Chapter 10 - Day 4

First off - sorry I haven't updated in a while! I completely lost motivation and I know from experience that if I try to write when I'm not motivated, the quality will suffer. But I'm hopefully back, and excited to write this story again!

I jolted awake to a scream.

I knew it had been a terrible idea to let Leto stand guard all on her own. But Atlas and I had been so tired, and Leto had begged to help out, as she had put it. Atlas and I had glanced at each other for a few seconds before agreeing, mostly because we were truly exhausted and we figured that if something went wrong, Leto would scream and warn us.

Clearly, we had been right, because she was screaming now.

I was instantly standing, holding one of my knives. Beside me, Atlas was clutching his mace in a death grip, scanning the area. And at the entrance the building that I had come to think of as my home -at least, for the duration of these Games- stood one of the female tributes. She was a few years younger than me, and as she hadn't been in any of my classes at the Academy, it took me a few seconds to recall who she was. Seconds that were too precious to waste in a surprise attack like this one. Berating myself for trying to remember which tribute this was instead of trying to kill her, I sprinted toward her, but she got to Leto first. Leto, who had been standing guard near the entrance, the first one that anyone would see if they were trying to attack us.

Leto, who had never been good with weapons and was only still alive because I had made her my ally. Who was just now reaching for the sword that I remembered thinking would probably be more of a danger to her than to anyone that she tried to fight. Who was immediately stabbed right through the chest by the tribute attacking us.

Bellatrix, that's who it was, I realized belatedly. I thought I remembered that she was around fifteen, but she was much stronger than I would have expected, and much faster as well. She pulled the sword from Leto, leaving Leto for dead even though she was still moving, and started to make her way over to Atlas and I. The look on her face said that she was prepared for an easy fight, and would be out of the area before the hovercrafts arrived to take our bodies out of the arena.

Hot anger bubbled up inside of me, threatening to spill over. How dare she attack us before it was even dawn, knowing we would have our guards down then! How dare she kill my best friend -even though Leto wasn't dead yet, there was no way we would be able to heal a sword to the gut- and how dare she underestimate the rest of us!

Atlas got to her before me, but Bellatrix anticipated him, slashing at him with her sword, her dark hair flying, a savage smile on her face. Luckily, Atlas managed to dodge the bulk of the sword and it only clipped his arm, leaving a wicked slash, but one that would be much less severe than if Bellatrix had landed the blow she had originally planned.

I saw my opportunity: while Bellatrix was focused on Atlas and avoiding the mace that he was trying to hit her with, I darted in, my knives out, ready to strike.

And I did, hitting Bellatrix in the shoulder - unfortunately, not the shoulder she was holding the sword with, but it was a deep cut, enough to make her stop and let out a tiny scream. But to my surprise, a second after that she was back to trying to kill us.

My eyes widened. This girl was dangerous, not because she was skilled -and even if she was, it was two against one and Atlas was much stronger than her- but because she seemed to be indifferent to pain, instead being so focused on her goal of trying to kill us that she was able to shrug off whatever pain she felt for the moment.

I felt myself begin to break out in a sweat, and immediately leaped into action again, managing to slice Bellatrix across the side of her chest: not deep enough to cause any real damage, and not enough blood to cause her to bleed out. I had to keep trying.

Bellatrix turned her attention to me, giving me a feral grin.

"Try harder," she told me, swinging her sword at me. It seemed to move in slow motion, and all I could think was that there was no way that I'd be able to block a sword with a knife. Instinct kicked in and I dove to the side, heart pounding. The knife shook slightly in my grip, and I told myself to get over it. It was two against one, and we would easily be able to take her. That is, if I focused, and kept my attention on Bellatrix instead of Leto or Atlas.

Atlas seized the opportunity and, while Bellatrix was sizing me up and raising her sword to try and strike me again, took a step toward her and hit her over the head with the mace.

Bellatrix instantly crumpled to the ground and did not rise again.

A cannon boomed.

I didn't relax, though, we had just broadcasted our location to everyone nearby, both with the cannon and with Leto's scream and all of the noise that we had caused after that. It made it even worse that it was just about dawn, so there would be less noise throughout the arena.

And of course, over by the entrance to the building lay Leto, barely alive. She wasn't moving anymore, but I could hear her ragged gasps and see her chest struggling to rise. In an instant, I was kneeling next to her, taking her head and putting it in my lap to support her. She was crying, and why wouldn't she be? She was about to die, and through no fault of her own.

"I'm so sorry," I told her thickly, through tears beginning to fall from my own eyes, though I knew it was weak. But really, what did it matter if I was weak now? Leto was dying. "I'm sorry that I didn't protect you more."

"No, don't be sorry," she got out, but just barely. "It's the Games, right? Caelia, don't be sorry. Just win. And when you get out, tell my family that I love them."

"I will." And I would. If I had been determined to win before, this made me guarantee myself that I would win. There was no doubt about it. I would do everything within my power to win these Hunger Games.

"Thank you. Thank you, Caelia," Leto gasped. "And Atlas-" She stopped speaking and then she just stopped. Stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped living. The cannon fired, and I allowed myself ten seconds to lay my head on her chest and let the tears come before I gently laid her down on the ground.

"Good bye, Leto," I whispered, standing. I knew I'd have to leave her before the hovercraft arrived, and it would probably be best to get out of here before any other tributes came running after us.

Without saying anything to Atlas, who was hanging back, still in shock over what had just happened, I gathered Leto's things, only taking the essentials and putting them into Atlas' and my packs: food, some blankets, and her sword, which I took for myself. The rest I slid into pockets in Leto's jacket and placed on top of her body - we wouldn't be able to take those supplies with us, but I didn't want any of the other tributes finding them, either, and when Leto was lifted out of the arena in the hovercraft, anything on her would be out of the arena as well.

"We should probably leave," I told Atlas, my voice coming out much stronger than when I had been talking to Leto just now, which was a relief. I needed to be strong now.

Atlas nodded. "The sooner, the better," he said, and before we stepped outside of the building, he embraced me, knowing that I'd want at least some measure of comfort after what had just happened. I gladly relaxed into the embrace, pulling away after a few seconds and waiting for Atlas before exiting the building.

We started through the ruined city of an arena, looking for somewhere new to take shelter in.

I suddenly remembered what Leto had said last, the sentence that she had never finished before she had died. Something about Atlas.

What had Leto known?