Here we go! More action in this chapter! Hope you guys like it :) Please review!
On the seventh night in the arena, the temperature drops and frost begins to form on our rooftop. We wake up at midnight with chattering teeth. "We've got to get inside," Leris says, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. With numb fingers, we gather as much food and as many weapons as we can and shuffle to the stairwell. The combined forces of Falcon and me can barely force open the frozen door, but we manage and haul ourselves inside. Too exhausted to return for any other supplies, we crash right there inside the door. We're dead meat if anyone else shows up or if someone wakes up and decides to get ahead in the Games. I cup my hands over my mouth and nose to try and thaw them out, and that's how I fall asleep. When we come to, the temperature has again risen and from the tiny window we can see that the frost is gone. However, there's another, more life-threatening problem. Hundreds of the killer pigeons have settled onto our camp, and by the looks of the makeshifts nests, they won't be leaving soon. Our salvaged packs only contain enough food for one day- the rest of our stores are being pecked through by the birds.
"We'll have to leave," decides Azalea. Falcon and Leris murmur assent, and I nod curtly, my lips cracked and pained by the cold. I'm stiff from rolling down several stairs in my sleep, and walking down sixty flights of the stairs almost kills me. How embarrassed would my district be if one of their tributes died from falling down some stairs? It's the eight day, and there are eight tributes left. I love it when coincidences like that happen. One year, when I was no more than six, the Games lasted for twenty-three days, with one tribute dying each day. The Gamemakers made that happen; they sent an earthquake to stop the bloodbath, and drove tributes together each day until only one remained. But this year, I'm sure a Gamemaker somewhere is planning to mess that up today.
We decide to go back to the Cornucopia, to pick over what's left of the Career stronghold. We buried some food, and Blossom wouldn't have had enough space in her pack to take it all with her. And even if every tribute fully armed themselves after I poisoned the Career boys, there would still be a good-sized pile of weapons left over. I think Falcon was irritated that I went with the Careers even after my brother was killed by one of the brutes last year, but it meant relative safety for a while. Even if I was the one who terminated that safety. It doesn't matter now.
When we reach the park, the first thing I see is the empty vial of nightshade that contained three deaths, four if you count Ashe's. I'm still pondering what her plans would have been if Hector had not seen her gift when he emerges from the Cornucopia. Chas, Taylor's district partner, wields an axe and a small stun gun that I recognize from the Career stash. Falcon's holding his double-bladed staff and my swords are easily unsheathed, but Leris's bow is unstrung and Azalea only has a long knife. How overconfident did we get? Chas attacks Azalea first. Her sword scrapes along the axe blade and she manages to deflect the powerful strike, but he darts in on her other side and shoots her in the arm with the stun gun. Her right side is paralyzed so she can't use her knife, and he buries the axe in her stomach. No cannon fires. Her inevitable death will be agonizing. Leris is fumbling with the bowstring when Chas swings the axe at her, and she ends up preventing the axe from cleaving her head in two with the bow, which splinters. She twists to avoid the stun gun, but her momentum carries her directly into the path of the axe, which cleanly decapitates her. My heart freezes in fury. BOOM. Azalea still lives, but blood is pooling around her torso and her agonized cries have faded to whimpers. Chas finishes her with another hard blow to her gut. BOOM. Now I have both swords unsheathed. I scream at Chas, "THOSE WERE MY FRIENDS!" I don't care who hears. Enough adrenaline is coursing through my veins to slaughter them all. He looks at me and sneers.
"It's unwise to make friends in the Games, girl," he jeers. I'll show him how unwise he is. The axe slams against my sword, jarring my entire body. I jab at his chest, aiming for the heart, but he dodges. Trying to stun me, he swings both weapons at once. So do I. The sword that collided with his axe snaps at once and leaves a gash on my arm, but the one that was blocking the stun gun overshoots the weapon and severs his hand with a wet squelch. He clutches the stump and screams in pain. He has dropped his weapon, and I am almost satisfied. Just one more blow…
Falcon charges in form behind me and his staff is smashing into Chas's skull. Glory stealer. The District 3 boy coughs up a mouthful of blood and collapses. BOOM. Falcon has to drag me away from the park to prevent me from mauling the body of the boy who killed those two little girls. I trip over a pothole and Falcon plops me down on the steps of an office building. My fighting spirit has deserted me, leaving me to care for the gash on my arm and no energy to care for it. Not even energy enough to protest when Falcon carries me to the roof. A few hours later he returns with two packs of food, two sleeping bags, and a clattering pile of weather. As he sharpens his staff blades, I choose new gear. A dozen darts that are easily concealed in my jacket, a belt with sheaths for three knives, and the daggers that fit, and the lone sword in the pile are immediately snatched up. I top off my new arsenal with a coil of rope, whatever that could be used for. I hope the Gamemakers are happy with projecting three faces tonight, I think, tears filling my eyes as Azalea and Leris appear in the night sky after Chas.
I sleep for much of Day Nine. When I finally awake, Falcon is just climbing back onto the roof. I snatch the bandage he offers me and wrap up my scabbed arm. "No deaths yet today," he says as he crouches next to me. I would have woken up if the cannon had fired, but I'll let him chat. "I'm gonna make you take an extra-long watch tonight, Sol," he says, half0jokingly. I roll my eyes.
"You do that, Falcon." I roll over and go back to sleep.
NOOO! Azalea! You were so adorable! Leris, with her wolves that she'll never get back to! :'( It was fun killing off Chas. Please review and keep reading!
