Kayla Rakkor, 15, District 9
There's something final about today.
I feel it as I wake up, before my eyes are even open. When I do open my eyes, and I blink up at the rising sun, which is peeking down at me through the treetops, the feeling becomes more pronounced. It's as though I know that I won't be seeing this sun rise in this arena again. Usually at home I can tell when the Gamemakers are about to end the Hunger Games, just by watching and waiting. It's been long enough since anything "exciting" happened.
It will all be over soon, one way or the other.
"One way," says Bergamot, turning to face me. "But not the other."
"Do you still think that I'm going home, Iceberg?" I ask, slowly sitting up from my position curled up among the roots. "No, of course I'm going home. The question is if I'll be in a coffin."
A stray breeze slides past my face, caressing my cheek.
"Maybe, Anise…" I whisper, my fingers curling around the hilt of the knife in my belt. "I have to try, at least. I'm not a killer…but am I a Victor? You said that I was, Berg, back on the roof…"
I pick up my backpack, which is still well-stocked with now-cold food.
"So, am I a hunter now?
Will I win? I don't know how
Or when or where. It will be soon;
This morning, or this afternoon
I'll know for sure. And then…
And then…"
I don't know how to end it. For once, there are no more words in my head.
I shoulder my backpack and walk through the trees. The birds are singing their songs back and forth, and a few squirrels cross the branches over my head. It's like I'm in District Nine already, except not.
Suddenly, all birdsong ceases, and the rest of the woodland activity seems to disappear, as though it was never there. I glance around warily but keep walking. Better to go towards the end of the story than away from it.
I step out of the trees and onto a flat expanse of light-gray rock. A few inches from my feet is a round metal plate, and in the distance sits a golden horn, its mouth open to me and its floor covered in ashes and scorch marks.
This is the Cornucopia.
I never had a bloodbath, I think. I left so quickly… Maybe it's right that something should happen here, that it should end here, where I left the Games. I was out of the Games for so long, and now I'm finally in it. I'm truly a part of the Games now. It's high time I filled my quota, paid my dues.
I lean onto my left leg. Maybe the Plan, which has done nothing for me so far, will buy me a few seconds in the end. I can hope.
And I'll have to do a lot of hoping, really quickly, because there, on the other side of the clearing, stands Shimmer Argent.
XXX
Shimmer Argent, 18, District 1
The residual pain in my leg slides completely out of my mind as I see her, standing on the other side of the clearing. Nine. Her dark brown eyes flicker up to mine, and she hesitates.
I don't.
My hand whips up and over, and one poisoned knife slices through the air towards the girl. She won't be able to dodge it, not with my aim and that leg of hers—
She dodges it. She dodges it! She shoves herself to the right more quickly than should be possible with only one leg, and the dagger flies harmlessly into the woods, probably sticking into a tree somewhere. Lost now, irrelevant now.
How?
No time for how, only for act! Nine hits the ground and rolls, and I move towards her, dragging my useless leg behind me. Her arms are tangled up in her backpack, and I take the moment to throw another knife, a normal one. She lifts her arms up, and the backpack intercepts the knife. Something inside the pack is thick enough to make the knife stick. I gnash my teeth as she slides her arms out of the pack—She never was stuck at all, damn it!—and turns to run into the trees. I reach for another knife.
The ground shudders, and I have to stop to catch my balance. Nine does, too, and then I see it: she's using both legs. She's not lame. It was all a trick, from the very beginning.
That little…!
My thoughts are cut off as the ground trembles more violently than before, and then there's a loud rumbling sound, like something massive is moving nearby…no, moving beneath our feet!
The rock splits between me and Nine in a wide, zigzagging crack, and then the ground under my feet shoots upward, while Nine's goes down. The sudden upward force shoves me to the ground, but as I try to get back up the rock tilts sideways and I roll, slamming against another outcrop which I could have sworn hadn't been there a moment ago. I sit up, my head spinning but focused enough to see that the entire area around the Cornucopia is now a shifting, splintering mass of rock spikes and irregular boulders, shooting upward, slamming downward, shaking and smashing.
Another enormous slab of rock narrowly misses my head as I rock forward to avoid it. To stay still is suicide; I have to keep moving or else I'll be crushed. And if this is entertaining the audience, then Nine and I could be stuck in this mess for a long time.
I haul myself around the rocks, jumping and diving, my leg screaming at me every time it hits a hard surface. I glimpse Nine a few times, struggling to stay unharmed an on her feet. The thought flashes through my mind that, if I can just get close enough to stick her with my last poisoned knife, the chaos will end.
As I try to direct my dodges towards Nine, the girl staggers up to the Cornucopia and places her hands on the ridged, golden surface. Does she think she can climb it and avoid the rocks?
The rock beneath her feet drops suddenly, and she stumbles, landing with her legs bent awkwardly. I'm thrown upward, but I aim my legs towards her and my feet plant firmly into her back as she tries to stand back up. She lets out a short shriek as she hits the ground again. I fall backwards, and she rolls over onto her back as I get up again. She's trapped against the Cornucopia, with the metal at her back and the terror in her eyes is just delicious. I grab a knife and stab at her chest, but she raises an arm in defense. I grin as the blade sinks into her skin, and she screams in pain.
XXX
Kayla Rakkor, 15, District Nine
Shimmer pulls the knife back towards her. It's covered with red liquid, and my left arm is, too. Blood!
I've been cut before, in hunting accidents, but never so deep. I clap my right hand over the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood, but it won't do any good. She's just going to kill me now…
So why isn't she?
The girl from District One is just staring at me, grinning like a maniac. I blink tears away and look up and around at the violently shifting rocks, trying to figure it out and coming up empty-handed.
Shimmer's grin fades, and then she scowls, glancing down at the knife in her hand. "It's a normal one, damn it!" she snarls, tossing it aside and reaching for her belt. "No matter. You're dead this time!"
She grabs another knife, but suddenly time seems to slow down to a near halt, and there are two other voices screaming my name, urging me on, and I can't ignore them!
"No!" I shout, throwing myself forward and hitting her full in the chest. She tumbles backwards again, with me on top of her, and a rock slab smashes down onto her hand, the one holding the knife. She shrieks in rage and pain, and then there's a deafening crack as the ground beneath us splits. I catch a glimpse of something bright red far below, and then all of a sudden there's nothing holding us up, and I scream as we fall.
XXX
Remaining Tributes:
Tribute-Name-Age
1G Shimmer Argent 18
9G Kayla Rakkor 15