Chapter 21

Rubbing two sticks together was not as easy as it sounded. Well, it was easy, but not if one was trying to start a fire. Which was exactly what Sares was trying to do. It was proving to be a difficult task, not impossible, but not easy. Sares liked a good challenge, but not when the result would be the difference between life and death.

Sares was super glad to be back in the snowy arena. She could light a fire, boil down some snow, get cozy in front of the flames. But to get the last two, she needed the first, and that was a bit problematic at the moment.

"Come on you stupid sticks," she said in frustration, "work, start a flame, anything." Nothing happened, just like she expected. She threw the sticks down in aggravation. "Fine, I give up." She looked up at the sunless sky, "do you hear me? I give up! I don't need a fire."

No response. She was being completely ignored. She had never experienced that before, she was not used to being ignored. She was always the center of attention, always.

She needed someone to talk to. She hated being all alone. It was getting dark, and cold, and it was still snowing.

She loved the snow, she really did. Snow meant a cozy carriage ride with the current boy she was crushing over. It meant warm liquids, apple cider, hot cocoa, spiced tea. It didn't mean camping out in the powdery stuff with no company, no fire, nothing to eat or drink.

The anthem began, soon the faces of the dead would show. She would soon know who those cannons were for. There had been four. Two while at the other arena, and two while in the snow arena.

She was absolutely shocked. Both tributes from one were dead. Sares couldn't believe it. She wanted to, but it just didn't make any sense. District one tributes always made it to final eight, they never died this early. These games weren't following the normal path. Not in the least bit, but that made it easier for Sares. Her chances of living were getting higher with each passing death. Also, the boy from two, the mean one, was dead.

Then they showed the boy from District 12, Sares couldn't remember his name, Mitch or Matt or something along those lines. There were now nine of them left. One more to go before they would be interviewing her friends and family for final eight. They better answer correctly, they better show her in good light.

Sares picked up the sticks one more time, it seemed to be getting colder by the second. Stupid Gamemakers, they took their control way too far. She remembered when she had her private session with them. They were just so full of themselves. They knew that they controlled her life, they could kill her in a heartbeat. They were cold-blooded killers. When she made it out alive she was going to kill them in cold blood.

Sares liked having goals. She needed Starting a fire, getting out alive, killing the Gamemakers, falling in love, getting married, having kids. Those were all her goals.

It had started when she was just a kid. It was just her and her mom. Sares had been born to a sixteen year old, her father had died before she was even born, killed in the games when he was only seventeen.

Sares was not going to let her mother lose another loved one to the games. She refused. Renna had always said that her daughter was stubborn, well that was not going to be Sares fatal flaw. She was going to survive, she was going home, she was stubborn and she refused to go at this young of an age.

She still couldn't get a spark. Rubbing two sticks together to make a fire was impossible. But Sares was stubborn, and there was no such thing as impossible. She had to do it, just to prove that she could do it.

"Please, please work for me," she pleaded as she tried once more, a spark could be seen, just the tiniest spark, it didn't start a fire, but it was a start. Now her faith was back. She managed to start a fire, and she sat in front of the flames, getting warm. It felt so good. Now all she needed was a blanket, a boy and a hot drink, hopefully spiked.

XXX

Autumn wasn't sure how she had done it. She wasn't sure how she had managed to escape the deadly snow spiders, or how she had managed to kill Lenea, the horrible girl from one, all she knew was that she had. She had escaped the snow spiders and she had killed Lenea. She was still alive, still kicking, still in the games. Against all odds she had made it to the final nine. All that was left was the final one.

Lenea's blue eyes still haunted her. Lenea was dead though, gone for good. She would never get married to Ritch, never have the perfect life. Autumn had no idea that Ritch was plotting her death. He wanted revenge for the death of his finance. Because Lenea and Ritch really had been in love, it was the real deal, and he felt lost without her. He wanted to see Autumn dead, and he wanted to strangle her himself. Autumn was doomed. If only she could see the future. If only she knew what was going to happen to her.

All she knew was that it was nighttime. The sky was dark, the snow was lightly falling, and the freezing cold air was piercing every inch of her skin. She saw smoke from the opposite end of the arena, someone had made a fire. Autumn wished that she could join that person. She really could use the warmth. But she had no idea who it was, and everyone was her enemy at the moment. The only person that she could truly trust was herself.

XXX

Anya was one of nine left. She went through the other tributes in her mind. The only careers left were herself and Sadie from two. She was shocked with that revelation. She was also glad that she hadn't aligned with the careers.

Then there was Skylar from three and both siblings from six. Five of them were from the first six districts, usually someone from the first six won because they were usually the healthiest, the most well off. And it was usually a career. Anya was one of two left from the careers, if statistics were right, then she had a fifty-fifty chance of winning.

Then there were the girls from seven, nine, eleven and twelve. Autumn, Sares, Casey and Belle. Way too many girls. Girls scared Anya, girls couldn't be trusted. Anya much rather preferred to hang out with guys. They were much easier to understand.

She was glad that she had brothers instead of sisters. She wouldn't know what to do if she had a sister, and she felt bad for Colten, all he had were sisters. He must have hated mornings, having to fight for the bathroom.

XXX

Colten was super warm now. He almost wished for the snow again, but that wish was quickly squashed when he saw Nat and Casey. They probably never wanted to see snow again, not after thinking that it had killed him.

They were busy making a shelter. Casey and Nat were arguing about where to put it. He sighed, they were never going to get along. He knew that they were trying really hard, but Nat would never fully understand how much Colt adored Casey. Casey would never fully understand how much Nat meant to him. His oldest sister really was his hero and he looked up to her, not that he would ever tell her that to her face.

But they didn't hate each other, and for that much he was thankful. They just liked to bicker, they liked to argue. They were like an old married couple. Except Nat and Casey weren't married. Actually, the better comparison would be mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Nat wasn't Colt's mother, but sometimes she acted like it. Mother's liked to give their daughter-in-laws grief.

Colt knew that he had little time left with them. He was happy for what he had been given, he was happy that he was with them now, bickering and all. Casey turned and gave him a small smile, and he felt his heart soar. Nat caught the exchange and shook her head. She was trying so hard to be understanding, but it was hard for her to share her brother, not when they had so little time left.

Colt threw a look at his sister. Nat got the hint, even though she didn't like it, she moved away, giving Colt and Casey some privacy.

Finally, alone time.

Colt drew Casey into his lap and wrapped his arms around her, she shivered at the sensation that it caused.

"I'd like to kiss you now," Colt said, Casey grinned.

"I'd like that very much."

So that was exactly what they did.

XXX

Skylar Reef and Belle Petals were exhausted. Running from the avalanche had been the hardest thing that they had endured so far. They were pooped. They only had a few hours to rest before the sun would come up and they would have to go on with their day.

Skylar didn't think that she would make friends during the games. She had wanted an alliance, not a friendship. Yet, here she, holed up in a cave, huddled under a blanket with Belle. Back home in her district she only had one true friend, Gracelin Pores. Skylar could now say, without a doubt, that she had two best friends. She really wished that she could introduce Belle and Gracelin, the three of them would get along swell.

She had always thought that having one friend was good enough. That one was perfect. But she was glad that she had met Belle, glad that they were fighting for their lives together. It was good to have someone who had her back. Someone that she could count on, and she knew, without a doubt, that she could count on Belle Petals.

Belle rolled over in her sleep as Skylar kept watch. Belle was such a horrible sleeper. It took the girl ages to doze off, and she would kick, and move and roll and change positions every few seconds. In fact, Skylar worried when Belle wasn't constantly shifting. Belle had been in thirteen different poses in the last hour, Skylar had counted, it was what helped pass the time.

Skylar heard the crunching of snow outside the cave and she tensed. Goosebumps rose up on her arms and the hair on the back of her neck was standing straight up. Someone was out there. Skylar wasn't sure who, and she sure didn't want to find out.

She didn't want to wake up Belle, Belle hardly got any sleep as it was, and Skylar didn't want to ruin what little sleep she did get. But if another tribute was out there, then she needed Belle.

"Belle," Skylar whispered softy so her voice wouldn't carry outside, "wake up." Skylar gently nduged Belle's shoulder. The girl sat up with a jolt and looked around widely.

"Unughf," Belle said intelligently as she came to her senses. Skylar would have laughed at her expression if it wasn't such a serious matter.

"There's someone outside," Skylar said urgently. Belle tensed and searched for her weapon, the knife was by her side, somehow it had stayed where it was even though Belle must have kicked it a few times.

The two girls inched towards the mouth of the cave, silent and deadly. They cocked their ears to listen for more sounds. There was a light footfall.

Through the moonlight shining into their cave, Skylar could see Belle's expression. The girl had a wild look about her. If Skylar wasn't on Belle's side, then she would be terrified.

At the count of three, Skylar and Belle lunged, bringing down a fox. It took several moments for their heartbeats to go back to normal before they registered what they had done. They had killed a fox, not a human. They had dinner. Luckily Belle had managed to grab a flint from the cornucopia on the first day, so they lit a fire and had a feast of roasted fox.

Skylar went to bed with a full stomach, and Belle kept watch.

XXX

Sadie Cross was now the big girl on campus. The only career left worth something. The other one, Anya whatsherface had pretty much been in hiding. Sadie had hardly seen the girl's face. Anya was an elusive fish. Sadie wanted to flush her out. Sadie wanted to be the only career in the final eight.

She hadn't wanted to be in the games at all. She had been pushed into it, forced to be where she was. And she was going to show the Capital who they were messing with. She was playing the game now, for real, her sister would be proud.

Sadie was stalking the caves, looking in each one. She found remains of a campsite in one cave, probably from their first time in the arena. She moved on to the next one, completely empty. She didn't care who she found, anyone would do.

She had been seven when Jael was in the games. To a seven year old, watching her older sister kill other children was a frightening sight. Sadie could never get the image out of her head when Jael made her first kill. After the death of the small girl from eight, Jael had snapped, she had gone crazy, she was out for blood, she didn't know what was real anymore. She couldn't distinguish right from wrong.

Now Sadie was in the same position. She hadn't thought that it would happen to her. But now that Dragan was dead, Sadie couldn't help herself. She needed revenge, she was out for blood. She was now the career that everyone was frightened of, they wanted to kill her, so she had to kill them first.

She smiled to herself as she came to a cave with footprints in the snow. The footprints led in and out of the entrance.

Bingo.

Before Sadie could walk another step, a body came flying out of the cave, brandishing a knife. So Sadie wasn't the only tribute who had gone crazy.

Belle was screaming at the top of her lungs, Sadie easily sidestepped the girl from twelve.

"Belle?" Another girl said, concern dripping from her tone. Sadie had forgotten about Skylar. The two girls were connected at the hips. Skylar launched herself in the air, trying to get to Sadie.

Sadie was ready. Skylar was going to fall right into Sadie's perfectly aimed knife. Belle jumped, putting herself between Sadie and Skylar. The knife pierced Belle instead of Skylar, but Sadie wasn't picky.

"NO!" Skylar screamed as she watched her friend fall. "BELLE."

But it was too late, Belle was close to death, her cannon would soon go off. Sadie would have another death on her hands. Skylar was torn, did she run to Belle's side, or go after Belle's killer. She decided to comfort Belle in her last moments, she still had plenty of time to avenge Belle.

"Why'd you do that?" Skylar asked as she knelt beside her friend, "why'd you jump in front of me?"

"That's what friends do," Belle gasped as she bled out, Skylar was hopeless to fix the wound. She wished that she had paid better attention in health class.

"Only if you're suicidal," Skylar whispered as Belle closed her eyes.

"It's okay Skye, I can see my mom, she's waiting for me," Belle took one last breath, and was still. She looked like a sleeping angel, peaceful and content. Now Skylar had to win, for the both of them.

XXX

The final eight had been chosen. One alliance was left to be severed, and it was the strongest one yet.