Chapter 12 – The Bloodbath
Albus sat in the Launch Room, waiting as Ant prepared his jacket. Albus was suited in a long-sleeved black t-shirt and black trousers, with boots to match. The t-shirt was tight and rather thick, so Albus guessed he would soon be out in the cold. Ant approached with a medium length black trench coat, so Albus rose and allowed him to put it on. It was woollen and came down to just above Albus' knees. Ant fastened the two rows of buttons and tightened the belt while Albus' mind wandered to Lily. Was she feeling as clammy as he was right now? How much did she have to eat this morning? If she felt the same as Albus, he presumed she wouldn't have eaten very much.
'Now, as I'm sure you are aware,' started Antonius, 'the tributes are usually all dressed in the same outfit for the Games. However, this year is a bit different, so you're going to have a different colour of scarf than all the others, except Lily.' Ant pulled out a long, forest green scarf and tied it around Albus' neck in a simple slip knot. 'It's sort of like a colour wheel; One have red, Two have red-orange, Three have orange, Four have yellow-orange, Five have-'
'No offence,' interrupted Albus, 'but I really don't care.'
Ant looked wounded, but he soon understood that a lot was going through Albus' mind, so forgave his short temper. The announcement came to enter the tubes, and Ant made the final touches to Albus' outfit.
'It never felt so real until now,' Albus stated. His breathing became rapid and loud. 'I think I'm going to be sick.'
'Well, I suggest you try not to be, you might become a tad peckish afterwards,' joked Ant. 'Oh God, I'm sorry, that was horrible. Look, people admire what you did for your sister, so you're going to have sponsors. I have faith in you, Albus, and I'll be watching and supporting you all the way. Okay?'
'Okay,' Albus breathed quietly. Ant gave him a kiss on the forehead for luck, and led him to the tube. Albus entered, and the door shut. The panel below him began to rise, and Ant began tearing up. A blast of chilly air hit Albus as he rose to ground level. He was at the edge of a stone circle, surrounded by thin, bare trees. Frost covered the ground, and the cold wind nipped at his face and hands. He patted his chest, feeling the wand hidden beneath his coat. He shivered, but he was somehow glad of the fresh air as he pulled it into his lungs. In front of him, the golden Cornucopia shimmered brightly in the cold light of the fake sun, and weapons and goodies galore sat in its mouth and all around it.
'Ladies and gentlemen,' boomed the voice of Claudius Templesmith, the arena announcer. 'Let the Seventy-first Hunger Games begin!'
The timer counted down each second while Albus' eyes darted around. He spotted Olida in her scarlet scarf, Natalie in her blue scarf and finally, Lily in her green scarf. She was looking around, but she did not make contact with him. He thought about what she'd do and decided that she was probably going to just turn around and head into the trees. He planned to do the same. He bent down, preparing to run, as the gong finally sounded.
Albus ran off, planning to run around the edge in the same direction as Lily. Only Lily didn't go into the woods; she headed towards the Cornucopia. Albus froze. Possible plans rushed through his head, when he was suddenly tackled to the ground. A boy from an outer district was on top of him, punching him repeatedly in the face. Albus could feel the continual blows of blunt pain as they burst his lip and nose. He kicked around and tried to break free, but he was pinned down. Albus felt his consciousness slip away, but was brought back around by a splatter of thick drops of blood on his face. He forced his eyes open and saw that a deep red line had been drawn on his attacker's neck. The recently deceased corpse fell over, and a hand helped Albus up off the ground. The hand grabbed him and began running to the woods. Albus turned behind him, just in time to see Lily escaping through the trees carrying a red drawstring bag. He smiled, glad that she had made it, even if it was without him. He turned back to his rescuer. She was a short girl with an orange scarf. Her dirty-blonde hair was in a braid and fresh blood dripped off her knife. She looked at Albus, examining his injuries.
'You'll be fine,' she said to him. It wasn't very comforting, more commanding, as if he better be fine or else. It seemed peculiar coming from a little girl, but that was when Albus realised his saviour's identity. She was Hayley, the girl from District 3 who stared daggers as Caesar Flickerman all through her interview.
'What about Lily?' croaked Albus.
'Beggars can't be choosers, Seven,' she responded. She navigated through the naked trees as if she had walked through them before. 'Besides, she's a bit too childish for my liking.'
Albus was ready to protest, but then Hayley stopped. 'I hope she got the trail,' she whispered to herself.
'She?' Albus inquired.
'Oh, be quiet for a second, would you?!' snapped Hayley. 'I swear, I will run you through if you ask another thing!'
'But I've only asked two things!' he retorted. 'What the hell is your problem?'
'Oh, that's a great way to talk to the person who just saved your life!'
Before Hayley had the chance to stab Albus, 'she' appeared through the trees.
'I hope no one else picks up our trail, they might be looking for someone wounded.' She turned to see Albus, with his gushing nose and lip. 'And my, wouldn't they be in for a treat!'
It was Etta, donning a lime green scarf and two braids in her dark blonde hair. She was carrying with her a flail and a sword. She handed the latter to Albus. 'Here,' she said politely, 'happy Hunger Games.'
Albus accepted it, still quite dazed. 'Can someone please explain to me just what's going on right now? Did you plan this? And why aren't Tait or Cole here?'
'Well, we did plan it, but it didn't exactly go as we'd hoped,' explained Etta calmly, 'Cole is off with Nanuk and Natalie, but we were expecting that, and Tait will be here any minute now'.
Tait waited at the mouth of the Cornucopia, holding the bow and quiver of arrows that he had claimed. The Career tributes were mercilessly killing any tribute they could: Olida was throwing stars in every direction, each one claiming a victim; Angora was knocking unfortunates on to the ground with the blunt parts of her pickaxe, then plunging the spike into their hearts; Marcus was firing arrows at a rapid pace, then picking them all up while snapping the necks of anyone unlucky enough to pass him; Dynamo was spinning like a ballerina brandishing a sword, giving a beautiful display of elegant stabbings to anyone who saw them; Kristen was spearing tributes like fish in a barrel, sometimes managing to get two in one go with her impeccable timing. Then, there was Eric. He stood at the Cornucopia holding only a knife, trying to appear threatening to anyone who would dare approach him. Tait crouched behind a large tent, waiting to make a run for it. He saw the opportunity, and darted, but Eric saw him. He threw his knife at Tait and the butt hit the back of his head. Tait stumbled a bit, then fell over onto the frozen stone tiles. Eric walked up to him, weaponless and somewhat confused, and tried to seem menacing.
'Well, well,' he said in his scariest voice, 'what do we have here?'
Tait picked the knife up from the ground and pointed it at Eric, rising up as he did so.
Eric repositioned himself and thought for a moment. 'I recognise you, don't I? You're the one that Olida has an eye on.'
Tait felt like he could have laughed. 'In pathetically simple terms, yes, that's correct.' He bent down to pick up his quiver and bow, still holding out the knife.
Eric blushed. 'Well, eh, I guess she'll want you for herself. So on you go, before I change my mind!'
Tait let out a laugh this time. 'How very considerate of you.' He turned to run to Etta, but found his path blocked. Olida was far in front of him, running towards him with her stars ready. Tait made a sharp right and ran for the trees. Stars whizzed past him and into the ground behind him, but he avoided them all. He made it into the woods and ran for a particularly thick tree. He hid behind it, but not a moment before Olida entered the same patch of trees. She scanned around, her warrior senses deducing all they could, but she could not see Tait anywhere. Tait placed his hand on the tree bough, but to his amazement, he felt it sink in. He looked to his hand and saw that a large gap – like a doorway - had appeared right in front of him. He walked in, and heard the gap close up behind him.
Olida followed the tracks, but lost them in amongst the trees. The ground was hard with frost and covered in frozen leaves that would have given away Tait's position, yet she heard nothing. She let out a scream of anger and turned back. She was angry about losing Tait, but most of all, she was angry about Eric's inability to do anything to prevent it from happening.
'JUST WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT?!' she thundered. 'ARE YOU REALLY SUCH AN INCOMPETENT SACK OF CRAP THAT YOU COULDN'T EVEN STOP A GUY WHO WAS IN SPITTING DISTANCE FROM YOU?!'
'But you said you wanted to kill him yourself!' quaked Eric.
'I would have loved to, but I certainly can't now, can I? You could have stabbed him in the leg or something, but instead you just invite him to walk away! Where is your knife anyway?'
Eric hesitated. 'He has it,' he squeaked. Olida smacked him across the face. He keeled over, and Olida elbowed him in the back of the head, forcing him onto the ground, where she stretched his arm behind his back.
'Tell me this, you worthless pig: how many have you killed today?'
Eric continued to groan, but Olida pulled back his arm and he let out a scream.
'None!' he cried. Olida let him go. She rose up, then stuck her foot into his head, smashing his face into the stone ground.
'You better uncover your hidden talents soon if you don't plan on dying. Now get up.' She walked away from him, visibly fuming with rage. Marcus approached her, stepping over the corpses littering the ground.
'Maybe we should just kill him,' he whispered to her. 'You know he's useless. He'll only slow us down.'
Olida looked over to Eric, collecting himself a replacement knife from the Cornucopia. 'No one's useless, Marc. Not totally.'
Marcus scoffed. 'Aw, how cute.' Olida looked like she was going to be sick.
'Look,' she began, 'all I'm saying is that we could do with someone to use as bait or as a guinea pig. He's not a threat, he's just stupid, and I believe that that can be used to our advantage.'
Marcus smiled. 'This better be worth it.'
'Or what?'
Marcus laughed. 'I like you. You have a certain fire about you.'
'How cute,' she replied quietly, walking away.
Lily sat down on a fallen tree after walking for some time. She rubbed her hands together and warmed them with her breath. She whispered in frustration to herself. Why didn't she go to an ally? Why did she leave so quickly?
'At least I got this, whatever it is,' she said to herself, holding up her red drawstring bag. She opened it up and peered inside. The bag contained a full loaf of bread and a flask of water, both of which were freezing cold. 'Some tea would have been nicer, and some jam wouldn't have gone amiss.'
Lily tore off a small piece of bread and began to munch on it, taking in the view of the frozen trees and leaves. It was frosty, but it did not snow, which Lily supposed was a good thing in the circumstances. She sat silently, contemplating her plan with her plain bread, when she saw a silver flash pass by her. Her hands began to shake, and she turned slowly to see what it was. It was an arrow, and it had landed in the ground behind her. As speedily as she could, she stood and packed away her bread and water. Her breath became rapid as she panicked and fumbled. A second arrow flew over to her right. It had been fired from behind her, seemingly from up high judging by the angle it had landed in the earth at. She walked over to examine it, then looked up to where it seemed to come from. She stuck her hand in her coat and grabbed her wand, searching for her mystery attacker. Another arrow flew by, heading to her far left. Lily laughed; if someone was aiming at her, they were doing terribly.
'Want another go?' she beamed, pulling her wand from her jacket. The fourth arrow soared towards her, and as quickly as she could, she aimed her wand at it and screamed 'DEPULSO!' In midair, the arrow spun around and flew back towards its source. There was a quiet sound as the arrow landed in something soft, and a quiet sigh followed. Lily walked forward, but jumped back at the sound of a clatter and thud. She was bewildered; all these sounds seemed to be emanating from above her, but there was nothing to be seen but the trees. She turned around, trying to figure out if the arrows showed any clues about their shooter's position. She turned back to the trees and walked forward, but she noticed something odd about the air above the thick, tall tree nearest her; it appeared to warp and bend as she moved around it, as if something was there but in disguise. She walked around the tree, running her hand along its icy bark, when she felt her hand go inwards. A section of the tree moved inwards, then separated in two down the middle. The two halves slid in to the three, and Lily peered inside. She gasped loudly; inside were spiralling stone steps, leading up to where the shooter must be. She clambered up, wand at the ready, until she found herself in a circular stone room with large, gothic, glassless windows looking out into the forest. 'This must be invisible,' she mumbled, scanning around. Her eyes fell on a ghastly sight; there, under one of the windows, lay the body of a boy with an arrow in his heart. Around his neck was a lime green scarf. Lily clasped her hand to her mouth, and the boom of the cannon filled the air.
She had killed Tait.
