The Living Games
A/N Hellooo! It's been so long since I've written a chapter instead of just editing one. My fingers are confused with what to do with the keyboard. A or S? Fingers? Don't you mean fomgwrs? Even auto correct is confused. Chapter or capture? Glad to be back! There is currently a hurricane approaching where I live, Hurricane Matthew, and I want to write this before the power goes out, as it most likely will. The downside to living on the East Coast, the ocean tries to kill you all the time. I guess this is what we get for living by Charleston, though we're not right next to the Harbor. I guess I should mention that I live in South Carolina before going into that lol. Hopefully it'll pass us right by, and Haiti and Jamaica and Florida will be okay. It's not really supposed to hit here until Friday (tomorrow), but everyone is already evacuating to Atlanta, Georgia, including most of my friends and family, but we're staying here. If I don't post . . . then, well, guess I died. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Twenty: The Real Games Begin
Aubrey didn't really think her day could get any worse. After coyotes and lots of running and giant bugs, what could possibly happen? Then the beetles came, their pincers snapping tightly and their leg's rattling.
How did legs rattle?
She didn't know.
And she would've never found out if it hadn't been for Josh and his great idea to explore the desert.
Who explores the desert?! They should've just stayed in their dune.
The day started off as normal as possible. Or, as normal as you could get in the Hunger Games.
Aubrey woke up to Josh shaking her shoulder and telling her to eat breakfast so they could explore.
Explore? she had thought. What could there be to explore?
But like an idiot, she gulped down her dried fruit and agreed.
They hid all of their supplies in their dune, except one backpack filled with an empty bottle, rope, jerky, some matches and the weird pills. Along, of course, with Aubrey's knives and Josh's sword.
They set off in the desert, going in a random direction.
After a couple of minutes had passed by, they noticed a random cluster of trees in a dune-less area.
"Hmm. It could hold some supplies or weapons or something." Josh walked towards it, a perplexed look on his face.
"Or it could be a trap to kill us."
"Let's see."
Aubrey sighed and followed after him, already regretting her decision.
A cannon sounded, and if that wasn't a sign not to go in, she didn't know what was.
The trees seemed to open up for them, their branches guiding them along, and their trunks whispering certain death.
Right this way! they seemed to say.
Aubrey shivered and sped up next to Josh.
"This is really creepy we should leave, like now."
Josh continued forward, like he was too caught up in the wonder to hear her.
They trudged along the muddy forest (a muddy forest in the middle of a sandy desert?) floor, peering cautiously at the birds on the tree branches.
After a few minutes, Josh seemed disappointed and suggested that they leave.
"I guess there really wasn't anything useful here at all."
Aubrey sighed happily and turned to leave, a small smile on her face.
The smile slid right off her face when she saw what was behind her.
A pack of dogs (coyotes?) were snarling in their direction, leaning on their front legs as if they were about to run.
"When I say three, climb the nearest tree," Josh whispered in her ear.
She wanted to point out that it was indeed a trap, the creepy forest, but it didn't really seem like the time.
"One . . ."
The coyotes started forward slowly, an almost grin-like expression on their glaring faces.
They seemed to be toying with the two of them.
"Two . . ."
The coyotes broke into a run, and Josh shouted an unnecessary "Three!"
Aubrey grabbed a branch so hard that it almost snapped. She climbed the tree as quickly as she could, thankful of the days spent in the woods being taught tree climbing by Zane.
Zane . . .
This is no time to be thinking about Zane!
She saw Josh offer his hand up to her, and he pulled her up next to him.
"You good?"
She nodded, then turned to him and said, "I fucking told you this was a trap."
He rubbed his neck sheepishly.
"People make mistakes?" She glared daggers at him. "Okay, I promise I won't go walking into anymore obvious traps."
She supposed it was good enough.
After awhile, the dogs got bored of them and moved on to hunt some other tributes.
They climbed down the tree, dusted themselves off (trees are awfully dusty), and continued on their so called "journey".
They didn't even make it two steps away when a loud buzzing started. It sounded like a pack of a thousand bees was flying towards them.
"Josh . . ."
She never got the chance to tell him how stupid he was before a dozen giant flies flew towards them.
Giant, like giant. They were at least five feet wide, their wings so thin it was a wonder they could fly at all.
Aubrey wasn't really worried, because, while they were giant, they were flies. They didn't seem to have mouths, just giant compact eyes that bulged out in a sickly way.
Then she found out that they did have mouths when long tubes shot out towards them, threatening to suck them up.
Aubrey sighed and ran with Josh towards the edge of the forest, and the bugs were pleasingly slow.
Aubrey almost got her left leg sucked up when a fly crashed into a tree and spun towards the ground, sucking at their legs.
When the flies started gaining on them, Josh started throwing rocks and sticks at them while they were running, slowing them a bit.
They crashed through the treeline, panting and glancing back.
The flies seemed the linger a bit before turning around and flying back.
Aubrey turned to look at Josh, an incredulous look already forming on his face.
"Okay, I was not expecting that. I was just going to leave and they were there. Sorry."
But Aubrey couldn't be mad at him when she was so relieved, so she just slapped him and walked away as another cannon sounded, far away from the creepy forest.
• • •
Their walk was generally calm and peaceful, which put Aubrey on edge. What kind of arena was uneventful? She did just get attacked twice, but she just expected to get attacked again, and it was nerve wracking.
Josh seemed to be doing just fine, humming to himself, a little bounce in his step.
Aubrey glared at him.
How could he be happy? She had been on edge all day, all week! Maybe he was just better at hiding it.
But no. He was genuinely happy, walking along like they couldn't be killed at any moment that it seemed convenient.
Aubrey shook her head and stalked along the desert, looking for more obvious traps, like random oceans or maybe even a frozen tundra. Wouldn't that be a nice additional topping to their ice cream sundae of sucky-ness?
She got what she asked for.
They stumbled upon a giant nest, kind of like a bird's nest, round and made of twigs and leaves.
Aubrey sucked in a bunch of air and turned around and screamed "Ha! HA! I found it! Is this your idea of a joke? Well, since you asked for it, we're going in!"
Josh gave her a look.
"Um, are you okay?"
"Onward!"
Josh's eyes got all big, which reminded her creepily of the flies.
"On—?"
Aubrey grabbed Josh's hand and left no room for arguments.
After a few feet in, Aubrey regretted her not-entirely-sane decision.
Beetles. Beetles everywhere.
And that's the story of how she ended up in that situation, goodnight folks!
The beetles didn't seem bothered by the aggressive swinging Josh was doing with the backpack, or Aubrey's glinting knives.
They continued to scuttle forward on their rattling legs.
Aubrey threw one of her knives (meant for piercing!) at it's shell, and the knife literally bounced off and hit the floor with a pitiful clatter.
Well, there goes her piercing knife.
"You wanna get that sword out? I mean, you look totally terrifying with that backpack and all, but now's not the time."
Josh shook his head.
"I studied these beetles in training! Their pincers are deadly sharp and painful, so don't let them bite you—"
"Wasn't planning on it, thanks."
"—and their shells are impossible to penetrate."
"Well, shit."
"Our only chance is it run. They don't do so well on the sand, that's why they gathered sticks and leaves."
"They could just go into the forest—?"
"I never said they were smart," he snapped.
She huffed.
"Whatever! What do we do?"
"Just run. They won't be able to keep up!"
So they turned and ran. Along the way, Josh took the time to shout at her, "Now who's running straight into obvious traps!?"
"Shut up! I wasn't sane at that moment!"
The beetles stopped chasing them after a couple of feet. They really weren't good on sand, much to Aubrey's amusement.
They stopped running, and Aubrey put her knives away, grumbling about her lost knife.
"It was one knife, and you have enough to last you."
"It was my piercing knife! One and only."
"Whatever. Come on, let's go back; we've done enough exploring for today, I think."
"'Enough' is an understatement."
They walked back towards their dune, wherever that was. They didn't know anymore.
Aubrey was innocently walking when she tripped over something on the ground. She looked down and jumped.
It was a girl.
A little girl.
She was sobbing on the desert floor, like crying buckets of tears.
"No! No! Please, don't kill me! I have—I have something you might need! Water, take it!"
Aubrey's mouth was wide open. She didn't know what to do.
"P—please! I just want to live another day longer with my brother before he dies from the scorpion bite!"
She started sobbing beyond speaking terms.
Aubrey exchanged a look with Josh, and knelt down.
The girl flinched away.
"Shh, I'm not going to hurt you."
The girl wiped some of her tears away.
"I promise. What's your name?"
"L—Leila. Leila Adams."
"You're the girl from District Ten, then?"
Leila nodded.
"My d—district partner has been hunting me since the beginning. He wants to be the one to kill me, he says. Some f—family feud."
Aubrey nodded. "Who's your brother, then?"
Leila sniffled and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small bird, very much alive.
"How—?"
"They thought it was a toy bird, so they let me bring it. Of course, I've broken the rules, but I'll die anyway, so i—it doesn't matter. He was bitten by the scorpion, and he doesn't have much time. There's a cure, in the form of pills but—"
Leila was wracked with pounding coughs, blood staining her hand when she pulled it away.
"Are you okay?!"
Leila coughed. "I—I had a lung disease before I came. I hid it well. I didn't want them to cure me before the games. If I was going to die, I wanted it to be because of something human, not because of something inhuman."
Aubrey took the backpack from josh and started to search though it.
"I've got something in here for you, I'm sure of it, some pills, I think—"
"Pills?" Leila sat up and coughed again, more blood coming out. "Let me see them."
Aubrey pulled them out, showing the three blue pills.
Leila started crying.
"What?! What is it?"
"I—Nothing. Just, please. Please keep those pills! Never let them go! If the scorpion comes back, those will save your life, because they're made for pois—"
Leila's small frame wracked with the force of her coughs. She started to look dazed, her dark skin paling.
"What? They're made for what?"
Leila just coughed.
"Come with us, please! We can help you, we'll find some herb or something—"
Josh finally spoke up.
"No."
Aubrey looked up at him, horrified.
"What do you mean 'no'?! She clearly needs medical help—"
"'No', as in what she has is incurable. Nothing in Panem could help her. She has an extreme case of Asbestosis. She is probably living her last minutes as we speak."
Aubrey fought down tears. If she was crying over the death of this random girl, how would she fare with Josh?
"He's right. I—I know I'm dying. I knew it back in the dusty fields of Ten, and I know it now. The—the Careers made it way worse. They kicked dirt and dust in my face, knowing what I had, worsening my condition. I would've survived at least another three months without them. Maybe I should thank them. Maybe it was meant to happen for a reason.
"At least I can't be hunted anymore. Now I feel bad for all the animals we grew and killed back in Ten. A whole district for it, and most of us were vegetarians. My own mother was so sick from it that she had to be sent to the Capitol for a "secret mission", and she never came back again."
Aubrey gasped. Isn't that what Zane had told her about his father?
She had asked him what happened to his family. And what had he said?
"I'm not sure. Something during the dark days. But . . . my father was lost to the Capitol. He was called for some 'secret mission', and we never saw him again. And I don't want to risk it with you."
She had to get that back to Zane. It could solve the mystery.
And . . . the Careers. They did this. They poisoned this girl with her own weakness, and on purpose. They would pay.
"I'll stay, then. Until you . . . die. No one should be alone when they die. Whether people are celebrating because you're a horrible person, or crying because you were great."
Leila nodded, a trail of blood going down the side of her face, her hazel eyes losing focus.
"But . . . please, don't forget the pills. I often have important urges, and they usually turn out to be very vital. You will forget about the pills, and that shall be your downfall. You will never forgive yourself until the day you die. But things can change, please don't forget the pills."
Aubrey had forgotten about the pills in her hand, which she put back.
"O—Okay. I promise I won't forget. I promise you'll be okay. You'll be going to a better place."
"A better place?"
"A place where the Hunger Games don't exist, and there aren't any districts, there isn't much of anything. You'll be happy there."
"A better place . . ."
"Home. You're home."
Leila's eyes glazed over, staring up into nothing.
A cannon went off.
Aubrey wiped a tear from her face and pressed a kiss to Leila's forehead.
In the end, Leila had died on her own terms, not the Capitol's. And that was more than Aubrey could've hoped for.
Aubrey thought of the games, thought of the Careers, thought of Leila.
She looked up at the sky, where Leila was looking, just looked up, and stared deeply into the sky, mouthing nine words into the red horizon.
I'm coming for you, both of you.
I promise.