Thresh and I curl up in the sleeping bag that night.

“Just because it’s freezing,” he says.

The next morning, there is an announcement. Claudius Templesmith’s voice is loud and clear and echoes through the cave eerily.

“As usual, these Games would be nothing without a feast or two. Now hold on. Some of you may already be declining my invitation. But this is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something desperately. Each of you will find that something in a backpack, marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia at dawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this will be your last chance.”

I turn to Thresh.

“We don’t need anything. Neither of us are hurt or infected, and we have enough food for a couple of days.”

He doesn’t say anything.

“Thresh? There isn’t anything, right?”

He reaches into my pocket, and pulls out something I have never seen before. A sort of needle.

He asks me if I know what it is. I don’t.

He asks me if I’ve heard of diabetes. I have.

“This is my insulin pen. After every meal, I have to inject it into my stomach or leg in order for the sugar in my body to digest properly. My family tried to send me one, but I wasn’t allowed to take it as a token in case I used it to stab someone. Fortunately, I managed to get this needle at the bloodbath. There was also a supply of insulin, but I’m running out. That’s what will be in our backpack.”

“How much do you have left?” I ask, panic rising.

“Since the meals are small, I can probably have three more meals. But after that, I won’t be able to survive.”

We have to go to the feast. And I wasn’t planning to let him go alone.

“We have until tomorrow morning,” I say, “We can eat a big meal this evening. Even if it uses up your insoles-”

“Insulin.”

“Yes. Even if it does, we’ll be ready for the feast. If there even is a fight. If we get there early, we can just sneak in and grab the backpack. By the way,” I speak nervously. “Is there any chance I could- you know- catch diabetes from you?”

“No. I was born with it. But also, it doesn’t go away. I don’t have a test kit, so I don’t know when I need food or insulin top ups. I hope there’s one in the backpack as well. I think there will be. The Capitol doesn’t want to see me die quietly; they want me to be killed by someone else. They like a good show.”

The two of us leave the cave to search for food. I am worried we won’t be able to eat any meat because Katniss’s bows were destroyed along with her, but Thresh has a knife. He goes further away from the cave to search for rabbits, but I stay closer and pick the berries I know aren’t poisonous.

We have already skipped breakfast, so we eat lunch. Thresh has managed to find not only a rabbit, but a fox too. We decide to save the meat for dinner, and eat the berries I picked and the remaining food left over from when Katniss and I shared it out.

“Who’s left?” Thresh asks me as we’re finishing.

I count on my fingers.

“One, that girl Katniss called Foxface from District 5. Three, Cato and that other girl…”

“Clove, I think.”

“Three, Cato and Clove. Four, the boy from District 10. Six, me and you.”

“The victors will be us or the Careers. I don’t think any people on their own will live.”

Though he says this, his gaze shows he doesn’t know how well we are going to do in the feast.

But if we don’t succeed at the feast, there’s no way Thresh can survive for much longer.