The day before the reaping is always a quiet day in my house. Actually, every day is a quiet one. Dad's usually too drunk to be loud, and Mom sulks about things that I don't care about. Being an only child has it's ups and downs. Dressing quickly in a plain forest green shirt and brown pants, I quietly walk downstairs to find something to eat before heading to my hour of school. There's not much left to learn at 15, and most of my time is spent in the forests, chopping down trees and cutting them into logs. School goes by quickly, teaching me nothing I can remember. As I'm exiting the building, six sixteen year olds walk up to me, looking intimidating. At 15, I shouldn't be much smaller than them, but unfortunately, I am. "Get out of my way." I say, half pleading. "You do know that 10 year olds have to stay in school for another 3 hours, right?" A broad auburn haired boy, the leader, says. "Yes Erik, you should keep that in mind so you don't get in trouble with the teachers." I say, rolling my eyes. Erik smirks, his bug-like eyes squirming with pleasure. Sadly, I'm all bark and no bite. Soon I'll have another black eye, or worse. Suddenly I feel a large hand on my shoulder
"Does it make you feel good to pick on people?" A smooth voice asks. Jackson comes out of nowhere, my saviour with shaggy black hair. "Jackson, get your big mouth out of here." A girl named Willow snaps. Jackson grins at me, his big blue eyes playful. "Just... Excuse us." Jackson steers me towards the exit again. For some reason those six don't try to mess with me with Jackson around. Maybe it has to do with his height, which is nearly six feet tall. Or maybe it's the fact that he knocked out two of Erik's back teeth before. "Thanks, Jackson."'I finally turn to look up at him. "No problem, Jo." My best friend nods and steers me towards the square where we gather to head for the woods. I grab a sharp, heavy ax. Jackson picks up an even bigger one. "Show off," I smirk, nudging him with the ax handle. "Don't be jealous, dear." He flicks his blonde hair out of his face and I resist smiling.
Jackson and I work together on a small, smooth, white birch tree. We quickly fell it after clearing the area. That's when I hear someone shout, "Look out!" Everything happened in a flash. Jackson looks over and his eyes widen. He runs the short distance to me and snatches me up, diving.
He covers my body with his, and that's when I realize the large oak tree that we've been working on just fell. As the tree falls all the way we hear, "JACKSON, HEL-" and then a scream gets cut off. "Bas!" Jackson stands up and bellows. We both saw it. The tree fell directly on top of a fear frozen 11 year old. To be exact, Jackson's little brother.
After a half hour, the peacekeeper squad has cleared the branches enough to lift Bas's limp body onto a stretcher and they'll deliver him in a coffin to the Kildred family. Jackson's eyes follow them as they carry him to their vehicle. "Jackson I'm so sorry-" I begin. "No. Sorry wont change what they did to him." He says in rage. It's never good when he gets angry. I move closer to him, "Shush!" I say fiercely. "If we weren't forced to do this, he wouldn't have been there! He would've been at home!" He whispers angrily to me, his jaw tightening. "Two people can't change history, Jack." I snort. "Don't underestimate hope, Jo. It's stronger than it appears." He whispers close to my mouth, which despite the circumstances, make me blush slightly.
Suddenly I remember who was chopping that tree. Who was responsible for clearing the area. Someone who failed to follow instructions, causing death. "No..." I whisper. "What?" Jackson asks, confused. Should I tell him? He'd be furious. But he deserves to know. Gripping his shoulders I tell him, "Jackson, Erik and his pals were the ones chopping that oak. They didn't clear the area." I mutter. I feel Jackson's muscles tense up, his face turning red with anger. "They killed him. His blood is on their hands." He yanks my hands from his shoulders. "Nothing you can do will change what happened." I try to calm him down. He shakes his head and stomps off. This is not good."ERIK!" He calls, rage seething through his voice. Erik hesitantly appears. "What do you want, Kildred?" He asks, crossing his arms. "I'll kill you! YOU killed my brother! YOU didn't clear the area." Jackson jabs his hand into Erik's chest, hard. "Whoa! It was an accident." Erik braces himself and shoves Jackson back. Bad move. Before I can process what is happening, Jackson has Erik pinned to the ground. Erik's nose is broken and bleeding, his cheek already starting to swell. Peacekeepers hear the commotion and start to come over. Willow walks over to me and calls, "Kildred, get off Erik and I won't hurt her." What is she talking about? I wonder. Jackson looks up but knees Erik in the side instead. Too late, Willow slams me against the tree and jabs me in the ribs with her elbow. "Stop!" I squirm. A peacekeeper pulls her away from me, two more, no three, holding Jackson back."One day your girlfriend won't have you around. You can't always protect her. And you couldn't even keep your brother alive," Erik shouts at him. Four peacekeepers have to hold Jackson back now. "Everyone go home... NOW!" They start saying. "Ill take Jackson home, I'll keep him out of trouble, I swear." I plead with the keepers. They just ignore me and put him in their truck, but they do allow me to ride with drop off Jackson and I at his house. Inside, Mr. Kildred is crying quietly inside the dim lit cabin. I squeeze Jackson's hand before he walks over to his dad. Apparently he knows about Bas already. They embrace and cry together, and I release my own tears. Jackson extends his hand and draws me to the both of them. One can only hope that Erik and Willow will be drawn for the Games tomorrow.
Later that night, Jackson sneaks over to my house and we lay side by side on the roof. "Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is the tree... Crushing him." Jackson whispers. I can't bring myself to respond. "You know Erik's wrong, right? I'll always protect you. I won't let him hurt you." Jackson says urgently, moving to lay on his side, propping his head up on his hand. A smile crosses my face, "You can't always be there for me." I respond honestly. "But I want to be there for you. Forever." He whispers. "Jackson... Talk to me tomorrow, after the reaping ok?" I don't think I could bear the pain of losing him, especially knowing we were together. "We may not HAVE tomorrow, but ok. Goodnight, Jo, I'll see you tomorrow." He presses his lips to my forehead, and caresses my cheek before climbing down from my house.Jackson's words echo in my head as soon as I wake up. Trying to ignore them, I quickly bathe and dress in what my mom laid out for me, a scarlet loose shirt with tan pants. Downstairs my dad lays in a chair in a drunken stupor. Mom is cleaning up broken glass of a plate he must've thrown. Brushing my short-ish hair behind my ear, I quietly eat a small loaf of bread with maple syrup on it. "Are you nervous about the reaping?" Mom asks. "What do you care?" I say harshly. My name is in the bowl 18 times. We were never so fortunate to be able to refuse the tesserae. "We do care about you, Johanna. You were always such a fighter. Being born early didn't stop you from living, despite the odds." Mom responds, reaching for Dad's bottle of liquor. Why didn't she ever tell me THAT before any of the other reapings? Frowning, I walk out to the square.
The square is packed with people, young and old. We hear the tape about The Dark Days. Darta, District 7's escort, finally steps up to draw the names. She walks over to the bowl containing the boy's names. "Erik Holstein!" She calls out, beaming with a cosmetically altered perfect smile. Erik smirks bravely as he makes his way to the stage. As she walks to the girl's bowl, my heart pounds. Jackson is shooting me nervous glances, I must be pale. "And for the ladies we have- Johanna Mason!"
Shaking hands with your district partner is what is expected, so I do. Crying silently, I take Erik's hand and dig my fingernails into them, hard. He hardly responds, only smirking. An inferno of rage swirls inside me, and I remember Jackson's words. Don't stop fighting. I look weak right now, all the better. They won't see me coming. Hunching over, I allow myself to cry more. Willow winks at me from the crowd and mockingly blows me a kiss. We are then ushered to our own justice building so we can say our goodbyes. My dad doesn't come, only my mom. She gives me a stiff hug and leaves, probably to go get drunk. Jackson's dad walks in, also crying. "I lost both my sons, and now I feel like I'm losing a daughter." He whispers in my ear, hugging me like a real father should. "Jackson believed you could win, if you ever entered the games. Make him proud, eh?" His voice cracked with emotions. "I'll do my best." I promise.
On the train, I sit criss crossed on the bed full of anguish. Jackson's words echo in my head. The tears haven't stopped, but they are mingled with tears of hatred, fury. Falling back on the pillows, I press my fingers to my lips and let out a small groan of sorrow. I WILL be the tribute coming home. Jackson believed in me. Maybe the other tributes won't see me as a threat, me being an emotional wreck on camera. I stiffen and sit up straight. Sniffing hard, I wipe the tears off my face with a shaking hand. "Make them pay for it." I whisper to myself. This boldness will stay with me. Erik can't hurt me, not anymore. Thinking of the night before the reaping makes me sad, but I do. Jackson's promise... I knew he couldn't keep it. But I had false hope he could. Sighing, I turn on the TV to see which other tributes I'll have to kill. The careers aren't particularly special this year, still sturdier than the District 3's, but they aren't ever impressive. A large redhead from 9 stands out. The ones that really stick with me are the siblings from District 12. Colt and Ava. The both have what they call the "Seam" look. Basically meaning they're poorer and have olive skin, pretty grey eyes, and dark hair. They look well fed, and don't shed a tear as they hold hands. Maybe we could be allies.Dinner comes and goes. Everyone tries to talk to me, but I just start crying so they ignore me. Blight, a 20 year old who won two years back, walks me back to my room. "I wish I could tell you it will get better," he sighs and squeezing my shoulder.
A nightmare of Jackson pushing me off the roof the night before the reaping wakes me up with a scream. My hand grasps the vase on my bedside table and I throw it against the wall. Someone knocks on my door and then enters. "Eri-" I start to say. It's not Erik who enters, but the strong boy from 12. "Johanna Mason, right?" He says. "Yes, how'd you get on my floor?" I ask, pulling the covers to my chin. "Took the elevator... I can't sleep, trying to figure out how to keep my sister alive." He says, closing the door behind him. "Do you want to talk about your dream?" He turns on my lamp and starts picking up the broken vase. "Nightmare."My bro... Best friend tried to kill me. But he's the one who's dead." I clamp my hand over my mouth to stop the sobbing. Colt puts the big pieces in the trash can and walks over to me slowly. "Did they kill him?" He asks. I nod, "He was too much of a fighter, and they knew it. He was beyond his second chance." I don't know why I'm telling him all this. "Did he say anything to you?" Colt asks, leaning closer to look into my eyes. "Yeah. He told me to not stop fighting." I say, steel in my voice. "Good." Colt whispers. "Goodnight, Johanna." He slips out before I can process what happened.
The rest of the night goes by peacefully, and I wake up feeling determined. Today I will slouch and be silent. Johanna the Weak. Johanna the Scared. Darta knocks on my door and tells me breakfast will be ready in 30 minutes, and then the prepping for the tribute parade. The shower is pretty complex, but I manage to figure it out. I hurry to the dining car and seat in between Blight and Darta. The only other district seven victor, Lesli, is harsher, like Erik. "Do you feel better today?" Darta asks sympathetically. Shrugging, I reach for a bunch of food. Any extra weight I can gain is good. Darta tries to make conversation a couple more times, but no one feels like talking. Finally, breakfast is over and three Capitol crazies come in and usher me to their quarters. Galeel is bald with gems implanted into his/her skull, along with skin dyed an ugly pink. Telsa is obviously a female, wearing revealing clothes with a high voice, but then again, the Capitol can do weird things. I turn my thoughts off with a shudder as neon yellow haired Felay and the rest begin to shave, scour, pluck, and scrub me. Gritting my teeth, I try not to strangle them. After what seems like forever, my stylist comes in. It's an older woman with long gray hair. Her eyes are a bright purple, and her nails absurdly long. "What am I going to be for the parade?" I say dully. "A tree!" She says delightedly, holding up the most ridiculous outfit ever. Brown shoes and a large leafy headdress. She says we'll wear a textured green shirts and our skin painted to look like smooth bark. Oh joy.We're standing by the chariots waiting for everything to start. Erik is ignoring me, and I'm staying away from him. I see Colt and walk over to them. They're dressed in dumb miner outfits. "This is Johanna Mason, the girl I told you about." I hear Colt say to Ava as I walk over. Ava immediately embraces me, "I'm so sorry about him." She whispers, her pretty grey eyes shiny with sincere tears. A fresh wave of pain hits me, "Thanks." I smile shakily, but it cracks into a frown. "I want to be allies with you, but not him." Colt says, crossing his arms over his chest, motioning his head towards Erik. "I'll ask Blight about it. I want you two as allies too," I say in a small voice, making sure I keep up my weak act. Colt nods and helps Ava into the chariot, District one's chariot just walked out. "I can see right through you." He hovers behind me when I turn away. "Think what you may." I turn and wink slyly before sauntering to my chariot. Erik snarls at me and I stay as far away from him on the small chariot as I possibly can as our horses start to pick up an easy trot. Keeping my shoulders hunched, I stare down, not up.
As soon as we get off the chariots, I head for my room to wash my makeup off and change. I already discarded the dumb accessories and headdress if my tree outfit. My fingers swiftly braid my hair of my shoulders as I look into the closet. So many options. Fleece pants and a large shirt catch my eye and I throw them on. Sitting on my bed is boring, but I don't feel like being close with Lesli, Erik, and Blight. Well, Blight isn't so bad. "The roof." I say out loud, smiling. I'll take a little trip to the roof. No one is on the elevator as I take it to the top floor. The wind is louder up here. Settling underneath a genetically altered oak tree, I close my eyes. Training is in the morning, and I need to look weak. The ground thuds next to me and I jerk myself back to feeling. Colt's grey eyes aren't that far away from my own brown ones. "Hi," he smiles. "Hi..." I respond, feeling a bit awkward. "So what's up with this whole soft girl act? I can see you're up to your eyeballs in stress," he comments. "Jackson thought I could win. I'm going to do what it takes." My response comes out sharp. "I hear ya. District 12 never wins. Except Haymitch Abernathy. Maybe one or two more." He frowns. "If I don't win, I hope you or Ava wins." I say sincerely. "I almost hope we die. All we have left is each other. Mom died right before we left. I don't want Ava in the system. She's only 14." He runs his fingers through his thick wavy hair."You're 15, almost 16, like me right?" I try to change the subject. "Yup, 16." He nods. "Listen, you need to rest up, Johanna. You'll be tired for training tomorrow." He puts his hand on my shoulder blade gently. "Goodnight Colt." I reach up and squeeze his shoulder in a friendly way. He smiles and helps me to my feet.Stretchy black pants. A tight forest green shirt. It's so comfortable I never want to take it off. Erik is over talking with the careers, and District 12 is with me. "I guess you and your partner don't get along." Ava comments sweetly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. We're all kneeling at the fire starting station, something I am very good at doing, though I pretend to fail. "Lifelong bully of mine. Unless Jackson was around." My voice cracks. Trying to lock the emotion away helped, but it occasionally comes back up to choke me. Ava frowns sympathetically and touches her braid absentmindedly. "Going in front of the game makers tomorrow, are you nervous?" asks Colt. "No, I know what I have to do." I set my jaw. "Easy there, your fire is showing." Colt jests. Ava giggles and then happy smiles when sparks light her flint on fire. As I'm walking to the table for our lunch, someone pushes me away roughly. The new me is ready to hurt someone. I stand up, who the heck did that? Watch where you're going, worm." They say, gripping my shoulder stiffly.
It's Erik. My first thought is too fight back, but then I remember my promise to myself, so I shy away. These Games can't be over soon enough. Suddenly, I feel a warm hand on my shoulder. "Colt told me your strategy. I'm assuming you'll try to fail at everything?" I spin around to see Colt's sister Ava. Her eyes sparkle as she whispers in my ear. Shooting a glare at Colt, who shrugs, I respond, "Yeah, that's about right." Hard to tell a girl as sweet as her that you want her to die, so you can win. "I hope you do win, Johanna. For him." Her eyes become misty. This girl is such a sensitive soul. It makes my heart ache to think of her fate. Colt's face is twisted, too, and I know he agrees. He looks so heartbroken I lean over and take his hand, squeezing it gently. "Let's get back to training." He whispers hoarsely.I give him a smile and nod. Colt and Ava pick weapons next, and my fingers long to throw the axes. Jackson and I used to goof off, practicing throwing them. Once we got caught by the peacekeepers, but he just winked and said to get back to work. We were lucky kids, until the reaping. The day drags on for me, considering I can't do anything. "See you... Sometime.." Colt says mysteriously as I step off the elevator. "Like tomorrow, before our scoring." Ava says brightly. I honestly don't know how that sweet soul manages to stay so light in a dark world. When I open my room door, Blight is sitting on my bed. "It's about time we talked, Johanna. If I'm going to keep you alive, you need to open up." He says kindly. Chewing on my lip, I sit across from him. "Everyone saw me break down. Erik is a big headed bully who has scared me all my life." I start. "So you have your own strategy." He nods. "Yeah. I'm the weak girl from 7. The romantic, the fearful." I tell me, my voice dull and unfeeling. "That's excellent." He cracks a smile. "Thanks. Now, I'm trusting you to not say anything to Lesli or Erik. If you do, I'll kick you in the head." I promise. "Deal, Ms. Mason. Deal." He narrows his eyes and smirks as he heads for the door.
Tomorrow is the day I have to fail miserably on purpose in front of the game makers. And the interviews are tomorrow. I close my eyes and process the day. Colt's words in the elevator float back to me. He'll be on the roof tonight, so I suppose I'll go. Changing into a knee length nightgown, I lay on my bed until midnight. Hurriedly I grab a throw blanket and wrap it around my shoulders as I head to the elevator. "Oh good, you came." Colt says softly, once I walk onto the roof. My bare feet wiggle against the cold cement. "Sure did." I respond, sitting down on the ledge of the tall roof. Moving the blanket over my legs, I stare up at him. "Two days, Johanna. In two days we have to fight." His face contorts with all sort of emotions. "I don't... It's too hard.." I close my eyes tightly, struggling to speak. "I don't want to have to kill you." I finally spit out. "And I'm not killing you, either," he reaches for my hand and I take it. He starts to speak again, but I hurriedly interrupt, "Let's not speak. I can't right now," I plead, tears making my eyes glassy. "Alright, Jo."After an hour of sitting in silence I let go of his hand, "I'll be needing sleep. Good luck tomorrow." I say, putting the blanket around my shoulders again, sliding off the ledge. Climbing off after me he says, "I hope you fail!" His charming smile flashes into his face. Laughing, I throw my arms around his neck in a hug, "Thank you, Colt." He squeezes me back in response.
I'm called before Erik to go and... And... Perform in front of the gamemakers. For me, I'll just be not hitting targets and being overall unimpressive. All the game makers are lined up, watching me. Smiling timidly, I pick up a knife and throw it with all the wrong form, speed, and force. It hits in between the arm and body. Trying out an ax, I miss the target. Inwardly I groan, aching to show what I can actually do. Heading toward the fire station, I pretend to fail at fire starting. Making sure nothing I do is impressive, I glance at the gamemakers. Some look amused, while others are disgusted. Bowing slightly, I walk out, my shoulders sagging. Colt's stunning eyes twinkle merrily when I walk out looking defeated. Ava winks at me inconspicuously. Now if I can just get through tonight's interviews, the final moment will arrive. Do or die.
My stylist seems to understand my want to blend in, not be extravagant. Dressing me in a forest green silky tunic shirt that has gold thread shimmering, and black leggings. Slender boots with buckles that come up to my knees. Despite my protests, she puts long false eyelashes, gold eyeshadow, and gloss on my lips. Erik is dressed similarly, much to my chagrin. We all sit in a long row against a wall, just behind the huge stage. With all the people. And cameras. Everyone watching. Colt and Ava make their way down to my seat. "I'm really nervous." Ava admits in a whisper. "Don't be." I squeeze her hand. "They can't do much more to you." I say without feeling. Ava just looks at me, "Johanna, HE wouldn't want you to lose your happiness. Emotion." I feel like Ava can see straight through me. Colt crouches beside her and take my hand gently. "You're right." I take a deep breath, trying to ignore the dull ache. "Thank you, Ava." I stroke her hair, smiling.District 1's attitude is fierce, arrogant. I zone out during all the others, it makes me too angry to hear everyone talk. Colt and Ava stay with me, holding my hands. It may make me look weak, but maybe that's ok. And I need their support. Erik's called up and I think I heard a few women begging for him to win, for them. Go figure everyone would figure him handsome. Rolling my eyes discreetly, I listen to his brusque, menacing voice go through the interview. He starts heading back and Colt swoops in and kisses my cheek before I can think. "You got this." He nods and helps Ava to her feet. "Johanna Mason, District 7!" Caesar Flickerman calls. Taking a deep breath, I walk out, keeping my eyes lowered. Caesar kisses my hand and I wave timidly with the other. The already quiet applause stops as we take a seat. "I'm sure we were all utterly heartbroken by your reaping." Caesar clasps his hand to his heart dramatically. I don't have to pretend to be sad. Biting my lip, looking down, I nod. "It hasn't been easy." I whisper, my voice caught by the microphones, echoing around. "Living in District 7 must have given you ease around weapons, Eh?" He asks, trying to brighten me up. "I've never been comfortable with a weapon in my hand." I shrug in a wounded way, keeping my hands clasped together tightly. "My, my." Caesar tuts sympathetically. "I'm sure everyone just loves you at home!" Caesar attempts to revive the conversation again. "Jackson was the last person I loved." I say, not able to keep a hint of bitterness out of my voice. But yet, my cheek still burned from where Colt had kissed me. The buzzer echoes loudly and Caesar announces me again. My applause is louder. These people pity me. I hate that.
Tomorrow is the games. I could die tomorrow. Colt asked me on his way by me if I would meet him on the rooftop again and I agreed. 'Sleep won't be much of an option, anyway.' I think, carefully removing the ridiculously long eyelashes. The lip stuff and eyeshadow come off a lot easier. Sighing, I walk around my room, practicing the silent walk Jackson always tried to teach me. Then I tried running around my room, my footsteps hardly making any noise. Glancing over at the clock showed that Colt would probably already be waiting for me. Grabbing a blanket, I rushed for the elevator. The wind from the rooftop made my nightgown sway and I shivered. "Johanna!" Colt called out in a hushed tone. My face brightened as I tiptoed over to him. Without thinking, he pulled me into him tightly. The tender gesture made tears settle in my eyes. Shaking violently, I tried not to think of the games. "Shh, I'll protect you." Colt said soothingly, stroking my hair. "They've taken everything from me. I'll lose you, too. No one will protect me if you're gone." I sound selfish, but I can't help it."Everyone has their struggles, Hanna. Can I call you Hanna? I'm going to call you Hanna." He pulled me back to look into his eyes. His large hands warmed my face. "Sure you can call me that." A giggle escaped me. "I know. I'm sorry." I whispered. "Do you want to stay out here tonight with me?" He asks, rubbing his thumb over my cheekbone. "Yeah." I smiled tightly. Taking my hand, he went behind the tree. Two blankets were layered on the rooftop, and two more laid folded. "We'll have to wake up before or right at sunup. Now try to sleep." He jokingly ordered. "You can't control me," I teased back, laying down on the thick blankets, pulling my own over top me. "I'll do my best, Ms. Mason." He said in a formal voice, shaking the other blankets out over top of us. "Thank you, Colt. For everything." I told him. "Don't mention it." He said softly. He rolled over, pressing his back to mine. "G'night, Hanna." He yawned. "Mmm." I muttered, lulled to sleep by the familiar sound of wind through trees limbs. "Wake up, you gotta hurry back to your room." Colt shook my shoulder. Snapping upright, I stretched groggily. "Hurry! The sun's already up!" Colt said urgently, standing up beside me. Blinking rapidly I looked around and realized where I was, "Oh. Right. I'll see you... Soon." I squeezed his hand and rushed to the elevator. I'd only been laying in my bed 5 minutes before Darta came bursting in my room. "Wake up, Johanna! Today's the day!" She said cheerily. My stylist was behind her, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Come with me." She motioned. Pulling on a robe, I followed her. On a hovercraft, they injected a painful tracker into my arm. Then I was led down a hall.
We went to a plain white room. There she coaxed me to eat, and boy did I. Stress eating and guzzling water. Yup, I did that. "This is your outfit." She held up a brown quarter sleeve thin button up and cotton black pants, and simple hiking boots. "What can you tell about the arena?" I asked. "Humid, probably wooded. Possibly a mountain?" She guessed. "Hm." I frowned. "Let me do your hair." She pulled my shoulder blade length hair into two French braids. "Thank you." I hugged the brainless person. "It IS sad to see you lot die, you know." She tells me, walking out of the room and motioning me to follow. We walk to a room with a large tube. "30 seconds." Says a mechanical voice. "Good luck." She tells me. I nod at her and walk to the platform and stand on it. "10 seconds." I take a deep breath and close my eyes. That's when the platform starts to rise.
Without hesitation, I fly from my pedestal and head straight for the cornucopia. I've always been light on my feet, and quite swift. As I near the cornucopia, I quickly grab at a large backpack. Closer to the front are two wicked looking axes that I immediately take before fleeing towards the woods. Growing up in forests, I hope to have the advantage here. My left arm tingles and I veer hard to the right as an arrow whizzes by. "Go Johanna, I'm right behind you!" Colt's voice reaches me, urging me to go faster. Plowing into the woods, I raise my arms to fend off branches and pesky undergrowth. Footsteps resound behind me, and I glance over my shoulder, pleased to see my District 12 allies. Colt gives a stiff nod, so I keep running. We run for about 2 miles before I dare to slow down to a walk. Ava's face is a steamed red, and she leans over, about ready to vomit from exertion. "Any injuries?" I pant out, wiping the back of my hand over my face.
"Nearly." Colt pulls his medium sized backpack in front of him. An arrow is skewered through it. It missed his side by a mere 3 inches or so. I want to gasp, but all my air is gone. Instead I widen my eyes, and shake my head, alarmed.
Ava leans against a tree and holds out a thick coil of study rope. The kind that can be separated into thinner strands. In her other hand she holds a medium sized bottle of water purifier. "What's in y'all's backpacks?" She motions towards us.
After listening to our surroundings for several seconds, I sit down on the ground and open mine.
4 sleeves of crackers, two packages of dried meat, as well as dried fruit. It also contained 2 lightweight sleeping bags, 2 blankets that held in heat, and 2 canteens full of fresh water.
"Well, we know where the water is, once those are empty." Colt says grimly, regaining his breath. I nod. I'm sure the area full of water is to ensure we all meet, one way or another. It's nearly midday and I suggest we eat a small lunch. After we eat in sobering silence, colt pulls the arrow out of his backpack and looks inside. In it: a fair sized knife, complete with a belt, a pair of socks, metal wire, and a pack of crackers.
"Here," Colt hands the knife to Ava and takes one of my axes. "Let's get going before someone catches up."
Hurriedly, we pack our bags up and try to make it look like we had never been there. We set out at a brisk walk, keeping it up for what felt likes hours. Finally, Ava points at the ground.
"Look. Sand. We're getting closer to the desert." She said.
"You're right. We need to keep an eye out, I thought I saw-" Unfortunately, my sentence was never completed.
A strangled noise escaped Ava's lips as she unsheathed her knife with shaking hands. "Run!" I urged, grabbing her free hand.
The overwhelming stench of death that oozed off the birds made my stomach heaves, and I swallowed bile. They followed us, as I ran blindly, hoping that they would stay near the desert, and praying I was heading away from it. A quick glance over my shoulder revealed more details about them. Yellowing fog erupted from their orange beaks when they hissed, yes, hissed. Their tongues were forked and I saw two rows of sharp thin teeth. Their bodies were jet black, as if you were blind folded with your eyes closed at night. Midnight blue feet with razor sharp talons curled and I curled as they fought their way through the limbs. They were probably 5 feet, wingtip to wingtip.
One in particular kept gaining on us, his squinted glowing red eyes locked on Ava. I started to run faster, practically dragging her along as she fought valiantly to stay on her feet. One violent trip wrenched her hand from mine, right as one of the vultures swooped down. His talons swiped at her back and she screamed into the ground, biting down on her hand quickly to mute the noise.
Before I could react, Colt swing his axe hard, disconnecting the head from the bird. The murky brown blood that seeped from it was foul enough that I gagged, my eyes watering. Death whispered around me, and I raised my own axe against the remaining 4 birds. Ava lay whimpering on the ground, blood seeping through her ripped shirt. The vultures eyed us warily after seeing Colt kill one of their flock. Then they attacked at once. They beat their wings at our faces, and dove at us feet first. Ferociously, they snapped their sharpened beaks at us. Keeping my distance from the others, I swung my axe without any skill, just hoping it would connect with the vultures. After 10 minutes of mindless swinging, I heard Colt's gentle voice call my name a few times. "It's okay, Johanna, they're gone. We killed them." Colt had his hand pressed to his face. His arms were scratched, and his ear bloodied, part of it presumably gone. I lowered my aching arms and looked at the large beasts. With wheels turning in my head, I slowly plastered a smirk on my face, and hacked off a foot of one of the birds. "A sentimental trophy." I winked coyly at Colt, though I wanted to just vomit and sleep for 15 hours straight. We were always being watched, and I needed to be a shocker. "We've got to get Ava someplace safe. Snow will help her wounds. We're bound to be close to the mountain." Colt's sentences were clipped and hesitant as he kneeled beside Ava. Her flesh was torn badly enough that I had to close my eyes and count to 10 before reopening and trying to problem solve. Miraculously, it had missed her spinal column and just torn into the muscle below her shoulder blades. "Ave, you gotta stay awake ok?" I said, putting my face close to hers. Ava was pale and her eyelids fluttered, "hurts." She mumbled, a tear sliding down her dirt streaked face. "We're gonna fix it, I promise."
I tossed my backpack towards Colt, and hooked my axe through my belt before walking to the nearest tree. "I'm going to see how far away the mountain is." I said, pushing my sweaty hair off my forehead.Colt didn't respond, but I could hear him rummaging through the backpacks, looking for any sort of bandage. I rolled my eyes for the benefit of any watchers, even though I felt traitorous doing so. With the ease of one who is no stranger to the woods, I scaled the tree like a squirrel, pulling my lean frame up onto all but the thinnest limbs. The mountain was closer than before, but still a good distance away. And night was rapidly approaching. The breeze blew gently in my face, and I turned towards the cornucopia. Even from a distance, I could see the bodies laying around the clearing. My stomach rolled, and I swallowed hard. Soon, we'd know the final count of who had died today. In the meantime, Colt and I needed to keep Ava alive overnight, while not being tracked and killed. What a fricking happy life.
"Johanna? I need your help." Colt called up. Biting my lip, I frowned guiltily. He was trying to save his sister while I was up in my safe little tree. I scurried down and dropped beside him. "Ava brought up a good point. The longer we are here with those dead birds, the more likely it is that another hunting animal will find us. We got to keep moving." Colt handed me my backpack and reached up to run his thumb over a cut on my cheek. My skin tingled and I forced myself to turn towards Ava. Colt had cut a layer of the sleeping bag fabric and wadded it up in a thick pad against the wound, tying it with thin strands of rope. "Are you gonna be able to make it?" I kneeled down beside the pain wracked girl. "There's no other option." She responded grimly. Together, Colt and I managed to get her upright without too much trouble. "How far away is the mountain?" Colt asked, as we set out walking at a snail's pace. "We won't reach it tonight. Sometime tomorrow." I responded shortly, feeling the day take it's toll on my emotions. "Stay on the lookout for a good camp for tonight." I glanced up at the sky, which was blossoming into a beautifully out of place sunset. We crawled along until I spotted a fallen tree. "There." I pointed. The tree was hanging over a hill, and Ivy grew off it in a thick sheet. "That should be a good enough shelter." Colt agreed. As quickly as possible, we helped Ava drink water and eat some food before easing her onto her stomach in a sleeping bag. "You can have the other sleeping bag." Colt said, as we sat shoulder to shoulder looking up at the darkened sky. "Don't be silly," I said nervously, "We'll share it." "Only if you're sure." I could hear the smile in Colt's voice. The canon's went off, and faces were flashing into the sky. 8 dead today, and unfortunately none of them was my own bully. He and all of the careers were alive. The anthem played and I turned to Colt to say something, but forgot just what, when he put his hand on the side of my face and kissed my forehead. My hand clasped around his wrist and pulled it to intertwine his fingers with mine. We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, but was really only a minute or two. "I'll take first watch." He finally whispered. I nodded, too exhausted to argue. I crawled into the sleeping bag first, and he slid in after me, pulling me against him, and resting my head on his arm. As soon as my eyes shut, my thought swirled around like a windstorm. I had made a promise I intended to keep.
I guess the Gamemakers took mercy on us our first night, as it was uneventful. Colt woke me up at some point, saying he'd checked Ava's wounds by feel. By some miracle, she wasn't bleeding, but her wounds were a bit hot. "I'll give her some more water." I had whispered, squeezing his arm gently. "Rest."
I slid out of the bag and picked up the water canteen and carefully dropped it into Ava's whimpering mouth. "Is night almost over?" She asked me, peeking one eye open. In the dim moonlight, she was ghastly pale, and my heart skipped a beat. We had to move at first light.
Adrenaline pumped through my body, so I was warm as I sat behind Colt and shifted so he could use my lap as a pillow. Once I was sure he was asleep, I allowed myself to run my fingers through her nearly black hair. His personality reminds me of Jackson. An unexpected sob catches in my throat, but I sit still, and swallow hard. No more would I cry. Crying was weakness, and I have to be unbreakable. The Capitol wants a vicious animal? Oh, I'll show them animal. Part of me sighed, though, as I tangled my hands through Colt's hair. I'd have to abandon them, because I wasn't going to be the one to kill them. Hell no. I didn't even want to be around when they died. If they died. My thoughts tumbled round and round until I began to see the first glimmer of sunrise. As soon as it was bright enough to see, I shook Colt away. "We need to get her there quick." I said, just above a whisper. "Eat, then we move. We need to start looking for edibles, or we're going to be out of food by tomorrow night." He said, glancing over at our backpacks. I nodded, agreeing silently. Ava was our first priority, and I hoped I remember which tree barks were edible. Quietly, we rolled our sleeping bag up and ate as little as we could manage, telling ourself we didn't need as much as we thought. After getting Ava up and on her feet, we fed her as we stumbled along. My senses were on high alert. If the careers found us, they'd probably laugh at us. Then kill us. Yippee. The air dropped significantly as we went along. "Good, that means we're close." Was Colt's only comment. Once we saw the break in the trees Colt stopped me. "Stay here. I'll go get some snow and come back. I don't plan on staying on the mountain, we aren't prepared." I looked at him anxiously but finally nodded. He emptied his backpack into mine and ran off at a dead sprint. Ava groaned, "If he dies for me, I'll never forgive myself. Or him." Her eyelids fluttered and I saw that they were glassy. "Ava..." She didn't respond. "Ava! Tell me a story, now." I ordered. "'Bout what?" She slurred quietly. "Colt. Tell me something embarrassing." I grinned. "Ok, let me think." She managed a small smile, too.
"Well, there was this one time." Ava began."Mam does laundry for those in our section in the seam. Colt used to deliver him when he was young, then I took over while he did other fix-it jobs. Anyway, Mam sent him off one day after school when he was about 9. Colt was a bit of an energetic boy, though he was scrawny and used to give me extra food." Ava pauses and a guilty look passes over her face. "So, he went to deliver the laundry and stopped behind a building, and put on layer after layer of clothing. As he says later, he figured it would be easier to wear it all, rather than carry it. He skipped around town, with some man's underpants on his head. After Colt had made a few deliveries, one of Mam's friend's pulled him inside and gave him a whooping. She helped him fold all the clothes back and in the bag and sent him on his way." Ava tried to laugh softly, so as not to shake her back, but she winced anyway. I smiled at the image. A sharp scream sliced through the air, and my head snapped up. "Go to him, NOW!" Ava half shouted at me, panic crawled over her face.
I stood up and looked at her for half a second, before sprinting off. Halfway through the clearing, I looked over my shoulder for a second and ran into Colt. We immediately wrapped arms around each other. "Who was that?" He whispered fiercely in my ear. "I don't know, I don't know." I mumbled over and over, clutching at his back. "We need to get to Ava." He wrapped his arm around my waist and we ran back. Ava had pulled herself with her back against a hill, half hidden behind a tree. She had her knife out, but her face was wracked with pain. "Oh Colt, thank God." Her face contorted and she reached a hand out to him. "It's ok Ave, it's gonna be ok I got the snow. I've heard it'll help." Colt went to his knees and kissed her hand. My adrenaline kept my heart pounding in my throat. "I'll keep watch." I choked out. Colt packed snow on Ava's back as I climbed a tree, trying to see any disturbances. Ava needed the snow compress for longer time than I feared we had. My stomach growled and ached, and my throat was dry. Snow gleamed brightly to my left, and the forest to my right was still. A loud boom when off, presumably for the girl who screamed. 15 of us left, in two days. I dreaded to think how long this would last.
Someone hollers at their companion, "I think we're almost there!" Frantically, I work my way down the tree. "Colt! We have to move now!" I whisper loudly. The second my feet hit the ground, I'm throwing my backpack up on my shoulders. Colt curses violently, throwing the rest of the medical stuff into the snow filled backpack. "We're gonna have to run." He warns Ava, putting his arm low around her waist, tightly. "I think I see someone!" Someone shouts. And I know that voice, I know exactly who we have on our tails. The careers, and joining them, Erik.I mutter my own curses as I use my axe to block tree limbs, trying to hold them out of Colt and Ava's way. Safety, safety, safety. The word pounds through my head, matching my heartbeat like an in synch drum. "Erik's with them." I pant out, furrowing my brows as we run. Ava whimpers and stumbles, her face twisting into agonizing pain. Footsteps echo behind us, beginning to catch up. Suddenly, Colt turns sharply, heading out of the woods. He points at a rocky outcropping. I stop, and he motions for me to follow. "Go." I say quietly. "Joha-" he starts.
"I'll circle back around, I swear." I push his shoulder. "Run!" I urge fiercely. He looks at me, conflicted, and looks down at Ava.
I turn and run, making as much noise as possible, without being seemingly obvious. In a clearing, I climb up a tree, and perch on a long, wide limb. Hopefully, I'll have a bit of an advantage from up here, should they choose to attack. I swallow hard. "Well, well, well." A massive boy steps into view, panting slightly. "Johanna! What a delight." Erik's laugh sounds more like a growl. "Hello Erik, I see your face still looks like someone with a giant ass sat on it." I say sympathetic, twirling a tendril of hair around my finger. Erik starts forward but the large boy, District 2 by the looks of him, throws an arm in front of him. Another boy bursts into the clearing, an arm wrapped around two ditzy looking girls. "Looks like y'all found a mouse." He smiled lazy, and I had to admit, he was attractive. Damn those suntanned District 4 folk. District 1 male walked in sullenly, followed by a deeply tanned, well muscled girl. District 4 female counterpart, I guess. "Can I at least be the one to kill her?" Erik asks, shoving District 2's arm off his chest.
"Sure."
I sit there quietly surveying them. I'm honestly so screwed. Chewing discreetly on the inside of my cheek, I hope with all my heart Colt or Ava will stay alive long enough to win. "So, how do you prefer to be killed?" The District 4 female, I think her name was Ursula, asks. "Honestly, I was just about to ask you the same question!" I let out a short laugh, shifting my balance on the tree limb ever so slightly. "Can't tell whether I wanna cut her to ribbons or keep her for her jokes." Tristan, district 4, laughs. I roll my eyes, slowly running my fingers over my axe. A shadow of a bird flickers in my peripherals. Part of me sinks, and the other things this is the perfect escape. "C'mon down, i wanna try something!" District 1 girl giggles harshly and hold up a slender blade, beckoning me with it. That's when the screech of 3 man eating birds ring through the woods. "Yeah, good luck with these guys." I smile and point to the sky, before launching myself to the tree over, crawling from tree to tree until I'm behind them. Then I run, as the screaming begins.
Footsteps pound behind me, and I throw my head down, trying to get more speed. But whoever's behind me, I don't wanna chance looking, is gaining fast. Finally, they tackle me, and I see it's the male from District 1. He's lean and light, but still has way more muscle than I do. Still, even the strongest can't usually ignore a knee to the groin, so I do... Hard.He let's out a short shout and I use my legs to throw him off, raising my axe. I don't want to kill him, but I also do. Part of me is telling me to run, but another part, a darker part, is telling me to make him pay for being the Capital's little puppet.
Hearing the screech of a bird, I make my decision, slamming the butt of my axe into his skull hard. A cannon booms, and I glance into the sky to see District 1 female. I look down at her partner, his temple bleeding from my blow. Seeing a camera, I swallow hard and do what everyone wants me to do. I swing the blade of my axe over his neck, severing it almost completely. Blood immediately spurts out, and his body twitches. After a second, another cannon booms, and I know this one is for him. My adrenaline is rushing, and I savor every morbid second of it, wiping my blade clean on his shirt before sprinting off, hoping any birds following will be distracted by a freshly killed bloody meal.
I finally reach the spot where I left Colt and Ava. Colt had crossed two sticks on the ground, marking it for me. I start walking in the direction that led to the snowy mountain when my adrenaline induced heightened sense hears a faint rustle behind me. I spin around but only see a shining silver parachute sailing towards me. Smiling, I reach up and catch it in my hands. Eagerly, I reach for the button to open it and then stop. Ava and Colt need to be her before I open it, I decide. Forcing my exhausted body back into a brisk walk, I go a mile before an arm wraps around my waist and a hand over my mouth.
"Shh, it's me." Colt's breath tickles my ear warmly.
I relax again his body and he releases me, pulling my hand to follow him. He's found a crack in the mountain, not very wide, but wide enough for me and Ava. Colt fits, but I can see the panicky discomfort on his face as he squeezes his body through.
Ava's laying there looking flushed and tired. Large leaves are sitting out holding snow that's melting. "We got a present." I smile broadly and hold up the silver parachute.
Holding his breath, Colt pushed up on the lid, his hands shaking.
Inside, four small pills lay in a little compartment, and beside it, a round container of salve. "It's for Ava, it's for her cuts and fever." I breathe, clasping my hands behind my head in relief. Ava coughs, but smiles softly.
Colt blink once, and then rapidly. "We have sponsors." He chokes out under his breath. It's silent for a few long seconds before we both rush to the backpacks. I grab our remaining half empty canteen and the first aid kit, and kneel beside Colt where he's gingerly taking out one of the precious pills and reaching for the canteen.
"Take this." Colt tries to help reposition Ava's head to take the pills. She drinks down the pill, and most of the water, and immediately, I see her shoulders relax.
Colt presses his fist to his lips, watching her eyes flutter close.
"My gut tells me she's going to be out for a while. Let's drink one of the waters, and then use the other two to clean her back." He suggests, clearing his throat. I nod and squeeze his shoulder tightly. We sit shoulder to shoulder and share one of the leaves full of water. "Johanna." He says quietly. "Yeah?" I respond.
"Why is there blood splattered on your face?" His voice is calm, and that's what undoes me.
My stomach churns, and I taste bile in the back of my throat. I killed someone today, a valuable life. "Someone tried to kill me." I said shakily, quickly wiping away a tear that tries to travel down my face.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"Don't- don't talk to me right now, please." I turn my head, sliding my knees to my chest.
It's quiet for a minute, "I'll go get more snow, you clean Ava's back." I nod my agreement and slide toward Ava and the clean bandages. Gently sliding her shirt up, I begin to clean the infected looking wounds with the water we have. A dull ache fills me as I methodically clean. I smear the ointment on with gentle fingers, and wrap it back up, keeping her dirty shirt away from the wound. Colt returns with more snow. "We need food." He says. "I'll go hunt." I offer, rolling my neck stiffly. "Rest for a half hour, it'll do you good." He runs his hand over his thick hair, making it stick up. The air is chilly, and I run my hands up and down my arms before going for the two sleeping bags. Wordlessly, Colt comes over and helps me slip one over Ava. "I'll stay up if you want to sleep. I'll wake you in time to hunt before it gets too dark, I promise." He leans against the wall and casually opens his arms, letting me know I can rest there. I want to resist, scoff at him. But I can't. I need to feel like I have something solid and dependable, so I slip into the bag, and lean against his chest. Gently, he wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on top of mine. "Thank you." I say, barely audible.
A pleasant chill runs down my spine and I relax against him.
"I lost it, and I almost liked it, Colt... Killing him." I close my eyes and clench my jaw. He reaches a hand up to stroke my cheek softly. "You have a lot of hurt, Johanna. You just wanted someone to blame." Colt says steadily, keeping his voice low.
Something in me starts to crack, and shudders wrack my body, while I sob. Not the kind of crying where you have a lot of tears, but the kind that comes from the center of your stomach and makes you feel sick.
I start to sit up, my body keeling over. Colt grabs my shoulders and turns me around, pressing my face into his shoulder and neck.
"I can't tell you it's gonna be okay, because I don't know. But I'm going to be here with you for as long as possible." He squeezes me tightly against him.
I grip the front of his shirt and we sit there for a while.
Finally I lift my head and allow myself to look at him, really look at him.
His hair is thick and curling over his forehead, just touching his dark eyebrows. High cheekbones and a sculpted nose add a gentle look that makes my stomach flip. "Johanna." Colt murmurs, staring straight at me in the gloomy light. I swallow hard and slowly lean towards him. I want to kiss him for who he is. But I also want a distraction, and I can't do that to him.
"It's okay Johanna, it's okay." He whispers, reading my mixed expression. He takes his hand and pushes a loose strand of hair behind my ear, and keeps his hand there.
Hardly daring to breathe, our lips meet.
Slow at first, and then fast, heat spreads over my skin, and then I'm drowning. I'm consumed by him, and we hungrily kiss again and again. After several longs minutes that simultaneously felt like eternity, and mere milliseconds, Colt pulls away reluctant. "You need to rest, I'll go look for food." He whispers against my neck, planting another kiss.
Unable to form words, I nod, and swallow hard, running my hand down his arm.
He carefully untangles himself from me and picks up his axe. With a glance at Ava and a smile at me, he squeezes out of the cavern.
Despite the electric warmth still pulsing through me slowly, I managed to fall asleep.
Sometime later, Colt shook my shoulder, dark blood drying on his arm. "Colt, what the hell?!" I sit up and hover my fingers over his arm. "We have food. And I'm fine." Colt smiles and points to where he has a small fire going by the door, letting any smoke it gives off trail out the crack. Meat is cooking over the coals, and my stomach makes a pitiful noise. The smell of the meat makes my mouth water. "Let me clean your arm." I say quietly, having a hard time meeting his eyes. "If you insist." Colt smiles and looks over his shoulder where Ava still sleeps.
He sits in front of me and peels off his long sleeved shirt so I can reach his arm.
I swallow hard and try not to look at him. Colt isn't overly muscled like the careers, but his tanned skin and lean frame make me dizzy.
Despite my best efforts, Colt smirks, "Like what you see?" He teases, tilting his head to meet my downcast eyes. "Shut up." I frown, fighting off a blush.
The scratches from whatever animal he killed weren't very deep, thankfully. I used a minuscule amount of Ava's healing salve and wrapped one of the few remaining strips of fabric around his arm and tied it tight enough to make him wince.
"Jeez, go easy on me, love." Colt smiled lazily, making my heart speed up.
"Toughen up," I bite my lip, and run the back of my hand over his jaw.
Colt starts to lean towards me, but I move towards the water instead, trying to stay focused instead of losing myself in him.
Clearing my throat, I gulp down the water, closing my eyes in ecstasy. "Water has never tasted so good." I whisper, leaning my head against the cold, hard wall. "Share then," Colt smirks, swiping the large leaf from me and swallowing the rest. I choke back a laugh, feeling myself relax. "You've been letting me sleep, but you look exhausted." My fingers travel to the dark circles under his eyes and he rests his head against my touch. "Okay, yeah. Wake me up soon though, I'm more hungry than tired. And that meat smells delicious." "What is it anyway?" I ask, sliding out of the sleeping bag and handing it to him.
Colt grimaces, "Ugly sort of cat with gnarly teeth." He rolls until his head his resting on my leg.
Soon after he falls asleep, Ava's eyes flicker open, and she looks rested. "There's hardly any pain." She whispers in disbelief, her throat dry and rasping.
"Oh my gosh, what smells so good?" She inhales deeply, while reaching for one of the few remaining leaves of water. "Dinner," I smile broadly, "Welcome back, Ave." Colt stirs, and I slide out from underneath him, gently setting his head on his shirt.
Crawling to the meat, my body feels almost faint with hunger.
I poke around at it, and see it's almost ready, some pieces more than others. "He doesn't need to know."'I wink at Ava and use my shirt sleeve to pull the meat off the coals quickly to let them cool on the chill rocks.
The second they're remotely cooled off, we shove the meat in our mouths, burning our fingertips and tongues in the process. "Worth it." Ava nods tiredly, shoving the snow I brought in into her mouth.
Nodding my agreement, I remove another cooked piece of meat and walk over to Colt, crouching down beside him.
"Wake up, food's ready." I run my fingers over his ribcage, lowering my nose to his. Colt opens his eyes and flinches at my nearness. Ava giggles and my body warms at her quick recovery.
I slapped the meat into Colt's hand and went to Ava. "Let's take a look at that back, huh?" I smile at her and she shifts to turn her back to me.
The infection has been soothed from the edges of the talon marks, and the tissue looks to be stretching to repair.
She still winces at any movement that tenses her back, but I can tell the capital's high tech medicine is working. "You're gonna be just fine." I rest my forehead against her good side for a minute, breathing a sigh of relief. Colt's hand rests on my back and we three sit in silence for several long minutes before I move. "I'll go get some more snow water for us, and branches for the fire." I point to the dwindled flames.
"Be safe." Colt brushes a kiss against my cheek and I bite my lip, picking up my axe and backpack. "I'll be back soon." I promise.
I head towards the woods quickly, rubbing my arms to keep them warm. "13 of us." I whisper, releasing my breath in a steady cloud. When I reach the tree line, I hack several thin limbs and long twigs and secure them through my backpack straps.
A low growl reaches my ears and I stumble back.
As swiftly as possible, I back up, gripping my axe tightly. Four eyes stacked on top of each other glow back at me and I exhale sharply through my nose, amused at what abominations the gamemakers think up. The beast slowly steps out of the shadows and my heart sinks. Muscles are stacked along the beast, with a leathery skin stretched taunt overtop. The multiple red eyes stare me down as it pads towards me silently. Foaming drool froths around the curled yellow teeth. "Nice dog..." I breathe out, bringing back my sarcastic alter ego. It snaps its jaws and pounces and I dodge, turning and sprinting as fast as I can. My heart pounds against my chest when the beast roars and turns, running after me. Face the beast and fight it, I tell myself firmly. Running will only delay the fight that is inevitable. My only hope is that I come out on top.
"You want a show? I'll give you a show." I shout at the sky, my voice cracking with rage and hatred.
I twist my neck and brace my legs, waiting as the beast lunges.
It jumps high and I roll under it, stabbing upwards with the point of my axe.
To my dismay, the blade doesn't do as much damage as I had hoped. While his back is still turned I slam my axe blade into his rump with a sound between a scream and a groan. The thing yelps, but still doesn't bleed.
The claws on its massive paws dig into the snow as it spins again, fury clear in its eyes.
With another roar, it jumps on me, and I barely have enough time to raise my axe before I'm pinned to the ground with its open jaws poised above my throat.
Blood smears over my chest and shoulder and I grimace as the beast howls unnaturally loud right by my ear. Colt steps into view right as I push the monster off my body, wincing as I straighten my twisted leg. "I handled it." I snap. "Never said you couldn't." He frowns.
My blood pounds throughout my body and I stand, twisting my head to bold sky. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, I smile egotistically.
With the hunt that just happened, I've never felt more alive. "You smell horrible." Colt brings the back of his hand up to his nose. "Yeah, well, none of us smell great these days." I roll my neck and bend over stiffly, grabbing my axe. "We need to get back to Ava." Colt's eyebrows furrow.
Stretching my back, I nod. "I'll be right behind you, I need to try to wash up. Take these sticks and get the fire going. I'll need it." Though my body is still warmed from adrenaline, I involuntarily shiver at the thought of a snow bath. "Ok, but... Please, Jo, hurry?" He asks. "I will. Go, now." I smile slightly.
I follow Colt a little ways until I can see our cave, then wait for him to get ahead.
Swallowing hard, I pick up a handful of snow and scrub my neck and arms. Nearly black blood washes off me, falling in snowy clumps to the ground. Once I have as much of my body clean, I make several large snowballs and walk in.
"Oh thank God you're okay!" Ava is sitting up. "You're looking well," I smile at her. Shivering, I sit beside the fire that Colt has built up.
Half smirking, I take off my shirt and kick off my boots, slipping my pants off after.
I take one of the snowballs and rub it all over my shirt, trying to clean it up. Tiredly, I push my hair out of my face and shake my shirt out, placing it near the fire.
I wipe my hands together and undo my hair from it's braids and brushing the tangles out best as possible. "
"Here, let me." Ava crawls over and sits behind me.
I work on my pants while she braids my thick hair out of my face. My hair's always grown fast, and it's mid shoulder blade now. Using the thread that held my braid together before, Ava ties it off tightly. "There." She squeezes my shoulder.
I sneak a glance at Colt, who's trying is darnedest to not look at me while i sit here in my underwear.
A laugh threatens to bubble out as we meet eyes and I smirk, raising an eyebrow.
Ava moves back to her sleeping area to give Colt more room beside me. "Here." Colt unzips the bag so it's more like a blanket and wraps it around my shoulder, his eyes focusing on a point above my head. Well, until he glances down that is. Hey, he tried.
I laugh loudly before clapping my hand over my mouth. Even Ava grins and shakes her head at me. "Thanks Colt, I appreciate it." I smile mischievously, and pat the ground next to me.
Shivers run through my body as my adrenaline starts to wear down. "Keep me warm?" I ask.
"Uh, yeah. Can't have you catching a cold." Colt manages a small smile and sits down.
I shift over his legs and sit with my back to his chest, while I face the fire. "Colt said the beast was huge." Ava comments, trying to fill the silence. "Nearly as tall as me!" I exaggerate, trying to keep the tremor of cold out of my voice.
"Could it get in here?" She asked, scrunching up her nose.
"Oh no, he was really wide." I assure, resting my head against Colt's chest. "Could we have eaten it?" She continues her banter.
I laugh quietly, "Only if you like eating rotten acid for breakfast!" "Gross!" Ava smiles, scooting inside her sleeping bag. "Before you go to bed, let me put some ointment on your back. At this rate, you'll be back to new in 2 or 3 days!" I keep my voice upbeat. Her back was healing really well, and the infection was slowly fading. It was up to Colt and I to keep her upbeat and safe in the days to follow. "Here." Colt says as I shift towards Ava.
He's taken off his long shirt and handing it to me. "Thanks." I grin and slip it over my head. "Gotta check on your arm again, too." I warn him, pulling out the precious can of salve.
Gently, I smear the potent goop all over the cuts, massaging them in with my fingertips. Once I'm done, I hold the back of my hand to her forehead. A slight fever remains. "Do you want one of the fever pills? It'll help you be more rested." I offer Ava.
"Sure," she yawns, propping herself on her elbows. I hand her a canteen that Colt must have refilled and a pill and she swallows the pill, and a few more gulps of water. "Thanks, Johanna." Ava shuts her eyes and tucks her arms under her cheek. "Your turn," I push Colt's long sleeves up off my arms and walk on my knees over to him.
"Remember, be gentle with me." Colt cocks an eyebrow and holds out his arm.
Ava's out collecting snow, we made her promise not to go any farther than the cave entry, while Colt and I inventory what we have.
"I think it's time we move." I say quietly, moving some berries we found into the scarce food pile.
"Why? We're protected here." Colt frowns, rewrapping the rope into a perfect coil.
"The gamemakers aren't going to let is sit here the whole game, Colt. It would be stupid to not move now that Ava's better. Sure we have water here, but the only way to get food is to go into the forest, and right on the edges, there's not much." I argue, leaning back on the heels of my boots.
Colt chewed on his lip, crossing his arms. "Where would we go?" He asked. "We should stay in the woods. Some trees have water in them, I can build a shelter. I grew up in forests, Colt, I can navigate them better than any of these other sections."
"This isn't District 7, these are The Games, and the rules are different. But if you're sure, I trust you." Colt sighs.
"Thank you." I nod, feeling relieved.
I've got a bad feeling about staying here too much longer.
Colt and I have pretty much everything packed up by the time Ava comes back in with the snow.
"Are we going somewhere?" She asks.
Colt nods, "We have to keep moving now that you're better." "Once we fill up both canteens we'll go. It's a shame we don't have anything else to carry water." I frown and pull out 3 rations of the leftover meat before tucking it into the backpack. "We need to kill anything that moves once we're in the woods. With the food we have, we won't last long." My body's already adjusting to the meagre fare, and lack of water hasn't effected me much, yet.
Once the snow's melted and poured to fill the canteens, we squeeze out of our little home and set off towards the woods.
Ava relishes in being able to see the sky again, open space in general. "We need to stay alert, more alert than ever. The mountain's much quieter than in here, and less visibility on whoever may be watching us." I flinch at a stick falling nearby.
Around midday, we stop to eat and drink. Only one canteen remains and I frown. "I've got to figure out how to get the water out of that tree." I angrily throw a stick in the tree's direction.
"Relax, you got this." Colt lays his hands on my shoulders and I tense, still getting used to Ava and Colt's unexpected gestures they use as comfort. Where I grew up, Mom's way of "I love you" was telling me to sign up for more tesserae, or throwing a plate at my head.
Even Jackson hardly ever unexpectedly touched me. He exposed his every move to me, keeping sure that he wouldn't scare me off.
Inwardly, I smile at the memory, though it causes a little hole in my heart to ache.
"Alright, let's get moving again." I stand up and pop my neck, making Ava scrunch up her nose. "It sounds like you're breaking something." She shrugs.
I put my arm around her shoulders and grin.
I go through all our supples again, looking for something to drill into the trees with, but all we have are axes and a knife. "Maybe if we just find a tree small enough, we can chop the whole thing down." I say, eyeing the width of a nearby tree.
"Except that might draw attention." Colt counters, chewing on some practically flavorless, but nutritious, leaves I found. "Our rotting bodies will draw attention too," I snap, kicking the tree.
Storming ahead of them a few paces, I search for a thin enough tree to chop down easily. Finally, I spot one and swing at it hard. It cracks but doesn't fall and I hit it over and over, pushing my rage behind my swings.
It groans, and falls down. Liquid trickles out and I wrench my arm around into my backpack to grab my empty canteen, quickly sticking it under the trickle exiting the tree.
Colt and Ava appear behind me. Ava runs up sits on the ground, sticking her mouth under a little stream on the other side. "Tastes a little funny, but good." She announces, going back for more. "Funny like what?" I say, worried I've got a different tree then I originally thought. "Just tastes a bit earthy." Ava assures me, pushing her thick hair out of her eyes. We stay near the fallen tree for a while, and Colt spies some bamboo. "We can use this to carry water!" I laugh exuberantly and grab colt's face, giving him a big kiss before turning to the bamboo. "Are these trees usually together?" Ava questions, washing her hands. "I've never seen them together, but there's all sort of species in here." I tell her, using her knife to section off the bamboo. After a few minutes, I hold up a piece of bamboo about a foot long, with a cap on the end.
Soon, Colt is helping me make them, and we leave the tree behind with 5 new bottles of water, and clean faces. "Shh." I hold up my hand as I hear something moving between a thick cropping of trees.
Ava scoots to the side, trying to see around me on the narrow path.
Suddenly, two badly sunburnt arms snatch Ava up and drag her away from us. I raise my axe and lunge forward, but I'm stopped when I see that the boy has a knife pressed to Ava's throat, and a mad gleam in his swollen eyes. "Don't move." He croaks, his voice dry. "Or I'll kill her."
Ava breathing is panicky as she pulls at the arms wrapped around her.
I forget what district he's from, but I remember his face. Hazel gray eyes with thick red hair, and pale freckled skin.
From the looks of him now, he spent too much time in the desert. A sandy crust has formed around his eyes, and every visible inch of skin is painfully burnt, some blistering.
He must've suffered some sort of mental problem while out there, as he barely registers Ava touching his raw skin. "Do you want water?" I keep my voice light, and my body ready to attack the moment I see an opening. "Just hand us the girl and we can give you food and water. I might even be able to help your skin," I continue, glancing anxiously at Ava. "Lies! All of it!" He tries to yell, but his voice breaks and he whispers instead. "No! Look! Look here!" Colt quickly reaches into his backpack and pulls out a bamboo full of water.
"We'll roll it to you," Colt tells him, kneeling down and pushing the cylinder towards him. "See? Now you can let her go, and we can help you." I repeat, inching over to clasp Colt's hand anxiously.
"I just can't do that." His shoulders start to shake like he's crying, but no tears come out. Moving sideways, he picks up the bottle and tells Ava to open it for him. Keeping one hand with the blade pressed against her throat, he guzzled the water down, choking on it and coughing as it splattered across his face. "We can give you more, I swear." Colt says forcefully, shifting anxiously. "But I can kill everyone and win, go..." His voice breaks again and he whispers pathetically, "I can go home." My heart drops. There was once a man who went mad in district 7, and his insanity made him so strong and fearless, it took several peacekeepers beating him before they arrested him, only to be publicly executed hours later. "Give us Ava!" Colt half yells, seeing tiny droplets of blood start to form on her neck. "I can win!" The boy whispers in awe.
Time stops, and I hear my heartbeat in my ears, mixed with a high pitched ringing.
His arm starts to cut into Ava's neck and Colt and I lunge forward at the same time.
But we couldn't save her.
His knife digs deep into her throat and her head goes limp, a gurgling throat resounding in my slow motion world.
Veins bulge out of Colt's neck, and his face is nearly purple as he shakes the half dead boy's neck in his hands. I sink to my knees beside Ava's corpse, sticking my hands over the gash, trying to stop the blood, even though I know it's too late.
Colt exhales sharply when the canon goes off and pushes off the dead tribute, pulling himself toward his beloved sister.
"T-too young." He stutters, tears starting to work their way to the surface.
I'm too stunned to cry. My body is hollow, and I'm merely an echo in time and space. "Ave, c'mon. No." Colt whispers, gripping the hair on either side of her head with his fingers. "Colt, she's gone." I cough out, my stomach heaving.
Standing, I walk behind a tree and bend over, throwing up what little contents are on my stomach.
I hear a people shouting and my heart sinks.
"We have to move." I plead Colt, walking back to him.
He doesn't respond.
"We'll be found. Ava would want you to live!" I urge, digging my nails into his arm
"Let me die." He croaks, holding her small limp frame in his arms, her blood coating his hands and soaking into his shirt.
"I can't do that." I tell him firmly, trying to stay afloat in the watery abyss that is my mind. "We have to leave her and run!" The noises get closer and I pick up Ava's knife and shove it in Colt's forgotten backpack, which I throw on my back on top of the other one. "C'mon, Colt," I kneel in front of him, "Gotta get up." I grab his face in my hands.
His normally sharp eyes are dull, and his shoulders heave. "I was supposed to take care of her, she was my responsibility." He looks at me, but I might as well have been invisible.
As the noises draw too close for comfort, I do the only thing I can think of.
I slap him across the face, hard.
"Get up and walk like a grown ass man, or I swear to God I'll leave you here to die." I hiss, grabbing his shirt collar.
"I can't leave her." He says shakily.
"Then die." I snarl, shoving his chest as I stand up and take off running.
My chest tightens and tears start to well up, but I blink them back, and straighten my shoulders. I'm stronger than this.
"We would've had to split up eventually." I whisper, barely audibly.
I haven't even been jogging for a full minute before I hear something step on a stick behind me.
Shooting a discreet glance behind my shoulder, I see Colt following, covered in blood, with his head hanging low.
I turn my head again, keeping my pace. Soon, he catches up, and we jog for several long minutes, stepping as quietly as we can.
We run until we reach the edge of the desert.
"Should we try to cross over, and get to the other section?" I ask Colt. "Stay here tonight, move tomorrow." He says wearily, keeping his eyes on the ground.
As the sun sets, Colt and I are securely strung high in a leafy tree, our stuff hanging beside us. After we got our hands washed of blood, and used most of our water to wash Colt's shirt out, another tree had to be chopped down, and water collected.
"I'm sorry for slapping you, earlier, sort of." I whisper, facing closely to Colt as we each lie in our own sleeping bags. "Thank you." He whispers back, reaching out to caress my face.
As the darkness closes in, Panem's anthem goes off and shows the faces of the deceased. Colt's jaw tightens as the pale boy appears in the sky, and he exhales sharply when Ava's delicate face peers down at us.
I shift over and kiss him softly, but for several long seconds. "We did everything we could to save her." I tell him, moving my hand inside his sleeping bag to his hand.
"I know." He clears his throat. "Goodnight, Johanna." He whispers, squeezing my hand.
"We have a long day tomorrow. Sleep well." I respond.
If I only knew the horrors awaiting us in that desert, I would've stayed high in that tree and never left.
"Any edibles along the way, we collect or eat. We'll need the energy." Colt continues, showing me the inside of the small backpack, which we started to fill with food, yesterday, as well as our water supply.
"Also, I've already been done and made some more water canteens, which have been filled." He works up a smile.
"Colt, did you sleep?" I ask, sliding out of my bag cautiously.
"A little," He swallows hard and zips up our food bag.
I sigh, and rub his shoulder before starting to untie my sleeping bag.
-MIDDAY-
"There's only 11 left, you know. 5 of them are the careers, and 2 of them us. That leaves 4 that are unaccounted for." A canon resounds around us.
"10 left." I correct myself.
Colt accidentally laughs, and before I know it, I'm laughing too, and we're both walking in hysterics, clutching at each other. "I don't know why it's so damn funny, everyone's going to die but 1." Colt wheezes out, clutching at his stomach as he tries to overpower his laughter.
I wipe away a tear and shrug, gulping in air around any lasting laughs.
"God, we're a mess." I sigh, tucking my face wrap more securely against the glaring sun.
A clicking noise causes me to frown. "Colt, what's clicking?" I ask, twisting my head to locate the sound. "It sounds like it's almost underground." Colt bends over. His eyes widen.
"Johanna, run!" He grabs my hand and takes off running as explosions go off.
Colt doesn't answer but pushes me hard to the left. Another explosion knocks him to the ground and I see one of his ears start bleeding.
I turn to go back to him, but he waves me forward. Swallowing hard, I keep going, feeling fire nipping at my clothes, but never surging outward enough to bite my skin and consume me. My ears are ringing and I feel something trickle down my lips. Keeping up my reckless speed, I touch my fingers to my lip and see the bright red blood gleaming.
After running for a long distance, explosions stop, well, exploding, and I sink to my knees and tuck my head on top of them, panting hard. Sand is caked in my mouth, and rubbing blisters in my shoes. The ringing in my ears isn't unbearable, but still makes me feel disoriented.
I allow myself to sit there for 3 long seconds before standing up and raising my chin. "Is that all you got?" I tilt my head up at the burning sky and smirk.
Colt comes crashing in at my feet, cradling his ear with one hand. "Oh my God, are you okay?" I ask him, noticing his face mask wrapped around his ears instead.
"Johanna it hurts." His whisper is rough and painful. "What does?" I ask quietly.
"I can't hear you, speak louder." Colt's eyes widen and his body twitches.
Quietly, I release a stream of rabid curses before bending over to Colt's good ear.
"You're gonna have to suck it up, sweetie, we need to keep moving or we'll die in this Godforsaken desert." I make a classic District 7 obscene gesture at the sky. I'm sure the Gamemakers know enough about District 7 to understand my meaning.
Tucking my arm around his back, I help him to his feet. He stands there unsteadily for a few moments before turning his back to me. "Get us water." He says in an oddly loud tone.
"Shh." I flick his arm and lean near his left ear.
"Always whisper." I snap, irritated at the ringing bouncing around my brain.
Colt swallows hard and clenches his jaw, and I can see his muscles tightening in anger, too. I grab us two bamboo bottles and hand him one. While we walk, Colt snaps his finger by his right ear, looking desperate to hear something. My head throbs and I feel over heated. We chew on leaves as we walk, but I can practically hear my internal organs rattling against my ribs. Just past midday, I see the thinly wooded area mixed with high boulders and flowing water. "We can make it there by dark, I think." I pull Colt's head down to my level. He just nods, frowning and looking pissed as hell.
Colt slaps at his neck, grimacing in pain. "Something bit me." He says hoarsely.
I glance over my shoulder and see a shadow of flying beetles behind me and swallow in horror.
"Run like hell," I instruct, taking off.
Buzzing fills my ears as they pursue, and my calves burn as I push through the scalding sand.
There's no way we can make it, and this is surely how we die.
"Try zig zagging!" Colt calls out, running off to his right. Following suit, I split to the left. The mass of bugs keep going straight before slowly turning around and stopping, as if debating on who to chase after. They pick me. I keep moving from side to side, watching the swarm slow down to try to keep up with my rapid movements. Colt's slightly ahead of me, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to see how I'm faring. I feel my throat swelling slightly and wince. If I felt like I was running out of breath before, then I have another think coming.
I clutch at my throat and breathe as deeply as I can, trying to cover any of my bare neck with my hands. The flies that kept up with me continue to bite my hands and I let out a short cry of rage. The trees and water are closer than I originally thought, and I see that Colt is within several hundred feet of it. "Hurry Johanna!" He calls out, and I notice a much smaller swarm crawling up what is seemingly an invisible wall.
My tired body does the opposite, and I can feel myself slowing down.
"No!" I squeak quietly, seeing the swarm start to gain.
I wave my arm at Colt, "leave me! Go and win!"
Even from a distance I can see Colt's muscle tensing and he rolls his shoulders, then swings his backpack into the ground. Taking a deep breath, he sprints into the open, straight for me as I zig zag tiredly.
He wraps an arm around me and I cling to him as we speed towards safety.
We close our eyes and run for our lives, screaming against the fiery bite of the swarm.
Stumbling into a shallow creek, we lay there, me on top of him, and let the cool water soothe the bites. "Jo, look." Colt points weakly as something silver glints through the trees. I smile.
"I'll get it, gotta get my backpack anyway." Colt pushes himself up while I let the cold water soothe my swollen neck.
He walks off and goes to grab his backpack first. Then, he reaches out to untangle our gift from our sponsors.
When he returns, I see he has a basket that's tightly covered with a sheet of dark grey plastic.
Together, we pull the plastic off, and I start laughing and crying when I see what's inside.
Food.
So much food. Bread, fruits, meats, crackers, everything crammed into a basket and sent to keep us alive. "Took you long enough." I roll my eyes and stare at what I thought was a camera.
Our hands shaking, we each grab something different. I grab a sprig of juicy looking grapes, while he rips a huge hunk of meat off and tears into it like a savage. "Slow down, it'll be there tomorrow." I grin and lean towards him, making sure he can hear.
"We do need to ration it, but for now, let's just eat." He shoves some meat into my mouth.
The meat is seasoned, and somehow warm and I moan, closing my eyes and savoring it.
"Here." I pull some grapes off it's vine and place them in his hand.
We let ourselves sit in the water and eat until we feel full, then we ration everything off, taking special care to be sure it lasts a few days. "How's your neck?" Colt asks, brushes his fingertips over it gently. "I can breathe, but it aches." I take his hand. "Did you have wings when you were running?" I smile.
"No, I was scared out of my mind." He whispers loudly.
Making sure all the food is tucked away, I stand up and start taking my clothes off.
"Not this again." Colt groans.
"I need to dry my clothes off," I smirk.
"Plus, I think it's about time you had a bath, too." I lay down in the water and scrub at my arms and hair, watching dirt crumble off.
Colt wrestled with his modesty for a few minutes before mumbling, "Eh, what the hell." And stripping to his underwear.
After scrubbing as much dirt off as possible, we put on our slightly damp clothes and started to look for a shelter for the night. "I think today has been an interesting day." I say, gathering sticks. "Indeed it has." Colt hugs me from behind and plants a kiss on my temple.
Maybe tomorrow we can take a day off, I think to myself.
But The Games are never so gentle.
Fire wasn't an option, so we shared a sleeping bag for warmth. Plus, like always, it was nice to feel another body and know that you were still alive, even if you felt that gaping, raw hole in your chest that told you no one on earth cared about you.
The gamemakers dropped the temperature so low that night, Colt pulled the other sleeping bag over us, too. Shivering, I tried to get sleep. I knew that I'd need it.
When I wake up, the sun is blazing in the sky and I'm suddenly grateful we made it out of the desert yesterday. "Breakfast!" Colt smiles, holding out a thin slice of buttered bread with some berries mashed on top.
"Thanks." I smile, taking a small bite. "What is our plan today?" I ask, licking berry juice off my hand.
Colt doesn't respond.
"Colt?" I turn towards him and my heart stops.
"What the hell is that?" Colt asks.
"I don't know, but we need to run. Now." I stand up quickly and throw my backpack on, gripping the straps firmly.
Colt's on his knees beside me, stuffing the sleeping bags in his.
The sky where he was looking darkens and the wind swirls menacingly, like a vortex, sucking trees straight out of the ground. "They're pushing us to the cornucopia." I say, grabbing the crook of Colt's arm to help him up. "Well, I guess we have to do what they say." He frowns and sprints off.
I press a finger to my lips, not even bothering to look at him.
Without even thinking about it, I watch my feet, stepping as quietly as possible as the wind swirl pursues us.
When we finally feel we've gained enough ground, we stop, panting heavily.
Black spots swim around my vision and I bend over, gagging.
Cannon's boom and I glance up at the sky.
District 4's tributes are gone, just like that. "I guess not all of the careers were together?" Colt says, trying to keep his voice low.
I swish my mouth out with water.
"There's still 3 careers against us. They've been eating good, with solid weapons. We each have an ax, and we're just now eating." I roll my eyes.
"Don't get short with me because we're as good as dead."
Colt frowns and stands, getting food out of the bag.
"Might as well have a good last meal." He mumbles, shoving some cheese in his mouth.
Strangely, I don't feel fear, though my mouth trembles at the thought of not seeing Colt again.
"I'm not dying, Colt. They couldn't kill me if they tried, alright?" I dig out some food for myself, too.
I'm stupid, so stupid. Only an idiot would allow herself to be allied this far into the Games.
He's just a boy, and I've only been with him to feel human, I tell myself, turning my back to Colt.
Then again, isn't it simpler to not feel human?
A cold smile slowly creeps it's way onto my face without permission and I exhale harshly through my nose in a sort of snarky laugh.
Hell, feelings are misguiding. Love is weakness, and will control you. "Alright, let's finish this." I wipe my face of emotion and pull my bag onto my back.
Without turning around, I sprint on, keeping my tread light.
When I find Erik, I'm going to make him pay.
"Everything alright back there, Celestinia?" district 2 male asks. "We're all good back here, Roman." Erik calls up, a stiff smile stretched on his face.
He strides around the cornucopia with a small ax in his left hand and a long dagger in his right.
Roman's eyes narrow and he grips his sword, creeping away from the edge of the cornucopia. Erik jumps out with a swing of his dagger, and Roman leaps back, raising his sword.
"You bastard!" Roman shouts. "Agreed." I murmur quietly. "One of you was going to have to die anyway." Erik shrugs and steps back, starting to circle Roman. "You're a coward! Didn't even give her a fair fight. I bet she would've beaten you, too." Roman jabs his sword at Erik's left side.
For several long seconds they parry back and forth, each holding their own. Erik's forearm got knicked and is bleeding slightly.
Suddenly he tenses his face and a strange look comes over him, and then everything is a blur.
Before I can tell what's happening, Roman's throat is slit and a small cut on Erik's cheek bleeds.
"I know you're out there, Johanna! It's time we had a chat." Erik yells, spinning in a slow circle.
The whistling of the wind storm causes us to sprint into the clearing. "Erik." I say calmly, when we've neared him. "Always a pleasure, Johanna." Erik smirks. "Gotta say, I'm surprised to see you lasted this long. You were always so pathetic. Jackson had to protect you while you curled up like a sniveling baby." He smears the blood on his face with the back of his hand. "Oh, shut up. I'm fiercer than I seem, you know." I snarl and claw my hand in the air mockingly. "Jackson was so dedicated to you. So dedicated he died like some false hero." Erik snorts.
"It's a shame his brother was too stupid to run away from a falling tree. I know their father must be heartbroken." He continues.
"Don't. Don't talk about them." I raise my ax and take a large step forward. Colt hovers at my shoulder. "Oh, Johanna, you are simply not strong enough to survive." Erik raises and throws his ax in the blink of an eye. "No!" Colt cries, shoving me out of the way.
Time slows, and with a soft thud, the ax buries itself into Colt's chest.
His body hits the ground, and he coughs blood.
A scream catches in my throat and I thrust myself off the ground and at Erik.
"You're a liar, and a bully!" I scream, swinging my ax violently at him.
Erik's face tightens as he holds up his dagger and dodges around, trying to avoid my spastic attack.
I hit the dagger at it's base and it goes flying, along with a few of Erik's fingers. Blood pulses out and he shouts, bringing his fingers to his chest, and dropping to his knees.
I take the tip of the ax and drag it up the side of his face, watching the blood pool out.
"I win." I whisper, wrenching the ax to the side and with as much strength as I can muster, I swing.
Erik's head rolls off his neck and bounces away. Erik's cannon booms, I release a harsh breath and run on shaky legs back to Colt.
He's hanging on by a few raggedy breaths, blood spilling around him.
My eyes fill up with years and I brush his hair out of his eyes as I crash to my knees beside him. "I'm sorry." I whisper into his good ear.
"You've done good, Johanna. Now make him pay." He lifts his finger to the sky and points before his hand falls limply to the ground, and I see the life exit his eyes.
That final cannon signals my victory, so I stand and raise my bloodied ax to the sky, shouting in defiance.