I have returned. With the news that a new story is on the horizon! For Hunger Games, because I can't seem to write anything else at the moment. I updated in a hurry so let me know if you see any spelling, punctuation errors, or something that just doesn't look right. Next chapter is the end of the Games!
The next day is very uneventful. We all go on a hunt, but we don't find anyone. At around noon, we do hear a cannon, but we had nothing to do with it. And I'm not complaining!
Tyler is very dejected as we head back to the Cornucopia. Ginny keeps telling him we'll have better luck tomorrow and that it's just a slow day and there are still plenty of tributes to kill. She seems to really like him, but he's too clueless to take a hint.
"Hey, I saw you and Hadrian talking last night," Max says suddenly to me. We had been walking together and I'm surprised he wants to talk about... that.
"Yeah. About stuff..."
"Huh. Stuff." He looks kind of disappointed about this. I realize why.
"Oh, no, I don't like Hadrian and he doesn't like me. We have told each other that."
"Really."
"Yeah."
I can tell he doesn't fully believe me, but I think he wants to. We're back at the Cornucopia now, and the anthem is just starting to play.
"Home sweet home," Hadrian says, tossing his spear down. "I'm sacked."
"Yeah, it's been a long day. We all better get some sleep," Tyler agrees. "Let's hit the hay."
We crawl into the Cornucopia and are asleep right away, even me, and I had a hard time sleeping in the comfort of the Capitol. It was a long day.
So long that none of us notice the extra person that's there when we come back.
...
I'm running in the forest that I walked what seems like every inch of today. It's dark now, though, and there's a pack of... well, something, behind me. They're chasing me. I can feel their hot (and nasty) breath as I tear through the woods. They're almost on me. I'm knocked to the ground, but the dog-thing doesn't eat me. Instead it just nudges me with its front paw. Wait a minute, now it's talking. It's saying my name. It sounds like Max...
Oh wait. It IS Max. He's saying my name in a harsh whisper. I roll over. "What?" I whisper.
"There's someone else in here," he says so quietly he's hardly talking.
I don't think he's talking about Hadrian, Ginny, or Tyler. He wouldn't be so freaked out if he was. There's got to be someone else. Gunther? He could have come in while we were out... my heart rate triples. Here it is. Gunther Tries To Kill Me Part 2.
"I'm going to try and get them," he mouths. I nod. He slowly moves over to the corner of the Cornucopia. Please don't do anything stupid, Max... I silently beg him.
Then he jumps up and I see the knife he had hidden under him. He jumps at the corner, which makes him look very stupid, but not when the corner attacks him. Okay, so it isn't the corner that attacks him. But this person looks a lot bigger than Gunther. With a shock I realize it's Violetta! She looks downright frightening in the dark. She must have faced some problems in the arena because she has a huge bloody gash across her face.
That doesn't stop her from viciously attacking Max with a long knife she is holding. How long was she waiting here? What would have happened if Max hadn't woken up. I glance over at my other allies. They haven't stirred. Has Violetta already killed them? The nearest to me is Hadrian, and I shove him to make sure he's actually alive.
"Hey!" he grunts. "I was having a really good dream..." Then he sees Max fighting Violetta and he says, "Is that who I think it is...?"
"Yes, it's our former ally," is all I have time for. I move over to Tyler and Ginny and wake them up too.
"More boy troubles?" Ginny asks when I wake her up. Then she sees Violetta and she jumps up faster than I ever could after sleeping. She's already holding her knife and she jumps into the fight.
Tyler is still trying to digest what is happening. Then he smacks himself on the forehead. "How could I have let this happen!" He grabs his sword and jumps up. Hadrian gets his spear and follows. Now I'm the only one not helping in some way, mainly because I'm rubbish with weapons.
It's four against one, but Violetta is holding up well. She's not going to last much longer, I can tell. Why would she be stupid enough to bring on a five-on-one fight? Maybe... because it won't be a five-on-one fight. She found allies and they're probably waiting for the right moment. I can't tell anyone about this because then they would be distracted, giving Violetta a good chance to take out at least one of them. There's only one thing I can do, and I'm not very excited about it...
I grab the sword I had at the bloodbath and sneak out of the Cornucopia, pressing myself against the left wall the whole time, hoping the shadows will hide my presence. I do the same thing outside, although the golden Cornucopia that's all shiny in the moonlight isn't doing a whole lot to hide me. I think about crawling around the Cornucopia commando-style, but that seems like a REALLY bad idea.
Then two other tributes are on me. They both have swords bigger than mine and they are about twice my size. One boy and one girl. They look almost identical, which makes me wonder if they're twins. But no time to think about that right now. They're attacking me.
There's no way I can handle two at once, but I try anyway. Trying is better than dying... right? They advance on me until I'm backed up against the Cornucopia and I have nothing else to do but dodge all their blows. I have a bad feeling that they're not really trying anymore and they're just playing with me until they get the OK from Violetta to kill me.
Then the boy decides to make things more interesting, so he finally disarms me and my sword flies ten feet to my left. Great. It's not like it was doing me much help, I guess.
"You idiot," the girl growls. "What was that?"
He shrugs. "Dunno. I got bored."
"Bored? 'Ey I'll show you bored!"
"Worst comeback ever, sis," So they are brother and sister.
Then someone yells, "Mags! Heads up!" My sword is flying at me. I catch it, which is surprising, but the hilt IS made of metal, so my hand kind of hurts now. My rescuer is Ginny, the one I would have least expected. She dives at the twins with her knife (I still don't know how she can fight with such a short blade. I have a hard time with a long one) and now they look kind of scared as they fight back. Hadrian comes out too in a matter of seconds. I decide that this time I won't be useless and I try to fight too, but I keep getting in their way and I think I might be more of a hindrance than a help. So I run back to the mouth of the Cornucopia, where Max and Tyler are fighting Violetta. When she sees me she gives me an evil grin and makes a wide swipe to get Max and Tyler farther away from her. Then she runs through them and right at me. Oh no... what does Violetta want with me? I never did anything to her... that I can remember.
She goes past me too. Apparently she thinks I'm too lame to care about right now. Well that makes me mad, and I want to prove her wrong. So I follow her around and when she's not looking I jump at her... but she sees it coming and she turns around at the last minute. Our blades are locked in a stalemate. I think she can break it, though. She's clearly the strongest. Her face turns red with the effort as she pushes harder and harder. It's almost too much for me. Soon my sword is going to snap or my wrist is going to break. Either way, I'm weaponless, which in this case is synonymous with death. SNAP! I think that might be my wrist... it hurts worse than anything has ever hurt. Oh no, Luis and Lilac are probably watching this... no, it's the middle of the night. Well, they will in the morning.
Violetta is standing over me with a malicious grin on her face. In the moonlight she looks downright evil. "No one here to save you now, is there?" she says, then spits on the ground next to me. I want to throw up. I'm about to start dry heaving when I realize that I shouldn't be showing weakness in front of her. That would definitely be a mistake. Violetta brandishes her sword in front of my face, then she straightens her arm and just like that the sword is pointing at my throat. Violetta's muscles tense. She's about to do it. I brace myself for death. How badly will it hurt? How long will it take? I've let everyone down. I came this far just to die in the first real fight I'm in. Then of course I do the stupidest thing ever and think about Kai. He'll be pleased with this turn of events. The cold steel is barely touching me. I start to think she might actually back down when she lifts the sword and gets ready to swing it down.
But the blow never arrives. I faintly hear people fighting around me, then a shriek pierces the night air and is cut short. I hear a thud. Everything is starting to spin around me and I'm beginning to see in occasional flashes of light instead of true vision. I get up as well as I can but I'm still kind of slouching on the grass leaning on my good arm. More people yelling. Swords clash. Then there's a silence. Everything still swimming in front of me, I pull myself over to where people are. I recognize their voices. They are my allies.
"Mags, are you all right?" Max asks.
I try to say "fine" but I find that I can't talk. There's a body laying in front of me. No, two bodies. One is Violetta... the other is... is Ginny. Is she dead? No, no, don't be dead! I panic. I pull myself closer and see that she is still breathing shallowly.
"H-hey, Mags," she says in a breathy voice that is barely more than a whisper.
"Ginny," I manage to say.
"G-good luck," she says. Then there's a cannon.
"GINNY!" I scream. I don't even know her that well, but all the same, this is the first time I've watched a friend die.
There's a choking laugh. I realize it's Ginny. "Not dead yet," she says. "That... Violetta."
"Did you kill her?" I ask. She nods. "So you saved me! There's no way I'll ever be able to repay... okay, you're not dead, let's get you back to the Cornucopia and we'll get you some medical help and soon you'll be okay!" At that moment I actually believe myself.
"No," she whispers. "Not dead yet... but soon..."
My hopes come crashing down around me. "You're not going to die!"
"Remember what I told you today..." Her eyes close for the last time. The cannon goes off. I start to cry. So weak of me. I don't care. Before I fully know what's going on everything fades to black...
...
When I wake up, everything hurts, but especially that wrist that I think I broke. It's kind of dark but there's a pale light shining that I recognize as the light of dawn from all the times I've seen it waking up early in the morning. Usually on reaping days.
"She's awake!" a boy's voice yells. It's not an excited yell. It sounds more dull. Why would they not be happy that I'm awake? Or are they sad about something else. Oh yeah... Ginny is dead. Just thinking it makes me want to burst into tears again.
"Hadrian! Max! Tyler!" I yell all three of their names in a short gasp of breath and shoot up into a sitting position, sending jolts of pain up my wrist. I let out a hiss of pain.
Hadrian laughs grimly. "Me, Max, no Tyler."
"What happened to Tyler!" I shriek. "He- he didn't-"
"I'm sorry that you had to wake up to news like this," Max says. "He... he was killed by that kid who has it in for you... what's his name?"
"Gunther," Hadrian says quietly. "Gunther Stark."
"He was trying to get you," Max explains. "But you were still out, and Tyler... well, after Ginny died he just hasn't been the same, you know? He fought to protect you but I just don't think his heart was really in it. I think he could have beaten 12 if he wanted... anyway, he's joined Ginny now, and there's nothing we can do about it."
This sends another stab of pain into my heart. It seems like my life has just been a circle of pain. Dad dies- pain. I get reaped and have to say goodbye to everyone I love- pain. Kai, the mentor I once thought of as more than just a mentor, hates me- pain. Ginny and Tyler die- pain. But it's time to think about now. And speaking of Kai, didn't he say I shouldn't trust the Careers? And now, two of them die for me! Another reason for me to distrust Kai. I know I also didn't trust them at the time, but I conveniently forget about that. "How long was I out?"
"A few days," Hadrian says.
"And who's left?"
Max answers this question. He says it so fast I think he must have really thought long and hard about it. "Me, the boy from 3, you, Hadrian, girls from 5, 8, and 9, and both from 12."
I feel dizzy. "Well that escalated quickly. There are only... 9 of us left?" 8 more to die before I go back home... I can't believe I just thought that. Me going home means Hadrian and Max dying. I don't think I could take that. So you're weak, I mock myself. Well okay, maybe I am. I definitely am.
"I think we need to get rid of Gunther," I say.
"Yeah, we do," Hadrian says. "This guy is probably our biggest enemy. From 12 of all places. Who would've thought."
"We have to hunt him," I say in a voice that's too brave, too daring for me.
"Yes. Not yet though," Max says. "You can't move around so well yet, can you?"
"I'm fine," I snap. I try to stand up. I can, and I can walk too, but I'm shaky. Trekking through the woods? Nah, don't think so. Fighting? Laughable.
"No, you're not," Hadrian agrees. "You better lay low awhile. Us too."
"Fine," I finally give in, but I don't like it.
A couple more days pass. I rest and Hadrian and Max take turns guarding. I talk to both of them a lot and get to know them even better. They are seriously my best friends in the world, besides my family of course. I never had any close friends in District 4, and sometimes I think back to school there and Hadrian being Mr. Popular and me being Miss Nobody. I was kind of a loser back then- hey, I'm still a loser, but at least I have friends now- but still I want those days back. When everything was so simple. There was no daily risk of death.
Hadrian tells me some stories about his alcoholic father and Max tells me about his family. His dad is a trainer and he resembles a pitbull terrier from Max's description, and Max's mom is real timid and shy, and kind of scared of his dad. It was one of those forced marriage things like you hear about in ancient cultures.
When I get too restless for talking, Max finds me a weapon I can use with one hand, like a knife, and I do practice bouts with either Hadrian or Max. I feel like my skills are improving, but it might just be that they're going easy on the injured girl.
Still Max and I are not officially a couple, but I can't help wanting to. Sometimes I think Hadrian might be catching on, because he'll occasionally leave us alone purposely, making some excuse to go do something.
After four more days with no trouble, although I can't shake the feeling that Gunther is somewhere in the bushes, watching us, there are a few more tributes dead. Now there are six of us left. I can pull the list from the top of my head. Max. Boy from 3 whose name I remember is Joey, but that's surprising because he's the kid who threw up during interviews and he seems like kind of a weakling. Haha, not any more than me, and I've gotten this far..., Hadrian, me, Gunther, and his District partner whose name I can't remember. If I ever did know it.
Then while I'm sparring with Max, a boy I don't recognize stumbles out of the woods. Going through the list in my mind I realize he must be Joey, the boy from 3, because I know everyone else who's still around. His clothes are torn and bloodstained, and he's filthy, and there are quite a few bleeding scratches down his chest. He staggers up to us and says in a slurred voice, "They're coming... they're coming..."
"Who's coming?" Max asks. He's in full warrior mode, to attention. I can only look at his scratches and wonder what could have done that do him. It looks like he tried to bandage them at one time, but the bandages are off now and he still hasn't stopped bleeding. "Who's coming?" Max repeated, more severely.
"The... uhh... the... the..." He can't seem to be able to speak. He mutters something under his breath.
"What's that?" Max asks harshly.
"MUTTATIONS!"
DUM DUM DUMMMMM! -Insert suspenseful music here- I'm so evil for ending a chapter that way.