012. safe and sound for now

Waking to the familiar sound of tweeting birds is enough to soothe her, even as pain continues to shoot through her leg. There is another sound she can hear as well, the gentle thump of something against her ear.

She's still alive. How?

Emerald perks up and tries to push away from wherever she is, fear filling her and causing her to act out. Her eyes fly open and she stumbles backwards, her hand scraping against a tree and cutting up the skin of her hand. Everything continues to stay blurry, all she can see is the figures in front of her.

"Emerald?"

It's familiar voice, but in her delusional haze, she can't put a name to the sound. Instead, she lashes out, tackling the first person she can reach to the ground. A groan leaves their lips as their body slams against the floor, Emerald reaching for something to attack with only to be pulled away.

"Emerald! Emmy!"

Emmy.

Only one person calls her that.

"Silas?" Emerald mumbles.

"Yeah. It's me. You're okay now," Silas assures, turning her around so that she's leaning her head against his chest. Emerald practically sinks into his embrace, allowing the boy from home to comfort her.

The boy looks down at Katniss who is brushing herself off after the attack from the girl, Peeta making sure she's free of injuries. He hopes that Katniss can at least understand that it wasn't a personal attack, which she seems to because she simply scales one of the trees to try and see if she can find some fresh water.

Emerald can feel Silas' fingers entangled in her hair, prying apart some of the recently formed knots that came with the swimming. He doesn't say anything further, just allows her to stand within his embrace in order to calm her erratic heartbeat.

"She okay?"

The voice belongs to Finnick Odair, who up until now, went entirely unnoticed by the District Eight girl. So it seems that Silas had managed to find allies after all, and Finnick does make a little bit of sense — the two of them seemed to get along quite well during the training sessions.

"Yeah, she'll be okay. Peeta, can you grab me some of the rations? She should probably eat to help get her strength back up," Silas responds to Finnick before turning his attention to the blonde boy.

There is no verbal response from Peeta, but moments later Silas is pulling away from Emerald and offering her what appears to be some dried fruit. Emerald allows herself to be guided to the floor so that she can sit down, her leg still aching slightly. It's then she looks down and sees the large gash is relatively healed, merely a dark red line on her skin.

Shakily, Emerald lifts her hand and runs her fingers over the scar with a light frown.

"What happened?"

The brunette looks over to Peeta who is now sitting beside her, his hair wild and messy which is so unlike how she's seen him before. "Enobaria thought she'd put me out of my misery early,"

"Good thing she failed then,"

Emerald offers the blonde a small smile before she begins to eat the food she'd been gifted, taking small bites so that she doesn't make herself sick. She can tell from first glance that this small group of tributes are exhausted, dehydrated even, which means they've yet to find any water. There is no way they wouldn't put some in here, it's too much of a risk and it would cause their games to end awfully early.

"There's no sign of fresh water," Katniss speaks as she comes back into view, pushing a few stray hairs behind her ears.

"It's gonna get dark soon. We'll be safe if our back is protected. We should set up camp, I'll take first watch," Finnick offers which Katniss expresses her immediate displeasure at, scoffing lightly when he speaks.

"Not a chance,"

"Honey, that thing I did back there for Peeta, it's called saving his life. If I wanted to kill either of you, I would've done it by now,"

It's awkward, a tense silence that nobody knows how to fill properly. Finnick heads back over to Mags and helps her find a place to lay down, the two of them getting ready to sleep. Emerald gives the District Twelve tributes one last look. "I can take watch. I've been asleep for hours anyway,"

Finnick snorts lightly at her words, settling down across from her. Katniss eyes her for a few moments before shaking her head. "No, it's okay. You should get some more rest anyway,"

Truth be told, the girl is exhausted, but she wants to make herself useful. None of these people really have a reason to keep her around if she doesn't carry her weight, and she also cannot say that she trusts all of them yet — they could take her out whilst she sleeps.

"Okay, if you're sure," Emerald says hesitantly, laying down where she had previously been sitting. She drifts off into a short sleep, one that is interrupted by the sound of the Anthem and she knows exactly what that means. She's about to see who died.

The brunette stares up at the sky as the faces flash before her, none of them all that recognizable but still somewhat familiar. She feels a little sick to the stomach as she watches it, these people had been promised a life of safety and luxury and now they've died the same way they'd once feared, in the arena.

There's no sign of any of the career tributes, meaning that Enobaria and her allies had survived the day. It isn't much of a shock, a career is hardly ever lost on the first day. It's also of great comfort to her that Finnick is laying here with them, a member of their alliance, rather than with the careers who probably would've taken him in a heartbeat.

Emerald lays there for a while, reveling in the silence. It's the most peace she's had in a long time, the quiet chirps of crickets echoing in her ears and allowing her to relax in such a hostile environment. It's already so different to the last Games she was involved in, and yet there are aspects that are the same — for example, the dehydration. She can feel it eating away at her as she gazes at the stars, several droplets of sweat cascading down the side of her face. It's a horrid feeling really, one that taunts and taunts until it kills you.

Then she hears it, the familiar and gentle chime of a sponsor's gift. She'd gotten one only hours earlier, and she's extremely grateful for Phoenix, so she gathers this one is for somebody else. Several of the tributes around her now are extremely popular, it could be any of them.

It lands beside Katniss who opens it up, pulling the small card out of it. "Drink up? What?"

"What is it?" Finnick asks, now awfully interested in whatever Katniss is doing.

Emerald can't bring herself to get up, so she simply looks over to see what they're doing. She does, however, hear Katniss' mummer of spile before she begins to hammer the gift into one of the trees. The girl lays her hands on the tree and stares at the item hopefully, gasping in both happiness and relief when water begins to spill from the trunk.

This emits a response from the brunette, pushing up so that she's leaning on her elbow. Finnick puts some in a leaf and delivers it over to Mags, whilst she notices Silas doing the same for her. The smile on her face is one of thanks and appreciation, her trembling hands bringing the leaf to her lips so that she can swallow the water.

Each of the tributes take several more drinks, trying desperately to rehydrate as quickly as possible. Emerald is now able to stand without feeling dizzy, but she doesn't test it for too long. Instead, she lays back down where she had been before and closes her eyes, now ready to sleep properly.

Francisco holds his hands up in defense, his whole body blocking a smaller Emerald from view. The boy from District Two is smirking so viciously that the expression makes her flinch, her small hand grabbing tightly onto the arm of her District partner. The older boy doesn't move in the slightest, ready to take on the fight.

"You're dead, eight,"

He lunges forward and manages to knock both of the District Eight tributes to the ground. For a moment, Francisco gets the upper hand, holding the other boy to the ground in a choke hold. However, he's simply too strong and manages to overpower Francisco within second, not even hesitating to slice a piece of glass across his neck.

Emerald screeches, stabbing the boy in his side and pushing him as hard as she can. He's laughing maniacally, his hand slick with a combination of blood — his own and Francisco's.

"I'll be back for you, Eight,"

As he stumbles away, Emerald takes in the scene before her. He looks horrified, his hand clutching at his cut neck with wide eyes. Fransisco looks up at her and grabs her hand in his, now realizing the situation is futile. He's going to die.

"Fransisco," She cries.

"Run..."

Her eyebrows scrunch together in confusion.

"The fog is poison!"

"W-want? Fran? Hey!"

"It's poison!"

He doesn't say anything else, merely staring at the sky in horror. She shakes his body, wanting some sort of response from the boy.

"Emerald!"

Gasping, she is pulled from her nightmare to see Silas trying to pull her up to her feet. "We need to go. The fog is poison,"

It's then she notices the waves of grey mist heading towards them, it reminds her a little of the beaches she'd seen when visiting District Four. Beautiful and serene, yet dangerous beneath the surface.

As the fog dusts the surface of skin, a pained gasp leaves her lips and she's left fearing something so undeniably terrifying. A killer in its own right, only this time she doesn't know how to fight back.