Hey guys! Happy late Memorial Day! I promised an update this weekend so here you go :) I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review!
I have walked through the forest for hours now. I'm not even sure where I am trying to go. All I know is that I have to get far away from the Cornucopia, and my former allies. I wander through the woods for hours until I can;t go any further, and I am about to collapse from exhaustion. I force myself to keep walking until I find a safe place to camp. Finally I come across a clearing that is enclosed by tall trees. I decide this is as safe a place as any at this point and settle down. My stomach is growling but I don;t have any food. I drink some water trying to get it to settle down, but it's no use.
I am making a pile of leaves and pine needles to sleep on when I hear a branch crack. I duck behind a nearby tree, a knife in my hand.
"I saw you Avery," I hear Katniss say. I freeze, waiting for the arrow to pierce my body, but it doesn't, "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." she says annoyed.
I slowly step out from behind the tree, still holding the knife ready in case she decides to attack me, "Why aren't you trying to kill me?" I ask cautiously.
"Because I owe you," she says simply. I must have looked confused because she sighs and explains it to me, "You saw me up in that tree when you were with the Careers, and you didn't give me away. I hate owing people. This is me paying you back." she says.
"Well than thanks, I guess," I say. Suddenly I think about Peeta. He is from her District. Maybe she knows if he is okay, "Is Peeta okay?" I ask hopefully.
"I don't know I haven't seen him." she sees the look on my face and says, "Why? What's wrong with him?"
I hesitate, "Cato...hurt him."
"What did he do to him?" Katniss asks through gritted teeth.
"He stabbed him in the leg, " I blurt out before I can change my mind, "I don't know how bad it is but he hasn't died yet."
"Why would he stab him? I thought he was in your alliance." Katniss says confused.
"He was but Cato saw him trying to help you escape after the tracker jacker nest fell and he got mad. The only reason Peeta was in the alliance in the first place was to find you." I said.
"But he saw me in the tree too. Why didn't he tell the Careers?" Katniss asked.
"That's the thing, he wasn't actually trying to find you, he was trying to lead the Careers away from you. He was trying to keep you safe."
Katniss sits there in silence for a moment, contemplating what I just said, "I need to go find him." she says, standing up quickly.
Before she leaves, I say one more thing, "Katniss, thank you." She nods and takes off, "And good luck." I say quietly.
I am running through the forest, branches getting caught in my tangled hair. My clothes stuck to my body with sweat and mud. I trip over a tree root and fall. I turn around, and see Cato standing there, polishing his sword on his shirt.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I shout at him.
"You betrayed us. You helped Katniss escape. You deserve to die." he says with a wicked smile, stepping closer to me.
"Please!" I beg, "I'll do anything! My family is waiting for me to come home!"
He chuckles, "It's too late Avery." He steps forward and skewers my stomach with the sharp blade. He pulls it out quickly and I see my blood coating it.
I look down to see blood pouring out of the open wound in my stomach, pooling on the ground around me. I cry out in pain.
"Avery! Wake up!"
I jolt up and see someone standing over me. I scream and nearly stab them with my knife but I then I see who it is.
"Max!" I cry, flinging my arms around his neck, "You're okay!"
He wraps his arms around me, "Yeah I'm fine." We break apart, "So I see the Careers have finally split up."
"Yeah," I say, "Someone blew up all our supplies." Max laughs. "What?" I ask, a grin spreading across my face.
"That was Katniss." he says.
I gasp, "How do you know?"
"I heard her talking about it with that little girl from 11." he says.
"You were spying on them?" I ask surprised.
"Yeah. They didn't notice. I guess they were too busy talking." he says with a shrug.
I chuckle, "You're lucky then. So what have you been up to this whole time?"
He tells me about how he has been solo the entire time, spying on tributes so that he doesn't get trapped. I found out that he was there when Marvel and the girl from 11 died. And he has spoken with Katniss a couple of times.
"We have a weird kind of alliance. We don't work together but we don't kill each other." he says.
I tell him everything that has happened to me from my first kill at the bloodbath to splitting up earlier today. By the time we are both done recounting the events of the Games, I can see the sun peeking over the horizon. I yawn, tiredly.
"Why don't you get some sleep?" Max asks gently.
"You need to sleep to," I say, but I must not sound very convincing because I am already lying down.
Max laughs, "I'll be fine. Get some rest."
I lay down next to him and he strokes my hair until I fall asleep.
"Avery get up!" I hear Max say.
I jump up, "What is it?" I ask.
"I heard someone," Max says quietly.
We crawl carefully behind a bush and listen. Sure enough I hear footsteps in the foliage. I hold my breath and wait for them to pass us. After a few moments, there is silence. We cautiously creep out from behind the bush, weapons still ready. Suddenly I hear a crack. I whip around and see a spear flying towards me. Before I can even move, Max pushes me out of the way and the spear enters his stomach. I scream in despair and send a knife hurtling towards the attacker who is already disappearing through the trees. It is the boy from District 11. The knife sails inches from his head and he keeps going through the trees.
"Max!" I cry, kneeling at his side. Blood is already seeping out of his stomach around the spear. He pulls it out and grimaces as more blood floods the ground around him. "Why did you push me out of the way you idiot!" I yell, tears streaming down my face.
"I couldn't let you die," he says, his voice barely a whisper.
"I might have been able to move out of the way in time," I say softly. He just shakes his head. We both know that spear would have killed me. But instead, my best friend sacrificed his life for me.
"We can fix this, we can-" I start desperately. He just shakes his head again.
"It's too late Avery." a shudder runs through his body and I start sobbing.
"Please don't leave me," I sob.
"Shhhh," Max whispers, "You'll be fine. Stay strong and win this for me Avery."
I nod, my vision blurry from the tears, "You're like my brother Max. I love you. Please don't go."
"I love you too," He coughs. His body gives one last shudder and he falls still. Eyes still open, but no life behind them.
I collapse onto the ground sobs wracking my body, "No!" I cry out. I know I have to leave so they can retrieve the body but I can't bring myself to leave his body. Finally I collect myself enough to close his eyes, kiss him on the forehead and slowly walk away. I wait a few moments and the familiar hum of the hovercraft fills my ears. I go back a couple of minutes later, and all that remains of my best friend are the blood stains on the green grass.
I don't know how long I stay on the cool grass, crying, but eventually, there are no tear left in my body to shed. I lay there in the clearing thinking about him. All the good times we had together. I wonder what his family is doing now. I force myself to stop thinking about him and instead focus on where I am now. How many competitors are left? I run through them in my head: Cato, Clove, Katniss, Peeta, the boy from 11, the girl from 5, and me. Only six people left to die before I win. I can't believe I made it into the final 8. My family must be feeling more hope than ever. I suddenly feel extremely tired. I lay down, careful to avoid the blood stains and close my eyes.
The next thing I know, I feel a searing pain in my leg. I sit up and all I see is fire. All around me, the fire roars through the trees destroying everything in it path. I look down and discover what causing the pain, the lower half of my leg is on fire. I scream and roll my leg rapidly on the ground trying to squelch the flames. They die down and I see that my pants leg is blackened and scorched and the skin underneath is a bright pink and red with welts already forming.
I have to escape this. I jump up and almost immediately collapse back onto the ground screaming. The pain in my leg is unbearable. I slowly stand again and realize that the worst is inevitable. I can barely stand on this leg, let alone run. I try to take a few steps but stumble and fall again. The flames are approaching me fast and there is little I can do to escape. I try to run a few more times, each time collapsing back to the ground.
Eventually I just lay there, giving up. Tears seeping from my eyes. I can barely breathe anymore, the smoke is so thick. My lungs are filled with smoke, and gasping for air. I can't believe after all I have been through in the arena this is how I am going to die. Suddenly I hear footsteps and Cato comes crashing through the trees. Great, the fire isn't going to kill me, my old ally will. He sees me and curses under his breath. What are you waiting for? I think, Kill me already!
He looks at me again, and then at the roaring flames not 20 feet away. Suddenly, I feel myself being lifted off the ground. I am flung across Cato's shoulder and he takes off running again. I hang there, limp and lifeless, trying to figure out what just happened. Is he really saving me? Why? We aren't allies anymore, he doesn't owe me anything like Katniss. I am wracking my brain but I can't think of a single reason. I am still trying to figure it out when I hear a hiss. Cato reacts and flattens on the ground, a fireball whizzing past us. He is quick to get on his feet and keep moving, which is good because there are more fireballs headed towards us. I lose all sense of time as Cato keeps running, dodging fireballs along the way.
Eventually we crash through the trees and I see the lake. Of course that was where he was headed. He stumbles into the lake exhausted and puts me down. The pain in my leg has gotten worse. I can barely move it without sending spikes of pain through my body. I cry out weakly let darkness overcome me.
That was my longest chapter yet! There was a lot more action in this chapter than usual. I'm excited to see what you guys think! Be sure to check out my other stories Real or Not Real and Moving On. And don't forget to review!
