I wake to a throbbing pain in the back of my head and numb hands. The reason for the latter quickly becomes clear- my wrists are bound and tied above my head, so that my feet barely reach the floor. Eyes closed, I drag my feet round and try to stand, but my knees give way after a moment. Memories flood back to me, and I moan softly.
"Guys! She's awake! Look!" A fist makes contact with my stomach and I wheeze. I open my eyes and see the male tribute from Two leering at me, hot breath on my face. I glance around and realise I am tied up in the mouth of the Cornucopia. I look to my left and see Cossie, roped beside me. She is deathly pale, and there is dried blood in the corner of the mouth.
"Morning," she says softly, and Two punches her round the face.
"Shut up, Twelve," he snarls, then turns his back on us. "Gleam! Get over here!"
My male counterpart swaggers over, looking none the worse for wear since the Games began- unlike Two, who has a black eye. Gleam casts his eye up and down me, and snorts.
"Just keep on messing everything up, don't you, Lazuli?" he asks softly. I spit at him, and his face contorts with disgust. I wait for the blow, the kick or punch, but it doesn't come. Instead- "untie the Twelve girl," he snaps.
"No!" I blurt, slurring, but of course it's no use. They cut Cossie free of the rope and drag her away from me, kicking and screaming.
"You're gonna regret that, Twelve," sneers Gleam, wrapping his thick arm around her neck. "But not as much as her." He puts his hand over her face and wrenches it sideways.
I cry out to drown the snap of her vertebrae snapping, spit laced with blood flying from my mouth. I'm wailing like a wounded animal, coughing on my own saliva. I hear a higher, scornful laugh- it's the Four girl, tanned skin glowing and healthy. That musical, mocking laugh, I make a decision.
I will kill her first.
"Tyro!" Gleam calls out, dropping Cossie's lifeless body to the floor. "Keep an eye on her. We're going to pick up the rest of their supplies."
"Uhh." The female tribute from Two walks into view, hand still bandaged but face now exposed. She holds her arm to it, probably trying to stop the wind whistling through the hole I made. She grips a spear in her good hand.
The others grab their weapons and leave, still laughing. I follow them with half closed eyes, then let my head droop back down. I want to fight, I want to tear their throats out and get their flesh under my fingernails and feel their lifeblood drip out through my grip, but I can barely move, so I let the aching and blackness and grief overcome me and fall asleep.
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The respite doesn't last long; I feel water being splashed on my face to the sound of more whooping laughter. I wish they would stop laughing.
"Wakey wakey pretty girl," Gleam breathes in my ear. I open my eyes slowly, and stare through my lashes at him.
"What?" I ask hoarsely.
He pouts at me. "Aw, you sound like you need another drink." He grabs his water bottle, yanks my head back by my hair and tips it into my mouth. I cough and splutter as what is definitely not water, but something foul, sloshes down my throat. I pull my head out of his grasp, losing a handful of hair, to vomit on the ground.
"Oh, sexy, did you not like that?" he grabs my chin and forces me to look him in the eye. "Of course, not so sexy now. Bet the Capitol wouldn't care what you look like anymore, seeing as you're going to die anyway." The other Careers cheer behind him. "Time to have some fun, don't you think?"
He walks behind me and grabs a knife from the back of the Cornucopia, then saws through the rope tying my hands up. He wraps his arms around me and I struggle, but I am too weak to escape as he throws me onto the floor and kneels on my back. I feel the blood rush back into my hands as he calls for the others to take hold of my limbs and pin them down.
I start screaming for help, even though I know nobody can come. I am all that is left- nobody can help me now.
"Let go of that hand, Tyro," Gleam commands, and the girl releases my left wrist and leans back. He shifts, pinning my forearm into the mud with his knee. "Don't cry, baby," he croons, as my shrieks abate to wailing. "It's not going to change anything." He takes the knife, holds it above my little finger, brow furrowed in concentration. Then he forces it downwards.
I howl out as blood spurts from the stump, covering Tyro's shirt. She makes a noise of disgust and Gleam throws the finger at her, to the sniggering of the other two.
"That was for the Six boy you killed," he told me, pushing the hair back from my face. "You remember him, right? The first one. You finished him off for us. Who was next?"
"Her Twelve boyfriend!" calls out Four, who is sat on my other arm.
"Quite right, Ula," Gleam replies breezily. He rests the knife on my ring finger. "Jed, wasn't it? Well, it's not like you're going to marry him now, so you won't be needing this." Another blood spurt, another blinding flash of pain, more renewed screeching from me and jeering from them. "And then the Ten boy, right?" This time, it takes longer for him to cut all the way through- he switches to sawing with the serrated edge of the knife.
"How," I moan, through gritted teeth, "how do you know?"
"Well," he says brightly, "it's never been done before, but we figured, you ought to be properly punished for all the nasty things you've done in the Arena. I mean-" he waves his arm around him- "we all thought you were meant to be the nice one, but it turns out you're one of the deadliest tributes in this thing!" he laughs, like he's made a joke. "So, while you were having a nap, we made a request to our benevolent sponsors- for a list of all the people you've killed. We weren't even sure it would be allowed, but what do you know? It arrived ten minutes after we asked."
Ula throws her head backwards. "Thank you!" she calls to the sky.
"And here we are," Gleam finishes. "Now, that's all the people you've officially killed. But, your allies, well, it's really your fault they're dead too, isn't it?" he wipes the blade on his trousers. "Now, the big ugly Eleven boy- I'll take responsibility for that one. The brute had it coming when he punched Crassus." The Two boy spits on the floor. "You don't have to worry about him. But, those two poor defenceless little girls…" he sings that last sentence, tapping the blade between my thumb and forefinger. "Now, their blood is entirely on your hands. Or what's left of them." He's got the hang of it by now- two smooth slices, and it's done. I am too exhausted even to cry, and numbness spreads through me, dulling the pain in my hand.
Gleam drops the knife on the grass beside me and I feel the pressure on my back and limbs recede. Slowly, I curl up around my bleeding hand and shake, half-listening to the conversation above me.
"What now?" Crassus asks him.
"I'll kill her in the morning," he replies. "If anyone wants to leave, feel free. But I'm not going after anyone until she's dead- and I'm the one that kills her. Understand?"
"Buh-" Tyro begins, slurring.
"No!" Gleam cuts her off, his voice harsh. "She's mine! My district, my problem, my kill, do you understand me?" Silence. "Good. Now, I suggest we get some rest. If any of you want to sneak off and strike out on your own, while we're asleep is a good time to do it." Even now they are enemies, the other Careers are still obedient to Gleam. As the air turns orange then purple around me, I ease my shirt off with my good hand and wrap it tightly around the other, ripping it with my teeth and tying it off the best I can, fumbling repeatedly as I attempt the knots Cossie taught me. Cossie, who must have been kicked off of Eden so the hovercraft could collect her, her head twisted all the way around. I don't want to sleep, but my head is still hurting, and the ache pulls me under again into thankfully dreamless slumber.
%
I awake to the stars telling me it is a little past midnight, and Ula standing over me. I feel more alive, now, with the pain returning, sharp and insistent. Pain and anger, replacing the numbness and fear.
"I'm gonna kill you," she purrs. "Nice and slow. Gleam's great and all, but I can't let him win, y'know?" She runs a knife- the same one that had been used to cut off my fingers- underneath her nails, removing the blood and dirt. "Only one of us can win this, and I wouldn't have volunteered if I didn't think it would be me." She crouches down, coppery hair turned grey in the night light. "Hope you understand, Lazuli." Our faces are inches from each other.
"Perfectly," I reply, and slam my forehead into her nose. My vision, still blurred from the previous hit, is sent reeling, but I stagger upwards, bad arm cradled in my side, and kick Ula in the face, sending her to the ground. Before she can scream out, I kick her again, this time in the stomach, winding her. She curls up on her side, how I was ten seconds ago, and I grab the knife from her hands and, without thinking, plunge it into her temple.
Her death is a horrible one, with drawn out spasming and brain juice on the blade, where I had twisted it and created a hole big enough for some to be drawn out. Disgusted, head swimming, I wipe the knife on the bloody shirt I have wrapped around my hand. I stand in my underclothes and pants, breathing heavily, and realise there is no turning back now.
There are weapons scattered around Eden- Ash's crossbow, my daggers and a broadsword, among others. I pick these up one-handed, swinging the belts of the latter two over my shoulder before figuring out how I can use the crossbow- fortunately, there is a bolt preloaded. Unable to rest it against my shoulder, my aim will be off, but that will not matter at such close range. I brace my feet, six feet away from and facing the Cornucopia, and scream.
Tyro is first out, stumbling and tripping. I wait for her to take two steps, then shoot her in the heart and throw the crossbow aside. Behind her comes Crassus, snarling like a bear- I grip the sword in my hand and swing it, backhanded. Before the Arena, with my dagger-specialised Career training, this would never have worked- but after a few weeks of climbing, my arm muscles are more powerful than they were before and his head goes rolling, his body soon following it. The element of surprise was on my side but now Gleam knows and I rely only on my skill with this dagger, the only one I am able to hold. With the moon high above us, we circle each other, around the turfed up grass of Eden.
"Why can't you just admit defeat, you little bitch?" he snaps, all pretence of calmness from the day gone.
"Don't you see?" I ask him, breathing heavily. "I have. I didn't want to make it to this point. I've failed. I'm not trying to win." My sentences are short, I'm struggling for air. "All this, this isn't for the Games. This is personal. I'm going to kill you Gleam, for what you did to them."
We run towards each other and I deploy the skill I learnt with the mutts, sliding between his legs on the slippery mud. He's fast, but I have the upper hand now and slash wildly with my dagger, catching his arm. He's weaponless, but in my state, he could easily choke the life out of me. I cannot afford to let him get close, and take a step back. He fills the space again and swings a fist, and I duck and slam the hilt of my dagger into his shoulder, right on the nerve as I have been taught. Now his arm is dangling uselessly at his side, and we are more evenly matched. His strikes become less thought out, but faster- I duck and dodge, stepping away until I feel my back press up against the oak- but at least I haven't stepped off the edge. I crouch again as he swings a fist, and howls as it makes contact with the rough, unyielding bark- as he shakes his fist out in pain, I take my opportunity. Turning the blade upwards, I drive it underneath his chin and through his skull.
His expression is one of surprise. He takes a tiny step forward, then slumps against me, pushing us both into the tree. The last cannon of the 60th Hunger Games fires as I push him off of me, and sink down to the floor. I feel no anger, no fear or even relief- just pain, and weariness.
Claudius Templesmith's voice echoes through the Arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victor of the Sixtieth Hunger Games, Denna Lazuli, the female tribute of District One!"
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A/N rest assured, this isn't the end of Denna's story. I didn't intend to update again so soon, but I have another 40k prewritten so it's not like I have to ration it out. love-peace-hugs, your review made me so happy, you would not believe. Other readers, please tell me what you think!