Chapter 9: Night Raids
Ash – Stupid Seaweed
I act purely out of instinct.
The second the charge comes, I shove Jo to the ground, my sword meeting theirs. I hold strong then kick Two in the stomach so she stumbles back away from me.
"How many Careers are there?!" I hear Seaweed say behind me.
"Five, probably circling us. Damn you Seaweed!" I growl scanning the surrounding woods for the others. When I spot one of the boys, I point at him, alerting the others to his presence.
I hear a scream that sounds like Spark's, then a zap and another scream but I don't look because the girl in front of me charges.
I swing my sword up to meet hers. She spins and swings her sword around going for my head. I duck and slash at her legs, but she jumps away so she only gets a cut running even with her calf.
She only stumbles but doesn't fall like I had wished. She is glaring daggers at me when I hear Jo shout, "Your left Ash!"
I pivot, bringing my sword up, meeting the outstretched spear of the boy from One.
He uses the momentum to swing the spear around, getting a better grip on it then slashing upward. He catches my inner thigh on my left leg, I flinch but am so pumped full of adrenalin that I barely noticed.
For the next couple minutes we dance back and forth till I realize – we're not gonna get anywhere. We are too close for him to throw his spear and I'm too far away to cut him with my sword.
I take a step back as I realize this, reassessing my options. He narrows his eyes at me but relaxes his stance ever so slightly, and that is when I charge.
I pull my knife out of my waistband with my left hand where it has been stored. He lifts his spear again in defense and jab as I get close enough, but I spin out of the way, knocking the spear out of my way with my sword while I am in mid twirl, then continue my spin with my left hand outstretched.
It sinks into its target – his eye. I rip my knife out, not wanting to lose this precious weapon.
He goes down screaming, and I am about to take a breath when I am pushed to the ground, forcing even more air out of my lungs.
One is still screaming and clutching his eye next to me but I focus on the girl from Seven sitting on me trying to get control over the situation, but then I hear a scream that sounds like Jo. I immediately overpower her and she whimpers under me.
I slit her throat quickly; trying not to think about the poor girl's family, then push myself up and look over to see Jo being forced back by the girl from Two.
I run at her while screaming, "Run!" at Jo. I shove her to the ground then take off after Jo as we run away from the battle.
Seaweed, who has been fighting with another career, quickly pushes him down then drives his weapon down, yanks it up then takes off into the woods behind us.
Four cannons sound, right in a row. My heart sinks as I realize that Spark is probably dead too.
Josie – Somewhere lost in the Arena
"What the hell happened to Spark?" the words are out of my mouth as soon as we pause to breathe.
I'm clutching a stitch at my side, and Seaweed is bent double gasping. Ash is leaning against a tree, blood running down his left leg – which happens to be the leg with the wounded ankle. Thank God for Capitol medicine or he'd have been left far behind us long ago…not that I could leave him after he saved my life. I shudder at the memory of Two's cold eyes as she moved me into the corner. I'd already thrown my spears at her, but I was no good at hand-to-hand fighting. She'd been too quick for me. If I wanted to survive these Games, I'd need to be clever. Or get a harpoon.
I snort to myself. Yeah, right. Not in this arena.
"Damn Spark got himself killed," Seaweed says dismissively. "But he took out one of the careers with his little electro-thing so two wins for us. He was a whiner anyway."
Ash shoots him a look.
I understand. "He was an ally," I tell Seaweed pointedly.
"So?" the older boy demands. "We were going to use him either way."
Ash is staring at Seaweed as if he couldn't believe his ears. I change the subject.
"Eight tributes died in the original bloodbath, how many died just now?"
"The girl from Seven, I think, Spark and the person he was fighting, and the one Seaweed took care of," Ash lists off.
"That's twelve total," Seaweed says. He sounds surprised. "That's half dead in the first day and night." The three of us look at each other grimly, and then we all jump as we hear another cannon.
"Make that thirteen," I whisper.
"Let's get out of here," says Seaweed.
"No," Ash says. Seaweed glares at him, and I want to kick Seaweed. Really now, can we just pretend to get along? Ash looks steadily back at him and finishes, "It's only getting darker. We should climb a tree and keep a look out until morning. They could sneak up on us and if we're in a tree then we have the advantage. The boy I was fighting now only has one eye. So we'll have the advantage and coverage of the trees if they come after us. Which I doubt." "And I'm exhausted," I add. And Ash will collapse soon on that leg, I finish silently in my head.
Seaweed sighs; "Fine."
Turns out Seaweed is even worse at climbing trees than I am. But we all get into a nice sturdy tree – Ash calls it a spruce pine, whatever that means – and soon Seaweed is asleep. I'm on watch and Ash is cleaning his leg. I'm watching him silently; I'm not expecting any sort of conversation, when:
"You call him Fin?"
"What?" I whisper back to Ash, surprised to hear his voice.
"Your brother, you call him Fin – is that just you or everyone who knows him?"
"Just me," I reply. "Not even An…anyone who likes him calls him that."
Ash nods, just a shadow moving in the darkness. The arena is lit as if by the light of a crescent moon and we can barely make out one another between the branches of the tree.
"Do you have a nickname?" I ask him.
"No, but Collette did," he replies softly. "She was Coley, but only to me. I don't know why."
"I'm Josie," I say.
Ash stares – I see the dim light reflecting off his dark eyes.
"I mean," I amend, "Finnick calls me Josie. Only my family is allowed to call me that."
"What about Jo?" he asks.
"That's what my friends call me," I answer.
"Oh…" Ash is silent for a second before saying, "But you told us to call you Jo from the beginning."
I did, didn't I? Why?
"I knew that you'd be a good ally," I tell him, "And I need all the friends I can get in here."
Our conversation is cut short by the sudden blare of trumpets and the sky is suddenly lit with the nightly show of the dead. Ash looks away as they get to District Eleven so he won't have to see his little sister – his Coley – lit up in the sky.
Finnick – The Hotel in the Capitol; almost five hours later
I should have scars on my arms and legs from the Games. I was hacked at with swords and shot at by arrows but I won. The surgeons got rid of it all.
Too bad that they couldn't get rid of the scars on my soul.
Too bad that they won't get rid of the scars I'm getting now.
She has long nails, filed almost to a point because it's "fashionable." She claws my back as I lay on her; she's shouting my name in ecstasy. She'll treasure this moment or she'll soon forget it.
I'll remember, and hate myself for it.
She goes to pay me and discovers that her husband has the cash. She doesn't want to tell him and I feel angry.
How dare she do this to me, take another chip of my soul for the Capitol, and not give me something in return? Something I need - money that could save my sister's life.
She offers me valuable information instead. And this is how I learn about secrets.
Turns out her husband helped put a certain president into power...some of the politics are beyond me, but with enough people, enough secrets, Snow will never maneuver me into a corner again.
Never again will I be helpless and watch people I love suffer.
But right now, this thought is little comfort.
I'm exhausted - I haven't slept more than two hours at a time since we arrived at the Capitol. And I haven't eaten today.
She finishes with me, like the other two before her tonight. I force myself to walk back to my rooms. Seaweed and Josie's empty rooms are a reminder of what is happening.
I turn on the TV: she - and her allies - are still alive.
It feels as if I can breathe a bit easier.
I drag myself to the shower and turn on the water. I mean to take a quick shower and then go to the Game Room. Instead, my legs give out and I fall to my knees, the water relentlessly pounding on my neck. Tears stream down my face.
How can I do this to Annie?
How can I do this when Josie may die?
How can I want Josie to win, when this is what might await her?
That's the most painful thought. Annie escaped it due to her diagnosis as a crazy woman. But Josie...I don't want the games to break her. But, would the Capitol breaking her be worse?
It's broken me...almost. Annie and Josie are why I fight. But like this, alone in rooms so large that they swallow me whole, I don't feel like fighting.
I feel like I'm drowning in the Capitol.
I don't know for how long I stay there, the water streaming down my aching back. Steam filling the room. I can almost pretend I'm home…no, that's a lie.
I hear the distant sounds of a cannon and I scramble to my feet. I almost slip and fall into the glass doors of the shower, but I hold onto the ridiculous marble designs on the wall and manage to stay standing. I run into the main room wearing nothing, and hear Cesar Flickerman say, "…that little girl from Eleven didn't have much of a chance, the mutts ran her down quickly. Almost better for her to die now than be chased by those careers…"
The adrenaline leaves my body and I collapse on the couch. I'm still wet, I'm vaguely aware that the shower is still running in the background. I close my eyes for only a second…
And wake up to Sky's ridiculous neon-blue hair and him telling me that it's almost noon.
I shoot to my feet, and almost run out the door, before I remember my lack of clothing. Sky looks embarrassed, and is stammering something that vaguely sounds like an apology.
"It's fine! It's fine!" I shout to him, running to me room. I stop in my tracks, my heart almost stopping.
"Sky! Is Josie…?"
"She's fine, she's fine!" Sky assures me, "So are her two allies. Only one death this morning, it was the boy from…Nine? I think it was Nine. Got wounded by mutts last night, died this morning."
I really don't care. And then I feel terrible for not caring. But Josie is alive.
Sky gives me a strange look, "Finnick, what happened to your back?"
I smiled at him carelessly, putting on the mask the Capitol loves automatically, "Haven't you ever felt so much passion for a beautiful woman that the pain becomes real?"
He looks confused, I feel bad, and I clap him on the back. "I had a late night and hurt myself a bit. I'm okay."
Sky doesn't look convinced but nods. "Would you like me to put the medicine on it? It will go away in a few minutes."
I shrug. "Might as well. Just let me put on pants."
Sky looks embarrassed again.
I change and come out holding my shirt. Black shirt, to hide the blood that I know will leak out as I move around the Game Room.
Sky applies the medicine and we leave the rooms together, only stopping to grab several sandwiches. Soon, I'm again in the Game Room.
Haymitch approaches me as I arrive, he looks much more sober than I expected.
"You should watch," he tells me.
I do.