"Evelyn Brinley, better known as Lady Red, victor of the 72nd Hunger Games. Won her games at 15."
"Why Lady Red?"
"Because she always wears red. Oh, and she won her games by burning the remaining tributes alive."
✮
"𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄...
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THE 75TH HUNGER GAMES WAS EXHAUSTING. Evelyn expected it to be tiring during the first couple of days, but she didn't expect it to be tiring within the first 12 hours. There was something special about the sections, but nobody could figure it out. There were 12, which could mean districts. Or time. They could probably figure out if their brains were functioning correctly.
There were no drinkable water sources. There was the ocean water, but Blight said it was salt water. He had actually swam in the water during the blood bath. So they were thirsty and miserable, and Evelyn spent half the time stopping Johanna from murdering Beetee and Wiress.
"Out of all the tributes," Jo spat venomously under her breath as they trudged through the jungle, "Out of all the tributes Ms. Girl on Fire could have chosen, she chose them."
Wiress was repeatedly muttering ticktock under her breath. Beetee was telling us she was stressed, but Evelyn had a hard time buying that. Wiress was a genius. She had to be muttering ticktock for a reason. Then again, the tribute didn't have the energy to figure it out yet.
There was also the issue of finding the rest of the alliance. They couldn't just yell out, "Evan! Peeta! Finnick! Katniss!" in the middle of the jungle. They'd risk alerting tributes around them, and they didn't even know if Finnick and Evan were with the star-crossed lovers.
"How's your back?" Evelyn asked, looking back at Beetee.
The man grimaced, "Not good. This walking isn't helping."
"Well, if we don't find them before dark we can stop and rest for a minute," The girl muttered. Branches were cracking under her feet, reminding her of the dead leaves in her first arena. Which reminded her of Lavender, Josh, and all the other tributes who had died during the 72nd games. She told District 7 she didn't want to forget them like all of the other tributes that had been forgotten, but now all she wanted to do was forget them.
Evelyn walked next to Johanna. Beetee and Wiress were behind them, and Blight was in the back to keep guard. The two girls walked in silence before Johanna broke the silence. "Are you scared of water?"
"Hm?" Evelyn looked at her. She didn't understand how that came up.
"You walked along the rock path instead of swimming. You took special care to walk along the path."
Evelyn thought about Jo's question for a second, struggling to come up with an answer. She wasn't scared of water. She didn't see it a lot, especially big bodies of water like the one surrounding the Cornucopia, but she didn't fear it. She couldn't swim, and she feared something else. Eventually, the tribute shook her head. "Scared of drowning. Not water. I'd be fine in waist-deep water."
Johanna scoffed, "Ironic. Scared of drowning."
Evelyn's throat went dry, but not because of the dehydration. She knew what the other girl was talking about when she said ironic. It wasn't too hard to figure out. Johanna had somewhat forgiven Evelyn for killing her brother, they were friends, but she hadn't forgotten. Evelyn wasn't expecting her to forget. She just wished she wouldn't bring it up every chance she got. She regretted killing Joshua more than anything, and she didn't need his sister's help to make her feel even worse.
