Thirty-five – The Flames

The Flames – Division Two (12.2)

Imogen immediately drops to the ground, spilling blood out a wound so wide and who knows how deep. Ringo sprints off immediately with his pack and his bloody axe.

I am too stunned to stop him. So are Elaine and Ryno, before they both decide to chase after Ringo.

"Imogen-!" Dominic whimpers. I have never heard his voice so small, so vulnerable. "Imogen, no!"

Dominic drops on his knees and holds up a moaning Imogen.

I stand uselessly, looking around, wondering what just happened. Betrayal. That's what happened. Ringo betrayed us early. Far too early. Ryno knew not to trust him.

"Imogen, stay with me, please." Dominic tries to stop the bleeding with his hand, but it's no match for the wound. His hand becomes all bloody, all red.

"Do something!" he bellows at me.

"I have no more bandages!" I yell out, but then I untie my jacket and uselessly wrap it around Imogen's side. The jacket is stained almost immediately. During this, I hear a girl's scream in the distance. Elaine's probably.

Watching Imogen cling on to life is hard. Watching Dominic cling on to the love of his life is even harder. He is already crying, rocking Imogen anxiously.

"Don't cry." I hear her breathe.

"I'm sorry." sobs Dominic. "I'm sorry."

"Not. Your. Fault." I hear Imogen whisper one by one.

"I should have protected you." mutters Dominic. "I should have killed Ringo the first time, or when you told me he didn't put in the effort to kill the girl from 1. I- It should be me in your place."

Imogen shakes her head slowly. "Stay strong." she rasps.

"No." orders Dominic. "No, no, no, you got to stay. Stay with me."

"I'm sorry, Imogen." I whisper, not intending for her to hear me, but she does. She turns her head, holds my hand, mouths a "Thank you, Henry." before she moves back to Dominic.

"I love you." she vows.

"No, not yet." wails Dominic, pulling her up frantically as she slumps down more. Her eyes start to flutter closed.

"Please." pleads Dominic, frantically. "I love you, Imo. I love you. I love you... No..."

Imogen no longer moves. Dominic's wails joins the sound of her cannon that follows.

I cry with him as well, for the pain that I can also feel. Somebody you love with all your heart dies suddenly in front of you. I cannot bear to have it happen to me.

Eventually, Dominic's sobs turn into sniffles, and we both look at each other.

"What do we do now?" I ask. "We could help decorate the body, as tribute for-"

"Leave." warns Dominic.

"What?"

He sighs heavily, looking like a mix of fury and hopelessness. "Leave, before it's too late."

I look at him, breathing quickly and loudly. I look at the mace he has dropped right next to him.

"Take the jacket." he says, lastly.

I put on my pack, carefully remove the blood-stained jacket from Imogen's corpse, and flee east, Dominic's eyes trained on me as I leave.

Who knows what Dominic will do now that somebody has killed his girlfriend? Will he go on a rage? Will he not let the body go? Will he go on a murderous rampage, fuelled purely by emotion? I hear his echoing scream behind me, letting out his grief.

I think about the likely lack of inhabitable buildings in the main part of the arena, and decide to stay in the garden. I flee as far east as possible, reaching the forcefield. I plop against a tree next to it, and slide down, trying to process everything.

Everybody is separated. Jade is alone. Dominic is alone. Ringo is alone. I am alone. Ryno and Elaine may the only ones who are still together. I remember hearing Elaine scream, but I did not hear a cannon at all, so she might be okay. Knowing Ryno, he would have killed Ringo instantly, so it is clear they did not catch him. The most important thing, the Coalition is over faster than we've made a name for it.

And it saddens me deeply. We were all so close, and now Imogen is dead and I am not working with anybody anymore. I'm angry at Ringo for reneging from the group. Even though I should have seen the signs from him being quiet, I should have seen he'd be the one to put himself first. But this betrayal had to happen soon. I get it, and I hate it.

What does this mean for me now? I am alone with just one pack. Half of the food Ryno and I had. Ryno has the other pack with half of the supplies. Ryno...

I miss working together with him. I miss it just being the two of us. The thought of him being out there, while I'm just alone, is hurting more than it would if he was the tribute Ringo slashed. But it would hurt more if he died and I was not there. He would have died with our relationship still being rocky, and I would never live without the guilt.

I realise this is exactly how I've felt with Radia. Maybe even more. I'm missing Radia so much, too. She and Ryno have both helped me be so positive and confident in these Games, and I would not have made it this far without them now. The only difference between them being that Radia has always reminded me of home despite her unorthodox appearance, because she is from home. And I am terribly homesick. Nothing in the Capitol or this arena have reminded me of home yet, except my watch and the common plight of the tributes from similar districts, which doesn't help my homesickness much more than I'd like.

And from twenty-four tributes, we are down to six. I am in that final six. I have not pictured myself in this position before and I would not have been able to in the state we are all in now. But I cannot believe the circumstances that have gotten me here. My life had been saved so many times before.

My mentors, Martinus, and Radia have helped me for the Games so well, to reel in sponsor gifts and be part of alliances that would get me further. The Careers could have killed me along with Radia, but did not. Virgil could have killed me catching up to me, but did not. Magnus from District 5 helped me so much during my time with the Careers. Killing Pyra for me, delaying the solving of the puzzle to keep me alive for longer, and sacrificing his life to kill Virgil was all him.

Then Ryno kept my sanity intact. I have never felt better in the arena without him. He tried helping me with the reptiles, healed me from them, helped me fit in with the Coalition, and tried helping me handle the Careers just earlier today. Elaine saved me from giving my life to the Careers by reminding me of a fact that would help the case against Mariana not telling the truth. And I did not remember it until now, but Dominic stopped Mariana from spearing and murdering me while my head was turned.

Now I feel like a fraud making it this far. What did I do to help everyone else, except Ryno from Resa's snare trap? I only feel like I have helped people feel at peace in their dying moments, deaths which I have had a hand in. Is that just to make me feel good that the tributes are dying? Nothing about the tributes dying should make me feel good at all.

I try to distract myself by checking what is inside my pack. One canteen of water and one skin, both almost empty, Ryno's piece of plastic, two packs of crackers - Ryno has the bread and other foods in the basket, which I am happy with as he could enjoy his favourite food - a bottle of iodine, a first-aid kit, the burn ointment, just some band-aids, half of the remaining wire, half of the remaining matches, my jacket, and my knife. That is all. My provisions are poor. But everyone else's should also be poor right now with one pack each, except Dominic who may have taken Imogen's pack with him.

If I do run out of food and water, my reliance would be to my sponsors now, but I don't think I will be good enough at all. I barely got a gift on my birthday, and Ringo just pulled off the game-changing, audience-enticing betrayal. Further, Jade is the remaining Career and is always favoured, Dominic's performance to Imogen's death, although real, could reel in some gifts, and I picture Elaine and Ryno as way better with the audience than I am. To get food from sponsors over my competition, I will need to stop crying and put on a brave face. I am not going to ask for any yet. I have still got other options, before the day is over.

Before I make my way back to the lake to refill my bottles, I set up a few snares with cracker pieces and whatever wire I have left.

After I refill the bottles and purify the water, I wash my jacket because having to think of Imogen every time I see the dark stain on it is unpleasant. Then, I don't return to the tree. I look for more food. Berries, plants with edible roots or shoots. But all I can find is some red, oval-shaped berries and a small plant where its leaves can be eaten, under a tracker jacker nest. I can hear the humming from where I am.

Now I hate tracker jackers, but I need this food so much. I remember from past Hunger Games that tracker jackers are usually sedated with smoke, so I make a small fire. I ensure the fire creates smoke high enough to reach the nest to give me confidence in collecting the berries. I still crouch down really low to make sure, grabbing the berries and pulling the plants out of the ground. I get out of there scot-free.

Happy with my stash, I go back to lean against the tree, taking a sip of my water, nibbling on a few berries, and waiting for the sun to go down.

The sun to go down. It will be dark, and I don't have the night-vision glasses. Ryno does. If ever I do want to travel in the night, I am at huge deficit. If the moon isn't too bright, I might injure myself in the force field, a tree, an aqueduct, or worse, my own booby traps. I will need to create a torch on my own, and I need a stick to be readily available.

At sunset, where the last of the available light remains for the day remains, I try my best to climb a tree, and I saw off a good branch with my knife. I remove the flammable leaves, and I'm left with a tapered stick that I can use as a torch with fabric and alcohol, the latter of which can be found in the first-aid kit.

When the darkness arrives, I look into my pack to pull out my sleeping bag, except I do not have a sleeping bag. It is also with Ryno. I begin to groan but I stop during it when I remember that I have to look brave in front of the sponsors.

The anthem plays, and for the first time since day seven, there are faces in the sky. Mariana, Quentin, Imogen. A deadly day. I wait for my jacket to dry as much as it can before I get too cold.

Eventually, I resort to wearing it and I lie down to sleep. Except I cannot. And it's not just because of the lack of the sleeping bag. My thoughts are all over the place. My mind replays the time my alliance was fine to send me to the slaughterhouse - the Careers. Then it flashes to Quentin's death. The gurgling of the blood. His hands clutching his neck. His plea to his mom before he was silenced by Ryno. I will never forget it, but I want to.

I turn around. I think of my falling out with Ryno and him screaming at me. What could I have done for him not to do that with me instead? Should I have killed Quentin myself and earlier? I regret having our relationship breaking down like that. I want him back.

Then Imogen's shocking death. Ringo suddenly slicing her side like that. Dominic's wails and sobs as he refused to say goodbye to her. His pained voice haunts me as much as the sound of Quentin's blood leaving his neck.

Today has been traumatic. Too traumatic.

I try to ignore the cold as I huddle myself to attempted sleep.

Only interrupted light sleep is what I get to have when day twelve begins. The only good thing I feel is the singing of the birds in the trees. Peaceful. It is like the calm after the terrible rainstorm. But in the arena, we know that calm will not last long.

I sit up against my tree, munching on the leaves I pulled yesterday, and helping it go down with water. Day Twelve. What is the plan for today? Probably to just outlast. I wonder if that is what everybody will be doing. If so, the gamemakers might want to do something to shake up the game as we approach the two-week mark in the Games, like...

Burn the South Garden down.

I remember having predicted such an event occurring before. Every four days, something significant seems to happen. Day Four, the North Garden burns down to remove some available supplies. Day Eight, reptiles come to take our supplies. Day Twelve, the South Garden will burn down to remove more available supplies, narrowing our space and resources dramatically.

That includes the water in the lake. I need to leave the day with a full bottle. I need as much water as possible.

On the way to the lake with my pack and the large stick, I check my snares and find a tiny squirrel trapped in one of them. Thank goodness, more food, even though it has a lot less meat than the rabbit. Luckily, it's still alive. I immobilise it with the wire I used to make the snare and stuff it in my bag, deciding to kill the critter when I want to eat it.

When I reach the lake, I pull out my bottle, but I already smell some smoke. That is not good. If the fire is starting, and I am at the southern part of the garden, I'm in danger.

Then a tree along the banks explodes into flames.

I'm a little thrown off, but I got the message. Run.

I'm unable to refill my bottle as I wanted before I sprint off north. The fire has spread to the neighbouring trees now, and soon to where I was just standing.

The smoke becomes unbearable. I put my shirt up to my nose but it seems to do practically nothing. Then it's the heat that turns unbearably intense. I look behind. The fire is a lot closer to me now. It is a lot louder. A lot deadlier.

Then I realise my life is in real danger. If I don't run any faster, I might be burned alive.

I run so fast, as fast as I can to the wall. While I avoid the main damage with the wall of fire, I am not spared by the falling embers from the trees behind me. One hits me square at the back of my neck, and I shriek in pain. Another must have fallen on my shoulder right next to a wound from the reptiles, because it is not until later that I feel the sting at the site.

I am running out of stamina, but I am almost there. Around eight minutes of straight running and relentless fire and smoke, I see the wall. I just need to make it there.

Another fiery ember lands on my calf as I run, and I groan sharply again. I am so close.

The radiant heat behind me makes feel like I am being burned despite not being in contact with the direct flames anyway. If I stop for two seconds, the fire will eventually engulf me. I cannot stop now. My life depends on it.

A few more metres. The wall is right there...

And I make it past. I do not slow down, but then I immediately stop myself with a yelp. Have I set one of my traps here? I scan the ground ahead. No, I keep going north, not waiting to see the fire die down to escape the smoke.

I then hear a cannon. Another one of us has just died, most probably due to the raging fire happening right now. Is it Ryno? I really, really hope not.

I don't have time to worry as I head up the slope on the eastern side. I see only around six buildings that remain. I don't take the chances to reside in them. I run all the way north to the East Walls. That has been a solid forty minutes of straight running. All aqueducts I passed are poisoned now, even the one running through this area. I find a wall near the corner and I temporarily lose my vision, almost blacking out from all the energy I have just used up. All the water I'd lost from my sweat, which I am drenched with. From low sleep and barely any sustenance, I am drained. And with all the smoke I inhaled, I am coughing hard to the point where my throat hurts like the late stage of a bad cold. Fortunately, the air is the freshest here, but the heat does not help. I have a huge headache, and my eyes feel so dry and irritated. I feel like it will take all my might to stand up, and if I do, I might collapse. I had just escaped death, and now I have to recover.

I use the jacket to block out some of the sun rays. The stick helps keep the jacket up over me. I look in my pack to help me. Anything.

Water. I feel like my throat is covered with a layer of soot, so I use the first gulp to gargle and cleanse my mouth, but it does not stop the coughing and irritation. I drink as much as I can until the canteen is a bit more than half left.

Food. I need to reenergise. At the same time, I need to soothe my throat. I dissolve bits of crackers in my mouth until it is smooth, and slides down my throat without any pain. I feel slightly better.

And there are still the burns from the embers. I cannot examine the one on the back of my neck, and I have to turn my head to its capacity to see the one near the back of my shoulder. The worst burn is the one that hit my lower calf on my right leg. I turn my leg and see that it has burned a hole in my trousers a size of a walnut, showing my skin so red and tender.

I groan looking at it. I hate burns. I would rather be cut. For work back at home, we are trained to treat burns in case of an accident with the explosives. I remember for minor ones, which I think I have, cold water is the way to go. But the water I have isn't cold. But it is water, and I hope it helps anyway. Then I remember I have burn ointment. Does it matter if I put water on it before I apply the ointment? I think about the supplies that I have. I do not have much water that could last me another four days, at most. And every source of water seems to be gone now. So I need to keep as much water I have left. I skip the bottles and take out the burn ointment, a very tiny pot with a volume less than the volume of my thumb. I scoop out a small coat of the colloidal substance and gently apply it on the wound on my calf.

The pain decreases almost immediately. The burn ointment I found at the cornucopia might have been the most rare and expensive item if it causes a soothing effect of this degree. It might be one of only two in the arena. I remember burn ointment in the sponsor gifts of past Games, which looks like they cost a fortune, but are larger in size. I only have a bit, but the effect is still tremendous. It must have been created in the Capitol labs, or even in the Research part of District 3.

I stupidly forget to remove any fabric near the site of the burn, so I use a knife to remove my pant leg up to above the wound. But some of the material at the edge of the wound is stuck on my skin, and it pains me to remove it slowly, taking some skin as well. I take off my shirt as well, and fortunately the burn on my shoulder isn't as severe, and the ripping of the fabric off the wound is not as painful.

I apply a bit more to the calf wound, and then some to my shoulder and my neck, and I almost moan in relief. Denary told me moaning like I did is inappropriate, and I do not understand why. Anyway, I stay and rest, coughing a bit less now. It is all about conserving and outlasting now, until the gamemakers pull out another trick which I doubt they will do, since their fire has already directly or indirectly caused a death. I really wonder who it is, but I have been so alone for the last twelve hours that I have no idea. It is unlikely to be Jade who escaped up north. She must be surprised with the two extra cannons other than the ones corresponding to her allies. It is unlikely to be Ringo either. Why would he stay in the garden after betraying all of us? Is it Dominic who was in the Garden the last time I saw him? Or is it Elaine or Ryno? Between the three of them, I would still be disappointed. More so if it is Ryno. It's crazy to think about this in an endgame, but I want Ryno and I to be good with each other before one of us die. I just feel like we should.

But it is the endgame right now. I have made the final five. Five seems a much more significant number than six or seven. Top five tributes. A one-in-five chance of winning the Games. I am closer to it than ever before. l just have to outlast now.

A few hours of waiting later, my stomach growls dramatically. I take a look at my provisions again to figure out what I need to eat. The crackers? They can last a while. The berries? Probably. The poor little squirrel who is barely hanging on to life right now? I will need to eat the animal before it dies.

But other than the stick that I plan to use to create a torch, I have no other material to keep a fire going. No wood. No tinder or kindling. It dawns on me that I will have to skip the squirrel altogether, or eat it raw. Oh, I'm going to have to eat it raw, aren't I? Oh no... Wait, I have to remember to put on a brave face. Keep my head up as I bite into this animal- No, how will raw meat feel? I remember at home. It looks absolutely unhealthy to eat.

I look at the squirrel who has become really still and silent, but still breathing. It seems clean and healthy enough. It should not be that bad, I guess.

But the problem is killing the poor thing. I remember with Ryno at our snare. I can't even kill a rabbit! Okay, think about it Henry. This squirrel is about to die anyway. The rabbit was not. What you're about to do is just putting it out of its misery. And it's had a good life because it's providing you with food! That sounds selfish.

I pull out my knife, hold the squirrel against the grass, and put the knife against it's neck. Okay, I just have to look away and bring the knife down, but looking bravely. I don't know where the nearest camera is, but I smile.

"Okay, killing a squirrel." I announce. "One... Two... Three!"

I bring the knife down. The squirrel didn't make a sound. Still not looking, I take the head and throw it as far as I can. I cannot stand seeing a decapitated head, of all things from a corpse. I know the head has meat, but I have never been comfortable with eating the meat from the head of an animal, so it's not much of a loss. It's the body that counts. I turn to it. The bloody knife. The headless squirrel.

"Noo, aaah!" I yelp. But I immediately turn back and smile wide. "...aaah, nice!" I transition. "Yum. Blood."

I cut off the tail since it is mostly bone and fur anyway, and I toss it in the direction of the head. Now, it looks less like a squirrel and more manageable. Now I decide the way to cut it to get into the meat. Getting rid of the fur and the skin seems like more of a problem, so I roll the squirrel on its back and cut open the creature along its belly to open it up.

Blood seeps out, but I'm a lot more used to it now. I remove its thin ribs and the organs which I don't think I'm going to eat, leaving me with the raw meat inside and the skeleton.

I will have to eat the whole thing all at once so it doesn't get infested with bacteria or parasites. I bring it up to my face. Oh no. The stench. Come on, Henry. The longer it is out, the more chance you will be infected. Just eat it.

"Cheers." I say to whatever camera is around, and I put the corpse against my face and scrape off a chunk of meat with my teeth. It actually doesn't taste that bad. It is still bad and needs seasoning, but it is not as putrid as the texture. I hate the texture. I try to gulp it down so I don't have to chew it as much, but it immediately comes back up with the bitter taste of vomit. Oh no. I swallow it back with a small shiver and a gag.

"Tastes good." I tell the audience. "You should try it."

My face should look bloody with squirrel to them. I don't know if they will try it with my face like this.

I continue eating the meat, and it is quite a lot. I cannot store it, though, so it becomes the biggest meal I have eaten since before the Games started. It takes me about an hour to finish the whole thing, including opening up the legs from the meat. I wash my mouth down with water, trying very hard to keep it all down. I hope I do not get a serious side effect from this squirrel.

I belch fumes of the squirrel up. Oh, that is not good. I spend the next few hours waiting, keeping the squirrel down, and counting the grass. I also make the small hole in my shirt bigger.

Before it gets dark, I reapply a small coat of burn ointment to all three burns, and I am running out of it. Luckily, the wounds appear to be healing. I bandage the one on my calf with a gauze from the first aid kit, and I bandage the one on my neck with my pant leg, which I hope looks stylish, although it feels a lot hotter. The one on my shoulder is minor enough to be exposed and too large for a band-aid.

But when twilight comes, my thoughts become dark too. Abel, Guano, Radia, Pyra, Magnus, Resa, Quentin, Imogen. Their deaths return to plague my mind. It's worse. A lot worse. I feel like it is all my fault they are dead. I should not be alive right now. I should be with them, in the afterlife or wherever they are. Quentin and Dominic seem to scream into my ear. It does not work when I block my ears.

Then the anthem drowns them out. Someone died this morning. Who is it? Ryno?

It is not Ryno that appears. It is Elaine. The young girl from District 6 is gone. I still get a sinking feeling in my chest. Elaine was so young. How did she get killed by that fire? If anybody could have outran the flames, it was her. But now she is dead, probably died painfully. She was so enthusiastic, not because she wanted to kill in the Games, but because she was most pure from grief and suffering. None of her parents have died, and so the strictness of the Capitol would not have affected her as much as somebody like Ryno or Ringo. Still, she and her family deserved to continue to feel that way, not with a lot of pain, but her death precludes that from happening. Her family must be in tears. I almost am as well.

Oh, what is my family feeling? I haven't thought of them deeply in a while. Not since I was last alone. I haven't... My eyes flood with tears. Why haven't I thought of them? I should have. I hate that I'm here, so why isn't my family that I think of? My mother must be really suffering and panicking with me still being out for four days. I really hope she has slept well, though I really doubt it. I know Denary has hope for me, but she must be living hard to support mom, support Algo, and support herself. I just wish to be there right now. I wish for none of this to have happened. I want to be back to hug my mother, talk with my sister, and take care of my vulnerable little brother. I am close to doing that. Twelve days in and a few more. It is the final five. But I know I am still so far. Jade, Ringo, Dominic, and Ryno are in my way, and it may still take days to push them away.

I cry for my family, and for all the tributes who've died. The guilt of forgetting my family, and surviving the tributes is immense. The guilt of forgetting Beetee and Jovan, too. I know they are rooting for me as much. I have giving them so much hope right now, so much hope than previous years. Nothing but surviving is an option for me. I need to impress them. I need to be back to my family. I need to survive the cruelty of these Games.

Again, I struggle to sleep. The thoughts are too invasive. The temperature is too cold with just a shirt and jacket. The anxiety of having no vision in the night is high. The worry of somebody finding me with their night-vision goggles is even higher. I need to fall asleep, so I don't lose all my energy. It feels more important to sleep than to have food at the moment. I might end up looking practically dead without it.

I repeat another night of interrupted light sleep. It is not fun at all. The next day becomes a slog. I only drink a few gulps of water every few hours. I reapply some ointment to my neck and my shoulder, but not on my calf because I cannot be bothered rewrapping the bandage there. I do not eat until I get too hungry, which is late, around mid-afternoon. The squirrel had satisfied my hunger for a while. I snack on a few more berries, leaving around five left.

Nothing happens much today, Day Thirteen. Nothing but sitting and waiting for the sun to move around the sky. Nothing but play with the berries in the grass, pretending they're people. I put a berry north-east, which is me, a berry in a fake palace, because somebody has to be there, and the other three wherever. It appears that the gamemakers are satisfied with the events that transpired within the past few days. Today might be a day of rest for them. I dread what will happen tomorrow.

Sitting all day has got me bloated by sunset. I haven't been to the bathroom since… how long? I don't remember. But it seems like it'll stay that way. By the end of the day, I am terrified to find my canteen empty, and only my skin half full of water. This is a real danger. Hot days and all aqueducts poisoned... The Games might end really soon. I might die a slow death of thirst... I have three days to live without it? So day fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. The end of day sixteen I might be dead or dying. It's scary. This nervousness helps contain my hunger, but water is the real problem.

The anthem plays. Everybody has made it through the day. Still five of us left. I go to lie down, hoping to get a better sleep than the last couple of days. I really need some sleep. Our body apparently works like a clock with sleep and I'm pretty sure it's been ruined. But I'm trying to maintain it by not sleeping in the day. I close my eyes. Please, I need the energy. I cannot waste any more of my water reserves tossing and turning around a lot.

The thoughts from yesterday night return. No... I can't sleep with that in my head. I imagine my mother right in front of me, and my sister a bed width away. My brother in his cot at my feet. I'm feeling much more at home. It is a winter's night. I drift off into unconsciousness.

My dreams are more vivid this night and unfortunately, they are verging on nightmares.

There is that usual crazy thing dreams do, morph two different places or people into one. I first see the Coalition in my actual home in District 3, sitting at our dining table, just talking. Then Imogen's side is suddenly slashed and falls to the ground.

Dominic catches her, then the dream switches to the start of the Games, the countdown, except it takes place at the Forum and not in the arena. People watch on from the side streets. My view switches like the cameras in the broadcasts. When the countdown hits zero, everybody disappears or dies. I relive Abel's death of his head against the pavement, Guano and Radia with the arrows. I realise the people who disappear are the tributes whose deaths I did not witness.

Ryno is one of the only tributes who remain, and walks towards me, from my perspective. The setting shifts from the Forum to the Stockyard. Ryno begins to physically touch me, and I'm reminded of the incident with Tiberius. Except I don't repulse at Ryno's advances, but I reciprocate.

The setting again morphs into the building Ryno and I had stayed in for a significant part of the Games, where I had first met him. There, he gets lost in the field of my family who joins us. My mother, Denary, Algo, and even my father. Radia then appears with her father. She and my father then walk away as I try to reach for them, but they disappear. I turn back to see everybody remaining facing me, and crying. Even my sister, who I am sure does not weep as much. Their faces of fear and sorrow scare me greatly. The building then explodes, with us not moving a muscle.


/yamr2ubz

Next: 36 - The Affliction; The Flames Division Three (12.3)