This was it. My last tiger act.

Chapter Twenty-nine

I took a deep breath. The tribute's hands were still holding my arms, but were much more loose, as they'd been gripping my arms for too long.

Okay, Lanie, let the tiger out…

It was easy. I'd been holding it all in. I'd been forcing the tiger into a cage, where it was busting to get out. I unlocked the cage.

It leapt out.

I swivelled around, pulling my arms from the tribute's grip. I pulled my fist back, and drove it onto his nose. I ended with a round-house kick to the face.

By then, my friends had already reacted.

I drew the fallen tribute's sword. Two tributes charged at me head on, one with a javelin, and the other with a sword. I blocked a blow, and batted the javelin aside. I swept under his guard and stabbed him in the chest. Down he went.

The girl watched me warily, much more cautious about the attack. I smiled just to be intimidating. Tigers were, after all, intimidating. Struck by inspiration, I pulled back my teeth and snarled.

The girl flinched, and I swung my sword. It caught her in the neck. Her head was swept off with the blow. Her blood splattered my face, and despite the thrill from the adrenaline, my stomach threatened to let out what little contents it had. I forced it down.

Facing the battle, I found that my friends had all acquired a weapon of a sort. Zavier was fighting two tributes with a javelin, and I could tell that he didn't like it. I bent down to retrieve the sword of the girl I'd just decapitated and called out his name.

I threw the sword and he caught it, just in time to block a strike and bury it in his opponent's guts.

Peyton was fighting with a dagger, a grimace on her face as she ducked under her opponent's swings and gave a few of her own. Her movements were quick and nimble. Graceful.

Tammin's eyes were narrowed in concentration, she'd acquired a javelin. She fought more with strength, and her enemy was having a hard time trying to defend himself.

Eal was standing still, but in front of him were a couple of bodies that were blackened and burnt. He didn't seem to have a weapon, but every time someone was bold or stupid enough to charge him, a force-field would flash in time for the enemy to crash into it and be burnt to a crisp.

I almost had a heart attack when I realised that Nyal was duelling Keyann. I took a step toward them, before I heard a voice that was not friendly.

"And where do you think you're going?"

He was there. The guy that I didn't bother learning the name of. He had two swords. Immediately, I knew that he was going to a be a hard one to fight. Double-sword fighting was something I'd never encountered, only heard about. But people who were masters of this style were deathly, most fatally lethal.

Bad news for me.

He lunged. It was hard to keep an eye on both weapons, and harder to get in a block while I was blocking. He seemed to have mastered the skill of defending with one arm, and striking with the other.

Sweat broke out on my face. I was only doing enough to escape harm, so how I could get a hit in, I don't know.

If only I had my bow.

Without warning, I felt my arm being slashed open, and blood dripping down the skin. Gasping, I broke away from his deadly swings, clutching my wound. How could I possibly survive this?

There was a sudden crunching sound, and blood poured out of the boy's mouth. With a scowl, he whirled around, desperate to not have the last hit. He buried his sword into the person behind him, before he crumpled to the ground, revealing an axe embedded in his back.

Andi seemed shocked, like she hadn't realised that she'd been injured. She merely looked down at the deep gash in her hip, and back up at me. She'd save me, but she hadn't been able to save herself.

How many more had to die for me?

I caught her just before she fell to pieces. "Andi."

"Go, just go…"

The light in her eyes was fading fast. Her hands were smeared with blood, and slipped as she tried to pull my arms away from her.

"Go…" she whispered. "Go save-"

Her words were cut off with a howl. Antha ran over, tears streaming down her face. "Andi!"

I placed her gently on the ground and ran off to help Nyal to not receive the same fate. I looked back to briefly glimpse Antha taking Andi by the hand.

Nyal was still duelling Keyann. Neither of them could seem to get in a hit. They moved so fast it was like they were in a dance. Only a deadly and very fatal dance. Keyann was in the better form, seeming that he hadn't been caged in the Cornucopia for a couple of days and starved.

I could see that the transmitter was no longer on his belt.

Where?

My eyes looked around quickly- desperately. Let it end soon. I didn't want more to die.

Bingo. It was there, on the ground. Silver on grey. I took a step forward, and it was no longer there. Kicked away by someone fighting to survive. Kicked away from me, someone who was trying to end it all. Kicked away, but where? I growled in frustration.

There it was again. I dove for it before it could disappear. My hand closed around the transmitter. Around me, there was death. Bloodshed. Around me, people fought. I could end this. I could end the pain.

Something was wrapped around the transmitter. Something that made me flinch. I held up the cable, studying the needle-tip. The stupid cable that Keyann tortured me with.

I stood up, still clutching the transmitter and cable. I locked eyes with Nyal. His face twisted into an expression of torture. While he was distracted, it happened. The world took a sickening turn, and Keyann got in a lucky shot.

Nyal fell to the ground in agony.

My heart stopped. I couldn't breathe. Something was tied around my lungs. A scream tore from my lips. "No!"

Keyann turned around.

"It's me. It's me you want, isn't it? Go! Take me." For emphasis, I dropped my sword. What use was it for what I was going to do?

"Lanie…" Nyal groaned. He reached out, as if to try to stop me.

I stepped back. "It's me you want… right?"

Keyann took a couple of steps closer as I walked backwards, away from Nyal. Behind Keyann, Peyton flitted to Nyal, to make sure he didn't go anywhere. I was comforted.

I was ready.

"Take me," I said. I spread out my arms.

Keyann laughed. He glanced at Nyal, who was on the ground. He seemed to think that Nyal wouldn't survive anyway, not with such a wound. While he was contemplating, I looked down at the transmitter and cable in my hand.

The bomb would be detonated not when the button was pressed, but when the button was released. Eal had taken it easy on the advanced language, and explained the basics. When the button was pressed, it would cut a wire. When released, the separated wires would touch, then spark, and ignite the bomb.

While Keyann was preoccupied with his killing priorities, I wrapped the cable around the transmitter tight enough that the right button was pressed down. Then I held on for dear life.

It seemed to take forever for Keyann to turn back to me, his wicked smile huge. It took an eternity for his leg to lift, taking him that one step closer, and for it to touch the ground again. It seemed to take the entirety of the future for him to raise his sword above his head.

So long it took, that I managed to look at Nyal, know that I was happy to go this way, to die protecting him. To die for him. I looked into his eyes and knew that I loved him. And I told him so. My lips opened to form the three words as Keyann neared, and my arm lifted to deliver death.

I love you.

The world was quiet as the bomb left my hand. It spun once, twice, through the air. Everything seemed twice as slow as my eyes took in the bomb's journey to Keyann. It hit him soundlessly in the chest, and the cable unravelled in a sluggish speed.

I looked once more into the eyes of the boy I loved, and the world shattered.

I was blown away, no longer on the ground. No longer seeing. All I could see was night, and the darkness was a prison. Flying through the air seemed like nothing, and hitting the ground, I felt nothing.

I knew that I wasn't far from becoming nothing. My eyes stopped seeing. My lungs stopped breathing. My body stopped feeling. My brain stopped thinking. My heart stopped beating…

Finally, the tiger stopped roaring.

And I ceased to exist.

One more chapter to go. Enough said.

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