AUTHOR'S NOTES: I know, I know-this one was and is terribly late. Life, a lack of inspiration, and NaNoWriMo took over. Either way, fear not. The story will continue and will eventually finish as well. It's been a bumpy ride for Katniss and it only gets worse from here. She hasn't even finished her ordeal in the arena and she's already suffering depression. As such, this is a fairly grim chapter at times. Also... we learn what the careers are nicknaming Katniss, as if that wasn't already fairly obvious enough.
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 14: The Rise of Black Death

The next few days consisted of Katniss and Vex hunting for the other tributes, and also trying to make sure they were concealed in either the 5th wedge, or safely in the 12th wedge far away from the lightning tree. On the 6th evening, Katniss made the mistake of stopping in the 11th wedge, where they were nearly torn apart by these large insects with loud, clicking pinchers, but the two escaped before the swarm could tear their flesh from their bones. Nights 7 and 8 were thankfully not as eventful, but day 9 started with another cannon going off.

"Any bets that it was '4?" Vex suggested. Katniss nodded with a frown.

"As much as I wish it was either Winter or Wallace… I think you're right." She indicated, "chances are one of the district 4 people just went down."

"We should get moving then," Vex suggested, "if '4 just got split up, it probably means the survivor either joined the careers or just got killed by them."

The afternoon plodded on, with Vex and Katniss making their way to the 5th wedge and this time getting it right. As the darkness encircled them, they heard other footsteps and movements.
"I've got this," Katniss whispered, drawing her bow.

"Allow me…" Vex interceded, drawing a knife. They shifted around until they heard the slow and subtle signs of someone sneaking through the dense brush, before Vex's knife left her hand. It whistled through the air, striking flesh with nary more than a slight gasp. It was male by the sound of it, which meant if it was from District 4, that his partner had been the one to die earlier. A cannon fired, meaning that Vex and Katniss were alone again.

"Farewell Kale and Kiera," Katniss whispered. Sure enough, when the darkness subsided, Kale's body was not too far away from where the two girls had hunkered down for the hour, and from it, Vex retrieved her knife before the hovercraft came to pick it up. A few hours later their theory on Kiera was verified as they saw her face, shortly followed by Kale's, appear in the sky.

"Well, I guess this is the end of the line then, huh?" Katniss turned to her partner.

"Not while there are still six career tributes left," Vex elbowed her, "I'm not turning on you while they're alive, you know. What kind of friend would do that?"
"A friend in the Hunger Games, perhaps?" Katniss attempted to remind her, but the truth had plunged itself into Katniss' heart like a dagger. Vex was her friend, and so if Katniss somehow survived this hellish arena, she would have to cope with losing yet another person close to her. These kinds of thoughts were exactly why Katniss felt suicidal even in the arena, although she did not mention this to Vex.

"that's not something I'm going to bother thinking about until it becomes necessary," Vex asserted, "in the meantime, I've got your back, Katniss—even if you don't even want that help."
"I've lost too many people important to me," Katniss sighed, "I've tried to distance myself from you for that same reason, Vex. Even if I win, it means I'll have lost you—my first real friend in years." The only other friend Katniss could consider herself having was Gale, but she had become friends with him years ago, and now that he was old enough to evade the Hunger Games, he worked full time at the mines to provide for his mother and siblings. Prim had obviously been one of Katniss' dear friends, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that perhaps Peeta Mellark could have been a saving grace for her if his feelings towards her were anything like the way he had treated Prim in the arena the year before. However, all of that was water under the bridge now, and the only person left for Katniss was Vex, and one or both of them were doomed to die in this arena.

"Cheer up, Everdeen," Vex ruffled Katniss' hair, "I don't think these games are going to last more than a few more day anyways, and then it'll all be over." She paused, "well, the games will be. I think either way whoever wins is going to be messed up in the head for life, but I guess that's what happens when we get signed up for this sort of thing."
"I volunteered," Katniss reminded her glumly.

"Well then—who did you volunteer for?" Vex tilted her head.
"Her name was Naisha," Katniss explained, "she had a young boy in her arms and a baby on the way. There's no way I could let someone like get put here. I'm mostly surprised that I of all people was the first one to have enough gall to speak up."
"No one ever volunteers outside of Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5." Vex quipped, "I don't even think anyone in '12 or '11 would have thought it was possible."

"She's got something left to live for." Katniss mumbled, "I don't."

"Hey," Vex put her hand under Katniss' chin, "I'm not going to try and tell you to cheer up, because I understand what you're going through. There's depression in your eyes and I've seen it from the start. Don't confuse my optimism for naiveté here, Everdeen. There's something going on in there that I can't fully fathom, but I see it in the way you behave. You hardly eat, you sleep very sporadically. You've told me you've got suicidal thoughts. You've told me the story of your sister and how you couldn't save her. If anything, I feel like an ass now for not realizing it sooner."
"That's why I think you deserve to win." Katniss asserted, "Look, I know it's hard, but you're the best fighter in the arena right now. Don't start something only not to finish it. If you didn't let it get the best of you for the last 8 days, just hold in there a little longer, alright? If it makes you feel any better, I'll let you decide who gets to go home after we take out the careers."

Katniss sighed again. If she could do it for Naisha, a stranger whom she had never formally met, then perhaps she could stay strong for Vex, another stranger she had just barely met, for just a while longer. Unbeknownst to her, the Capitol had not only caught this entire scene on camera, but it had been broadcast as a highlight of the evening. At once, sponsors in the Capitol began lining up to offer their support to Katniss Everdeen. The notion of a tribute sacrificing something for another tribute was extremely rare, and almost unheard of between districts. Over in District 11, the crowds gave the District 12 salute to their screens in honor of Katniss, even if most of them were still rooting for Vex. It was clear that even if Katniss Everdeen was slain in combat, that she would not be so easily forgotten.

The remainder of the evening went by without event, although Katniss and Vex used this time to gather food, water, and supplies and make their way to the cornucopia. Vex questioned Katniss' incentive, but she had an answer waiting.

"Not to say that the darkness isn't an easy horror to endure," she remarked, "but if I can kill people in the dark then so can Elsa, Surge, Winter, Wallace, Tarin, and Titania. I'd rather have a nice wide-open view of the field in the evenings."

"Do you think they'll spin the cornucopia again to fling us off?" Vex warned.

"Maybe if they want to be boring and predictable," Katniss aimed this subtle jab at the Gamemakers as if challenging them to surprise her again. "I'll take the risk. I'm exhausted."
"Makes sense, really," Vex agreed, following the darker girl towards the center of the arena again. If Katniss really had depression, it would explain her fatigue both from her mental condition and her sporadic sleeping. Now that the horrors were over, it was time to rest.

The Career pack had camped around the lightning tree staying away from it as the 12 gongs went off, and then otherwise held down their camp. They heard a slow rumbling from the center of the arena, but as Elsa's ears twitched, she listened closely for any sign of impending danger. The rumbling continued for about three minutes before stopping, and everything fell silent again.

"Black death?" Winter muttered. Elsa shook her head.

"She'd be much quieter than that," the District 3 girl reassured them, "that was something the Gamemakers did for sure—hopefully to get her and Vex."

'Black Death': that was what they were calling Katniss now, due to her deadly attacks and high kill count. The careers were on the prowl, but remained wary of Katniss's stealth attacks. On the other hand, their guess was as good as anyone's regarding the noise at the center of the arena. In truth what had happened was that after Katniss and Vex fell asleep, the Gamemakers spun the cornucopia again to throw them off. However, instead of spinning it violently and watching them get flung into the water, they rotated it a few times before stopping it with the tail now pointing at the 9th wedge instead of the 12th one. Because of the thick jungle surrounding them and the rotational symmetry of the center arena, there was no way to tell unless they had witnessed it. Vex and Katniss would be in for a surprising awakening the next morning…