(15)
The day fades to dusk as the sun sets. Morrison and Peeta do not walk very quickly. I'm sure Peeta is just as upset about Jamie's death as Morrison, but for once, Peeta looks more determined to go on. He leads the way, going in the direction of Prim's voice.
After about twenty minutes, Johanna turns to see Morrison and runs at him. She throws her arms around him, "Morrison, I thought you were dead!"
"Me too," he mumbles.
"Peeta!" Prim dashes over to Peeta and asks, "Wait, where's Jamie?"
Johanna's smile fades.
No one says anything. Morrison and Peeta just hang their heads in silence and the girls figure it out for themselves. They stand like this for a few minutes before Johanna says, "We ran into another girl. I think she's Mayla. She's right over there…" Johanna turns around to point at a vacant rock. Seeing the girl is gone, she searches into the distance and sees a figure running away.
Morrison takes no time to think. He runs after Mayla and Prim follows him. They are the two fastest in the Career Pack. Perhaps that's what Prim showed the Gamemakers during her training session. I had no idea that Prim could run faster than Johanna, and Johanna runs like the wind.
Mayla is not so lucky. Although she had a huge head start, she didn't get very far and it doesn't take long for Morrison to catch up with her. He eventually reaches her and pulls her down by her back. Mayla trips and her hands break her fall. She scrambles onto her back and stares into Morrison's malicious eyes.
"Prim," he calls. "Get over here!"
Prim immediately runs to his side and says, "No, she's fine. I think we should ally with her." She gives him a weird look.
Morrison pauses for a moment and reminds her, "There are eleven of us left. Our Career Pack is four. If we let her in, we'd make up half of the tributes. Sorry, but no." He doesn't seem sorry at all.
"Take care of her, Prim," Morrison nods at my sister.
"What?" Prim questions, raising an eyebrow.
Mayla tries to get up, but Morrison kicks her down with each attempt she makes to stand.
"Finish her off!" he yells.
Prim's eyes widen. She's still holding the knife Jamie gave her. She looks over to Morrison and sees he doesn't have a weapon.
"Where's your spear?" she yells at him.
"It sorta got stuck in Merrow's back. Now, come on. Don't prolong this," he says impatiently.
Mayla meets my sister's eyes. The sweet girl who looks so much like Rue is searching into Prim's heart. My sister looks away from Mayla and back to Morrison.
He motions her to do something and Prim just stays frozen like a rock. "Prim!" he yells and shoves her at Mayla. Prim is startled by the unexpected force. Morrison pushes her just a little too hard. Prim falls to the ground. The knife goes with her. Mayla screams out in pain.
"No!" Prim yells. "No, no, no! What have I done?" She withdraws her hand from the handle of the knife which is now clearly lodged in Mayla's neck. The wound is in a place I doubt anyone could survive with.
Mayla moans and stares at Prim. Prim flips around to Morrison. "How could you this? We've got to do something for her. Don't you have any medicine?"
Morrison slowly walks over to Mayla as Prim babbles on.
"Come on! There must be some medicine in one of her packs," she frantically stands up, searching through the bags Mayla dropped during her fall.
Morrison says nothing and drops to Mayla's level. Prim watches in silence. He gently wraps his fingers around the handle and removes the blade from her neck.
Prim sighs, "Oh, thank God! Now, don't you think we should-"
The cannon booms just as Morrison thrusts the end back into her wound. He claps his hands together and wipes off a drop of blood. His job is done.
Prim screams in horror. "Morrison!" She stares at him with a look of disgust, her eyes welling over in fresh tears. Without another word, she turns and runs away, back to Peeta and Johanna.
Leanore sighs. "Hold on, I'll be right back. I've got to get your dinner."
"Ok," my eyes stay glued to the television, but my thoughts go elsewhere. Seeing Mayla die reminds me of Rue's death. Her small fragile body is just laying there on the ground, completely lifeless. Then, the hovercraft takes her away in the same way it took away Rue.
Morrison just stands there for a few minutes before running back to find the other members of the Career Pack. I must say, I do understand him a little bit more after Jamie's death. He's been through some really hard times in the past few months, everyone has, but he takes out his frustration in a different way than Peeta. Morrison channels his anger through destruction. Hitting the tree, taking down branches, murdering helpless children; Morrison is a wreck.
He finally meets Johanna and she avoids him, tending to Prim's sorrow. Peeta gives Morrison a harsh glance. "Hey, I know you're upset, Prim, but do you think you can fix my wound?" Peeta asks gently, rubbing her back.
She sniffles, "Yes, of course." She goes over to a large tree and rips off some moss from the trunk. Then she tends to Peeta by placing the moss on his cut.
Johanna and Morrison quietly observe as Prim's small hands do their work. Soon enough, Peeta is treated and she prescribes him to lie down and rest for awhile. She takes one look at Morrison's arm and grabs some more moss for his injury.
"Thanks a lot, Prim. You know, this really hurts," he says grumpily.
"I know," she says, but instead of helping him apply the moss, she just tosses it to him. "Fix it yourself."
Johanna smirks and gives Morrison one of her looks. "Thanks for your help, Johanna," he says.
"Mmmm, you're welcome," she says as she walks away.
Just then, Leanore comes back in the room with a tray of food. The smell of sweet chicken teriyaki fills the room. "Special treat tonight," Leanore gives me a warm smile.
"Smells good," I comment.
She hands me the tray and sits back in another chair, facing away from the television. I'm alarmed by how intently she watches as I bring a bite of chicken to my mouth. She leans forward in her chair as I open to take a bite. The top of the chicken gently touches the roof of my mouth and I realize it's too hot to eat just yet. That's when I realize something is wrong. The way Leanore is acting right now is very off considering her actions of the past few days.
"Eat up!" She calls over to me.
When she says this, it hits me. Tomorrow, there cannot be any chance of me getting into the arena. Therefore, why not just let me sleep it all away? I place the chicken back down onto the plate, carefully. Then, I stand up and bring the tray back over to Leanore.
"It's too hot," I complain.
"Oh," she says. "Maybe you should blow on it."
"Hmm… can you do it?" I hold the chicken to her mouth. She goes slightly cross-eyed.
"Umm…" that is the last thing she says before I shove the chicken into her mouth and force it down her throat.
I laugh slightly, because I was correct. This "special" meal had a dose of sleeping medicine in it. Leanore immediately falls asleep.
Gale's brothers are now the center of attention. I return to the bed and watch as they converse. In the corner of the screen is a small white flower. Vick notices it first. "That's weird," he says, "I haven't seen any flowers in this arena the whole time!"
"Me neither," Rory says. Rory and Vick don't really resemble their brother that much. They look like him, but you'd never guess from the way they act that they are related to Gale. Gale is rough and tough around the edges while Rory and Vick are too sweet. Vick leads Rory over to the flower and he picks it up in his hands. Immediately, the flower wilts.
"Look, there's another one!" Rory points to another spot, farther away from the stream. He runs after it and picks it up. That flower also dies.
"I have a bad feeling about these flowers, Rory," Vick says, slowly taking a step backward, letting the wilted flower drop out of his grasp. Time seems to freeze. I watch as the flower slowly falls to the ground and then, it explodes. Vick falls backwards and Rory comes running, the flower still in his hand.
"Vick!" Rory screams. He tosses his flower into the stream and bubbles form at the surface. There is no large explosion like before.
Vick coughs and Rory helps him sit up.
"I can't breathe," Vick says with a rasp in his voice.
Rory's mouth just hangs agape as he watches his brother struggle for air. "Come on Vick. Breathe! Breathe, Vick!"
But Vick does not breathe. Another cannon sounds.
I try not to watch as Rory holds his dead brother in his hands, the smoke and ashes filling the air. When the hovercraft comes for his body, Rory holds onto him, yelling, "No! You can't take him! He's not dead! Don't take my brother…"
The Capitol is hard and unfeeling. The claws pry his body away from the shaking Rory. As soon as the hovercraft has cleared out, the sky lets loose more flowers. They come falling down in heaps and Rory tries to run for it. But there are too many. The flowers keep exploding, this time, almost on impact with the ground. He survives for a few minutes, dodging the explosions, but in the end, it is pointless. The smoke fills the air and it enters his lungs, stealing his life from him. A second cannon sounds.
I feel guilty for Rory and Vick's deaths. It takes some time for me to realize that the Capitol has once again used my rebellion against me. When Rue died, I covered her in flowers as an act of defiance against her death. But now, the Capitol has used flowers to kill Gale's brothers.
When the cameras return to the Career Pack, the night show has already begun. The first face in the sky is Jamie Mellark. Then my mother's face replaces his. When I see Mayla, I swear it is Rue's face in the sky. They look identical. Merrow still has that stupid smirk on his face. I hope he enjoyed dying. Rory, Greasy Sae, Vick and Thresh's grandmother are the rest of the casualties for the day.
I just hope the Gamemakers don't kill anyone else tomorrow. Only eight people remain. The final eight. There won't be any interviews this year. Of course, the people in the Capitol must be thinking it strange that the Career Pack hasn't gone and killed each other yet. I'm sure the blood-thirsty citizens are expecting Morrison to kill Prim first. Besides the four of them, only Annie, Cinna, Effie and Mr. Mellark remain. I can't believe how many people are dead.
Johanna looks over at Morrison once the sky fades to black again. "I think it's time to split up," she says in a small voice.
"Who? You and me?" he replies, whispering.
"No… us from them," she moves her head in the direction of Peeta and Prim who are far enough away to not hear Johanna and Morrison's conversation.
"He's my brother," Morrison furrows his brow.
"Yes, but there can only be one winner. Do you want to have to kill him?"
"No…"
"Then let's go!" she grabs some food from Prim's pack and a Morrison's hand. "Slow poke! Let's get going before they notice." She tugs on him repeatedly.
"Alright," he says.
Morrison takes one last look at his brother. Then, he runs away, holding onto Johanna's hand. They run for fifteen minutes. Johanna stops and places her pack down. "Morrison," she lets go of his hand. "What are we going to do?" She wraps her arms around his neck. "One or both of us is going to die."
"I'll tell you what we're going to do," he says, motioning her to sit down. She leans her back against a tree and places her head on his shoulder. He whispers something in her ear.
"Good plan," she says with a small smile.
I don't like where this is going, so I take the remote and turn the television off. I almost put my head on the pillow when I realize I can't fall asleep in this room. In fact, I shouldn't fall asleep at all. I can't risk having Haymitch come in and make sure I stay. I must get into the arena. I slip out of bed and walk out of the room.
The lights are blaring in the hallway. My guess is that this hovercraft doesn't sleep. I walk around for awhile before finding a small closet that isn't locked. Nothing is in the closet but stacks of paper. I doubt anyone would need paper tonight, so I slip inside. I try to keep my eyes open, but I cannot avoid sleep. Sitting down on a box of paper, I fall asleep.
I awake to the sound of chaos.