AUTHOR'S NOTE: As promised, chapter 21 is where things start heating up. There are two deaths in this chapter, and the next few chapters also have deaths throughout them. Naturally, there's also bit of discussion between Chel and Ava, because even though this is a death match, the tributes are still human. They have their own thoughts and minds and hopes and dreams. Too many people (particularly in the Capitol) are too swift to forget that.
Also... coming up with a name for this chapter was notoriously difficult.
CHAPTER 21: Hunter and Career
The afternoon of Day 5 continued much the same way Day 4 had, except that Chel and Ava reached the summits of the inner ring of mountains. They could see the golden cornucopia in the far distance, and the slight movement of activity in the trees around them. Perhaps that was just the wind though rather than another tribute or two.
They began to descend the mountain, moving through the forest, they came across a very elaborate little wooden shelter very akin to theirs in appearance a few yards away.
"Do you want to go investigate it," Chel offered, "and I'll keep watch, or should we swap roles? I just thought you'd be better at stealth because you're so tiny and I'm this gigantic girl with two left feet."
"Chel, if you were clumsy, you'd never volunteer to carry me around places." Ava chuckled.
"Fine; you got me. But, my question still stands."
"Alright—I'll go check it out. Chop me down a branch."
With a deft swing, Chel chucked a throwing axe at one of the trees, knocking a dead branch down which she handed to Ava. "Use this to poke around for any traps."
After a bit of poking, Ava found nothing, but other than the shelter itself, there was also nothing useful here either. She motioned for Chel to come over, which the larger girl did.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" she glanced towards the slope, and then back at the shelter.
"We stay here?" Ava tilted her head, her tone skeptical as if she doubted the validity of this idea.
"No; we knock this down to make some noise. We're going to attract a tribute."
They did just that, with Chel and Ava successfully dismantling the shelter and throwing the logs down the slope, where they rolled and smashed things. Sure enough, there was rustling a few moments later, and it was growing closer. Ava drew out some knives, while Chel pulled out her throwing axes again.
The tribute in question bowled right over Ava, and it was revealed to be Magnolia. Ava sprang back up and turned to attack the girl, who looked surprised and tense to see two new tributes. Still, it did not stop her from pulling out a pair of axes of her own and engaging combat with them, although she occasionally glanced down the mountain. Shel swung her axe mightily to try and strike the girl, but before she could, the girl coughed up blood and fell backwards, revealing a knife in her neck. A cannon fired, and Ava was fairly certain it was Magnolia.
"Ironic…" she sighed, "the girl got an 11… who threw that knife though…"
She had hardly said this when a boy came belting through the trees into the clearing, looking equally as shocked as Magnolia. Apparently he and the number 8 on his shoulders indicated that this was Roy O'Donnell. Ava did not even give him a chance to express his position or state his status. With her arrow nocked again, she let it fly, sending it through the boy's throat, dropping him. A second cannon boomed shortly after Magnolia's, to signal Roy's death.
"Well damn," Chel shook her head, cracking an odd smile, "those were the two highest-scoring non-career tributes, and we just took 'em out like that. Are you sure you're not secretly a career?"
Ava shook her head. "I just did what I had to. I think they got in a fight or something beforehand—look at Roy's arm, and Magnolia's chest." She motioned towards the two dead tributes as she went to retrieve her arrow. Other than the knife in Magnolia's neck and the arrow in Roy's, they seemed to both have sustained a few injuries from something or someone else before they had encountered Chel and Ava. It did not bother the girls though; weakened tributes were easier to off.
"I always thought that death would be much harder to cope with," Ava shrugged, "but here I am now in my 5th day of the Hunger Games. It's been 4 days since my brother was killed, and I don't really feel a thing. Should I, Chel? Should I feel sadness or guilt?"
"I'm not the one to answer that," she shrugged, "I was specifically trained not to, just like all of my peers. There's a reason that District 2 is so skilled at killing other kids without remorse. I'm the same way, if you recall."
"Does that mean I am too? You did call me a career earlier."
"You've got the makings of one, and you're definjitely ruthless and efficient. That boy might have tried to ally with us if you had given him a chance to speak."
"But that would just be another friend to kill in the end, right? Or maybe he would have died earlier…" she sighed, thinking back to Wes again, and all the plans they had had to circumvent having to kill each other. Well, the good news was that they did not have to kill each other (though she did wish to learn if it was actually Iris who had killed him), but he had died in the opening minutes of the first day, which in her eyes was fairly shameful, but that also meant that they did not get to say a proper goodbye. Ava had always imagined that she and Wes would be there together in their final moments, with one sibling holding the other in his or her arms as they said their goodbyes. She had not received that privilege. Someone had ended Wesley's life before he had even been able to see much of the arena.
"As Clove once told me," Chel put a hand on Ava's shoulder, "The Hunger Games are what turns a boy into a man or a girl into a woman. Kids who manage to make it out of these arenas tend to be more seasoned, mature, and experienced than most individuals in Panem. Besides, there are only 90 other people in all of our history who are able to relate to the things you have done. The rest are dead, and even some of the victors have gone the way of the world, so that number is even smaller."
Ava turned back to lean against Chel in a soft embrace, whimpering slightly.
"What's wrong, kiddo?" she hoisted Ava into her arms, since the height difference between the two tributes was fairly staggering, and a girl with Chel's strength could easily lift the much smaller Ava, who was also the tiniest tribute of the 91st Annual Hunger Games.
"Just a realization I had," she murmured softly, leaning against Chel's shoulder.
"I'm listening," she rubbed the smaller girl's back.
"Well, I also realized just now that you are very motherly," she chuckled, before returning to her serious tone, "but also that everyone in here—even the likes of Chaco and Iris—they're all just innocent children forced into these games, some with different mindsets than others."
"That they are," Chel nodded, "but that isn't going to change anything. 23 must die before the 'games are over. Do you wish to continue?"
"I guess this is why we need to be ruthless," Ava shrugged, looking at Chel in the eyes. "Chel; thank you. I know it sounds stupid, but thanks for listening to me ramble."
"No problem, Aveline," Chel smiled, placing the tiny girl back on her feet. "let's get moving though so the hovercrafts can pick up the bodies—besides, we need to make camp soon."
They had about 2 hours of daylight left, and as they walked away from the bodies, a hovercraft came to pick up Magnolia's body, and then Roy's.
"The good news," Chel smiled as they walked, "is that we are now officially halfway through the Hunger Games—only 12 more tributes to go…"
Ava thought about this for a moment: "Both from '1; both from '2; both from '3; the girl from '4; the girl from '5; the boy from '6; both from '11, and the girl from '12—me."
"You think we'll make it?" she looked up at the massive girl as they walked back up the mountain.
"I'm Chel Colorado. Of course we'll make it," Chel laughed, "but let's get back to the top and make camp on the peak. That way we can check the river tomorrow after the nightly flooding."
Sure enough, the clouds were beginning to congregate as the sun began to set, but the girls reached the plateau-like surface of the peaks before nightfall. Chel put her axes to good use building another quick shelter, while Ava's bow became the tool with which she hunted. Her success was limited, but they still had good amounts of water left.
"5 days down… 12 tributes to go…" Chel stretched out once their little shelter and camp was all set up. The anthem played, and then the dead tributes' faces showed up.
Magnolia Chang, District 7…
Roy O'Donnell, District 8…
"Any guesses on when it'll end?" Ava asked;
"A week or two," Chel suggested, "the Gamemakers like to let the worn-out tributes rest if they are strong or smart, and so if nothing happens in the arena for 2 or 3 days… then we worry."
"That's far off though, isn't it…"
"Yup; they might give us a day or two, or maybe one of the other kids will run into something. I don't know, obviously."
"Fair enough," Ava agreed, "so do we wait now?"
"Aye," Chel nodded, getting comfortable for the night, "now we wait."