Chapter 32 Before the Horror

Day 4 of the 76th Hunger Games

Isabella was pacing furiously around the waterfall cavern, awaiting Ivy's return. She should have been happy that she could even pace, but her concern for her new ally had overridden the joy she should be feeling.

'Her face wasn't in the sky at sunset.' Isabella thought. 'And they're haven't been any canons since then. But she could still be injured and bleeding out somewhere! This is the Hunger Games after all and you don't always need to be near another tribute to get hurt!'

Isabella's finely tuned internal clock was telling her that it would only be a few hours until sunrise. So where was Ivy? 'She promised to be back by sunset, not the next morning!'

The sound of footsteps approaching the cavern reached Isabella's ears and she eagerly turned to meet the person. She then remembered that she was in the Hunger Games and that meant that the footsteps might not belong to Ivy. Grabbing a knife, Isabella rushed behind the pile of rocks and lay ready to ambush the person. The footsteps stopped and soon a new sound was heard.

TAP… TAP TAP…. TAP TAP TAP…

Isabella burst form her hiding spot, recognizing the taps as Ivy's hatchet hitting the side of the cavern and the signal to tell Isabella that it was an ally approaching. "Ivy where the hell have you been?" Isabella shouted angrily. Isabella's expression quickly changed from relieved rage to confused shock as her jaw dropped at the sight of unconscious Raven.

"W-wha-what is he doing here?!" Isabella shouted, unable to contain herself.

Ivy had expected this, but ignored Isabella for a moment to set Raven's tired figure on the cavern floor. "He was in trouble and I helped him!" Ivy responded, unslinging prized items from her shoulder. "I brought you a new toy too!"

Ivy tossed the bow and quiver to Isabella, who caught them barely. She was still stunned to see Raven, but now even more stunned to have her personal preference in weapon. She also noticed that Ivy was carrying a curved sword with her. "Did a sponsor send this to you?" she asked.

"No, I went back to the Cornucopia and-"

"YOU WHAT?!" Isabella screamed. "Are you insane?"

"I had already checked the area out to make sure it was safe before I ran in." Ivy explained patiently, very aware that she deserved Isabella's anger. She held up the binoculars around her neck. "See these? Some sponsors sent them to me when I got to the tree and while I was up there I saw him-"

Raven suddenly burst to life, gasping for breath and sending the girls backwards in shock. Ivy recovered first, returning to Raven's side. "He was caught in a pressure plate trap." Ivy said. "Luckily with the arrows I was able to create an imbalance in the plate and loosen the trap. It did cost you three arrows though, so sorry about that."

Isabella looked at her quiver, which held only seven arrows now. In order to give non-ranged tributes a better chance, the Gamemakers would usually keep the number of arrows in an archer's quiver low. Ten was the usual number and Isabella was disheartened to learn of her lost arrows, though had to admit she doubted she could use them to kill. She was still appreciative of Ivy's effort however.

"It hurts a lot!" Raven moaned. Ivy turned her attention to Raven's mangled leg. Overall, he had been extremely lucky for his skinny legs. The trap had sliced through the front and back of his leg while another spike had punctured in the middle. Luckily it wasn't deep and didn't pierce all the way through to the bone. The pain was still unbearable though and Ivy was quickly trying to alleviate it.

"Isabella, I need you to hold him down." Ivy commanded as she walked to the waterfall.

"What for?" Isabella asked, still looking at Raven with suspicion.

"I have to clean and seal the cuts on his leg to stop infection." Ivy said. "Since we used a lot of the medical supplies on sealing your wound, we only have the cauterizer left."

"Cauterizer?" Isabella and Raven said at the same time, one in shock that they had such an item and the other in shock about having his flesh burned shut.

Ivy ignored both of them and cleaned her hands off in the waterfall. Once the dirt was gone, she moved to the satchel of medical supplies and pulled out a syringe or morphling and a metal box. She opened the top of the box, revealing a smooth, protruding bulb that lit up red when she flipped a switch. Raven eyed it with concern.

"Do you know how to use that?" Raven asked.

Ivy paused for a moment. "It's a simple procedure!" Ivy said, hoping no hint of uncertainty crept into her voice. Wren had talked a lot about medic skills her learned in training, but cauterization wasn't one of them. 'How hard can it be though?' Ivy thought to herself. 'I just move the hot metal against the wounds while pushing the skin together and it should seal the cut.'

Grabbing a bottle water too, Ivy poured some over Raven's cuts along with some antibacterial lotion as he squirmed in discomfort. She then injected him with the morphling, knowing it wouldn't be long before he was screaming in pain. Isabella had taken her post next to Raven, ready to hold him down when Ivy needed her too. Raven looked at her, studying her gaze, and understood what she was trying to convey. Isabella was happy when she saw the understanding in his eyes. Perhaps it was silly of her, but she wasn't comfortable with Raven's presence solely because he didn't give off a good vibe like Ivy did.

"Ok Raven," Ivy said, holding the cauterization tool in hand. "Are you ready?"

Raven nodded his head, fear running through him. Ivy paused for a moment and took off her belt, throwing it up to him. "You might want to bite down on this."

Isabella pushed her body weight into Raven as he put the belt in his mouth, ready to hold him down when his inevitable reaction to the cauterizer occurred. Ivy brought the heated metal to Raven's cut, sighed deeply in preparation, and applied it to the skin.

Raven's scream was pure agony. His body shook violently as pain ran through him and Isabella struggled to keep him from moving. Tears had already formed in his eyes as Ivy ran the cauterizer along the cut slowly, the cave beginning to smell of burnt skin that made everyone want to vomit. Isabella actually felt like she was about to pass out along with Raven, but Ivy powered through the procedure and sealed the wounds.

"AAAAAH!" Raven screamed, biting down on the belt so hard he could feel his teeth piercing through the belt and touching. 'Oh God! Make it stop! Hurry up please!' he screamed internally, tears of pain falling down his face without shame.

He was allowed a momentary lapse in pain as Ivy finished shutting the first wound and then moved onto the next. Within seconds, the pain was back and only worse. Raven couldn't take it though and passed out, causing Isabella to shake him violently.

"He's out!" she shouted at Ivy.

Ivy looked up for only a moment before returning to her work. She had expected that and could only hope he'd wake up later. She finished sealing the last of the wounds and sat back to gaze at her work.

She felt even sicker than she already did.

The sealed wounds looked disgusting and smelled disgusting. The skin had tightened around his leg as Ivy pulled it together to seal, turning the area a disgusting hue of black. It was steaming too, the smell of burnt skin and hair along with it. Ivy turned away and grabbed the bottle of water, pouring it over the cut. Once it was clean, Ivy wrapped it in a cleaned wrap.

Once that was done, Ivy leaned against the cave's wall and closed her eyes to rest. Isabella, however, wasn't going to let her and walked up to her to say something. Ivy knew what she was going to say though and stopped her.

"I saw him while I was scouting from the tree and couldn't leave him to die, just like I couldn't let you die."

"But-" Isabella began.

"He's staying with us until he's well." Ivy said in a commanding tone. "Once he is, we'll go from there."

Isabella sighed, frustrated that Ivy had decided without her consultation. If she had been there then she could have been part of the conversation, but she wasn't and was now forced to deal with Raven. Hopefully he wouldn't be too bad.

'I'm being too bitchy about this.' Isabella thought. 'He's been through a lot. Then again… so have we. A tough experience isn't much of an excuse in the Hunger Games.'

Deciding to drop the issue, Isabella asked about Ivy's scouting expedition. Ivy was happy enough to discuss it and talked about the arena's layout. The major topic of conversation was the house.

"I think it be worth a look." Ivy said.

"Sounds suspicious." Isabella said. "But possibly good for us."

"I'm glad you think so since it's surrounded by water and I'll need you to swim to it."

Isabella was actually quite happy to hear that, wanting to finally do something with herself in the arena rather than sit around. "I can do that easily."

Ivy smiled before yawning. "Thank you, and thank you for accepting Raven."

Isabella nodded, looking back to the limp figure of Raven. He was alive and Isabella certainly wasn't going to kill him. She also looked at her new weapon, the bow, and debated telling Ivy how she couldn't actually kill.

'No, I shouldn't tell her that.' Isabella thought. 'She might think I'm weak and decide to ditch me at some point.'

Isabella turned back to Ivy and sighed when she saw that she had passed out. Getting up, Isabella walked over to the bow and began inspecting it, thinking of the coming days and possible profit to be gained from the mysterious house on the water.

The fact that none of the Careers killed each other the previous night was a miracle.

Tension had been high since the Career met up once more the previous night. The past two days had yielded only one kill for the Careers, making them all feel like failures.

'Out of the twelve tributes dead, only five are Career kills!' Nicolae had shouted.

'The numbers six if you count Charm's kill.' Caspian had said. Just hearing his voice caused Nicolae to flip out, though instead of insulting Caspian he targeted Jonathan and his failed trap.

'It's not my fault sponsors sent us a defective trap!' Jonathan cried out, looking to Auron and Caspian to back him up. Neither of them did.

Jonathan managed to escape Nicolae's wrath due to the same reason that Auron didn't kill him on day one. Without Jonathan, it would only be Nicolae and two Careers who hated him.

The rest of night was uneventful; the only words exchanged after were Nicolae's. 'We'll go into the swamp tomorrow. The hills are destroyed now, which means that whatever tributes were there had to be pushed into the swamp.'

Nobody argued the point. All of them were too tired and under motivated to care too much.

The next morning they awoke to the Capitol anthem and began prepping for their journey into the swamp. Their supplies consisted of water, weapons, and medicine. Medicine was in low supply but Caspian had been insistent on bringing it all, pointing out how disease ridden a swamp could be. The Careers themselves felt tired, lines appearing under their eyes and stubbles of hair forming on their face from lack of shaving. They prepared a small breakfast before packing, though nobody ate much.

Nicolae was to distracted to focus on packing, allowing the others to do it for him. He had only been without morphling for twenty-six hours and already feeling the affects. His body temperature was high, yet he felt cold and goose bumps were popping up along his arms. He was blinking rapidly and shaking occasionally, nervously biting his tongue for no reason at all. Nicolae was forcing himself to calm down, knowing that if he didn't it wouldn't be long before he started hallucinating.

'I've already been hearing voices, the next step is seeing things.' Nicolae thought to himself. Seeing Amara though wouldn't be a terrible thing, it might even calm him down somewhat. 'I can't let that happen though. I need to stay in control. Come one, you are in control Nicolae. I am in control.'

"I am in control." He whispered to himself. "I am in control. I am in control."

It didn't look like he was in control to the others. He was standing a distance away from his allies, yet they could all see him shaking and talking to himself. Seeing Nicolae in such a state, Jonathan leaned over to Auron. "I don't think he's stable." He whispered.

Auron rolled his eyes. "He's a tribute from District 2. None of them are ever 'stable'."

Nevertheless, Auron pointed this out to Caspian, who shrugged in response. "If he's unstable than it will be easier to kill him."

Auron paused for a moment, thinking of the best way to phrase his next sentence. As usual, he chose the blunt way. "Why don't we just kill him now?"

Caspian couldn't help but laugh. "You sound more eager than I do." He said.

"I do, don't I?" Auron responded in an even tone. Caspian stared at Auron with a slight hint of anger, but Auron wasn't about to back down. "Look, all I'm saying is that you talked to me three days ago about turning on Nicolae early. Well… this is kind of a good time don't you think?"

"There are still twelve other tributes out there." Caspian said.

"So? You heard Nicolae last night. Half of them are dying without us doing anything."

Caspian sighed, "Probably thanks to Willow, don't you think?" he asked.

Auron's body tightened. "She would seem the most likely candidate." Auron said, dismissing Caspian's careless use of Willow's name around him.

"Look Auron, I can see where you're coming from." Caspian said. "But now isn't the time. We agreed to turn on him when the number got down to ten tributes, and we'll stick by that."

"But that's stupid." Auron insisted. "You and I would be better off together than with these two."

Jonathan and Nicolae stood in the direction that Auron's finger pointed. Caspian once more sighed, understanding what Auron was saying. "Just a little longer, ok?" Caspian asked.

Auron shook his head in anger, but didn't argue further. "I do have one more thing to say though." He said.

Caspian looked at him expectantly as Auron reached into his pocket and pulled out an item. He handed the small object to Caspian, who examined it in between his fingers. "It's an arrow head." Caspian said, not sure what he was supposed to be reading into.

"An arrow head I found near the trap yesterday." Auron said.

Caspian saw what he was getting at then as he remembered the missing bow and quiver from the Cornucopia. "You think Isabella was caught in the trap?"

"Maybe not her, but she probably figured out how to break the trap." Auron said. "Nobody else uses arrows in the arena except for her."

"You're right." Caspian said. "But would she be in any condition to use them? You sliced her across the waist I thought, that's not something someone recovers from in three days."

"They do if they have an ally." Auron said.

Caspian eyed Auron curiously. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"I felt it was the right thing to do." Auron said. "Plus, it was probably right to alert you that someone with Career training is running around with possibly the most deadly weapon in the arena."

"You're overestimating Isabella." Caspian said. "She dropped out of the academy because she couldn't kill a fly."

Auron looked at Caspian in surprise. "Are you serious?"

Caspian nodded her head. "Even the sight of blood is too much for her."

"Well… well that changes things." Auron said.

"A lot less scary now, isn't it?" Caspian said.

"I guess." Auron said. "But that was training while this is the Hunger Games. People change in here and if she does then she'll be a nightmare for the rest of us with those arrows."

Auron walked away after that statement, letting Caspian think about his possibly deadly new District partner.

Willabeana and Anastasia had been running all night, fear and sheer willpower forcing them to go on when they felt a need to collapse in exhaustion.

Willabeana's plan to escape had been simple enough. Drug Kaden and escape while he slept. Anastasia played her part nicely, handing him a higher dosage of painkillers than necessary that sent him straight to sleep. Once he was out, Willabeana and Anastasia gather supplies and took off into the night. Willabeana also took all of the group's weapons with her, giving a knife to Anastasia that she currently held with uncertainty.

There was only one ting nagging Willabeana, leaving Kaden alive. Both of them knew that Kaden would come after them, probably out of some desire to protect them or kill them. Either way, he was coming and the smarter move would have been to kill him while he slept.

Willabeana couldn't bring herself to do it though.

Yes he was a freak, but he was a freak from the same District. Killing him just felt wrong for that reason, and since there was no way Anastasia would kill, Kaden was left alive.

Both of them had taken a break from running, resting on a grassy plain near the swamp. The swamp was foggy and the only thing they could see through it were twisted trees that sprung out of the murky water. "Do we have to go in there?" Anastasia asked in a soft voice.

"We have too." Willabeana said sadly. "The rest of the hill area is gone and the only other part is that weird forest on the other side of the area past the Cornucopia. It's far, and the Careers probably have someone guarding the Cornucopia. They could see us and attack."

"You could fight them off though!" Anastasia insisted.

Willabeana smiled sadly, knowing that if they ever had to fight against a Career, she and Anastasia were as good as dead.

"There are too many risks." Willabeana said. "We have to go through the swamp."

Anastasia's face was molded into fear, her eyes staring widely at the fog. Willabeana was scared too, but she knew she had to remain strong for Anastasia. "I'm scared too, Ana." Willabeana said.

Anastasia looked at Willabeana now. "There's something in there isn't there? Some sort of monster?" she questioned.

Willabeana could only nod her head. Knowing the Gamemakers, there was no doubt some sort of mutt lying in wait for them.

"I don't want to do this." Anastasia shouted, voice trembling. "Why can't we just run past the Cornucopia? We're fast enough! We can out run the Careers if they're there!"

"I don't think we could sweetie." Willabeana said, "The swamp is our best option."

"I… I just don't want to die." Anastasia whispered softly.

"Hey, you're not going to die, ok?" Willabeana said seriously, leaning down to Anastasia's height. "You're with me and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you."

Anastasia sniffled, tears threatening to spill over due to fear. "You promise?"

"I promise." Willabeana said easily.

Anastasia launched herself forward at Willabeana, enveloping her in a hug. Willabeana returned it, hugging her tightly. "We're going to be ok, don't you worry. Everything is going to be ok."

Anastasia nodded her head and wiped her eyes. "Thank you." She whispered. Willabeana nodded her head and stood up, holding Anastasia's hand in hers. Both of them began walking towards the swamp, Willabeana stepping into the murky water first.

The water went up to her knees and was filled with mud, making walking harder than it should have been. Willabeana turned around and lifted Anastasia up, who wrapped herself around Willabeana's front so she could wrap her small arms around Willabeana's neck. Slowly, Willabeana's walked through the water and into the swamp.

Several minutes later, Kaden appeared where the girls had only been a few minutes ago. His mind was racing and filled with horrible thoughts of what Willabeana was doing to Anastasia. 'She's probably leading Ana to her grave!' Kaden thought fearfully. 'Willabeana can't take care of her! Anastasia needs me!'

Thinking of how Willabeana had stolen Anastasia from him only caused Kaden to erupt in fury at his partner. He had to find her and retrieve Anastasia, he had to protect Anastasia. He knew what happened to people who didn't listen to him. 'I won't let it happen again!' Kaden thought angrily, thinking back on his lost friend.

It was late one night after Kaden's therapy session with Dr. Franklin that he heard them talking.

Those monsters.

'He's such a little bitch.' One voice had said.

'Oh don't hurt them!' another voice said in a mocking tone. 'They're just kids! Wah wah! Haha, what a loser.'

'A loser with a lot of influence.' A third voice said.

Kaden knew that voice. It belonged to Dillon, infamous bully in the community home. That meant that the other two voices belonged to his cronies, Vince and Jacob.

'Oh are we going to do something to him!' the first boy said, probably Vince.

'YES!' the second boy, Jacob, said, 'Let's get him good! We could beat him up and throw him in the pig food like we did with Austin!'

"Hahaha," Vince laughed in a sickening fashion. "He cried so much!"

"Remember how much he was bleeding?!"

"I know!

"We're not going to humiliate him." Dillon said in a cold tone, cutting through the other two boys sick excitement.

The other two boys sighed in disappointment.

"We're going to do so much worse." Dillon said.

Both boys began to cheer in excitement from the room they were in. Kaden had only been passing by when he heard them and decided it was time to leave at that point.

"Time to show Oliver who's the boss around here!"

That got Kaden's attention.

"Who does he think he is?" Jacob said. "Telling us what we can and can't do to other kids?"

"He's a threat and needs to be stopped." Dillon agreed. "But it has to be done in a way that sends a message to others not to mess with us!"

"How are we going to do that?" Vince asked, totally enraptured by Dillon's brutal nature.

"We have to let people know that we're the bosses and they all need to do what we say." Dillon said, "We need them to know that they're all our bitches!"

"Ya! They're our bitches!" Jacob laughed.

"Or cattle." Dillon said ominously.

He had lost both boys at the same time too.

"Think about it, all the ranchers here have cattle that have to do whatever they say!" Dillon said excitedly. "So why don't we be the rancher and the other kids our cattle!"

"Oh… oh ya! That makes a lot of sense!" Vince complimented.

"Hahaha, you're so smart Dillon!" Jacob said. "You must get it from you're dad!"

Even from outside the room, Kaden could tell that atmosphere had gone from sick joy to utter horror. There was a crashing sound and a scream, followed by what sounded like a punch. Whimpering followed, "I didn't mean it Dillon!" Jacob shouted. "I didn't mean it!"

"Don't you ever talk about my father! Got it?" he shouted.

"Y-yes!" Jacob cried, weeping heard from inside the room.

"D-Dillon?" Vince asked in a concerned voice. "You're not going to do what you did to that cat to Oliver, are you?"

There was a pause, followed a amused snort. "Only if he fights us." Dillon laughed.

Kaden was too uncomfortable at that moment and ran away back to his rom. He didn't know much about Dillon's past, but there were plenty of rumors flying around about his parents. One rumor was that Kaden found most believable was that his father was a Peacekeeper and mother a rancher. There was some sort of conflict between the two and his mother started drinking after he was born, dying a few years ago after abuse. Dillon had been in the home ever since.

Bursting into his room, Kaden already saw that Oliver was there on his bed. "What's wrong?" Oliver asked, seeing Kaden was shaken.

"Dillon!" Kaden shouted.

Oliver jumped off his bed, face angered. "Did he do something to you?" he asked.

Kaden shook his head. Oliver had been a sort of hero for many of Dillon and his gang's victims, reporting him to the home officials and even fighting them a few times. 'No wonder Dillon wants him gone.' Kaden thought. 'Even hearing his name doesn't cause him to shake in fear.'

"They're going to do something to you!" Kaden shouted. "Dillon and his gang are going to do something bad!"

Oliver froze for a moment, considering Kaden's statement. "Well they're welcome to try." He said finally.

"Are you crazy?" Kaden shouted. "They're going to kill you!"

"They're not going to kill me." Oliver assured him. "They don't have the guts to do that."

"But I heard them talking about making an example of you, and then Dillon hurt Jacob and then Vince said something about a cat-"

Oliver cut Kaden off before he could finish his thoughts though. "Kaden, listen to me. Everything is going to be ok."

Kaden shook his head. "No it isn't! You have to do something! Say something to someone! Make friends with them!"

"I'm not going to let them win." Oliver said. "You can't let evil people win Kaden."

"But they're going to kill you!"

"Did they say they were?"

"…No." Kaden admitted. "But they might!"

"I appreciate the concern, I really do, but I'll be fine." Oliver said in a comforting tone. "They're nothing more than bullies who need to be put in they're place. Everything will be ok."

Kaden wanted to continue to protest, but knew his words would be wasted. Oliver had already made up his mind and he wasn't likely to change it anytime soon. Besides, if there was anybody who could take on Dillon and his gang then it was Oliver. He would be fine.

How wrong both of them were.

"Oliver." Kaden said out loud. "I couldn't protect you, but I can protect Anastasia, just like I did with all the other kids after you left."

With his mission in mind, Kaden entered the swamp to find Anastasia and rescue her from Willabeana's doomed grasp.

A short chapter with a lot of build up, I know, but next chapter will have a lot of detail and be filled with horror.

Hope you're ready.