Chapter 33:
Day Three
Cimmerian Hart, 14, District 10
Cimmer can tell that Shams is trying to give him a little bit of space since Ardent joined their group, but he just doesn't know if he wants it or not. The career had been true to his word, even staying up the whole night to keep watch for them – if only Cimmer trusted him enough to actually sleep until his eyes just couldn't possibly stay open any longer. And when he woke, Ardent was still sitting there, offering him some water with a small smile. Cimmer is used to seeing the best in people and he wants to believe Ardent…but he still killed Inutil… Someone completely harmless who had been forced into this. What kind of person does that? Cimmer would have thought that person would be a cruel man, but Ardent just seemed…broken. Manipulated into this life.
"I think I'm going to look around for some wood," Shams says, getting up and stretching her arms above her head as the sun starts to shine in through the broken window. Cimmer gives her a panicked look at the thought of her leaving him with Ardent, but she seems to just ignore him as she grabs her knife. "See if we can cook something."
"Might have better luck finding coal here," Ardent replies, the corners of his lips turning up in a small smile at his joke before getting serious once more. "Don't go too far and stay quiet."
"I will," Shams reassures him before ducking under the broken doorway and out into the burned remains of Twelve.
Cimmer hugs himself as he watches her leave, unsure what to do now that he is alone with Ardent. He'd been avoiding talking to him, yet Shams more or less just pushed this on him. "I'm gonna go piss," he tells him quietly, getting up before he can really say anything about it and slips out after Shams. Once outside, he takes a deep breath, before starting to cough a little from the coal dust still lingering the air. How people used to live like this…he can't imagine being somewhere without fresh air like home.
He doesn't actually have to piss with how little water he's had the last two days, so he just goes around the side of the broken building they camped in overnight and sits down on a good piece of rubble. It wobbles a little bit and he throws out his arms until it settles, before sighing and rubbing at his face. He wants to believe Ardent, but he's just afraid of getting burned by always believing the best in people. And how could he ever possibly forgive the person who murdered his ally?
He isn't sure how long he just sits out there on the rubble, staring out into the destroyed District. Not even any birds call out in the morning sun, and it's just so wrong. Everything about this arena is wrong. The war-destroyed Districts, the people he's with, the fact that people who don't deserve it have to die.
The tears start before he can stop them and he quickly wipes at his eyes, trying to stop them before he wastes what precious water he has left in his body. But it's so hard to stop them now, when he's facing the reality of his decision to be here. How did he ever think he could win this and save his family's farm? When there's tributes like Ardent out there, just waiting to find him and kill him? He doesn't even like hurting the animals on his farm, let alone a human being…
"Cimmer?" Ardent calls out as he steps outside the building, and Cimmer picks up his head at the surprising worry in his voice. When Ardent starts quickly moving around the building and sees him sitting there, he lets out a loud sigh of relief and jogs over to him, crouching by his side. "You were gone way too long for a piss and made me worried, especially with Shams out there."
"I could have been taking a shit, you know," Cimmer replies, letting out a small laugh as he wipes at his eyes one more time. "And there was no cannon."
"There's no cannons when you get hurt," Ardent points out with a sigh as he sits on the ground besides him. He picks up a few stones and starts tossing them in front of them, watching them in silence for a minute. "I was worried."
"Worried? About me?" Cimmer asks, wanting to believe him, but just struggling. Ardent is a career, he shouldn't be concerned with someone like him – no, he should have killed him by now. "Why are you really with us? It just doesn't make sense."
Ardent frowns as he turns to look at Cimmer. "I told you why," he starts quietly and just shrugs a little as he turns away, going back to absentmindedly throwing the small bits of stone. "To make up for my mistakes and to help you find Rhiannon and Ciana."
"But why do you care about us?" Cimmer asks right away, his voice raising a little bit as he balls his hands into fists on his lap. "You're a career! And we're not! You're supposed to be killing us, not helping us."
A dark look passes over Ardent's face at that before he lowers his head, stopping his throwing to fidget with the stones on his lap. "You're right," he finally says and Cimmer shifts away from him in a little bit of fear at that. Ardent notices the movement and a pained look crosses his face before he sighs and keeps going. "It's what I'm supposed to be doing. What they train you to do for years and years and years, train you to be a killer while making it seem fun and like just one big game. And then when something does happen when you act on the instincts that they instilled in you, you're the bad guy and get punished and they just keep doing what they've been doing. Keep training more and more little kids to fight and kill on first instinct. So I can't blame you for thinking that about me when I have acted exactly how they trained me, and fear it happening again. But the fear of something happening to someone I care about because I wasn't there outweighs that fear of what I might do to her myself."
Cimmer can just stare at Ardent in shock, unsure what to even say about it. But Ardent just takes his silence as a reason to keep going. "It's so fucked up in One but hardly anyone sees it. Only the people who have been hurt by the training system see it. People like me, and Anastacia, and even Bez, and so many more. And being here and realizing I've continued to play into their training has just made me feel so sick and disgusted in myself. So that's why I'm here. Because I don't want to be another mindless pawn in the career system who kills without a second thought."
"I didn't know it was like that," Cimmer finally says quietly, frowning at the broken man next to him and feeling bad that he didn't believe him. Maybe he really should have just tried to see the best in him…but maybe it isn't too late to give him a second chance. "I just saw you as another career, just like the ones we see year after year killing our tributes. I shouldn't have assumed that in you, but can you blame me?"
"No, I can't, because I was that career," Ardent says, giving him a sad look as he wraps his arms around his waist to hug himself. "I really am sorry for killing Inutil…and I hope you believe me. I don't want to kill anyone innocent, I don't even want to kill anyone again…"
"But we're in the Hunger Games without much choice," Cimmer fills in for him and Ardent tenses for a moment, before nodding his head. Cimmer slowly slides off his stone to sit on the ground next to Ardent, finding himself believing him. After all…he had so many opportunities already to prove him wrong, but didn't. "Let's hope we don't have to make that choice soon, because I'm not ready for it."
"Neither am I," Ardent says quietly before they fall into a comfortable silence, sitting next to each other in understanding. While Cimmer still is hurt by what Ardent did…he believes him now.
It's how Shams finds them when she returns, managing to have found a couple small pieces of wood. She smiles at them as she holds it up for them to see. "It's not much, but it should help cook some eggs."
"That's great, thank you Shams," Ardent replies to her with a smile that has Shams putting her head down with a bashful smile. He turns to Cimmer before standing up, brushing off his pants before offering a hand to help him up from the ground. "What do you say we cook breakfast and continue searching for the girls?"
Cimmer stares at Ardent's offered hand for a few seconds, knowing there is more meaning there than just offering to help him up. But…he finally takes his hand, accepting his help. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Lobo Mirazul, 15, District 9
The constant hunger and lack of sleep has made Lobo an irritated mess, stomping through the woods and squeezing and opening his hands at his fists. It's been so easy to slip back into the angry mess of a boy he was back home, thanks to his father's cruel words and harsh punishments. In the quiet of the arena, he can just hear him in his head, feel the burn of his fist on his cheeks. It's enough to make him see red.
But one look at Karter and he finds himself relaxing once more, a hint of a smile even trying to form on his lips. He doesn't want to be that boy his father made him become. Even if the reality is with each passing day, he's closer and closer to having to be that boy. It's only a matter of time until they find another tribute and the Gamemakers won't give them a second chance to prove they will kill.
And deep down…Lobo is terrified of what he might do.
"Can we take a rest?" Karter asks quietly, leaning up against a tree as Lobo looks over at him, concern immediately in his eyes for him. Is he looking a little paler today? The bags under his eyes definitely weren't there yesterday. Karter notices his worried staring and waves a hand at him, forcing an easy smile that Lobo doesn't fall for. "Oh stop that, I'm fine. Just feeling a little hungry, that's all."
"Then we can stop and eat," Lobo tells him right away, taking off his backpack and crouching down to go through it, frowning a little bit at the small amounts they have. This really is not good… He can go without a meal or two – wouldn't be the first time, his father had done that to him many times. But Karter…he needs to keep eating or he's never going to get better. And yet…part of him keeps wondering if this is a worthless cause. How much longer can he keep pretending they aren't in the Games and both of them aren't getting out of there alive?
As long as he needs to, if it keeps him from going back to that awful place he was in before the Games.
When he looks back up with food in his hands, Karter has slowly lowered himself to the ground, breathing heavy as he leans against the tree. "I don't want to eat all of our food," he tells him, trying to weakly push his hand away from him. But when Lobo holds the water bottle to his lips, he doesn't fight taking a few sips of water. When he's done, he shuts his eyes and leans his head back, lightly hitting it a couple times. "Why do I have to have a reason to want to live now?!" he says quietly before turning his face from Lobo, a look of disappointment on his face.
Lobo sighs at that and frowns, not knowing what more he can do for Karter. He doesn't know how to take care of someone and doesn't even have any past experience to go on. "I don't know," he tells him softly as he pushes Karter's hair back from his face, getting stuck on some tangles that he tries to brush out with his fingers. "I don't know why I had to find someone who makes me a better version of myself now, but here we are."
Karter laughs a little bit at that and Lobo cracks a small grin. "Some pair we are right now," he tells him, amusement lighting up his eyes a little bit. He reaches for the packet of food and Lobo lets out a breath of relief when he starts eating it. "Just a couple bites, that's all. Then we keep moving. We have to keep moving, or else…"
"Or else they get mad at us," Lobo finishes for him with a sigh. He looks around them, picking up his knife nervously. Maybe they should have just fought the two girls. Lobo knows he could have taken them. But some of the others they might run into? Well, he could probably fight them, but not when he has Karter to watch out for. "We'll move when you're ready."
"So never?" Karter asks before laughing until he winces and grabs his shoulder, a look of pain on his face. "Yeah, we gotta get moving," he tells him and hands him back the barely touched food, before trying to push himself to his feet on his own.
"Hey, I could have helped you," Lobo says right away, grabbing Karter's arm to steady him once he's already standing.
"You can't help me forever," Karter says, his breathing a little faster as he leans on Lobo for a few seconds. But he clears the look of pain off of his face and lets go of Lobo, taking a few steps on his own, but Lobo can see how he's much he's hiding. After all, he hid his real emotions for years, he knows what it looks like. "Well come on, lets see what we can find."
"Hopefully some food," Lobo says quietly as he follows after him, looking around nervously as he grips his knife tightly in his hand. He just doesn't trust the Gamemakers now after that comment from Karter. Fuck, he should have just attacked the girls like they wanted them to. Now who knows who or what they're going to send after them! "It wouldn't hurt to find some water either, or-"
Karter screams when Vulcan jumps out from behind a tree, swinging their axe at them. Lobo tries to pull Karter back in time, but the boy seems to turn his body to block Lobo when he sees the career there – and putting himself right in line with their axe. "No!" Lobo screams as he lets go of Karter, lunging towards Vulcan with a cry as they step back, staring at the blood on their axe in shock. Vulcan dodges Lobo's knife as he swings wildly at them a few times, anger flooding him that they would do this to Karter. "Fight me, bastard!"
Vulcan uses the blunt end of their axe to knock Lobo's knife out of his hands, but he just raises his fists, ready to take down this person that thought they could come here and hurt Lobo's person. "Fuck," Vulcan says under their breath, glancing between Lobo and Karter, and a look Lobo can't read passes their face before they turn and run out of there.
"COWARD!" Lobo yells after them, starting to follow after them in his rage. But Karter cries out at him leaving him and he quickly turns back. All the rage leaves him so quickly seeing him on the ground, bloody hand on his side, and he rushes back, dropping to his knees beside him. "Fuck, it's okay, we'll get you through this."
"Better me than you," Karter tells him, trying to knock Lobo's hand away from the wound.
"Don't even say that. HELP!" Lobo screams out around them, so desperate for someone, anyone, to find them and help him with Karter. He's so distraught at the sight of him bleeding like this that he doesn't even think about how the only ones around them are tributes. He just needs to keep Karter alive. He focuses back on Karter, pressing his hands to his stomach, feeling the warm wet blood on his hands, and his eyes blur with stupid tears as he shakes his head at him. "Why the fuck would you do this? Why would you do that for me?!"
"Because I would rather see you survive these Games," Karter tells him, giving him a weak grin before his face contorts in pain. "Fuck, this hurts way more than it looks on TV."
"You're not allowed to give up on me," Lobo tells him, letting go of his wound to start frantically searching their bags. He pulls out the med kit with shaky hands, wincing when he sees the blood smeared on it. "Okay?" He grabs Karter's chin, making him look at him to get his point across. "You hear me? No quitting now!"
"I kind of like you bossy," Karter replies with a small chuckle which just makes Lobo groan in frustration. He lets go of him to search in the kit, haphazardly putting bandages on the wound before putting pressure on it once more. "If you knew what was good for you, you'd leave me to die."
"Well I've never been the smartest," Lobo tells him with an emotionless laugh and shakes his head. "So I am sticking with you until the end."
Just…please let that end be a while from now.
"Hmm," Karter says, not looking like he fully agreed with that, but he stayed quiet for now. "We'll see about – what was that?!"
Lobo also heard that and looks around frantically, and when another howl starts – followed by a few other – he grabs Karter in fear. He starts pulling him up to his feet, putting Karter's arm around his shoulder and his own around his waist to support him. "We gotta go."
Because it is starting to look like an injury from Vulcan is going to be the last of their concerns right now.
Ciana Devereux, 18, District 5
"Come on, just a little bit further," Ciana tells Rhiannon, dragging her by the arm, but at this point, she doesn't know if she's telling Rhiannon or herself to keep going. She's just so exhausted after two full days in this arena with barely any sleep and trying to keep Rhiannon going. She's starting to question why she's still trying to keep the girl going, her brain fighting with the knowledge that only one of them can get out of here alive and knowing if she leaves, Rhiannon will die.
And she just can't have that death on her hands. She knows she'll face death eventually – and it won't be the first time for either of them to witness it. But she just doesn't want to be the cause of Rhiannon's death by abandoning her for the mutts to find her tonight.
"I can't," Rhiannon says, stumbling over the coal-covered rocks as Ciana tries to keep her upright, but she pulls her down to the ground this time. It was almost indistinguishable at first, the boundary between Two and Twelve with the broken rubble. But as they got farther along, things became more and more covered in coal. And now, Rhiannon is getting covered in coal on the ground as she starts weeping, but no more tears fall down her cheeks, all cried out at this point. "Just let me die!"
"I'm not going to do that," Ciana tells her, grabbing her chin and making her look up at her. She lets go right away when she sees how Rhiannon flinches at her, and sighs as she rubs her face. "I'm not being the cause of another friend dying, okay? So we are going to keep on moving through this arena until we find Shams." From there…she didn't know what their plan would be. And honestly, it's getting harder and harder to believe that they would find her. This arena is huge and it's taken them this long just to get this far. Who was to say Shams was even in the same place or heading in the same direction as them? The only reason she is still holding onto hope that they will find her is knowing her face hasn't been up in the sky yet. But…so few faces have been up in the sky so far… And each day that passes puts her further on edge that they aren't doing enough for the Gamemakers. "Come on, we need to keep moving. They won't like it if we stop moving."
"I don't want to keep moving," Rhiannon says, pulling up her legs to her chest and hugging them as she stared out into the surrounding rubble. Ciana just quietly put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it, running out of things to say to keep her fighting. At what point does she stop fighting for her when Rhiannon isn't fighting herself? "I'm not going to win and you're just slowing yourself down with me. Leave me already."
"I can't," Ciana sighs, wondering if she should…but no, she can't give up on her or Shams yet. Both of the girls helped her find her voice in the Capitol. How can she give up on them? She reaches into her bag and pulls out their bottle of water, shaking it and making the last few sips splash around. She takes the tiniest sip for herself before offering it to her. "Here, finish it. You'll feel better."
"Nothing has made me feel better," Rhiannon says, taking the bottle from him and staring at it for a few seconds, making Ciana think she isn't going to listen, before bringing it up to her lips with a shaking hand. "Except him," she whispers between sips, so quiet that Ciana barely hears her.
Ciana gives her a pained look at that, having been right in her shoes before and feeling like a man was going to save her from the worst life had to offer her, take away all the awful thoughts about herself. But he didn't, he killed her best friend. She isn't exactly keen to believe that Ardent will be any different than Lucian. Maybe he's even worse, since he decided to stick with the careers… So she just ignores that, pretending she didn't hear as she squints up at the sky beating down on them. "It's about lunch time, might as well eat while we're sitting here."
"I'm not hungry," Rhiannon tries to protest and gives Ciana's hand a small push as she offers her some nuts, but only a couple seconds pass before she takes them, eating them one by one and slowly chewing them. Ciana starts eating her own – only allowing herself just a couple to try to stretch it out, but she is quickly getting worried about their food and water supply. "What mutts will chase us tonight here? There's no victors from Twelve."
"I…think this was the Capitol launch spot," Ciana answers with a sigh. "Which means more careers to face. We have to get moving to Ten before nightfall." She isn't sure Rhiannon would survive another night running from career mutts…they might just be worse than the actual careers, but she doesn't want to face them either.
"You should get to Ten," Rhiannon tells her, shaking her head as she eats her last nut, chewing on it for a long time. "I don't want to keep going."
"Well I won't let you," Ciana sighs and stands up, reaching down to pull Rhiannon up by her arm. She looks around the surrounding area, trying to figure out which way they want to go next, before quickly ducking back down and pulling Rhiannon behind a broken wall. She covers her mouth with her hand, stopping the cry of surprise she made at the sudden noise and holds her tight. "I saw three people," she whispers, staying still for a few seconds. Fuck, this is not good. The only alliance that big is…careers.
"They're gonna kill us," Rhiannon whimpers under Ciana's hand and she can see the girl's eyes starting to water with tears of fear.
"Shh, they're not going to find us," Ciana reassures her, waiting a few seconds to make sure she will stay quiet, before slowly peeking her head around the wall to look at the tributes to confirm just which careers they are dealing with. With any luck, it will be the fakers, but…she doesn't want to find Ardent with them. If he is…she doubts Rhiannon will run. But as she squints into the distance, she has to rub her eyes before staring in disbelief. "It can't be," she mutters, not believing it. This has to be a Gamemaker trick. Surely they won't actually let them find Shams. But…why is Ardent with her?
No, this has to be a trick.
"W-who is it?" Rhiannon whispers with a whimper of fear, and before Ciana can stop her, she looks around the wall. When she sees who it is, she gasps and stands up, waving to them and shouting. "Shams! It's us!"
"Stop yelling!" Ciana says, quickly pulling her back down and slapping her hand over her mouth again. It has to be a trick, it has to be. If they can make mutts of the dead tributes, who's to say they won't of the alive tributes to make them fall for a trap?
"Rhiannon?" a voice calls out to them and Rhiannon gets a hopeful look in her eyes at the recognition of Shams's voice. But Ciana still stays put, looking around for jabberjays. How easily it would have been for them to have recorded her saying that in the Capitol.
But it's the second voice calling out Rhiannon's name that has her cry out and jump to her feet, stumbling as she starts running towards them. "Over here!" she calls out to them as Ciana scrambles to her feet, running after her and cursing under her breath as she trips over stones, barely staying on her feet.
"Stop!" Ciana calls after her, afraid to hope for this to really be them. Because why would Ardent be with Shams and Cimmer?!
But the three have started moving towards Rhiannon, who is moving with more urgency than Ciana has yet to see in the arena. Ardent pushes ahead of the other two, making Ciana run faster as she takes out her knife, looking around with fear for the trap. "We found you!" Ardent yells at her, slowing just before reaching her and hugging her tightly.
Ciana slows her running to a stop at that, but keeps her hand on her knife as the other two approach from the other side of the hugging pair. Rhiannon is crying loudly at this point as she desperately clings to him, the cuts on her hands opening up again and bleeding through the makeshift bandages onto his shirt from how tightly she clings to him. "Is it really you?" she asks them with a weary look, but she can feel the hope sneaking in.
"It really is us," Shams says, holding a hand to her chest as she looks at Ciana with hopeful eyes. She takes a couple steps towards Ciana, who finally lowers her knife, but stays on edge. "I didn't think we'd find you."
"Neither did I," Ciana says as Shams steps forward until she hesitantly hugs her. Ciana slowly returns the hug, looking over at Cimmer who is smiling at the group reuniting, but it never reaches his eyes. "This still kind of feels like a trap."
"It's not," Ardent replies confidently and Ciana just wishes she felt as confident as him right now. He keeps an arm around Rhiannon, who hugs his waist, as they face the rest of them. "And now…we just became the largest alliance in the arena."
"Don't know if that's a good thing," Ciana says under her breath and she really wishes she could have had a few seconds to hope it wasn't all a trap.
Because the grounds starts shaking as there's loud roars in the distance, while the sky darkens, without even the blood red moon to light the sky.
"What's happening?" Rhiannon asks, clinging to Ardent as he takes out his sword, ready to protect them.
Ciana can just stare out at the rubble around them, feeling her stomach drop in fear as the ground starts opening up, with skeletal hands sticking out followed by the rest of the skeleton crawling out and staring at them with glowing red eyes.
"This is hell."
Chantelle Wicks, 18, District 2
Chantelle really thought that they would be back by now, and the longer it takes for them to return, the more she's filled with self-doubt for her plan. She needs this to work out. She needs the Capitol to see that she has the skills and strategy to win these Games.
She needs her father to see it.
But she just wishes that at this point she could just forget about his drunken words already. Yet so many years of hearing the same thing over and over again has left it deeply ingrained in her, the feeling of being useless and never going to be the best. But today is going to change that. The cornucopia is now hers, and once Bez and Juno return, she'll eliminate two major threats. How could anyone doubt her victory after that?
She's sure she could find a way to doubt herself.
She leans against the cool metal of the cornucopia, squinting out into the surrounding area, waiting for them to finally arrive. Shouldn't they have returned already? There weren't any cannons, so surely they're still alive. But why would they give up the cornucopia for this long?
She fights back a yawn and rubs at her eyes, the exhaustion of staying up all night getting to her. But she just slaps her cheeks a couple times, forcing herself to stay awake. She can sleep when she's out of this arena but until then, she just has to tough it out. Wouldn't be the first time she's gone a few sleepless nights. But it's getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open…
Chantelle jumps at the loud clang of an arrow hitting the cornucopia right next to her and turns away from it as it ricochets, grabbing her spear tightly and looking around for where it came from.
"You have some serious fucking nerve coming back here," Bez calls over to her as he gets another arrow on his bow, aiming it at Chantelle as the two walk towards her. "That's our cornucopia!"
Chantelle takes her time looking at the cornucopia, before turning her attention back to the two of them and shrugging casually, but her whole body is tense and ready to fight. "Oh really? I don't see your name on it. You left, so looks like it's mine now."
Bez lets out an angry noise at that and pulls his arrow back, aiming it at Chantelle who tenses, ready to duck and hoping his aim is still as bad as it was in training. "You can fuck right off if you think we're going to let you take this from us!" he yells, firing the arrow again as Chantelle ducks to avoid it. It clangs against the cornucopia behind her and Bez throws down his bow in frustration, balling his hands in fists as he starts stomping over to her. "Let's fucking go, you and me!"
"Bez," Juno says, tone warning him, but he just keeps coming over towards Chantelle and ignores them. They sigh loudly and shake their head at him, but an amused smile forms on their lips. "Just let me shoot an arrow through her head and be done with this."
"Stay out of this, she's mine," Bez replies as Chantelle rolls her neck, followed by her shoulders, getting ready to fight him.
"Oh, are we fighting bare fists?" Chantelle asks him, getting a cocky smile at that as she stabs her spear into the ground. She takes a few steps away from the cornucopia, putting her fists up in front of her and watching Bez closely – while always keeping track of where Juno is, knowing they're the real threat here. Bez might have trained for years, but he got sloppy since he left One. But Juno? Juno is a chosen volunteer, the best Four had to offer, just like Chantelle was the best Two had to offer. And now she is going to prove that. "I'll fight you after I kill him."
Bez lets out something between a laugh and scream at that as he lunges towards Chantelle, his moves completely predictable and easy to side step. Chantelle swings her fist into his side as she moves around him, before quickly jumping back out of reach as he takes a swipe at her. "You know, maybe you shouldn't have dropped out of training, it really shows."
"At least I didn't stay a mindless pawn like you!" Bez retorts with a crazed laugh as he points at her, the two of them slowly circling each other. "You're so fucking brainwashed, desperate to show them all that you're the strongest and best fighter, yet you're going to just die in the arena like all the other volunteers. And then next year, they'll teach the young hopefuls about Chantelle Wicks, and how to not be a failure like her, so they have the pitiful hope of surviving!"
"I am not a failure!" Chantelle screams at him, the comment striking a deep nerve in her. Everything he said is so right, and she hates that he was able to read her that easily. She lunges at him and grabs him by the waist, knocking both of them to the ground with a cry from Bez. They start punching and scratching at each other, all form abandoned for just raw fighting as they roll and try to get the upper hand on each other. Bez gets above Chantelle at one point and tries to pin her down, but a quick punch to the tit has him off of her, crying out in pain as he holds a hand to his chest.
Chantelle starts scrambling to get to her feet, only to scream in pain when Bez grabs her by the ponytail and yanks her back towards him. "Bitch!" he yells at her as he wraps his legs around her waist and arm around her throat, squeezing tightly.
Chantelle starts gasping for air and clawing at his arm, all while Juno watches on with a smug look. She throws her head back, both of them crying out when her head hits Bez's head, but it's enough to get him to loosen his grip just enough to push free. Chantelle scrambles away from him, getting in a crouch as she holds up her fists and breaths heavy. Maybe she underestimated Bez…which was dumb, and just one more thing tallying up to make her feel like a failure. But she can't lose this fight, she can't… She'd rather take her own life than know she lost to a washed-up career like Bez.
Failure simply isn't an option for her.
But before either of them can make another move, a loud explosion sends all three of them flying through the air with a blast of fire. Chantelle cries out as she lands hard on her shoulder, ears ringing loudly and vision going black. She can barely even think about what just happened, her head moving slowly and struggling to just get enough air in her lungs. It takes all of her energy to get up on her hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air as smoke surrounds them, the world spinning around her in darkness.
The fuck just happened?! She looks around slowly, groaning at her head spinning, and finds the cornucopia now in pieces around them, some of the supplies on fire around them. She tries to climb to her feet as she grabs her spinning head. She blinks a few times, trying to get the darkness to clear from her vision, until she realizes the arena itself is now dark. "What the fuck?!"
Juno is next on their feet, shaking their head as they rip out their hearing aid and toss it away from them. "Motherfucker," they curse at it and stomp it under their foot as they rub the ear it was in. "Feedback from the explosion," they explain as Bez gets to his feet and Chantelle gives them a weary look.
Bez's eyes are wild in panic as he gets an arrow on his bow and blood trickles out of his ear that was closest to the cornucopia. "Something's not right!" he cries out, spinning around as he aims his bow wildly at nothing and everything.
"No fucking shit something's not right!" Chantelle yells back at him, her ears still ringing from the explosion as she picks up a loose spear that landed not too far from her and holds it tightly in front of her. Whatever is happening…she has to get out of it alive.
Juno is the only one that seems to be calm as they stand there, arrow sitting loosely on their bow that they hold at their waist. Their eyes are narrowed as they scan the darkness around them, ignoring Bez as he digs through supplies for a flashlight. When he finds one and swings the beam of light out to the surrounding area, Chantelle really, really wishes he didn't.
"We should have known the rebels weren't going to let us play these Games out," Juno tells them, firing an arrow straight into the head of one of the zombie mutts coming towards them. But its head just flings back for a moment before it keeps walking towards them, not dropping to the ground like it's supposed to. And more are quickly approaching as well, surrounding them easily.
Chantelle yells as she stabs her spear at one that lunges towards her before kicking it to the ground. It grabs at her leg, tearing into it and making her scream in pain as she stabs it repeatedly in the head until it finally stops. She hobbles back towards the other two, forgetting all about the fight they were just having, and stands back to back with them. "Rebels?" she asks Juno, giving them side eye at them knowing this. "Why would they do this to us?"
"To send a message," Juno replies as they shoot a couple arrows in quick succession at a zombie approaching them. Chantelle glances at them, seeing the faint crease in their eyebrow at what's happening to them.
"This fucking sucks!" Bez exclaims as he takes one of his arrows and uses it to stab one of the zombies repeatedly with a scream until it collapses on the ground. But when another reaches out and scratches his arm, he cries out and holds it to his chest as he presses back into the other two. "Oh, we are so fucked!"
"For once, you and I agree on something," Chantelle tells him, holding her spear so damn tightly as she looks around, wondering just how she is going to get out of this situation alive. Because right now…
The odds are not in their favor.
Whoop, there it is! *evil laugh* been waiting to get to this point for a long time now, probably had it planned in some way since subs were open for this. And now it is Time. Time for what? Well, you'll find that out next chapter.
Next chapter will be up on May 15th because it's just Fitting to have that chapter go up on the two year anniversary of this story. Which is also just wild that it's already been two years. It's going to go up either really early in the morning or really late at night and it's just how it's gonna be because I'm going to be at a conference that day so it's the only time available for me to post.
I'll see you in a week!