Victorious - Day 14

Last chapter: Mars Aemillianus D2 and Kaleb Tides D2 were badly burnt from a forest fire

Kaleb Tides (18)
District Two

Today is the eighteenth anniversary of my birth. I know this because I've been counting down since, forever. Thirty days left till I'm eighteen, twenty days left... I should have never volunteered, I should have stayed at home with Delilah. I should have proposed to her today. I look down at the burn that covers the majority of my chest. No longer is it black and bleeding but an angry patch of skin that's sore and easy to split. The skin is raw, new and vicious about sending waves of pain throughout my body. My back must be slightly worse because it hurts the most. My arms however appear to have healed completely because the minor red burns they had yesterday are gone.

Nevertheless, my skin still screams for relief and I rub yet more ointment onto the burns and again, the pain evaporates into thin air. After the hi-tech medicine soaks into my hands, I eat a small breakfast of dried meat and water. Tomorrow I expect my burns to be transformed into baby-pink skin. If there will be a tomorrow…
Because today feels different, it has a finished feel to it and I know that the time has come to face the true challenge. To kill Mars.

I get up, take my bags and my swords with me and begin moving to the diamond Cornucopia. I eat the rest of my energy bars and a handful of the dried fruit and nuts. A mouthful of water goes down as well. The heat is astronomical and I'm sweating so much that it seems to cool my burns. I drink regularly and I've depleted half the bottle when I reach the other side of the long gone river. Which is now nothing but a sandy, gaping line of a smile. I sweat what seems to be the annual rainfall of my district in less than two hours and the heat on the horizon blurs and melts whatever images I can see. I feel like I should be shaking and developing anxiety that my death could be soon but I don't, I'm ready and I'm going to win. I push back my short black hair off of my head, too long for this heat. I would love to cut it but I don't have the time and it would also be a waste of energy. The strong smell of smoke is empowering, every time I think I've gotten used to it; it comes back up wafting up my nose. I reek of it too; my burnt skin and jumpsuit never stop. Although the burn medicine does help to cover the smell with a pleasant, minty smell and a cool pleasant sensation on my skin; the stench of burnt wood and flesh cuts right through it.

I look out at what used the be the White Woods. No longer white, they are blackened and charcoaled stumps of black with smoke rising from the tops. The fire had burnt almost all of the dead wood that had existed inside the arena. Only a few random and lone trees stand tall and proud; untouched from the flames that destroyed their friends. Parts of the sand near the burned trees are shining; the fire must have been so hot that it melted the sand into glass. After a few hours of walking I stop and take a long draught of the water I have left. I currently have two bottles, one of them half empty. I also eat the last half of my energy bar and three strips of dried meat. Water goes down to wash down the dry food. This could be my last meal, and if it is I make sure that I'm damn well fed before I die. And if not, then I'm damn well fed before I fight with Winter. I stand up, ready to move on, and ready to fight, when I see a lone figure standing in the horizon.

Bald, baked and naked, my nemesis erected, Mars Aemillianus of District Two.

Mars Aemillianus (18)
District Two

With my sword in hand and pain relief ointment coating my body I stand and stare at Kaleb coming towards me. I hate him so much I can feel heat emitting from me, hotter than the heat of the day. I wonder if my being naked is intimidating to him, although it isn't much, because eighty percent of my body is covered in burns. But right now, intimidation is everything. I must win. I have no choice.

"So. We meet again for the last time." I hear Kaleb yell confidently across the plains of the desert.

"You seem confident" I snark back.

"It's not confidence, it's prophecy."

That last retort sends me on edge and I send a knife at him in retaliation. Of course he's too far away to aim properly and he dodges easily. I begin running as fast as I can with my charcoaled skin towards Kaleb and he reciprocates my actions.

We both stop within spitting distance of each other. "So you did get burned." I smile.

"Not as badly as you" Kaleb snaps.

"True, but I got pain relief ointment to compensate."

Kaleb laughs and points to his chest. "See this? That was blackened skin only yesterday. It healed and the dead skin fell off during the night. My sponsors are better than yours."

I growl at him. How dare he say that I'm less popular! "I even had a message from Abrasia on how to-" I begin but Kaleb cuts me off.

"I had one too from both Abrasia and Dextor. And my medicine was both a pain reliever and healer. Sorry Red Planet, I've been the favourite from the start. They chose me."

I say nothing but let my nostrils flare.

"I guess you cried like a baby when you were burnt. Sure I screamed in agony but I didn't cry. Pity does not gain you sponsors. You of all people should know that. Being a psychopath and all."

What a loser, I'm stronger than him! I've been more popular than him, I'm stronger and smarter. But I don't say any of this to him and I make a stab at his heart. But his own sword blocks it and he dodges sideways. We raise our swords and attempt fatal moves but we all know each and every move and countermove. Throughout the clanging of our swords, I try to find his weakness. Delilah is the weakness, but she's not physically here. A slice at my face comes close to cutting skin but I duck and push Kaleb to the ground. Immediately I lunge at his legs but he performs a double jump and rolls over my burned naked body.

"So Mars." Kaleb breathes between attacks. "How was it," clang! "to find that your balls" clang! "had a burn on them?"

I suddenly feel self-conscious and want to cover up. But I don't show weakness and aim for his head. But I end up missing because the pain in my right arm sparks up from the burns. "At least I have something to show" Kaleb laughs and I know that he knows how to kill me and he swivels around in the sand and succeeds in cutting my thigh. The pain is unimaginable.

"Now that you're injured, it's not that hard to win is it?" He says.

I get up and shoulder tackle him to the ground, knocking his sword out of his hand. Within seconds, I'm on top of his bare chest, my naked butt sitting on his stomach. I hold a knife, ready to slice his neck.

"What do you have at home Mars? A father? Is that it? Do you actually have a motive to go back home?" Kaleb taunts. "Because I do, and I'm going to get back home"

And then my nose explodes in pain and blood pours down my face. I fall back and howl; my nasal bone shattered. "I'll kill you!" I scream through gritted teeth.

I stand up and allow the blood to flow freely. Kaleb hasn't noticed me yet due to him taking a breather. I take this chance to cut his left bicep and he crumples to the ground, holding the damaged muscle. "I will not go down Tides. I am not so easily defeated"

I make another move but Kaleb dives out of the away to reclaim his sword. "I cannot let you go Mars. This is your last day." We both attack each other at the same time and our swords clash in the air, making excellent viewing and effects for our sponsors. Kaleb swings his sword around and attempts to cut my arm but I block it and punch him backward. This puts him out of focus for a few seconds and he lies down for a while, in pain.

I walk forward over him and laugh; I knew he wasn't strong enough. But then his fist shoots out and punches me square on the burn on my scrotum. The pain is agonising and I swear I see stars for a moment and suddenly the sand comes up to meet me and I'm before I know it, I'm breathing in sand.

"Oooh," I moan.

I suddenly remember that I'm in a death battle and I can't afford to rest. I get up but I'm too slow; a surge of agony erupts on my shoulder as Kaleb's sword pierces the bone. I scream, and I sit up with a knife, slashing it anywhere that I can reach. No attack comes to reach me and so I stand up and it's excruciating because my shoulder sears in distress. I'm back up and I grab my sword ready to attack Tides and kill him once and for all. My breathing is ragged and sharp and I look wildly around for nemesis.

"I'm behind you Mars." A voice says and I whip around to kill him but as I turn, a blade penetrates my chest. Breathing becomes torturous as I realise that Kaleb has stuck one of three swords inside my chest. But it's the wrong side. My heart remains intact.

I holler out in torment and agony. "I'll kill you Kaleb Tides!"

Tides laughs. "Sorry Aemillianus. But the tides have turned, and you're going to lose this fight."

I look down and see that the blade is pushed up to the hilt to my chest. I panic, my anxiety rising. I raise my sword and stab in Tides direction but I fail as he deflects with his second sword. I cough, and cough again. I try to stop coughing but I have to stop because I'm coughing up blood. It comes freely and a red spray covers the sand and peppers Tides in red freckles.

I stand up, barely managing not to cough. Tides has becomes cocky now, even I know this is a weakness. I attempt in attacking Tides and I succeed and stabbing his stomach. It's not deep, but it's a start. He roars back in pain and I receive another sword cut on my neck in retaliation. I roar something terrible and try to put a stop to the blood the flows freely from my neck. But it doesn't stop and blood is flowing from the sword inside of me. My body is forcing me to suck in air to achieve a more oxygenated blood, but I can't. It's agonising to breathe and there's not much oxygen in the humid desert air. I send my sword in Kaleb's direction but it goes nowhere; a sharp pang makes me lose the strength in my fighting arm and I drop my sword. The pain in my chest is too great and I almost collapse to my knees. I'm dead. I know I am. I always have been. But I can't give up; I must give pride to my District. So I still hold a knife in my hand while I stare down my enemy.

My eyes are heavy and every now and then all I see is black. I see Kaleb Tides, chest heaving, exhausted, covered in blood. And yet, he appears more determined than I. It's during one my micro-blackouts that I feel the sensation of metal grinding through flesh in my stomach. I don't have to look down to know if it's coming out the back of me as well.

Almost instantly, I'm on all fours, vomiting up blood. I hurt so much, all over. And then I'm spewing blood again and I lose consciousness.

Kaleb Tides (18)
District Two

He collapses on the hot sand and I send his sword and my last into the back of his body, specifically over where his heart would lie. It takes five seconds for his heartbeat to give out and the cannon fires. Signaling the death of Mars Aemillianus. I sit down, exhausted from the fight and drink long. I take out the burn medicine and apply again, even on my cuts. I think that it's a miracle healer because even my sore calf is healed and pain free. The pain from my cuts first surges when they come in contact with the balm but then it soothes and feels gentle.

I take five minutes more to heal and replenish my water and food levels while I wait for Winter to come find me. But while I'm waiting, the wind blows ferociously and the sky becomes dark with black clouds. Lightning strikes and thunder roars throughout the arena and it begins to rain heavily. Within seconds my bags are soaked and I feel cold for the first time in about a week.

I stand up, and gather my favourite sword from Mars body. It makes a squelch sound and the blood marks my legs as it comes out. In seconds the blood is clean from the rain that forces itself upon me. I look at across the arena and I see the river again for what it once was, except larger. It flows faster and it's bursting its banks. All across the arena I can see small to gigantic puddles that litter the wet sand. Winter has not arrived yet so I take my sword with me and I leave my bags behind; after this fight I will have no purpose for them any longer. Delilah I'm almost home, I say to myself. I make my way to the diamond Cornucopia but it's harder this time because the sky is not bright and shining; it's dark and moody. The clouds look like they're about to form into solid living and breathing creatures because they're so numerous and shaped. The rain pelts the ground fiercely. I shiver as the rain becomes icy cold and trickles its fingers down my back. It's really cold.

The diamond Cornucopia rises up on the horizon more quickly than it has before. With the torrential rain, it forces the wet sand to level out; therefore making my trek uphill lighter. I begin walking faster to the Cornucopia because I realise that it will give shelter from the horrendous rain. Within five minutes I have secured shelter from the diamond that surrounds me. I barely have two minutes underneath the diamond when I see him.

Winter.

The importance of this battle feels larger than any of my precious kills or fights I've done. It feels like that every fight and kill that I have committed has lead up to this, including my killing of Mars. I shudder, and not from cold this time, but from fear. We used to be friends. Or acquaintances. Blinding lightning flashes and an ear-splitting Thunder cracks trough the sky, as if cueing our fight. I step out back into the rain. I would make some smart aleck remark about wondering when he'd show up but the playtime is over now. No more jokes. No more games. His long hair blows wickedly in the wind and rain.

I run straight for Winter, my sword held in both my hands. More lightning and thunder, out of the corner of my eye; I can see that the arena is flooding. Even my feet run in a foot deep flood of water. Winter takes out his whip and cracks it for dramatic effect; it hits the water and makes a splash bigger than him. Winter always looks scarier when he's about to begin a fight. His eyes seem to glow in an iridescent dark blue. His skin seems translucent but maybe because that's from him losing so much weight and the cold rain.

"May the odds be in your favour, Kaleb!" Winter remarks loudly over the storm.

We're ten metres away so I just nod my head and suddenly a large hatchet goes flying past my head. Too close, but a miss. I don't remember seeing that in the weapon supplies: he must have generous sponsors. Winter cracks his whip and I feel the air beside my arm become solid for second. My body reacts but my mind doesn't and somehow I'm three feet away from Winter and I'm fighting ever more strongly than I was against Mars. I'm too close for his whip now, and his axe is ten metres away.

Winter Hostage (17)
District Seven

I only have my knives to work with; it's dangerous to use them because I can't combat against Kaleb and sword. I need to backtrack using footwork back to my axe. It's in my sights, so while I dodge, duck, dip, dive and doge Kaleb's sword and bodily attacks, I use my knives to make small attacks on him. On him. On him. On him.
Matty. Matty. Matty.

I send a knife into his left forearm and Kaleb screams and for a moment I'm free of attacks; I backtrack two, almost three metres to my axe before lightning strikes less than fifteen metres away. The sudden blinding light and heat and impact of the lightning bolt sends both of us flying. Kaleb hits the ground first and lies there still. I don't have time to brace for impact and I feel my left elbow shatter. The pain is indescribable, it's as if someone has ruptured my funny bone using their bare hands. I scream into the dark of the afternoon. And then the thunder screams and my ears feel as if they're bleeding. The rain never stops and the arena has flooded completely; I lie in half a metre of water.

It takes ten minutes for me to come to my senses after the obliterating shock of having lightning and thunder explode next to you almost at the exact same time. I search for my axe and I realise I don't know where it is anymore because it sent me flying. Doesn't matter, I can still use my knives to kill Kaleb. I can still win. So I handle another blade and head over to Kaleb's still body. I know he's alive because the rain would ease and the lightning would stop, the wind would slow and I would hear the announcement that I am the Victor.

But it hasn't. So the fight goes on.

I stand over Kaleb and call his name. But he doesn't respond; he must've been closer to the lightning strike than I was. A close inspection of his shirtless body reveals fresh burns, bleeding and raw. I sit down in the water that is ever rising. I can't fight a man whose down. I just can't. Matty wouldn't want me to do this. He was all about fair play. And for a moment the rain eases, for a moment the wind stops, for a moment it's silent, for a moment the sun is shining and for a moment, there he stands. Matthew Walsh of District Twelve, my best friend.

I remain sitting in the water and I don't have to touch my face to know that I'm crying. Matthew sits down with me but he still looks relatively dry; even his legs still work.

"You know Winter, he's still alive. He's going to wake up in two minutes."

I only look at him, reveling in all his, his liveliness, accepting his word.

Matthew looks knowing "He wants to fight. He has his girlfriend to go back home to. And you know it's more than a simple teenage hormone romance. What they have is love." He says in an almost, commanding tone.

"But I have to live for you Matty, you told me to."

"I know. I still want you to. Because even though he's a human, he's still a bloodless killing machine. I just want you to know that if you kill him, you won't just be killing Kaleb." He says in such a tone that I know he's about to give me an ultimatum.

"You won't just be killing Kaleb, you'll be killing two people. Delilah. Of course there's his other friends and his family. But they'll get over him. Delilah won't."

"She can't survive without him," Matthew reveals.

"But I can't survive without you Matty." I say back.

"Then live for me."

He stands; still untouched by the water he was sitting in and runs his hand through my fringe. A gesture that he only he knows that calms me down. And then he's gone. The rain comes back thundering, the wind resumes whipping the rain into painful strands of water. The lightning strikes again and boils the water that it touches.

I stand back up, and pain erupts in the bottom of my foot. I yell and lift my foot up to assess the damage. It's not bad, a minor cut. I look down to find the perpetrator.

It's my axe, whose blade sliced my foot. I pick it up and wait for Kaleb to come back to the world of the living.

Kaleb Tides (18)
District Two

My eyes slowly open and even more slowly, I become aware that I'm alive and still inside the arena. And it's still raining. I sit up and gasp from the atrocity of the fresh burns that the lightning strike gave me. My right arms looks horrible mangled, but I still feel the pain in my fingers and all the way up my arm, so I know that the nerves are not damaged. I'm lucky, it could be much worse. I think it's because my sword is made of metal that the intensity of the electricity magnified my burn. I least I assume so; I'm not from District Three. I hold my sword in my left hand; not my dominant hand but still fairly capable with a sword and face Winter. He's found his axe and has waited for me to fight; I guess he took a little bit quicker to come back.

But then I recognise his face; I've seen that before, but only briefly. Winter looks murderous, and I know he's prepared to kill.

"What do you have back home Winter?" I shout at him, emotion rising in my throat.

Winter says nothing so I continue, and I tell him what he has. "Family? Friends? Anyone? You have none but your mother! And you hate her!" I know this because I researched all the tributes before I entered the arena. Illegal, but all the Careers do it.

Winter only blinks.

"Is that what you really want to go back to? Back to your mother who treats you like a baby. Back to District Seven. Do you really want to mentor the children who go through this? Through pure hell?"

Winter shakes his head. "No." He says, barely audible in the lightning, thunder and rain. "No. No! NO! I have to live for Matty! He told me to!"

I laugh, loudly and sarcastic. "Really Winter?" I throw my arms up, as if to express myself further. "He is dead Winter. Dead! MATTHEW IS DEAD AND THERE IS NO BENEFIT TO YOU WINNING!" Thunder booms above us, as if agreeing with me.

In three seconds I watch as seven different emotions flash across Winter's face. The last one ends up as pure cold rage. "NO!" He roars. "THATS NOT TRUE. I HAVE TO WIN. HAVE TO WIN. HAVE TO WIN. HAVE TO FOR MATTY."

He seems to argue with himself, but silently, as if talking back to a past memory. Eventually he stops and resumes his anger. Repeating the words: Have to win, for him, for Matty.

Lightning strikes and sends the diamond Cornucopia into a billion different shards. They imbed themselves into my body and Winters'. No ones fighting and I know the audience will be getting bored. I'm the one who attacks first and I succeed in making a deep cut on his arm. Winter doesn't even react to the pain, but merely to the shock of being cut and he swings his axe in my direction. I block it with my sword and lunge for his chest but I recoil with pain when a knife lodges itself in my rib cage, I can feel the tip of the blade inside my lungs and the pain in breathing is destructive and excruciating.

"Winter." I gasp. "Please, I have Delilah."

But there's no arguing with Winter at this point in time of the battle.

"NO!" He roars and attempts to kill me with his axe but I side step right and block his fatal attack. I attempt to cut him but I'm restrained because my arm flares up in pain. I may have a burn somewhere in there, but it's this moment of weakness that I'm caught off guard and Winter pushes my arm upwards, twisting and tearing and moving and splitting all my tendons, muscles, ligaments and flesh. My bone creaks and gives way to a dislocated shoulder.

Winter Hostage (17)
District Seven

I wrap his arm around my chest, hug it and I drop down, damaging his arm even further. Kaleb groans from the pain and falls unconscious. The water level is now a metre high and I know how to win; pushing Kaleb down into the water I stand on him and I can feel his body shaking and writhing in the water below and finally, forcing him to breathe.

One final shudder and it stops and I know it's all over. The cannon booms.

The rain ceases to a light sprinkle and the thunder, lightning and wind stop. I feel the water move as a current begins to drain the flooded arena. It only occurs to me that I've killed two people not one when the trumpets blare and I'm announced the Victor of the 325th Hunger Games and the 13th Quarter Quell.

Then I'm grabbing Kaleb by the shoulders and shaking him and yelling at him to kill me instead, because I can feel Matty's disappointment and Delilah's shock piercing through the cameras and into my soul. The hovercraft materialises above me and the ladder drops down. I have no choice but to accept my victory and I grab onto the ladder but an electric current freezes me into place. Then the ladder rises back into the hovercraft and I'm whisked away from the arena, back into the Capitol.

As soon as the door shuts behind me, I slump to the floor in pain of my injuries and the shock of letting down Matty. I don't even look at where I am except all I know is that numerous doctors and surgeons surround me. A needle jabs into the back of my neck and I collapse to the ground, as victor, even though I don't feel victorious. I feel like a failure but deep down, I know I'm more grateful to be alive. I have won. For him. For Matty.

Well done to Winter Hostage of District Seven for winning the 13th Quarter Quell! And thank you, clove and cato 101 for submitting him to the SYOT, he was an excellent tribute, believable, enjoyable to write about and always fun to create. I know I only gave him two psychotic episode and a two anoerxic + bulimic episodes in the arena but they will shortly arrive when he's outside of the Capitol's clutches.

I will be doing two, maybe three funeral chapters before the Victory Tour, ones that Winter really cared about or admired. This is my longest chapter since starting again and I am, really, I mean really happy with the way I wrote it today. Did you like who became Victor? Let me know in the reviews because I really want to know how you feel about it. Except for killing Kaleb, that was sad. Him and Winter were my top two favourites. I will also give a chapter about Delilah and how she's doing. This will also be included at the funeral chapter.

~CJ

P.S I might be changing my pen name soon, to something more mature. Idk.