Chapter Seven; The Final Tribute
Katniss and Peeta looked on in terror and awe as fire, earth, air and water swirled about them. The ground shook beneath their feet. A sheet of fire drove them towards the lake, even as the rain eroded their alternative paths. The wind was blowing so hard, it ripped apart the forest. There was no safe place left, except maybe the Cornucopia.
"Cato will be there!" Katniss screamed to her companion. He nodded, limping along. Peeta was tired, and injured. He would not be too much help in a fight. She decided to try and keep him alive. If her plan worked, she would need all the help she could get.
Monstrous beasts appeared at their backs. Katniss stopped for half a beat to fell one. The arrow entered through one eye and came out the other side. She felt momentary satisfaction- until it stubbornly got back up. It hobbled into a tree with a squishing sound, then walked off to die. Apparently these monsters were tough.
Peeta grabbed her arm as he passed her. He was determined to keep her moving. They arrived at the clearing in record time.
Cato was there. He was panting from his own run. Upon their approach, he fell into a stance, brandishing a spear. Then his eyes fell on the mutts.
"No…" He breathed, and he clambered up the horn. As his hand reached the very top, an arrow pierced it. Peeta used his body as a rudimentary ladder. Climbing all the way up, he turned and helped up Katniss, oblivious to the fact that Cato had started his ascent as well. The three scrambled as far from the beasts as possible. Katniss shot one in the spine. The rest attempted to scramble up the slick side. They were especially attracted to the bloody hole the tributes made seconds earlier.
They continued to wait for instructions from their master until they figured none were coming, and fell on their injured member. Disgusting yelps followed by a death howl shook the bones of the tributes.
Peeta turned to Cato, "Well, at least now we know you're going to follow the plan."
The other boy was skeptical, "And how's that going to work?" The world around them was falling apart, but boys would be boys. They had to have their big confrontation.
"Because the plan is to kill you," Peeta grimaced. His leg, damaged as it was, had started to bleed again. Katniss was no good at all at hand-to-hand. Cato smirked.
The two males fell on each other immediately. Katniss tied a rope around her partner's good leg. That way when he slipped off, she could save him.
Cato was winning the fight. Although tired, exhausted and dehydrated, he was not nearly as weak as his opponent. His training forced him to keep going, even as he and his opponent banged down the side of the horn.
When they fell, Katniss attached a rope to an arrow and fired it into the spine of another tracker on the opposite side of the horn. The arrow lodged itself in deeply. When the boys dangled, the dog ran under the horn to nip at them, whipping the boys back up, then down as it lost interest.
The yoyo effect tortured Peeta. He was sore, tired, and losing his patience. The rope was slipping off his leg.
Finally, he yanked free, plunging himself and Cato into a meat grinder. Distantly, he heard Katniss screaming for him. She was upset. Maybe she cared after all…
Then he saw the arrow hit Cato right between the eyes. She killed her last foe. There was some peace to be found in all this: Katniss would be okay. She would go home, marry Gale, have her children, and move on with her life.
A whistle sounded in the distance, and the hounds disappeared. Peeta swore under his breath. His leg was shot. There was no way he would be able to use it, maybe ever. It was also likely that this fight was not over. A warning warble sounded nearby. Soon an airship whined overhead.
"Now, Peeta, let's get out of here!" Screamed Katniss as the claw descended. Since the ship was on auto pilot, it grabbed Cato and pulled him up. Peeta grabbed onto the body. His fellow tribute helped him climb higher onto the claw. She hugged him close, and it almost seemed like she truly cared about him. The line shuddered. The creature had mounted the body in an attempt to keep the two trapped.
Katniss was struggling. She had to keep her own footing safe while keeping her 'boyfriend' from falling, and she also had to deal with the monster. The creature snarled. Its cloak was deactivated. It was nasty looking. Katniss had encountered many animals, but none were ferocious as this creature. It grabbed Peeta by his bad leg.
"Really, that's what you go for, you freak?" He hollered angrily, "Every time with the leg! I have another leg you know!" He was angry, and in pain. Katniss thought hollowly that the line was slowing down, and would soon stop. They would not make it to the airship. She told Peeta.
"Peeta you have to shake him off! The line can't hold this much weight!" The panic was etched into her face. The line trembled from the fight. The three could barely hold on. He could tell she was actually scared.
Her fellow tribute looked into her eyes with the gaze of a man smitten. He was shaking his leg back and forth trying to free himself. The creature snarled. Peeta took a breath, and launched away from Cato.
"Peeta, no!" Screamed Katniss as the line ascended into the ship. The two landed with a bang. There was nothing she could do now to bring him back. She ascended into the airship helplessly.
A.N. Oooooh! A cliffie! Many thanks to loyal readers (i.e. Predator Chick) how about somebody ELSE giving me some in-spur-A-she-own? Post a review, get a chapter. I've finished this one, so don't worry about timing. Now, I don't know how to set up a poll, so SOMEBODY let me know if you think I should make a sequel.
