Caged | The Hunger Games AU ✓

xv. berries

fifteen - berries

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since matthias has deemed himself an expert on all things tracker jacker related, we put him in charge of watching asher. this quickly proves to be an easy task. all he does is sleep and occasionally groan, which he'll stop midway through if given a swift nudge, which matthias does often. sometimes he'll snore.

"i hope he wakes up soon," i sigh as i watch matthias apply ointment on the stings. the swelling is going down, at least. "we can't move without him."

"thalia's right." carly stands up and grabs her bow. "we tried that last time, and it didn't work because someone" – she glances sharply at matthias – "kept dropping him."

matthias narrows his eyes in outrage. "hey! you try lifting this kid. he's like a tree. a tree that moves!"

"we're either going to have to leave him or find another way to do things," i say with a shrug.

"no. we are not leaving him." carly's tone is icy and that possibility is out of question. i share a knowing glance with matthias, who is trying to hide his smile.

"okay." matthias caps the tube of ointment and pulls asher's shirt back into place. again i notice asher's too-skinny body and worry once more. "so what are we going to do?"

carly grabs the parachute we saved and holds her hand out to me. "give me the poisonous berries."

"poison ones?" i ask to make sure i heard her correctly. when she nods, i fish them out of the compartment in my belt. i let them fall through my fingers into her outstretched hand and watch as she stuffs the berries into the parachute.

"what are you doing?" matthias asks, face pinched in curiosity.

carly pauses from what she's doing to smirk at him. "finding another way to do something." she turns to me. "quick, thalia, who's the dumbest tribute you can think of?"

i ponder this for a moment. though i don't know the tributes very well, i did pay attention as much as i could.

"milo, district six," i finally decide. he wasn't the brightest during his interview, and as far as i could tell he wasn't very good at weaponry, either. his score was one of the lowest.

"cool. any idea where to find him?"

"he said he likes water," matthias chips in. "i remember that from his interview. he talked the entire time about lakes. it was weird."

"that helps." carly nods in thanks. "i'll be right back."

"i'm coming with you," i say, pushing myself up so i'm standing.

carly nods again. "matthias, can you handle him?"

"if thalia can, then so can i," he responds, then pauses. "if he gets annoying, can i kick him?"

"be my guest," carly approves, then we set off.

we locate the beach fairly easily but make sure to stay hidden once we find it. sure enough, milo is sitting by the forest opening, and it looks like he has something in his hands. i can't tell what it is from where we are.

"he's not that far away," i whisper. "let's run."

i lead the way, running lightly on the balls of my feet to make sure i'm not too noisy. it's a two-minute run since we're sprinting, and we slow to a stop right near him.

"okay," i say softly once we're close, trying to keep my heavy breathing quiet. "what's the plan?"

"you're good at climbing trees, right?" she asks, eyes glancing up at them.