The Hawthorne Games - Chapter 10
Gale Hawthorne:
Vair lies before me, an arrow through her throat, shot by the smaller girl from 11. She lies not much further away, also dead.
I stand at the centre of what had been campsite less than an hour before. It's now been reduced to a wreck. The fire has been stomped out, and there are signs of fighting everywhere in sight. There's even a streak of blood against a nearby tree.
I can count three bodies. Vair and Rue are in sight, and the body of the boy from three is down the gorge, having joined the guy from one.
The boy had died first, having stumbled out of the forest, weak from exhaustion. An arrow had followed him, one which killed vair. The boy had then screamed and run, and fallen. I don't know when Rue appeared, but she was speared through the chest.
I've already scavenged what I can, and I lucked upon a bottle of water and some basic food. Having spent the last few days in a cave, it's sensational to feel the cold breeze again.
But the glamour of it had faded pretty quickly. I missed the parade of the dead but using my poor mathematical skills, I determined there must only be five of us left.
"Final five! Congratulations!" I murmur to nobody. I can't stay here long, or the Game-Makers will find some way to push me towards others. My only option is to keep moving.
The cornucopia is just in sight, on a hill above the tree-line. Rather than move towards it, or away from it, I think I'll move parallel to it. The girls from two are more likely to be there, and whoever are left as the other two will be somewhere else.
I set off, heading along the cliff of the gorge. It's barely a mile of travel till I find an area rich with wildlife. Setting a basic snare, I wait in a tree till I hear the tell-tale sound. Scurrying back down I find that I've caught a rabbit. A quick fire and I resume travel, this time with some hot food inside me.
The weather in the arena has changed drastically since this morning. The once crisp blue sky has clouded over with rainclouds.
Thunder rumbles.
The tree I'm sitting by as I take a quick five minutes get's struck by red lightning, and Flames begin to fall from the sky.
Haymitch Abernathy:
"Armageddon?" I ask.
"We thought it would be, exciting to say the list." Seneca, head game-maker replies.
I'm standing in the game-makers room. Well, in the adjacent office. I can see, with at least 30 people in the next room, most of them coordinating strikes of fire and meteorites.
"Isn't that a bit, drastic?"
"No, I mean, we once put 24 tributes in a desert and for the finale drained all the water."
"Even from their bottles. I remember, it was the only time one of my tributes made it past the four people mark.
"Well Mr Abernathy, you certainly have that now. Two in the top five. I dare say you could win this." Seneca says, a distinct amount of snob in his voice. "You could be the first since the fourth games to bring two tributes out of the games."
"Correction if you do not mind. I will be. Now would you mind not directing so many strikes at one of my victors. Don't even send any to my other victor, he's distressed enough as it is."
"Over the girl? She was good, but with her wounds, she's not going to last much longer."
How can this man not care about someone's life. That girl is sixteen, and she's in there with four others from two districts. The odds are against her but that's no excuse to discount her so readily.
Peeta Mellark:
I can see the fire raining down a few miles away. Despite my protests, Kati insisted we continue heading towards the edge. It seems she didn't get out of the fight unscathed, and that Maize had applied poison to her blade.
"You shouldn't be making this trek. You're pale, and exhausted, and at this rate you can't make it." I say.
"Nem." She says. I take that to mean no.
"How much further?" I ask. There's no point in repeating the argument we've had ten times already.
"We are almost there. See?" She points up. Unnatural thunder clouds have begun to form above us. A warning.
Thunder crackles, and Kati stops. Before us lies a valley.
"The valley, it encircles the arena." I gasp.
"Yes." Kati rasps back, her voice weak.
A tree nearby get's struck by lightning. Then another.
"They want us to turn back."
"And so you should." Kati says to me. "Leave me here."
"What?"
"Find him Peeta, you can win this. I'm no state to help you."
"I can't-"
"Peeta, talalni."
"What?"
"GO!" She yells.
I can sense this is another thing she won't let me argue. The ground shakes as the first of the meteor strikes hits the ground. Then another.
"Go. The next will hit us." she says.
"But."
"Peeta. This is my death wish, please go."
Kati looks to the sky and smiles. A large, fiery asteroid heads towards the two of us.
I can't move her, and I can't stay. So I do as she asks, and take my leave. And I don't look back, even as I hear the crash of the meteor striking the ground.
Gale Hawthorne:
A canon rings through the air. Final Four then.
The portrait appears in the sky. Must be because there are so few of us left.
It's her, the girl from 7.
I look back down in order to continue moving before I hear the fanfare of trumpets. Looking back up I see, myself. A title reads, "THE FINAL FOUR" and below it are pictures of Ifri, Shala, me and... Peeta.
"Peeta!"
Asteroids have been landing around the arena for the last hour or so, forcing us ever closer to the centre. If that's where they want me, where Peeta could be, then that's where I must go.
It's a short trip, but soon I stand at the base of the cornucopia. It's empty, having been looted days ago. Nobody is around yet, or if they are they're hidden amidst the trees.
"Gale?" I hear a familiar voice.
"Peeta?" I turn and looking to the forest, I see him emerge.
He's not the same. He looks worn, tired and scared. Relief floods through me as I run towards him. He returns the gesture, breaking into a run. We collide in a mix of arms, and without realising it, we are now both lying in the grass with our lips locked tightly together.
"Ahem?" I hear a female cough.
Peeta and I break away from each other and turn to see the two girls standing there. I raise my pike as I stand up.
"Why didn't you just kill us?" I ask, as Peeta scrambles to his feet.
"It would be, unsporting. I want you to die but I'm not that much of a monster" Shala replies. Ifri stands behind her. I can see the fear in her eyes as she raises her sword. Shala holds a spear between her hands.
I chance it and dart a look at Peeta. He's armed, but with a bow. I can see two arrows tucked into the back of his trousers.
The ground rumbles beneath us, and the forest surrounding the cornucopia slumps, creating a cliff between us and the rest of the arena. Just to make things worse, the whole of the surrounding forest begins to burn.
"No way out I guess." I say, as I change my stance.
I've killed now, and to do so again will not be easy. But I have a reason to kill now. Even If I don't make it, Peeta is going to get out of here.
Peeta notches an arrow to his bow and raises it. Shala takes no chance, breaking into a sprint towards him, raising the spear. Swinging out with the pike, I make it collide with her legs. She expertley rolls as she recovers from the fall. At that point Peeta has taken the shot.
The shot intended for Shala flies past her, hitting Ifri in the leg. With a yell of primordial rage she dashes towards me and begins a series of slashes, each faster than the next, each one potentially deadly.
It takes all my concentration to parry the blows.
"Give me the bow and I'll make it quick." I hear.
"Then have it." I hear Peeta say. Out of the corner of my eye I see the bow fall at Shalas feet.
Peeta gave in.
Thats when I hear the sound of something flying through air.
Ifri's slashes are still coming fast, but she's tiring faster. Her strokes are lazy, misplaced. Turning this to my advantage I heft my pike against her sword blow. The sword tumbles from her grasp and I push forward with the pike.
I hear her gasp, and then a cannon.
Peeta Mellark:
The dart flies through the air and wraps round the spear. The girl's eyes widen. I hear a cannon, as Gale has killed the other.
"Two versus one." I say, pulling on the wire.
Shala pulls back, harder, and I crash to the ground. She raises the spear. "That girl's tricks don't work on me!" She yells and brings the spear crashing down.
Gale's pike catches the spear mid swing and throws it backwards. The girl takes a few steps back.
"Get away from him."
"You, you killed Ifri!" the girl yells.
"Yes Shala, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry that it's going to have to be you too."
Gale crashes to the ground beside me, blood pouring from his face.
"Gale!"
Shala stands above us both, and raises the spear.
"Say you're goodbyes boys." she taunts.
Except the wire is still wrapped round her spear, and still in my grasp. With all my energy I pull, and the spear falls from her grasp.
I climb to my feet, and picking up her spear, I face her.
"Now it's my turn. Get away from him." I say, standing so Gale is behind me.
Shala has run out of weapons, and as I lunge forward and around, she dodges. And trips.
"Funnily enough, I fell over that rock, right on the first day." I say, as I stand above her. "I had someone to help me, someone who died in this arena. I'm afraid that without the other careers, no one is going to help you. You're alone now, and it's time to pay for all you've done."
Shala's eyes widen, then close.
Grimacing, I drive the spear forward. A choking gasp. A canon.
Then light floods the arena.
Haymitch Abernathy:
"Congratulations Mr Abernathy!" Seneca says, clapping me on the back.
I'm in the observation room with the Mentor from two. She throws me a hateful look before storming from the room.
"A double victory. Gale was injured..." I begin.
"Taken care of. Our people are already on the scene, extracting the bodies. He will be fine."
"I'd like to see them."
"Of course."
I turn to move towards the door, but Seneca's gasp makes me turn again.
The monitors have all activated, as have the signal relays. A message lies on screen, a message broadcast to every person of Panem.
"The Capitol is alone, and it's time to pay for what it's done."
(Authors Note.)
An epilogue is coming but that's it done. It will somehow link into the canon when I start the next one, but thats not happening for a while. Not my best chapter, but I hope you enjoyed. So please follow, review and fav.
Thomas