Barbed Wire

Written by Loverly Souris

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Chapter 6 – Crimson snow

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Six tributes remained after the fourth day, which means that the next day a Capitol crew goes out to interview the families and the friends of the survivors. From this day on, it is obligatory to watch everything live until the last moments, and Wiress takes her usual spot in the dining hall.

Most of the people say the same thing over and over – how happy they are that their child, or sibling, or friend has gotten this far and they wish he or she would win and come home. It's painful to hear the hope in their voice.

When the crew came to District 3, the Sector of Talents didn't let the cameras in, so the only people they could interview were Lectra's family. This is the first time Wiress sees them.

Her mother looks exactly like her, but she lacks her daughter's determination from her eyes. "I'm surprised," she says on a quiet voice. "I didn't know Lectra was so sturdy."

Her brother is good-looking and stronger than an average District 3 man. Lectra once told her that as they didn't have a father, he had to take over their family when he was young, and since then, he has been working constantly to earn money. "I believe in her," he says smiling.

Though Wiress remembers that Lectra has a little sister as well, for some reason, they don't interview her. They don't even show a glimpse of her at all.

Cecelia's family seems to consist of the strictest people in the entire District 8. Her father is downright frightening – Wiress has no idea how Cecelia could grow up into such a warm young woman in an environment like that.

However, she can perfectly understand why she is so deeply in love with his fiancé, Nathaniel. Not only is he extremely handsome with sparkling green eyes, but he is as kind as Cecelia. His answers are short when they ask him, but he makes his interview memorable by looking directly into the camera at the end and saying "I love you, Celia".

"It's so reassuring to see the tributes' families rooting for them, isn't it?" Caesar says delightedly, his golden lips curved in a huge grin.

For once, Wiress is glad that the Sector rules are so strict. She doesn't know how she would handle an interview.

After a brief chit-chat between Caesar and Claudius, they show the arena again with the remaining two groups of tributes. Lectra and Cecelia are still fighting the cold while the four Careers are hanging out in their camp. The blonde girl from District 1 is sitting a bit farther, alone.

Even though there are still six people and it is only the fifth day, the air is somehow heavy with the feeling that the end is near. The way the blood-thirsty District 2 boy is sharpening his knives and the way Lectra is watching the curled up Cecelia with concerned eyes all have the same message – the final countdown begins.

Apparently, however, even if it is the calm before the storm, it is not interesting enough to broadcast every minute of it, so they leave the suffering tributes alone and change onto a series of interviews with some experts who analyze the chances of each contestant, just like before the Games began. They are trying to remain unbiased, but their opinion hidden behind their words is the same on who is going to win this year.

One of the experts has to be interrupted though, since something is happening in the arena.

"How exciting!" Caesar exclaims as he and Claudius appears on the right side of the split screen. The left side is occupied by the picture of the Career's camp, with Lectra approaching it with her empty hands lifted above her head, slightly stumbling in the snow. She doesn't have her bag either.

"I'm not t-trying to a-attack you!" she shouts, her voice trembling a bit but it has never been this determined. "H-hear me out!"

The head of the District 2 girl soon appears in the entrance of her tent, quickly followed by the rest of her body. There is a crossbow in her hands and Lectra comes to a halt. This is when the left picture absorbs the entire screen, pushing the hosts out of sight.

"What do you want?" she asks suspiciously, slowly coming closer to Lectra with her weapon pointed at her. In a minute, the other Careers show up as well, quickly surrounding the outsider. Wiress is just staring at the screen, not able to process what she is seeing. A dreadful thought arises in her mind. Is she trying to get killed? Did she give up?

No, she wouldn't give up. Not like this.

Then… what is she up to?

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Lectra looks directly into the girl's eyes and as she speaks, she controls her shivers the best she can. "I-I want to join you."

Wiress' eyes widen and the others around her are just as surprised. They would have never expected that.

The girl's district partner lets out a disapproving snort. "Why should we trust you? You killed one of our allies."

Lectra cautiously turns to him and answers in the same sarcastic manner. ""Self-defence", e-ever heard of it? Or it's not i-included in the curriculum of the M-Military Academy?"

Before he can shoot a comment back at her, her girl counterpart speaks again. "And what can you offer?"

Again that smirk – that smug, cunning smirk on Lectra's lips. "W-well, I thought y-you'd be calmer if you counted m-me as an ally i-instead of an enemy. B-but if it's not enough, t-then I can help you track District 8 d-down. I-I know her tricks very well, she w-was with me these days."

For a brief moment, the Careers share a glance of mixed emotions while Lectra's expression is unchanging.

"Why did you turn against her?" the girl from District 2 asks as she looks back at Lectra.

"I want r-revenge. That little slut s-stole all my stuff, my bag and w-weapons." Her voice is full of hatred. "S-she's sneaky and sly. She even tried t-to kill me in my sleep."

Wiress is beginning to think that she has overlooked something important. Cecelia is nothing like how Lectra has just described her. And then, she remembers that worried expression on her best friend's face as she was trying her best to keep themselves alive and it dawns to her.

It's just an act, isn't it, Lectra?

"What do you think?" the Career spokesperson turns to the girl from District 1, who hasn't commented much on this matter in spite of being the leader.

"She'll be useful," she finally says and lowers her spear. The others do the same with their own weapons – though Wiress notices the disgust on the District 2 boy's face as he puts his knives away a second later than his allies.

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The Careers let Lectra warm herself up, they give her food and a thick jacket against the cold, but the fact that she doesn't receive a new weapon tells they are still very cautious with her. Lectra seemingly accepts this and promises that she will gain their trust with her help in capturing Cecelia.

"We'll go in the evening, after dark, if it's okay" she says. "We were lingering in the proximity of the Cornucopia when we separated, she can't be very far."

"Is she wounded?" the District 4 boy asks and Lectra shakes her head.

"No, but she's very weak. So I think it's not necessary for all of you to come with me, even if there are only two of us, it'll be easy to kill her." Before they can find her dangerously authoritative and immediately kill her, Lectra quickly adds. "But it's for you to decide. I don't care if you all want to come."

"We'll split up," the leader declares finally. "Coral, you'll stay here to watch the camp."

The boy from District 4 nods, though he looks a bit disappointed.

"May, you'll go ahead with Lectra. Don't forget to take your crossbow and some extra knives. Lawren and I will scan the area in a large circle around you as you are advancing. We'll be close if you get into trouble." The District 1 girl looks at the others. "Okay?"

"You're the boss, Engeline," Lawren says, but he doesn't seem to be entirely satisfied.

"Fine by me," Lectra nods. "Hopefully we won't have to hike too far."

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As soon as the darkness steals the light of the day, the group is ready to go. Lectra has changed into a pair of long boots and apparently she is enjoying the feeling of dry feet as she and May, the girl from District 2 are climbing uphill. They are both wearing night vision glasses and May clutches her crossbow in her gloved hands. Several hundred meters behind them but staying in their line of vision, Lawren and Engeline are following them, their steps only making the faintest crunching noise in the snow. Despite of her hatred, Wiress is amazed how quietly they can move, like real hunters. They must have been trained to achieve this skill.

Halfway to the summit, Lectra leads May onto an almost invisible path in the white blanket.

"This is from where I came," Lectra says walking ahead. They go round the mountain to arrive at a small, poor forest of bare trees. The snow reflects the silver moonlight, adorning everything with an ethereal glow. Lectra pushes the glasses up for a second to admire the sight. A tiny smile is playing on her lips.

The two girls keep walking for another ten minutes when they reach a small clearing surrounded by the white trees. Wiress recognizes the place in an instant – it was where Cecelia first found shelter and was shown gathering some nuts.

Lectra stops. "I think we're close," she mutters and looks around in the area. May does the same, holding her crossbow up with an arrow readied.

Lectra carefully takes a step, then another as if she didn't want to startle the prey. She slowly gets behind May. "Check that direction. I'll watch this," she suggests and the girl nods gluing her eyes onto the trees.

As May gets far too occupied to care about what Lectra is doing, she doesn't turn not even when she hears her temporary ally's steps on the snow. Wiress watches her though, and she spots Lectra's aim before anyone else – a hollow trunk a few meters away from her. When she walks to it, the handle of her short sword catches the light.

May cries out at the same moment as Lectra goes back to stand behind her, weapon in her hand. "There she is!" She points ahead and is about to fire the crossbow in the direction of Cecelia's running shadow, but a blade in her back stops her.

Lectra's eyes are narrowed while she twists the sword planted between May's shoulder blades a few more times before she takes it out and a cannon breaks the silence of the night. "I really should practice what I preach," she sighs a bit disapprovingly referring to what she said about attacking people in the back herself.

A second later, a scared Cecelia appears on the clearing and runs to her. "A-are you alright, L-Lectra?" she stammers practically jumping at her. "I-I was so afraid y-you'd get caught."

When Lectra hugs her, the well-known feeling of jealousy comes back to take Wiress' heart over, but she fights it down. Their reunion has just proved that it was all an act and Lectra is a hero.

"I told you I'd be okay. But now, we have to hurry, the others'll be here in a second." Lectra unzips her jacket and puts it around Cecelia, then she bends down and unties her boots. "Take my stuff. Then run as fast as you can."

Cecelia nods closing her cold fingers around the handle of the sword and grabbing the footwear. She doesn't ask any questions – they must have planned everything in advance. They just decided not to show it on the screen.

After Cecelia disappears again, Lectra reaches down to May's corpse and takes the arrow from the crossbow. She gulps, then starts to wound herself randomly – a cut on her face, one on her hand, then another on her leg. Light, but very convincing injuries. As she finishes, she tears her clothes here and there. For a final touch, she dips her fingers in May's blood and smears herself even more. Then, she runs.

Since she is practically barefoot, she can't get really far. She falls into the snow a few steps away from the edge of the clearing and waits. Soon, there are voices coming from the trees behind her.

"What the hell is this? That bitch! She tricked us! I told you, didn't I?"

"I'm not that sure. Maybe she's wounded. Let's go and find her."

"There's a trail of blood."

In a few minutes, Engeline appears beside her, turns her onto her back and helps her up. "Lectra, what happened? Did she attack you?"

When Lectra speaks, even if Wiress knows she is faking, her voice is frighteningly weak and painful. "Y-yes… she killed May and… took my things… She tried to… to k-kill me as well…"

The blonde girl opens her mouth to say something, but Lawren cuts her off. "She used to be your ally, right?" He stares intently at something on Lectra's waist and she follows her gaze. Her face freezes – her eyes meet the familiar wooden sticks of her signature weapon dangling from her belt where she put it less than twenty minutes ago.

The nunchaku Cecelia has forgotten to take from her. And of course, Lawren would recognize it.

"She knew that's a weapon. Why didn't she steal it?"

Wiress' heart stops. Lectra is in trouble.

"Lawren, what are you talking ab-" Engeline starts but cannot finish her question, because in one single motion, Lectra takes the nunchaku out and slams it into her stomach. While the girl doubles up with pain, Lawren sends the first knife towards Lectra with a swish. It scratches her shoulder slightly and wedges itself in a tree.

"I've never trusted you," the boy hisses and Lectra laughs.

"You were right," she retorts as she swings the spiked half of the nunchaku towards him. He leaps back out of reach, but Lectra follows his movements, not letting him attack.

Suddenly, another figure emerges from the darkness – Coral, the boy from District 4. He has probably followed their route after he heard May's cannon. He watches the fight in disbelief, not really knowing what to do until Lawren shouts at him. "Get that District 8 girl and cut her guts out!"

For a brief second, Lectra gazes at Coral finding Cecelia's tracks and running into the forest. During this momentary pause, Engeline gets behind her and manages to capture her by crossing the handle of her spear over her chest practically locking Lectra to herself.

"Damn you!" she swears and struggles to get released, but Engeline is holding her too firmly.

"Lawren, forehead" the girl says. The anger raging in her blue eyes is like thunder. The boy from District 2 grins and takes out another knife.

"As you wish, Queen Engeline," he purrs and for the first time in weeks, Wiress sees fear on Lectra's face.

The students watching in the dining room all forget to breathe and it is like the world has slowed down. Wiress can barely contain the scream that wants to leave her lips. This is the end. She'll die. Her eyes are overflowed with tears.

No…

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To Engeline's misfortune, however, she doesn't notice several very important things.

For example that half of the nunchaku with the spike still concealed in the wood of the handle is pressed to her right thigh, or that Lectra's fingers squirming to reach and twist the ring, or that she unwittingly loosens her grip on the spear as she feels the pain shooting into the flesh of her leg.

Although it doesn't matter anymore, since as Lawren's knife accidentally lands in her forehead after Lectra bent forward, Engeline ceases to feel anything, including regret.

Had she noticed all those things, her cannon wouldn't have sounded.

What a relief she didn't, Wiress thinks as she lets out the breath she was holding in. Blinking back her tears, she watches Lectra pushing the girl's dead body away and avoids another knife flying towards her.

"This is the best you can do? Throwing bloody knives?" she teases him, though she knows she shouldn't, because she is starting to become an easy target. She is running out of energy and she can barely feel her legs up to her knees.

Before Lawren can answer, another cannon interrupts their fight for a mere second. It is either Cecelia's or Coral's – Wiress is hoping that it's the latter.

"Wanna see what else I can do, dear?" Lawren asks mockingly and holds up his last knife, probably the biggest one in his whole collection. Instead of throwing it however, he grabs it tightly with his large hand and lunges at Lectra pinning her onto the ground. He cuts her sweater open along with her T-shirt and underwear, revealing the miraculously spotless skin of her chest.

"Hm… what about some decoration here? A nice word to describe you," Lawren breathes into her face, running the flat side of the blade up and down on her chest. Lectra tries to free herself, but he is far too strong and she is so tired. He holds both of her wrists above her head with a single hand while the other is lifting the knife and cuts deep into her flesh.

One by one, he carves the letters very slowly. Lectra shrieks in pain – Wiress has never heard a voice like this leaving her lips and she is utterly terrified. For minutes that seem like eternity, she is paralyzed. She wants to turn her head away so badly, but she cannot move. Even though she knows her best friend wouldn't want her to see her in a state like this…

"Wire!" Lectra cries out suddenly and goes limp under the boy. Wiress shivers.

Lectra…

When Lawren finishes his work, her skin is marred by seven bloody letters forming the word "traitor".

"So, what do you think?" the boy asks her as if he cared and cleans his knife with his sleeve. Lectra doesn't say anything.

With this word, Lawren has probably only wanted to refer to betraying her short-lived alliance with the Careers, but for Lectra, this dreadful expression has so many other meanings that hurts much more. Wiress can almost hear her thoughts as she is staring into the nothing.

Betrayed her family… betrayed her belief… betrayed her district… betrayed her best friend…

"No…" Wiress whispers almost inaudibly. You didn't betray me, Lectra. You didn't betray anyone.

Don't give up!

At once, the light returns into Lectra's brown eyes. Her legs seem to move on their own kicking Lawren in the groin. The attack catches him off guard and he releases her wrists – surely the biggest mistake of his life. Lectra lifts up the nunchaku and the spike disappears in the boy's nape.

He doesn't die though – not yet.

His fingers tighten around the handle and he plunges the knife into Lectra's chest, right into where her heart is beating. With deadly accuracy.

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"If I die, they won't hurt you because of me either."

The world which Wiress has been building up for fourteen years has just collapsed like a house of cards in a hurricane.

She can almost feel the blade in her heart as well. Is it because of the connection they shared?

She thought she wouldn't be able to keep herself from crying out, shouting how unfair and terrible this world is. She thought she would sob her soul out in sorrow. But she is calm and her eyes remain frighteningly dry.

This grief is much greater than her. She cannot bear it. It descends onto her like the thick smog that killed every bird in District 3. The invisible hand is back to choke her to death as Wiress is watching a thin stream of blood flowing down from the corner of Lectra's mouth. She greets it like an old acquaintance.

Then, she feels like she is watching the proceedings from behind a thick wall of glass.

Cecelia shows up, a large bruise on her temple. She drops onto her knees next to the two bodies and shoves Lawren out of the way.

"Lectra…? Lectra, can you hear me?" She is sobbing, her fingers trembling as she reaches for her ally's hand and grabs it, like she is the one who is dying and desperately wants one last straw to hold onto. Lectra's distant eyes focus on her face and her lips curve up in a faint smile.

"Cecelia… you're alive…" she whispers, her voice coming out of her throat more as a link of sighs than real words. Cecelia brushes the blood away from her cheek.

"Hang in there, Lectra! It'll be over soon!"

Lectra lets out a bitter chuckle. "I know…" She takes a deep, shaky breath and her eyelids close hindering her eyes and the life that is slipping away from them. Her face is paler with each second.

Nevertheless, her expression is eerily peaceful.

"Wire… I'm sorry…" she manages to whisper before she finally succumbs to the darkness that is engulfing her and a last breath leaves her lips. Her fingers go limp in Cecelia's hand.

Lectra's cannon seems to be much more sorrowful than the others', and a part of Wiress' heart dies with her leaving a deep void. A rotten branch that will never bloom again.

Cecelia slowly stands up from Lectra's body. Tears are flowing down on her gentle face, but her eyes are uncharacteristically clouded by hatred. She glances at the boy from District 2 who is still trying to stay alive, then she sees Engeline's spear in the snow. She bends down and grabs it.

Aiming at the middle of Lawren's chest, Cecelia thrusts the weapon into him once… twice… for the third and the fourth time. Nothing can stop her, she doesn't care when she hears his cannon. She is out of her mind, shouting, shrieking, screaming in pain like she is being tortured. The anthem is merely a background noise. Lawren's body is so damaged that pieces of flesh and insides fly around with each stab. Cecelia is drenched in blood.

The pictures of the dead tributes show up in the night sky. Engeline. Lawren and May. Lectra. Coral. After the sound of the trumpets, Claudius Templesmith announces her victory. But Cecelia doesn't stop.

Twenty-two… twenty-three…

When she collapses onto the ground at last, the snow around her is painted in crimson

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Thank you for reading chapter 6! :)

I was quick, huh? :) Actually, this chapter and the previous one used to be one really large chapter until I decided to break it into two. Now, I have two medium-sized chapters. :)

Let me tell you something about myself – I'm a real cry-baby. Everything can make me cry, happy or sad, pleasant or unpleasant. I cry a lot over the death of fictional characters, sometimes hysterically, but I've never ever thought that I'll cry over the death of my own character. But it happened – I was writing Lectra's death when I felt a pang in my heart and my tears started to fall on their own.

I have no idea why. Maybe I felt like I killed her, or something – which I practically did. Seriously, I don't know how those authors whose books are full of dead characters can keep themselves from breaking down. Or maybe, it's just me who is overreacting. :S :)

Anyway, I'm all ears. :) Please, tell me what you think.

Also, I'm interested in what you all think about Amanda Plummer as Wiress in the Catching Fire movie. :)