Hope- The 18th Hunger Games
"Did you hear that?" Gray Wilson asked, stopping her movement so abruptly that Cherry, who had been walking behind her, crashed headlong into her back.
"Oof!" Cherry said. "What'd you stop for?"
"I heard something," Gray replied, cocking her head to one side so she would have a better chance of catching, well, whatever she had heard, again. Leila, who hadn't noticed the other two stop because she was walking in front, turned around to see her allies standing, stock-still and tense, several paces behind her. Rolling her eyes, she made her way back to the other girls.
"What?" Leila asked, sighing when Cherry and Gray jumped at the sound of her voice. "Honestly…" Leila grumbled, earning death glares from her allies. The three stood like statues for nearly a minute. The silence that fell was broken only by their breathing. At yet another pointed look from Leila, Gray finally began to relax a little. Cherry, however, did not.
"I heard it too! I did!" she insisted. But, she allowed herself to be dragged away from the spot by Gray, who had decided that the noise was just a trick of her overactive imagination.
"You're just paranoid," Leila said, finally releasing Cherry's arm when she trusted the other girl to keep walking on her own.
"I am not!" Cherry squeaked indignantly. "Gray heard it too!" She then looked to said ally for support. Gray just shrugged.
"We probably just heard some squirrel," she said. Cherry glared at her, but Gray just smirked and hurried to catch up to Leila. Just seconds later, however, another noise stopped the three girls in their tracks.
"I don't think that squirrels can swear…" Cherry whispered, biting her lip nervously. Leila realized the truth first. Her eyes, which already appeared too big for her narrow face, appeared even bigger in fright.
"That sounded just like the big boy from 4," she said in a voice even lower than Cherry's. Gray quickly caught on to the awful truth.
"The Careers…" she breathed.
The Careers were indeed dangerously close to the three girls, though Jayce Holaway wasn't to know that. All he knew at the moment was that his face hurt. A lot. Savannah didn't seem to be able to find much sympathy for him. No, she was busy laughing her head off while he was left to drag himself out of the snow he had fallen into. She would be sorry for causing him to face-plant into a snow bank.
"I thought you were my friend…" Jayce grumbled as he brushed the snow off of his parka.
"Aww, is wittle Jaycie-poo feeling sorry for himself?" Savannah cooed, pinching Jayce's cheek. The older, and much more mature, District 4 tribute answered.
"Yes," Jayce replied, with as much dignity as he could muster. "For a very good reason. It seems that you saw fit to trip me in front of a very conveniently placed pile of snow. Would you care to explain yourself?"
Savannah grinned in return. "Too good an opportunity to pass up," she giggled. Jayce glared. "Aww, c'mon Jayce, you know you love me!" Savannah said. A moment later, both of their faces turned bright red. It turned out to be a convenient time for the silence to fall, albeit awkwardly, for they were soon met with the face of a highly ticked-off Natalia Elvin.
"Would the lovebirds care to shut up?!" she hissed. "We've spent all morning tramping through the woods for a reason, you know! Or are you really that stupid?"
"Hey!" Jayce protested. "My brain is working pretty well, thank you very much." Natalia raised one pale eyebrow at this response.
"We know, Natalia," Savannah said soothingly, glaring at Jayce as she did so. "We'll try and keep it down." Apparently Natalia deemed these words sufficient apology for, after nodding once, she spun on her heel and hurried through the snow to join Sef and Sparkle at the front of the pack.
"What's she got stuck up her ass?" Jayce asked.
"Language, Jayce," Savannah said, waving an accusatory finger but still grinning . "We're on national TV- your little sister could be watching!"
Jayce just shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I said worse after you tripped me."
Savannah was about to retort when they heard Sparkle's squeal from the front. "Seriously, guys, you need to, like, shut up! Natalia says so!" Savannah and Jayce both rolled their eyes and then grinned at each other. They could practically see the steam that was almost certainly billowing out of Natalia's ears.
"Seriously, guys, you need to, like, shut up! Natalia says so!" The District 1 bimbo's high-pitched squeal of a voice rang through the forest, almost certainly damaging the eardrums of anyone within a five-mile radius. Could the Careers possibly be any less obvious? Leila would have grinned had the present situation not been so serious.
At least the Careers were giving them a very clear warning of their imminent approach. It was just the "imminent approach" bit that worried Leila. It translated to "imminent demise."
"What are we going to do?" Cherry whispered frantically as the Careers' voices grew steadily louder. "We can't exactly hide," she said, gesturing to the snow that surrounded them. "And we'll never be able to outrun them."
Leila took a deep breath before she replied. "I'll distract them so you guys can get away."
"What?!" Cherry squeaked, horrified. Leila cut off her protest.
"Listen. You both saw how my reaping was rigged. It's pretty obvious that the Capitol wants me dead. I'm not making it out of this Arena alive. One of you might." She paused to take a breath, and Gray seized the opportunity to cut Leila off.
"Don't be thick, Leila. The Capitol wants me dead just as much as they want you. I pretty sure I managed to royally piss off both Snow and Tax during my interview. I'm not coming home, either." Cherry watched the two girls argue, wide-eyed and powerless to intervene as they fought over who would sacrifice themselves for her.
"You're talking about being thick!" Leila hissed. "You can protect Cherry better. We both know that you're better at fighting than I am. You grew up gutting chickens, for Panem's sake! Just accept it and quit arguing. You're wasting the time that Cherry needs to get out of here."
Gray looked ready to argue, but the sheer determination in Leila's eyes stopped her. Rather, she said solemnly, "I swear on my life that Cherry will make it out of here."
Leila smiled. "Now quick! Get out of here! You don't have much time!" Cherry engulfed her friend in a hug, whispering her overwhelming gratitude while tears streamed down her face. Gray smiled a haunting smile of farewell, and the two girls were off, sprinting for their lives through the forest.
Leila smiled to herself as her friends disappeared from sight. "I'm sorry, Favian," she said to her brother, who would surely be watching her every move from back home. She then turned to face the Careers who would soon emerge from the dark jaws of the forest beyond.
Natalia Elvin smiled to herself as she sliced through yet another pine branch that stood in between her and the tributes she had been tailing. She was close, she knew it. Exactly how close, she couldn't say. At least not until she caught sight of the lone figure standing in a clearing that was just barely visible through the dense thicket of pine trees that surrounded it. Natalia's smile grew when she recognized the girl from 9. This one would be easy meat.
She slid through the trees like the serpent her father had always compared to. Her knives were her fangs, and she'd always had a silver tongue capable of talking her way out of any situation. Today, of course, she wouldn't need it. It would be that pathetic girl who would be begging for mercy. Natalia was silent as she lithely wove her way through the trees, moving so quickly that she left Sef and Sparkle far behind her, busy trying to hack their way through the thicket. Natalia smirked. While they were busy battling the forest, she would finally get to have her fun with a tribute. That stupid District 4 chick had stopped her killing Sierra before. There was no one to stop Natalia now.
A delighted smile made its way on to Natalia's lips as she stepped out into the clearing and saw that the girl hadn't moved. She was either totally oblivious or suicidal. Natalia really didn't care. She'd found her next kill.
"Breathe," Leila ordered herself as she watched the face she feared the most emerge from the trees. If she, Leila, panicked now, if she ran… Cherry and Gray might not get away. She had to buy them as much time as possible. Leila was relying on the Careers' bloodlust to distract them so much that they would forget that it would have taken more than one person to create the footprints they had been following. It was a long shot, Leila knew. But there was a possibility that the Careers would go back to their base after they were finished with her.
"Hello, scum," Natalia said after she had let the last branch whip back into place. "What are you doing out here, all alone?" she asked, her thin smile widening.
"I came to see you," Leila answered, her face betraying no emotion. "I think it's time someone put you in your place." Maybe if she provoked Natalia enough, the other girl would spend more time talking, giving Cherry and Gray a couple of critical extra minutes.
"Ha!" Natalia scoffed. "As if you, a nobody from the grain district, actually stood a chance against me. Keep dreaming, darling."
"Watch and learn," Leila said, struggling to hold the artificial smile she had plastered to her face. She then drew her dagger. "Go ahead. Try me."
Natalia let forth a cackle of laughter. "Gladly," she said, drawing a heavy-looking knife from one of her pockets. Leila tensed, watching Natalia draw back her throwing arm as if it were in slow motion. She shook with the realization that the tiny Career could kill her right here, right now. Guilt washed over Leila for thinking about her own well-being over her friends'. But there was nothing to do to prevent the rush of fear that surged through her as the knife flew out of Natalia's hand.
But it didn't hit her. Rather, Natalia's knife struck the blade of Leila's dagger, sending it spinning out into the snow. Leila was left weaponless. Natalia smirked. "Get off your high horse, District 9. I'm going to kill you now. And there's nothing you can do about it." Leila didn't even have time to be afraid before Natalia was on top of her, pinning her down into the snow, holding a dagger to her throat. "Still planning on putting me in my place?" she asked, putting a little bit of pressure on the dagger so that Leila could feel it cut through the thin layer of skin on her neck.
Leila didn't have to act this part. "N-n-no," she said, allowing the paralyzing fear she felt to wash over her features. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Please!" she begged as Natalia's smile widened even more. It killed Leila to know that her family was watching this. Not only watching her die- watching her die sniveling like a baby, begging for mercy from a Career and, by extension, the Capitol. But Leila knew that it was time to swallow these feelings. The longer she begged, the longer it would take Natalia to kill her, and the longer Cherry and Gray would have to escape. Leila didn't have anything to live for anymore. So she was going to make sure that her death counted for something.
Natalia watched as tears began to pour out of the girl's eyes while she begged for mercy. District 9 knew that her life was in the hands of a Career. Natalia knew it, too. There was nothing like the feeling of holding someone completely and totally at her mercy. Like knowing that, with a simple slip of the hand, she could end someone's life forever. Natalia craved the feeling. She needed it. And now, she reveled in it.
"You know, I could spare you…" Natalia said, removing her blade from Leila's neck and instead beginning to trace circles on the girl's cheeks. She watched as a spark of hope appeared in the girl's deep blue eyes. Natalia then cackled in derision and drove her dagger into Leila's cheek, enlisting a scream from the girl. "But I think not," Natalia said, slashing the girl's other cheek. "I think that you need to be taught a lesson."
Rosalie heard the scream far before she saw its source. It was a scream of agony, far more than fear. It tore Rosalie's heart apart to hear it.
"Natalia," she heard Jayce mutter to Savannah. "She must've found them." Jayce was right. No one but Natalia could possibly do that to a fellow human being. Sometimes, Rosalie wondered if the tiny Career even qualified as one.
"We have to do something!" Rosalie heard Savannah urge. "We can't just let her do this!" At these words, Rosalie smiled grimly. Savannah had grown up in a sugar-coated world where she could afford to harbor an ideal vision of the world. Rosalie came from the richest family in District 5, it was true. But she had spent enough time in the slums to know what the harsh reality of life was. In Panem, you had to look out for yourself. Because no one was going to do it for you. The girl should've run faster.
"I know, Sav, it's awful," Jayce said. "But there's nothing we can do. Natalia would kill you if you got in her way."
"B-b-but…" Savannah spluttered, horrified. "She has to stop this! I'll kill her!"
"No!" Jayce cried. "No! Savannah, don't you see? Natalia'll kill you before you can even draw a star! She wants you to try and stop her!"
Savannah's eyes were blazing. "Are you saying that we should just do nothing?!" she asked, torn between fury and disbelief that her Jayce would be so heartless.
"Yes, Sav," Jayce said solemnly. Savannah glared at him and turned away, angry tears streaming down her face. Rosalie felt a stabbing sensation in her gut at the scene. They only had a few days left together, and yet they were busy fighting. She too turned away, but she then proceeded to weave her way through the trees. Once again, her curiosity was getting the better of her. She had to see exactly what Natalia was doing to her victim.
The sight that greeted Rosalie wasn't pretty. Natalia had a girl with auburn hair pinned down in the snow, helpless. The snow that surrounded the pair matched the hue of the district girl's hair. Rosalie could see that the girl's normally pale was also streaked with red. The girl's racking sobs rang throughout the clearing as Natalia raised her bloody knife. The look on the Career's face was one out of nightmares. Rosalie watched, horrified yet powerless to intervene as Natalia spun her knife deftly in the air.
"Any last words, scum?" Natalia asked as the metal gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight. The girl's enormous eyes now reflected the spinning weapon that would soon end her life.
"I want to tell my family that I love them," the girl choked. She then took a deep breath and moved her gaze from the twirling dagger to Natalia's malicious green eyes. "And, you should know that you're a bitch." she said through a mouthful of blood. Rosalie smiled, but then looked away from the scene. She didn't have to guess what would happen next. The girl's dying scream soon filled the clearing, accompanied by the sickening cracking of what sounded like ribs. Rosalie's stomach clenched at just the mental image.
At last, a terrible silence filled the clearing once again. Rosalie looked back to see Natalia wiping her dagger in the snow. The girl's bloodied corpse lay in the snow just feet from where Natalia now stood, gloating.
"Come on, guys!" she screeched delightedly, a sick sort of happiness evident in her features. "You crybabies can go ahead and come out into the open. The district trash isn't going to hurt you, I promise." The smile on her face was beyond unsettling. It assured Rosalie of two things. One: Natalia wouldn't hesitate to kill her in a heartbeat. And two: The girl would enjoy every last agonizing millisecond of Rosalie's death.
For one fleeting moment, Rosalie considered just not following Natalia's call. Of just slipping off into the forest. Staying with the Careers any longer was just too dangerous. But then she realized the utter stupidity of the idea. They would be after her in a minute, tops. And then Natalia would kill her like she had killed the auburn-haired girl. No, Rosalie would have to wait for the perfect opportunity. It just had to come soon. Then she smiled as she thought of the plan that could save her life.
"Tonight, I'm getting out of here," Rosalie reassured herself. She then hurried into the clearing to rejoin her enemies.
A/N: Again, I find myself in a situation where I need to apologize for a late update. What with moving and going back to my boarding school soon, life's been generally crazy. I'm actually supposed to be doing my homework right now…
Wow! That was the first Arena chapter I've written that's focused on just one main event. I hope you guys liked it :). I know that it was fun to write.
Poor heroic Leila :/. I really didn't want to kill her but, oh well. The Capitol does kind of want her dead.
Please, any feedback would be much appreciated! I'll try to update in a few days. Depends on how long it takes me to finish my AP World homework.
Lots of love,
Lily