Thank you to the readers who gave me awesome feedback on the last chapter! Are the rest of my lovely readers out there? Hope you're still not mad about the slow updates. Big thanks to Squintz again for editing this (:
CupcakeKnight: Thank you! (:
I bet my family is in the Capitol, getting interviewed by Caesar Flickerman. Since they are only two chairs on the stage, they're getting interviewed individually. Gary's family won't be there because he died, and Caesar will be interviewing the families of the living tributes. I start to imagine what each of my family members will do for their interview.
My mother would dress up in something formal, she must be wearing one of her best dresses that are only worn on very special occasions, and my father would wear his gray, intimidating suit along with black, shiny business shoes. Amethyst either got something sexy from her closet or asked our mother to make her something. And Garnet and Geode must be wearing the same thing to look cute. The Capitol will love them both. How about Reina and Shine? I hear that the friends of the tribute will get interviewed, too. They'll most likely be there since they're both friends of Evan and I.
"Amethine," I look up from the blazing fire and at the bowl in front of my face that is held by one of Evan's hands.
I take the bowl. "Thanks."
"Welcome." He sits next to me and looks at the fire, just like I did a minute ago.
"They're getting interviewed. My mom, dad, Amethyst, the twins, maybe Shine and Reina." I say.
"Wonder how it's going." He looks down at his food and moves it around with his spoon.
I look at the boy who has been my good friend of five years. He's not supposed to be here, with me in an arena competing in a death match that only allows one person to win. Then, the next question finds its way into my mind: When he volunteered, did he know that he had to kill me in order to win? Like I said, this wasn't supposed to happen. He would've been at home with his girlfriend, preparing for the next Hunger Games. Why? Why did he have to volunteer? He could've waited.
"Why?" The words involuntarily escape my lips.
Fortunately, I didn't say loud enough for the others, who are joking around and laughing right now, to hear.
"Why did you volunteer? Don't give me that 'I want to win' excuse because we both know that you could've waited until-"
"My family's on the verge of being broke." He cuts me off.
I look at him and blink a few times. "What?" I ask.
"My family is going to lose everything. I needed to step in and do something." He looks at the ground.
The thought of Evan hiding the real motive for wanting to win the games entered my mind from time to time. I always had a feeling that things weren't always what he said it was.
"Remember that accident my father got into?" He asks. I nod. Evan's father worked as a loader back home.
A loader was someone who drove store items that were shipped from other districts to department stores and discharge them from the truck. Evan's father worked as a loader for the best businesses in district one, making his family wealthy just like mine. One rainy day, Evan's father was assigned to deliver crates full of food for a restaurant in the Belle section. When his father opened the truck to start unloading them, the crates toppled over and nearly crushed him to death. Evan always said that the crates must've been stacked wrong and he believes that if they were arranged properly, the accident would've never happened. Luckily, his father didn't die, but he didn't walk away unscathed either.
The accident gave him a broken back and a few broken ribs. Surgery helped, but his spinal cord was still crooked leaving him unable to stand up straight or walk. He always stayed in bed, leaving only to use the restroom, and even that took a lot of effort. He never left his home, although he could've. Evan's mother saved up and combined the savings with her husband's last paycheck to buy a scooter, but he never used it. With his father in bed unable to work his mother became the main source of income for the household. The accident occurred two years ago, when I was sixteen and Evan was fifteen. I knew that it was hard on Evan, but he never spoke about it.
For Evan to divulge all of this, not only to me but to everyone watching the games, I have many mixed emotions. A blend of pity, shame, and anger are blended up inside of me. This reminds me of the reaping day when Evan volunteered and I was feeling so many things that I was not sure how to feel. I understand that you'll do anything to help your family out, and there are so many options in district one.
"There are so many other things that you could've done to help out." I express my thoughts.
His facial expression starts to shift to… Anger?
"Wow, Amethine. I tell you the main reason I want to fucking win, and that's all you say! You're an amazing fucking friend!" His voice rises, catching the attention of my other allies.
He storms out of the cave, past the looks of confusion on the others' face.
"What the hell?" Vinera says, confused. "What was that about?" She asks me.
My eyes are still focused on the blank darkness of outside. The darkness of the night that Evan has exited this cave to enter.
"He'll cool down. Just give him a few minutes." I say, going back to my food.
Everyone is asleep. I volunteered on keeping watch to wait for Evan. He's been gone for an hour and I have no clue as to where he is and what he's doing. He didn't take any weapons with him when he walked out, leaving him defenseless against the mutts out there. I'm sitting on the ground of the cave, a few feet away from the mouth. He didn't even bring a flashlight, how can he see? This thought makes causes my body to rise, grab my pack and sheath. I need to look for Evan.
I pull a flashlight out, turn it on and jog out of the cave. Something knocks me down just as I set foot on the ground outside of the cave. My spears fly out of the sheath and scatter onto the ground. Due to not being able to see what or who knocked me down, I pull a knife out of my belt and get into a fighting position.
I put my knife back when I see who it is.
"Where did you go with no flashlight and weapon?" I ask Evan.
"I had a flashlight in my belt." He says. I help him up.
"We need to go-"he starts to say, but a hiss cuts him off.
I look around and Evan starts to shove me into the cave. "What was that?" I ask.
"Just go inside. I didn't know it would follow me." He says.
"What's 'it'? A mutt?" I question. Slowly slipping the strap of my pack off my shoulder, I set it on the ground.
He nods. "Shhh." He puts a finger to his lips.
I listen and shut my mouth. Turning my head to the sleeping tributes, I hope they don't make a sound. The mutt silently crawls by the cave, its tail slowly moving around. It's the same mutt we encountered the night we went inside the barn. Looking up, it starts to sniff the air, trying to place our scent. Fuck this, we should just kill it now. It's not hard to kill. Just stab in the head, chest, or neck and it'll drop dead.
Sitting in here doing nothing isn't going to help anything. This won't be the last mutt we'll see in the arena, but we should kill it now and decrease the chances of it coming back. Plus, I hate feeling scared. Fear makes you weak, and I'm not weak.
"I'm going to kill it." I whisper to Evan.
"What? No, just stay here and wait for it to leave." He disagrees.
Slipping the knife back out, I get up and keep my footsteps as silent as possible. It will definitely catch my scent the minute I'm four feet away, but I don't want to charge at it head on and have it throw me against a boulder. It sniffs the air a couple more times, then twists its head in my direction. Tipping its head from side to side, I look at the pair of yellow eyes. Looking into them reminds me of looking into the fire even, though the colors between the two differ. I can see the features of its face since the fire in the cave is not too far from the mouth.
It strikes and I duck, stabbing it's abdomen in the process. It screeches, but doesn't fall. What the hell? It should be on the ground, injured. Seeing my moment of confusion as an opportunity, the lizard-like mutt hits me on the right side of my face, the force of its powerful scaly hand sends me flying five feet into the cave. I land next to Vinera's body; my back muscles and shoulders are aching since the mid-section of my body slammed into the ground first. Rolling over, I see Evan trying to defeat the mutt with no success. Waking the others should be done, but I don't need their help. I can handle this on my own.
I want to get up and assist my district partner, but when I try to my shoulders and back complain. The creature is standing on its two feet and has a hand around Evan's neck and starts to squeeze. Evan lifts his sword with his right hand, but the mutt smacks it away with its free hand. Placing both of my palms flat on the ground, I push myself up. My shoulders ache even more and I try my best to ignore the pain, but I can't. My head and shoulders rise and now it's my back's turn to let me know that it doesn't want to move. I force it up and slowly rise to my feet. Evan starts gasp for air, fighting to stay conscious and alive. Seeing that it's distracted, I run over to help. Being stealthy isn't an option because Evan will lose time. My back and shoulders hurt with each step, but I keep going.
It sees me coming and drops Evan, it turns to me and raises its claws. I immediately think duck and that's what I do, but the creature waits for me to stand back up to strike a second time. The minute its claws leave my skin, it starts to sting. Falling to ground, I clutch my face and scream in pain. The screaming doesn't stop and fortunately it's loud enough to wake Caiden up.
"What the-" I hear him start tiredly, but when he stops I know he sees what's happening.
Caiden puts a hand on my back and says something that I can't hear over my own screams. He runs back to wake the others and a few minutes later, Vinera and Marina are panicking and rummaging through first aid kits, and Caiden is helping Evan fight the mutt.
My screaming stops when Vinera spreads some anesthetic gel over the four deep lines on my left cheek. The scratches are so deep that it tore through the small bandages that I got from Terraine's nails. I hear Evan and Caiden swear under their breath as they dodge the mutt's attacks. Wanting to kill it for giving me the scratch, I start to stand, but Marina and Vinera hold me down.
"Let go of me." I try and pull my hand free, but they got both of their hands on mine, and their strength combined is no match for me.
"I need to help them." I insist.
"You just stay here, we'll help them." Vinera lets go of my hand and Marian does the same right after.
They both get their weapons and start charging at the mutt. This mutt must've had its strength enhanced. It's much stronger and looks bigger than the one we killed in the barn. I watch the battle from the ground, feeling helpless. I hate feeling helpless.
Not wanting to just sit here like a baby, I get up and look around the cave for anything that can help. My spears are scattered on the ground, behind the mutt so I can't get them without being noticed. Being noticed… that's it! I can distract the mutt and give the others time to put it down. But what should I do to distract it? Looking at the utensil bag, my question has been answered. I pull a frying pan and pot out and start banging them together.
"Hey! Look over here, you son of a bitch!" I yell. The mutt averts its attention from my allies and looks at me.
It tips its head from side to side like earlier and starts to crawl towards me on all fours.
Understanding what I'm doing, they slowly trail behind the mutt and when he gets close enough, Evan thrusts his sword in the mutt's back. The mutt screeches and turns to Evan. It shouldn't have because Vinera swings her axe and takes its head off. The head rolls over a few feet and stops. The rest of its body collapses.
This won't be the last mutt we'll see, but one thing's certain: We need to get out of this section of the arena.
I have updated the list on my profile. If you don't know, I have decided to search for actresses to portray the characters in this story, to give you an idea of what they look like. The list has been updated, you should check it out. Thanks for reading! Have a nice day or evening (: