Arielle Ermin- District Four (18)
The smell hit me when my platform was still raising, and my heart fluttered. Salt. That gritty, cool salt in the air, washing over me and bringing me back home. I opened my mouth and breathed in. The air slid over my tongue and down my throat, filling my lungs and charging me. I was smiling when my platform breached the surface. I was in the Arena, and I was home.
I might have looked so frightful to the others. I didn't mean it the way they probably took it. I was smiling unselfconsciously, as easily as a kid walking into her house after a long day at school. The moves came easily. My posture was languid. Fluid, you might say. It was like slow motion, my arms and legs gliding as I effortlessly cut down the fleeing Tributes.
Alexa was fast enough to make it to the water. I leapt from the platform, arcing my back as I dove into the water. It flowed around me, welcoming me as I sank into it. I flipped my hair back as my head crested the water, and I swam after her. It was a pity how panicked and desperate she looked. Swimming should be natural, and peaceful. It's the closest feeling in the world to flying.
It was a glorious Bloodbath. Nine Tributes died by Career hands, and another four frowned. When I looked back at the platform, it didn't even matter that two of the murdered Tributes were Careers, since they were exactly the ones I wanted dead. As soon as I saw the Arena, I knew I didn't need allies. In hindsight, I should have helped Kazuo and Belisarius out. Without ever discussing it, they'd immediately fallen on Pray, the only one none of us were brave enough to attack alone. She didn't die easily, even then. Kazuo was dead before she was, and Belisarius left a trail of blood in the water as he swam away from her body.
The gamblers in the Capitol had two choices. One, after day four. Mako was strong, but I was stronger. And I was stronger than Eleanor, and Farlan, and Belisarius, though it was a shame he fought me on a weeping, burning red leg.
When the Tributes ran thin and the time between encounters grew longer, I lay back and cherished the Arena. I stretched out on the white sand beaches, listening to the waves and running my fingers through the surf. I swam from island to island when there was no real need to, enjoying the chance to feel water surging against my arms and my legs churning the surface. A shark glided under me once, a wild beast suspended in glass. It was as frightful to me as I was to the other Tributes, and I was more conservative in my swimming after that.
Through the days, as I counted the remaining Tributes, some stayed the same, notable enough for me to remember. There was Damien, Eleanor, and Chantal. Then there was Damian and Chantal. Then there was only Chantal, and I knew she was the reason for her own solitude.
She was golden when I saw her, her skin bronzed in the sun and her hair bleached with light streaks. I must have looked the same. We glistened like the blades of our weapons, and the sun was hot on my neck before we even started fighting.
When we ran at each other, we were on the beach, sand stirring at our feet with each pounding step. We strove at each other, pushing this way and that. The salt water stung the cuts she scored on me as we drove each other back into the shallow water, rivulets of blood running down into the surf. We were calf-deep when the battle turned. The weight of the water was nothing on my legs, but she grew slower. She threw me down, trying to force my head under. I was no stranger to holding my breath, trying for just a few more seconds so I could stay in the underwater world. When I rolled over on top of her, turning the tables, her blows turned to thrashes. Panic lit in her eyes as she bucked and shoved. She threw me off, but before she could sit upright and start to stand, I was back on her, sticking my sword through her and into the sand behind her. The blood stained the water, billowing out until I thought there must be none left inside her. I left her with her hands bobbing at the surface, strands of hair spreading in a red cloud.