Chapter Ten: Final Fight
Katniss did not want to get up. Her friends were dead. Her enemies were probably dead too. But something inside her told her to get up. If she did not get up, Prim would be in trouble.
Prim; the thought of the little girl spurred the tribute to her feet. If those things got out, her little sister did not stand a chance.
Katniss stumbled through the area. The screen above the field crackled to life. It had only been a day or two, but seeing it up there sent relief down the tribute's spine. If somebody was in the airship that meant that a human monster was in control.
Maybe they were announcing a new rule in which she could go home. Or maybe they were announcing that no champion had been able to beat this 'queen' thing and that she was royally screwed.
The screen was black, but there appeared to be fires in the back. The sound of crying met her ears.
"Hello, is anyone out there?" Asked a scared voice, "I swear, we were just picking up a dead tribute, and…. This, this thing popped out of the body. We didn't know what it was, or what it could do. Now everybody's dead. Please, please someone help us!"
Katniss resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course the Capital would screw up another game. She wondered how a government that had been running this for years when there were killer aliens running around.
"The airship has crashed, and… you need my help to put the shield down!"
That statement made Katniss reconsider her options. Obviously, if the bugs came from humans, the more humans they killed the more that could escape. Also, if they lowered the shield, then the bugs could get out too. It was better to keep them confined on the island. There was no choice; she had to go to the airship. Her time on the last one told her that it kept itself in hover mode above the Cornucopia, and that was probably where it was.
She made her way back to the beach. It was time to kill some bugs. On the way, she met with an exhausted Johanna. The two were too tired and depressed to take shots at one another.
They found the airship, but there were monsters on the outside. The girls considered their options, "We could trick them into going into the gas."
"How do we do that?"
"Fine, maybe we blow the airship up!"
"How do we do that?" The question kept cropping up in their conversation.
"Is that all you know right now?"
"No, I am also aware of how perpetually boned we are."
"Oh great, here comes Haymitch."
Admittedly, the arrival of her teacher did inspire her. Maybe Bee Tee could rig up a machine to kill the monsters. Haymitch banged a couple of swords together, "Hey, stupid! Look this way!"
The monsters spotted him and started to lope towards him. He splashed out into the water, and they followed.
"That fool is going to get himself killed," Johanna grumbled. Then an explosion sounded.
"They rigged the mines again!" Katniss exclaimed. Once a good strategy had been found, others were bound to use it. Bee Tee had no doubt rigged it up to kill them.
"C'mon, we have to get to the airship," Johanna grabbed her junior and ran full-out to the ship.
"Do you think they killed the queen?"
The ship bent upwards as a massive monster smashed its way through. In its hands was the worker who sent out the distress signal.
"No!" He screamed before being killed in one of the bloodiest ways possible. Katniss saw Johanna flinch.
Haymitch was gone. It was up to the two of them.
"Alright, here's the plan. We blow the ship up," Katniss figured what she needed, "Go get the other end of the wire and bring it here."
Johanna nodded and took off. Katniss stood up and ran to the ship. She nocked an arrow and let it loose into the mouth of one of the creatures. That got its attention. She let another one loose. Its left leg was injured.
Katniss leapt into the gaping hole. She grabbed a large wire and stuck it into the monster. It howled in pain, drawing the attention of its queen. When it collapsed, Katniss smashed it apart at the beam supporting the mother monster. The acid blood disintegrated the beam.
The queen fell into the ship. The other monsters followed. Katniss hit the 'off' button for the shield. It also controlled the clock for the island. The tribute moved up the time from ten minutes to two. She then ran for the claw. She remembered the route from the last time she spent in the airship. It seemed a bad sign to her that she was in an airship for dead tributes.
Katniss heard snarling behind her. That spurred her on. Somewhere outside of the ship Johanna was connecting the fuel tanks to the lightning tree. The plan originally was to somehow lock the aliens on the ship. Now there was no time to try and lock them in a room.
The queen was ripping through the ship. Katniss found holes at the other side beyond the edge, and leapt. She felt her heart pounding as the clock ticked to zero. She leapt from the water to the land, just out of reach of the explosion. The aliens fried. Another lightning bolt, and another one fired, then all was silent. Katniss felt her senses come alive. They all had to be dead, they just had to be.
The entire island was malfunctioning. Suddenly everything went very, very quiet. Johanna stood on a rock hundreds of yards away calling for her ally. Within minutes of the shield dropping, airships came in and destroyed the island. Katniss hid in the platform inside the tube.
She watched as they annihilated everything.
Chapter 10
Scooter and Tiny went at it. Tiny never stood a chance. The second he deactivated his gun, Toy shot him. Not a lot of honor here. The two wrestled a few minutes. Then Tiny took the castor and shot his fellow alien, or rather non-human being, with a net.
Toy was overwhelmed, "Right, now let's get this equipment back to camp."
He spit out blood with his whoop because Scooter put a blade through him. I figured out why they wanted his head. Somehow he got put with two guys who knew he would turn on his allies, and they tried to kill him. And we helped him. You know what I hate about the games? It's not the killing, people die all the time. And children, well, kids are naturally vicious. I hate the alliance system, "Hey, let's work together so I only have to kill you later."
It's stupid. There should be teams. Well, I suppose that defeats the purpose of breaking the spirit of the people. Oh well, at least I know what I have to do now.
I slash Scooter across his back. Yeah, I can sneak up on him. He counters with a wallop. I take the hit. It sends me into a weapons rack. No laser toys, but nice knives. I pick a couple up, "I love these knives. I should take some home."
I look around at the trophies, "And I'm taking your skull too." My hand illustrates my point. He growls.
We re-engage. He tries to use the blaster, but I throw a knife, knocking it. My first attack had damaged it, so I was not too worried. Besides, I had already beaten him with my brain; he just did not know it yet. He did not understand teamwork. Toy unloaded his pistol into Scooter's back. I drop-kicked the beast.
He stumbled. I punched him in the face three times before he put me in a bear-hug. The shock made me drop my knife. I put my hands around his neck.
Toy spoke up, about home. Apparently the freedom on the Reserve was insufficient for him. He wanted to be buried on earth, in a place called Land of the Ire. I nodded my head.
Now, I will share some of my philosophy with you. There's no better time than when you are in death-locked combat with an alien.
The problem with people like Scooter is that they are stupid. Oh, they think they're so smart, plotting and scheming. Take Katniss for example. She spent so much of her time plotting against my supposed coming betrayal; she was not prepared to fight the monster on earth. These horrible betrayers don't factor in honor and teamwork because they don't believe in it. And when a three hundred fifty pound monster is crushing your spine, it makes sense to free the other monster.
See, when I threw that first knife, I did so because I knew it would land close enough for Tiny to use. And by now he has no doubt cut himself free, picked up the other knife I dropped.
And…. *thunk* he just embedded both of them into the back of Scooter. My lungs ached. I collapsed.
Tiny collapsed beside me, letting out a war-rage bellow. It's loud and annoying, but at this point I feel like it's necessary.
I bump him indicating Scooter, "Another trophy, right?"
He stares, and then nods. He presses a button of my voice recording, "Take some home."
It sounds creepy, but it doesn't bother me much, "I want to go home."
I point to Toy, and the stars. Tiny nods his head. He presses a button, I see a flash of light, and I'm gone.
A.N. now, you guys haven't given me two reviews for a chapter HOWEVER! I guess I ought to update.
I'm writing twice as hard here. Let me know what's up.