Chapter 11: The Pain of Death
Sage's POV
I close my eyes and lean my head back as I rest on the fork of two branches. Two days had passed since Sky's death, and only one death had come besides Sky's. That was Cole from District Ten. So that left fourteen more tributes with ten already dead.
I knew that the Gamemakers must be planning something, something big. Two days had passed without anything exciting that I knew of, and the audience must be becoming bored. I clench my teeth in fury as I think about that. They're watching people struggle and die in front of them, they shouldn't be complaining about boredom.
And then I wonder what happened to Iris after she killed Sky. I could feel revenge for his death grip me like fire. I misunderstood her; I can't even believe I liked her at one point, that I wanted to be her friend. She must've been tricking me, tricking me all along, and then right when she gains my trust, she kills me. Or kills my companion.
My own fury dissolves the coldness of my body for a second. But when I'm reminded, I shiver as an icy breeze goes right through me. It had started to snow here, and I mean heavy snow. I wonder what the Gamemakers were up to by making it snow. What, would they bury us to death?
I snort at the possibility as I scrunch up, trying to stay warm. Thankfully, the tree I was in blocked most of the harsh snow from blowing towards me. But I was pretty sure I wouldn't freeze to death any time soon. I don't get it, though. This would never happen in real life. Two days ago there had been a flood and moist, warm weather. Now it was freezing cold. But, of course, this is the arena. I won't be surprised if it's boiling hot tomorrow.
After Sky had died two days ago, I headed down the hill. I was now near the middle, but you could still see the peak of the hill. There were a lot of rocks up there, except in that clearing. But still, if they were to fall, that would be pretty bad.
Then, suddenly, I hear a rustling in the bushes. I jump and pull out my bow, strapping in an arrow and pulling back, prepared. I see someone come out, looking around cautiously, their eyes narrowed as they tried to see through the blowing snow. I realize that it's Scott from District Nine. Never really liked him, he seemed too…bitchy.
I know I have to get him away, so maybe I can scare him off. I release my arrow so that it lands right next to him. He jumps before looking up at the tree, pulling out a dagger.
"Who's there?" He called, his brown eyes sparkling with fury.
I shrug and jump down. He looks a bit surprised to find me there, but that disappears as I lift up my bow.
"Alright," I say, "What do you have on you?"
"Like I'm going to give it to you," He snarls.
I shrug and say, "Your loss."
Then I release my arrow again. This time it goes into his arm. He howls in pain and clutches it before throwing is dagger at me with the good arm. I dodge and reload quickly, shooting another arrow that ends up in his leg. I don't want to kill him, and hopefully he'll get the hint. But, no, he insists on fighting.
He scrambles towards me, groaning in pain, as I release another arrow. It goes straight through his hand. He screams and falls to the ground. I know it won't kill him immediately, but I just feel so revengeful, taking out all my anger at Iris on him, that I don't even care.
I grab some berries I see beside me and put their juice on my next arrow. I aim and fire, having it go into his shoulder. He's screaming with pain now, his screams going over the howling wind. And it gets worse as the poison from the berries seeps into him. He rolls on the ground, moaning, groaning, just wanting it to end, but I just stand there.
Finally, his efforts weaken and he just whimpers slightly like a dog. Then his body goes still and his canon goes off. I don't feel satisfied though, and the guilt's horrible. But all that goes away once I hear a loud roar.
I look up as the ground begins to shake. I stare in horror as I see rocks and snow tumbling down towards me. It's a small avalanche; not as strong as the ones in the mountains, but strong enough to kill people.
I scream now as I try to scramble up the tree as it's barreling towards me. Scott's body is now covered in debris a little ways away as I struggle up onto the next branch. Rocks and snow are flying everywhere and I can barely see. And right as I think I'm going to be ok, I see something out of the corner of my eye.
After all the rocks have fallen, now a large wall of snow comes barreling towards me. My dark blue eyes widen and I don't even have time to react before it plummets into me. I'm slammed backwards into the snow, feeling its icy chill on my skin. Snow covers me and is all around as I'm swept down the hill. I struggle to stay above the surface, but more snow keeps piling on.
And just as quickly as it came, I start to fall into unconsciousness…
Iris' POV
I blink open my eyes to a warm sun. The day before, a large avalanche had come, but now it seemed that all the snow had melted. I sigh in relief as I look around. I'm clutching onto the branch that I had clung to when the avalanche came by. I'm by the river now, right on the shore actually, but no one had found me.
Apparently two tributes died in the avalanche, Samantha from District Five and Peter from District Six. I remember talking to Peter that day at lunch and I'm a bit sad about him being dead. He seemed nice.
And then I realize that now there are only eleven tributes left. Eleven tributes after one week. I don't know if that's good or bad. Bad for me because that means longer for me being stuck in here and more people to kill me, but that's also more than half the tributes killed in one week. I don't know if that's normal, usually it varies considering how strong the tributes are each year. Though, I have to say this is probably the longest the most people have lived. Maybe because people voted for the strongest people? Or if you were unfortunate like me, people just chose you randomly.
I shake my head, clearing my thoughts. I'm starting to get hungry again, and now I have no clue what to eat. I sigh as I scramble down to the ground, hitting the soggy ground. I get closer to the water's edge and lean down, drinking some, before sitting up.
I could figure out how to fish, but the thing is, what could I use to fish? I sigh and move on, walking across the shoreline as I look at the water. I'm such a mess with dried mud all over me and my hair is gnarled and tangled. I've grown much skinnier also, so skinny that you could now see my ribs.
But I keep moving, dragging by sword behind me and my now nearly empty bag. All I have is my water bottle and dagger in there. But it's useful, so I have to keep it.
I keep walking along the shore until I stop, seeing something up ahead. By the water I see a body. I figure at first they're dead, but if they were then the body would've already been picked up. I put my sword out in front of me, just in case, as I near the body.
I gasp when I notice it's Sage. He seems fine with just a couple of cuts and bruises, but it seems like he was knocked unconscious. I frown, wondering if I should help him since he probably hates me now and that one of us will have to die soon, but I choose to help him.
I set down my sword as I drag his limp body up to the wet grass. After that I grab my water bottle and put some of the river water in it. I open up his mouth and put the water in, hoping that'll help him and get him to wake up. It worked, though I can't say it was for the best.
Sage's blue eyes flicker open and he narrows them in confusion. He looks around and rubs his head with his hand, obviously trying to figure out how he got here. Then he freezes, his gaze moving slowly to me and he jumps back.
"You!" He snarled, pulling out his bow and arrow which had been strapped to his back.
"Sage, relax," I say, slowly standing up and putting up my arms in surrender, "I'm not going to hurt you."
"You killed Sky," He aims, "why should I trust you?"
"I didn't mean to!" I exclaim, "I was just so desperate!"
He snorts in disbelief.
I grit my teeth in fury as I snap, "Fine, kill me then. Do it, I dare you."
My heart pounds in my chest as I watch Sage and I secretly don't want him to kill me. I don't want to die, I really don't. But all he does is stand there, ready to fire, but not letting go of the arrow. Finally he groans and tosses his bow and arrow to the ground.
"God damn it," He mutters.
I sigh in relief and put down my arms, "Thank you."
"This still doesn't mean we're friends," He snaps at me.
I roll my gray eyes and say, "Of course not, one of us has to die, remember?'
He doesn't say anything to that.
I just sigh and say, "Look, can we be allies at least?"
"No," He shakes his head automatically.
I'm about to say something until I hear something whiz past my ear. I whip around and see Faith from District Eight staring at his. In her hands are smaller spears, more portable ones. She's aiming at me again and I scream, jumping for cover.
But it's too late. I scream in agony as the tip digs into my skin, cutting into my thigh. I fall to the ground, pain piercing me as I groan. The pain is horrifying, like a fire I can't put out. I toss and turn my head, just wanting it to end.
And it seems like I'll get that wish, for Faith aims again. And right as I think I'm about to die, to just get it over with, Sage shoots an arrow from behind me. Faith jumps away, but it's not enough to get her to run. She appears again and throws the spear at Sage.
Sage dodges it easily before aiming again and shooting. It misses again as Faith already ducks for cover before appearing again, her last spear in her hand.
"Use the…the…" I can barely talk the pain is so excruciating.
"What?" Sage strains to hear me.
"Use the spears!" I scream at him, my voice shrill and filled with pain.
"Oh!" He gasps, reaching for the spears that lay near him.
He reached back and threw one at Faith. She let out a squeak as she dodged. But she didn't come back this time, no, this time she ran. After her footsteps faded away, Sage turned to me and kneeled down beside me.
"How bad is it?" He asks.
"What do you think?" I hiss, "It's horrible!"
He nods and grips the spear that's sticking out of my thigh. It didn't go in too deep thankfully, but it still hurt like hell. I groaned and tossed my head back, closing my eyes tight. I could feel tears well up, but I refused to cry in front of him.
"This might hurt a bit," He murmurs as he grips it.
"Just do it," I groan, my muscles tensing.
Finally, he yanks out the spear and I gasp in pain. But the fiery pain seems to die off just to be replaced by a pulsing pain that goes through my entire thigh. I groan as it continues, getting worse whenever I move.
"Come on," He says as he drags me to my feet and puts my arm around his shoulders, ignoring my gasps of pain, "I know where we can stay."
