A Dangerous Game

Chapter Fourteen: The Girl with the Arrows

An arrow hit the ground near Blaine's feet. He was so surprised that he tripped and fell onto the hard, uneven ground. He ignored his bleeding hand, which had scrapped on a rock, and picked himself up. He ducked behind a tree, peeking out from behind to try to spot his attacker. All he spotted was a blur of blond hair before another arrow whizzed by his ear.

He reached up feeling his ear, his hand came back with drops of blood. That explained the excruciating pounding that was near deafening. From what he could feel, his ear was still there, but there was blood trickling down his ear canal.

The girl was moving so with so much stealth that all he heard was the occasional ruffle of leaves. The sound seemed to be coming from all directions, more ominous than helpful in locating her position.

"Stop hiding, you're just delaying the inevitable," a sharp female voice came from the bushes beside him.

Blaine edged around his tree away from her voice, "I managed to escape you once before. I assume you were the one that killed my sister."

"That was you? Well what can I say, you ran very fast. I truly am sorry about your sister. I can't afford to be mercifully to anyone."

"She was just a kid."

"So are the rest of us. Besides, I have my Beth waiting for me at home. I can't lose."

Blaine tried to keep her talking long enough to figure out a way to escape, "Beth?"

"My daughter." She was silent for a few moments, "You're Blaine, right? District Three?"

"Yeah," Blaine said slowly, turning around to see if climbing the tree was an option. It wasn't one.

"I'll see if I can get any extra rations sent there when I win. I'm sorry Blaine."

Blaine spun around, his back to the tree once more. The girl from District Twelve, Quinn, was standing in front of him, her bow drawn. She released the arrow and it embedded itself in Blaine's chest, barely an inch away from his heart.

He shouted out, sliding to the ground. She hurried to his side, helping him to lie comfortably. "Since we last met… well sort of met… I saw you at least… I came across a tracker jackers' nest. I laced each arrow with tracker jacker poison, it shouldn't be enough to cause any painful hallucinations, just enough to put you to sleep. You might have a few weird dreams before…" she brushed his hair off his forehead, then slowly slide the arrow out of his chest, wiping the blood off on the grass before replacing it in her quiver, "Good night Blaine, I'm sorry." With a glance over her shoulder, she grabbed the other two arrows she had shot at him, and then hurried off.

A scream echoed through the woods. Kurt stopped in his tracks, "Did you hear that?"

Rachel nodded. They waited for the cannon to go off, but the sound never came. Rachel started to go off in the other direction from the scream. She glanced over her shoulder at Kurt, who hadn't moved. "Come on! The killer might be coming this way. We should be getting out of here before they do."

Kurt shook his head. He headed in the direction of the scream. There was a feeling deep in his heart that the injured tribute was Blaine. He couldn't have explained it, but he just knew it was true.

"Kurt! Where do you think you're going?" Rachel looked longingly in the direction she had wanted to go, then reluctantly followed her friend.

Quinn ran through the woods, leaping gracefully over broken tree branches. She wiped tears out of her eyes angrily. She hated this. She cried over every kill, but she could afford the handicap of blurred vision. Odd… the Anderson boy's cannon hadn't gone off yet. She had hit him close to his heart; that is, if she hadn't actually hit it. For a moment she considered going back, but thought better of it. He would die eventually and her tracker jacker concoction would have him unconscious by now. He wouldn't be in pain, she didn't lace the arrows with enough poison to cause him pain, just enough to knock him out. He wasn't in pain. Right? He wasn't in pain, he couldn't be. There was no reason to go back. He did have a sword but she had left him with that; she had no use for it and it would be taken with him when he was removed from the arena, which was all for the better. She didn't need to go around leaving weapons for the other tributes.

The rain had really done a number on her bow, she had tried to keep it dry but there was only so much she could do. The string had gotten a bit lose, which had thrown off her aim. If it was tight she could have easily hit the boy on her first shot. She sat down at the base of a tree getting to work. The bow really was useless in this state. Frowning at it, she got to work tightening the string.

"Who was it?" a high, but distinctly male, voice demanded.

Quinn looked up to find a sai sword inches from her. She glared at holder. "I have no clue what you mean."

A small girl was standing behind the boy, "Kurt. Don't."

"She has a good idea there," Quinn smiled at him.

Kurt pressed the slender sword into her chest, "Who did you attack?"

Quinn tapped her fingers on her quiver, ready to withdraw an arrow. She couldn't shot it at him from this distance, but she wouldn't need to. "Blaine Ander…" Before she finished, Kurt had her pressed against the tree one sai at her throat and another pressed against her chest.

"Give me a reason," he hissed, "Give me a reason I shouldn't run you through."

"Dramatic, don't you think? Look, sorry if he was a friend of yours…"

Kurt's eyes narrowed. He pushed the sai into Quinn's heart. Her cannon went off before she hit the ground.

Kurt stumbled back, collapsing onto the ground. He still had the bloodied sword in his hand. He numbly dropped it, vaguely aware of Rachel standing in shock behind him. He felt sick to his stomach. What had he done? Quinn's empty eyes starred at him accusingly. Kurt hurriedly reached out, closing her lids. It was different than Karofsky. He hadn't meant to kill him, only maim him slightly. Quinn had been deliberate, pure revenge for what she had done to Blaine.

Blaine! Where was he? Was he already so far gone that anything Kurt did would do nothing to save him? Quinn wouldn't have left him if he wasn't close to death.

Kurt got to his feet as if in a trance and somehow managed to follow the tracks Quinn had left. Rachel was somewhere behind him. He didn't care. All that mattered was Blaine. The smell of blood was the first sign that he was in the right place. He spun around, almost missing him, as he was lying on the ground barely moving. Kurt sunk to his knees next to him. He put Blaine's head in his lap, kissing his forehead. "Please wake up." He whispered. "Don't leave me. Not like this."

Blaine was sweating, but was as cold as ice. His eyes were moving under closed lids. In his chest was a deep, bloody wound. Running his fingers through Blaine's hair, Kurt discovered a scratch on the side of his ear, blood seeping from it.

"Rachel!" Kurt shouted. "He's here."

A rustling signified her running toward them. She knelt next to them.

Kurt looked up at her with tear filled eyes. "I don't know what to do. He can't die."

Rachel set down Kurt's sai swords which she had grabbed when Kurt had ran from the site of Quinn's death. After digging around in her backpack for a few seconds she withdrew a water bottle and some gaze. She got to work on Blaine's wound. Kurt felt useless, but every time he tried to help his hands shook so bad he was more in the way than anything else. He cradled Blaine's head, while Rachel went to work cleaning and wrapping Blaine's wound. The arrow hadn't gone all the way through, but it was deep. Deep enough that once Rachel had it covered, the white gaze quickly turned to red. Blaine moaned, shifting in Kurt's arms.

Overhead the ship came to collect Quinn. Kurt instinctively leaned over Blaine, trying to hide him from the view of the vessel's crew, some part of him feeling like he was shielding him from death.