Penultimate chapter guys!

Liz xxx


Chapter 29 - The Beginning Of The End

Santana had volunteered. For a split second relief washed over me – pure, selfish relief. But then I brought myself back to reality.

"Wait, we can't seriously do this." My hands had stretched out, like I was trying to mediate a fight. This was silly. Our plan would work – we didn't need to risk the life of someone for no reason.

"Yes we can. I want to go in." Santana seemed fixed on her idea. The bandage was still wrapped around her waist – surely she was still severely injured? The medicine couldn't work that quickly.

"You're injured! You don't need to risk your life any further!"

"I agree with Santana." Suddenly Blaine spoke out. He had kept quiet up until this point – perhaps worried I would volunteer or something, but now his words angered me.

"You agree? To Santana going right into the Career camp?" Blaine shrugged his shoulders.

"She wants to do it."

"That's right – I do." The District 10 girl seemed as shocked as I was that Blaine was supporting her, but she grabbed it with both hands. "And if baby-face Career boy agrees with me that makes it two to one." My hands shook with rage. I knew why Blaine was doing this. He wanted Santana out of the way. He had never liked her – and this would be an easy way to get her killed with no blood on his hands. How could he do that? How could he just nod and send her to her death?

"There must be another way." I said, desperately trying to think of an alternative. Santana shook her head.

"There isn't. I'll go in there, and stab Puck just like he stabbed me. It'll be my revenge." Slowly the realisation dawned on me that I had no other choice. There was no way in hell Blaine would let me volunteer to go in, and no way I would let him either. He had already risked enough for me – I wouldn't have him do it again. So that left only Santana.

"You're also assuming that this won't work Sam." Blaine said, reaching out to take hold of my hand but seeing me pull mine away. "It will work."


I was still reluctant, even as we walked back towards the camp. Santana was armed with our weapon – hackleberries. She would use them to blind Puck and Rachel, kill Quinn and then dispose of the others, or leave them to burn to death. It was a pretty good plan, certainly one with the element of surprise, and she had a determined look plastered across her face as she strode forward. I supposed it had been silly to suggest the Careers would just accept a 'gift' without suspecting anything. Maybe this was the only way.

When we reached the edge of the base Santana turned to look at us. I had expected her to look scared, or at least nervous, but she seemed confident and calm.

"So, you guys stay here." She said, as if she were a parent giving us instructions.

"We'll help you if you need it." I said, but she scoffed in response.

"I won't." Watching her stride off I suddenly felt worry race through me. Blaine gripped hold of my hand and I squeezed it tightly.


"You know I never would have let you do this." We were perched up in our tree – the same one we had used consistently, but at a lower level. Blaine was crouched behind me on the branch, his chest pressed against my back and an arm wrapped around my waist. I kept my eyes fixed on the clearing, where Santana was just about to appear, but leant back into his touch.

"I know." It was scary how much I knew about Blaine now – about how he reacted, how he felt, how much he cared about me. "I wouldn't have let you either." The District 1 boy dug his face into my neck and I sighed, bringing up a hand to stroke his hair. Maybe if this plan didn't work, we could just stay up here. Nobody would know where we were – we could just hide here and be safe. Both our hearts were racing but for the first time in a while my mind felt calm. Somehow something was telling me this was the last moment of peaceful closeness Blaine and I would share together.


Suddenly Santana appeared. I almost made a noise but managed to silence myself, my hand gripping into Blaine's hair so he looked up. She still seemed confident, no slowing her pace as she approached the camp. The Careers hadn't noticed her yet, but they were all there, waiting.

"Hey!" The harsh shout rang out and they all turned to look at her. It was funny how attached I had grown to Santana in no more than a few days. Everything about her screamed solidarity, walls built up that were hard to break down. But I knew all too well that it only took something special for everything to be realised – for a new side to be revealed. As she approached Puck smiled, but he stayed near Quinn. She really did look beat up – perhaps she would just die on her own.

"You have what we need?" Puck said. He was projecting his voice, perhaps because Santana was still a considerable distance away, perhaps for our benefit, perhaps for the cameras. But we could hear everything,

"Yes." Taking a few more steps forward Santana stopped about twenty metres from the Careers. Fear gripped hold of me, seeing her outnumbered three to one. But Quinn was injured, Rachel still not herself. The only thing Santana cared about was her and Puck.

"Let us see it." Complying to his instructions, Santana opened her hand to reveal the bag of hackleberries. They looked harmless, but she made sure not to put her skin anywhere near the tiny holes in the thin plastic.

"They're boison berries." She said, running with the script we had fabricated. "They heal any wound."

"And Sam is sure of this?"

"You saw how long he spent in that plant section during training. He's sure."

"Why didn't he come himself?" Suddenly Rachel spoke. She didn't seem the same since our last encounter – everything about her was jittery, unstable. Blaine's grip around me tightened but I tried to ignore it, staring straight forward. I couldn't see Santana's face but it seemed like she smiled.

"I volunteered – a personal thing." Puck smiled back, getting the joke.

"Well hand them over."

"Only if you promise to hold up your side of the bargain." Puck lifted his head to the sky, shouting upwards.

"Gamemakers! Do you hear me? Destroy all our weapons for the final battle!" He brought his head back down, smiling smugly at Santana, and it was done. "Is that good enough for you?"

"Yes." We were set. The only thing left to do was make the exchange. This was where everything could go wrong. Santana had to act fast, keep her wits about her. I only hoped her wound had healed well enough to withstand the fight.

Taking a few more steps forward Santana suddenly started to look a little nervous. My hand gripped onto Blaine's – squeezing tightly so all the blood nearly drained out of it.

"Come on…" I whispered under my breath. "You can do this..." The gap closed further – she was ten metres away now. Puck opened his hand, waiting patiently for the gift that he didn't know would kill him. Ten metres became five, five became three, until finally Santana was right in front of the Careers. This was it.

"Use it wisely." She said, her voice strong and determined. Puck smiled widely.

"Oh, we will."


Suddenly a flurry of things happened. Santana had lifted her hand back, ready to project the berries forward towards Puck's face. Then all of a sudden Quinn had leapt to her feet, energy flowing through her veins. She grabbed hold of Santana's shoulders, Rachel jumping forward to pin down her feet, and Puck whipped out a knife from his back pocket.

"NO!" The shout spilt from my mouth – Blaine gripped hold of me but I knew he felt the same way, We had been tricked. Unable to control what I was doing I suddenly found myself scrabbling down branches towards the ground. Blaine shouted to stop me but I ignored him, hitting the ground with a thump and then hurtling towards the clearing.


When I reached it Santana was still in her trapped position. As Rachel saw me she went to leap up, fire in her eyes, but Santana moved to kick her legs so she was forced to stay holding her.

"SAM!" Santana screamed, desperately trying to break free. I went to move forward again but Puck held the knife up to her throat and stopped me.

"Come any closer and she dies!" I froze. My body was torn between two horrific emotions. Watching my friend die, or moving forward and risking killing her and myself. Santana's eyes were filled with something I had never seen in her before – in horror I realised it was fear.

"You thought you could trick us?" Puck scoffed, almost sounding insulted. "That we would believe your stupid little idea?" He held the knife closer to Santana's throat. I saw her desperately struggling to breathe.

"You deserve to die."

"Don't touch her!" I shouted. All the Careers laughed.

"Little Sammy – where's your boyfriend to help you?" Quinn sneered. As if on cue Blaine appeared behind me, almost crashing into my body.

"Sam!" He said, gripping hold of my shoulders. "We have to run!"

"Glad you could join the party." Puck said, smiling. "We were just talking about how stupid you are."

"Sam!" I ignored the shouts in my ear, my eyes fixed on the terrified face of Santana. Was this how Marley had looked? Had they pinned her down and laughed before they killed her? I felt like I was going mad.

"Your buffoon of a district partner was the most stupid of them all though." Puck suddenly said, turning back to Santana so he could address her directly. "That's why he was so easy to kill." He pointed to something on his chest and Santana screamed. I couldn't see what it was but then he held her down again and she began to cry.

"Finn!" She cried. "Finn I'm so sorry!"

"It's a little too late for sorry now." Puck replied. And then he slit her throat.


Immediately my world collapsed yet again. Blaine gripped hold of me, trying to hold me up. Santana screamed, blood gurgling in her throat just as Finn's had. As she died Puck raised his arm up in celebration, the two girls whooping in response. Quinn was completely fit – she had acted well and lied to us. Rachel still seemed slightly damaged but she eyed the dying body with glee. I was beginning to feel my world going black – my body shutting down over the sight of another of my friends dying, when suddenly Puck picked up something from Santana's body. He stuck it to his chest and as he turned my way I saw it was her nametag. Now sitting next to the tags of four others. The people he had killed.

"AAAARGH!" Lunging forward I felt my vision going red. Blaine fastened his arms round me to stop me running but I fought against him, teeth snapping and bared. Puck had collected the tags of every tribute he had killed. He had displayed them on his chest – like he was proud. He was proud. Hearing my snarl the District 2 boy looked over and laughed.

"Wow – Someone's angry."

"YOU MONSTER!" I screamed, my rage spilling out of control, like it had after Marley had died. "YOU MONSTER!" I could feel Blaine's fingers digging into my waist – desperately trying to hold me as I thrashed and fought. Here was someone that deserved the death of the District 8 boy – someone who deserved to be ripped limb from limb. I would destroy him, I would annihilate him – then he would pay.

"Look at your boyfriend Blaine!" Quinn shouted, almost laughing at my rage. "He's a dog like you!"

"You could have been a part of this Sam!" Puck said, signalling to his troops. "You would have made a good addition to our team!"

"I HATE YOU!" I screamed. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He smiled.

"Not if I kill you first."


Suddenly a noise sounded that made everything stop. A loud noise, that sounded abnormal at such a volume. Like it was normally small, a sound you heard in the corner of your mind, never really cared about.

Clicking.

Then the first fireball hit.