Ghost Walking by Lamb of God
Obliteration never looked so divine.
Holding your breath for the moment in time.
Arena Day Seven
Harlan Pearce, 12, District Eleven
The sun has barely risen and yet I am wide awake and moving. Sleep has been hard to come by the last few nights, and nightmares make it even harder to remain in sleep for more than a few hours. My mind is exhausted by my body is on full alert, amazingly. I never knew what I could adapt to until coming into this place. Not even life on the streets could have prepared my body to take this much torment in such a short amount of time.
It's strange if I really think about what I am doing. For such a long time I have just been wandering around the forest with no real destination in mind. I've considered finding one good hiding place and staying there for a few days, but every time I have stopped it seems that my memories and worries catch up to me. Keeping in constant motion is the only thing that is keeping my sanity intact so that's what I guess I'll have to keep doing.
For how much longer, though? I don't have the answer to that question. I have no idea how many of us are left right now and even less of an idea of how long this is supposed to drag on for. It has to have been a week already and yet I'm still stuck in this place. I'm beginning to think that this could last forever.
I can't stop myself from crying out as my feet go out from under me and suddenly I am flying towards the sky. I claps both hands over my mouth, not trusting myself not to call out again and possibly draw people to me.
It takes me a second to realize what I am looking at. The same color scheme as I have grown used to over the past while, but somehow not the same landscape. It's not until I look down and see the sky that I realize I must be upside down.
My head begins to feel heavy as the blood rushes from my feet and it doesn't take too long before I can no longer feel the rope that is suspending me from a branch by my ankle. I try and reach up to unhinge myself but just that movement proves too difficult. After a minute or so of trying I take a break, closing my eyes to try and alleviate the headache that is starting between my eyes.
My heart nearly beats out of my chest when I hear rustling coming from behind me. My eyes fly open again and I once again try to shake my leg free. The sound gets closer and by this time my hands are shaking too much for me to even attempt to untie the trap.
My vision is already turning a bit blurry by the time I see them enter the tiny clearing where I am. I have no hope in Panem that they won't notice me. I am literally hanging right in front of their nose with nowhere to go. I can't even hear their footsteps now over the blood pumping in my ears.
I try to focus my eyes on the person in front of me, but it only makes the headache tighten in my skull. It's a girl that is definite, with dark hair and skin. I don't remember seeing her before or maybe I have but only briefly. She looks at me for a while as if she doesn't know what to do.
There is nothing else I can do but ask her to help get me down, what other choice do I really have?
"C-could you help m-me?" I stammer and she looks startled to hear me speak. I don't want her to think I'm going to try and hurt her if she helps me, so I show her my empty hands. "I-I don't have any weapons."
She doesn't say a word, but she moves slowly closer to me still seeming very unsure of what she is doing. For a moment I worry that she won't be able to help me at all. Then she takes out a knife which I feel both fear and relief at seeing. I bite my tongue, remembering the gleam of the blade that took my friends away from me. I close my eyes as she gets closer to me with it.
I am relieved when I feel myself hit the ground, the feeling very slowly beginning to return to my feet and the tension headache dissolving. I shake my head, thankful as my vision goes back to normal. I look up at the girl who is biting her lip as she stares down at me.
I smile shyly up at her, knowing that she very well may have just saved my life. "T-thank you so much."
She shakes her head and for a moment I don't understand the response. Then all of sudden, as I glance down and see that she is still holding the knife, I know what she means.
My body begins to tremble, tears filling my eyes. "Please, please I'll do anything. Please just... just don't."
She tears her gaze away from me as I speak. I consider running, but by the time I stand up she would have already been able to catch me. I'm not even sure I could run. My body simply feels frozen in place and I don't think the amount of time I have is enough to convince it otherwise.
She takes a step forwards and I burst out in tears. There is nothing I can do and in theses few seconds I come to realize this. Everything I've done since losing my family and then my friends means nothing because I know it will not be long before I am to join them in wherever people end up after they die.
With nothing else to do I close my eyes, not wanting my last view of the world to be painted in red.
Vera Hemley, 17, District One
It's easy to see that the dynamic has changed between the two of us. While we used to walk side by side with hushed whispers between us, now he insists that I go ahead of him and we walk in silence.
It doesn't bother me unless I think of how we were in the early days. Truthfully, I don't really feel like talking much. No matter the decision that I came to a couple days ago, I am still not internally content with what we are doing. Verden might be able to ignore his inner protests, but I am not even sure if I really want to quiet them.
What am I without my humanity? I can see the changes in Verden and I refuse to let the same thing happen to myself. While I still care deeply about him, I have also come to fear him. He has let go of almost everything that I trust would keep him from hurting me. I'm not sure how much longer I can safely stay by his side.
"Stop it."
I turn when I hear his voice and see him looking at me with squinted eyes. I swallow hard, afraid that anything I might say could set him off. I have seen what he is capable of and I would be lying if I said that I was confident in trusting him.
"Stop what?"
"You're thinking too much," he says accusingly. I stop so that he can catch up with me, and for the first time in a couple of days I allow myself to take a good look at him. It's hardly the dirt on his face and clothes that makes me look at him twice, or even the smudge of dried blood near his chest. The change is evident in his alert expression and the way his shoulders are tensed like he is expecting a fight.
"I'm sorry," I say, bowing my head. "I'm just trying to make myself okay with all of this."
He looks at me with a mixture of disbelief and hurt. "Get over yourself."
"Excuse me?" I ask. I'm doing everything I can to change myself so that I can stay with him, and all he is doing is calling me out on things I can't help. It's not my fault that I am not so easily able to push away my morals like he is. Doesn't it matter that I'm trying? Trying for him I might add, because this is definitely not something I want.
"You heard what I said," he says, his expression turning to irritation. "No one is making you do anything. If you can't handle this then leave, I don't need you I can take down anyone without your help and I have."
I don't even know what to say. He already said something like this before, but I thought that our partnership meant something to him. I know that he is talking about yesterday, but the plan was to ambush the pair from both sides and the fact that I wasn't around to help was not my fault. Besides, I've helped him do unthinkable things and haven't asked anything else of him but patience in allowing me to get over my mental barriers. I've given up so much of myself to do what he told me to do, and he can't even admit that our alliance means something.
Just as I open my mouth to reply, I hear a low growl come from the surrounding bushes. Both of our faces go blank when we hear it, the argument momentarily gone from our minds. I look at him for some sort of acknowledgement that he heard the sound as well. The horror in his eyes is enough to tell me that I did not imagine it.
I can feel the ground vibrating beneath me, but neither of seems to have found the ability to move. Then I see it. There is no name that I can put to the enormous creature that appears less than twenty feet from us. It is at least seven feet tall and covered in brown fur. It bears its teeth when it sees us, drops to all fours and rushes right for us.
I scream and take off running, Verden already two steps ahead of me. I can feel my heart pounding in my ears, the sound so loud that it blocks out the sound of the creature closing the distance between us.
I grab the gun out of my waistband, shooting it as soon as I turn around. The animal roars with pain, but the bullet hardly even slows its pace. A second after I shoot the first bullet I feel the strength of its paws as it tackles me to the ground, the gun flying from my hands. I try to struggle underneath it, but the sheer weight of the creature seems to have knocked all of the fight from my body. I gasp for breath, turning my head away from the animal.
I see Verden standing not ten feet away, his eyes wide and fearful. I scream out his name and he snaps out of the trance, glancing between me and the animal that traps me beneath it.
"Verden! Help!" I scream again, the animal's face just inches from mine.
Suddenly, Verden takes a couple of quick steps towards me and I cry out for him to hurry. He grabs the thrown gun off the ground and looks at me again. I can't breathe enough to scream again, let alone yell out for him to hurry like I wish I could.
Then, he turns in the opposite direction and takes off. I can hardly process what he is doing, but the betrayal that I feel in my gut is impossible to mistake. I face the enormous snout of the animal, struggling for another second before its jaw comes down on my shoulder. The pain is excruciating, and my vision blurs. Verden is not going to save me, I realize in the second before the pain makes the world go black. He's leaving me here to die.
Jalissa Kessey, 18, District Three
Another quiet night between the two of us, as it has been for a while now. Hollis has completely curled up inside himself, leaving me on the outside wondering how I could have been so selfish as to force him to see the truth behind it all.
I felt awful that he didn't know, but I mean how could he not have realized? There are so many of us and, even though I know that the rebellion was widely accepted with most of the district people, it is difficult to think that he could be the only Capitol supporter amongst us. Even my own family was considered neutral during its course.
I just wish I hadn't have told him. Then I would still have someone to keep me out of my own thoughts. I have tried to get him back into conversation, but each time he answers my questions with short phrases or even just a word. He doesn't want to talk, but for purely selfish reasons I need him to come back to me.
"Have you ever seen this many stars before?" I ask.
He jumps, his eyes wide when the meet mine. He shakes his head and his gaze turns back to the ground without a word.
"I guess maybe I just never took the time to look, there was so much rebuilding going on when I left that you could hardly tell the sky from the dust. Did District One have a lot to do after the war?" I try again, not willing to give up so easily tonight. I have been almost completely without the comfort that conversation brings me for a few days now. I'm hungry to get something, even if it's one sided.
"Mother didn't let us go out," he says quietly. "She said it was too dangerous."
"Oh," I say, my energy flattening. I hate that I keep bringing up more memories for him to question. It's only natural that if his family was so misinformed about this event that they might have led him astray in other ways as well. I just want him to stop thinking about it. Seeing the lost look in his eyes night after night is enough to almost bring me to tears.
Just when I think the conversation is long over, his head peeks up again. I am relieved to see the confusion gone from his eyes for even this one second, that is until I recognize that it has been replaced by fear.
"What is it?" I ask in a rushed whisper.
He looks around the small clearing suspiciously and I can't help but follow his gaze. "Do you hear that?"
"No," I answer immediately. A second later there comes a rustling that doesn't sound very far from us. I cover my mouth to keep from gasping. We are not alone, there is someone or something here with us.
He gets up, supposedly to check where the sound is coming from, but I pull his arm back down and shake my head. There is no way that I am allowing him to go after whatever is out there. I keep one hand to my lips, fearing that maybe my breathing is loud enough to bring the attacker to us. Hollis and I scramble on our hands and knees towards a tree, keeping our backs to one another.
I scream when something comes out of the bushes in front of me, shoving myself to the ground to avoid it. A boot lands in the dirt just beside my head, then another makes direct contact with my nose. I gasp in pain, but I only feel it for a moment as adrenaline kicks in.
The attacker lands on top of Hollis, easily pinning him to the ground. Someone screams again, but I couldn't tell whose lips it came from this time. I try to grab one of the attacker's feet to pull him off of Hollis, but end up with another boot this time striking my shoulder.
"Run!" I hear Hollis scream, and a moment later I am on my feet. With one more terrified look towards him I take off running.
I stumble over something and go sprawling down into the dirt. Pain echoes from both my nose and my shoulder, and I become aware that my face is now caked with dirt and tears. My breaths come rapidly, both from terror and exhaustion, and I crawl towards a thick bush a few feet away and conceal myself the best that I can.
My mind can't help but wander to Hollis, knowing in my aching heart that I have let him down. I was supposed to protect him as readily as I know he would have protected me. Yet it didn't take much convincing for me to leave him behind.
"I know you can hear me," a raspy voice cuts through the sound of the blood pounding in my ears and my blood goes cold.
It takes everything to make myself remain still. All I want to do is get up and run far, far away from here, but I have to believe that he doesn't know where I am. It's hardly been more than a minute or two since I ran from the clearing. Does that mean that Hollis got away from him and he chose to come after me instead?
Please, please let Hollis be alive.
"Come on our, darlin', don't make this difficult for us," he continues, his footsteps getting closer with every word. It sounds like he's right on top of me, and I know that one loud breath could bring him upon me. His footsteps momentarily stop and I hold my breath.
"You're putting up more of a chase than your little friend, I'll give you that much."
His footsteps restart, this time getting further away from my hiding place. As soon as I can no longer hear him, I take a big breath which quickly collapses into all consuming tears. If what the boy said is to be taken seriously, I am never going to see Hollis again and it's all my fault.
Harlan Pearce, District Eleven
Vera Hemley, District One
Hollis Bale, District One
Song: Ghost Walking by Lamb of God.
A/N: That was a bit of a chaotic chapter, I'll admit that. Three POVs, three deaths, and three more steps towards revealing the Victor. I'd like to apologize to Elim, Light Blue Light, and Honeymouse. These three were some of the tributes that I spent a good deal of time developing, but in the end they each had to go for one reason or another. I hope you understand!
And here we have our final seven! It won't be long now until this story comes to a close and though I am dreading it I am also very excited to write what I have planned. Hopefully everyone is still enjoying the story and remember that reviews are very encouraging for me to update more quickly (hint, hint).
Who are your predicted final three? Why?
Who is your predicted Victor? Why?
Next update should be in a few days so look out for that!