I hear footsteps and yelling behind us. We are all running so fast and I don't think we even know where we are going. I turn my head to make sure Nick and Keanan are still behind me, they are. I hear a loud noise that makes me jump. Thunder, I look up at the sky where this thunder was coming from. A water droplet falls in my eyes; soon one water droplet turns into twenty. The massive amount of rain is washing over my face; I don't stop running though I just keep my head forward.
I honestly hate the Gamemakers right now; they just want to see us fumbling around in this thunder storm for entertainment. Mud is starting to form on the ground, making it extremely hard to run fast. We slap our feet in the puddles which splashes up mud onto our clothes making us completely covered in patches of mud. There's more thunder and I could have sworn I could have seen lightning hitting a tree to the right of me.
I am breathing heavily but I can't hear it because of the splash of mud, the rain hitting the ground and the thunder. I have no idea how far in front of District 1 and the boy from District 5 we are, but we don't slow down. My side where I was injured is starting to throb, it might be bleeding again. I hear a loud noise that sounds like an explosion, it was probably just a lightning bolt, I tell myself. Shortly after that is a cracking noise. I keep my head forward so I don't slow down, but I am forced to turn my head when I hear Keanan's bloodcurdling yell. It's so full of pain I snap my head back and immediately stop short.
When I turn my head, the sight I see makes my heart sink. An enormous wide tree lies on the ground right on top of Keanan, it's on his chest. His eyes are franticly running back and forth as he tries to pull himself out of it. The rain is splashing on his face and his hair is dripping water droplets on his nose. There's no luck whatsoever and I am about to run to him when I see District 1 coming. I can't let Keanan die like I let Jace died. I need to save him, even if I die for it. I was going to die eventually right? But then something creeps into my mind I don't have my hunting jacket on, the hunting jacket which had mom's mockingjay pin attached to it. I can't die without it on; it has to get back to my mother.
Thinking is making me run out of time so I just get ready to run to Keanan who sees me ready to help him. His eyes are watery like the day on the beach when we were talking about Jace.
"NO! HAILEY RUN." He is yelling over the rain as he whips his head to see the running Careers heading towards us. "GO! RUN!" Why does everyone want to give their lives for me! I can't let Keanan die! He is suffocating from that tree. But just then with a swift movement someone is pulling on my waist, Nick.
My side feels numb almost. I can't run anymore, but I know I have to, for Nick. He is running next to me holding onto my hand making sure I don't fall behind. Nick shoves something into my hand; I look down quickly to see the spear that Keanan was holding before the tree fell on him. When I glance at it I remember Keanan sitting next to me on the beach talking about Jace, or fishing with this spear. Then I hear a cannon fire in the distance, it must be for Keanan, a single tear falls from my eyes and mixes in with the rain drops.
Then out of nowhere a blurry vision in front of my eyes pushes me and Nick down. The boy from District 5 is standing over us, he is a fast runner. Nick and I are rolled into a big puddle of mud. But just then I remember the spear Nick put in my hand. It turns out throwing spears in the training center helped me because I threw the spear and to my luck it landed right in his neck. A cannon fires as he hits the ground. Nick stands up quickly and pulls me up with him.
We have no clue where District 1 is and it is freaking me out. I feel very jumpy at every sound surrounding us. I start limping over to Nick, because it hurts too much to walk normally with the gash in my side growing bigger by the second. Because I can't walk me and Nick walk a little slower, but we are still going faster than normal and we are still aware of our surroundings.
We don't get that far when we hear branches cracking. Nick and I stop short in our tracks immediately twisting our heads in every direction to find the source of the noise.
"We seriously need to take care of these two." I hear from the right of me and I turn my head to see the boy from District 1. Behind him is the lanky girl from his district. Nick and I don't have much time to react to them because the lanky girl charges at me and pulls me to the ground. Nick yells something, I can't hear because my head is slammed into a puddle of mud on the ground.
"Shut up pretty boy." The boy says back hostilely, the boy pulls out his knife and so Nick. I flinch at every lunge the boy makes towards Nick. The girl doesn't hurt me she just holds me down, I think it's because she really doesn't know how to do anything, she has enough strength to make me not fidget but she stands there awkwardly, probably because she never really learned to fight people before.
Nick and the boy are going back and forth; I never realized how good Nick was at fighting. He dodges every one of his lunges swiftly and throws back lunges just as swift. Nick takes the knife he has in his right hand and jabs it at the boy's leg, it lands in his upper leg and he pulls it out quickly, but the boy doesn't seem fazed at all, just extremely angry. He plunges towards Nick, but he lifts his hand and swipes at the boy's face. He drops to the ground, He is knocked out and the rain is running down his face.
Nick instantly runs over to the girl holding me to the ground and grasps her; she tries to get away, making it hard for him to strike her with his knife. So I reach into my pocket and take out my knife and quickly jab her with it in her chest. She drops from Nick's grasp and falls into the mud she had me in before. I hear a cannon fire in the distance and then from the corner of my eye I see the boy who Nick was fighting before get up. Nick and I are ready to fight but the boy just grabs his leg which is spewing blood, he runs off into the forest, and I know he won't make it that long out there.
I let everything sink in; Keanan's death takes a while to go through my brain so I process it. I also realize that Nick and I are the last two people besides the District 1 tribute, who is badly wounded, I never wanted this to happen, I was supposed to be dead already.
When the information gets through my head I throw myself into Nick's arms. We stand like that for a while just in each other's arms, and then we realize we have to go, let the hovercrafts come for the dead body of the girl.
My side is still hurting from running all this way, I'm not sure if it is bleeding or not but I don't bother to check. Nick and I walk hand in hand back to our camp. We walk slowly since I am limping and we are tired from all that running anyway. We don't talk but I know we're thinking the same thing. What are we going to do if we're the last two?
When we reach the camp my heart immediately hurts when I think of Keanan and how he should be in the water right now with his pants rolled up holding the spear. It stopped raining and like magic the sun was shining. When we step out of the trees we ran into this morning, I instantly run into the tent remembering when I thought I was going to die. I pick up my hunting jacket and take the mockingjay pin off it and put it on my shirt. I will not risk dying without it.
I turn my head around the tent to see Keanan's corner with his backpack and hunting jacket. I picture his amber eyes staring at me begging for me to run away from him. I could have saved him, I know I could have. Now he is dead, gone. For the first time in a while I think about Kyler's words he said to me one night. 'At least you can be with him wherever we go after we die; there will be no Hunger Games there.' I wonder if what Kyler said is true, if Jace and Keanan are together, but I stop because it hurts too much.
Nick and I sit outside since the sun is out, we dry up from our soaking wet clothes fairly quick. It turns out my gash had starting bleeding again, not that bad, but it wasn't too good either. Nick puts on some of the stuff we got sent down from my parents the day I got cut. It helps a lot and he wraps a cloth tightly around my waist that makes it feel secure.
We don't talk much for the rest of the day and when the anthem plays to show us the deaths for the day I can't help but let out a few tears. I really felt like Keanan confided in me these past few days, and just like that he is gone forever. We go back into the tent and Nick says he is going to stay awake to keep watch just in case, and I wish I could stay awake with him, but my eyelids won't even stay open to say 'alright.' He kisses me softy on the lips and I drift away into sleep.
I get sleep but even the sleep doesn't stop me from thinking about the inevitable. Nick or I is going to have to die, and it is going to be soon. I just wish I had enough courage to rip open my gash right now and let all my blood pour out and I could die, so Nick can kill the boy from District 1 and can win. But like I said I don't have enough courage to die for someone on my own terms like Kyler, Jace, and Keanan. It would have to be a surprise.