A/N: Special thanks to nevergone4ever and richards25, who reviewed the last chapter :)
Sorry if this chapter is a bit short! I've got a lot going on this weekend. I hope that you enjoy it anyway :)
"With fleeting trust in hand, and with what I am
With fleeting trust I walk in and walk out with no pain and no doubt."
- Colin MacDonald, 2003.
The 12th Annual Hunger Games
Melissa Sayer (18), District 6 Female
The Trews - Fleeting Trust (2003)
I crouch in the shadows, trying to keep my breathing under control. I thought that I would be safe in here. But apparently not; the Careers are nearby.
Daring to look down over the cracked streets and broken buildings from this third-floor apartment, I can see the three remaining Careers slowly patrolling the streets. I notice both tributes from District 1 and the girl from Four. I'm not sure exactly what weapons they have, but I definitely notice the glint of a blade in the sun. Maybe two. I can't tell from this high up.
In the balcony of the apartment next to me is my ally, Daniel Farmer of District 10. Tall and athletic, I'm grateful for the tentative alliance that I've formed with Dan since the Games began.
Twelve days ago, twenty-four of us were dropped into this arena, a ruinous city, very much in the mould of the Capitol, with wide streets and high blocks of flats and apartment buildings. It all looks the same, and it's easy to get lost in this concrete jungle. Since the start of the Games, we've faced extreme weather and an earthquake that destroyed the main thoroughfare through the city, cutting off half the arena from us. And then there were the mutts.
Strange, terrifying creatures, human-shaped but made of ice, so cold that it burned when they touched you. There was no way of fighting them off, the only option was escape. Dan was affected by them more than I was. He tried to fight, even when I told him that resistance would be futile. Looking across at him, I can still see the deep burns in his right forearm, where the nightmarish creatures wouldn't let go. I know it hurts him, as we've had no parachutes containing medicine, but he doesn't want to show it.
I'm not entirely sure how we got away. We were running, only just forcing a gap of twenty metres between us and them, and then just as suddenly as the horrid things arrived, they were gone. I presume that the Gamemakers recalled them, thinking that their damage was done. To be honest, I don't really care why they are gone, just as long as they aren't near us anymore.
Other than me and Dan, I know little of the other tributes, as we've barely seen anyone since the Games began. From watching the faces in the sky, I know that two of the Careers died on the first day, presumably in the cornucopia bloodbath.
After escaping the carnage, I teamed up with Dan, who was armed with a bow and six arrows. Knowing me to be a high-scoring tribute, he was willing to let me ally, no doubt just for protection. If I'm honest, that's why I've stayed with him. Together, we are more powerful, and less tributes will try to oppose us.
That first night, Dan told me that he injured the boy from Four in the bloodbath, but didn't think it was a fatal blow. Someone else must have finished off the Career, as his face was in the sky that night.
Last night, the face of the boy from District 2 was in the sky. I guess that the ice mutts got to him. Thinking back, there were two cannons during our battle with the mutts, and one of them would have belonged to District 2.
And now the three remaining Careers are underneath us, hunting down the other three tributes who remain. Me, Dan, and another. Nobody who was high-scoring, or I would have remembered to track their progress in the arena.
The arena is silent, and underneath us, I can faintly hear the talk of the Careers.
"Shouldn't we take a break? We've been searching for hours!"
"No, we don't stop until we find Districts Six and Ten."
"Do we check in here?"
"Yeah, we might as well. A couple of apartments are probably intact."
I hear footsteps in the lobby two floors below me. They are coming in. Dan jumps the five feet between my balcony and his, so that we are together when the Careers arrive.
"They'll find us now," Dan whispers in my ear.
I nod and reply quietly.
"It's too high to jump out of the balcony, isn't it?"
"Yes," replies Dan. "But there is only one doorway to the apartment. We just need to guard the entrance."
I nod in reply as we tiptoe as quietly as possible through the apartment. My hand goes to my waist and grips the small knife in my belt tightly. I'm ready for what will be the fight of my life.
Dan and I stand on either side of the doorway leading into the flat, awaiting the arrival of our adversaries. As I hear the Careers arrive on our floor, I'm aware that if we survive this attack, only three tributes will be left alive in the arena. At that point, any fleeting trust that our alliance has given me and Dan will be broken. After this, everyone will fight for themselves.
Then the door opens, and all hell breaks loose.
Melissa and Daniel may have been outnumbered, but they had skill and positioning on their side. They may have been trapped, but they were able to hold the Careers at the doorway, killing the girl from Two and severely injuring the girl from District 1. The boy from District 1 finally broke through into the apartment, killing Daniel with his sword, but was unprepared to fend off Melissa's attacks. With the boy from One dead, his district partner fled into the city, leaving just three tributes alive in the arena at the end of the twelfth day.
The following day Melissa managed to hunt down the girl from District 1, killing her with the bow and arrows she had taken from Daniel's body.
On the fourteenth day, the Gamemakers brought the ice mutts back, forcing the final two tributes into a confrontation in the civic centre, a large, open square by the city hall. With such an open battlefield, Melissa was able to use the bow to the best of her ability once more, killing the girl from District 8 to be crowned the victor of the 12th Annual Hunger Games.
A/N: Please review! Constructive criticism is welcome :)
