Chapter 29: An Act of War
During the night, the interviews with the eight tributes' families are aired live. For a production that had to scramble together in record time, it is a fairly decent program that keeps us mentors awake during the midnight hours.
Also during the night, Katniss convinces Peeta that they need to get dressed to keep out the chill. My kids both quickly redress, each of them a little pink in the face as the full weight of the intimacy they have shared seems to finally catch up with them. The pair of young lovers hold each other throughout the bitterly cold night.
As for the rest of the surviving tributes, they seem to be having a rougher time of it. Rue has managed to anchor herself to the trunk of one tree, but she has just about as little keeping her warm as my kids do. She shudders just as violently as the leaves all around her that conceal her from view; I fear that such a tiny thing will be taken quickly, due to hypothermia. Further west, Demelza, the girl from 5, is starting to show signs of not only hypothermia, but also dehydration and starvation. She has yet to find a water source, just as none of the other kids have been able to, and the lack of liquid is starting to get to her brain. She is beginning to panic, doubling back away from the edges of the wheatfield containing Thresh and the Careers and wandering around the woods in close to lazy, meandering circles.
As for Cato and Clove, they have little choice but to start a fire and light it. Cato even suggests starting a controlled burn, hoping that they can smoke Thresh out sooner rather than later, and draw him into battle.
At sunrise, Claudius Templesmith's voice rings throughout the arena: "Attention, tributes, attention: there has been a slight… rule change. Two tributes will be allowed to live if both originate from the same district and both are the last two alive. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."
Clove seems shocked, but Cato is rabidly excited, almost insanely so. With their bonfire roaring, he gets Clove to dance with him around and around the blaze; the whole scene is reminiscent of some pagan sacrifice.
Marvel chooses to respond to the announcement by…. leaving his guard post and venturing into the woods to hunt for other tributes. The commentators are chomping at the bit, figuring that he wants there to be only one Victor – him – and therefore, he is going to break the district pairs, one by one. He'll need all the luck he can get to take out either of my kids, but I sill silently implore with Katniss and Peeta to wake up whenever images of them appear onscreen.
Unfortunately, Marvel encounters what many perceive as the easiest target first.
A piercing scream shatters the peaceful, early morning mist, rousing my goddaughter from a romantic slumber in my son's arms. Stirring, she gets up, ears cocked and listening. She reaches for her bow.
There it is again:
"HELP ME!"
Peeta grunts halfway awake at the sound, squirming when he doesn't feel the warmth of his lover beside him. "Katniss…. Katniss…." His tone, still sleepy, is beginning to pitch in sheer panic, though his eyes don't open all the way. He must still be somewhere in the midst of a nightmare… and the real-life screams are feeding it. He thinks they are Katniss's screams.
"Sssssh…" Katniss croons, bending over him and kissing his lips sweetly. "I'm going to go check it out, my darling. I won't be long." And she strikes out from the cave, tracking the cries. When the scream next appears – it sounds as though it belongs to…. a little girl. Katniss breaks into a run.
I sit up sharply, and lunge for my datapad, scrolling and swiping madly through the items and prices. But all the costs are too high; the early forcing of the Final Eight has caused everything to spike into the stratosphere. I couldn't even get Katniss a cracker with the funds I have, let alone a weapon.
As my goddaughter continues to track Rue, I start yelling at the TV, rudely awakening the District 5 mentors. "No, Katniss, don't! It's a trick!"
Bursting into a clearing, Katniss stops dead when she sees little Rue tangled up in a net. Her big sister instincts win out as she thinks of Prim, and she rushes forward to free the little tribute. Rue doesn't even have the foresight to shy away first, leaping into Katniss's arms trustingly and crying.
"Ssssh….. You're OK…."
Draped over Katniss's shoulder, Rue is all that saves her, suddenly shoving her hard. "LOOK OUT!"
The two girls separate, Katniss falling back as a spear goes sailing through the air and catches Rue in the stomach. Spinning on her knees, an arrow almost magically appears and bullets right into Marvel's chest. The District 1 boy staggers back almost in disbelief, glancing down at the arrow in his gut before keeling backward, dead.
Finnick Odair walks in at that moment, just in time to witness Caesar's instant replay of the whole rumble. He grins gleefully.
"Ohhhhhhhh, you done just got used, son!" The District 4 playboy struts over to the Careers' table, trolling an apoplectic Gloss Delacroix.
Meanwhile, Katniss is diving for Rue, catching her as she falls and cradling the sweet little girl in her arms. I am moved to see that my goddaughter is crying again.
"You're OK… You're OK…."
Rue is shuddering even more violently than she was last night… and not from the cold, I realize, for the sun is already burning the air's chill away. It is her body that is chilling. She is going; she can't be saved. "I don't wanna die…. I don't wanna die…."
Beside me, Seeder has a hand to her mouth, ugly, wracking sobs fighting to blast free into the space. Chaff is digging his nails through his scalp.
Katniss's tears are falling onto Rue's upturned face like sweet rain. "Don't think of it like that. Think of just… going to sleep." Goosebumps alight my skin at the euphemism. These Games are truly dark indeed – darker than most others I've mentored for.
And then, to my and everyone else's amazement… Katniss begins to sing.
"Deep in the meadow… under the willow…."
As she sings and Rue languishes, Katniss sets about picking every single flower within reach and adorning Rue's body with them. An act of greater compassion I have never seen in the arena. The Capitol clearly hasn't witnessed such a sight, either, for the camera now monkey-wobbles dangerously, like it desperately wants to cut away, but seems unable to find a good enough excuse for doing so. They finally settle on cutting away to Caesar Flickerman, but both he and Claudius are gaping like fish and seem woefully unequipped to even spin what they are witnessing.
Chaff's eyes gleam, even through his tears. "Squirm, fuckers…" he hisses so that only I can hear.
Seeder tssks, almost regretting the shitshow we are watching. "Worse than Fox News…" she mumbles. When I look at her quizzically, she just smiles. "Oh, it's an old saying."
The coverage returns to Katniss tentatively, as if to check, Hey, are you done yet? A split-second later, they cut away again back to Caesar (who is still making weird choking sounds like a fish) but too late: all of Panem saw, just for the briefest of moments, Rue buried in flowers. A perfect shroud. Katniss kisses three of her fingers and raises them to the sky. This prompts the coverage to steal away so that she's out-of-frame, which is almost certainly intentional, but I can still hear her. Sobbing.
BOOM. BOOM. The two cannons sound belatedly for the two tributes, and miles away in the wheatfields, Cato and Clove hear them.
Cato frowns. "What the hell was that?"
"Hopefully District 12," Clove almost pleads with the sky. I smirk deliciously, unable to wait to see the look on her face when the dead appear in the sky tonight.
The Careers are standing there, nurturing the controlled burn Cato set. All at once, there is a rustling in the high grasses.
Clove jumps at the noise so much, she catapults herself into Cato's arms. He grimaces and promptly drops her. The laughtrack echoes. "What was that?" Clove squeaks.
Silence now, broken only by another rustling. Cato is reaching for his sword when –
Thresh appears out of nowhere and bullrushes them both. Still not in a fighting stance, Cato is nearly felled right then and there, and only some quick fists save him long enough to get his blade up. Thresh roars and brings down his scythe hard on Cato's broadsword. Chaff leaps to his feet, overturning his chair, fists clenched.
"Yeah! Get him, boy!"
Whipping out some knives, Clove attempts to circle around the perimeter of the duel, hoping to outflank Thresh as she waits for an opening. When she thinks she has one, she lunges forward and sinks a knife into Thresh's calf.
The petite District 2 girl then tries to dart back out, playing a cat and mouse game. Unfortunately, Thresh moves faster.
CRACK.
He brings down the hilt of his scythe onto Clove's skull, which cracks open like a melon. Eyes rolling back, Clove doesn't even have time to know what hit her before she is crumpling, dead. Off to our left, Enobaria curses loudly.
The death of his district partner prompts Cato to unleash his fury. "That's it," he presses on a bold offensive. "You're dead." He and Thresh duel back and forth; all the while, fire and smoke swirl around them. Both of the boys try to put their shirtsleeves up and cough into those, and I wince. Smoke asphyxiation might take them sooner than either of their blades will. Panem above, this really could come down to my kids and a jumpy girl from District 5. Should that happen, District 12 as good as has a Victor.
But then Thresh makes a mistake.
Knocking back an overhead strike, Cato thrusts out and stabs Thresh clean through the stomach.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Chaff bellows. A dazed Thresh falls to his knees. Growling, Cato manages to lift the massive boy up and hurl him into the flames of the wheatfield fire to finish him off.
For the second time today, two cannons sound off together. BOOM. BOOM.
The field has been halved and it isn't even lunchtime. The phones and datapads at the Career table begin to light up, a thrilled Brutus diving for one.
As we watch, Cato dramatically outruns his own controlled burn that has now spiraled decidedly out-of-control, and dives from the wheatfields and back into the Cornucopia clearing. Hacking and wheezing from the smoke, the last Career collapses. I desperately check his vital signs on my datapad, praying… but they are all still OK. Cato is unconscious, but safe… for now.
The Games haven't even been going on for 24 hours, and already there are only four left.
I see Chaff turning sadly for the phone booths, and I squeeze his hand. "Are you OK?"
He nods, irises glistening. He grips my hand firmly in return. "I promise you, I will do whatever I can to make sure Katniss and Peeta win." I note how he says and, not or, and I realize that Katniss and Peeta are now the only district pair left who could still benefit from the Rule Change.
The coverage slows down to show Katniss arriving back at the cave. A now-awake Peeta lunges at Katniss and kisses her deeply in relief. Katniss squirms a little, trying to get words out around Peeta's plundering tongue, but soon gives in, melting into the kiss and returning it with fervor.
"I thought…. I thought…." Peeta weeps.
"Ssssh….." Katniss lightly rests a finger on his lips. "I'm fine."
My son gives my goddaughter a little shake. "What the hell happened?"
"Marvel speared Rue, the little girl from 11. I had to shoot him in retaliation," Katniss explains. "I don't know who the other two might have been."
Peeta hisses through a clenched underbite. "Let's hope that one of them was Cato."
Caesar takes this opportunity to cut back to the empty clearing, where Cato is just beginning to come to. Crawling over to the supplies, his eyes widen when he realizes the horn is deserted. Marvel is gone. Snarling in frustration, Cato begins to pillage through the pile of weapons and supplies now left all to himself.
It isn't even high noon yet. My kids decide to cautiously venture out of their cave and go hunting. There are only two other people they could possibly encounter now, only one of whom is even in the same vicinity as they are.
Katniss takes the lead with her bow and arrows. Peeta follows behind, armed only with the knife Clove threw at Katniss yesterday. The camera sticks on my kids closely, and then sweeps back on a wide shot over the whole forested landscape, so that we can clearly detect some rustling in the trees. A flash of ginger hair.
My heart leaps into my throat. Demelza is following them. Tailing my son and goddaughter in the hopes of doing… what? Getting the drop on them both? I've seen Katniss able to bring down even a moving target with ease and Peeta could pin a small thing like Demelza in his sleep. Besides, Demelza has no weapon, is severely dehydrated and hungry. No, she shouldn't be looking for a fight… and maybe she isn't. Maybe she is hoping my kids will lead her to a source of sustenance, and then swipe what she can. It's the best she can hope for for now – unless something truly bizarre happens, Demelza has no chance of becoming Victor. If she manages to outlast even one more tribute and therefore place with a medal, it'll be a miracle.
Katniss and Peeta stop by a thicket. "I thought I heard something in that direction," Katniss points. She is actually incorrectly tracking the sound she doesn't know is Demelza, hunting them or whatever she's doing.
"OK, well I'll take the bow." Peeta offers. When she blinks and even jumps back for a moment, my son chuckles. "I'm kidding. I'll go scavenge some berries." He turns away too soon to see Katniss's lips upturning into a small, goofy, in-love smile and she paces off to hunt.
My goddaughter hasn't gone too far when a cannon blast suddenly pierces the late morning. BOOM. She goes ashen. "Peeta…."
And she is pelting through the woods, back the way she came, until….
She yelps as she crashes headlong into a body. A very much alive Peeta grabs her, searches her face.
"You've got to stop doing this…" he chuckles weakly. "Save some for the rest of us…"
"I didn't make the kill…" Katniss warbles, still half in a panic. Then she notices the clump of berries in Peeta's hand and angrily bats them away. "That's nightlock, Peeta! You'd be dead in a minute!" She devolves into tears. "You scared me to death… damn you…" And they hug.
"I'm sorry…. I'm sorry…" Peeta croons, holding her. "But… then who...?"
They quickly come to an answer. Not fifty paces away from where they've been standing, Demelza's body is found… her cold lips stained with berry juice.
"I didn't know she was following us," Peeta says sadly.
Katniss comfortingly pecks him on the cheek. "You outfoxed her, Peeta. That's all." She stands, stringing her bow again. "So it's just down to us and…"
"Cato," Peeta doesn't even have to think about it. "I'd bet sesterces on it."
Katniss smirks. "Or eating your dad's hat. Oh, wait… didn't you already have to do that? I've been meaning to ask you what Capitol leather tastes like."
Peeta blinks, then chuckles at her teasing. "No, actually. Dad offered, though, when he visited me in the Justice Building."
Katniss laughs musically. Her mirth soon fades though as she falls into deep thought. "We've been dropping like flies… Why not just end this? I say we find Cato before he finds us." Pointing at something in the grass, she directs Peeta to gather up a clump of berries Demelza must have dropped. She puts them in her pocket. "If they could fool her, maybe they can fool Cato as well. Then it's game over…"
"… and hello District 12."
Katniss is probably right to want to put an end to this: according to Capitol news reports, the popularity of these Games is in danger of going underwater. Audiences have loved the propulsive action… but think it is happening too fast. For me, the Games can't end soon enough. I am so close to having my kids back. Both are already assured to place with medals…. and all they've really done so far is wipe out District 1, accidentally kill a third tribute, hunt, eat and sleep together (both innocently and not).
"Cato will probably be at the Cornucopia. He's not going to go any place he doesn't know," Peeta concludes as they set off in the direction of the horn. He is not entirely right about that assessment – Cato braved the wheatfields only to barely get out alive. A splitscreen now shows him loading up on weapons, though he's staggering, like he's dizzy and disoriented. He hasn't fully recovered from his duel with Thresh or escaping the flames, and I suddenly will my kids to get there all the faster. If they can catch Cato while he's still off-balance…
My kids hit the edge of the treeline and they see Cato, his back to them. Peeta turns to Katniss, blue eyes smoldering.
"I love you."
She gazes solemnly back at him. "I know." Eyes lidded, she loops an arm about his neck and kisses him deeply. Peeta eagerly kisses her back and she groans a little.
The sound is an almost fatal error.
Even from yards away, Cato hears something and wheels around. Katniss and Peeta snap apart, their arms still around each other. I throw up my hands in frustration. Welp, the element of surprise is gone.
None of the three move for a long moment, staring each other down. Cato finally jeers.
"I should have known it would be you lovebirds. The Crown is as good as mine! Let's start with you first, Lover Boy. Your mommy can watch you die…."
Katniss notches an arrow faster than you can say nightlock. "You will die before you touch him!" she growls fiercely.
I am immensely satisfied to see how this makes Cato take pause. He reaches up a finger to brush along the slice of dried blood from Katniss's wound at the start of the Games. Should he live, it will no doubt leave a scar.
Peeta steps forward, gallantly nudging his sweetheart aside. "Step aside, honey. I'll protect you."
"Peeta, don't….!" Katniss and I speak almost as one as Peeta bullrushes the final Career. The two, large and strong boys collide and begin to wrestle on the ground.
Arrow poised, Katniss moves in, circling the two men like a hawk and waiting for an opening. As she watches Cato and Peeta wrestle to kill for longer and longer, she actually rolls her eyes. "Well…" she mutters. "It's nice to know chivalry isn't dead."
The Games finale I am at witnessing is both at once gripping and surreal. I am squeezing Seeder and Chaff's hands like they are lifelines. Brutus is at the bar, jumping up and down and yelling at Cato to "FINISH HIM!"
Cato closes in for the kill. I can't watch….!
But then Peeta flips Cato and pins him against his body, rippling bicep around the other boy's throat in a chokehold so that they are facing Katniss.
He barely has to smile at her to do the honors, Cato barely has time for his eyes to widen in sheer disbelief before the arrows is in his temple. For good measure, Peeta snaps his neck.
BOOM.
Peeta gets to his feet, he and Katniss gazing at each other. Then, with twin, strangled gasps, they both rush into each other's arms, embrace and kiss wildly.
The Victors in the Mentor's Bar are cheering. I am sagging against my friends, overcome with relief. They did it. They won. Both of my babies are coming home….
My vision is hazy, so I barely clue in to how Brutus has gone deathly still over at the Bar. Then he turns slowly, by degrees, cobalt eyes finding mine like a heat-seeking missile and he actually charges me.
Several men – Finnick Odair, Nolan de Naro and Roan Tully – intercept my old mentor; it takes all three of them to hold him back.
"You…. you bitch!" Brutus screams. "He cheated!"
It takes me a moment to realize he is only referring to my son. Brutus said he cheated, not they cheated. I gaze at him sadly. "They did nothing of the kind," I state. I could twist the knife in, but refrain. I'm a better person than that. If Brutus wants to act like a sore loser, let him…, which is ironic, coming from him. "What happened to glory and honor, huh? What happened to that Brutus?"
"There was no honor in that!" Brutus bellows, trying to get around Roan Tully's forearm. "Pinning an incredible soldier like that as though he was an animal!"
"It's called tag-teaming, Brutus," Chaff growls, stealing a protective arm around me. "Now stop acting like a big baby!"
"Fuck you, you nig-"
"WE'VE HEARD ENOUGH!" Seeder bellows before Brutus can drop what was undoubtedly a racial slur. "Sit your ass down, and don't open your filthy mouth again!" Finnick and his friends have to lead Brutus away.
My emotions finally get the better of me, and I break down in sobs, Chaff awkwardly rubbing my back. I'm just waiting for the trumpets to sound at this point, except they aren't. Why aren't they…?
I feel Chaff freeze against me. "Maysie," he rumbles, shaking me out from his chest so I can look at the screens.
"…. The previous Rule Change has been… revoked. Only one Victor may be crowned. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."
Seeder curses. "Those beasts. They played us!"
Chaff's jaw is clenched so tight, he looks in danger of pulling a muscle. "Now who has no honor?"
Onscreen, Katniss and Peeta are staring at each, crestfallen. My son deliberately takes the knife out of his pocket… and drops it in the dirt.
Her bow halfway raised, Katniss blinks and lowers it again, ashamed.
"No. Do it," Peeta goads her gently.
"I…. I can't – I WON'T!" Katniss screams, partially at him and partially to the heavens. The tears are back, streaming now. "We… we were going to get married. Maybe… maybe even have kids…"
Peeta perks up at this. "Then you would have allowed it?"
Katniss lets out a watery laugh. "In probably fifteen years." The laughtrack goes up, but it's strained and awkward. Around me, most of the other Victors are weeping. This is the finale the Capitol wanted – two lovers torn apart forever. And, like fools, Katniss, Peeta and all the rest of us delivered exactly what the Capitol wanted, what they've always wanted: a show.
Katniss gazes at Peeta again. "I can't do it," she croaks. "I…. I love you!" Her voice comes out in a fierce whisper.
Peeta sadly smiles. "I know, baby. But one of us has to die. They have to have their Victor."
Katniss freezes quite unexpectedly, weighing this. "Do they?" she gets out. Then she answers her own question with an emphatic shake of her head. "No. They don't." And she throws down the bow. "Why should they?" And she sounds so heartbroken, that the Victors look at each other. What does she mean…?
The screen shows Katniss reaching for the berries in her pocket. Shows her pouring part of the clump into Peeta's hands. He tries to open his fingers, drop them into the dirt, when he realizes.
"Trust me…" she coos. "Trust me."
My son does. Each with a clump of berries, their eyes lift to each other. "Together?" Peeta asks.
Katniss nods solemnly. "Together."
Seeder's jaw drops. "They aren't…" she whispers, like she's in prayer.
But they are.
"Count of three?"
In response, Peeta smiles, dips his head and kisses Katniss's lips quickly. "The count of three."
"One…"
"Two…."
"Three." They echo together, lifting the berries to their mouths.
"Stop!... STOP!" Claudius's voice reverberates through the clearing, sounding feeble, panicked and desperate. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winners of the 74th Annual Hunger Games."
Katniss and Peeta drop the berries, embrace and kiss.
Bedlam in the Mentors' Bar. Chaff is jumping up and down on the spot. His one good hand is twitching, like he is barely restraining himself from flipping middle fingers left and right at the television screens. "I fucking LOVE this chick!" he bellows, pointing at Katniss's picture on the screen, sounding raving drunk.
Amidst the chaos, amidst my happy weeping (we did it. We really pulled it off, and in less than 36 hours! I see Caesar's closed captioning declaring this the shortest Hunger Games in history), Seeder is the only one to remain calm.
"What's wrong?" I look at her.
She shakes her head gravely. "Snow won't be happy about this." She stares at me grimly. "This is more than just love, Maysie. It's more than just a clump of berries. This is an act of war."
