Here it is. The feast. There will be many killed. And I will say we get to at least the top ten, but you'll have to read to find out more. So this is exciting! It's obvious Kayta's gonna win, but who do you think will come in 2nd? 3rd? 4th? And so on. Tell me in the comments, guys! And then wait to see if you were right in the next chapter, which will be coming out soon. :) By the way, as soon as the victor has won, the next chapter will be a little dedication to all the real people who were tributes and then the story will continue. Thanks!
"Hi, tributes!" he called out excitedly. "There's gonna be a feast and you're all invited! I wish I could come... I'm hungry!" He gave a sigh of desire.
A husky older voice snapped, "Keep goin', boy!"
Hurriedly, Claudius continued, "Meet at the Cornucopia at noon for any item you need. For some of you, this may be your last chance! 'Kay, have fun! Bye!"
Thorne and I exchanged an uneasy glance. His eyes were ever-so-slightly pleading.
"We're going," I confirmed. "Might as well kill 'em off. We all hide in the Cornucopia and then go out one at a time, one of us for one of them only. When we're all out, we help each other. If you let your tribute reach their bag and get away, and I see, I'll kill you."
I let that hang in the air a moment before adding, "Don't go unless I say or five people'll go out at once and that equals disaster. Got that?"
"Got it," they chorused.
I nodded. "Good. Let's go."
Twenty minutes later we all sat silently in the Cornucopia. The packs sat on the table, untouched, so they figured we hadn't come yet.
Just then there was a horrifed scream and Fawn burst into the clearing with an angry, sword-wielding Flutter chasing her.
Jade followed after Flutter, her face a mask of rage, gripping a knife. Flutter turned easily, took an arrow from her quiver, notched it, and let it fly. It hit Jade's neck and she collapsed to the ground with the boom of a canon. Flutter continued after Fawn, as if she hadn't stopped at all.
Nothing stopped her.
Diamond grabbed an axe from her bag and I gently lay a hand on hers and looked in her eyes.
The hand fell to her side.
Paint came trotting from the woods, carrying a sword. She knelt besides Jade's corpse and inspected it before looking back up to watch Fawn and Flutter. In the next moment, before anyone could even think, an arrow was lodged in her skull and a canon was booming.
It took me a moment to realize the arrow was from Tetra. I looked at her and then at Flutter. She'd given up her chase on Fawn and was now walking towards us.
We were cornered.
"Oh, Gemma!" She called in a sing song voice. "I found something to play with!"
Why didn't anyone kill her? Why couldn't anyone just end her right here, right now. They could, if they wanted to.
I could, if I wanted to. So.. why didn't I?
I stepped out into the open, signaling for the others to follow.
They did and we stood together in front of her.
"Run if you know what's good for you," Flutter purred as Gemma emerged with her axes, a devilish grin on her face.
River was stupid enough to believe her. He ran, only to fall forever as Flutter's arrow peirced his skull.
"Oops," she said, smirking. "Did I do that?"
A canon boomed. I stared uncomprehendingly at the body. I didn't like him much, but he was my partner and who wouldn't feel just a tinge of remorse?
I bet Flutter wouldn't.
A canon boomed, scaring all of us, but we quickly recovered.
In the next moment, Hawk had fallen to the ground, an axe lodged in his chest.
"My bad," Gemma grinned.
"Diamond," he gasped, like he was a fish out of water.
"Hawk!" Diamond screamd and fell to her knees beside him.
A canon went off.
Romeo and Juliet. The tragic story Pearl once read me. In the end, both lovers died.
Diamond let out a long wail and when she finally ended in a serious of violent sobs, a twig was heard snapping just behind us. Thorne was on her before I could even turn. Fawn stood, a sword lodged deep in her stomach. She cried out, a pitiful sound, and then fell to the ground. Thorne, a wide malicious grin on his face, jumped on top of her, pinning her down. A knife appeared in his hands and he raised it up, but before he could bring it down, Fawn's canon shot. He let out an anguished cry but then continued to stab her corpse mulitple times, as if she was still alive.
I guess some go crazy without their daily dose of violence and blood.
I stared at Dlutter, her and I being the only one's not involved in the fight. Diamond still knelt beside Hawk. To my surprise, she kissed his cold lips. I smiled sadly and turned away from the horrible sight.
Genna was running towards Thorne, who still joyusly stabbed long-dead Fawn.
I turned back to FLutter. This was the end of Kayta. Any breath could be my last.
I searched Flutter's cold blue eyes in search of something- anything. Pain, anger, ear, sadness, remorse.
I found nothing.
She was completely blank.
"How do you do it?" I called out to her.
"Excuse me?"
"How do you do it? Hide your emotions as if you were, like, a tree or something?"
She smiled, and for a tenth of a second she looked like a small, distant little girl. "Maybe it's because I grew up with them."
District 7. Lumber, meaning trees. Right.
"Cool," I said, unsure of what else I could possibly say.
I bet in another world, another life, we'd be friends.
I pointed this out, having nothing else to say and hoping to postpone my death for as long as possible.
Flutter snorted. "Probably. In a world were instead of districts there were states. And there were no Games."
She obviously head considered this before.
"What was life like?" I quested softly. "Ya know, before."
Her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed, but she softed and looked at the clouds in the pale blue sky.
"Happy family. Mom, dad, sister, me. Nice home, good money, good life. One day, Daddy doesn't come home from work. Next day, my sister doesn't come back from school. Next day, Momma doesn't get back from her friend's house. So I'm left alone. I fade from the world. My shell slowly grew and hardened. Now, three years later, here I am in the Games with my best friend Huff."
I had a sudden urge to hug her, but I ignored it and instead muttered, "I'm so sorry."
She scowled. "It's cool; it made me who I am today. Flutter the great and powerful."
"So you're glad you lost your family? Glad you lost the life you could have had?"
"I learned something. You don't need love to win the Game."
"Love helps."
"Oh? Diamond and Hawk were in love. Look what happened to Lover Boy!"
"Look what happened to Namya and Ragen in the 23rd Games! They made it to the top 3- with love."
"And then died. Love is a weakness. I can be as ruthless as I want because when I get home I don't have to worry about the ones I love not loving me anymore for killing all those people."
"But if you win, what's there to go home to?"
"A safe, good home. No more Games to worry about. But to get to my future I have to get out of my present, and to do that I have to eliminate my enemies. We'll start with you." Flutter reached behind her to retrieve an arrow. "Run while you can, Kayta. But soon you'll find that there's no where to go."
I stared her down and only looked up when an agonizing scream jostled the silence.
Diamond stood by Hawk's body, an axe in hand, looking ragged, terrifying, and a little mentally unstable. Thorne had given up on Fawn, who now had perhaps fifty holes in her body, and he now carefully collected every pack. Gemma crept towards him, an axe in her hand.
In the next moment, an axe was flying at Gemma and then it hit her back and she fell at the boom of a canon.
"Payback," Diamond hissed. She turned towards Flutter. "Who's great and powerful now?"
Flutter stared at her, fear and anger contortin her features, before she was blank again and took off running.
She was quick and by the time I'd prepared a knife she was gone.
I cursed, but then recovered quickly and called out, "Thorne? Tetra? You okay?"
Thorne came, holding all the packs. "That witch, Gemma, was trying to kill me!" He added some worse language and during that time Tetra appeared.
"I went into the woods so I could get anyone who was coming and found the 6 male. Shot to the neck and boom."
"Nice," I told her. "If we have the things people need to survive in the packs, they may die off and then we just have to deal with each other. 'Cept Flutter and Huff; we hunt them down ourselves. Now let's go home."
As we started walking, hovercrafts began to pick up the bodies. As Hawk rose upward, Diamond let out a sob.
I went to her and wrapped my arms around her. "It's alright, it's okay."
She didn't answer. She just cried and cried.
I rocked her back and forth, back and forth.
When we'd rocked for a good five minutes, I stepped back. I didn't see Tetra and Thorne anywhere in sight.
I called them a harsh word and then said, "They left! Probably used us up and they left us defenseless."
"At least we have most of our supplies and our weapons," Diamond reasoned, sniffing. "We can live off that, right?"
"Yeah, but Thorne has all of the Feast backpacks."
"We're the skilled ones, at least, and the most liked in the Capital."
"I guess. We'll go to Autumn; I think it's empty now. We can climb a tree until they're all gone and then we can get out together somehow."
Diamond didn't answer. She just stared at her feet.
After an hour, we made it deep enough in the forest to feel safe. It was maybe two o' clock, so we still had loads of time until we should have been getting some rest. We reached a tall tree with lots of branches.
"Can you climb?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"I can't."
"Sure."
"No, I can't."
"How can you not know how to climb a tree?"
"Trees and fish don't exactly get along. I'm four, Diamond, District Four."
"Kay, there's, like, no trees back home! I learned on my grandmother's old oak when I was seven! How could you not know?"
I shrugged, getting annoyed bewilderment. "I don't know. Just- come on!"
She smiled and grabbed my hand. "I'll teach you, Kay."
An hour later we sat in the tree in sleeping bags tied to the branches. We were scratched and bruised but relatively happy.
I'd thought Diamond had gotten over Hawk, but there were a few tell-tale signs she hadn't. Her nose was runny, her eyes were red, she occasionally whispered his name, and she sat in her sleeping bag, hugging her knees.
When The Fallen were shown and Hawk's face apppeared, she began to sob.
I hugged her close and watched River appear, followed by Scrap, Gemma, Paint, Jade, and Fawn. After it ended and Diamond settled down, we figured out who was left.
"You, Tetra, Thorne, me, Tillie, FLutter, and Huff" I said. "Seven left."
"Tillie firt. Then me. Then Tetra. Then you. Then Huff. Then Thorne. Flutter'll win."
I bit my lip. "Yeah. Probably. But hope not."
Suddenly Diamond cried out. "This doesn't end, does it? No! No! Take me, Hawk! Take me!"
She was screaming hysterically and I couldn't do a thing about it.
My best friend was losing her mind. All I could do was hug her and rock her.
She inally succombed to sleep and I murmered a prayer and whispered right before I fell asleep beside her, "I guess things are going to get much worse before they get better."
