A/N: Firstly, thanks to richards25, I-am-Cashmere-the-victor, MJElliot and charliesunshine for reviewing!
Well, this has been a very, very hard decision indeed. After many, many very good entries, I literally took days over this decision. But there must be only one winner, and so I congratulate MJElliot for his winning entry to this competition.
Many other oneshots had lots of creative ideas in them, but this one stood out; there was just something special about the way that it was written.
I chose the song based on the story, not the other way round with this one :)
I hope that you enjoy MJElliot's chapter :)
P.S. This chapter is written in American English, as opposed to 'English' English that is used in other chapters (I hope that makes sense).
"My beating heart belongs to you
I walked for miles 'til I found you
I'm here to honour you
If I lose everything in the fire
I'm sending all my love to you."
- Billie-Joe Armstrong, 2009.
The 51st Annual Hunger Games
Toby Denham (17), District 10 Male
Green Day - Last Night on Earth (2009)
Where is she?
I wish I could call out her name, but that would only attract trouble at this point. So I bite my lip and crawl forward through the tall grass. We've been in the arena for almost a week and I've been searching for her ever since; Jessie, my district partner, my friend… my love. I watched the arena sky every night with my heart threatening to burst out of my chest hoping not to see her face among the fallen. So far she was lucky, but I couldn't count on that luck lasting much longer. Only eight of us are still standing, four of which are Careers, who still have their alliance intact.
And the arena provides very little cover. It's a seemingly never ending sea of tall grasses, a few mounds breaking the monotony here and there and the cornucopia glinting in the unforgiving sun. There are no trees, no water (except for the rain that falls regularly every second night) and no weapons; a boring follow up of the Second Quarter Quell.
Or so we thought. The Gamemakers made up for the unimpressive scenery and lack of bloodshed with an array of traps and muttations. Everyday a new horror is released upon us; everyday our numbers go down by the hand of the Capitol. It started with the lightning storm that welcomed us in the arena. This year there was no bloodbath at the cornucopia, since we all scattered trying to escape the crackling balls of electricity coming down from the sky. Three of us were hit by the unnatural form of lightning and were charred alive while filling the arena with agonizing howls and the sickening smell of burnt human flesh. A horribly deformed pack of mutts that attacked two days later practically ripped another pair limb from limb and the earthquake that followed opened up gashes in the earth, which swallowed the boy from Twelve up to his neck, then slowly crushed him to death. I know this because I was there when it happened; I watched him pleading, begging me to save him, I watched his face growing redder as the pressure built, crushing his bones and heard his voice fading away as life drained out of him. But the earth was unstable and there would have been no point in me sharing his fate.
The Career Pack weren't satisfied with the Capitol doing their work for them. Instead they divided the arena into sectors, and did methodical sweeps, trying to draw out unlucky tributes that would fall in their paths; I guess killing people with their bare hands was not beneath them. But they gave up on this venture pretty soon, since the arena, laced with traps at every pace, halved their numbers in just two days. I don't remember any other games where the tributes had to put up with so much of the Gamemakers'…ingenuity, but I guess after last year, they had to prove a point. That we are here at their mercy and that they control everything about the Games. In any case, the Capitol is definitely not deprived of its fun this year.
I stop my crawling just long enough to wipe the sweat trickling down my face, and into my eyes, making them itchy and swollen. The grassland makes it difficult to move around during the day, because anybody doing so is easily spotted. It was less difficult at first, when the grass was still green and lush and provided some form of concealment. But now, after only a week, during which the sun grew hotter and hotter, it turned a burnt, yellow color. As if that wasn't enough, our suits also changed color- from the light green of the first days to a muddy red that looks brighter with every hour spent in the sun. Looking down and my suit I see the color changes in patches, like blood seeping to the surface of the cloth. I shudder at the thought, guessing this wasn't done at random either…
But I have to find Jessie, so I can't afford to stop. I have to find her and protect her and get her out of the arena alive. Even if that means giving up my own life, a life I owe her anyway.
When I was fourteen I had just started helping around with the branding of cattle. My job was menial, of course; I was just a kid back then. But one winter morning one of the bulls managed to cut loose. It ran straight towards me, with its head bent towards the ground and white puffs of breath coming out of its flaring nostrils. Everything happened so fast, I didn't get a chance to move. As I realized it was barreling straight towards me, I remember thinking that I was going to die. I closed my eyes bracing for the impact, but I don't remember it; I just lost consciousness.
They took me to Jessie's dad; he is the healer in our district. He didn't go to school or anything like that, not like the doctors in the Capitol, but his family has been doing this since times long forgotten. He didn't give me any chance. But Jessie took care of me, despite her father insisting I was as good as dead. She changed the dressing on my wounds, fed me clear broth with a spoon and sang to me for more than a week. When I finally opened my eyes, her face was the first thing I saw and I remember thinking she was an angel, with her halo of light brown curls and eyes as dark as the night's sky. I fell in love right then and there and as I got to know her better, this kind, unselfish, beautiful girl, I knew there was no other that would hold my heart.
A piercing scream erupts not far to my right. I could recognize that voice anywhere. Forgetting about the danger of being spotted, I jump to my feet and run towards her. I see two of the Careers - a boy and a girl – kicking at a ragged bundle of clothes curled up on the ground. And then, out of nowhere, I hear the canon going off once and my knees almost buckle underneath me.
"Jessie!" I hear myself howl over the sound of another cannon, without fully registering it. The two Careers turn towards me, a surprised look on their faces. They probably didn't expect me to be so close. I grab the girl's hair and swing her around. I can feel a few strands of her hair dislodge from her scalp. She knocks her partner over, before the momentum pulls her out of my hands. I don't care where she lands; I just launch myself at the boy in front of me, throwing punches at him. I'm not tall, or well built, or trained like they are, but I'm strong after tending to cattle half of my life and my punches are packed with the strength of my grief. I feel each one hitting the mark. I'm blinded by my rage. I throw punch after punch at my opponent's head long after I feel him going limp under my weight.
"Toby…Toby, stop…" At first I think her voice is in my head, and it only fuels my rage. But then I realize how croaky it sounds and I spin around, not daring to hope I might see her alive. But alive she is. And she's a mess; one blackened eye is almost swollen shut, a streak of blood starts at the corner of her mouth disappearing under her chin, her face a puzzle of scratches and cuts. But none of that matters. She is alive! I launch myself forward, wrapping my arms around her bruised body, cradling her to my chest, rocking back and forth, back and forth, mumbling thanks to whatever god brought her back to me. Her hands, wrapped around me, slowly rub my back. It takes a while to register the soothing sounds she is croaking in my ear. Even now, in this broken state, she is the one trying to comfort me.
I hear another cannon go off and my heart somersaults in my chest, almost choking me. I look down at Jessie, frantically searching her face.
"It's ok, it's not me," she whispers but the hovercraft appears above us. I look back over my shoulder to the stiff body of the boy lying a few feet away from us. His face is an unrecognizable mask of blood. My first kill. Suddenly I feel like throwing up. The smell of burnt grass mingled with the scent of blood coming from the boy, from Jessie, from my hands suddenly becomes so strong it makes my head spin and my stomach convulse.
"We have to move…so they can clear out the body." Jessie is right. The hovercraft won't move until it collects the body, and that will only attract others to our location. We start moving, painfully slowly, crawling through the grass. I can see on Jessie's face that every move is agony, so I keep talking to her in soft whispers, urging her to move forward. After what feels like forever we reach one of the mounds and we decide to rest there. I fashion a small shelter out of some rocks and weaved grass to protect Jessie from the scalding sun. She doesn't talk much, just sits curled up under the makeshift cover. The effort was too much for her I think, as she fights to keep her better eye open. I sit next to her, gently running my fingers through her hair, like I used to do back home. At some point she grabs hold of my hand. Her skin is clammy and cold; I guess the shade helps cool her down. I wish I could kiss her bruises away. I long to touch her and hold her and tell her I love her. But I can't. I won't do it in front of the prying eyes of the Capitol. They can take our lives away, torture us, mangle our bodies and minds. But I won't let them have the love I bear in my heart. As long as I keep that hidden, they can never really own me.
It was quite difficult to hide our feelings from the mentors and the nosy, Capitol scum that is our escort, who watched over us constantly. We were lucky that Indiana, Jessie's mentor, was the first one to recognize the feelings we both tried so hard to hide. And we were luckier still when she agreed that we should keep them to ourselves instead of using them to win sponsors. She was the one to come up with the idea to present ourselves as best friends; best friends determined to get to the final two and win the games for our district's honor. That was a big load of cow dung, but it allowed us to be close without raising romantic suspicions.
I smile and touch my index finger to my nose two times - something Indiana used to do when she secretly reminded us she was keeping our secret safe - hoping she gets the message: "Thank you for coming up with the plan", then I let my fingers curl around Jessie's and we wait hand in hand for the nightfall and the rain that comes with it. There are five of us left.
The next day a swarm of mutt insects finish the girl who had attacked Jessie. The Careers look for Toby and Jessie and get quite close, so Toby draws them away, since Jessie is too weak to run. One of the Careers gets crushed to death by a huge snake that she stumbles upon while chasing Toby. Finally, the boy from District 2 and Toby fight it out and, after lengthy one on one combat, Toby manages to choke his opponent with a handful of dirt.
Toby is determined to give up his life so that Jessie wins the games, but he can't do it without saying goodbye first. So he heads back for the camp. He sees Jessie in the distance, supporting herself on the pile of rocks that make up the shelter. He's close enough to distinguish the relieved smile on her face as she recognizes him too. She allows herself to slide down to the base of the rocks and slowly touches her hand to her heart - another little sign they invented since the Reaping, which means "my heart belongs to you". Then, her head slumps to one side and the cannon goes off one last time, signaling Jessie's death.
Grief stricken Toby finds out during his final interview the she died due to internal bleeding which started after her violent encounter with the Careers.
A/N: A review for MJElliot, anyone?
Regardless of what you thought of this chapter, I'd recommend checking out their profile. If you just like reading general Hunger Games fanfiction, there's a good story that's currently being worked on about Effie. I'd advise giving it a read.
What would everybody think about publishing the other entries in a separate story? Most of them are far too good to waste. Please let me know what you think.
P.S. Normal service will be resumed with the next chapter :)
