Here's 10.
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"I want her dead." Snow said contemplatively. "She has become as influential as Katniss Everdeen. I want her ripped apart for this nation to see."
Plutarch Heavensbee shook his head and smiled.
"Let the games do their work. As her friends die, she'll lose it." He replied. The president stared at the screen where a blonde haired girl was throwing up in the sea. Plutarch's communicator buzzed.
"Sir. The situations in Districts Two and Seven have become severe."
"If I may, President, I will join you for lunch. Excuse me."
Heavensbee walked out of the lounge to observe the gamemakers. All of them were focused on a small group of tributes in the mouth of the cornucopia. One gamemaker glanced up at him worriedly.
"District One Female A is losing vital signs." She called.
"Okay, zoom me in, Fulvia."
"Yes, sir." The gamemaker tapped on her display. Up on a larger screen, the girl who was throwing up started convulsing in little spasms. Plutarch frowned.
"Keep them occupied, Fulvia. I have to go sort out some priorities."
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"Glimmer!" I scream. "Cato, get over here!" Glimmer starts shaking uncontrollably. Willow is the first person to arrive, axe in hand. She takes Glimmer's wrist and feels for a pulse.
"Open your mouth." Willow commands. Glimmer weakly parts her lips.
"She's dehydrated. We need a lot of water and some sort of drug." I stare at Willow.
"We don't have any water." I say.
"Yeah, but they do." Enobaria mutters. We look up at the sky.
"Hey! We need something from you, Hephaestus!" I yell. "A little bit of water would be nice!"
"Come on, get her in the shade. She's overheated, too." Willow orders. She and Cato move Glimmer into the back of the cornucopia.
"What else, Doctor Willow?" asks Cato.
"Don't call me that. I will knock you into tomorrow. Um… take her boots off and as much of that jumpsuit as possible." Willow instructs. Cato looks a little too happy to be handed the task.
"Use this." Cashmere hands Cato one of her daggers. He cuts away most of Glimmer's suit until she's practically in shorts and a t-shirt. Brutus runs out to the jungle and gets a few giant leaves.
"Start fanning her with these." He suggests. Alder and Johanna take the leaves and blow cool air at Glimmer's face. No parachutes appear. Willow bites her lip in dismay.
"There's no way we can get her better without water. I'd say that if we don't get some within the next… like, five minutes, she has about… ten minutes to live." She explains. It's funny how fast the silver parachute comes tumbling out of the sky. Lots of people betting on Glimmer to win are probably concerned about their money.
"Open it. Now." Enobaria says. Willow catches the parcel and opens it with trembling hands. Inside is a tiny bottle of water, little syringe filled with some sort of medicine, and a metal tube. She tosses the water to Cato, who pours some in Glimmer's mouth. Willow studies the medicine for a minute.
"This'll do the trick." She mutters, and stabs the syringe into the back of Glimmer's neck. After a minute or two, she's already dozing off.
"How'd you learn to do that?" Cato asks. Willow shrugs.
"I actually paid attention during training. And I visited the survival stations, which is something that almost everyone here forgot to do." She says, and tosses around the metal tube. "I'd guess that this is a spile."
"What's a spile?" Marvel interrupts. Willow rolls her eyes.
"You're good for nothing, brainless. You use a spile to tap trees for sap. But since we're in a moister climate, all these trees are probably loaded with water. Alder, go get some water." She says. Alder grabs the spile and jogs off.
"We should rest for a while. Cato, you stay with Glimmer. I'll take the east." Enobaria volunteers. Brutus takes west, Johanna takes south, and Cashmere takes north. Willow stays with Cato and Glimmer. Gloss, Marvel, Blight, and I wander the beach.
"Aaaaahhh!"
"Alder?" I call. Willow says something to Cato and joins me on the shore.
"I think he went that way." She tells me. We run in Alder's direction until we find him in a small clearing.
Boom.
The boy from District 3 falls on the ground limply. Alder pulls the axe out of the boy's chest.
"Alder, what's going-" Willow starts. A woven net falls from a tree and pins us to the ground. There are little rocks at the edge that hold the net down. Alder looks up at the tree and throws his axe.
"Eep!" There's a small squeal, flash of auburn, and then Bailey is scrambling away from Alder's axe.
"Stop!" I yell. Alder pauses and stares at me. I look back at the redhead. "Bailey?"
"Oh, hello." Bailey snaps. "Can you tell your friend to not kill me, please?" I glare at Alder. He drops his axe sheepishly. Willow snatches a knife out of my belt and cuts us out of the net.
"Hey, Bailey! Come on, we have some water." Willow says. She and Bailey trot off to the cornucopia. Alder and I follow them quietly.
"Clove, look out!"
Something- someone- slams into me. Before I can react, some sort of sharp sword pierces my chest. Willow and Bailey are too far away, so I start screaming. The massive figure slams me against a tree. Now I can see who my attacker is. Thresh.
Alder swings his axe towards Thresh's side, but Thresh sidesteps and sweeps out his sword arm. Alder's throat bursts open, and his cannon goes off. I try to get away, but Thresh has me pinned to the tree. Damn it. Alder's dead. Willow will kill me. And one of our stronger allies is gone. He was growing on me.
"Here we are again." He growls. "Stay dead, this time, will you?" I spit in his face.
"Marvel! Marvel!" I scream. Thresh grins.
"Forget it, Two. Your time's up." He says, and connects his fist with my jaw. Little black spots form in front of my eyes. His fists tighten around my neck. I make some sort of gurgling sound. I'm going to die again. No one is here to help me.
"Not today."
And that's when I see the tip of the spear poking out of Thresh's chest. He collapses just as his cannon goes off. I slide to the ground and spit out some blood.
"Need a hand up?" Marvel offers. I nod and grasp his hand.
"Thanks." I'm almost crying again. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I can't even save my own life.
"Hey, it's okay. Let's go get you some water." suggests Marvel. We walk back down to the cornucopia where everyone's drinking their heads off. My side starts to hurt, and I realize that the wound Thresh inflicted is gushing blood.
"Willow? Can you come see this?" I ask. She nods and inspects the wound.
"Yikes. You'll need stitches. I'd say… about ten. I'll need… hmm… a needle, some medical thread, some cloth, and antiseptic. Anesthesia if we're lucky. Got all that?" she says. I cross my fingers, hoping for the anesthesia. A tiny parachute lands at my feet. Willow opens it.
"You're in luck. We have the needle, some thread, and a decent dose of anesthesia." She laughs spiritlessly. "Come on, get your boyfriend. This is going to be hard."
"Marvel! Your girlfriend wants you!" Johanna calls. Marvel comes over and stares at the little needle in Willow's hands.
"Um, what the hell are you doing?"
"You two are going to listen to every single thing I say, or so help me, I will cut your heads off. Johanna, get me a leaf. Marvel, when I tell you to grab something for me, you grab it. No questions asked. Understood?" Willow barks. Marvel nods.
"Understood, ma'am."
"Good. Clove, this medicine might make you a little- weird. You might say things that you'd never say any other time. You might not be able to move. Just hold your boyfriend's hand and don't close your eyes. Understood?"
"Understood."
"Good. Let's get into the sand."
Willow pats the ground. I sit down slowly and lean back. Marvel takes my hand in his and squeezes it.
"Any last thoughts?" Willow asks as she puts the needle and thread on the leaf Johanna's given her.
"Um… Renee, you don't want to watch this." I say. "Oh, will I feel anything?"
"No. Unless the anesthesia is super weak. I suspect that it has moderate strength. Marvel, go get me some cloth and water."
Marvel runs to the cornucopia and grabs some discarded pieces of Glimmer's jumpsuit, along with a crate that we've filled with water.
"If you feel any pain, squeeze your boyfriend's hand three times. He'll put the rags in your mouth so you don't scream. Hey, back off, we're having a serious medical session here!" Enobaria, Gloss, and Johanna retreat back to the cornucopia.
"Ready?" Marvel asks. I shake my head.
"That's code for okay." Willow decides. "Water." Marvel moves the crate of water towards her. She rinses off her hands, grabs the syringe, and plunges it into my shoulder.
"If you can still feel, squeeze Marvel's hand." Willow orders. My body slowly fades into oblivion. I lie still.
"Okay. If you can talk, try to say something.
I like blueberry muffins… where'd that come from?
"I'm awake. So are the butterflies. Butterfly knives!" I sigh. Willow laughs.
"She's good. Thread and needle."
Marvel shoves the supplies towards her. She splashes some water on the wound, cleans off the needle, ties some thread to it, and starts sewing the wound shut. I can't stop thinking about butterfly knives.
"Butterfly knives. It's a butterfly!" I squeal. Willow smacks my hand.
"Don't move." She growls.
"I love you, Marvel. I love you soooooo much. Butterfly. Butter butter butter."
"Water."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I like your hair. You look hot when you get worried. Cato has a birthmark on his back."
"What? How do you know this?" Marvel chokes.
"Friendly little crossing of the li- butterfly!"
"Can you make her shut up, Marvel?"
"Clove, shh, you have to be a little quieter, okay?"
"Butterfly kni- ow!"
"Shit." Willow hisses under her breath. "This anesthesia is faulty. Marvel, get the cloth." Marvel shoves the rags into my mouth and draws little squiggles on the back of my hand. A sharp pain goes racing through my chest.
"Mmph! Mmrvl! Hlp!" I mumble into the cloth. "MW!" Willow rinses off her hands again and pokes the needle through my flesh. I whimper and bite down on the cloth.
"Hey! It's okay! Two more stitches, that's all that's left. Shh, shh! It'll be fine!" Marvel strokes my hair. Another flash of pain.
"OW! Dammit… son of a bitch…" I spit out the sloth and start to swear. "Ow!"
"Hurry up!" Marvel starts screaming at Willow, who takes the blunt end of axe and knocks him back.
"One more stitch. It's gonna hurt a lot." She mutters, and strings the needle through my skin again.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" I gasp. Willow ties the string and sits back.
"Let's get some more water." She suggests, and dumps the crate of bloodied water onto the shore. I roll onto my feet and hobble with her to the cornucopia.
"All patched up?" Cato asks. Marvel joins us.
"Yeah, she is. Oh, and you have a birthmark on your back?" he smirks.
"Clove! Damn you! I thought we agreed to keep that quiet!"
"She had too much anesthesia in her system. Don't stress her, or I'll kill you and your little doll here in your sleep." Willow grumbles. Everyone gathers around for lunch. Enobaria is taking her first sip of water when the arrow flies into her head.
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Eleven will be up tomorrow.
Release dates for the end of this story and the sequel:
Final Chapter of Quell: 2/1/14
First Chapter of the sequel: 2/14/14