73rd hunger games chapter 11 – eliminating the competition.
"She's dead Taylor." Keeko says shakily. I can tell he's trying not to cry and show he's weak to the capitol. "She can't be" is all I say. I get up quickly and crawl back inside the cave, at first glance, Lily looks peacefully asleep, but take a deeper look and you can see a small pool of blood around her back. I let out a harsh sob. 'She must have been stabbed in the back then rolled over by them' I think. I quickly crawl out backwards not wanting to look at the sight any longer. I go back over to Keeko (who's now standing up, as am I) and hug him whilst we both cry. It's a little while before we stop crying and calm down. "We will find out who killed her" I say determinedly. "We will get revenge for whoever did this Keeks" I say softly. We are now sitting down with our backs leaning against the roof of the cave; legs stretched out with my head on his chest and right his arm around me. "I'll do it...with your sword if you don't mind" he says softly, his voice still shaky from crying. "Of course" Is all I say. I know I can't console him. He adored his little sister. Put his own life at risk to save hers. Constantly thinking of her. I can't even begin to imagine how he feels, how angry and upset he must be. How she was killed whilst I was trying to save him. 'This is my fault I should have never have left her' I think guiltily. 'No, the capitol shouldn't have put 24 kids in an arena to kill each other for their amusement for 73 years! This is no way is your fault. It's the capitol's fault' I think back angrily. I have to admit, they are clever, turning the districts against each other whilst making them supply all the things need, ingenious really. I'm surprised a rebellion hasn't happened. If the mayors of each district just banded together and got the district to become allies not enemies, I'm sure we could overthrow the capitol.
That's when it dawns on me. I think back to Finnick's note 'we need you', could he have been talking about a rebellion...but why would they need me? What can I do? Surely they'd need someone like Jerome or Benet to run a rebellion, or even take part in one. They need someone strong. I am in no way strong. "It can't have been Jerome, Benet or Ethan" Keeko begins snapping me out of my rebellion thoughts "it had to be one of the other tributes. Whilst I was at the camp, I saw the girl from 5 and all of 12 go into the forest" he nods to the other forest I saw earlier "and back out for water, their camp must be in there somewhere." He states with no emotion in his voice. "Well come on then. Let's go and get some revenge" I say determinedly, not that I know it's definitely them who killed Lily, but it's a start. I get up, grab the bag and pack everything. The rope, left over fruit, the plants, flask, filter and the blanket (that is now drowned in blood, but you never know, it could be useful) which I put in the front pocket of the bag. I go back out to Keeko who is still sitting on the ground "what if the careers find us first" he says worriedly "we'll be careful not to be seen" I say, I stretch a hand out to him, he gets up and takes it. Together we sneak into the opening of the forest.
'Luckily it appears Jerome and Benet are still asleep' I think. Once where in the forest we see tonnes of wildlife "so this is where they've been hiding" I say referring to the wildlife. A squirrel sits upon a low branch of a tree, occupied with a nut it's eating. I launch my sword, javelin style at it. He falls to the floor. Dead. I pick it up and wrap it in the blanket to cook and eat later. We continue into the forest. It's only when we smell burning that causes us to stop. I look around for any sign of a fire, and see one not far to my right, with some bags littered around it. Keeko makes a start towards it, as he is doing so I think 'it's a bit odd, leaving an open fire and bags with no one guarding it...' "Keeko!" I half shout. As I pull him back, an arrow shoots past his head, only just missing his nose. I pull him back, so that if anyone else fires in that direction we are shielded by the tree. We look at each other, obvious fear on both of our faces; we immediately scale the tree we are hiding behind. When I am safely on a branch, I unleash my sword to deflect arrows in case they fire again. I look around feverishly for where it might have come from. It takes a few minutes of looking around in silence for the attacker to move. A small girl, about 14, walks backwards towards the campsite. Her bow and arrow ready to fire. It's the girl from 5, Deana. Me and Keeko nod at each other and jump down from our tree, making ourselves visible. She fires at me but I easily deflect it with her sword. Keeko and I advance slowly towards her, deflecting every shot she takes. It's clear she's alone otherwise other tributes would have come to help her. She fires another arrow and realises with terror that she is out of ammunition. She then tries to make a getaway, put I sprint towards her and effectively trip her up with my sword. She is now on the floor staring up at me with fear in her eyes as I point my sword at her neck. "Did you kill my sister" Keeko says calmly with a hint of anger in his voice. I hand him the sword and go to look at what the other bags hold in them. "NO!... No I didn't kill Lily...it was Nate! It was dark and we saw her go in the cave, he's only trying to get out alive! Please don't hurt me or him! It's just part of the games!" she says in a whimper trying unsuccessfully to back up. "It's just part of the games." Keeko says angrily as he brings the sword down through her chest and tears it back out. By this time I have collected all the arrows she fired and her bow, I also found some sharp knives and cooked squirrels in their packs. I split the food and weapons between packs so we have equal cooked squirrels, knives and other things I thought we might need. "Here take these" I say to Keeko, handing him the bow and arrows and one of the packs. "Great now I have a weapon too, here's your sword back" he says handing me the sword which is now bloody "Let's go find Nate. He can't be far away. Probably getting water" he states his voice void of all emotion. We put our packs on, ready our weapons and make our way to the lake.
We duck behind trees as soon as we see the lake. Two lone figures, hunched over, collecting water from the lake. The young male flinches back when his female accomplice falls flat on her face into the river with an arrow in her back. "Deana? ..." he says hesitantly "What was that for" he shouts whilst turning towards the forest, obviously angry that his 'ally' has killed his district partner. He readies his knife as if awaiting a fight. He drops his flask when he sees Keeko and I emerge from the trees. He attempts to sprint away, but falls when an arrow hits his ankle. We run up to him and Keeko aims his arrow at him "You killed my sister...You shall pay." Keeko says in a frighteningly calm voice. Horror reaches his eyes as he realises who Keeko is. "w-what?... I-I didn't k-kill your s-sister!... T-that was... Deana!" he says unconvincingly. Keeko aims his arrow dangerously close to his neck and shouts "DON'T LIE TO ME! YOU KILLED HER! FOR NO REASON! SHE HAD NO DEFENCE!" I look down out of shame when he says that. I was meant to be her defence. "YOU HAVE NO REASON TO KILL SOMEONE UNLESS YOU ARE BEING ATTACKED!" he stops abruptly "you're as bad as the careers" he scoffs "... Killing meaninglessly" he states. Nate looks sideways, obviously ashamed. Any other district that isn't associated with the careers, hates them. They try not to be like them because they are associated with the capitol, the one to blame for these games. District 12 despises them especially as they are poorest district, the one that receives nothing but death from the capitol. It's a harsh insult to be called a career in 12. His people will be ashamed and he knows it. "I deserve it. Go on. Kill me. I was never going to win anyway!" he shouts obviously hurt by Keeko's words. I turn my head away as Keeko completes his mission. We hear 3 canons sound as we move back into the trees. Once we're out of sight, Keeko drops his weapon and hugs me, this surprises me at first, but I hug back. "What have I done?" he mumbles more to himself than me. "You took revenge" I say softly. "You didn't torture them. You ended their lives quickly and painlessly. How Lily would have wanted if it had to be done." I say hoping this will console him a bit. "I didn't have to kill them, I could have left them for the careers" he says trying to hold back tears "yeah you could have" I start "and then they would have been tortured and killed horribly slow" I finish. "I should have controlled my emotions. This is the exact opposite of what Lily would have wanted. She always hated fighting, even little arguments I had with mum, she would always try to stop it" he says quietly. I don't know how to answer so I just rub his back hoping he will calm down so we can get to a safer place. A few minutes later he pulls away and wipes his eyes "I'm sorry" he says "don't be" I say. We then head off, hand-in-hand to find a safe tree to put up camp in. We soon find one that we like, and climb it. We eat a little and drink a little, but no words are said.
The Panem anthem begins. I dread this now, so many faces tonight. First Lily's, then Ethan's (Keeko gasps at this but says nothing.) then Deana's (from 5) and Nate and Victoria (both from 12). I count on my fingers how many are left. 7. I made it to the final 7. Keeko falls asleep quickly, I say I'm going to sleep too, but stay up to plan my next move.