Chapter 25

Tris

I try to bite the hand that's covering my mouth as the owner of it drags me not far from where I was. But the tribute keeps dragging me until it stops and puts me down near a bush, and when he finally takes his hand off my mouth, I notice that it's Uriah.

For a minute, I thought I was nearing death; I thought I was about to be killed, about to become another victim. I want to scream but at the same time I don't because I found Uriah… or he found me. I slap him across the face before I say, "Dammit Uriah! What were you thinking?"

He laughs for a moment.

"Sorry," he smiles, his teeth are white against his bronze skin. "I didn't want you to scream."

"I kind of did though," I say.

"But then I covered your mouth."

I thought it was one of the Careers who had gotten me. I don't know where Uriah was but I know that he wasn't with them. He's not a traitor. I try to think where he has been this whole time but only get one thing in my mind… he's probably been hiding the whole time just looking for me, wondering if I'm dead or not.

"Why didn't you just get near me and showed yourself?" I question, because he could've done that.

"I told you," he says, "I didn't want to startle you or anything to make you scream."

"You still scared me to death though," I respond, "Where have you even been anyway?"

He stares down at the ground as we sit behind the bush. He did make an impression during our campaign—I think I did but I know that my televised interview may have ruined my chances of getting any sponsors. Or so Tori said. I don't care if I don't get any sponsors though. I've just noticed that I've lived through a lot, through a massacre, through almost everything that could have killed me in one second. I could've died during the Cornucopia bloodbath or could've drowned if Annie wouldn't have saved me. I'm still thankful to her for that.

I scowl when Uriah doesn't answer. It's a simple question. I think to myself. It's simple to answer—if he would've asked me that, I'd tell him right away. I could say something like, "I was with Annie." or, "Annie and I are allies." It's simple. But I feel something in my heart when he says…

"I've been looking for you."

I frown a little but then again, I can't help it but grin. I touch my lips and pretend to play with them though, so he won't notice that I smiled a little. I appreciate that he was looking for me, but I realize that I was just doing the same thing when he found me and dragged me away from the group. We were looking for each other.

I start to wonder what Katniss, Peeta, and the rest are thinking now. Are they worried that I'm gone? Are they panicking? Are they searching for me? It doesn't matter though; I might die any minute out here. And if or when I die, it will not impact them—it won't matter to them, because they'll still live. They will still have a shot of winning the 75th Hunger Games. I'm pretty much, and the rest, are a piece of their Games. We don't matter anything to them.

"You don't have any weapons?" I ask, noticing that he's empty-handed.

"I have a knife," he takes one out from behind him. I'm wide-eyed.

"You actually went towards the Cornucopia?" I question, surprised but at the same time not, because Uriah is brave enough to go into a bloodbath, just to get one weapon.

"It was the closest one to me. I had to get it. But… here," he places it in my hand and wraps my hand around it, wrapping both of his hands around my hand. "You're brave, Tris."

I suddenly close my eyes and think of Tobias. He's watching this. I know that he's upset for what's currently occurring. I'm basically holding both of Uriah's hands. I know they should be holding Tobias's; I wish they were, but I'm not. And I'm not holding Uriah's hand; at least I don't think so.

When Uriah releases his hands off my hand, I take a closer long at the knife, examining its fine and sharp point. It doesn't look like the ones I trained with during our sessions, but it's pretty similar. I like this one better though. Something about it makes it better; I bet because it was set out exclusively for the arena.

"Thank you," I turn to look at Uriah's dark eyes. He actually got a knife and just gave it to me; would I have done the same?

"So, were you all by yourself?" he asks.

"No," I say, "I was with Katniss, Peeta, Annie, Finnick, Wiress, and Beetee."

"Who are Annie and Finnick? Oh, wait, they're the ones from District Four, right? Well, then who are Wiress and Beetee again?" he looks puzzled and confused.

"Finnick and Annie are from District Four. Wiress and Beetee are from District Three." I state.

"Oh, I remember them now."

I take another look at the knife again and notice that it's also shinier than the ones I used. It's actually shinier than any of the ones I've ever used, even back at the Dauntless compound. I can't think of knives without thinking of Dauntless headquarters. I can't think of anything without thinking of any faction; I think about Dauntless, Abnegation, and Erudite the most—I can see how I'm Divergent and fit into all of those three. I think I can fit in almost anything… I made it all the way over here.

There's a moment of silence when all of the sudden, I hear a noise. I'm sure Uriah hears it too by the way his expression has changed. The sound tickles my ear that I actually want my eardrum to bust so I can't hear. I feel the slight touch of Uriah's hand and look at him one last time before we jump out of the bush, and Uriah wraps his arm around the tribute's—who turns out to be Jade's—neck. She hollers but can't after she Uriah's strong arm is around her neck, not letting her talk or even breathe. I point the knife at her and notice the look in her eye that makes me not want to kill her.

"Stop it," I tell Uriah. He doesn't. "Stop, Uriah!"

I get him to release Jade and quickly plop down to make sure she's okay after she falls. I know this event is about killing other tributes until you're the last one standing, but I feel something about Jade; something that makes me not want to kill her.

"Are you okay?" I gently hit her back so she can breathe a little better.

She nods and coughs.

"What are you doing?" Uriah whispers to me when I look up at him.

I don't say anything but help Jade up. I'm being selfless. But I still feel selfish; I don't feel brave though. I know that helping Jade wasn't probably the best idea but I just couldn't kill her. I just couldn't and can't. I feel a little bit of doubt though; for saving her. I just don't know why I'm suddenly feeling mixed emotions.

As we walk, I keep turning my back. I don't know why but I guess it's just to see if Jade's still following us. Uriah and I are leading the way to find Katniss, Peeta, and the rest. We've lost them—they must've moved farther away from where we were. If they didn't, they'd be nearby. But maybe they still are near us; we probably just haven't realized it yet.

We turn right when all of the sudden, tiny, searing stabs—wherever the globules of mist touch my skin. I can't see a thing and again, something stabs my skin again.

"Run!" I scream and we turn back, sprinting through another path. I notice that Jade is still with us but is running slower than I expected. The undergrowth vines, which also unbalance me at some points as I dart, must slow her down.

"What is it?" Uriah shouts and I look back at the wall of fog.

"Some kind of fog!" I say, "Poisonous gas! Hurry!"

We keep running as the mist continues to lap at our heels. Droplets leap free of body vapor—it burns but not as much as fire. It's less of heat but more of intense pain as the chemicals bury into our skin. Our jumpsuits are no help at all; they might as well just let us be naked for all of the protection they give us.

I take Uriah's hand as we run, about ten yards into where we were. I look back and Jade is still with us.

"Come on, Jade!" I yell to her and offer her my other hand. She doesn't say anything but grabs on and it's now the three of us. I start to remember when it was Tobias, Uriah, and I. Three of the Divergent. I wonder if Jade's Divergent—I doubt it. She hasn't said anything since we spotted and almost slaughtered her. She doesn't seem like the type of shy girl, but more vicious. She looked vicious during the reaping and during the campaigns. I didn't really look at her during training sessions, but during the televised interview, her voice was exactly how I thought it'd sound like.

I still feel the fog through my legs when I manage to speed things up, almost releasing the two. It'd be a selfish act; I have to think from both of their perspectives. Uriah's faster than me and he can catch up to me easily but I'm thinking mostly about Jade. I should be helping her even more. As we continue loping and scuttling almost everywhere, I begin to think of the blood that occurred earlier. Why blood? And now fog. I'm puzzled and feel like just collapsing but I have to keep running; I have to prove to everyone that I'm not weak, that I'm not a piece of anyone's Games. I'm brave, I'm selfish, I'm selfless; I'm Divergent.

The three of us tear apart and fall onto the ground when we get away from the fog. I breathe heavily and lay down on my back, gasping for air, feeling my lungs begging for it. I look at Jade and she's doing the same thing. Uriah's in a crawling position, gasping for air as well. It looks like he's about to vomit everywhere, but luckily doesn't. I look up at the sky and it doesn't look pink anymore—like it did at the beginning of the Games. I'm positively and confidently sure that we just attracted even more eyes to the screenings everywhere in Panem. Tori said that the Games would also be televised back at home; I'm sure Tobias looked even closer at what just happened.

I close my eyes and when I open them again, there's a shade covering my body. I roll onto my belly and that's when I see them. Katniss is right in front of me.

"What happened?" she plops down and offers me water. She didn't have water earlier. I clutch the bottle, which is made out of metal, and chug almost all of the water she has.

"There was fog," I gasp, "There was fog everywhere and we kept running until there wasn't."

I take another sip before I give it back to Katniss. They didn't face the fog.

"Hi Katniss," I see Uriah offering his hand to her. She shakes it and that's when I know that all of us are officially an alliance, including Jade as she still with us.

It's dark by the time we've found a safe spot. The cannon went off two more times today and when the anthem played, they showed pictures of those who went deceased. I saw the faces of: both tributes from District 5, both from District 6, both from District 8, both from District 9, both from District 10, and Felix.

Pain stabbed my stomach when I saw Felix's face there. He was only twelve-years-old for God's sake! They killed a twelve-year-old. I still remember the sword that was stabbed through the back of his neck and out of the front of his throat when we found him. I feel like tearing up again, but I have to be strong. I have to.

The voices of Jade and Annie wake me up and I notice that they are a few feet away from the rest of us. They're on the other side of a bush that's near me. I crawl towards it—to get a better hearing of what they're talking about and my eyes widen when I hear Jade say, "You whiny little bitch; I don't even see how you won in the past."

I hear Annie's sobs and when I peek through the bush, one of Jade's thin hands are tightened on Annie's neck.

"You don't know how to do anything on your own. You're just a weak, worthless piece of shit. Do you have any last words?" I notice the knife that she holds, it's bigger than mine.

I grip my own knife and quietly walk towards them, standing behind Jade.

"Let her go," I say and before she can say or do anything else, she turns around. I position my knife swiftly before I dig the blade into her stomach, hearing her gag, dropping her knife on the floor. "I knew I couldn't trust you. I'm stupid for thinking that I could. Why don't you die already, you worthless piece of shit. You coward."

Blood begins to come out of her mouth when I shove the knife in deeper. I can see the look in her icy blue eyes, looking at me with guilt. But she's done the damage. She was about to kill Annie, and Annie saved me. It was time for me to save her. I pull the knife out and that's when a little bit of blood squirts on my jumpsuit and Jade's body drops on the ground.

Annie is coughing and I reach down to calm her down, telling her that it's okay and for her to go back to sleep. I look at the knife that Jade had and before I can say anything else, I grab it and hand over to Annie.

"Here," I say and she takes it.

She thanks me and when Jade's cannon goes off, it startles everyone else.

"Where's Tris?" I hear Katniss and Uriah panicking.

"Where's Annie?" Finnick's worry is even greater.

We go back to the spot where they are and they all sigh in relief.

"What happened?" asks Katniss.

"Where's Jade?" asks Uriah.

I swallow my spit when I say, "She betrayed us. She was about to kill Annie. So I killed her."

Finnick thanks me and Uriah questions many things. He trusted Jade too. But I tell him that she was an enemy all along. The rest of them go back to sleep, including Uriah, who's right next to me. I try to go back to sleep but can't as I overhear Finnick and Annie.

Finnick's arms are wrapped around Annie and their faces are facing each other. I hear them kiss and talk.

"I'm so glad you're alive," Finnick says, "I don't know what I would do if you died."

"I'm sorry," Annie says, "I'm weak and don't know how to take care of myself."

"You're not weak, Annie," he says, "You're strong. You're one of the strongest girls I know. And the reason you can't take care of yourself the way you should is I take care of you, because you're mine."

Annie stays silent for a moment.

"I love you, Annie," I know Finnick truly loves her. He's not just saying that; he means that.

"I love you, too." Annie finishes before they kiss one more time and fall asleep in each other's arms. I wonder if that's the way Tobias and I would be if he was here with me. Finnick and Annie both truly love each other and Tobias and I do as well. But something about the two of them is different, whether it's how they act with each other or how they talk to each other. We're different. But, I love Tobias and I'm absolutely sure he loves me too. It just makes me realize that I love him even more now. He belongs to me and he's not my enemy. I have to keep my eyes open to see who the real enemy is…

Because anyone here can be the enemy.

NOTES: Sorry I didn't update yesterday! I was exhausted and didn't begin writing this chapter until like late. So if it's sloppy, please forgive me. I tried my best to make it good though... so I hope you guys liked it:) Anyway, three more tributes dead... the other two were the unmentioned ones from one of the districts, but the other one, obviously, was Jade. I knew from the start that Jade couldn't be trusted - Tris had mixed emotions and thoughts about her. Also, we got a more vicious side of Tris in this chapter! She killed someone, by stabbing a blade into Jade's stomach. It's kind of... disturbing but then again, we all like a bit of graphic violence! This is the Hunger Games after all! I also enjoyed writing the scene about Finnick and Annie after Annie was about to get killed. I don't know but something about those two makes it enjoyable to write. It's kind of weird but it's true! My friend, Juliet's Shadow (BTW, you guys should definitely go check her out! She's awesome and an amazing writer!), she loves writing about Finnick and Annie; they're her favorites. But anyway, did you guys trust Jade all along? Or did you guys know that she wasn't a good tribute to ally with from the start? Well, thanks for reading this chapter and please leave a review!:)

krikanalo: Let's hope this spiced things up a bit!:D I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you!:D

Raina4Ever: Thank you!:) I hope you liked this chapter even more! Well, Tris is okay:) which is good:) but I hope you didn't start to like Jade... Yeah, even her name sounds vicious... Haha, thank you! And please review again:)

Juliet's Shadow: Oooh, a zoo! I haven't been to one since I lived in El Paso. Hope you're having fun over there!:D And more Finnick and Annie in this;) I hope you liked this chapter and thanks!:)