The Rebel Victor | I [THG]

Chapter Twenty | Follow the Stream

Quinn slowly began to feel the ground beneath her, and every joint in her body throbbed and ached. Her skin was so sensitive that she could feel her clothes onto of it, and she could still feel a bit of a burn on its surface. She could hear her own heartbeat. 

But she was scared to open her eyes, she was scared to see the damage-she didn't want to see whatever else could have been sent in by the gamemakers. But slowly, she forced her eyes open-the sun was making the green leaves glow, and she could see specs of dust floating around in a sun beam that got through the branches. But the haze was completely gone.

"Quinn!?" Fiona's small voice called out, "Quinn where are you!"

Quinn groaned as she slowly used her elbows to push herself up. She saw her backpack a few feet from her-she had been hallucinating, she had thought that her backpack was some sort of attack on her-she was lucky she didn't get far from it.

"Quinn! There you are! I thought you may have gotten out with the others..." she exclaimed as she came into view and was approaching her.

Quinn looked behind her, "The others got out?" she asked, "They're gone?"

She frowned and nodded, her backpack was on her shoulders and her knife was in her burned hand. Quinn examined her, her face was covered with blotchy looking burns that were bright red and a few of them had small white blisters.

"They got out and left, they thought we were goners I guess..." she shrugged as she offered Quinn a hand up.

Quinn took her hand and carefully pulled herself up, "What was that? The haze."

"I think it was tracker jacker venom in mist form..." she replied, "It had the same affects that tracker jacker stings supposedly have."

The two of them began walked through the trees, and Quinns mind kept going back to the rose. Had it been a warning from the gamemakers about the haze? Or had it really been a warning from Snow? It seemed more likely it was from Snow, the gamemakers had never warned a tribute of anything in the arena. And she had made them look bad, if anything, they'd try to kill her.

"Now what?" Quinn asked as she adjusted her backpack, her skin burned even under her shirt. But she was thankful there was no boils to worry about popping and getting infected. The last thing she needed, only a day into the games was some sort of infection.

Fiona looked around, "I say we get out of here..." she replied, "Who knows when that...mist or whatever will come back." she said looking up at Quinn who nodded in agreement. Fiona adjusted her own backpack on her shoulders, wincing a bit as she did so. Then she would occasionally glance over her shoulder in the direction they had come. "Do you think the others are alright?"

Quinn sighed heavily, "No," she stated honestly. "None of us are alright in the arena."

The two of them walked further and further, with each step Quinn stabbed her spear into the ground for a brief moment of rest when she leaned in that direction. She had never realized how much effort was put into every day things, like walking. She occasionally forgot how to pick up one foot and place it in front of another-- she blamed the tracker jacker mist. Her entire body was tired, and she could feel herself getting hotter and hotter. There was no doubt that the tracker jacker venom had seaped into her skin, she could still feel small symptoms but not nearly as much. She only remembered tracker jackers being used in one other games, and that was the seventieth. Poor Annie, she had been stung a few times, and her ally was killed.

As the two of them walked, eventually, they came to a small stream. The water let a soft trickling sound fill her ears. The water was crystal clear, and the pebbles at the bottom looked extremely smooth. There were a few extremely small fish that swam against the current too. Her eyes followed them in the direction they were heading. The stream was running down the rocky side of the mountain ridge on that side of the valley.

"We should go that way." Quinn stated, motioning in the direction of the flowing stream. "There has to be a larger body of water over that ridge."

"Are you sure?" Fiona replied.

Quinn sighed. Logically a stream had to come from something, but in the arena she could easily be wrong. She could be completely wrong. "I'm almost positive."

"We don't have much to lose, do we?" Fiona replied, letting out a light chuckle as the two of them began the march towards the rocky ridge. "That looks just as steep as the last one," Fiona announced, "It'll be difficult to climb, but not impossible."

The two of them made their way over to the ridge, as they walked they began to wonder what the citizens of Panem were thinking. These games, they were a tradition now to Panem. But their had been riots, because of what she had said. There were probably consequences for the rebels, so did that mean there were people who were rooting for her death? People placing bets? Had the mist been sent in on high demand by citizens? But Damien had told her that there were people already rooting for her. She didn't have a family to win for, but the rebels wanted a tribute to stand up for them and she had done just that because her anger and spite towards snow got the best of her. Now, she was letting them all down. She was participating in the games. She wasn't saying anything or doing anything against the Capitol while she was in the arena. She was letting the games just unfold, like they did every year.

Quinn stayed a step behind Fiona once they were ascending the ridge. She had a spear to help keep her steady while Fiona had only a knife. If she were to fall backwards Quinn could at least try to stop her from falling. As they went along, Quinn began to feel droplets of sweat slipping down her back. Her entire body was hot, but it wasn't that late in the day. The sun wasn't even at it's highest yet, she knew that Finnick was watching. Hoping that he wouldn't loose his tribute on the second day in the arena because of a clumsy fall. But she was so tired, she could feel her legs trembling with every step. But she kept putting more and more weight on her spear for an even longer moment. The both of them were nearly to the top of the ridge when they heard two things. The sound of a waterfall, and a cannon from somewhere behind them.

Quinn stopped in her tracks to look. From where they were, she could see endless amounts of mountains surrounding valley's. She could even see a glimmer of the forceshield that created the arena. She scanned the arena for a moment, before the hum of a Capitol ship filled the air. The ship appeared and swooped over the valley that Quinn and Fiona had just climbed out of. It stopped at the top of the ridge, Quinn assumed it was the one they had climbed down the day before after the bloodbath. The belly of the ship, and the arm of the ship descended and scooped up a tribute. Quinn watched the tribute be lifted into the ship, and she couldn't help but wonder what happened to the tributes once they were taken from the arena. She knew the bodies never went home, and that was the worst thing about it. Not only were they trying to survive the Capitol's sick entertainment, but even when they died they didn't get to go home.

"Come on, Quinn." Fiona said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Quinn looked up to see that Fiona had reached the top, "Sorry