About an hour later, Brian and Sage were separated by only a quarter mile, and they were moving towards each other at a reasonably fast pace.
"Get ready for a Sage/Brian brawl," I yelled to the Room. Finally, a good fight to take my mind off of everything. And it was two strong tributes. No one would go down without a fight.
In five more minutes, Brian caught sight of Sage. Hunger for another kill flickered in his eyes. Her back was to him, and he saw his opportunity. He started to walk towards her, but when only about 20 feet separated them, he stepped on a twig, which cracked loudly.
Sage whipped around upon hearing this, and had a bow loaded in a heartbeat. Brian had his sword up at the same time.
I held my breath. For a long time, they just stared at each other. Tension was mounting, and neither one moved at all.
Sage was the first to break, and sent an arrow towards Brian. He was ready for it though, and was able to avoid it unharmed. He lunged at her, slicing her arm deep, but not enough to affect her.
She kicked him off, sending him flying backwards. He was off balance for only a moment, but one of her arrows hit his stomach. He ripped it out, throwing it aside, but his undershirt was already becoming bloody. He was breathing heavily and wheezing, but he wasn't done.
He went for her leg this time, and cut it so far deep that you could see the bone clearly.
Sage still had the advantage, and kicked him again, in the stomach this time, right where the arrow had hit. Brian fell backwards, clutching his stomach and moaning. His sword was still in his hand, but it didn't take much for Sage to be able to take it. She threw it aside, just out of his direct reach.
Brian was curled into a ball, but Sage wrestled him onto his back and stomped on his wound. He yelled out in pain, but she leaned down and slapped him across the face.
"Shut up," she said with superiority. He moaned softly.
Sage loaded a bow and aimed it at his heart, but didn't let it fly.
I watched, captivated. This was intense.
"Just think," Sage continued, never moving the aim of her arrow, "I get the pleasure of killing both tributes from District 4."
Brian's eyes grew wide. Had he not figured out how Willow had died?
"Oh, you didn't know that?" Sage taunted. "Yeah, I killed her, too. Not the arena," she stomped on his stomach, "Not some poisonous food," stomp, "Not another tribute," stomp, "Not Gamemakers," stomp, "Me."
And with that, she let the arrow go. Brian didn't fight it, and not long after Sage left him to die, his tracker turned red.
It was an awesome fight, and Sage had made it perfect with her taunting. I was super excited about the fight, but there was a part of me that I couldn't control that had the satisfaction of vengeance. Glenn may be dead, but now Brian was, too.
I heaved a sigh of relief. Now I really had closure. What could I have done if Brian had won? How could I just treat him like any normal victor? At least that wouldn't have to be the case. I smiled. Maybe Sage could win and I'd be able to congratulate her personally.
A cannon boom for Brian snapped me back.
"Final five," I said, happily. This was really winding down. "How many hours until the winter transformation?" I asked Holland, hoping it was almost 9:00.
"Um… about 2 hours."
2 hours. Plus the transformation time. I groaned. Today was the longest day ever, and I just wanted to sleep.
But, I was Head Gamemaker, so I pressed on. The minutes ticked by slowly. Wylie subbed in for Holland part way through, but I barely noticed. The day before, I could have focused my attention on watching and protecting Glenn or spent the time talking to Blaine, but all that was gone now.
Well…
I glanced over nervously at Blaine. He was silently watching on a normal television screen. He had dark circles under his eyes. Should I go talk to him? Would that make things better? Or worse? Things couldn't get any worse, right? Or could they?
But even if I did go talk to him, what could I say? Bring up the final five? Brian's death? What color I should dye my hair when all this was over?
Ugh, this was all just too complicated. I decided to just stay put for now.