"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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE GROUP WAS STUMBLING THROUGH THE JUNGLE, TRYING TO FIND THEIR WAY TO THE BEACH. The jungle was too dangerous to be in, they'd gathered that much. Evelyn's legs were begging for a break, her knee felt like collapsing again, and she could barely breathe. Nobody was in a good mood, they were dehydrated, and Evelyn had spent the last couple of hours stopping Johanna from murdering Beetee. Evelyn usually liked Beetee, but the way he explained everything pissed them off.
"We're running out of time," Blight said, looking up at the sky. The sun was starting to rise, so it was the second day in the arena. Evelyn never really understood the sun's position, but Sasha had tried to explain it to her before. It looked like it was 6 am since the sunrise was just starting. "We need to find them soon."
Evelyn pursed her lips and hummed in agreement. Something was up with these games, it was clear that the Capitol was trying to make it shorter since nobody liked the idea. They had to find Katniss before Snow got impatient and made sure the games ended quickly. And if Snow did that, Katniss's face was definitely going to be in the sky.
"We need food," Johanna said in a hoarse voice. "And water. But food would probably be easier to find."
Beetee cleared his throat. "We need to sit down. Maybe get some sleep, we've been walking for hours."
The group agreed. It was still dark outside, and they needed some more rest. It was only the beginning of the second day, after all.
Evelyn looked at Johanna, "Jo, We should go find something to eat."
"That would be smart," Johanna nodded, then she turned to face Blight, "Will you guys be fine?"
Blight glanced at Wiress, who was already asleep, and Beetee then turned back to the two girls and nodded. "Yeah, I'll take the first watch, I guess."
Evelyn and Johanna turned and walked further into the trees, straining their ears to hear any animals. They were both silent, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention or visitors to their location. Evelyn tightened her grip around her spear, looking for any sign of movement. They'd been so focused on finding water they'd forgotten about food, but now that it was brought to attention her stomach was rumbling.
Johanna glanced at her and then broke the silence. "Was it necessary?"
"Huh?" Evelyn asked, snapping her head toward her.
"The whole drowning thing," Johanna muttered under her breath. There was a bit of anger in her tone, but it wasn't as aggressive as it had been the last couple of hours.
Once again, at the mention of Johanna's brother, Evelyn felt her heart pounding and her throat closing up. "Is anything in the arena necessary? Is any of this necessary?"
Johanna seemed to loosen up at that. "I guess not."
"I'm sorry about that," Evelyn said for what felt like the 100th time. She'd apologized to Johanna multiple times over the years.
