Chapter 40- Shore Seawind
I jerk my head up when the cannon sounds. Another tribute down, and it's not because of us.
"So that's it. That makes twelve," Tiara says, pushing herself up to standing. "What's the plan, Shore? There's twelve of us left."
I can read between the lines; there are twelve of us total, and eight of them aren't in our alliance. Which means there are eight tributes to eliminate before our alliance breaks and I become the victor.
"Are we just going to sit here the whole Games, or are we actually going to do something?" Aggie snaps, stabbing the point of her knife into the sand like it's a tribute she's trying to kill.
"Been two days since we got a tribute," Dominicus puts in. I want to stay near the beach, but I'm going to have a mutiny on my hands if I don't act soon. Now.
"We're moving on," I say, standing up and brushing sand off my pants. "District 3's out there, so let's humor Aggie and go find them." Aggie smiles a crooked smile, like she's surprised to be getting her way.
"District 12's out of the way," Tiara says.
"Let's get a few more pairs and make a collection then," Dominicus says, making Aggie laugh.
"We'll find out tonight whose cannon it was just now," I say confidently. Leading in here is harder than I thought it would be, even though Mags prepared me. I'm leading three people to murder other tributes, while they themselves want to murder me too.
It's not quite right, but here we are.
"So, pack up, we're going."
"Ooh, listen to the big man talk," Aggie says mockingly. I'm trying to be the leader Da would want me to be, and she's not helping. She and Dominicus are a pair of eels that will slip away from me at any moment, and I swear my grip loosens on them every time she talks.
They're all watching me at home; my parents, my sisters, Thalassa, Hake, all the other fishermen I've worked alongside for years. Am I making them proud, or are they disappointed in me for killing the others? This is what is expected of me, this is why they volunteered me. I'm only doing what I'm supposed to do to get out of here. Alone.
The others have their supplies packed in a matter of minutes; I never really unpacked mine. "Ready to go?" I ask.
"It's about time we did something," Aggie says, slinging her pack onto her back, knife held loosely in her hand.
"I thought you'd enjoy the scenery," I tell her, gesturing to the beach and ocean. "A break before going back to hunting."
"The faster we get this done, the faster we can go home," she says. She knows that the alliance will break in eight tributes; we all do. She's just not going to say it yet.
"So, where're we going?" Tiara asks.
"Let's keep along this beach for now," I tell her. "We found the boy from 7 like that; I doubt there are a lot of tributes in the middle of the island."
"What if there are?" Aggie asks snappily.
"Then we'll go into the middle," I say simply. "Let's go."
Something isn't quite right today; something's off. Like we're being watched. I shake the feeling off; of course we're being watched; we're on camera, aren't we?
I smile for everyone at home; I'm doing fine and I want them to know that too. Don't worry about me. I'll make it home in one piece.
When I do make it home, I'm going to have to do some serious thinking, about all of this. About everything that's happened: Kelpie, the arena, the Capitol. It's too much to grasp right now, while I'm still here.
Is this what Mags meant about facing my own mortality? No, it's not; I'm still not going to die. I'm facing everyone else's mortality instead. I've thought way too much about Kelpie dying for it to be healthy in here. Your allies die, you move on. Somehow, I can't with her.
"Shore!"
I whirl around, my trident gripped tightly in my hand. The others are already in fighting positions, ready to welcome the tribute who's joined us on the beach. I recognize him from Training and the interviews; Reaper from District 9, who said he was going to kill us all. He was at the Cornucopia too, now that I think about it.
No time to think; time to act.
"Yah! Who do you think you are?" Aggie shouts at him.
Reaper doesn't visibly react to her taunt, but readjusts his hold on the sword in his hand. "You're missing a few of your company," he states, eyes flicking to look at each of the four of us.
"Casualties," Tiara says, shrugging.
"Just like you're going to be," Dominicus says in that nasally voice. I'm starting to realize I dislike him the most.
Reaper smirks. "No."
Without warning, he charges at us, sand spraying around his feet; sword held up, ready to strike. I move backwards, adjusting my trident so that I can attack back. You wanted a tribute, Aggie; here's your tribute.
Tiara swings her sword just as Reaper meets her; the two swords clang together with a shrill, screeching sound. Aggie throws her knife, and even though she never misses, Reaper dodges the blade, swiftly moving to the side so that the knife sticks in the sand instead.
It's almost funny to see how red Aggie's face gets.
While Tiara and Reaper tangle with their swords, I rush forward towards them. I'm just about to strike when Reaper pulls away from Tiara and jogs backwards down the beach a short ways. Dominicus throws one of his knives, but Reaper dodges that one too.
"Where the hell did he get trained?" Tiara asks, watching the District 9 boy get ready to attack again.
"Not just in the Capitol," I tell her, watching him. No, he's been training for a long time if he's this good, able to escape all four of us, who have been training for this moment for years.
"What's the plan, then?"
I size Reaper up, and figure out our best strengths and strategies for killing him. "Aggie, Dominicus, throw the knives you have left at the same time; he can't dodge both. Tiara, we'll go in and fight him close combat. Understood?"
For once in their lives, my allies don't question my command, my leadership. I was volunteered to this arena; I was chosen to fight and win. Now, with my allies following me without question, I am finally the true leader of this alliance.
"I want a cannon," Dominicus says in a low voice that directly combats his usual high one.
"We can arrange that, Dommie," Aggie says sweetly. "But first let's fire one for this boy, shall we?"
"Quit, both of you. Focus," I tell them. Aggie rolls her eyes, but stands her ground.
When Reaper charges again, we're all ready for him.
He dodges Aggie's dagger, letting it sail past him into the shell dotted sand; Dominicus's, on the other hand, sticks into Reaper's left arm. He screams, but he doesn't slow down.
"Tiara!" I yell, and somehow she understands me. She goes left, I go right, and we meet Reaper at the same time. Tiara goes for his knees while I stab upwards with my trident; Reaper catches in between the prongs of my trident with his sword blade, while kicking Tiara out of the way. She lets out a deep groan, rolling to the side away from his feet.
Reaper kicks me backwards too, but I don't go down like Tiara did. This boy, this boy is good. I'm just going to have to be better; we all will.
"Shore, duck!" Tiara shouts, still down on the sand. Automatically, I crouch; the knife whistles over my head and lodges in Reaper's side. I hear Aggie crow laugh over Reaper's scream of pain. She couldn't have warned me? I know she wants me dead too, because she wants to win, but right now?
Getting back to my feet, I face a weakening Reaper, who's staggering backwards with his sword loose in his grip. "Give it up, Reaper," I say, looking him straight in the eyes. Those eyes, full of hate and pain, will be glassy soon, like the eyes of the fish we catch in the nets.
Reaper breathes heavily, but laughs. "I'm not going down without taking one of you bastards with me."
Almost in the same movement, Reaper and I both strike; him slashing, me stabbing. Time slows down and speeds up all in the same moment, and when that moment is over, my trident is buried in Reaper's chest, and his sword is edged in blood.
The world is quiet, except for a horrific gurgling sound I don't want to face, not yet. So I look at Reaper while he stares down at the trident protruding from his chest. When he finally looks at me, he says, "I told you. Go to hell, 4."
Reaper from 9 falls backwards onto the beach as his cannon fires. After he falls I go over and pull the trident from his chest; it's mine, and he doesn't get to keep it, not even in death. I've killed him, and I don't feel a thing. Shouldn't I feel something now?
"Shore," Aggie says behind me, softly. I can tell she's morphed into her caring self again, and she only does that at tragedy. I don't want to see what's happened, but I'm the leader. I have to.
Aggie's sitting next to Tiara, where the sand meets the trees, while Dominicus looks on behind them, uncharacteristically solemn faced. I know now why Reaper's sword was edged with blood, and why there was gurgling behind me, and I wish I didn't. I wish that I could be with Thalassa now, away from all this. But I'm the leader, and I can't leave.
"Crap," I mutter, going to kneel next to Tiara. Her eyes are flitting wildly between Aggie, me, and the sky above us; I focus on them instead of the deep wound in her throat, slashed across so that her blood runs out into the sand. She makes a bubbling, rattling sound when she tries to take a breath, and it horrifies me.
Kelpie didn't die like this; she died easy, in water. I'm so glad that Kelpie didn't die like this.
"Hey, it's okay," Aggie says, and she's soft about it. While Tiara dies between us, it fascinates me that Aggie's lost her harshness, even just temporarily. I won't ever really know Agrippina, and I don't think anyone else ever will either. She holds her secrets, just as I hold mine.
"I'm sorry, Tiara. I really am," I tell the dying girl, taking the hand that Aggie isn't holding. "He's dead."
"Don't talk," Aggie whispers as Tiara tries to form words, which makes the blood bubble harder. There's no healing this, probably not even in the Capitol. "You can go. It's okay. Just go."
Tiara nods as best she can, tears running down her face. I just hold her hand; I have no idea what to say to her; to anyone dying. I liked her the best of my allies, and I'm sorry, really sorry to see her go.
She takes a few more rattling breaths before she stops moving, her eyes fixated on the sky above. Nobody says anything when her cannon fires; I watch her eyes grow glassy like fish eyes; death seeping in and taking hold. Tiara's gone, and we're down to three in the alliance.
And still, I feel nothing for the tributes who have died today.
"Let's go. Time to move on," Aggie says, dropping Tiara's hand and her caring persona at the same time. "They'll want to collect the bodies, and they won't do it while we're milling around."
"Get the knives first," Dominicus says.
"You do that then."
Dominicus rolls his eyes as he jogs down the beach, grabs the knives, then jogs back. "Here, your majesty," he says, handing two to Aggie and keeping the others for himself.
"Shore?" Aggie asks, looking to me. I shake my head, trying to clear it of the pictures from the last few minutes.
"We need water. Time to get a move on," I say briskly, starting off and leaving the dead behind us.
Three of my allies are dead; two remain, and they are the two I trust the least. But I'm going to do what Mags told me to do, and use them until they can't help me anymore.
It might not be right, but it's what I have to do to get out of here.