This chapter is dedicated to Mel, for pestering me to update, and Maren, who's character just got owned.
--x
Sherman POV
I saw it as well as anyone. Twyla's face in the sky, along with Jenae. Spencer, too, though I didn't see him die.
Somewhere deep inside me, I know that Twyla's really dead, and sooner or later, I am, too. But the rest of me has effectively shut that part off from the control center of my brain. Because she's not dead. I'm sure of it!
See, when Kali got her, (and I say 'got' loosely) she didn't move. But when the hovercraft scooped her up, her arm moved, like she was waving. She wasn't really leaving me. When I won, she'd be back again! She would! Really. She even talked to me last night, saying that she sacrificed herself so I could win. It was in a dream, of course. But I know how much meaning dreams really have.
I was just barely woken up by a canon. For some reason, though, I stayed in a sort of haze, with all the trees around me wobbling and turning purple. So I lay back again. It was hard to sit up, but everything was sort of spinning into focus.
Maybe I'm still dreaming.
All the rocks around me feel cold, and suddenly, I'm freezing. The Gamemakers must be manipa… Manipia… Changing the weather. I can't remember why I even wanted to use that long word in the first place.
The ground… The air… Everything is cold. But I hold on, and stand up, anyway. I need to figure out where I am, and why everything looks so funny.
I catch my balance, and get a good look at where I am. The Cornucopia is just visible on the next island over, and I can hear voices by it, but they're strange, and garbles. Even worse than the Capitol people. I laugh at that, and have to sit down; I'm laughing so hard. That was really funny!
My clothes are kinda wet, and I wonder what I should do with them. They smell like the lake. I guess I swam over here! Cool. I didn't know I could swim. That's really funny, and I start laughing again.
Suddenly, Twyla's standing behind the pile of rocks where I slept.
"I knew it!"
I sort of crawl over to her, and she makes a face at me. Then she sort of wobbles, like everything else, and turns into Calico.
"Sherman, you disgust me. She never loved you. Just wanted to live. And you couldn't even help her do that."
I recoil back, and she grins, spitefully. Everything swims, in front of my face, and I'm really shocked. That isn't Twyla! Why did they let Calico into the arena?
There's a knife by my foot, and I pull it out of the ground, and drag myself back. Everything is so fuzzy… I just want to kill Calico, for lying about Twyla. And I can, right? I'm in The Hunger Games. I'm allowed to kill anyone I can.
The knife cuts though the air, over and over again, but Calico just turns back into Twyla, who's crying.
"You want to kill me, Sherman? What did I do?"
She melts into a puddle of blood, and I begin to cry. Twyla is dead! I killed her!
I try to reach out, and touch her, one last time. But all that's left is a black puddle, ling in front of me. A reminder of how I failed to take care of her. I hate myself.
Everything is cold, everywhere, and it's all I can do not to kill myself, and end it, right then and there. So I won't have to kill anyone again, just me. And I'm a murderer. I don't count.
I look down at my hands, the hands that killed her. They look ordinary, except for being slick with black blood.
Crying, I force myself to the water, and dip my hands in, thinking to wash her blood off my hands. It's freezing; cold beyond the air, and the ground, but I continue to wash them. My hands start to feel heavy, and for some reason, the tips of my ears go numb.
He water starts to feel nice, but I take my hands out. Nothing has changed. Frantically, I rub them on my shirt, but the gooey, black, blood stays on. And then, suddenly, I'm burning instead.
I jam my hands back into the water, but it's boiling, too. Slowly, I slip into it, hoping for relief, but feeling nothing. Nothing but heat, and pain. I'm in water up to my hips, but I can't even tell.
Obviously, I have to go in deeper. Where it will be cooler. The part of my brain calculating this has forgotten that I have no clue about how to selectively swim, but I'm past caring.
Slowly, I wade in, deeper and deeper, until I have to kick my legs and flail my arms to keep afloat. I don't feel any relief, though. My head must have to go in, too.
Continuing in, I let my head fall bellow water, though my legs and arms are beginning to go numb. It isn't enough, though. And once my ears go under, the tips seem to regain feeling, and catch fire. I bear the pain though, in the hope that it will go away; leaving me in peace, or kill me; getting me back to Twyla. I continue more slowly without the use of my arms and legs, but my body begins to numb, too.
Only my head is exposed, and in seconds, a heavy, blunt object connects with it. For a moment, my vision explodes in orange, and then, I feel a strange sense of calm, and begin to sink. I can't feel anything anymore.
I can only watch as the bubbles trickling from my mouth become smaller and smaller, and then disappear, leaving me alone in the blue embrace of the water, as my eyes close.
I see Twyla again. She smiles, grasps my hand, and leads me into the darkness.
Finally, I'm happy again.
I die, smiling.
Soren POV
I don't really understand what fish-girl is spazzing about. Yeah, yeah, there's some weird plague on the island, and we're all gonna die. Tell me something I don't know.
Actassi is actually pretty decent company, considering my alternatives. There's fever-stricken Psycho, that sanity-challenged fish-girl, and Royce, who still hasn't gotten over Paris. I mean, they only knew each other for two weeks. And then, of course, there're Paris and Bond, who are dead. That would be pretty fucking awkward.
We finished loading up the boats, with two flashlights, two days worth of supplies for two people, and two blankets. Obviously, it was pretty quiet; someone had just died, even though neither of us liked him.
Yeah, so fish-girl was practically having a conniption fit over not being vaccinated, and it was kind of funny. Plus, I was getting tired, so I just sort of sat there, with Actassi. Watching her flip out. Good times.
I sort-of wondered what was up with Kali, who hadn't come out of her tent all day, but I was hoping for 'dead'. I know it's a long shot, but she scares the hell out of me.
I was contemplating such as this, when Actassi elbowed me in the side. That's weird. He's normally a pretty meek little guy, though I suppose I'm very intimidating.
"What is it?" I said, not wanting to snap at him and scare him to death.
He pointed at a disturbance in the water; someone was floundering in a medium-depth part of the lake, near the closest island. I think it was the District Eight guy. Sh- something. It looked like he was drowning. I wondered how (and why) he had gone out there in the first place.
"He looks so helpless," Actassi said, quietly.
Well, I can't aim for shit, so I shook my head.
"There's nothing we can do."
Apparently, Actassi had a different idea. He picked up a heavy spear, which we were putting in the boat for Royce, hefted it, and threw it, almost gracefully, into the water. It hit its mark. District Eight stopped struggling, and sank, slowly, into the water.
A cannon fired a few seconds later, bringing the day's death total up to two.
I was a bit more concerned, though, with Actassi. There I was, thinking the kid couldn't throw.
"Nice one," I said.
He shook his head, and covered his eyes. Crying? What the hell?
I suppose he did it at the reaping, too, so I shouldn't be so surprised. But then I heard fish-girl, yelling for me to come over.
"Soren," she said, holding up a little silver parcel, "I checked in here. We've got one inoculation for the fever, but neither of us are immune."
"So," I replied, "give it to me."
That's the logical choice, right? I mean, we learned in the ninth grade that District Four, and a few others, are sometimes naturally immune to the fever. District Two is not included on that list. Hence, the Psycho in the tent.
She made a face at me.
"I was hoping you had some semblance of chivalry."
Actassi suddenly called to us, quietly, "Hey, umm… Maren?"
"Not now, Actassi," she replied, still glaring at me.
"Chivalry is dead, fish-girl, and I will be, too, if I don't get that shot," I shot back.
I made a grab for the parcel, but fish-girl seems to have good reflexes, and a few more inches of height. She held it above her head, looking slightly crazy. I think the last day has not been very good for her; the dark circles under her eyes look pretty bad, not like I care.
However, a voice from the direction of the lake mad us both freeze.
"You'll be giving that to me," said Hetcher, standing in a boat, with a spear pointed at us, and a semi-conscious Diane over his left shoulder.
I raised my hands in the air, and so did Maren, both of us turning towards him slowly. What had happened to Actassi?
"Neither of you move," Hetcher said, stepping down from the boat, still holding the spear, and Diane.
He seems to be aiming at her, as she is holding the parcel, so I take the opportunity to whip my eyes around, trying to assess our chances of killing him, and staying alive. Suddenly, I see Actassi, under a pile of supplies, half-hidden.
I think fish-girl saw him, too, but I can't be sure. Hetcher suddenly pointed his pear at me.
"Stay still! I just need the medicine!"
He gestures at the package we had been fighting over, indicating that we should give it to him. Damn it, we're screwed.
Unfortunately, I have a stubborn streak several miles wide. Unfortunately for him.
"What if we don't give a damn what you want? The medicine is ours! And if your little girlfriend there dies, it's none of our concern. In case you hadn't noticed, she killed one of our allies!"
District Twelve raises some real idiots. He turns slightly red, and then heaves the spear; his only weapon, at me. My vision explodes for a second, and I feel blood on my shin, flowing down over my foot. But I'd rather have this moron kill me than the plague.
Fish-girl seemed moved to action. She dashes up, tossing the package to me, and grabs a sword, while Hetcher jumps back into the boat, realizing he can't fight us with Diane over one shoulder. Actassi still hasn't gotten up. I bet he's still angsting over killing District Eight.
Royce heard what's going on, finally, and came barreling down from the Cornucopia, seeing Paris' killers escaping, albeit empty-handed. Hetcher was damn good at rowing, though Diane was dead weight.
I ripped open the paper, and jam the shot into my shoulder. Perfect timing. Fish-girl was walking back, looking somewhere between angry and bemused.
"What the hell was that?" she asked, as if it was my fault that the two had chosen an inopportune moment to begin attacking.
"A perfect distraction," I replied cheerily, despite the bloody wound on my lower leg, waving the empty syringe in front of her face. Ha.
"Victory is mine, fish-girl. Have fun dying of the fever!"
--x
Sorry for the weird Sherman POV, he had a fever, so it was on purpose.
Also, apologies for my lateness. My computer crashed, and I had to re-write.
