Chapter ten: Cauterizing entertainment
My knees buckled beneath me from shock; I gritted my teeth trying not to cry out in pain. I held a hand to my wound, it was bleeding far worse then I would have thought. I didn't even have time to attack him back before Cyri jumped in front of me.
"Stop!" she screamed, raising her hands in front of Sorrel to stop him from attacking again. "Are you crazy?" she yelled, turning around to face me, lifting the hand that was over my wound so she can look at it. "It looks bad, we better get you to Jessamine" she helped me stand up and I heard a low growl coming from Sorrel.
"She's not going anywhere near my sister" he raised his sword to strike at me again before Cyri interrupted him.
"You have completely lost your mind!" She lowered me down slowly before taking out a tiny dagger in her belt I just noticed she had with her.
"She killed him Cyri, you know it as well as I do" he hissed at her, but she wasn't fazed. For a twelve year old she was really strong.
"And how do I know that Sorrel? Do you have any idea what bottle Dragon drunk from?" she said pointing to the place Dragon once laid, before the hovercraft took his body. The bottle still laid there, opened and on the ground.
Sorrel stared at her vacantly "She grabbed it from our water supply; she could have laced it nobody was paying attention" He glared at me, but I really didn't care at the moment, I was only focusing on keeping a good remainder of my blood inside of my body.
"It came from the river Sorrel! Did any of us see him clean it last night?" She said, and that made me think, did I kill him with my poison or did the river kill him. I guess I will never know. Sorrel looked momentarily stunned "that bottle's from the stream?" he asked, and Cyri nodded, lowering her dagger; she obviously made her point.
He looked at me, and by now I probably looked paler than I usually do. I started to shake from the distress of it all "you didn't do this?" he asked me; all I could do was nod, I couldn't come up with enough strength to muster up the word 'no.' He nodded, either not prepared to go into this any further, or because he actually believed me. Something tells me not to scratch out the possibility of option two.
He equipped his sword and walked over to me leaning down, placing one of his arms underneath my knees and the other under my back, and before I had time to object he was already cradling me as we walked back to camp.
It didn't seem like it took as long as last time, it was probably because I kept blacking out. The blood loss really took its toll and I couldn't seem to stay focused long enough to say anything.
When we got back to camp Jessamine immediately pounced on us, asking various questions. Sorrel lowered me onto a sleeping bag carefully, but I still had to bite my lip against the pain, every movement hurt more than the previous one.
"Where's Dragon?" she asked, looking at Sorrel and Cyri expectantly as she grabbed the first aid kit. They both shook their heads and she didn't press the matter any further.
She looked down at me, placing a hand on my forehead "She's burning up" she looked at Sorrel "how did this happen?" Sorrel shifted uncomfortably on his feet before looking at Cyri, she scoffed "He stabbed her" she said, climbing up the nearest tree and carving off some of the bark with her dagger. "The lunatic freaked out" she laughed and Jessamine looked at Sorrel, probably expecting some sort of explanation, but he just shrugged and sat down, grabbing the freshly caught rabbit and began skinning it.
Jessamine sighed and turned her attention to me, "I need to look at it sweetie" she took my hand that was covering my wound off; I took a glance at it. It was a big gash that looked extremely deep, I wasn't scared about what it damaged on the outside, but was terrified of what it might have injured on the inside.
She examined it a little while before she spoke, but every second no words were coming out of her mouth it made me more nervous for her response. "It doesn't look like it hit any major organs" she said, taking two of her fingers and opening the wound more so she can look deeper into it. I winced "But it does look like it might have tore some muscle tissue" she looked into her first aid kit and took out one of the damp disinfectant cloths that she used on my cheek yesterday.
It felt like she was rubbing harder than she did the day before, and when I asked her about it she said since the wound was deeper there is a higher chance of infection. I stared at her for a long time; her hair was frizzy from the humidity but it was dry because she spent all day in the tree cavern. Her eyes were completely focused on my injury, like her entire world was all focused on my wound.
"How do you know so much about all of this?" I murmured, still unable to speak any louder than a whisper. She looked up at me with kind eyes, a small smile making its way to her face. "Every district has a healer" she focused back on my wound "my father was that healer" she said slowly, like it pained her to talk about, but I was trying not to focus on the pain so I had to continue the conversation.
"Was?" I knew asking this question might bring up hard times, but I needed a distraction and I was equally curious.
She nodded "He died a few years back by execution" she said, lowering her voice, probably so the Capital can't hear what she's saying. "Runaways from District twelve and some from ten and nine" she looked up at Cyri who fell into a dreamless sleep, but she continued anyway "they would need medical care, and he would always take them in, feed them, heal them, and send them on their way" She dropped another cloth, and I realized there were about five blood covered disinfectant cloths on the floor. She grabbed another one, working on the sixth.
"How'd they find out about it?" I asked, referring to the Capital, I looked up and saw Sorrel now gutting the rabbit, if he was paying attention to our conversation he didn't show it.
"One of his patients got caught, and they tortured the poor man until he spoke" she said, continuing to clean my wound, I have a feeling it's never going to stop bleeding. "So they found him and executed him, I took over from there" I nodded, deciding to stop meddling in her business any further.
"This wound is too deep, I could stitch it up but if you're going to fight, the stitches might pull" She said, biting her lip "unless you plan to lay low for a while" she looked at me and I automatically shook my head. I need to fight; there is no question about it. These are the Hunger Games, you fight back or you die a coward. I know I'm going out, but I want to go out a fighter, not someone trembling in the shadows.
She nodded "Then there's only one option" she sighed and looked apologetically at me, "we're going to have to cauterize it" I froze; she wants to burn my injury closed? Wow, this is going to be painful. I nodded and she turned around, telling Sorrel of the plan.
I bit my lip trying to remain calm as Sorrel made a fire and Jessamine took off her jacket and rolled it into a ball, handing it to me. I looked at her questioningly "You put it in your mouth, to drown out any screams, we don't want anyone to know where we are" I nodded and she smiled reassuringly at me.
"We might need help from your sponsors though" She looked into the trees, probably speaking more to the Greyti then to me. Just as she said it though, a silver parachute fell from the sky, attached to it was a metal bar, at one end was a point; the other was a flat surface. This was purposefully for cauterization. Its not like the Capital will need to cauterize anyone's wounds, they have high-tech medical stuff that doesn't cause pain to the patient and heals them pretty fast.
She scrutinized it for a while before nodding in approval "perfect" she handed it to Sorrel and he placed it over the flame. I watched it slowly heat up as Jessamine ripped off a piece of cloth from my shirt and split it in two tying one on the top of my wound around my waist, just above my belly button and one on the bottom just below. She woke up Cyri and told her what we were going to do; she nodded and jumped down from the tree, sitting at my side.
Sorrel took the cauterization dowel from the flame and handed it to Jessamine, coming over to sit at my other side. Jessamine took a deep breath and looked at me "ready?" she asked, and I shook my head, taking a deep breath and biting down on the jacket. She nodded and looked at Sorrel and Cyri, instantly they both grabbed my arms holding me in place.
I closed my eyes and not three seconds later the pain hit me in waves. It was beyond excruciating. I learned how to handle pain in the Academy but never to this extent. I tried to keep in my cries of pain for as long as I could but it was becoming too much and I bit into the cloth so hard my gums started bleeding. The burn was like the touch of a thousand flames and it only kept getting worse.
Jessamine tried to sooth me and tell me that it would be over soon but my ears started ringing and my head started pounding, I couldn't take anymore. I was just about to scream out and tell her to stop when my body went limp and everything went black.
When I woke up it was daylight, my muscles were stiff and a cloth was on my forehead. I sat up—removing the cloth—and looked around. Jessamine was by my side in an instant; shoving pills in my hand and water in the other "it's about time you got up" she smiled "take those" she said, referring to the pills in my hand. "How long have I been out?" I asked, popping the pills in my mouth and washing them down with some water.
"About two days" she said handing me some bread; I looked at her puzzled "Two days?" I asked perplexed, how could I have been out for two days? Malakai must be going insane with worry. I tried to stand up but I winced at the pulling in my side and sat back down. "Easy" Jessamine said, lifting up part of my shirt so she can check the wound I forgot was there. "You've been out for two days because it took a while to get your fever down" she took off the old bandage, placed some burn cream carefully on my injury and then replaced the bandage with a new one. "Your sponsors came in handy there at the end, we thought you were going to die from infection" she bit her lip and looked at me apologetically, like it was her fault I almost died. Yet, without her I probably would already be dead.
"Where are Sorrel and Cyri?" I asked, just noticing their absents, "they went to get more water" she gestured to our water supply "we only have about two bottles left, so they decided to make a trip" she started packing up the first aid supplies beside me. I placed a hand on top of hers, stopping her, "Thank you for everything" I said, she smiled and shrugged "it's what I do" she continued to pack the rest of the stuff.
I slowly stood up, making sure to be careful of my wound. I didn't realize how stiff I was until I stood up and started walking. It felt so good to walk, and then something dawned on me. "How many faces were in the sky the past two nights?" I asked her. She knew the question was coming, "Dragon, the girl from eight, and the guy from one" she counted on her fingers, I stopped mid-stretch "Strobe? Strobe died?" I asked, and she shrugged, guessing at who I was talking about "do you know how?" she shook her head. I sighed in frustration and started to think. Ten killed from the Cornucopia at the beginning, plus Taiven, and then Dragon, following the girl from eight, and then Strobe. So that left ten tributes, four from my new alliance, four from the Career pack, the girl from ten that escaped me in the beginning, and one other tribute I couldn't think of at the moment.
I looked outside, "any cannons fire today?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer. Every cannon shot, one of them could be Malakai's, and I can even think about that. "Not yet" Jessamine said, handing me some dried fruit "eat, you need the nutrients right now" I nodded and took a bite of the fruit, sitting back down. Tonight I'll volunteer to keep watch, I need to talk to Malakai anyway and figure out what's going on, who killed Strobe, and what our next move is.
It took about an hour for Cyri and Sorrel to come back, they had four water bottles in their hands. They smiled when they saw I was up "Well finally!" Cyri said handing Jessamine her four bottles and jumping towards me. I didn't have time to protest before she had her arms wrapped around me "I was so worried about you" she laughed when she noticed my stiff reaction to her hug.
I wasn't used to much affection, besides with Malakai, and this was just out of the ordinary. The only other girl who would risk trying to hug me was Sagan, and that's because she knew I would do nothing to her. Every other girl in the Academy knew if they tried to touch me I'd break their hand.
"Two days isn't enough beauty rest for you, I think you need to go another few months" Sorrel said laughing; I stuck my tongue out at him and threw a piece of dried fruit at him. It hit him in the middle of his head and we all laughed, he caught it before it hit the ground and popped it in his mouth with a grin.
I helped Jessamine iodize the water bottles and once they each were done the Capital seal shown in the sky, but there were no deaths today. The group took that as the time to sleep so I told them since I slept two days I wasn't tired so I'll keep watch, they all agreed and got in their respective sleeping bags.
I fastened all of my blades back to my belt—Jessamine must have taken them off when I passed out—and headed out of the tree Cavern. I instantly placed the hood over my head and zipped the jacket up, Jessamine warned me not to get the bandage wet.
It didn't seem like the rain eased up at all, and I made a mental note to ask Cyri if the river looked any wider than it did a few days ago. If we don't have a death tomorrow, the Gamemakers are going to want to intervene, and that's the last thing anyone needs right now.
I sat down at my post doodling in the mud, three hours past and there was no sign of the Career pack. I was about to give up on them, thinking that they gave up on me when I heard murmured voices coming from the trees to my left. I grabbed one of my blades tightly drawing it out, I stood up and slowly made my way in that direction being careful about where I stepped. I was just about to let the blade fly when I saw the figure that was standing there. It was Malakai.
I made my way out of the cover of trees I was hiding in so he could see me. When he looked at me I saw a flash of relief flood his face and then concern. He quickly walked up to me wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me into a kiss. I was so caught up in the moment I completely forgot about the Capital, and the Hunger Games. All I could think about was Malakai, and how happy I was to see him, all of that changed when I heard rustling behind him.
"See! I totally knew it! I knew you two had something together" The voice of Zarek came behind Malakai as he stepped out behind the trees Malakai had just come from. I heard a low growl coming from Malakai's chest "go away District four" he looked at me completely ignoring the kid behind him "are you alright?" he asked, and I nodded. I heard a snort coming from Zarek "You guys make me sick" I looked up at Malakai and could see he was trying to control himself, his breathing was forced and his hands curled into fists at my side "do you have any idea where we are" Zarek continued, not noticing Malakai's anger, or trying to provoke it. Malakai tried to ignore him by turning his attention to me "are you sure you're alright?" he asked, and I heard a loud exhale come from Zarek.
I quickly grabbed one of my camber blades and bypassed Malakai before he had a chance to hold me back. Zarek already had his sword at the ready, but I quickly kicked it out of his hands and punched him in the face. He doubled backwards, I grabbed one of his arms turning it around and pinning it to his back; I could feel his shoulder pop as I tore his arm out of its socket. He screamed out in pain as I kicked the back of his knees making him go down. I put my blade to his throat, running my lips along his cheek "I really don't have patience for you any longer" I could hear him whimper. He disgusts me, and he calls himself a Career? "Any last words?" I asked him, trying to give the Capital a show, he was about to say something before I cut him off "oh too bad, you didn't respond fast enough" I said before slowly sliding my blade across his neck, just above his Adams apple. I could feel the skin tearing underneath the serration of my blade. I smiled to myself as he started gurgling, the blood gushing out of the slit.
I dropped him, leaving him there to die. I cleaned the blade on some grass before fastening it onto my belt and turning around. Malakai stood there with a smile on his face and pride in his eyes. "You were never the one for patience" he said laughing, I just shrugged "he wouldn't shut up" I kicked Zarek in the head with the sole of my boot before walking back over to Malakai. "You didn't quite finish him though" he said, still laughing, I nodded "yeah I know, I made sure the cut wasn't deep" I walked back into his arms "it gives you enough time to get out of here before his cannon goes off" he kissed me, and I kissed back. I didn't care what the Capital thought; I didn't care what Greyti, Kaius, or the whole of District two thought. It was just him and I in these Games, everyone else can go to hell.
He ran his hands along my sides, across my bandage, and I winced. He lifted up my shirt "who did this?" he asked, and I bit my lip I knew if I told him he wouldn't be rational, instead he'd just go in and kill Sorrel, even if his sister saved me. "It's nothing, I'm fine" I said before kissing him and pushing him off me. "You better get going though, he's gonna die soon and I still gotta figure out what to say to the others" he was about to protest "go" I said, glaring at him. He chuckled and started leaving only turning back before he was hidden by the trees "I love you, and I don't care" He said looking up, referring to the Capital, but his words caught me by surprise. That's the first time he's ever used those words. "You too" I said with a smile, before he nodded and left. I sighed and walked back to my post, sitting down, this is gonna be a long night.
It was about ten minutes later that his cannon fired and surprisingly only Sorrel got up, I simply shrugged and told him to go back to bed. He nodded and went back inside; I sat there just now realizing that I forgot to ask Malakai what happened to Strobe, I groaned and looked up into the sky "You entertained yet?" I whispered hoping the Capital heard "'cause I'm having a hard time keeping up the show."