Chapter 10: The Finale
Kori froze. Ina let out a short scream. The wind whistled across the landscape.
What. The. Hell.
Before they could even think of making a move towards the pit, a cannon fired.
What...Why...I don't...Twyla…
It felt like hours before either of them could even move.
Ina did first, letting out a strangled whimper and throwing her arms around Kori, trembling. Kori pulled her close automatically, eyes still focused on hole their ally had just thrown herself into.
I don't understand…
She still didn't understand hours later, when she had gathered Twyla's abandoned backpack and spear and trekked alongside Ina back to their camp in the mini-warehouse. Not when she portioned out food for herself and Ina and ate her share without tasting anything. Not when they sat in the doorway and watched Twyla's face appear and disappear along with the strident melody of Panem's anthem.
No matter how many times Kori's mind replayed the same moment, she couldn't make sense of it.
Why did she do that?
Ina came up with a possibility as they got into the sleeping bag that night. "She said her arm was going to slow her down even more when the pills ran out. Maybe she just wanted to...to make it quick."
Wrapping her arms around the younger girl, Kori said, "Maybe. Try to sleep, Ina. I'll keep watch."
"I'm not tired yet...Talk to me?"
"About what?"
"I dunno. Something nice."
When it came to that, Kori didn't know what else to talk about but District Three, even when it made her chest ache from homesickness. She talked about her family, about her friends, about school, about East Park, about books like the one she'd gotten for her birthday and hadn't had a chance to read. Ina interjected only a couple times, "Hey, you're best friend's name is only one letter away from mine...Your East Park sounds like the Meadow back home in Twelve…" before finally drifting off.
Despite not feeling tired herself, Kori ended up dozing a few times, waking each time with a jolt that barely seemed to disturb her remaining ally.
Yet the night remained clear of bad weather or mutts or even other tributes.
There's almost no one left.
She didn't know how to feel about that. I'm so close to going home...Or, if not me, then Ina...
But still to far for them to hope.
The next morning, there was no water in the nearest stream or any other they came across, and the air was baking hot by noon. Their water bottles, filled the day before, emptied with terrifying speed.
The Gamemakers are doing this. It's almost time for a finale.
They were sucking on cactus leaves, trying to keep their last half-bottle of water in reserve, when Claudia Templesmith announced a feast at the Cornucopia, set for sunset. Instead of food, the prize would be water.
So they've dried up the entire Arena. The last two Careers are suffering, too.
"Maybe if we stay hidden, they'll kill each other," Ina suggested halfheartedly.
Then what? "More likely only one would live, and hunt us down if we didn't die of dehydration first." Or get mutts sent to us again. Kori licked her already-cracked lips. "We have to go to the Cornucopia. I don't think it's optional at this point."
It was almost a relief to know that the Games were almost over, one way or another.
Yet...Last night, did we both fall asleep for the last time?
It was late afternoon when they descended from the hills and into the abandoned town, passing the dried-up stream that Kori had followed on Day One. She lead the way with Twyla's spear in hand, Ina close behind with the remaining knife from the pair Jack had snatched from the Bloodbath.
Manufactured or not, the town felt eerie. A few buildings, despite the bleached look of their wooden exteriors, seemed like they could still be lived in. Most were falling apart like those Kori had gotten used to staying in the first few nights of the Games. Loose gutters and shingles clattered in a dry breeze that also swept up eddies of dust in old streets mostly reclaimed by dried-up, rustling plants.
Every single noise made Kori tense up and look around frantically for signs of the remaining tributes. The boy from Four, possibly still injured but no doubt armed...The boy from Two, a killing machine, ruthless…
When Ina took her hand, she wrapped her fingers firmly around the younger girl's and said, "Stay close."
If this goes badly...I hope Kai doesn't watch...
The nearest building to the Cornucopia was some kind of cluttered old barn that offered just enough cover while also having large enough gaps from missing boards to look through. Ina had hidden there during her brief stint spying on the Careers. Copying that past action seemed wise in the moment.
From the barn, the Cornucopia looked abandoned, supply crates scattered around the mouth and sides, all coated with dust. "They're probably off hunting, maybe even separately," she whispered. But they'll be back...the sun's about to set…
And then it would be the finale. One trained Career and one tough fisher boy against a thirteen-year-old and a girl from the tech district who just happened to be able to lift weights.
Unless the boys are seriously injured, it's going to be a nightmare...I can't let Ina run into it with me. I just can't. Not after everything that's happened in here.
Making up her mind, Kori leaned Twyla's spear against the wall and turned to grasp both of Ina's shoulders. "Ina, listen to me. When the water's brought up, I'm going to go in there, and you're going to stay here. If something happens to me, you...you'll have a chance to survive if the rest of us take each other out."
Ina began to protest immediately, but Kori cut her off. When I go down, I can do my best to seriously injure the others, give her a chance to outlive them… "Those boys will see you as an easy target, and will take you out in a second. I'll last longer, be able to cause more harm... I want you to make it out of here, okay? Whatever happens to me, stay out of it."
Tears welling up in her eyes, Ina threw her arms around Kori. "I'm glad you're my friend," she said against Kori's shoulder.
Kori hugged her back as tightly as she could. "It's gonna be okay, Ina," she choked out, not believing herself at all.
Because nothing about this is okay.
As the sun sunk further towards the horizon, they shared the last couple mouthfuls of precious water from their last bottle. Then, as the last rays of golden-red sun hit the Cornucopia, the ground in front of the mouth split and a table rose up, containing a row of water-filled pitchers on a white tablecloth.
Ina turned and hugged Kori one last time. "Give them hell," she said as she pulled away, gray eyes wide and blazing.
"I will." Picking up the spear, Kori gave Ina's hand a brief squeeze and charged out of the barn, sprinting towards the Cornucopia. Maybe if I get in and out fast enough the other two…
She didn't have time to finish the thought.
About five yards from the table, something whistled past her, followed by someone tackling her to the ground. The spear was wrenched out of her hand and tossed away by the boy from Four who looked just as filthy and exhausted as she was. "Stay still!" he yelled, reaching for a knife in his belt.
Ina said he's got an injured leg. Kori took a guess as to which one, drew her own legs up, and kicked.
Somehow, she got it right, and he fell back with a bellow of pain. By the time he was on his feet and coming at her again, she was more than ready to wrestle him for the knife.
He was taller, but her kick had done some kind of damage to the preexisting injury and she used that, attempting to trip him more than overpower him while keeping him from stabbing her. He still got in a couple slashes to her arms when for a moment her grip faltered, but then she managed to seize and wrench his wrist hard enough for him to drop the weapon altogether.
He responded by slamming her back into the table, then seizing one of the pitchers and smashing it over her head.
It's goddamn glass.
Blood and water streamed down her face as she dropped to the ground, pain ripping through her skull, expecting to be finished off at any second.
But he didn't. He was too busy screaming and falling as someone stabbed him from behind.
The boy from Two…?
When Kori managed to clear her vision, she couldn't believe what she was seeing just a few feet from her. It wasn't the Career attack she'd been expecting at all.
Ina must have ignored Kori's instructions, grabbed Twyla's spear, and ran up behind the boy from Four, because now she was using all of her meager body weight to drive that spear into his chest.
His cannon fired as Kori saw the actual boy from Two charging towards them, sword in his left hand as his right arm looked bloodied and bandaged. Cassius. His name is Cassius.
And even if his right hand was his dominant one, someone as trained as him could use his left to wield a sword as well.
"Ina, throw me the spear!"
She caught it almost too late to block his first swing of the sword with the shaft; the spear didn't even bend, but the vibration from the blow caused her to drop it. The impact seemed to cause him pain, too, and she got in a punch to left shoulder when his weapon was lowered.
The only thing more terrifying than his roar of pain and rage was the look in his eyes as he lunged forward again.
"Ina, run!" Kori managed to get out before Cassius threw her against the Cornucopia.
The world flashed white for a moment.
Then she heard Ina's voice, screaming, screaming, screaming.
I've got to...
Bracing against large crate, vision blurry and fragmented, Kori tried to push herself to her feet. She heard Ina's screaming cut off. Then the sound of a cannon.
She saw red, and not from blood this time.
Cassius, sword in hand, stepped back from Ina just in time for the crate Kori hurled to collide with his head. He went down.
Seconds later, she had swept up Twyla's spear and was shoving into the boy's torso and ripping it out, over and over and over again. She didn't stop until another cannon fired and the trumpets rang out.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Victor of the Ninety-Fifth Hunger Games! I give you...Kori Aoki of District Three!"
The spear clattered to the ground as Kori stumbled away from the dead boy, over to Ina's crumpled form. She dropped to her knees, cursing between sobs, Ina's blood staining her hands along with Cassius's.
She was helpless again, just like with Jack. No, no, no...
Somewhere, far away, the Capitol was cheering. Kori didn't want to hear it as the sound played over the Arena's loudspeakers. Her tears turned into screams as she clung to her ally, only half-aware of the wails and whatever words might be spewing from her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she glimpsed a hovercraft ladder.
No, I can't leave Ina, I can't, she was just here, I can't…
They must have decided to knock her out, because after the sensation of a pinprick to her neck, everything went black.