Hi again guys! Chapter eight!
I know that I took forever to post this chapter, but real life got in the way, cause I have all my exams, prom, and all these other things going on right now, so there wasn't really any time to update this story.
Thank you for your reviews on the last chapter, it really means a lot!
This chapter's lesson:
The district 12 hand gesture: It's sort of a goodbye slash admiration kind of thing from district 12. It's when you put three fingers in front of your mouth and then stretches your hand out to the sky.
The Hob: The Hob is like the black market in district 12, where you can sell your game or old clothes e.c.t.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or the Hunger Games.
I present to you… Chapter eight!
Once she finished the song, Sarah didn't even have to look. She already knew that Rue had passed. Her presence had been like a shield from the games, from the reality, but now it was back to real life, and Rue was gone, she was dead.
"Boom!"
The cannons confirmed what Sarah already knew.
She tried to brush away the tears, but quickly realized that it was useless since new ones came all the time. She pushed away the tree a few feet away from Rue's body, and sat down next to her.
She couldn't breathe, she couldn't see. She could just cry and cry and cry. She gently stroke Rue's cheek and fixed her shirt a bit. She knew that the gamemakers wanted to pick up the body, but she didn't want to give Rue to them, she didn't want to just leave her.
What was Rue's family going to think of her? Where they going to think that she didn't care about Rue at all? That she had thought that Rue just was another tribute? No. She had to show everyone that Rue was special, that she mattered, both to Sarah but also to the world.
She looked around and discovered some poppies growing a few feet away from them. She rose slowly and walked towards them. Rue's voice echoed in her head,
"These are poppies, we have them next to my house back home. Aren't they beautiful?"
She leaned down and carefully plucked all of the flowers. Then she went back to Rue, and gently placed the flowers all over body. First so they covered the wound, then in her hair, and last around her face. When she finished, Rue could just as well be asleep.
She kissed Rue's forehead once, and pulled three fingers in front of her mouth and then stretched them out to Rue.
"Goodbye Rue."
Then she walked away, almost blinded by the tears, and listened as the hovercraft appeared to pick up Rue's body.
Just a few hours ago, everything had been so good, so normal. They had been talking, laughing, and almost forgetting that they were in the games. Now she was all alone, no one to talk to, and even the weather was worse.
She sat down on a rock as she realized that it was impossible for her to go anywhere. Rue… Twelve year old Rue was dead. She had saved Sarah from the tree, but Sarah hadn't been able to save her…
She sat on the rock for hours, crying and remembering both Rue, but also her sister. None of them existed any longer, none of them was alive. None of them was ever going to experience growing up, having kids, finding love…
"But I can." Sarah thought to herself. "I am alive, I still have a chance."
She rose and walked over to a small stream. She washed her face and refilled the bottles with new water. She had promised Rue that she was going to try, and she would keep that promise.
She walked for hours, deeper and deeper into the forest, leaving weak Sarah behind. She had to focus again, she had to stay alive. Huh, stay alive… Maybe Haymitch's advice wasn't that stupid after all.
She walked until sunset, but then the exhaustion from the day's happenings took over. She climbed up in a tree and quickly fell asleep, only to be awakened by the anthem a few hours later.
District 1: Silk
District 3: Louis
District 9: Romulus
District 11: Rue
She closed her eyes again and the anthem stopped playing. She wanted to sleep and to forget. She wasn't strong enough to think about Rue, or him for that matter. Sleep seemed like the perfect rescue, giving her a few hours away from reality, away from her problems.
She looked up at the sky and immediately knew that she was dreaming. She was lying on the meadow outside district 12. Around her grew flowers in every color possible, and above her the blue sky boasted with its lack of clouds. She closed her eyes for a second and listened to the mockingjay's singing, but quickly opened them again as she heard footsteps.
"Are you acting as bait?"
She turned around and there he was. Walking towards her with a big smile on his lips.
"Chuck! What are you doing here?" She asked confused.
He looked at her for a second with a strange look on his face.
"This is our meeting place, remember? Did you hit your head or something?"
This was a really weird dream, but she loved it. It was so vivid, it was like she was reliving one of their days in the woods. She knew that it was just a dream, and she knew that she had locked away her feelings, but dreaming about him didn't really count as thinking, at least that was what she thought, and she was going to enjoy this brief getaway to the fullest.
"Should we go?" He asked her pointed towards the forest.
"Can't we just sit here today? You know, just… talk?" She asked.
He looked at her with that strange face again, and then he nodded slowly.
"Of course." He said and sat down next to her. "What do you want to talk about?"
She thought about it for a while and they both sat and watched the scene in front of them.
"Chuck…" She started slowly. "Do you think heaven exists?"
"What?"
"You know, like when we die, what do you think happens?"
This was obviously not the question he had been expecting and he seemed to be thinking it through before he answered it.
"Yeah, I think so. I mean there has to be something, don't you think?"
"But let's say I killed someone, do you think that I would still go to heaven?"
He looked like he wanted to ask her why she was bringing up all these weird questions, but he didn't.
"I think you would Sarah. I know that you're a good person."
"Not if I killed you." She thought to herself.
"Do you want to hear what happened at the Hob today?" Chuck asked her in an attempt to make her feel better.
"Yeah, tell me."
"Boom!"
She opened her eyes. The sound of the cannon had awakened her. She wasn't in a sunny meadow with him, she was in a dark, cold forest all alone.
She jumped down from the tree, and froze as she heard someone behind her.
"Hello there sweetie."
She turned around slowly. Once she had, her heart sank. They were four, all of them careers, and she was all alone.
Casey, Carina, Shaw and Olivia were standing just a few feet away from her, all of them with weapons in their hands. She knew that she was going to die, but she wasn't going to cry like a baby, she was going to die with dignity, both for herself, but also for her father. He didn't need to see her crying and screaming.
"I said hello." The boy from four, Shaw, said again, this time a bit louder.
"I heard you the first time." She answered, a lot cockier than she actually felt.
"Oh shut up Walker!" Carina said angrily and pointed her knife dangerously close to Sarah's face.
"Stop it Carina! I want to finish this one…" Shaw said and walked up to Sarah. He slowly stroked her cheek.
"Such a shame really, with a beauty like you. But still, you're from twelve after all…"
She wanted to slap him in the face, but the fear of a more painful death kept her still.
He stepped away from her again.
"Casey, my knife." He said and stretched out his hand to the tall boy from two.
Casey handed him the knife, and looked over at Sarah. There was something in his eyes… If she didn't know better she would have said that it was pity.
"Prepare to die…" He threw the knife and she closed her eyes.
She heard a sound indicating that the knife had hit something, and then a loud thump when someone or something hit the ground.
Why wasn't there any pain? She opened her eyes slightly and looked down at her body, there were no wounds. She looked up and took in the scene in front of her:
Shaw, Olivia, Casey and Carina were all standing with their mouths open in surprise. They were all staring at something on the ground. She looked down at the ground and felt her own mouth open slightly.
He was here, it wasn't just a dream this time, he was here. Chuck was lying on the ground with an expression of pain in his face. But why was he lying there? Then she noticed it: He had Shaw's knife stuck in his left thigh, really deep. What had happened?
She looked up again and everyone began to move, the moment of surprise and peace was over and now she was going to die.
She looked down at Chuck, not knowing what to do, and then it hit her: He had saved her. He had jumped in front of her, and now he was dying. But why?
"Chuck?"
He looked deep into her eyes and gave her a sad smile, and then he reached for something in his pocket.
"Sarah run." He whispered to her hoarsely, as he pushed some buttons on the little blue and green item he had in his hands.
"What? What are you going to…"
"Now!"
She started running, but barely made it a few meters before the ground exploded, and everything turned black.
I know that this chapter was short, and to be honest I know that I've had better ones, and I'm really sorry. I just felt like I really needed to post something and this was what I had the time to write. I promise that the next chapter will be longer, and I can promise a lot of fluff! Da da da… Please leave a review!
