Chapter 17.
"Eamon! Eamon get up!"
The voice hissed through the darkness and woke Eamon like a whip crack. His arm flew to the glaive beside him and he pointed its tip squarely at the source. For the last four years, Nott had trained him to sleep with a weapon and would occasionally wake Eamon up in the night to test his vigilance. As his senses adjusted, he realised he was still in the cave with the pounding of the waterfall audible just outside the entrance. Eamon also realised his glaive was pointed at Blair, who didn't seem to flinch. In fact, she seemed mildly amused.
"Well, you're clearly not a morning person," she muttered. "Good to know. Now get up but be quiet."
Eamon was alert and awake in a matter of moments. The memories of the previous night came back to him as he recalled Blair waking upon hearing the cannon of the District 12 boy and taking over watch duty whilst he slept. He crept out of the sleeping bag but held his glaive aloft as something about the situation seemed off. Blair had moved to the cavern entrance with both her sai out; she seemed to be concentrating on hearing something.
"What's going on?" whispered Eamon.
"I hear voices. Not sure whose. Hard to tell with this damn waterfall."
Eamon gripped the handle of the glaive tighter and strained his ears. The sound of birds chirping innocently and what little light filtered through the entrance told him it was a few hours past sunrise. Whoever the voices belonged to had clearly gotten an early start on the day.
"You think they know we're here?"
"Doubt it. They've been here a few minutes now and this place is almost invisible."
"How many voices?"
"Two, I think. Maybe more."
Eamon hoped not. Any more than two would likely mean it was the Career pack. Strong though he and Blair were, he didn't fancy their chances in a fight where they'd be outnumbered two to one.
"Might be fish in here," said a young boy's voice. Eamon looked cautiously at Blair and nodded.
"Please Kale," said a girl, her voice cutting out now and then. "Something about this place just feels off. I want to get out of here."
"Kale," muttered Eamon. "That's the 11 boy."
"Probably the 11 girl with him. Doubt they'd be with anyone we should be worried about," murmured Blair.
Eamon wasn't sure he liked where Blair was going with this. To kill in self-defense was one thing, but to go out and hunt in cold blood, particularly against kids who likely just wanted to curl up and hide, was another thing entirely. But before he could open his mouth to object, Blair had already dived into the cool spring water and begun swimming through the cave entrance to the waterfall, sai at the ready.
"Come on, let's go get them!"
Eamon cursed and made to follow her in, unsure of what exactly it was he was going to do. He didn't know how she'd react if he made to stop her, or refrained from helping her, yet killing for the sake of killing went against everything he stood for. Up ahead, Blair burst out of the waterfall and into the sunlight-drenched spring. Two screams were barely audible as Eamon too emerged from the waterfall. The dark-skinned figures of Kale Fox and Nora Wormwood ran for the gap in the moss-covered cliffs as Blair tossed one of her sai at them and barely missed.
They fled back into the forest just as Blair climbed out, followed by Eamon, their clothes soaking wet. She retrieved her weapon from where it was buried in the stone and bolted after them. Kale and Nora split up, with Kale heading north and Nora heading east. Blair looked back and forth, rapidly discerning which way to go.
"They've split," she said quickly as Eamon caught up. "I'll get the girl, you get the other one. He's gone that way."
Before he could say a word she ran down into the valley after Nora. Once again, Eamon cursed and looked left in the direction she'd pointed and saw the outline of Kale stumbling up the hill some thirty paces ahead of him.
Why the hell am I doing this? Eamon thought bitterly to himself as he chased after him.
It was a steep climb, but Eamon rapidly began gaining ground. Kale looked over his shoulder several times and the fear in his eyes increased almost exponentially. He knew he couldn't outrun this. His angst got the best of him and when he looked over his shoulder again he tripped over an unseen tree root. Nearing the crumpled, panicked District 11 boy, Eamon slowed his pace down, knowing that it was over.
He didn't cry, but Kale's eyes were wide and darting all over the place as Eamon stood over him. Pity and self-loathing welled up inside Eamon. His pragmatic side told him to hurry up and get on with it, that it was part of the Games. But every other part of him said otherwise. A low wail came out of Kale's mouth and he closed his eyes as Eamon raised the glaive over his head…
And planted it firmly in the dirt. "Fucking hell," he growled, clenching his teeth.
Kale opened his eyes in surprise when the killing blow he expected never came. He slowly raised himself off the ground.
"Hey, I didn't say you could go anywhere kid," said Eamon shortly. "It's Kale, right?" Kale nodded, still fearful.
Eamon looked at him, unsure of what to do. Let him go? If he could catch Kale so easily, he doubted it would be too difficult for someone – or worse, something – to do the same. Plus, he hardly seemed like the kind of tribute to go on and win outright, and yet, wasn't that the entire point of volunteering? So that he could help the kids who don't have a chance go home?
He sighed and sat down next to Kale in the dirt. "Can I ask you something Kale?" Kale nodded again, still shaking. "Do you reckon you can win this whole thing?"
"I d-don't understand… w-what do you mean?" his voice quavered.
"I want to make you an offer. To tell you the truth, I don't want to kill you. I want to know if you honestly think you can win these Games. Even though there's still so many strong tributes out there and god only knows what the Gamemakers have planned. If you can honestly tell me that you have no doubts that you think you can win this, I'll let you go. But if you have any doubts at all, I'll make sure to give you the most painless death anyone could ask for. Because if I let you run off and someone else gets you, it won't be pleasant."
Kale looked like he was about to throw up. Eamon knew this kid couldn't win, but he at least wanted to give him a choice, a chance. It wasn't a choice he liked giving; how could a boy that young be expected to make or even understand such a choice?
"Please no… Please I don't want to," he shuddered. "Just let me go please!"
"Can you win?"
"Y-yes… Of course, I can… Just let me go and I'll win." he stammered, avoiding Eamon's eyes.
Eamon closed his eyes. Of course Kale was going to say that. Even if the odds were a million to one, a scared kid would rather bank on that astronomical long-shot than admit he has no chance. Even if he was offering something to spare the pain of his inevitable loss. And Eamon could tell Kale didn't really believe he could win.
"You sure?"
"Yes, I know I can."
Eamon opened his eyes and stood up. "Okay," he said simply. He extended Kale a hand and helped him to his feet. He pulled the glaive out of the ground and Kale flinched, fearing the worst. Eamon pointed the glaive further north, towards the towering highlands.
"Head that way. Stay away from the center. Probably other alliances there too."
"W-wait what?" he stammered. "What about my friend? What about Nora?"
Eamon looked over his shoulder into the valley below, slightly confused. Nora's cannon hadn't sounded yet. Blair was taking longer than he would have expected.
"I don't really have any say on that," he said uncomfortably. "Sorry to say if she's not dead yet, she will be soon."
Kale's face scrunched up as tears rolled down his face. Eamon put a hand on his shoulder and said kindly, "Hey, you're going to win this, right? Why don't you win for her? Go on."
Kale looked up at him and simply whispered, "Thank you."
He turned around and made to head in the direction Eamon had pointed. Once he had, Eamon took the glaive and thrust it right through Kale's back. A quick cry of surprise was all that escaped him. Again, that repulsive sensation of weapon meeting organ and muscle ran up Eamon's arm and through his entire being. It mingled with his sadness and shame, and he knew that if in some bizarre circumstance he did end up winning, District 11 would despise him for a long time to come.
The cannon came instantly. "District 11: Kale Fox."
He pulled the glaive out of Kale's lifeless body and laid the short, dark-skinned boy face-up on the ground. Blood stained his bright orange singlet and began to pool on the ground under him. Eamon's hands were covered in it.
"Sorry kid," he muttered. "We both know you didn't really think you could do it. Wouldn't have been painless if you knew it was coming."
Eamon allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts for a moment before realising that Nora's cannon still hadn't sounded. He started back down the hill towards the spring, thinking that if Nora had escaped, Blair would probably have gone back there. But she wasn't there. Suddenly he heard a bloodcurdling scream. A girl's scream.
Eamon sprinted as fast as he could towards the source. More screams came from near where they had found the trickling stream that had led them to the spring on the first day. Had Nora somehow got the better of Blair? Was it another girl entirely? He saw two outlines in a clearing up ahead, one on the ground incapable of moving and another standing above them, triumphant.
"Aww, what's the matter? Does hiding in a corner only get you so far?" said Blair in a slightly mocking tone.
Blair's sai plunged into Nora's forearm, pinning it to the ground as blood squirted out in great rivulets. Another horrifying scream. Her left hand was already pinned to the ground by Blair's other sai. Eamon almost gagged, but now his shame at killing Kale was replaced by white-hot anger. He ran up to her and Blair turned around at the sound of the commotion.
"Oh hey Eamon," she said matter-of-factly. "All good? I'll be done in a second, this one gave me a bit of the slip."
He stormed over and grasped Blair's hand firmly, yanking the sai out of Nora with another mangled cry of pain. The were other puncture marks in her flesh where Blair's sai had pierced, but nowhere fatal. He forced Blair's hand clutching the sai into Nora's heart. The screams and heavy breathing stopped at once and a second cannon declared, "District 11: Nora Wormwood."
"Eamon, what the hell gives?" started Blair, wresting her hand out of his.
"Funny, I was about to ask you the same question!" he shot back. "I've just been stressing myself crazy about how to kill that kid in the most painless way possible and here you are freaking torturing a little girl?
"It's called taking pride in the kill," she said defensively, seemingly unable to comprehend why Eamon was angry. "It's what I've been trained for."
"I don't care how much pride you take in your kill, you don't do… whatever the heck that was," he gestured wildly at Nora's body. "Not with me you don't."
"Why though?"
"Because these kids aren't here by choice, they didn't sign up for this shit! Imagine if that had been you and some sick bastard was standing over you, hurting you, mocking you unnecessarily. Would you care about pride then?"
Blair seemed so taken aback by this sudden confrontation that she didn't have an answer, and Eamon was too livid to wait for one. He made to walk off, before turning back to look at her.
"Well? You coming or what?"
Blair's expression was unreadable as it usually was but also tinged with something else. Curiosity? Confusion? Concern? She looked to Nora's body and then back to Eamon before nodding once and following him back, albeit keeping her distance somewhat.
Should've seen that coming, you knew they all do that sort of thing, said the impish voice in his head. Eamon ignored such thoughts like irksome flies as he made his way back to the cave.
Half the field down, half to go. Tension, turmoil and drama aplenty here in Chapter 17. And it's only going to ramp up from here.
24th Place: Cecilia Moreau - District 12 Female. Killed by Hilda Blythe.
23rd Place: Axel Costa - District 1 Male. Killed by Eamon Cunningham.
22nd Place: Ivanna Merchant - District 6 Female. Killed by Vesper Rhodes.
21st Place: Paige Delaney - District 8 Female. Killed by Karmichael Damocles.
20th Place: Owen Magnussen - District 8 Male. Killed by Landon Starr.
19th Place: Zoey Townsend - District 3 Female. Killed by Dennis Kessling.
18th Place: Spencer Nash - District 7 Male. Killed by Blair Lynch.
17th Place: Cooper Hastings – District 10 Male. Killed by Karmichael Damocles.
16th Place: Alys Redding – District 5 Female. Killed by Landon Starr.
15th Place: Timothy Crow – District 3 Male. Killed by Madeline Skylock.
14th Place: Harvey Goodwin – District 12 Male. Killed by Holdhorn.
13th Place: Kale Fox – District 11 Male. Killed by Eamon Cunningham.
12th Place: Nora Wormwood. District 11 Female. Killed by Blair Lynch.
