It took about ten minutes after the Careers left that for Eden to move again. It's not that he couldn't, but that he was too afraid that they might still be out there, waiting for the slightest sound to barge back in and slaughter him. During that time, he reflected on what had just happened. Stark was so close to him, with his deadly hands all over him. It would've been so easy for Stark to snap his neck if he wanted to, just to make sure he was dead. Eden thought about what he had said in his ear, how bitter he was that he appeared dead.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">He wants to kill me so much</span>, thought Eden with awe more than anything else.<span style="font-style: italic">I don't understand how I mean that much to him.</span>He wondered if Stark meant when he said he wanted to fuck him as he killed him. Putting a hand over his head, he murmured, "It's almost like killing is intimate to him. An act of love." He felt sickened at the idea... but almost flattered as well. This he wouldn't allow himself to think about. Pushing it out of his mind, Eden sat up and started focusing on Stark's threat on Rye's life. He felt that he should warn Rye, but then remembered that this was the Hunger Games. Everyone wants to kill everyone.<span style="font-style: italic">Almost everyone</span>, he reminded himself.<br/><br/>Eden put his hand to his neck and lowered it to his right shoulder, stroking the hard and jagged skin there.<span style="font-style: italic">What is this?</span>he thought as he moved his hand to his face, which was just as bad. He didn't want to imagine how horrible he looked. Taking off his shirt, he examined himself, seeing that the decay enveloped his left bicep.<span style="font-style: italic">God, what's happening to me?</span>As he caressed the skin, some of it cracked and Eden tensed. Out of curiosity, he prodded at the crack, feeling no pain. Digging his thumbnail in it, he broke a milometer-thick piece off and out seeped clear liquid. He looked at the hole and saw fresh brown skin with a pink hue, When he carefully scraped off the rest of the decayed flesh on his bicep, he noticed that there was a light layer of skin over the hole caused by the arrow. A smile spread over his face.<br/><br/>"Oh my God," he guffawed as he continued peeling off the dead skin. He clawed his fingers into his rotten face, nearly tearing the new flesh beneath it. All of it shed off like a snake's skin. "It was a healing technique," murmured Eden in disbelief but still keeping his grin. He stood up and brushed the skin shavings off. "This is the best thing that's happened to me this week." Putting his hands over his eyes, he laughed and cried, "I'm gonna live!" Hearing a rustle above him, the smile fell from his face and he backed up into the wall.<span style="font-style: italic">They're back.</span>His eyes shot around at the floor for a weapon, but the prevailing darkness covered the tunnel. Once the stone seal was moved, dim light fell through, illuminating a large rock in the other corner of the room. Darting to it, Eden lifted the stone with both hands and stood beside the staircase.<span style="font-style: italic">Please be Rye</span>, he thought as he held it above his head.<span style="font-style: italic">Please don't be Stark.</span>The boy who walked down was not Rye nor Stark, and Eden struck him down with the stone without hesitation after determining that. The boy dropped like a bag of rocks.<br/><br/>For a minute, Eden stood there waiting for the boy to move or another to come. Seeing that neither was happening, he walked up the steps and peeked around at the surroundings. It was now evening and he couldn't distinguish much other than the shadows and towering trees. One thing he could distinguish were the voices and footsteps coming nearer. Lying on the staircase, he listened to the voices, hoping that they belonged to Rye and Emery. After a few moments, he concluded they were not and they were a viable threat. Eden pulled on the rock that covered the entrance to conceal it again, but heard the boy stirring and groaning below.<span style="font-style: italic">Just when my luck was turning around</span>, he thought with a dull face.<br/><br/>Realizing he can't stay, Eden climbed out of the hole and pulled the rock over it. He began running out of the area, but soon found himself overcome by fatigue and nausea. Lights flashed in his eyes and he shook his head.<span style="font-style: italic">My body still isn't its best</span>, he thought, leaning on a tree and gasping for breath.<span style="font-style: italic">I'll have to go easy on it.</span>As he looked around at the darkness, he saw flickers of colors and abstract silhouettes float in his vision. Blinking his eyes, Eden put a hand over his face and sighed.<span style="font-style: italic">Where am I going to go?</span><br/><br/>***<br/><br/>When she found them in the Cornucopia, she looked over at Rye and saw the war-look on his face. They hadn't planned any assailment beforehand, but she assumed Rye had been plotting an attack for days. Emery sneered when Rye gave her a nod to indicate climbing the tree, humored how serious he became after just confessing his love for her.<span style="font-style: italic">No</span>, she thought with a roll of her eyes,<span style="font-style: italic">it was a promise to fuck me. How romantic.</span>Deciding to not dwell any further, she followed Rye up the tree, maintaining her grip on the trunk in spite of the occasional slipping of her feet. With the thick clusters of leaves and the darkness, they would be concealed easily.<br/><br/>Emery rested herself with her legs on either side of a jutting branch and her back against the trunk. Turning her head to face Rye, she murmured, "Do you plan on shooting them all down?" She looked down at her crowbar and frowned, realizing how useless she was in this situation. She quieted and stilled herself when she heard approaching footsteps.<span style="font-style: italic">Here goes everything.</span><br/><br/>***<br/><br/>"Another successful day," sighed a dull Jacobine as the Careers entered their domain. Stark scoffed and replied, "Barely." Jacobine frowned and said, "I was being sarcastic." Coren retrieved a bottle of water from the tent and said, "It wasn't all a loss. We got two more down." She twisted the cap and gave it to Stark before taking a drink herself. As he began working on the fire pit beside the pile of charred bodies, Lars said, "And that bastard from District 11 is dead." Up in the tree, Emery's eyes widened.<span style="font-style: italic">They found him?</span><br/><br/>Stark jerked his head toward the boy and glared, muttering threateningly, "His name was Eden." He began walking toward Lars. "And it's not good that he's dead." The boy's lowered his neck into his shoulders when Stark stood above him. "Because he was the only person I was really looking forward to killing." Turning away, Stark put his hands over his eyes and released a loud sigh.<span style="font-style: italic">The one thing I couldn't have</span>, he thought, walking back to Coren and Jacobine. Throughout these Games, Stark had felt excitement, anger, and irritation. He hadn't felt sorrow yet, until now. Eden was a motivating factor in his life; a reward for a long ordeal; a cookie after sweeping the floor. Now that he was gone, Stark felt some of his drive go with him. He felt very depressed.<br/><br/>Coren stepped up to Stark and stroked his arm lovingly. When he looked over and stared at her soft and sympathetic face, his vision began to blur. He grasped her arm and pulled her into the tent. He let down a curtain over the opening.