Hey guys! :)
My laptop crashed during the week and I haven't had the time to retype this chapter until now, sorry for keeping you waiting! It'll be extra long too :)
It's my birthday tomorrow, whooo :)
Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-Five
My knees went weak and collapsed beneath me at the same time as Katniss fell off the couch and onto the floor, dropping the glass of water she held in her hand, the liquid escaping in a cascade and spreading in a large puddle across the wooden surface. A strangled sound escaped the lips of the girl beside me as she clenched her fists together in an attempt to stop herself screaming. Pain was etched on her face as she watched her younger sister begin to awaken.
"How..Capitol..two days? They drugged her!" Hysteria coloured Katniss' voice, any remaining colour that had been left in her cheeks was now gone, and her face left ghostly white. Tears silently but heavily flooded their way down her cheeks once more. My heart constricted, not knowing whether to be afraid or heartbroken and instead suffering both emotions simultaneously. A few seconds later, I finally reached over to her, my arms stiff as I shook them from the terrified freeze they had been locked into.
Why was Prim there? Claudius Templesmith had said that the tributes would be rewarded with "something dear to them". I hadn't thought what Kade considered "dear" to himself, but I couldn't understand the logic behind Prim being locked onto the Cornucopia, nor how she even got to be there. Of course, she had to be the item relating to him, no-one else would know of this small District Twelve girl.
The small blonde had woken up, and was shading her eyes from the now strong sunlight that glinted over the clearing. Now that the snow had all melted, I could see that the golden monument rested atop of a sloping hill, with trees to the bottom and a lake behind. I could see now that four bodies where chained to the Cornucopia, implying that only four tributes remained. Many must have died during the night or due to the cold and exposure, I hadn't seen many live deaths.
I felt Katniss begin to shake in my arms, and small sobs escaping past her lips. I gently rocked her back and forth, hoping to calm her as I kept my eyes focused on the screen. The screen had moved to Prim who was now inspecting the gold handcuffs that were attached around her wrists and ankles, a look of curiosity and determination flickering across her face. I also smiled at that until I remembered the situation, and how this could be the last few minutes of Prim's short life. I shuddered as I thought the worst. He had to save her.
The camera panned away and was now focused on a young boy, who could not be any older than eight or nine. He had tears trickling down his cheeks, tugging unsuccessfully on the chains that were holding him to his death. I had a feeling that at any minute he would start to scream, and as if on cue he begin to make whimpering noises, like a puppy that had been hurt. The camera then flitted to the other two hostages, both of whom were the same age as Prim, if not slightly older. One had a parcel strapped to her chest and the other two small bubbles on either side of his mouth, containing a purple liquid. They were sitting nonchalantly on the ground, as if their imminent death was nothing to fear. Brave kids.
"Attention ladies, gentlemen and tributes !" A booming voice exploded over the arena, "It gives me great pleasure to announce that the feast is nearly ready to begin. Tributes, once you arrive at the Cornucopia, you will have ten minutes to find the key which will unlock the thing you hold dear. If you do not find the key within the time, your item will begin to be destroyed. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour!" Claudius Templesmith's rang out, striking a resound fear in me. What did he mean by 'destroyed'?
I sensed Katniss was questioning this too, only my guess was that she already knew Prim was going to die. I held her closer to me, feeling her heartbeat match my own. Her soft hair tickled my neck, and her woody smell intoxicated my brain. I wanted to kiss her there and then, tell her that everything would be alright. But I couldn't, I couldn't lie. I resigned myself to the fact that my brother and Prim where both going to die unless Kade could find the key.
I focused on the screen again, noticing now for the first time that there was a narrow path that lead to each hostage, with small mounds of earth dotted along them. The holes where about two feet in diameter, and goodness knows how deep. I realised the key must be hidden in one of those holes, and something more sinister was bound to lay in the holes that did not possess a key.
A rustling sounded from the otherwise quiet arena, the camera zooming over to the edge of the forest. A girl, from district Seven as indicated by the axe on her back, sprinted out of the thicket, darting towards the small boy I had seen earlier try to escape from the chains. "Caspar!" She screamed, sprinting straight past the small mounds of earth that she was supposed to be filtering through. When she reached the young boy, her flung his arms around her and hysteric sobs could be heard, wrenching my heart into two. "Don't worry Cas, I'll get you out," The girl said, trying to be brave for what I could only fathom was her brother. Their appearances were too similar to not be as closely related as siblings.
The girl tugged and pulled at the chains, even going as far as hitting them with her axe in an attempt to snap them, holding her brother's hand all the while. On her third attempt however, a loud buzzing sounded that could only be associated with electricity flowing through a metal wire, and the two bodies convulsed and dropped almost instantaneously, blood leaking from their now eternally unmoving mouths. Two cannons sounded as my stomach churned in horror, repulsion at the Gamemaker's sick ploy to ensure more children where killed.
Katniss baulked in my arms, her soft sobs now turning into loud, terrified gasps of air. I tucked her head into my neck, trying to shield her vision and so that she wouldn't have to see anyone die. So that she wouldn't have to see Prim die.
Another tribute came into view, this time from the side of the arena that held the lake. Another girl, she sprinted up the hill towards the other male hostage, when she suddenly fell and another cannon sounded. A tribute emerged fully from the lake, obviously the male tribute from District Four, and climb onto the dry land. He ran over the the girl and ripped his trident from him back, taking with it several chunks of bloody skin. A Finnick-wannabe. I wondered what the previous victor thought of that stunt. The girl's treasued item also collapsed to the ground, the bubbles on his face now erupted and the purple liquid having seeped into his mouth. "Nightlock," Katniss whispered. I was unaware she had turned her head back to the screen, "They poisoned him to death." she whispered again.
As the District Four boy ran towards the top of the hill, he dove for the first mound he could reach, scraping away the crumbling earth beneath his fingers. The camera zoomed up the the girl tied up before him, a timer now clear on the package strapped to her. It read 6:18, and was lessening as time passed. The Gamemaker's must have realised that the tribute was hiding in the lake and used this against him, starting his ten minutes almost immediately after the announcement. The tribute searched on, and there was still no sign of Kade. Prim looked around, visibly anxious and trying to hold it all together, but showed no sign of retaliation. She was being patient, though when had she ever not been.
An eerie fog begin to float around the arena, in particular the forested area. A chill ran down my back as my brother emerged from the trees, a bloodied knife in one hand and a dying mutt coming behind him. The tiger-like creature collapsed on the ground, a final growl escaping his lips. Kade looked thoroughly spoked, any colour in his face gone and blood smear across his face as the cut on his cheek oozed with red liquid. "Prim? Is that you? Hang on Prim, I'll get you!" Kade half shouted, half whispered in case anything else came to attack him. He looked around him, obviously unaware that the key was hidden in the ground somewhere.
"The ground Kade! Under the ground!" Prim shouted earnestly, urging Kade to hurry up. I could sense panic in her voice, what was happening to her? Kade finally latched onto his senses and dove for the pile closest to him, clawing his way under as if he was an animal foraging for food. He gave up soon, giving an exasperated sigh as he pushed his sleeves back and wiping the blood from his face. "Come on Kade, you can find it!" Prim encouraged, giving Kade a surge in energy as she did so. He moved onto the next pit, digging into it with even more vigour.
Again he gave up after filtering through the soil, dragging blood covered hands out from the earth. The hole began to over flow with the crimson liquid, seemingly coming from nowhere. Kade leapt up in disgust and bounced over to another hole, wiping his hands on the patches of grass as he did so. The screen flicked back to the District Four tribute and his hostage, who's timer now read 2:58. A gruesome thought popped into my head, would she explode if he didn't find the key in time? He too was digging like Kade, only instead of encountering blood, he found tracker jackers.
A swarm of the insects flew up from the freshly unearthed hole, flitting around the unfortunate tribute that had disturbed their nest. They stung his arms, face, legs; any part of his body whether it was covered or exposed. Huge red welts rose up form his body, oozing with pus as he fell deliriously to the ground, shaking and jolting as he lay on the ground dying. Going by the clock on his hostage, it took little over fourteen seconds for the poison to kill the tribute, a cannon sounding as the girl screamed, knowing she was going to die now too.
The camera stayed focused on her, waiting for the timer to run its course. One minute fifty seconds. One minute seven seconds. Forty two seconds. Eighteen seconds. Five seconds.
A deafening explosion echoed through the arena, setting alight the poor girl and burning her to death, as well as charring the remains of her fellow district member. The side of the Cornucopia she was chained to began to glow, heating with the intense flames that surrounded it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to introduce you to the winner of the 74th Hunger Games, District Twelve's very own Kade Mellark!" I hadn't even realised that the other tribute dying meant my brother had won. My mind had been too absorbed in watching the young girl exploded to her death. My stomach erupted, a bundle of excitement and relief and fear causing their own explosion within me. "But can he save what's dear to him?" Kade looked up the sky, following the voice with a sickened expression, his face turning green.
"Come on Kade! You can find it!" Prim screamed, bringing my brother back to reality and reminding him of the task ahead. A scream pierced my ears, coming not from the television but beside me.
"Peeta! Its going to burn her too! She'll be cooked to death!" I followed the hand which Katniss flourished at the screen, seeing that the Cornucopia was indeed beginning to glow closer and closer to Prim, and was splitting in two.. flames erupting inside.. like my nightmare..
I sat fixated on Prim, watching as she began to squirm, uncomfortable with the enclosing heat that was fast surrounding her. I could see the sweat dripping from her delicate forehead, her handcuffs beginning to glow now too. "Hurry up Kade!" I whispered fiercely, grabbing onto and squeezing Katniss' hand in what could only be painful for her.
Prim began to cry, now feeling the full force of the heat around her wrists and ankles, clearly being burnt by the flames that had now fully engulfed the Cornucopia. Kade shot up beside her, holding in his hand a glinting golden key with a purple ribbon tied onto it, whispering soothing words to Prim. "It's alright Prim, I'm here, I'll get you out, we're going home!" As he said this over and over as he unlocked the girl, tears streaming down the both of their faces as they realised that enormity of their situation.
Finally, he managed to free the girl and scooped her up in his arms, smoothing her hair down and placing a secure hand on her back as he sprinted away from the Cornucopia. No sooner than the reached the edge of the forest did the artificial sky turn black and the golden tower explode, firing large fireballs of molten metal out at a fifty feet radius, narrowly missing Kade and Prim. The inferno lasted for a solid ten minutes, ravaging anything and everything that got in its way, twisting and spiting like a fiery animal seeking to harm. Eventually it died down, the sky brightening as the flames grew lower and extinguished.
A hovercraft was now approaching, signalling that the Games where over. I turned to Katniss, catching sight of my father as he sat on the sofa. I was unaware as to how long he had been there, perhaps even since the start of tonight's finale. But I didn't care. I leapt up and surrounding him, grabbing him in the fiercest hug I could muster, before turning to Katniss and hugging her too.
Kade set the young girl down and took hold of her hand, leading her back to the centre of the arena to meet the hovercraft that was now sending a ladder down to carry my brother and friend to safety. "Let's go home, Prim." he said, a note of finality in his voice.
Hope this was alright guys! :)
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