*A/N-This is chapter is a little shorter than the last couple ones. Tate's life, starting with the last chapter is about to get all kinds of crazy. Please hit that review button so I know someone is still reading! Enjoy*
"And is it worth the wait
All this killing time?
Are you strong enough to stand?
Protecting both your heart and mine?
Who is the betrayer?
Who's the killer in the crowd?
The one who creeps in corridors
And doesn't make a sound"
-Florence and the Machine "Heavy in Your Arms"
"Don't drop me, don't drop me! Pull me up, pull me up, pull me up!" I screamed.
I latched onto the hand with everything I had in me. The hand pulled me up and helped me over the edge. As soon as I could see the ground, is scrambled up darted away from the metal hole of death. I finally fell over, near the tree line. I was shaking.
In what seemed like just seconds, Glitter and I were going at it, trying to kill each other. Then, we were running, sprinting away. It was like a manhole opened up and swallowed the land we were running on. I was lucky that I was out in front of her, I was lucky I managed to grab the edge of the hole. Twisty metal hole of death. When Glitter fell it ripped her into a thousand pieces.
I ran my hands through my hair, trying to calm myself. Inside, my heart was pounding away' I wasn't sure that I could get it to settle anytime soon; at least, not after what I had just witnessed. My hair was shorter than it was before. It was just below my shoulder now. I had sacrificed my hair to kill Glitter and to keep myself alive. My brain couldn't even process everything that had just happened to me. I looked up.
Liam!
"Liam!" I jumped up, tackling him as I hugged him.
"Thank you, thank you, for not dropping me." I said, still in shock.
"What the hell was that?" He asked.
"Twisted-killer-steel metal-hole-of-death; it would have killed me if you weren't there." I had lost everything in those minutes. I dropped the trident in the hole. The only weapon I had left, were the knives around my leg.
"You okay?" He asked me. I had to check myself. I had some minor gashes and soon-to-be-bruises but my rumble with Glitter didn't kill me.
"I'm good." I replied, standing up. I looked around for other possible dangers around us.
"How many of us are left?" I asked.
"Four. Fury, Onyx, you and me," Liam stated.
"We could take them out." There was no filter between what my mind thought and what I said. He looked back at me. He was armed with his bow and arrows. I remembered how deadly accurate he was with them in training. I eyed him, unsettled with the possible outcome. Would Liam kill me right now? Why would he have saved me and kill me now? My mind raced with questions. We eyed each other awkwardly.
"I'm guessing that if you wanted to kill me, you would have just let me drop in that thing back there. But we could, take them out, we could do it." I said as we started to walk. We walked in silence, teetering back and forth between the sand on the beach and the dirt of the forest.
"Do you have any food?" I asked him as my stomach grumbled.
"I have some bread," He said, flinging is bag down to the ground. The two of sat down and began to eat the half loaf of bread. I practically drooled. I hadn't eaten since Bryce had made me nibble on the bread.
"Why did you and Bryson split up?" I asked bluntly. I couldn't help myself, I needed to know.
"We didn't decide to. There was this fire storm that drove us apart. We were walking by the cave and this giant fireball was heading right for us. They just kept coming, one after another, after another. It was like someone was aiming them directly at us. I dove out of the way, and I ended up going down a hill. I banged up my knee pretty bad on the way down. I couldn't find Bryce again after that." He explained. Another fireball, how curious.
"Do you know what that explosion was in the field when I took Gunner into the woods?" I asked. It seemed like ages ago, when in reality a couple days had passed.
"Something tripped the explosives that we had the pair from 3 rig. No one died in it but we did find a backpack with some rope and water in it. What happened to you in the woods? Bryce and I tried looking for you." He said.
"Gunner was stronger than I thought," I said, rubbing the skin on my neck. I remembered his hands tightening against my throat, cutting off my air supply.
"I don't know who or what set that explosion in the field off, but it saved me." I explained to him how I had seduced Gunner in the woods but how when I stabbed him, he had been the one to surprise me and turn the tables on me. My ear still wasn't at 100%, with a slight ringing in it and that was just plan irritating, but I wasn't about to tell Liam that.
"Bryce," he said. I stopped.
"It was the girls. Glitter tortured him." I shook my head no. I didn't want talk about it and that was all I was going to say. As the two of us stared at each other there was another cannon fired.
"I wonder who it was." He said out loud.
"That means there are three of us left." I stated the obvious. The two of us stared each other, somewhat suspiciously now. When there were four of us, it was different. Now that there were three, this could be it for one of us. Would he turn on me? Could I turn on Liam who had just saved me? I had my knives, but he had his bow and arrows. I knew that was his weapon of choice.
I was the would that advocated for him, and pushed the Career alliance to accept him. He wasn't from a Career District, but he was in the final 3 now. Then it hit me. Wow, I'm the last Career left. I'm here in this crazy controlled environment with two non-Careers. Non-careers that make it to the finals here, typically act out of desperation. Is Liam going to kill me? Worse yet, can I kill him?
"Are we going to fight now?" He asked me. Liam wanted to know my intentions; just I did with him.
"I say we take down whoever it is that's still left. Who knows, maybe they'll let two of us win this year." I said, trying to be positive. In reality, there was a better chance that President Cromwell would show up in a pink tutu playing a harp.
"That would be pretty cool," He replied as we kept walking. We entered the woods.
"What if we took whoever else is left out and refused to fight each other?" He asked. I smiled.
"You're a genius. We could do this, we could win." I told him, getting excited. We could both be winners of the Games. Liam smiled at me as we walked in silence for a while.
"Wait," he whispered, grabbing me. I stopped. I looked around. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Do you hear that?" He asked. I listened. Other than the faint ringing in my left ear, I didn't hear anything other than birds talking to each other. I shook my head no. We waited for a couple of minutes before continuing. My heart rate was definitely up, as if waiting in suspense. Yet, I couldn't hear whatever it was Liam was hearing, or thought he was hearing.
"Listen Liam, if something happens," I paused; we were walking through the green trees, full of life.
"When you go to 4, for the Tour, take my token, my locket here. Give it back to my sisters." I showed him the jewelry around my neck. He nodded.
"And if I don't make it out, find a girl named Lizmet Linares. Tell her I love her that I have since the first time we kissed." He looked down as we kept walking.
"I, I just never got to tell her." He admitted.
"I'll tell her," I promised. Another promise. I sighed. I at least got to tell Gage that I loved him. I was so thankful for that last night and those last couple of hours we had together. I heard a weird sound. Now, it was my turn to stop Liam. The hair on the back of my neck and my arms stood up straight. I closed my eyes, trying to focus in on the sound. It was a low, guttural sound.
"Something's coming for us." I said while I opened my eyes. He looked confused.
"Don't you hear that?" I asked him. He shook his head no. Was this the thing that he heard before? The sound was getting the tiniest bit louder. Next, the ground started to shake. My head snapped to the west, where the sound was growing louder with each passing second.
"Run!" I said. Liam stared at me.
"Liam run!" I screamed. We ran through the forest. The ground started to shake, as the noise became louder.