Chapter 16: The Confrontation

-Shelby: Day 3 of the Hunger Games-

"Godammit" Muscles tired of this, I still tried to curl my way upwards to the knot. Twelve inches away and again my abs gave out; sending my body falling, pulling the rope taut. "Son of a-"

Completely upside down, the ropes began to claw into my ankles; I was still caught in that spider's trap. I let myself dangle, listening to the forest. Above me (or below me I suppose) the sky lit up and a jaunty tune began to play. I better see Katlyn up there.

"Jon: District 7. Kaxee: District 8. Remington: District 10." The tune died off, and the picture fizzled out. "Damn. Katlyn, why won't you die?"

I tried to curl up again, fingers grazing against the knot, before tumbling down once again. I was about to try a third time, when I heard the crunch of pine needles in the distance. A wave of adrenaline traveled from the back of my head, through my body, to my toes, carrying the prickly feeling of needles all the way up. I glanced around me for something to defend myself, but there was nothing; I was just a sitting duck.

"Come on. I'm not going to die. I have to do something." I stared up at the knot below my ankles and gave it one last shot. Noises getting louder, I swung back and forth on the rope, and in the pinnacle of the swing, I used the momentum to fling my body upwards, my hands barely latching on the rope.

"Yes!" I savored my moment of victory. Then, I stopped there a moment. I had no idea how to untie knots.

As I wanted to pound my head on something, the noises finally reached me, out from behind a bush came Zach, Matt, and Rachel. I couldn't decide if this was worse or better than people trying to kill me. I braced myself for the inevitable ridicule.

Rachel's eye lit up as she saw me dangling. "There you are! We've been looking for you for like an hour."

"Not bad. You made it a bit farther than the rest of us, huh?" Matt pulled out his sword. I squirmed around some more. What the hell is he doing? "Um, you okay? You kinda look like you're flipping out." As he readied his sword, I sealed my eyes shut. I heard the snap of rope, and felt the sensation of falling. Ready for the hard ground, I braced myself.

Instead, big arms slowed me down, and set me on my feet. "You all right, Shelby?" Zach held my shoulders. I couldn't tell if the sense of dizziness I felt was from surprise at their niceness or blood leaving my brain. The fact that I almost passed out and held on to Zach for support, told me it was probably the latter.

Katlyn is wrong. These guys aren't the villains

Matt turned back to me and gestured forwards. "Come on, twelv–" Zach punched him in the side. "Come on, Shelby; let's head back to camp for the night. Tomorrow, we need a plan."

-Katlyn: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

I rested my head against my arm. Sideways, I gazed upon the sunrise. The bright oranges blended with the red to create a marvelous vista. The hill on which we slept lifted us above everything else, allowing me a nice view of the sunrise, free of tall trees blocking my view.

I knew it was an imposter. I knew that the Gamemakers are probably in an office somewhere, pulling levers and twisting knobs, saying "cue the sun!" But, even then, maybe because of the effort they were putting into this fake, this sunrise was more real than the actual sun. It's prettier at the very least, or maybe I've just never had the time to appreciate the real sunrise.

I pulled my head off my arm; I had a bad feeling eating away at me all morning. I stood up from my kneeling position and scooped up the fruit I had been assigned to gather. Beside me, Patrick was also gathering random berries, though technically it was his duty in the first place. I had told him that red ones were poisonous, but the blue ones were fine. Unfortunately, he couldn't see any colours, so I had to go with him.

"Um, Katlyn?"

"Yesshh, darling?"

"Sorry about the whole knocking you out thing yesterday. My bad on that one."

I looked at him and gave a reassuring smile. "It's quite all right. It was frivolous my dear boy: nothing to worry about at all."

"Um, all right then. Still though, help yourself to any of the weapons I brought back to camp, in return." He paused. "I'm gunna head off. I got to go do guard duty. See ya."

"Thankshhh, buh bye!" I waved as he walked off, back to camp. While I did get stuff done in those first three days, it is kinda nice, having other people around to watch your back. I tilted my head and stared into the sky. "I wondered if Shelby's doing alright with all those careers. I hope she's not too mad at me for what I did."

-Zach: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

I poured Rachel a glass of apple juice and handed it to her.

She took a swig. "Apple juice: fucking delicious." She raised her glass toward me and nodded her head. "Thank you, sir."

I smiled back at her. "Hehe, no problem." I slammed a big piece of steak on my plate and began to tear it apart, in preparation for the day ahead.

"So as I was saying, Matt," she waved her fork around at Matt as she talked, "I looked for like thirty minutes, and I couldn't find any of them!"

Once stabbed by Matt's fork, the steak I had cooked squeezed out juices. "Are you sure you were looking in the right place?"

"I'm pretty sure. I don't really think it's hard to find a dozen knives stuck in a tree. They were my last throwing knives too! Do you think someone could have stolen them?"

"Gmgmg."

Matt had just taken a huge bite, so I piped up. "It's possible, but I don't think anyone is stupid enough to come that close to a career camp, this early in the games."

Matt had finally swallowed enough to respond. "We'll spend some time looking for them after our confrontation today."

"Speaking of," I glanced around for Shelby, "what's the plan?"

Matt shrugged. "Shelby said she had something to tell us a soon as she...ah there she is." As Matt had been talking, Shelby, fully equipped with gear, came out of her tent.

I patted the space next to me on the log, which she then sat down on. "What were you going to us tell us, Shelby?"

She took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm going to be honest with you guys; I have been keeping something a secret." Matt eyed her suspiciously, while Rachel and I had an expression of curiosity. "Katlyn and I made a plan before we got into the Hunger Games. We agreed to team up and wait for everyone to fight it out." From what I could tell, she actually felt guilty and was telling the truth.

"But then," she smiled, "I found you guys and Marcus, and I was prepared to help you guys; whatever it takes. Shame what happened to Marcus though. I hung out with him while in the Capitol. He was a pretty cool guy..." She shook her head. "At any rate, then Katlyn comes over and attacks us. That's when I knew she was nothing but a threat at this point." Her hand coiled into a fist and slammed against the log beneath her. "I'm not protecting her anymore, and I'm sorry for lying to you guys."

I patted her on the shoulder. "No big deal. You didn't know she was going after us. Let's not keep secrets from each other though."

She nodded her head. "Okay. To make it up to you guys, I'll tell you something. I know where she is if we want to get back at her."

For the first time this conversation, Matt seemed interested. "Well, where is she? I agree; we need to strike now while she'll still alone and weak."

"She's up on top of the highest point of the arena." Shelby pointed to a large hill in the distance, the top bare of tall trees. "I overheard her talking with her mentor. He told her that, other than the Cornucopia, the highest point is the best place to be. It's where the water comes from, and it offers a tactical advantage."

"But how do you know she is still there? Or maybe she changed the plan." Matt looked like he was deep in thought.

Shelby scoffed. "Oh, believe me. I know Katlyn. She will definitely want to be above everyone else, looming over the rest of us."

Matt clasped his hands. "Very well. There's no time to waste. We'll head in that direction and destroy that girl. We'll split up when we get close; just stay within shouting distance of each other and keep your guards up. We know what we're dealing with now. We can kill her, no problem." I nodded my head and glanced over to see the others doing the same.

Grabbing my spear, I nodded at Matt. "Let's go. We can do this!" The rest of the group raised their weapons and cheered.

-Matt: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

Oh Zach, you know how to motivate. "Zach's right. Everybody grab their gear and let's go right now." Within minutes everybody had collected their weapons of choice and was ready to leave. I had been deliberately taking my time, waiting for the rest to be ready before me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Zach leading the girls into the woods.

Zach shouted at me from the edge of camp. "Matt, you ready to go?"

"I'll be there in a few seconds. Go on ahead. I'll catch up."

"Hurry up! You won't want to miss this." Zach waved at me and disappeared into the woods.

Finally, they were all gone. "Oh, twelve. You think I'll trust you that easily with such a cheesy speech? As if." I brushed my hands through my hair, snagged my broadsword and walked to the pyramid of supplies.

"You might have them mesmerized, Shelby, but it's only a matter of time until you discover the power of love or something and betray us." I began throwing bags off the top of the stack, trying to remember where I hid it. "I know this story. It's only been told a million times before. It's just like last year, and I have a feeling it's going to be soon. I would like my party to have the first strike this time." There it was. Beautiful in its simplicity, yet incredibly dangerous as well . I picked it up and admired it. "Ah, well as I said: there's no time to waste." I pocketed it and headed after Zach.

In my pocket, buzzed a glass jar which Marcus died to give me. In it: a swarm of angry tracker jackers, eager to escape, sting, and kill.

-Patrick: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

Gliding through the air from the force of my throw, the grappling hook seemed to have landed squarely on a high branch. Tugging first to ensure that that it was held firmly in place, I began scaling the tree. After reaching twenty feet, I made myself comfy and began my look out duty. I was diligent, steadfast, and humble. I was the protector this camp deserved.

After an hour, I had finished carving my symbol into the wood of the branch for the fourth time. "Oh my god, this is soooooo boring. How does this even make good television? Us lying about? Is that really enjoyable? I don't even have music to listen to!" I flipped over and stared at the sky between the leaves.

I covered my mouth as I yawned. Even though I knew no one was there to correct my manners, I'm not going to become some kind of savage just by being alone with a bunch of other kids in the forest or on an island or something. A singular cloud drifted past. Everything is so boring.

"Why can't something just happen?" Unfortunately, my prayer was about to be answered.

Feet rustling through the forest alerted me to an intruder. Slowly, to avoid any excess noise, I turned around to see a small girl with (I think) red hair, holding a very long and sharp pair of knives. Currently, she was wandering in another direction. I shifted my weight, and she tensed up. I froze as well. After a few moments, she relaxed and headed in the exact opposite direction as the camp. I sighed in relief and grabbed the rope of my grappling hook.

I scaled back to the ground and sprinted as fast as I could back to camp. I panted heavily, but pushed myself to get to it in time. As I burst out of our tree cover, I took in the sight of the camp. Katlyn was sorting a bag of berries into two groups, while Evan was sitting beside her, sharpening his spear. Chau was nowhere in sight; he was probably off getting water. Katlyn jumped to me, and Evan turned his head.

"Patrick, what's wrong? Did you see something?"

I struggled to get words out between pants. "There's...there's a ginger girl and... and get ready for..." I was cut off by a voice behind me.

"Oh, you're a little too slow for that."

Katlyn shoved me to the ground, just as the ginger girl jabbed her knife directly where I had been. Instead of nice squish, the girl stumbled, which allowed Katlyn the chance to grab the short sword from her side. Using the opening, Katlyn lunged at the girl's neck. The girl slipped away and jabbed at Katlyn's heart, which Katlyn then parried. I sat back in amazement.

"Patrick, help her! Rachel's going to kill her." As Evan said this, he scurried away, and (realizing I had been sitting there like an idiot) I snagged my knife and charged forward. In response, Rachel hopped backwards, her long slender knives sneering at my short one. Despite my personal disadvantage, I glanced at Katlyn. She nodded; it meant it was time to finish this. We both advanced upon Rachel. Her left hand parried my jabs, while her right attacked Katlyn to keep her at bay. In between, she eyes swiveled back and forth. With each step we took, we sent Rachel closer towards retreating.

One last step back and her foot slipped, allowing Katlyn to knock the knife right out of Rachel's hand.

"What now, Rachel?" Katlyn pumped out her chest.

I felt my soul being sucked out of my body as she gave us a huge cheshire grin.

"Oh, boys!"

The world seemed to slow as I turned my head. In the air, a javelin was hurling at my face. My muscles told me to spring backwards, and before my very eyes, the pointy tip of the javelin passed by. Then, as I continued to fall back, the length of the javelin traveled through my vision and lodged itself partway through a thick pine tree beside me.

"Oh, come on, Zach! Did you really just miss? You were, like, right there."

"My bad!"

Katlyn looked at me and nodded for a second time. This one meant: "we need to get the hell out of here."

-Rachel: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

The look on that guy's face made me want to break out in laughter, but I held it in.

Katlyn nodding sideways, I sliced horizontally across her body. The girl twisted away, but my blade still licked her. A rip in her clothes and a small red line traced through her left arm. She clasped it and began retreating backwards. Behind me, Zach ran up to Patrick punched him across the face and leapt to get his misplaced spear. In the small time it took, Patrick had recovered and scrambled away. Katlyn helped him up and both starting sprinting farther up the hill. Evan had long since fled in the same direction.

"Really? Are going to try running away again, Katlyn? This time with your little friends!" I grinned. Holding in the urge to throw my last knife at her, I watched her pick up another sword and run off.

I glanced at Zach and Matt. "Where's Shelby?"

Matt took off after the two runaways and called back to me. "Talk and run at the same time, please."

I sheathed my blade and sprinted off in their direction. "Well?"

Zach gestured in front of us. "If she's following the plan, she should be waiting further up the hill in ambush." Zach kicked himself into overdrive and surpassed me and Matt.

Though I originally had doubts about this girl, she has proven rather helpful in this whole thing. Maybe, we can exchange tips after we're done here.

Within a short minute, the slower of the two came into few, Patrick, with Katlyn only few feet in front of him. Ahead of us the tip of Zach's spear was within inches of Patrick's back, occasionally scratching against his clothing.

Just as I thought that that guy was going to become a kabob, Patrick tripped and sent both Zach and him tumbling into the ground. The momentum slammed both directly into a tree, which rumbled against the impact. I heard a snap, but whether it was from the branches or of a bone, I couldn't be sure.

Weaponless, both the boys merely used their fists to flail wildly at each other, until Katlyn turned around and prepared to strike Zach with her two swords. Evidently, she was worried about hitting Patrick because her aiming went just a second too long. Matt reached Katlyn and threw himself at her. She changed position and quickly parried Matt's blade heading towards her chest. Curly hair fluttering like a mass of snakes, she threw off Matt and tried to pull Patrick out of the bloody mess. Matt recovered and attacked her again, in an attempt to stop her from interfering with Zach's fight.

Close enough to strike, I also jumped towards her, but I was met with the full force of Matt's body, which she had flung off. Both of us crashed against the ground.

The dead weight of Matt's body hurt like hell, but I couldn't use my arms to throw him off. For a few excruciatingly long seconds, he crushed me, but he rolled off as soon as he could. By this time, both Katlyn and Patrick had fled again, damn cowards.

Ignoring me, Matt went to check on Zach. From my perspective, it didn't look good. There was blood over his entire face.

"Zach, are you okay?"

Pulling himself from the ground, Zach smeared the blood over his lips, in an attempt to wipe it off. He cringed as he got up. "I'm fine. He got my nose, that's all."

I crawled toward Matt and Zach. Both of them stared at me. "We can't let them get away. This is personal now."

-Chau: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

I sat aside the bucket I had in my hand and began washing the next in the flowing water of the river. Whilst doing this, I hummed to myself. I could have glanced around me to make sure no one was listening, but I was much too lazy. My humming grew louder; I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I can't even understand all the lyrics, so why are their songs to catchy?

I couldn't hold back anymore, I just had to break into song in time for the chorus. "Kirai Kirai loving! Dare ga dare ga can't be alive without you! Doushite naze...oh hello." A short blonde girl appeared from out of the forest, face hidden in a hood, angled toward the ground. I waved at her.

I placed my hand to the back of my head and smiled at her. "Sorry, 'bout that. My singing isn't the best, but I hoped you enjoyed."

From the other side of the clearing, she yelled at me: "Are you with Katlyn? Where is she?"

"I don't know. Where is Katlyn?" I scratched my chin.

From her back, she pulled out and arrow and strung up her bow. "Tell me now or I kill you, idiot."

I waved my arms back and forth. "Hey, I am not an idiot and take it easy."

She almost smiled, but shook her head and repressed it. "I don't have time for this." Her hands let go the arrow.

I bounced out of the way as the feather of the arrow tickled my cheek. I put my hands up in the air. "Wooo! Graze points." The girl scowled and let loose a volley.

Please.

I ran towards her, dodging the arrows as I went. Each went within inches of me, but I never broke a sweat. Her arrows actually fell into predictable patterns. The problem with an experienced archer, I suppose. After a few seconds of dodging, I leapt up and batted the bow from her hands.

She drew her sword in retaliation. Thankfully, she was not as experience with close combat. Her swings were wide and unrefined. It felt like easy mode. Easy mode is for elementary school kids.

That stupid song never got out of my head, so I just allowed that to coordinate my dodged and jumps. It worked quite well; she also fell into the dance I created. It was fun, but we certainly weren't getting anywhere. Time to put this into overdrive.

I hopped backwards, avoiding a harsh swing at my abdomen. "If you stop swinging that sword, and just talk with me, I'm sure I can take away your misfortune."

She sliced upward at my mouth. "Shut the hell up!"

How troublesome. Well, let the spinning commence.

I took a deep breath and focused. Each swing and strike was wearing her out, so just a little more, and she'd make a bigger mistake. I ducked under her swords and positioned myself back to back with her.

Instantly, she tried to turn around, but I, as well, rotated around her. At the end of her twist, we were where we started: back to back. Enraged, she swung towards me, and I span out of the way. She attempted this a few more times, to no avail. Every rotation was a circle of 85 centimeters.

"Kuru kuru kuru," I laughed. "Remember, it didn't want to hurt you, but you're being way too persistent." The girl screamed in fury and slashed at me wildly.

Once again, I spun around her. I sighed. Do I really have to do this?

"This won't kill, but it will probably hurt. Sorry, about that."

"What the hell are you-"

I reared my head backwards and slammed it into this poor girl's skull. She stumbled and collapsed at my feet.

I glanced around for rope or something to tie her up. This only lasted for a few moments. Instead, Evan came, panting, out of the forest.

"Evan, you're not rope."

"Shut up, Chau. This is serious. There are careers and...Did you knock that girl out? She's one of them."

I nodded, "Do you think you can patch up her head?"

"What? No, Chau. We need to use her. We can hold her hostage to get the careers off our backs."

I shook my head, "No, Evan, you're not doing that. Have some honor in how you fight."

"Chau, this is not the time for..." This sentence was cut off by two bodies slamming into us. Sending all four of us up against a rock wall.

Evan looked up. "Chau?"

Chau stood up. "Katlyn..."

Katlyn jumped up. "Evan."

Patrick popped up. "Patrick!"

The group of three careers strolled forward, cornering us against the rock.

-Evan: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

Up? I can't climb. To the right? There's a cliff and I can't fly. To the left? There's a river and I can't swim well. In front? A group of deadly careers.

From the floor, Shelby moaned and pulled herself off the floor. "I'm getting payback for that asshole." She pointed at Chau.

"Who me? I didn't...um." Chau trailed off.

Rachel smiled. "Oh, I think there will be a lot of payback going on here."

Patrick gulped. "Um, I would like to say that I'm sorry for..."

"Shut up," Zach turned to Matt. "Can we get this over with already?"

Matt was about to open his mouth, but I interjected. "Guys, if you will just look behind you for a while, we'll be with you in a sec. Ha ha heh heh..."

"Shut up, Evan." Katlyn pushed my face out of the way. "Shelby, look at me. Stare me in the eyes and tell if you still want to kill me."

Shelby glared at her. "Yes, Katlyn I do."

"Ouch. Well..."

"Katlyn, you think the world revolves around you and your needs. Did you ever stop to really consider that I too have something back home? I have a family and siblings to go back to. Did you ever consider that I want to win?" Everyone was watching her.

Katlyn smiled at her. "Of course, dummy. We promised that we would watch over each others' families if one of us won. I know the reality of the games, but we can still do this together. I'm sorry, though, for the worrying I caused you."

Shelby's face was on the border of tears. "I'm sorry too. I just wanted to feel..."

"All right, this is getting way too touchy feely. I don't like where this is going." From his pocket, Matt pulled out a jar. I'm sure it had been buzzing this whole time, but we were too absorbed in the story to realize it. Through the glass, I could see the fourteen insects probing the glass. More than five stings and the chance of death was 97.67%. Each stung once, causing hallucinations and fear. Vespula muttanus. Tracker jackers.

-Shelby: Day 4 of the Hunger Games-

"Son of a-!"

"Bloody hell!"

"The fu-"

"Oh god." I glanced around. Everybody, including Rachel and Zach, were surprised as I was.

Matt tossed it in the air, and we all gasped as he barely caught it. "Yup, tracker jackers, gathered for mobile use. Well, I think you've said what you needed, twelve; it's time to finish this." He rose up his hand.

"Stop." I grabbed his hand. "Matt, how the hell did you harvest those? It would have killed you..." My brain finally put two and two together. "You asshole! You killed Marcus!"

Zach stared at him. "Matt, really?"

Matt shook me off and lowered his hands. "Um, he willing did it and gave them to me."

I pointed my sword towards his throat. "You dirty lying snake. He trusted you, and we agreed to work as a team and you murdered him!"

Matt took a step backwards separating him from the group. "Why are all of you looking at me like that? This is the Hunger Games, people! This is what we're supposed to do."

I couldn't take anymore. Careers are the villains. I readied my sword and threw myself at him. Inches from his throat, my blade was blocked from its intended target by Zach's spear, but it still made a slice on the top of his shoulder.

Matt cried out in pain and cradled his gushing arm. "See, Zach! I told you they would betray us." Seeing the anger Zach's face, I began to step backwards. I only made it a few steps before I felt the crack of glass my chest. Before me, I saw Matt's outstretched arm and smirking lips.

I didn't even have time to scream.

After a moment of disorientation, the wasps located me and began stabbing in their venom. Each sting injected liquid fire into my blood. I could trace a path out from every stinger; a slow, crawling wave of pure pain. A thousand stakes stabbed in and out of my body, every moment growing increasing in speed and thickness.

I only heard snippets of talking between my convulsions.

"Shelby!"

It was so hard to process words.

"Zach, Rachel, let's go!"

Was blood gushing out of my every pore?

"Chau and I will go after them. You and Katlyn stay here and see what you can do for her."

Then, the pain stopped. I opened my eyes scanned around me and tried to move. I couldn't; everything was numb. Above me, Katlyn was crying and yelling, while Evan sat silently.

"There has to be something. Evan, look at me. Tell me what's going on. Fix her." Katlyn gazed into my eyes. "You'll be okay, Shelby."

Eyes glazed over, Evan stared up into the clouds. He began to talk, like he was reciting from a textbook. "After the initial injection, there is a dormant period of seventy seconds where the patient will be numb. After which, the venom will hit the brain, causing mind destroying hallucinations, excruciating pain, and death within five hours. No treatment is known at this time." He turned to Katlyn, who simply stared at him, "You can let her suffer through all of that or..." He pulled out a capsule from his pocket. "You can use this pill, and she'll be gone in thirty seconds. I'll leave it up to you." He put the pill into Katlyn's hand and left.

A few more seconds past. One of Katlyn's tears fell on my cheek. She hugged me and placed the pill into my mouth.

I wanted to scream, to spit it out, to yell to her that she doesn't get to decide who lives and who doesn't, but I couldn't.

Are you the villain, Katlyn? Are they? Is there even such a thing in here? My last thoughts drizzled away and were replaced by whiteness.