Chapter 10
And so it is down to Haymitch, Peeta, Katniss, Rue and Alex. But there is a twist. Alex's best friend from Manhattan, New York, Harper Finkle is in the arena.
Alex is sitting at the fire with Harper at the Cornucopia. Rue and Katniss are next to them and Katniss has her right arm around Alex's waist, putting pressure on the still bleeding wound. Haymitch is next to Rue and Peeta is next to Harper.
"Were those zombies?" Alex asks Haymitch, making him chuckle.
"In a way they could be. It's more corpses that the Gamemakers were controlling." Haymitch explains. Suddenly Alex trembles.
"It was creepy because Mags and Beetee were skeletons and Blight had no jaw and his eyeball was falling out of his head." Alex covers her mouth turning green, "God. I just grossed myself out."
"So, I never caught any of your names." Harper states looking at each person.
"Oh sorry. I'm Peeta Mellark." Peeta introduces, "This is Haymitch." Peeta points at Haymitch.
"I'm Rue." Rue smiles.
"And I'm Katniss Everdeen." Katniss smiles.
"It's nice to meet all of you. I'm Alex's best friend from New York. Harper Finkle." Harper smiles.
"It's nice to meet you too." Katniss nods.
~K&A~
For the rest of the night, Katniss kept pressure on Alex's wound that has slowly stopped bleeding, leaving Alex weak and tired.
Harper stayed by Alex's side, never leaving.
As Alex sleeps in Katniss' arms, while using Harper's shoulder as a pillow, there were 3 chimes, then 9 and 12. 24 chimes total. Which no one heard.
~A&K~
Alex started to feel sick, so she opens her eyes. The fire is almost out. But that's not what scared Alex.
What scared Alex the most is the poison fog surrounding them, muttations birds above them circling and the forest around them on fire.
They're trapped.
The only safe spot is the water, but Alex knows that the Gamemakers did something to it.
Katniss awakes hearing Alex whimpering. She opens her eyes and freezes.
"GET UP!" Katniss shouts standing up and pulls Alex into her arms. Haymitch, Peeta, Rue and Harper gets up and looks around them.
"Water!" Peeta shouts and all of them run to the water. Haymitch and Peeta are the first in the water, then Katniss and Alex. Rue and Harper runs into the water last.
The poison fog advances on Rue and Harper. Only one can live.
"HARPER!" Alex screams.
Harper stops moving and grabs Rue. She picks Rue up and tosses her at Katniss and Alex.
Not even a second later, the poison fog covers Harper and Harper screams.
Katniss keeps Rue and Alex afloat as Alex cries.
The poison fog retreats and the fire and birds retreat as well.
"No..." Alex sobs. Haymitch and Peeta swim to the three girls and hug them close to them.
Something smooth touches Peeta's feet.
"What was that?" Peeta asks.
"What was what?" Haymitch asks confused.
It happens again, but to Rue.
"What was that?" Rue whispers looking around her.
Again, but to Katniss.
"We have to get to the shore." Katniss pulls Alex and Rue away from Cornucopia and to the direction of the beach, which they started on. Thank god that she and Alex still have their bow and arrows, and Rue has her knife. Haymitch still has a sword and Peeta has 3 spears left.
They all begin to the beach.
Alex looks behind her and sees a fin appear not too far away from them.
"HURRY!" Alex screams, as she ignores the pain in her side and swims faster as she and Katniss pulls Rue between them. Haymitch pulls Peeta, just a little bit ahead of them.
At the shore as Haymitch pulls Rue out of the water and Peeta pulls Katniss out, Alex trips, getting out of the water. The creature bites Alex's leg, making her scream.
Alex feels herself get pulls back into the water.
"ALEX!" Katniss shoots arrow after arrow at the creature as the creature bites Alex's leg more... breaking it.
"KATNISS!" Alex screams in pain. Alex squeezes her eyes shut as someone wraps their arms around her and three set of running feet runs and attacks the creature that Alex still does not know, nor want to look.
Finally the creature's bite decreases, letting Alex go.
"She's free!" Alex hears Rue say scared but in relief. Alex's listens to how close Rue is, and finally discovers that it is Rue that is holding her.
"Peeta, carry her to the rocks and I can help her." Haymitch orders. Alex feels herself get picked up out of Rue's arms and get set down on the rocks.
"Alex honey, open your eyes and look at me." Alex hears Katniss whisper shakily.
Alex opens her eyes and looks directly at Katniss.
Katniss puts her hands on Alex's cheeks, keeping their eyes locked.
Katniss begins to tell her about all the crazy stuff Prim's cat Buttercup has done lately before the Games.
Alex would listen and every once in a while scream when Haymitch would do something to her leg.
Alex lets tears fall as she buries her face in Katniss' coat. Alex wraps her arms tightly around Katniss as Katniss hugs her back, rubbing her back and continues to talk. Rue lets her tears fall and sits on a rock nearby, not looking at Alex's bleeding and broken leg, which the shark bit.
So just in this year's Hunger Games, Alex almost died from the force field which Finnick saved her, then Finnick himself, then the poison fog, then the monkeys, then the Careers, then the corpses and now the shark.
So 7 times. One thing is for sure. Alex is a fighter.
After Haymitch stopped the bleeding, put the bone back in place, made a splint to hold Alex's leg in place, and bandaged her leg up, Haymitch helps Peeta rest Alex against the rocks, with her back against them.
Katniss and Rue sits down on both sides of Alex and calms her to the point that Alex fell asleep, using Rue's shoulder as a pillow.
"So it is only us 5 left." Peeta states as he and Haymitch builds a fire as night arrives.
"Yup." Katniss nods placing Alex's bow and arrows next to her's.
"Then what is the point on still being here? We aren't going to kill each other and to top it off they know we all are going to save each other." Rue asks.
"Exactly. They may as well declare us as winners." Haymitch agrees.
"Is Ally ok Haymitch?" Katniss asks Haymitch after 5 minutes of silence.
"She's perfectly fine. She's in pain, which is completely normal. Plus her best friend let herself die saving Rue." Haymitch answers.
Rue closes her eyes feeling a few tears slip through her closed eyes. Alex's best friend... who has been her best friend for so long... saved her at the cost of her own life.
"Don't cry Rue." Rue hears Alex whisper, "Harper is the type of person who would save strangers at the cost of her own life. It's her nature. I would save you at the cost of my life." Rue opens her eyes and sees Alex awake and pale.
"Are you ok?" Rue asks looking at Alex's leg that is bandaged up.
"Yup. Just weak and tired, but hungry." Alex nods, "But, don't worry about Harper. Harper is happy and most likely making weird outfits. I remember this one dress that was pretty cool. She made a dress out of markers." Alex giggles, "And then there's another one out of oranges, kiwi and so many others. Every new day, was a new dress."
Rue smiles and giggles.
"She sounds like an amazing best friend." Alex nods.
"Yes she is. She and I have been best friends since we were 5 years old. 9 years. I will always be upset of her death, but I know she is in a better place and will always be in my heart. She's safe and sound." Rue nods.
"But I'm sorry I am the reason she died." Alex shakes her head.
"It's not your fault. It's Snow's. He's the one who brought her and trapped her here. He's the one who tricked her. He's the one who was trying to get me killed by saving her. I will never blame you. I blame Snow." Alex sighs, "Snow comes down to the reason of everything. He's the one who tricked my family into coming here. Yes, he did help us, but he and the Gamemakers made the Hunger Games. I may not know what happened before District 13 rebuilt or why it was destroyed, but I know it comes down to Snow. He's the reason why 23 or so kids between the ages of 12 and 18 die per year. It all falls onto Snow's shoulders."
Haymitch nods while Rue, Peeta and Katniss stares at Alex like she is a hero. She spoke her mind and connected everything to Snow so quickly and translated it so everyone who is watching, can understand.
"You are right Alex." Haymitch agrees, "And I will explain to you what happened to District 13 before you came. There was a time, just less than a year after the 61st Hunger Games. District 13 began rebelling against the Capitol. They had enough of their kids being killed in the Hunger Games, so Snow bombed them.
"When I was talking to Damien and Serenity, it turned out that everyone there went into the tunnels pretending that Snow killed everyone there. And the Capitol believed it, Snow didn't. So Snow himself went there and discovered that everyone was in hiding, so they came to a compromise. Snow will rebuild their homes if they stop rebelling. But there was another promise there, which Snow kept. If they stop rebelling, Snow will keep them from the Hunger Games until the 74th Hunger Games, giving them 13 years of peace.
"So District 13 took the power in their hands and agreed. I know many Districts are getting to the point of rebelling. The Hunger Games are getting so bad that the rules are being changed. You saw on how Rue's District, ours and yours sent 3 people in. I'm afraid it will get to the point that they will send 4 people in.
"The Capitol is losing their power. That is why you, Justin, Rue, Katniss and Peeta survived the Hunger Games last year. That is because District 13, 12, and 11 were rebelling. Outside this arena, outside the Capitol, each District is rebelling. It will get to the point, that the Districts are going to do anything they can to kill Snow. They will not care who in the Capitol will die, as long as they kill Snow."
Haymitch ends his speech and sees each teenager looking at him.
Just as Alex is about to open her mouth, Heavensbee's voice cuts in.
"And here are the winners of the 75th Hunger Games! District 11's Rue, District 12's Haymitch, Peeta and Katniss, and finally District 13's Alex Russo!"
Not even a second later the hovercraft appears to take them back to the Capitol and out of the arena.
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