So sorry it took so long! School's driving me crazy. I hope it's worth it anyway. Thanks for the patience:)) I'll try to post sooner next time.
7th Chapter – I know how to use the trident, after all.
The dawn of the day after we're still roaming around with no direction, in seeking of we don't know what.. other tributes to kill? Other allies, what?
We all have cuts all over our bodies, back from that weird corrosive slime. I'm so glad Andrew is unaffected, because it hurts like hell. My suit is tore along che calves and part of the arms, Katniss until ankles, Peeta is bruised on his arms and a portion of his legs and Finnick, who was immerged until the waist, is the one in the worst conditions. He has the chest and the legs massacred by cuts and scaldes; I'm sure he'd like to scream in pain, bu he doesn't, restrained but his stupid male pride.
Following the gash on his back I notice his shoulder's bleeding, but even when I tell him, he seems not to care.
"it's like you told me I broke my nail" he minimizes.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"No, why would it hurt? It's even better than a thermal bath" says sarcastically, I roll my eyes and let him go, it'd be useless to talk to him.
Walking on , the air seems to smell a bit saulty and it also gets frizzy.
"we must be close to the centre of the arena" deduces Katniss.
"it means that we are going in circles , then. Wondeful" says Finnick puffing . But he's right , we have just been at the center of the arena , we can not be back such rapidly.
" There may be a pond with fishes ?" I dare say, hunger begins to be felt .
" Well maybe it could , but no one said that they are also edible" this is true, better not take pointless chances.
"Doing a little ' math, we are dead either way, maybe we should make an attempt.." suggests Katniss.
" Where does thi pessimism come from?" Peeta accuses her with his undying optimism.
"My stomach growls " Andrew mumbles , hitting my heart.
"Mine too, brat .." says Finnick
"What are we waiting for, then? We even have the mermaid's triton here.. " I joke, easing the tension can help sometimes.
"for the record, you also have the merman .. Obvious answer, at least he's getting back his " good humor " . If this is his best , I do not even imagine the worst.
Coming out from the foliage , we can see a small pond , with a few sand around , but actually it's just a puddle of water , nothing more .
"Ooh,after this we can say we have won the Games, and we can give up here .." Comments Finnick with a renewed sarcasm.
"Since when have you became sarcastic Odair ?"I ask sincerely impressed.
"Since we have not got one thing right" he answers piqued without looking.
"Well, maybe Keira's right and there are fishes in there.." dares Peeta, getting closer to take a look. He kneels on the edge of the "bank" and touches with his hand on the water. He immediately complains and moves away.
" What's wrong Peeta?" Asks Katniss alarmed. Peeta focues on his aching hand, massaging it.
"As it seems water has healing power"
"What does that mean, Peeta?" we add examining his hand. The burns are less marked and the contours are slowling disappearing.
" cut is healing" he states. We all glance at each other with a new awareness. One more leverage.
" Let's get into the water, then" I obvisouly propose.
" easy! I can make you sure it bloody hurts!" he warns us. I'm used to that by now, I try not to pay attention to that either.
"Oh come on, where do you think you're going? The child would barely fit in, it's too small. Do you really need someone to tell you that?" Finnick's weirdly right, the stretch of water is really tiny and not deep enough, the body'd be just partly immerged.
"What If we came back to the arena?" Peeta asks dejected.
"it's not safe. And what's more who's to say that salt will heal too? This is fresh water" Katniss reminds us, and we all agree with her, we'd be too exposed there, not even sure to find better cures, it's definitely not worth the shot.
" Come on, then. one at a time, we're not that desperate" Peeta encourages us. If for 'not that desperate' he means we're still able to walk then, no, we're not desperate.
" Andrew's fine, so you go first" I push Katniss towards the water. She kneels down in the little pond and starts to rinse herself out, with Peeta's help, but screaming in pain. I give way to Peeta too, I don't know why but his face touches me, and I feel protective towards him.
For Finnick is more complicated than for us, he's too stout, and besides he seems to be worse, despite that, he tries to suffocate his moans without succeed.
"Finnick, your shoulders" Peeta informs him, Katniss encourages her fiancè to help him, but Andrew comes before him hurls himself into the water. This kid is amazing, even if I have to admit that he dedicating himself so much for someone who wanted to knock us down is quite annoying for me.
"ok, now I've seen everything" blondie admits chuckling in the water.
" what was that?" exclaims Katniss pulling an arrow out, we all snap up and look frantically around; what is your next move going to be, Snow?
"what?" Peeta whispers not to cover up eventual noises.
" that rustle, or maybe it was a cry, I'm not sure" but nothing moves, nothing jangles. A moment after we're all convinced it was nothing and we get ready to get back on our way.
We keep walking for some metres down the forest, and then we have a break to drink where the trees seem to be more substantial.
"Katniss" I call her, making her take a step back.
"yeah?"
"how will we flush Brutus and the others out?" She's been through this last year, she must know a trick or two.
"A lot of them died, Keira, you heard the cannon" she says so, but it seems she does not believe that either. As if she was sure that those who died have never been a real problem. Or perhaps she's just learnt to be suspicious.
"Something makes me believe it's not them"
"I agree with you, we must keep our eyes wide open, Enobaria is kind of a wild beast, and Brutus is almost worse"
"Do you think they're going to hunt us down?"
"I suppose, but we're not the only ones left anyway"
" We will be their last" Finnick clarifies from behind, from the top of his knowledge.
For some more minutes we all hush, tired and hungry. The air is muggy, but it seems the night will be bitterly cold.
Despite bruises have been alleviated, legs are still heavy and they're hard to carry. My uniform is more and more torn, and they had to manufacture them sparing no expense. Always the same big liars.
It's paradoxical actually but it turned out Andrew's better than anyone else and this gives me a crumb of stability, I mean, at least I don't have to deal with a scared and ill child. He's turning into a little man by now, making us very proud. He has decided that Finnick is going to carry him everywhere. He's been dazzled by that boy, what will be so special about him?
"We have to find something to e.." since his voice gets unnaturally interrupted, we turn around towards him as we watch him disappear in the leafage in a whirl of flash and God knows what.. something attacked him and judging from the sounds it makes it musn't be very friendly.
"Peeta!" Katniss literally throws herself running after him, but Finnick manages to grab her arm quickly, stopping her. He leaves Andrew by my side and goes straight after Peeta, following the track left by trumpled leaves. As soon as Katniss realizes she's been left behind, she starts runnnig faster than before in seek of her fiancè. When it comes to Peeta she's unstable and unstoppable. I can't leave them facing some kind of freak sent by the Gamemakers, that'd be too dangerous, considering that Finnick is the only one who'd stand a chance against a thing like that. On the other hand I can't leave Andrew either, he needs my help more than they do; and most importantly, he's my brother, he's above anything else. I take a deep breath and sigh, but before considering the idea of climbing a tree to check out the situation, I hear Katniss screaming, and my whole reasoning is screwed up, Andrew too suggests me to go, and so we do. Something tells me they'd do the same for us.
As I get there I see Finnick and Peeta, who seems to be fine, struggling against a mutant beast which looks like an hungry lion. He's bigger than a normal feline and the colour is artificial; his mane looks bristly and sharpened, almost as if it was a weapon. He doesn't have the long tail as normal lions and he only has claws on the forelegs. But what strikes the most are his crimson eyes and his ocher teeth. He perfectly embodies the worst nightmare of all children, even though Andrew doesn't seem so frightened, I dare say he looks more like a pillar of salt.
Katniss is frozen, leaning on a tree, watching the scene as she was a spectator, she just holds the bow in her hand, without any arrow ready to fly. I don't know how this situation is going to evolve, but I sure as hell can not stand here without doing anything. I didn't put my brother in danger in vane. I get closer to her, I grab her by the shoulders and I shake her slowly.
"Katniss, Katniss we have to do something" as I speak, my voice is low and broken by fear, a fear I try to hide for the seek of everyone around me. This Games pull out things you didn't even image were buried inside you, ready to come out when necessary.
"I don't know" she answers. For a second I don't even realize she's talking to me, her voice is too distant and too detached to reach my ears.
Meanwhile Peeta encourages us to walk away with shouts and hand signs, but my consciensce clearly disagrees, screaming we can't just leave them here. My mind quickly fathoms those few choices we have, and none of them would seem to be right.
Peeta ends up near Katniss to dodge a paw and makes the most of it to push her to go away. That seems to be a wakeup call, she seems to be back on the earth.
"I'm not leaving you here" she just states,the firmess of her voice make me recognize that brave girl who volunteered for her little sister.
"Katniss don't make me repeat that" he tells her while he's back to face the beast, who seems to be still unharmed. Unfortunately talking to her distracts him and the lion manages to leave a wound on his left thigh. Peeta speedily moves behind a tree to examine his bleeding cut.
"Peeta get out of here, I can do this alone" here he is, white knight with a trident, what does he think he could do alone with this monster? Who the hell does he think he is?!
Peeta gives voice to my thought and answers him as rude as he can
" Stop playing the lone Ranger, it's too much, even for you!"
"for heaven's sake you loggerheads, get the hell away from here" he yells again, thinking to be scary. At this point Katniss takes his word for it and drags Peeta away by an arm. Seeing I don't take a step she stares at me, trying to figure out what's holding me.
"Keira, come on, let's walk away from here" she comes back to take my hand to lead me away. I glance at Finnick one last time and then grab Andrew and start running. He might be a reckless stubborn, but he saved me and Andrew more than I'd admit,It looks like he's doing fine though. We're headed to the wood when my anxiety is heightned by cries of pain that make me crystalize where I am. Just a reason that justifies those screams comes to my mind.
"Katniss" I call her back in a second. She looks at me with eyes full of hesitation that flicker from me to Peeta, who barely stands on his own feet.
A vivid, harsh scene takes place in front of my eyes, and I squeeze them to reject it. I have to come back.
"What are you going to do?" she asks me bewildered. Clearly she doesn't support what she thinks I'm about to do.
I shake my head and push Andrew towards her and Peeta. It all happens it a blink of an eye.
"He saved me, Katniss" that's the only explanation I can give, and before turning around the only thing I see is Katniss and Peeta looking at each other holding Andrew's hands.
I came out of foliage and I immediately locate him, bleeding and lame but still standing. As he individualizes me he gives me a murderous glare. I don't know exactly what to do, I came back in the wake of my conscience, but I don't actually have a plan and I certainly can not deal with a thing like that face to face.
How do you kill a mutant lion? Good question.
I must think frantically, taking a look around in seek of some inspiration. I must hurry up. In the meantime he has built in a couple of blows more and I noticed the trident flying away from his grip. Wonderful. The only thing he can do is drawing back until a tree bole. Oh geez! Without thinking, my legs move on their own decision, the inspiration has ended up right next to me, and it has the shape of a deadly, bright fork. I grab it and I hit that creature ritght under his throat. A transparent liqui comes out of it, obviously it's not blood, the lion utters a lancinanting cry and the roars lead the way to moans, more and more feeble, until he cowers on the ground. My heart is beating at full speed, I could even have a heart attack on the spot. Adrenaline could replace blood.
I breath noisily, still holding the trident in my hands and shaking a little, too. Then I turn towards Finnick, still weary on the ground.
"Maybe I know how to use the trident, after all" I manage to say after recovering a little self-confident. He doesn't reply, and lays completely down the ground, probably to let of some tension.
"Are you okay?" I've the duty to ask him after all this effort.
"More or less, where are the others?"
"a little bit further, I guess, after you pushed them off" he ignores my dig and crinkles his face.
" Are they fine?" his voice became dried up.
"We are" Katniss shouts while they appear on the background of the battlefield. I knew they'd come back. Andrew immediately takes a running start towards me to place a kiss on my cheek. Seeing him in shape is the only positive thing of this stupid Games.
"How about you?" Peeta always worries about anyone, well at least one of us has to. We can't all get insensitive.
"I was about to end up as dog food, but now everything's fine"
"What happened?" Katniss asks pointing at the semi-decomposed mutant.
"A miracle happened, I guess" Finnick replies while he's trying to get up, unsuccessfully.
"Can't you walk either?" with a sad tone Andrew goes getting the trident back, that had fallen off my incredulous hands.
It's pretty clear he can't walk.
"Amazing, it gets better and better" Peeta massages his forehead with his fingers and then he lets himself go on the leaves.
"We have to get out of here" Katniss scans the horizon and throws little rocks to prevent any accident with some force field.
"to go where?" I ask, extremely tired. The adrenaline is gone but it has frazzled me.
"We're not safe here, We're never safe in a place where we made so much noise in"
"Katniss you're right, but in case you didn't notice let me break it down for you, we have more than one problem. Take a look around" Finnick points out at all of us. We actually might look like the consequence of the passage of the Red Cross.
"Problems are to be solved, guys. Peeta you hold on to me, Keira, get Finnick out of that branch, before he gets mouldy on it. Let's try to hurry up" she raises her head to look at us, and none of us makes a move instead. To be honest I'm still trying to process what she said.
"Seriously? What are we, children? Andrew is wiser than all of you! Get you're ass*s up" irritated and angry she puts Peeta's arm around her neck and gets back on the track.
Andrew stares at me as if he wanted to suggest me to get a move on. Maybe Katniss's right and he's really wiser than us. He's been so relaxed it almost seemed he had everything under control. As if he always knows the right thing to do. I sight and look up to the sky, annoied but despite everything I get nearby the wounded guy and strech my hand in front of his leaf-green eyes.
"Come on, Finnick" his gaze is mistrustful so he stands up without my helping hand.
"You know? You're unbearable! And immature, too. Maybe someone had to volunteer for you!" I don't think he caught the veiled criticism. I was attacking his inability to grow up.
"Listen to me, little girl. What do you think I could do with your help?!" how insolent of him! I've just saved his life what the hell!
"Survive, appearently" I immediately rub it in his face.
"That was a stroke of luck" he declares with his timeless arrogance, taking a few steps ahead.
"That's how you define something you don't do?" he stops for a second, thinking about a venomous answer.
"no, just when it comes to something you do" I look away and bite my lips not to freak out. This guy really stresses my patience.
"you know what? Stay here and suicide. I don't care" I opt for a detached reply. He doesn't deserve anything different.
"oh on the contrary, you care. Someone has to look after you baby bro given that you're not able to do that by yourself" ok, that was a low blow. It's time to go down to his level.
"if you think you're soo good, why didn't you volunteer for taking care of Annie in here?" perhaps now I'm exaggerating, rage leads me here, I can't help it. He opens his eyes wide, throwing at me all his bad temper.
"know what, darling? I guarantee you'll come to a very bad end" his words cut like a knife. I can almost feel the pain on my body. It's a firemark more than a threat.
"At this rate we won't go any further" Katniss mutters to herself. But in the dead silence of the forest it's easily audible.
I assume she's mad at us, but there's nothing I can do, he's acting like a child and like a dush.
Katniss leaves Peeta near a tree and goes getting Finnick, who's seated on another rock. She's about to lift him bodily. If we weren't in this dramatic situation, I'd probably crack up. Who knows if the sadist out there appreciate our past times. Given that they don't give a damn about our troubles, they might like the humor of our conditions.
"I'll give you an hand" she tells Finnick. As he's back on his feet, she lets him fall over me, that was so unexpected that we nearly slide on the ground again.
"let me get this straigh, you two. We need to stay alive. No one's interested in your squabbles. You'll kill each other out of here, if you'll ever have the chance"
" I don't think I'll hold up for so long" he mumbles in return. It takes all my will to ignore him this time. It's the first time I agree with him anyway. His uniform is in really bad shape, and when the night falls down the temperature goes dramatically down, he might be cold, but I'm sure he'd never admit that. He clings on to my neck with an arm, and the weight is remarkable, I'm making a great effort in sustaining him. But it's sure not the right time to complain, I make my feet stable on the ground; I grab his arm and tent to lever on my shoulder. As I step forward I feel something keeping me stuck right where I was, and the first thing I think of is that I won't make it, I can't carry him. He tried to follow my step but he barely manages to stand. For a second I squeeze my eyes, I have an headache as terrible and heavy as an iron circle, drops of sweat are trickling down my front. But the sweet, chubby face of Andrew strongly invades my scene and all the fragile strenght I've left gathers back together all of a sudden. Obviously Finnick interrupts my mental heroic monologue.
" I don't bite, for now, and I'd like to make you notice that we're at a standstill. We're not going anywhere this way! Why the hell do you have things half-done?!" he barks. What am I supposed to do? Where am I going wrong now!? Easy to speak for him! He's already been there before, lucky for me I'm not used to carry wounded people to save their life and escape from other people who want to rub us out. A sob's struggling for coming out of my throat, but no way, not this time. I'm not going to give him another satisfaction, it's time for another brave mental monologue. I must be strong, for my brother, for my family and for myself, because I could even make it. I guess I'll have to repeat that to myself a lot from now on, maybe I'll end up believing in it eventually.
When I gaze at him he points towards Katniss to prove his point, she's put her arm around Peeta's waist tighly. Is it what Finnick means? That stupid detail could really make a difference? Peeta has the whole uniform covering his body however;I'll admit that the idea of holding Finnick's naked skin makes me blush. It's childish, I'll own it up.
"Guys, if you're not moving in ten seconds so help me God, I'll come there and play bowling with your heads!" Katniss awakes me for the second time and this is the wakeup call that reminds me we need to be pragmatic, there's no place for personal inibitions.
I clear my throat and pull myself together.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have come back" I mutter holding his waist just like Katniss did.
"What did you say?" he asks me accusingly.
"nothing, nothing" better not to fuel any argument.
" what? Are you getting emotional?" I address him a nasty look that just makes him sneer, I'll never understand this guy. I can' tell why some moments he's amuck and other times it almost seems he's willing to wink at me. He must sense my discomfort so he makes the most of it and pulls me closer. My agitation turns into aggressiveness, so I grit my teeth just to tell him:
" go to hell, Finnick" I hear him chuckle before I focus on the three ahead of me, the lovebirds and Andrew on Peeta's right, functioning as a support.
Now that I think about it, it's weird he didn't make a bid for carrying Finnick.