Deanie's POV #11
I sit on the edge of a fallen tree in the quiet for a few minutes and look around me. Palm trees, vines and everything that hides everything from me and me from it. Hopefully the volcano scares away the other tributes because I don't want to have to kill people. Even if the opportunity came. I probably wouldn't risk killing them for my own survival. Whats the point of killing people when I am going to die anyways. What's the point of taking a life to save my own. We are all going to be dead inside.
I place the trident on my lap and rest both my hands on it. What now? I ask myself. A white triangle peaks out of my coat pocket. I go to reach for it when I hear a scream off to my left. I want to stop as many deaths as I can. At least I can try to stop it. I throw my bag into the hollowed part of the fallen tree then hold my trident to my side and begin to run towards where the scream came from. I run through the vines and hit a few branches out of my face with my trident. I feel a little out of breath from running but it is mainly from running with the hot sun beaming through the top of the trees. I hear a voice to my left and follow it.
I see Mailey pinned to a tree by Fyodor. Just seeing Fyodor brings rage to me. I don't understand why Mailey isn't fighting though. "Too bad we couldn't of done it another time." He brings a knife to her throat. "Scream all you want. Nobody is coming." I'm about to step out when Mailey talks.
"If you kill me it would do me a favor." She says. It would do us all a favor. She then spits in his face.
The knife is held so close to her neck now. I see the blood trickle down her neck and stain the collar of her coat. "No need for any last words." He says it bringing the knife back from her neck and arches it. She closes her eyes. No she can't give up I think to myself. "I'm ready for the cannon." I hear Fyodor say with a smile.
Before he can move the knife an inch closer to her I stand up quickly and loudly from the bush and bring my right arm back to throw the trident. He looks over at me with his one arm still across her chest and with the knife still arched towards her. His body isn't parallel from hers. HIs body is facing me a little. He opens his mouth to speak but I let the trident move fast with my arm and then release it once my arm is almost foward. The three points embed themselves in his collarbone almost instantly and he falls to the ground with a thud to his back in front of Mailey's feet. The canon that announces Fyodor's death makes Mailey open her eyes. I ignore her and walk over to his body. I place my right foot just below where the trident hit and yank it free of him. I swing the trident over my shoulder and hold it there. I look down at him and see that he looks peaceful. He's the lucky one.
"Thank you so much." I hear Mailey tell me as she stands beside me and also looks down at Fyodor. I look down at her then walk away. "Where are you going?" She asks me as she chases after me.
"You're going the wrong way." I tell her.
"What are you talking about?" She speeds up and stops in front of me. "We can be allies. Don't be stupid." I look her in the eyes for a moment.
"You're on your own." I tell her as I lightly push her to the side and walk past her.
"We can help each other out!" She screams at me. I turn around and face her.
"You will drag me down." I drop my trident from my shoulders and hold it at my side. "I will not be responsible for your death." I turn around once again and walk a few feet. "I don't want your blood on my hands." I yell over my shoulders.
"What was the point of saving me then?" I stop walking and turn around. "So that I can die painfully by another person?"
"I wasn't going to watch-" A canon cuts me off. "Someone die." I continue.
"Well you killed someone else in the process of saving me." She tells me.
"I know." I shake my head. "I kind of regret it now." She just stands there quietly for a moment before she speaks.
"You know thats not true." She's right, but I still don't want to be around people. Its always been that way and I'd like it to stay that way. "Maybe no one wins." She walks closer to me. "We can stay alive and refuse to fight." She is close enough to grab my shoulders. "We refuse to kill. We don't let them control us." She can't possibly believe that will work. No matter the numbers the Capitol will always win. They will try to win. They aren't fair. Fairness never wins. After a long moment I respond.
"We can stay together, but we watch each others back. Then after a while we break away." I tell her and begin to walk. Its too late for me to refuse to kill, I already have killed two people. She runs back and I hear a crack then she comes back and I see a bloodied machete in her hand.
"Like I said before." She continues to look at the ground. "We can refuse and then we won't have to split up at all. The Capitol doesn't have to win." I look up at her. Maybe she is right. Maybe we can beat the Capitol if we stay together. I'm tired and I'm positive everyone else is tired of living in fear.
"It will be quicker if we run." I tell her. Before she can reject running I sprint towards the volcano. I have to move the trident in my other hand because I didn't want to hit Mailey with it while we were running. About a minute later we arrive at the volcano short of breath. I grab my bag out of the hallow tree and begin to take out the rations. and split them equally and place one half in the small bag that I left on the ground. I hand it over to Mailey silently.
"Thank you." She says it out of breath. I caught my breath quicker than she did but I think thats because I've been swimming longer than she has and my lungs have grown bigger than hers. Although she does run fast. We sit down on the tree quietly when a boom alarms both of us.
"Twelve people left." I tell her. She nods sadly. "What happened to you being a career?" I ask her to change the subject.
She shrugs her shoulders and looks away from me. "It doesn't matter." I nod and leave it at that. "I guess we should find food."
"Maybe we can find a body of water." I say to her.
"Won't be any good. The only water that would be here is salt water and we would get dehydrated and die." She says. I laugh a little. I grew up in the fishing district. I know more about this than she does.
"No. I use the trident to catch fish and you can use this," I pull the spile out of my bag that is on the ground. "in the palm trees and get freshwater." I place the spile in her hand and put on my bag. "We'll meet back here in a half hour. Kill an animal or two with the machete and then we will eat." I look down at the machete and see blood. She nods her head then walks the opposite direction from the cornucopia.
I walk in the direction where Fyodor was. It would of been taken by a hovercraft by now. My trident is held in front of my body and I look all around me. On the ground, in the trees, or even in bushes. Certain animals will be good to eat, but some are not. A cannon booms by my ear and a white furry animal runs out of the bushes. My trident is launched into it's body and it goes limp. I take three long steps and see that I hit a possum. I pick up my trident and pull its body off my trident. I don't like eating possums, they have diseases.
I look around worriedly. I hope that wasn't Mailey's cannon. My breath begins to race and I suddenly feel fear in my body. I don't want her to be dead. I turn around to run for the volcano to find her. Before I can take a step a hovercraft appears in the sky over in the cornucopia's direction and a big sigh comes out of my throat. Eleven people left and one is Mailey. That comforts me at the same time it scares me. I don't want to grow attached to someone then have them ripped out of my life. Mailey is right. We don't have to kill. We refuse. Two more cannons go off and makes me think. Although Mailey and I wont kill. It doesn't stop the other people from killing. We will still have to protect each other. I don't want to kill anymore people, but if that means saving Mailey then I will risk it. Nine people are left and two of those people are fighting for the people at home.
I continue my walk with my trident yet again across my chest, ready to strike at anything. The sun beams down at me and I feel the metal slipping from my hands. A loud scream to my left sends my body to be still. I stand in quiet and listen closely. A cannon sounds two seconds later. Eight people left and its only the first day. This year of tributes are thirsty for blood. More so than usual. I have a feeling these games are going to be a quick one.
A brown furry animal jumps on the ground in front of me and I throw my trident towards it. It's body goes limp and I pick up my trident with the body still attached. I look down at the monkey and feel a frown on my face. How could I have taken this helpless creature's life? His situation is a lot like mine. He didn't choose to be here. He was born to survive here just like the rest of us and there is nothing we can do about it.