A silver parachute drifts slowly to the ground. A small box is attached with a note from mentor Harper Whent. Inside is a half-full canteen. The note reads: “Keep going."
Her memory had come back first, but it came back with hunger and thirst. Luckily, the first was easy to solve, for she had a pack left from Harper’s last intervention. With a sweet smile, she didn’t spare any dried fruit or nut and they suddenly all tasted like the fresh apples and peaches from the Eleven meadows. Howsoever, even though the temperature wasn’t insufferable, in the ways it didn’t even remind her of a summer on the field, with the sun kicking the back of her neck and kissing her skin in more intense colors, the thirst wasn’t unnoticeable anymore. Rosalind wasn’t used to starving or thirsting, lucky enough to have lived a fulfilling life in at least that regard, therefore the losses were heavy enough.
She could swear she’d have to collapse into dehydration, but a moment later, fate proved her wrong as the silver parachute beeped its way to her and the girl tribute used her last powers to smile and get it open. The note could wait, her thirst couldn’t. Luckily, Harper had read her mind or perhaps seen how drained her cheeks turned in just a day, because the canteen in her hands, once shaken, promised to have some water in it. Her heart jumped and she just had to drink all of it, although once the canteen was empty, Rosalind realized what a mistake that was. Satisfied, although no longer having any supplies, she kept walking to the right, hoping some river would emerge from the electronic setting. It was unlikely, but she didn’t know what to expect from these Games, and she knew she’d grow thirsty again in a few hours.
