she just kill you while you were swimming?” Adri said, then paused and quickly added, “No offense.”

“Several reasons, probably. One, she knew you were nearby and she wouldn’t get away with it. Most likely, she thought that you’d find her and kill her out of spite and vengeance. Also, she wants to scare me. She doesn’t want me to get hit with an arrow I didn’t see coming, she wants me to beg and scream for my life and die a slow, agonizingly painful death. She doesn’t just want a victory, she wants a battle.” I murmured.

Adri grabbed the machete from its sheath and jabbed it angrily in the tree nearest him. “Yeah? Well she’s going to get one!” He grabbed the machete from the tree and turned towards the trees, but I called out to stop him.

“Do you really think we could find her? She has the advantage. She knows exactly where we are, but we don’t have any clue where she is. She could be up in the trees, she could be hiding in the bush, she could have gone back and tried to climb back up the cliff…she could be anywhere. We don’t even know if she was here recently or not. The blood on the arrow was dry. If it was wet, we’d know she was here recently. But since it’s dry, she could have painted it right before she placed it, or she could have painted it a while ago in preparation and just placed it here when she found an opportune moment…it’s all too vague.” I was rambling now, unable to separate important information from the random bits of thought floating through my head.

“She’d better stay damn far away unless she wants her head sliced clean off with one swipe of a blade!” Adri yelled, as if hoping she could hear him. I sincerely hoped that she was far enough that she couldn’t hear him. “We should get a move on. We’ll find a place far away from here to set up camp, and then we can roast the meat.”

“Do you want to just start a fire here and cook the meat, then we can move farther away after we eat?” I asked. If we moved far away from the water then started a fire, the smoke would just alert everyone to our new whereabouts anyway.

Adri shook his head. “If it gets cold again tonight, we’ll have to be near a fire anyway.”

I went to reply when I realized I was still completely naked. I yelped and dove into the water without another thought, and I resurfaced coughing and spluttering after accidentally gulping a few mouthfuls of water down the wrong way.

Adri laughed a little. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m still naked!” I whined.

“That wasn’t my fault. I did call before I came back, you know.” He said, raising an eyebrow and fixing me with a suggestive – and, maybe I was just imagining it, but almost seductive – look.

“Yeah, yeah. Just turn around and let me dry off and get changed.” I grumbled, glaring at him.

He chuckled but obediently turned around, and I quickly hopped out and clothed myself.

We were just about to walk away when we heard two cannon fires in quick succession. Probably two tributes killed in a fistfight with one another. We waited to see where the hovercrafts were going to stop to know what direction to move away from, and much to my relief they stopped far in the distance, on the other side of the cliff and beyond.

“Four today, eight yesterday. Twelve gone already. We’re over halfway there.” Adri said, as though trying to reassure me.

I nodded. “Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?” I murmured. I knew exactly why. The closer the tributes were to victory, the more vicious and bloodthirsty they became.

“Because you’re smart enough to realize the dangers that come with getting closer and closer to victory.” Adri muttered. We stopped to fill up all the bottles in the pack with fresh water, not knowing if we’d manage to find any more water along the way, and then we were off.

By this point, the sun was starting to set. Adri held all the carcasses of the animals he’d caught, and I carried the pack. Adri was struggling to carry the weapons and the meat, and after half an hour of trekking alongside him, I came to an abrupt halt.

“Let me carry the weapons,” I said.

Adri snorted. “Yeah, right!” He said before continuing to walk.

“I’m serious.” I pressed, chasing after him. “You can’t carry the animals and the weapons. It’ll be quicker this way. The faster we move, the better our chances of losing Ingrid are.”

Adri paused. “Not a good idea.”

“Why?” I challenged. I knew exactly why, but I wanted to hear him say it out loud.

“I don’t want to be completely defenseless. If something, be it another tribute or some kind of plot twist from the Game makers, should spring up out of nowhere, I don’t want to be without a weapon. You’ve got your knives, and what would I have? I can’t exactly just fling squirrels at them.” He grumbled.

“You know I’d be able to protect you. With my knives, I could kill a mosquito if it tried to land on you. Something as big as an animal or a tribute would be child’s play for me.” I brushed his excuse off easily.

He paused for a moment, fumbling for another excuse. “I don’t want to burden you. You’re already hurt from falling today. The last thing you need is to strain yourself by carrying too much.”

“They were all superficial wounds. Scrapes, cuts, bruises – that’s it. No sprains, no fractures, not even a pulled muscle. I’m fine, nothing would provoke any sort of ongoing injury.” I shot back quickly.

Adri was silent a moment more, and I could practically hear his brain ticking away before he finally stopped walking. “Fine. I don’t trust you with the weapons, okay?”

Finally, a spoken confirmation. It had been what I wanted as well as what I’d always known, but for some strange reason, I couldn’t deny that it still stung to hear it out loud. “You should.”

“I know I should, but I don’t. I just can’t bring myself to.” He murmured.

“I saved your life last night when it got cold. You saved mine up on those cliffs today. I’m all you’ve got, and you’re all I’ve got. At least in here. If I was going to kill you, I would have done it when I first got my knives back. I’m not going to lie; for a few seconds, I did think about wounding you enough that I could get away. But I’ve never thought about killing you. You want to win this game nobly, and so do I – or die trying.” I said.

Adri watched my face for a few moments as if trying to read my true thoughts and intentions through my facial expression. “Fine. But I keep my machete,” He bargained quietly, and I leaned over and unbuckled the row of sheaths from his waist, strapping it around my own. I had to tighten it to about half its previous length, and I was astonished to realize exactly how big he was in comparison to me, but I tried to hide my shock.

“There. Any easier for you?” I asked as I grabbed a few spare weapons from his arms.

He nodded tightly. “Physically, yes. Mentally, no. Today will tell me whether or not I can really trust you, sweetheart.”

I felt a smile spring onto my face without warning. ‘Sweetheart’. It reminded me of his cocky attitude when he’d felt so in control – back when I’d been tied up, of course. I couldn’t explain why, but being reminded of that version of him made me happy.

“Why are you smiling?” He asked suddenly, but he chuckled too.

“I don’t know. Just keep walking!” I hissed, biting my lips to keep the smile back.