As the hours pass, the sun fully sets and a blanket of dark blue covers the arena, perhaps for the last time.
While going back to the pond, Peeta stumbled and fell time and time again. One time when he fell, he just lay there, face down in the soil, his body quivering. It was like he gave up. He was basically shouting out to the world, "Rue's dead. I failed her. Might as well die now."
It's like what he told me on his first night on the train, "If I'm going to die, I'm going to on my own terms."
It looks as though he's fulfilling his promise to himself, but not to me.
He promised me that he'd come home, not he's practically giving his life away.
So when he reaches the pond, I send a small parachute.
Peeta stumbles towards it, he slowly reaches towards it, his hands shaking with fatigue. He opens the parachute and takes out the gift.
It's a small note, and in it, lie two simple words.
'You promised.'
A shrill scream echoes through the forest. Peeta places his hands over his ears and shuts his eyes tightly; he begins to rock back and forth.
I hear him murmur, "Not her. Not her. Not her."
I know he means me. Perhaps he's traumatized from when he saw my hologram dying, but then he had Rue to accompany him with, to assure him that it wasn't me.
That voice didn't even come remotely close to mine. But when in the arena, you can't be sure of anything anymore.
I remember a couple of years ago, the arena turned out to be a simulation. The tributes were given a pair of glasses and were all placed in a vast room. The room then turned into a combination of twenty-four arenas, and the tributes were fighting each other in their mind as well as physically. Often, the arena changed, if a tribute was walking through an ice lake, the next minute they could be stepping off a cliff. It was probably one of the most dangerous arena's to date, for the fact that the tributes were subconsciously programmed to conjure an arena made of their deepest fears. Many died from shock or fear rather than at someone else's hand. I suppose it was interesting to watch because everyone could see what one another's fears were, including the tributes themselves. They could feed each other off of it.
Sweat begins to form on his brow, despite it being a cool night. He pants heavily and begins to tear up, the arena is turning him insane.
A cannon fires.
Two.
On the other screen, Vailea is still alive and kicking. I know that it means she killed the District Five girl. How? I don't know, I wasn't paying attention.
"How did she kill her?" I ask Haymitch.
"You don't want to know, sweetheart."
If Haymitch refuses to tell me, I respect his decision, because it must have been brutal, but at least she didn't stab her in the back like she did with her 'allies.'
I can see Peeta sigh as the sky lights up with the image of Foxface.
Peeta gets up, dusts himself off and leaves the pond, leaving his hand-made spears behind. He knows that this will be his last night in the arena, whether he will die here or not.
He doesn't even take a second look back.
While Peeta is walking through the forest, I can see Vailea making her way into the Cornucopia, going through her weapons, which are mostly knives. I can see her sharpening one or two before going back into the forest, being obscured by the shadows of the night.
I turn back to Peeta's screen, he's still walking, the way that he's moving, he doesn't seem tired, but his eyes beg to differ. His blue eyes are adorned with pain, dark circles are patched around his eyes. His pale skin glows under the moonlight, almost as if he's a ghost.
He's lost a sufficient amount of weight in the arena, his once strong baker's body is now like a frail little boy's. But there's still muscle there, but he's probably gotten a lot weaker.
His eyes and face are devoid of emotion, he's expressionless and passive.
He stops in his tracks when he hears a familiar voice.
A haunting, evil laugh rings across the forest, it dances around the trees in the arena, as well as the Districts in Panem.
The voice belongs to Vailea.
Peeta whips his head back and forth, seemingly following the direction of the voice, he twirls in circles, the voice seems to be circling him.
Since Rue died, it's the first time that I actually see a fire in his eyes. He's alert and ready to fight. But the laughing seems to transform into an ear-piercing roar.
Yellow eyes open up behind Peeta, they shine brighter than the sun. I can see the monster's sharp teeth as it growls.
I know what they are. Muttations.
I scream at the screen, "Turn around Peeta!"
I grip the arms of my chair so hard that my knuckles turn white.
The mutt closes in on Peeta, and he notices the growls and snarls of the animal.
Peeta whips around, his eyes meeting the mutt's. The mutt snarls at him, and slowly steps towards him. But Peeta stays still, frozen in fear.
Haymitch's voice breaks the tension, "Vailea's got some mutts on her tail as well."
I guess that it was just her voice that was used, she wasn't actually near him. Possibly Jabberjays?
I let my eyes tear away from Peeta's screen to look at Vailea's, she's running through the woods, panting and there's a gash on her face, the mutts must have taken her by surprise.
Looks like the Gamemakers want the real show to start.
The mutt suddenly lunges at Peeta and he stumbles back, his eyes wide, then he starts running.
One, two, three more appear and begin chasing Peeta, I notice the colour of their fur, and recognize them as the fallen tributes.
My stomach twists in horror. The Capitol already turned their youth to murderers, now they have turned them into weapons made for their own destruction? Yes, they seems despicable to me.
The mutts that chase Vailea consist of a small, dark mutt, which resembles Rue, one with fiery red fur, Foxface, and the other two resemble the Careers that she backstabbed.
Revenge must be sweet.
A couple of minutes later, Vailea breaks through the woods at the same time as Peeta, I can see that their eyes connect for a couple of seconds before breaking away again.
They both run towards the Cornucopia, the mutts hot on their heels. Peeta's face contorts in determination as he sprints faster, reaching the Cornucopia first.
He scrambles on top of it, barely making it unscathed before he helps Vailea up.
Why must he be so good-hearted?
His efforts of pulling Vailea up were in vain because she immediately shoves him hard to the edge of the horn, his head dangling in the path of the mutts. With his shoulders exposed, one mutt that I identify as District Seven leaps up and claws at his right shoulder, opening a deep wound.
Vailea straddles him and grabs his throat, squeezing it so tight that her knuckles are red with pain. Peeta gasps and scratches the horn, grabbing it to release his pain. His lips are turning blue, but then he uses his legs to kick Vailea off of him.
He wheezes and pulls himself back up, he holds the edge of the horn for supports. He coughs out blood and holds his shoulder, his face contorted in pure agony and pain.
Vailea stumbles back, and falls on her back, she hits her head on the floor of the horn and cries out. I can barely make out a cracking sound over the noise of the mutts.
Both of my tributes are panting heavily, blood dripping from various parts of their body.
I know that this year District Twelve will have a victor.
That is, if they don't kill each other in the process.
Vailea takes out her sharpest knife and lunges at Peeta, cutting open his stomach. It's not a deep wound, because he jumped back before she could slice him completely open.
I push the thought of Peeta cut in half because vomit accumulates in my throat.
Peeta hisses, and ducks when Vailea tries to stab him.
Sweat and blood mix on Vailea's face, her eyes clouded with insanity and anger.
Everyone becomes mad once they are entered in the arena, even the Careers. Mad with death, insane to kill with the thirst for blood.
But tonight, the night is alive with the smell of insane.
Vailea screams as she tackles Peeta to the ground, she straddles him and grabs his face in her hands, her fingernails drive into his skin.
"You don't deserve to live, you weakling," she spits out.
Peeta lets out a snarl, "You're the weak one, because you've become the monster, how can you live with yourself? If you win, how will you be able to sleep at night? You're the weak one because you refuse to do the honourable, to protect one another. That is humanity, protecting each other in the face of death is humanity, but you're not human anymore, are you? You've become a mutt, like them!"
I don't know if he's referring to the mutts in the arena or the Captiol itself.
He thrashes, clawing at Vailea, releasing the anger that he has contained ever since he was reaped.
Vailea restrains him, knife in hand, ready for the kill, her voice trembles with her tears, "She took him from me, and now, I'm taking you from her!"
She raises the knife and in the process, loosens her grip on Peeta, giving him the opportunity to shove her off of him, and directly off the Cornucopia.
She screams in her fall, as the mutts that died at her hands take their revenge.
Peeta coughs out more blood, the gash in his shoulder and stomach opening wider and ripping. He crawls to look over at her torn body and whispers, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
The final cannon fires.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the victor of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Peeta Mellark! Our tribute from District Twelve!"
Just as his victory is announced, Peeta gives in to his wounds and crumbles on the roof of the Cornucopia.
I scream when I realize that he isn't moving.
The Games are overrrrr! I was so tempted to make Vailea the victor halfway, just because it seems more realistic. I actually wrote it, then I erased it and did the good thing O:) I so badly wanted to end this chapter when Peeta's victory is announced, but I have an emotional attachment to cliffhangers :P Anyway, thank you so much for reading! And to every reviewer that has reviewed my story! Reviews are welcome :)