[Jessica’s Point of view]

"We’ll rest here." Hongki says after a couple of hours. We’re near the Cornucopia, in a small field covered mostly by trees and bushes. I look around and see the remaining smoke from a fire.

"Someones been here." I say.

Hongki puts Minho on the grass. "So?" he asks.

I scan the area for food. "So, chances are whoever was here will be back." I say.

Hongki gives me another look. "Please, there are only eight tributes left, and three of them are us. The other five are probably nowhere near here. We’re safe."

I sigh. "I sure hope so"

Minho cries out it pain and I rush over to him.

"Jess..?" he calls out.

I hover over him and look into his eyes. I grip his hand tightly and give a squeeze to let him know I’m there. "I’m here."

I move my eyes down to his body. The blood has stopped pouring out, and now I can clearly see where the tiger cut him. He’s been slashed across the chest, and has more marks around his waist and hips. I shut my eyes for a minute. It breaks me seeing him like this.

I linger back to his face. The bleeding has also stopped on the cuts on his cheeks, but they’re fiery red and look fresh—which of course they are. He brings his eyes down to his body and laughs a little.

"I’ve got to stop putting myself in danger." He jokes. I giggle a little, and quickly wipe the tears that have already began to form.

"Its my fault. I should’ve protected you. I was supposed-"

"Stop." Minho intrrupts me. His voice is stern, and he has a serious face. "Its not your fault. It will never be your fault. It’s not your job to protect me."

I grip his hand tighter. "Yes it is! I want you to win, so I’m risking everything to keep you alive!" I cry.

He shushes me. "Well don’t. I want you to win, I already promised you I would make sure you did. Stop trying to save me, I wont allow it anymore." He says.

I sit up and let go of his hand. "You’re not my boss.." I mumble.

He laughs and holds my hand again. "You’re the sister I never had."

I smile and think about the audience at home. They’re probably crying their eyes out. We seem so sweet, the brother/sister duo. Battling to save each other to win. It’s so sweet its almost sickening.

I examine Minho and start thinking about how I could fix him. I decide to rub some of the ointment on him. He cries out in pain, and then lets a glad moan escape his lips. His eyes move from side to side.

"Whats wrong?" I ask.

"Wheres that other boy? Hong? Hong Lee?" he asks.

I roll my eyes. "Hongki." I correct him. "he’s hunting. He’ll be back."

Minho nods and closes his eyes.

I get to my feet suddenly when I hear twigs snapping. I knew it. I knew someone was going to come back here. They’ll see me with an injured tribute and immediately take action. I load my bow and arrow and aim it for the direction the noise was coming from. But I lower it suddenly when I see the source of the noise is Hongki. He looks up at me and drops the squirrels in his hand.

"I surrender!" he cries out jokingly.

I smile and admire his snagging skills. He throws the squirrels in a pile like they’re nothing.

I stand quietly for a while, just watching him.

"what are you looking at?" he asks.

Without even thinking the stupidest thing comes out from my mouth. "You’re perfect body."

Did I really just say that out loud? He laughs and gives me a smile.

"No I meant. Ah, why did you help us?" I ask, feeling like an idiot.

He bites his lips. "For helping out Jimin."

I nod my head remembering that Jimin was the female tribute for his district.

"But I thought you didn’t even like her? You never really talked to her and stuff." I say.

"I guess its because I was too afraid. Afraid of being attached to someone when I know I would have just lost them in the end. "

"so why are you here with me? What if you become too attached? And end up losing me? What will you do then?" I ask.

"You ask too many questions. If you don’t want me to help you, I’ll just kill you now. How’s that sound?" he says.

My eyes widen and I flicker my eyes. "I’m sorry. Thankyou. Thankyou for helping us."

"I wasn’t really planning on helping him though. How’s his wounds doing?" He adds.

I look at Minho who is sleeping. "Fine. His cuts are pretty deep. I don’t know how I’ll fix it."

Hongki shakes his head. "Told you." He mumbles.

I furrow my brows. "He’s my friend." I say defensively.

He rolls his eyes. "Jessica. He’s pretty much worthless. He’ll only slow us down. I say we let him go now to save time." He states.

How can he say that? Let Minho go? Never.

"What? You mean kill him? I couldn’t!" I babble.

He shakes his head. "No not kill him. Just leave him here and let his wounds take care of him."

I fold my arms and sit next to Minho. "No." I state firmly.

"Alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you." He says.

What’s that supposed to mean? Is he going to try kill Minho? I can get rid of Hongki right now if I wanted to. But unfortunately, he’s useful. He’s strong, and I need him to carry Minho.

I feel my sadness turn into frustration. Suddenly, I pick up the knife next to me and throw it at a tree. I spin my head around and look at the knife. I follow my eyes to the cut in the tree and see water trickling out from it. I smile and run to it. I pull out the knife and cheer at the water streaming from the tree.

"Water!" I cry out to Hongki.

He runs over to me and smiles at the water. Hongki quickly fills his bottle with the water. I jam my knife back into the tree to stop the water from flowing. This is great we have water now.

Night rolls around. We cook two squirrels, and I wake Minho up in time to eat.

"what’d I miss?" He asks, still half asleep.

I show him Hongki’s bottle. "we found water in the trees. Its amazing!" I whisper in an excited tone. Minho smiles and gives me a thumbs up.

As we finish dinner, I offer to take first watch. Both Hongki and Minho agree and fall asleep. It’s quiet. The only sound I hear are the soft murmurs of crickets. After a while of silence, I finally hear a noise.

I grab the bow and wake up Minho and Hongki. They rise quicky and prepare themselves. "Lets leave." I say. Hongki shakes his head. "No. This is the best spot. We have all the water here." He says. Minho agrees.

"We’ll just have to kill whoever is there." He says.

Fine. You two do it. I don’t want to. I don’t want to be responsible for anymore peoples deaths.

Suddenly a small possum crawls out from between the hedges.

"Oh Jess. Its just a little animal." Minho says. I sigh in relief and watch the animal sneak over to the cup of water that I had poured out for Minho. He dips his tongue in there and starts drinking.

"Hey!" I cry out, steadying my bow. Hongki puts his arm out in front of me. "Let him. There’s plently of water here. Look at all the trees we have." He says.

I nod and lower my bow. The possum sits up. Suddenly, he drops t the ground, dead. I sit up and rush over to him.

"What’s wrong?" Minho asks. I examine the animal. "He died." I say.

"Just suddenly died?" he questions. I stay silent. He couldn’t have ‘just died’ Something must’ve-

Immediately I turn to the boys and point my finger at the water.