Jason Baize (18) D8M
It took so much work.
I pushed. I shoved. I grunted with the force of my work. The lifeless husk of the man I had killed refused to budge, no matter how much work I put into moving it. It wasn't until I used the whole weight of my body, pushing against the side of the cave with my legs and the body with my hands, that I finally managed to move the corpse. It took several long seconds for me to fully clear the entrance to the cave, each second spent cringing from the knowledge of what I was touching. If I had left it alone, would the hovercraft have taken it? If I had left it alone, could I have saved the calories I just spent? Could I have saved myself the strife? I tried not to let myself dwell on those thoughts. They wouldn't help me at all.
It was far too long after the struggle began that I had the body fully removed from the cave. I heaved myself out of my nook, crying a few more tears while I mourned the loss of my home. I couldn't stay where a parachute had fallen and a canon had sounded. I couldn't stand the thought of finding a new place to stay, especially when the whole beach seemed tainted with death. The whole Arena was, really. The whole world around me was a wasteland I couldn't stand. But somehow the beach seemed much worst than the rest. I had to leave.
Little by little, ache by pain, I dragged myself to the shore. I was still on the beach, really, but not as much as I had been. Touching the shore, my feet bare inches from the water, I felt far, far away from the horrors before. If I just crawled into the water I could wash off the blood that was on my hands, the adrenaline of the day. Despite the relief I craved so much, I didn't touch the water. I knew enough about places like this to know exactly how cold it would be, cold enough to seep all my energy from my bones within minutes. I had to keep away from it.
Rather than bathing like I so desperately wanted to, I kept low, my back to the shore while I tried to work out some of my pains. My arms ached from how much work it took to strangle someone. My jaw had cramped from biting the strings. My legs were trembling from the force I had used to the fear I still felt. I took as long as I could to stretch my muscles, to massage the parts of myself that I could reach. I gave myself as long as I could to relax, knowing it was a luxury that wouldn't last long. I had to take all the time for myself I could steal during the Games.
Once I knew I had wasted all the time I possibly could, I stood up. As I stood I looked behind me, taking in the beautiful water one last time before I left. It ended up being the best decision of my life. Not too far into the water, just outside of my peripheral earlier but now directly in my vision, there was a building. I couldn't understand why it was there. It made absolutely no sense. A building, partially submerged, just lurking in the water. I could swim that far in a matter of minutes. It would be cold and I would be miserable but I knew I could do it. More than that, it struck me like lightning that I had to.
After a quick walk to the cave I had just left, my whole body on high alert while I approached dangerous territory, I had everything I needed. I went down to the water, shivering the whole way, and finished off what was left in the bottle. Then I blew into it, making sure the bottle was completely full of air. Just like that it went in my shirt. It wasn't much for a flotation device, but it was something extra. More than anything, it was reassurance.
Slowly, I made my way down the rocks. They were slippery, and each step brought the risk of falling, but I wanted to walk as far as possible into the water. It felt safer than swimming, like the second my feet were off the ground I was going to drown. The first wave that splashed me made me shiver. My feet were chilled the second they entered the water. Still, I persevered. I went lower and lower into the water, holding on however I could to whatever I could. I grabbed the rocks behind me. I sat down to slide along the rocks. I made it several feet past the shore and into the water until finally my feet landed on nothing.
My breath rushed out of my lungs as soon as my abdomen hit the water. Gasping and panting all over again, I forced myself to swim. It would be faster if I ducked underneath the water, but that would also get my head wet. I wasn't about to do that on purpose. Instead I slowly doggy-paddled, glad that it was pretty easy to swim. For the most part, my body carried me through the water. It didn't take much work at all for me to stay afloat, though it took a lot of energy to remind myself to keep breathing.
After far too long, I touched the building. At first I flinched away from it, confident that I was rubbing up against a sea creature. I prayed there were no dangerous mutts in the water but didn't want to assume anything. That was the first time I realized there could be mutts in the building, but I was too tired of swimming to turn back yet. Instead, I forced myself to stay near the building, finding a ledge I could stand on and then finding what appeared to have once been a window. Now empty, the opening in the building made a perfect entrance. Shivering and shaking, I went in.