Chapter Twenty-Six.
Day Six.
Riva Buchanan, 18 years old;
District Twelve Female.
I never asked for this.
"We could double back and go round the long way, so we can avoid being spotted from afar."
"No, no that's stupid. We might as well lie down and let the Gamemakers pick us off. We need to get to the city today, if we go the long way, we're adding another day or two to our journey."
"Or we go through the forest."
Septimius and Etolie immediately shudder at Alfie's suggestion. Arguments, that's not what I signed up for, I'm not here to have everyone battling one another with suggestion after suggestion, trying to upstage the group and appear important. It's not my game, not my thing. Alfie only does it for the good of the group so I don't blame him.
But these two. If Etolie were not Alfie's District partner we wouldn't be here. And I have no idea what my ally even finds remotely appealing in her. Trying to see the good in everyone only gets you so far, and I've given in to leaving that ideal at the entrance to the Arena. Now, I see a close bond between two... enemies, that'll only further widen into something that Alfie's gotten us into.
He only wants to help. Only wants to make something of his life until it... ends. But over the shouting I can hardly hear myself think.
"You all have a different suggestion. Let me pick which one we should go for."
Septimius shakes his head, rather forcefully, dispelling the idea too quickly for my taste. Etolie hasn't taken to me and I haven't to her. We run on opposite sides of the spectrum. And we're both close to little Alfie. It's like two paternal figures battling one another with their eyes rather than their fists for control.
It's pathetic. So why am I caught up in it?
"Oh come on, we all know who you're going to go for." Etolie says, rolling her eyes. Alfie smiles at me then grabs hold of his District partner's hand, squeezing it gently. It silences her and begrudgingly she nods for me to continue.
Trust Alfie to tame the beast.
"The long way is well, far too long. We go that way you're right Septimius, the Gamemakers will grow tired of a potential fight and bring one to us straight away." The boy from Eight positively glows with my approval, something Etolie instantly darkens over. Their competition is pointless.
I hate the notion of judging people, but that's what it's become now inside here. Me having to assess things without thinking they're going to be good unless I'm a hundred percent sure they are. Cynicism over optimism. Believe the worse in a person and things can only get better.
"But if we go through the lava-"
"Here we go," Etolie retorts, grumbling under her breath.
"-If we go through the lava, there's the risk that none of us may have succumbed to yet, but is always there. One of us could fall in. Or the banks could overflow and we'll be trapped from one another. If we go through the forest, it takes us as close to the Cornucopia as we can get."
"We'd still need to trek across some of the lava."
"But a less amount," I point out, smiling, happy with myself. Whereas they want to argue, I can at least rationalise the best way to go. They see this as trying to assert a level of dominance that doesn't even need to be asserted in the first place, whereas I am doing my best for this new alliance I don't even want.
If it were me and Alfie, we'd get by. I'm grateful that they saved our lives, but that doesn't tether us to theirs. It doesn't make us in debt to them. They could have left us alone and maybe that would have been the smartest choice. But they didn't. That was their decision. But if Alfie wants to be with Etolie, and if we're going to try to bring the fight to other tributes, I'll buckle down and go with it.
For him.
"The forest is my vote. And since that means two people have voted for it, we go there."
Septimius looks at Etolie, maybe for the first time visibly showing off a sense of fear I don't understand. Something happened. I guess it'd make sense for them to be dubious of another encounter within the trees, but the whole spiel about numbers yesterday will benefit them in there if something should happen.
I'm trying to think more about Alfie and myself than anything. The long way is stupid. The lava is risky. The forest is a risk a tiny bit smaller, so we go that way. Dark and spooky it may be, but the best option we have.
"I could just vote for the long way, then it'd be two versus two-" Septimius is cut off with an elbow to the ribs. Etolie laughs and pushes him away.
"Let's just do what she says. You always make things so much more difficult."
"They haven't seen what's in there."
Etolie looks at me with a slight cold expression, and then frowns down at Alfie, lingering by his side before turning around, about to begin the leadership role of our journey into the trees.
"It shouldn't leave the forest. At least when we were escaping, it didn't."
"What didn't?" Alfie asks, wide-eyed, scared.
"Let's hope you don't find out."
With those final words, she struts away with Septimius to her hip, into the forest and away from sight. Light is immediately cut short the moment we follow on, fireflies by our heads acting as the only source to which we can see faintly the messed up trees around us. Moss and fungus cover everything, a damp smell lingers in the air, rot and mould swarming my senses.
I gag and shake my head when Alfie stops to help. "I'm fine. Not used to the smell of... well, this. I was a good girl," I laugh. Alfie looks lit up now that we're amongst trees. Predominately darker, nightmarish trees, but a bit of home he's now experiencing.
Whereas in Twelve, although beyond the fences we had the forest, I stayed within the centre of the District. It's good to see him slightly opening up a little. When the fight began two days ago, I thought... I feared... I'd lose him.
Although we're in the final nine, the majority of our journey so far has been relatively easy. That was the first big leap into action we've ever experienced, and whereas I adapted as best I could for it, Alfie almost sunk and fell into death. I couldn't – I can't – let that happen.
That's the only plus side to Etolie's presence. She wants to help him as much as I do. With a strong girl like her by my side, maybe there's a chance we can actually accomplish something. I try to ignore the fact that with each cannon and with each day we survive, we're coming to a point where a decision has to be made about whose life matters more.
But that's for another day.
Now, we're in this forest, together. Ominous, terrifying, as it is, we're together and that's always been what mattered to me. Inside and out of the Arena.
"Come on, let's not get stuck behind. We don't want to lose them in here."
With a small curl of his lips and a hop to his step, we increase our pace and join our new allies. Whatever danger lives within these trees, we're ready, together.
Always together.
It's what helped me save Alfie, and it's what will help me save him again if and when the time comes.
Together.
Septimius Cort, 15 years old;
District Eight Male.
Etolie stares at me. Neither of us say a word, resigned to silence as we walk through the same forest. It's okay. What are you, a baby? It's in the tree. The tree. Not that tree, no stop... I look at the crooked, twisted and foreboding trunks leering in the sky and feel a cold sweat on my forehead.
I've been scared before but this is something new to me. For once, even words fail to represent how I'm feeling. Etolie and I, leading the other two through the forest, knowing the horror within whilst they remain oblivious to it all.
If she'd seen the thing with the eyes, that damn Riva would not want to be here. Hell, she'd be back fighting those rock mutts over having to experience what we saw. We escaped, but if we're here again, maybe that was just a teaser. Maybe it was stage one to a grander, more nightmarish setting
Or maybe you're just paranoid.
Maybe this is just a walk through a shitty forest and you're making a big deal out of nothing.
Maybe.
They're chatting behind us. Our names are weaved into innocent sentences about leaves and mushrooms and other mundane subjects. I look over my shoulder at the little one, Etolie's District partner, big-ears. I smirk and turn back. I'm honestly, and to put it bluntly, surprised, that he's made it this far.
A kid like him, however humble, however nice he is on the outside world, shouldn't be alive in a world like this. Maybe that's a cynical way of viewing our situation, but it's true. I look at Riva, prissy, bossy, up-herself Riva and see a fighter there.
She's someone, like Etolie, who's hardened but connected in the wrong way. And Alfie is the source. He's causing the worst kinds of problems without even knowing it. Smiling that sweet little smile, helping with those small hands of his, thinking the world is sugar, spice and all things nice.
He even seems... happy to be in this forest.
We're the same age. I know that. But it's almost insulting knowing that. How someone so lost can be the same age as someone like me. I'm not perfect, but I'm aware. I'm trying.
Up front, the path forks into two, one leading into darkness, the other leading into an equal intensity of darkness. We take the left path without debate, Etolie walking a few inches more in front, weapon out just in case. Whether we're going to be attacked in here or whether we're just on edge, it's best to at least be prepared.
I admire her for being the strong type. Maybe the strong silent type would do her good, sometimes her mouth drives me round the bend, but honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better ally. We get along in a way that works. Even in this forest, knowing what could be lurking in the shadows, the fate we could be advancing into, we're ready side by side to support one another.
The two behind us continue to chat but I let them sink into their own world where this forest is actually a haven amongst the lava. Where it's safe. Where they can be happy and content without knowing the truth.
"Did you guys hear that?"
The truth.
Has she heard the truth...?
Etolie snaps to attention. Maybe if it was me saying it, she'd laugh it off, roll her eyes or something. But Riva's startled to the spot, gripping Alfie's hand as she peers left and right into the shadows embracing the trees.
A rumble. Distant, far off, but gradually getting closer and closer. I sigh with relief, an action that warrants a disturbed look from Riva.
"Believe me, the alternative noise is a lot, lot worse."
"Yeah," Etolie mumbles, nodding. She's distracted, looking behind the other two into the pitch black path we've just traversed down. Another rumble, this time closer... way too close for comfort.
Alfie looks worriedly up at the taller, smarter girl and she smiles. Like a little kid he relaxes at the gesture and tries to attempt the same kind of smile in my direction.
I shake my head and hear the rumble again.
I see it in the sky, above our heads, cutting the dome of darkness that shrouds this forest, lighting up the trees in a rain of orange and red. A streak of fire blazons through the air, beautiful, deadly... worrying.
The ground shakes.
Riva falls into Alfie, squashing him into the ground. Etolie's thrown left, into the tree-line, I'm thrown forwards, deeper into the forest. I cry out my ally's name but it gets lost in the noise spreading through the air, thick as the smell clinging to the rot spread throughout this forest.
Lava lights up the sky. Long, shimmering lines of lava that plummet to the ground and set the trees on fire. Heat hits me in the face, knocking me back even further.
Etolie.
Get to Etolie...
I look at the other two, franticly trying to escape the burning trees, but push them to the back of my mind. They're innocent, but there's only one coming out of this. I have a better chance with Etolie by my side... my friend...
Something blasts upwards from underneath me, a geyser of hot water that throws me backwards, blocking the path to Etolie. I shout her name, repeatedly, over and over until my throat runs dry and lungs burn under the pressure.
A tree falls in the wake of the impact, blocking me off from Etolie. I hear my own name but there's nothing I can do. Fire catches and I'm forced forwards, running, sprinting, on and on with my eyes in front then backwards, trying to see something...
Through the gap in the trees, with the eruption of the volcano somewhere in the distance lighting up everything, I see two figures moving in the distance across the concrete plain where the cracks are widening. Who they are, I don't know. I have no time to even hazard a guess.
The ground is shaken again and my entire body pitches forwards. I stumble, hitting my head, groaning with blood pouring from a split lip and sit upright when the world stops somersaulting along with my rag-doll like self.
Everything slowly comes to a halt. I'm alone, that's the first thought that creeps through my head. Along with that, an impossibly difficult state of fear consumes me. For the first time... I'm alone.
No Etolie.
But then my eyes take in where I've been thrown, where the Arena has spat me into, and a strangled cry bursts from my throat, overwhelming me.
The way back has been filled with fiery branches, dirt and boulders. The way forward is into a candlelit tunnel, the smell of fresh food in front, burning meat... enough to make me salivate. But down there, a shadow is cast against the wall; a tall, frail, skeletal shadow.
The shadow of a nightmare.
The mutt from before.
I'm dead. I'm dead-dead-dead-dead-DEAD!
It moves, I fall into silence, collapsing backwards.
There's no way out.
Leven Foxe, 17 years old;
District Two Female.
If we thought this side of the Arena couldn't get any worse, the Gamemakers have turned that belief upside down. Lava spews from the furthest volcano, drowning out the sky in thick jets of black smoke, balls of fire shooting this way and that, erupting into shards on impact.
The very ground itself is shattering, piece by piece. Geysers erupt around us, hot streams of air that burn my skin even when we're distanced from them.
But the worst part is, we saw them. Two tributes running in one direction out of the forest now blazing, with trees caught on fire, and a lone figure weaving around the outer edge towards the city. It's the worst part because this is it, again. Instead of the internal struggle of the Careers which has occupied our waking thoughts throughout the majority of this, we're now the only ones who can drive this Game towards its end.
We have to be the very people I never wanted to be. We have to hunt like true Careers.
Tallis is strong next to me, surprisingly strong. Even in the face of total catastrophe spiralling out of control around us, she's not the girl that quivered next to Lysander and offered him small, convincing smiles. She looks at me, nods with her weapon in hand and directs our steps towards the fleeing tributes.
I can tell she doesn't want to do this just as much as I don't. But now that we're getting closer and closer to the finish line, similar to me she swallows down the urge to turn back and we proceed forwards. I'd never have thought I'd be like this, the girl from the beginning who volunteered to prove something to herself, fulfilling the very role she steered away from.
That's what encourages me through this nightmare. Because even though I'm going to commit the worst kinds of acts again on innocent people, I'm not the girl that would stop, think and fall apart before being able to do them.
I ready my crossbow, feel it like a weight in my hands, and continue onwards with Tallis sprinting by my side.
"We need to get this done fast."
I nod, agreeing with her. Not just because of this Arena, but because somewhere amongst this destruction he is still out there. The cannon was Evander's. He sacrificed himself for us to give us a chance away from him. I can't help but agree with his decision, whereas Tallis thinks if we'd have stayed we'd have killed him.
But Evander was right. Tallis – despite maybe believing we could have taken him down – still cares for him no matter what he's done. It's that District bond that pains me so much, the loss of Dario is just another motivation now to kill others, because it means I'm living up to his memory. The memory of a Career that wanted another Career other than himself to win.
A geyser erupts from in front of me and I yell out, twisting out of its reach and ignoring the pain that boils from underneath my sleeve. The sheer temperature is unbelievable, but we continue, gritting our teeth and adapting to fit whatever we have to.
The two tributes in front of us are dodging the splitting concrete as best as they can, with us slowly but surely catching up. The other figure is gone, to be forgotten for now, so it's these two we have to target. Tallis might harbour guilt inside her, but that doesn't stop her from helping me leap across a gap of lava and run for their direction.
There's nowhere to hide for them. It's open field, with everything going down around us, within this chase is where the results will be decided.
My first bolt pierces the young boy's ankle, a blaze of fire blinding me when I pull the trigger. He cries out and flops forwards, into the back of the girl from Twelve, knocking her unbalanced. She manages to stay on her feet and turns to face me, crying, red faced down at her ally.
Tallis throws another knife without restraint, but it misses from the distance.
"Leave us alone!" she screams, to no avail, her voice croaking out at the end through fear. The poor boy from Seven looks down at the bolt through skin and bone, through one end and out the other, touching it lightly and crying out again.
"Go." I hear him say. She doesn't budge, shaking her head with her eyes closed, bending down to pull him up. We're so close... I load another bolt, feeling the wave like lava rising slowly, filling me with regret, but again, like always, I fight through it and ready myself for what has to be done.
"GO! RIVA... GO!" He pushes her, crying. She shouts something but he screams again and dragging herself onwards, forcing herself away, she leaves her friend to his death.
"Please. Leave her, please..." When we reach him, the pain seems wiped clean from his face. A resignation in those tears that have stained his cheeks. "Let her go."
Tallis finally looks away. I expected it. I knew it would happen. Her lip and entire body is trembling as I level the bow downwards, aimed for his skull.
"We can't do that. I'm sorry. You know we can't."
He opens his mouth, maybe to plea for his ally's life once more, maybe to try and save himself. It doesn't matter. The bolt silences him immediately. It goes through his eye and into his brain. Instantly the cannon shakes the very foundations of the Arena.
Tallis stares at me, then down at the body, and shakes her head.
"It had to be done."
"I know. Now her."
The girl from Twelve is on the ground, staring at her ally, with both horror and agony mixing into the shout of anguish that leaves her lips. I take my time, stepping forwards, loading a bolt. Tallis stays put. Maybe because she can't move. Maybe because she won't.
But the bolt is loaded, ready. She looks at me with blue eyes full to the brim with tears. She tries to say something but nothing comes out except for a warbled cry of pain.
Even if she'd have ran away, there'd be no shot. Nothing she could have done.
"It'll be quick, I can promise you that."
Instead of looking down, or bracing for the moment, she stares at me with a new emotion twisting her face. Anger.
"You're all sick."
I fire and her body falls backwards, another bolt sticking out her skull. Her cannon goes off, leaving a weird sense of silence hanging in the air. Although everything rages on around us, with night-time falling, there's something... wrong.
I look down at her body and guilt twists my stomach. Then over at Tallis who is walking away from the boy, away from me, eyes to the ground.
I did what had to be done.
It wasn't right. Maybe it wasn't wrong.
I sprint to catch up to Tallis who shrugs my hand off when I go to comfort her. A small, sad, smile is on her face when she looks up. "I'm sorry you had to do that." And then it's gone when she turns away from me.
I'm sorry I had to do that too.
But here, I have no choice. Here, I'm the Career I never thought I'd ever become.
Here, I'm sick, just like she said.
Alfie Caulfield, District Seven Male.
Riva Buchanan, District Twelve Female.
Alfie was probably the least likely tribute to have made it this far. But, hey, he never had that tough a journey through the Games and it was through his friendship with Riva that made him someone I enjoyed writing about and constructing into a well-rounded individual. I just enjoyed the normalcy to his approach to life. He was a happy kid, a good kid, and although those aren't necessarily the best traits to have in the Games it was a great contrast to some other characters that have either lost their morals, or never had the best set of morals to begin with.
Riva came as a surprise to me. At first, she was just another nice, happy, smiling girl, but that's not what I wanted her to always be. So I took her down a more survivalist route, having a way for her morals to clash with the Games and the way she might react differently compared to other people. Riva sort of fell victim to the same thing as Alfie, not much action-wise happened to the two so maybe they were left aside, but I liked keeping the two of them together to explore a more humane aspect where they could interact with one another and then think about themselves in the context of the Arena and what they'd have to do to survive. Riva was a very helpful character in that sense and I'll miss for her bringing that to the story.
Is there any tribute that hasn't made it to this point that you'd have liked to have seen come this far?
Your favourite tribute remaining, taking into consideration development and what they've done in the Arena?
A fast update! Real fast actually. I won't promise another update tomorrow cause I've got stuff to be getting on with, but the three POVs a chapter thing helps a lot to get this put together quickly.
The majority of the tributes are now scattered, save for Tallis and Leven the only remaining alliance. Both halves of the Arena have now begun to prove a problem for those left, which always means we're nearing the end xD
Another quick reminder to read and submit to my new SYOT. Until next time!