Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.
Chapter Fourteen: The Lucky One (It's purely coincidental with the Nicholas Spark's movie/book being entitled the same thing...promise!)
I turned around to see three bodies, back turned to me as they observed the destroyed wing in front of them. I nearly drew blood biting down so hard on my lip as I stepped back carefully, wishing not to draw any sort of attention to myself.
"What do you think all of this means?" Zane asked, picking up a stray stone from the pebbles at their feet.
Stealthily, I moved myself to the Cornucopia, pressing myself directly against it and thankful for it being located where it was.
"Does it matter? It just means more target practice for us and less of the actual hunting. I prefer it this way," Lila added, I heard a sizzle and peeked around the edge of the Cornucopia to see Zane tossing the stone into the force field. Knowing what would come after this, I quickly ducked back behind the Cornucopia, as Zane moved to retrieve his rock that shot back toward them quickly, Lila elicited a scream, I moved to the opposite side, briefly and planning to move back after he moved.
Just as I moved, backing up to keep a careful eye on Lila and Zane, my back hit something, or someone rather. Immediately, I felt myself shoved around, knocking my backpack from my arm as I looked straight into the eyes of Flux, who was chuckling. My heart rate went through the ceiling as he cracked his knuckles.
"Well….well…well," He said, walking toward me as I kept on backing away from him.
It was far too early in the game for a confrontation with Flux. Especially since there was essentially three of him and only one of me. I was skilled enough in hand-to-hand combat, but he killing me would be easy at this point in time. He had two extra bodies to help him.
I swallowed as he smiled and he said," I'd think by now you'd have had this place figured out, huh? All you've got is a little backpack?"
Zane and Lila had come around the Cornucopia, now blocking my exit behind me. Zane picked up my bag and tossed it to Flux, who immediately unzipped it. I couldn't help but smirk at the sight of his anxiousness, I merely crossed my arms and waited for his shock. I suppose that my expression was a little obvious for he looked at me as if I were crazy as he pulled out the rubber shoes. As if it were useless, he threw it aside without another look before moving on to the pin and paper, which he found to be equally useless. The utility knife was next, he found some interest in this as he popped it open before shutting it and throwing it to Lila. Last, he pulled out the plastic bottle, holding it up and examining it.
I noticed symbols or something marked on the bottom of the bottle that I had certainly not noticed before. Then again, I hadn't had the longest time to examine all of my items, but there was something about the angle at which Flux was holding it. He looked at the markings, but simply shrugged it off as nothing important before shoving it in the bag and dropping it behind him.
"As always, pathetic," He noted duly, looking back to me as he came closer.
"Don't be so tough on yourself," I joked, smirking slightly and thinking of how the people at home must have been on the edge of their seat, all the drama in such little time. The Gamemakers were doing their job well thus far.
Flux flashed a quick, humorless smile before coming face to face with me. I looked down to his hand to see that he was motioning to Zane who was behind him for the weapon. The transfer was quick and before I knew it, Flux was armed and standing just inches from me. My eyes were looking everywhere, trying to look for a window of opportunity, but I saw no light to end of this. I was nearly going frantic with all of the possibilities running through my head, but none seemed to come. And when the handle of Flux's blade came swinging, hitting me in the jaw, it was no surprise that I fell immediately to the ground, feeling as though my teeth had literally been knocked out of place.
My hand immediately went to cup my jaw, but I had to duck out of the way as he sent the blade my way the second time around. My brain was spinning and I honestly had little orientation from the quick blow that he had just thrown at me. I knew that I had to get it together…in one way or another. I was able to gather my thoughts enough to pull myself away from the swinging blade in his hand, but not before it barely nicked my cheek, enough to leave a scrape.
"Come on, Savera! What's wrong?" Flux taunted as I scampered away, breathing heavily. "Fight back! If I'm going to kill you now, then let's make a show of it! Let's have some fun!"
He certainly had a twisted view of what was fun, not that this was a surprise. Nevertheless, if he wanted "fun"….I steadied my breathing, then fine…I could give him fun.
Just as I recovered from his last swipe, he came swinging around for another go. I remember pulling my foot up, attempting to kick the weapon from his hand. The weapon may have gone soaring through the air, but Flux kept a tight lock on my ankle which had been right in front of him. I swallowed hard, preparing myself for what was next. With a very eerie smirk on his face, he placed his hand on either side of my foot, but just before he could pull it at the odd angle I knew he wanted to…the angle that would immobilize me and make me a kill for him…
"FLUX! FLUX!" Lila was screaming from behind him, both of our heads shot back and I was able to pull my foot free of his grasp before pulling myself to my feet, seeing this as my only opportunity to escape. I saw that his attention was immediately drawn away from me at the sight of Lila in danger, from what I still couldn't tell. I scampered to pick up the backpack Flux had carelessly thrown aside and threw it over my shoulder as quickly as I could.
Out of the side of my eye, I watched as Flux took off without another word to me down the wing, after a screaming Lila, Zane attempted to follow, but Flux was quick to shut that down, he yelled to Zane while pointing at me," Take care of her! Don't let her get away!"
I met eyes with Zane once before making a dive toward the knife that was laying just several feet away from him. The knife was laying dangerously close to one of the force fields and I found myself nose-to-nose with the force field. Zane quickly took advantage of my position as I felt a hand literally pulling my hair upward, I winced and even let out a shriek of pain.
"Not so fast there, Savera," He growled, putting my face closer to the sizzling force field. The contraption may have regurgitated weapons, but I had a feeling it didn't do the same thing for human flesh.
"Why aren't you running after your little girlfriend too?" I asked, still grimacing from the pressure of hair being pulled atop of my head. In the very back of my head, I was wondering what was so terrible to send Flux running like that.
He sunk his fingers deeper into my hair, pulling harder," I've got bigger things to settle here."
Before I could utter another word, I heard the sound of a bow string being pulled back from behind us. There was no release, but merely words being spoken," I'd say your business is better found out there."
I wanted more than anything to crane my neck and see this sight. By the sound of her voice, I could tell that it was none other than my companion from training, Lani, who had preferred archery. I couldn't say that she was anything less than a blessing at that moment.
"Now, I'd think that it would be best for the both of us if you simply turn and leave now. You can leave now with your life still…intact," She said slowly, and I felt the grasp upon my hair slowly lessen as he realized the reality of what he was dealing with. Suddenly, with a crash, my jaw hit the stone floor and though it couldn't have helped the teeth that were dislodged from Flux just moments before, the feeling of freedom was much better than that.
"And what do you have to gain from this?" Zane asked as he stepped away from me and I grabbed the dagger I had intended to take before.
Lani paused before saying," A kill the whole world has been waiting to see."
My heart stopped.
Who was she referring to? Slowly, I turned my head to see my once companion, Lani, her bow still pointed at Zane, but her eyes locked on mine. Needless to say that the look in her eye was not one a friend would give to another friend. I swallowed hard, realizing I was not out of the woods just yet. In fact, if I was dead before, then I was more than dead now if she actually meant what she said.
"I can't leave here without her," Zane growled, pointing to me. "Flux will-"
"What?" Lani asked, raising a brow at him as she kept her bow pointed at him. "Kill you? Whose to say that I won't? Right now."
Immediately, his brows furrowed as he glared up at Lani, standing atop of the Cornucopia. There wasn't a chance he would survive and be able to take me back with him. With a string of swear words, he sauntered off to go and locate the rest of his Career pack. Thankful that Zane was gone, my eyes then shifted to Lani, who was still looking at me as though I were her prey.
"We meet again," She said turning the bow directly toward me. I looked her straight in the eye, unblinking.
"Yes…apparently not as…accomplices," I said slowly, looking down the arrow that was pointed straight at me.
She pulled the arrow back farther and I simply stood there…watching. It didn't matter where I tried to run, it would just be target practice for her. I was simply waiting for her to release it. I was numb to any thinking or strategizing, for several seconds, she simply stared at me from behind her bow and arrow. The silence was so strong that I literally felt as though my heart could have been heard across the entire plane of the maze.
And then…she started laughing.
Not just a chuckle, but actual laughing.
I was more baffled than anything as she put her weapon away and climbed down the Cornucopia, quickly to run over and embrace me, weeping tears of…joy? I did not embrace her back, but simply furrowed my brows, standing still as a statue as she hugged me tight. When she broke away, she began wiping away tears of laughter. I still couldn't figure out the situation and simply stared at her as though she was a lunatic.
Was this some sort of a trick?
"What…why aren't you-" She laughed, hitting me on the shoulder playfully.
"You…you just threatened to kill me," I stuttered, holding on tightly to the knife in my hand. I was completely in shock. "A-and now…you…you are my friend?"
There was a silence as the short, stocky girl observed me seriously, realizing that she was the only one who found the matter funny.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to kill you. I had to get rid of the buzz kill, Zane," She said, still good-humouredly. "Capri distracted the others. In fact, I'd say you owe us your life."
I tilted my head at her, wondering if I really could trust what she was saying. I supposed that I didn't really have much of a choice since she did…in an essence, before she tried to kill me…saved my life. I cracked a small smile at her before saying," Well…thanks, I think."
"Don't sound too grateful," She said sarcastically, patting me on the shoulder once more before leading me down one of the wings, casually, as if we were strolling down a path at a lush, peaceful park. I followed along beside her, trying to push my inhibitions aside as we walked, in the distance, I could still hear the cries and yells of Flux, Zane and periodically Lila.
After chatting casually with Lani, I finally asked what had been on my mind ever since she saved me," What exactly did you do to Lila?"
"Well, whenever we saw that they had you, we knew we had to do something. Capri, Marley, and myself met up fairly quickly after the bloodbath and headed out to find some sort of a shelter. Believe it or not, this maze has some interesting nooks and crannies that no body would think of," She explained as we turned the corner, I couldn't help but still feel uneasy with every move I made in that arena.
"Marley?" I wondered out loud, not recognizing the name immediately.
"He's the boy tribute from my district," She added quickly before going on. "Anyways, he knew he could easily take out Lila, since he is built fairly well. As well as Flux? No, but well enough to be able to drag off Lila. Combine that with a sharp sword we picked up at the Cornucopia and she was out of the equation. We also knew that if we could get Lila out of the option, then Flux would be close to follow since they're…well, you know how the Careers are with each other."
I assumed that she was insinuating that Careers usually pretended like the best of friends for a majority of the Games, even throwing in a little flirting every once and awhile. I had heard this about them and goodness it was basically taught at the academy for all those years. Everyone, even me, knew that fighting and killing was important, but appealing to the public was more important. It was…a little strange though how quickly Flux had been distracted. Yes, he cared for his teammates, I was sure, but the manner in which he did it seemed much more…urgent. Another thing I knew was that Flux detested me and would have taken any chance he could take to demolish me. If someone had pulled him away from that opportunity, then they must have been pretty significant.
Deciding not to comment on this, I simply nodded my head before she continued on.
"I don't think they're planning on killing any of them, but they just wanted to give them a little scare was all. Plus, we needed you badly and couldn't risk them killing you right off the bat," She told me earnestly as we came to what appeared to be a common area of the maze, it was basically a square (much like where the Cornucopia was, only without the Cornucopia) with several different wings leading in different directions). "They're pretty clever so I trust they'll be back by nightfall."
I looked up to the hazy sky above, realizing that night probably wasn't very far away. There were plenty of worries on my mind, but the first of those was finding drinking water or food. A stone labyrinth didn't provide much natural growth; therefore, I knew we would have to get creative. The other worries included death and the Careers. They may have been small in number, but they nearly killed me that day. I had to accept that, as painful as it tasted to swallow.
I would also have to accept that one day, I would have to meet them again and that time one of us wouldn't get as lucky as I had gotten that day.
A/N: Well, thanks again to everyone reading this story! I appreciate it so much! Please, please, please let me know what you think :D Any predictions for the next chapter?