Thirty-four – The Rivalry

The Flames – Division One (12.1)

I did not think once that we would be meeting the Careers this soon. Whether or not it feels like it, the confrontation begins now. And it is us who have been taken off guard.

We all get ready our weapons, and the trio of Careers emerge from the trees a while away. They approach slowly, Mariana leading, flanked from behind with Jade on the left and Quentin on the right. It has been a week since I have last seen them, and they look significantly worse. It's not just the starvation and the sunken cheeks, but Quentin's clothes are in tatters, Jade's hair all tangled, and Mariana having lower eyelids so dark it makes her look like a corpse herself. They all bear their weapons. Mariana has her spear pointed to us, Quentin with his trident ready to be thrusted forward, and Jade's arrow set in her bow, pointing directly to the similarly positioned Imogen.

I'm shocked to find them making it here so early. How did they get past my traps? They must have travelled a path between the buildings still standing, or they were walking too slowly to dislodge the stick in the traps, or they bypassed the wires by walking over them, knowing they were not good news. That worries me. Were they useless? Were the wires too obvious to the eye?

When the trio comes closer, I can make out Quentin's expression to be more concerned than vengeful, while Mariana appeares red and hungry for more violence.

In our scattered positions right now, I have found myself behind everybody except for Ringo, who looks a lot more sad than alert. We walk slowly forward to meet the Careers at a distance sooner.

"So we meet." growls Mariana.

"Big mistake coming here." replies Imogen. "You're outnumbered. Go home."

Mariana laughs darkly. "Your pathetic weapons won't even have the reach of ours. We will kill two of you before you even get to us."

Ryno steps forward and points his sickle towards them. "You're not scaring us." he says, seeming to be facing Quentin. "You have no chance."

Mariana and Quentin redirect their weapons to Ryno but Jade does not. When Quentin registers Ryno's face, I see him drop his mouth slightly.

"Woah." says Mariana. "Relax, and we won't hurt you. Well, most of you. You don't want anybody of you to die by chance in this fight, would you?"

None of us respond. That tells me we all want to live. That also tells me none of us are confident that we all will survive a battle with the Careers.

"We just have one request." says Mariana, then she moves her head slowly to stare directly into my eyes. A chill runs through my body. "Hello again, Henry. Long time no see."

"What do you want?" I ask.

Mariana scoffs. "You know how much you love helping us." she taunts. "Remember?"

I freeze. This cannot be happening now. I'm going to be exposed as somebody who has worked with both alliances, and I will be trusted by no group after it.

"Henry..." says Dominic, not moving his head. "What is she talking about?"

Mariana laughs again, in fake disbelief this time. "So you haven't told your friends yet?" she asks. "Your good friend Henry was actually with us for a good three days, helping us live."

"He has not even been with us for two." mutters Ringo.

My shock turns to fury. How dare does Mariana tell my allies where I was, what I was allegedly thinking? How dare does she be the one to tell them? How dare does she get my allies to distrust me?

"No!" I yell, attempting to let my emotions show who I really want to stick with. "I have never been with you."

"He hates your guts!" shouts Ryno. I feel indebted to him, defending me at this moment. He didn't need to at all. "He left you on purpose, in that building!"

"What building?" says Dominic, turning his head to Ryno this time. "So he is with the Careers and you knew?"

"Was." I correct him.

"How would you know how he feels if you never saw him with us?" says Mariana. "He helped us with the puzzle with the walls, and to a ton of supplies that made us rich, just like he's helping you now. Can you really trust him?"

Imogen sounds distraught. "Henry..."

"No, I swear-"

Elaine interrupts me. "He helped you with that puzzle because you forced him to!"

I see Ringo look at Elaine, with more emotion on his face than I've seen ever. Anger. "You know about this, too?"

"No, we gave him every opportunity to leave." lies Mariana. "We just convinced you on how you'd miss out on your share of supplies that solving the puzzle would lead you to."

"That's not true!" I yell, turning frantically to my allies. "Please believe me. Dominic, Imogen, Ringo. I'm sticking with you all. I've shown it. It is just against me to be with the Careers. I was forced with them."

Dominic sighs. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"We're not going to believe him over you." says Imogen to the Careers, but her voices shakes unconfidently.

"That's exactly what how we felt believing him!" retorts Mariana. "It's his trick. He makes you think he's help to you, but it means nothing to him. He's not only smart with technology, but with manipulating people."

A wave of heat rushes up my body. I'm mad. Undermining my credibility like that. Attempting to say what I am like that.

"Shut up!" screeches Ryno. "You're wrong about him. I've been with him for almost a week. And he's nothing like what you're saying."

"Yeah, it's hard to believe." Elaine crosses her arms. It takes me to have her and Ryno agree on something.

"Really?" asks Mariana. "Do you still think he's nice after he stuck with our pack to kill the girl from District 12? I know she had you kill her."

Elaine gasps. To Mariana's defence, she doesn't know that I refused to kill Pyra, but nothing is making me look good right now.

"Stop spouting misinformation." I growl, having no more energy to scream. "I refused to kill her when she asked me to. Magnus did when I couldn't."

"Were you really going to kill one of our own?" asks Dominic, dumbfounded.

"N- no-"

"Hesitation!" snaps Mariana. "You can't trust him any more. So I have a request I was talking about. A deal. You hand over Henry, which will be better for you, and we'll leave you alone, and none of you will die."

"No!" yells Ryno. He goes to Dominic. "We are not leaving him."

"Why not?" glowers Ringo. "You'll be fine. We'll all be fine. Why are you so close to him, anyway?"

I've never been close to Ringo, and I know it's for his own interest, but it still hurts.

I plead my case. "Ringo, please. We have to find another way. Dominic, Imogen, please, they're going to kill me." My voice breaks to become quiet. I almost begin to cry. The possibility of being ousted by the people I've started to really trust is heartbreaking.

"I don't know." says Dominic glumly. "Imogen?"

Imogen resets her grip on her bow and string. "I just want to live."

"I'm sorry, Henry."

My heart sinks. I look at Ryno for help, but he is still campaigning.

"No, guys, what are you thinking?" says Ryno, almost tearing out his hair. "He's with us. We can't just send him over!"

"Ryno..." says Elaine.

"Not you, too." he whispers. He looks around at all four of his allies, looking crestfallen like they do not have a choice.

Then Ryno looks at me and shakes his head slowly. I really thought Ryno was going to fight for me longer, but once Elaine conceded, he quickly did too. I don't want to feel betrayed by that since he did defend me after all, but I still do.

It's over. I'm no longer trusted by any of my allies, and I am about to walk to the group of people which I now hate with all of my little life left, where I am shortly about to be killed.

"You're just letting me go." I sob to my allies, no, the tributes around me. "I could have been with you. Now they're going to kill me, and you'd have one less number on your hands." I hit them with what I always punish myself with when somebody dies. "My death is going to be on you."

"Oh, we aren't killing you." says Mariana. "We just want you back with us."

"Before you kill me." I say, the anger returning over my tears. "No reason for you to keep me. Me leaving you and Virgil to die in that building is motive for you."

"We do have a reason to keep you." says Mariana.

I hear Jade whisper something, her mouth twisted to the side, but I still hear something like, "Mariana, six knows."

Mariana ignores her. "We need you to solve the puzzle again for us, and we'll keep you. We'll get all that food again, won't we?"

This again. To return to the Careers with the same deal. To let me live but only to kill me when the time comes. The only difference being that that time is sooner.

Elaine steps forward from a grieving Ryno. "But you've already solved the puzzle." she announces.

I stop shuffling to the Careers. I remember what Elaine had told me. Of course! The Careers had already reopened the door to the supplies.

"You did!" I repeat. "Before Day 8. And on that day, that's when the reptiles came, and they destroyed your stuff! So whatever you're telling me is there, is not there anymore."

"Lying again!" screams Mariana. "Who did you hear this from? That scrawny little girl over there?"

"That 'scrawny little girl' is the same young lady we chased on day five." I say. "Guess what? She outran you. She was everywhere. She knew what you were up to until day eight."

Jade and Quentin begin to look a little shaky, but Mariana persists. I wait until she says anything incriminating, but she stays silent.

I turn to my allies, who look a little stunned as well. Except Ryno, who is smiling with cheeks wet from tears. "Look, she's the one who's been lying." I say. "I may have hidden the truth, but I haven't lied once. They're going to kill me, somebody who has done nothing to betray you all. Please don't take their word over mine."

They didn't need to, because Mariana does something that nullifies everything she has said. She charges right towards me.

Dominic immediately lunges forward and blocks Mariana's spear from running through me. Jade and Imogen let fly a few arrows that collide in the air between them, ceasing their momentum.

"Pairs, now!" booms Dominic.

I scan to Ryno, already sprinting towards an east-bound fleeing Quentin. That isn't Career behaviour, or maybe he's very tactical, and knows the fight will be a defeat for him. I follow Ryno and leave the carnage going on behind me.

I see Ryno chasing Quentin up ahead, weaving between eucalypts, but they stretch their margin from me. Quentin may have ran out of steam to keep running, because he stops in front of a tree, turns around and readies to stab a charging Ryno.

But Ryno takes the sling of the pack off his left arm and swings it out in front of him. The trident finds itself lodged in the pack rather than Ryno's body. Then Ryno's sickle goes down on Quentin, finding itself stuck in the tree trunk when Quentin dodges.

Quentin manages to pull free his trident and is about to stab a struggling Ryno in back when I arrive and scream a shrill "Quentin!"

This startles him. I hoped to save Ryno by having Quentin charge towards me instead, but he does nothing. He appears to look at me sympathetically. Why?

Quentin is abruptly knocked down by Ryno, who used the side of his body. Ryno finally pulls his sickle free from the wood and proceeds to stab Quentin on the ground, but Quentin turns his trident just in time to block the sickle's blade. And it becomes a battle of strength. Weapons pushed against each other. Gravity and strength is helping Ryno, leaning over Quentin, whose face is full of panic. But the latter has the advantage of a better grip. Yet the curved blade comes dangerous close to Quentin's chest.

I look at the blade in my hand. I can end Quentin's life right now, but I have doubts. The aversion of killing somebody and the fact of Quentin never appearing to want to kill me bolts me down, forcing me to watch the fight unfold on its own. But what if Quentin somehow overpowers Ryno and kills him? I will lose my closest ally, and that would be on me. The guilt will never leave.

I move closer when a cannon booms, a sound that I have not heard since Day Seven. Ryno and Quentin look away briefly, reacting to the news. Somewhere behind me, somebody is dead. Hopefully Mariana or Jade. Eight of us left.

Quentin whimpers as he holds onto his trident. "Please don't kill me. I- I will do anything."

Ryno responds, angrily. "Why not? You're a Career."

"I never chose to be." he rasps. "In District 4, we hate the Games just as much as you do. Unlike 1 and 2, we don't train. They take us just because we're good."

"How does that help your case?" Ryno growls.

"No, that's not what I mean. I-" he grunts. "I live in the poorest part of my district. That's why I'm not as good. And there, we hate the Games so much. I am like you. We literally have no choice."

Ryno appears to show a flash of sympathy, then he returns to anger. "Then explain why you killed Steffi!"

"Steffi..." thinks Quentin. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. She was going to swipe-"

"You killed her." growls Ryno. "

"One of you killed Barb!" he yells, as the sickle's blade begins to dig down Quentin's chest, releasing some blood. "My partner... Please, let me stick with you. I hated the Careers, their thirst for blood. I connect with you more. I understand your hate..."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" Ryno then turns to look at me. "Henry! Why aren't you doing anything?"

I don't find any words, but I must have unconsciously shaken my head.

"No, do not tell me you are..." mumbles Ryno.

I understand Quentin. I believe he is telling the truth. District 4 have always had something different about them compared to the rest of the Careers. They never looked as happy to kill. It is like they had to. Here, it is no different. Quentin did not kill anybody while I was with him. He was never enthusiastic about a kill, and only happy when he talked to his allies. Quentin is not a Career.

I whisper to Ryno. "Let him go."

"What the fuck?" yells Ryno. "You don't want to kill him after there's nine- eight of us left? Are you really with the Careers? You really are?"

"No, I-" I begin to protest, but Quentin shows a surge of strength to lift up his trident.

Ryno, in more fury then before, slides his sickle fast to the forked end of Quentin's trident. The force of it tosses it away. Quentin can no longer reach it. He is unarmed.

"No, please!" yells Quentin. "I don't wanna die! Help me! Mom, please! PLEASE-"

Ryno slashes the sickle across Quentin's neck, slitting his throat open, silencing him. I cower.

Blood seeps out at a fast rate. Quentin frantically clutches around his neck, but it's no use. The bubbling and gurgling sounds that occur from Quentin I am sure will haunt me forever. It goes on for seconds, when Ryno, still watching him, thrusts his bloody blade in the Quentin's heart to finish him off. He did not deserve that pain. His cannon sounds.

I slowly stand upright, shaking at what I have just seen and heard. Ryno storms towards me, and I brace myself for another end.

"What were you thinking?" he screams in my face. "You want me to kill you too, huh? What was that, huh? You almost got me killed!"

The Ryno that I knew for the last five days is suddenly gone.

"You killed him." I stutter. "You just-"

"And you wouldn't have?" he retorts. "Why, are you really his ally?"

"No!" I scream. "Weren't you listening to him?"

Ryno looks down. "I got my revenge." he says. "But you, you were going to choose him over me. You were closer to him."

"That's not true." I protest, then I remember what happened minutes ago. "You chose Elaine over me. Once she told you, you stopped immediately. You were going to let me die as well."

Ryno grabs me by the collar and pins me to a tree. I ignore the pain in my back, even with the pack cushioning the blow slightly.

"Was killing Quentin about the Careers?" I ask. "Or was it much bigger than that. To the Capitol. Killing their favourites."

His eyes soften.

"It was about myself." he says after a while of staring at me. "Everything is always about yourself. That's what the Games are all about."

He walks over to his pack and picks it up. He walks past me to move his way back.

"You aren't going to kill me?" I ask him.

He ignores my question. "I did try to save you, you know." he says, and continues walking.

I remember his plan to leave the alliance if we got separated and killed Quentin. We did kill Quentin, but we are not walking away. Ryno is walking back to the alliance. Ryno has chosen the alliance over me. We are not as close as we once were.

I follow him from a distance. I look behind to see the hovercraft retrieve Quentin's body, which will go all the way to his family, his family who thought they could trust us from who they really are. District people.

We don't walk back to chaos or a continuing battle, only encountering Elaine and Dominic instead with an extra pack, unhurt.

"Ryno!" yells Elaine, running forward to hug him, but she also runs to hug me.

"Finished her off?" I hear Ryno ask Dominic.

"Yes." Dominic answers. "How about yours?"

"Good as dead."

"Henry!" Elaine whispers, hugging me. I hug her back. "I'm sorry for what happened before. I'm glad you're okay."

It takes me moments to say "You too." So much is going through my mind at the moment, knowing full well that these people would kick me out of the alliance.

Elaine and I go to Dominic and Ryno. Dominic gives me a wary look and a slight nod of the head. I nod back. If it isn't already tense between us, Dominic notices the tension between Ryno and I.

"What happened?" he asks. "Are you both okay?"

Ryno grits his teeth when he glances at me. "It's nothing. We're fine." he insists.

"Where are the others?" I ask.

"I don't know." says Dominic. "We haven't heard a cannon, at least. Imogen!"

"Dom!" I hear Imogen call out in the distance. The four of us follow our calls to find her and Ringo, fatigued. Dominic and Imogen immediately embrace and check if each other are okay.

"We lost her." Ringo coughs.

"The girl from 1?" asks Ryno.

Ringo nods. "She's too fast."

"You're bleeding!" interrupts Dominic, talking to Imogen. He then turns to us. "Does anybody have anything to stop it?"

"I have the alcohol." Ryno says quickly, and goes to his pack.

"And I have the bandages." I announce. I notice Ryno glance at me, but I don't glance back soon enough to see his expression. We both treat the arrow wound in Imogen's thigh, which luckily isn't too deep. She winces while Dominic comforts her.

When I'm finished wrapping her leg, she reaches for my hand.

"Hey, thank you." she whispers. "I'm really sorry about before."

"Don't be." I say, feeling better. "I understand."

"We'll rest for now." Dominic immediately says to us. "Then we're going to hunt down the girl from District 1."

Jade's survival delays our alliance having to pick each other off. There's no doubt that I will be the first one out right now if she did die, so I am a little thankful.

"She still has a good chance if we don't look for her any time soon." says Elaine.

Ringo coughs again, probably choking while he was running. "She probably went up high." he says. "And judging by no cannons, she didn't hit any of the traps. But she did drop something while she ran away."

Ringo takes a tube out of his pocket, containing a thick, white liquid.

"Sunscreen!" yells Elaine. "I need this." And she applies some immediately to her face, but it does not treat the sunburn that already covers half of her face.

"We need better shade." says Dominic. "Can you make it back to the shelter?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Imogen stands up healthily, but she walks in a limp.

The six of us all walk silently to our shelter, arriving around noon. We all have our own pack now, since Elaine earned whatever was in Mariana's pack and Jade's sunscreen. I now recall Quentin and Jade not having any packs on their backs.

The mood is different. None of us are really talking. No interesting, friendly conversations. Despite our relative success defeating all but one Career, it is tense.

Ryno and I look at each other from time to time. I don't like the state of our relationship now. I really want to be talking to him again, but I know we need a lot longer to cool off.

I see Imogen whisper something very quietly in Dominic's ear. Dominic looks slightly stunned, but then calmly asks Ringo. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Ringo silently follows him out of earshot.

"What was that about?" asks Elaine.

"I don't know." says Ryno. "But Elaine, can I talk to you, too?"

And they, too, leave in a different direction to talk. That doesn't sit well with me. Ryno talking with Elaine without me being there. I really want to know what they are talking about. Is it clear his loyalties have changed? Unfortunately, mine haven't.

So Imogen and I are left at the shelter.

"Again," she begins. "I have to say it. I'm sorry. I didn't want to have to tell you to leave. I know you were telling the truth, but-"

"It just hurts." I admit. "But I understand. I probably would have done the same thing."

Imogen smiles. "You know, Dominic is very anxious and has trust issues, even though he doesn't show it." she tells me. "That means he really wants all of us to be strong and together. So that's he is very wary of you hearing the stuff about you."

"I understand that, too." I say. "But I want you to know that I did like all of you here. If we weren't in the Games right now, I'd feel so happy that we have talked."

"Same." agrees Imogen. "But unlike Dominic, I really like you and I trust you a lot. So I promise I am going to try protect you."

I trust Imogen here, but should I hold back? Do I trust people too much? Imogen is a physical threat to me, and she definitely isn't going to choose me over her boyfriend, Dominic.

"Thank you." I tell her. "I really like you, too. How's your leg?"

"Oh, it's nothing." she says, when Dominic and Ringo come back. Ringo looks a little more shaken up than before, but nothing too serious.

"Where's 6 and 9?" asks Dominic.

"They went to talk over there." points Imogen.

Dominic grunts neutrally, and walks briskly in Elaine and Ryno's direction to look for them.

"There you go." says Imogen.

"I see." I respond. I look at Ringo to find him looking at both me and Imogen, and just smiles slightly when he catches my eye.

Dominic, Elaine, and Ryno soon return, the latter two trying not to laugh while Dominic has his eyes wide. I would really love to know what happened there, but it doesn't seem my place to ask now.

We all rehydrate and consume a few of our rations again.

"When are we going?" asks Imogen.

"We have to wait for your leg." says Dominic. "Tonight. Or even tomorrow morning."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." claims Imogen, waving him off. "I can do now."

"Okay, then." he says. "But let's wait for a bit."

After another lull, Elaine asks a question. "Can you believe we made it to the final seven?"

Wow, she's right. I have made it to seven tributes left, which I was sure would have been nearly impossible for me weeks ago.

"Would be better if we're all in the final six." says Ryno.

"Proud of us." says Dominic. "We've made it through a lot."

And six of us will waste all the work we have endured. Six of us will die. This is the news that is on the back of our minds but nobody wants to talk about. Once we kill Jade, the process of betraying each other will be absolutely unpredictable. It makes me want to keep Jade living for longer, even though the Capitol audience loves this point in an alliance. Oh yeah, I forgot. Fuck the audience.

"Does anybody want to give a name for us?" asks Elaine. "We're so close, and so successful that we need a name."

"The anti-Career alliance?" asks Dominic.

"No, that's all of us except 1, 2, and 4." says Elaine. "How about just the six of us?"

This is bringing the mood back. We all think of some alliance names.

"Three-six-seven-nine-ten-ten?" suggests Ryno as a throwaway.

"I was thinking along the same lines." says Dominic. "Tech-trans-tree-grain-stock."

"No, those are too long." says Imogen.

"You've never complained about long things, Imo."

Imogen ignores her boyfriend. "We need something short and punchy."

"I'm short and punchy!" Elaine raises her hand. "Petition to name our alliance just 'Elaine'."

"Yeah, no. Maybe we could mix our names together or something." suggests Ryno. He looks at Ringo. "What's your name?"

Ringo looks up. "You don't know my name?" he asks. "You want my family name? Tollens?"

"No, it might end up too long as well." says Imogen. "Henry, Ringo. Have ideas?"

I have never been great at creativity. I'm not the best at making names. I mostly just get ideas from everybody else's. I do think that we have been a group from different districts. Like an amalgamation, but that doesn't work well as an alliance name.

"I was thinking, we're like an amalgam?" I question. "But I don't know whether that works. There's probably another word for it."

"Coalition?" asks Ringo.

"That's the one."

"How did you think of amalgam before coalition?" Ryno asks me, but more as a joke. He does his very smile that I miss, and I smile back.

"The Coalition." says Dominic. "I like that."

And everybody seems to agree.

"The Careers defeated by the Coalition." Elaine says in Caesar Flickerman's voice, putting her arms forward like the words are appearing in the sky. "Sounds very legit."

We all continue laughing, talking, and listening. I wonder if the audience got their money's worth with the fight, even though it only resulted in two fatalities. It has made a new underdog in Jade, and a new alliance to view the destruction of.

"It's almost mid-afternoon." says Dominic, looking at his empty wrist. "I always forget I'm not wearing- Anyway, we should go look for Jade."

I think about it. She will have no chance on a group of six that have come to target her. But she is a tenacious person. She would not go down without a fight, probably killing one or two of our Coalition, but she has been dealt with an unfair blow. Have we become the new Careers, the very people we hated? Was our job to defeat the Careers, or replace them?

We grab our packs and begin to make our way out of the garden. Dominic and Imogen talk between Elaine and Ryno, and Ringo and I, with me right next to Imogen. As we walk, I notice Ringo slowly trail behind me and slip between me and Imogen. Okay, that's fine. I am usually on the outside of the rare times I'm in a group at school.

But then I see Ringo lift his axe with his right hand, and soon he joins it with his left hand. He swings it back.

"Watch out!" I yell.

It's too late. Imogen only has time to turn her head when Ringo slices her side.


/y9yxjk8v

Next: 35 - The Flames; The Flames Division Two (12.2)