A/N: I told you I'd start writing the next chapter ASAP.
Enjoy!
Day V
~Coughing Up Answers~
After the long day Ren and Shay had, sleep had seemed like a perfect escape. The tree they had befriended since the beginning of the games had swept them into a deep sleep among its branches. Possibly from their bodies being so tired from the anxiety of Daisy's death yesterday. The blaring instrumental of the Capitol's anthem was the only thing capable of waking them.
"Today is the day", Ren said a little excited and a little nervous. Then he wraps his arm around Shay who responds to his touch by leaning onto his side under his arm. "Let's hope the gamemakers bring us some matches or something so we can start a fire." Shay smiles at his playfulness, but the events from last night mixed with the anticipation of a second bloodbath leaves her quiet and detached.
"Yeah let's hope so.", she replies with the tiniest of smiles. "Do you know when it starts?"
"Noon. Just like the beginning of the games." Calls out another voice from the tree across from them. Safin from four steps out from under the cover of a branch and reveals himself to the district seven allies. "Let's hope we're the only one's who know about it or are around when it happens. If we're lucky Templesmith won't announce it to the others."
Shay and Ren blankly stare at their new neighbor. "How- How long have you been here?", Ren asks almost sounded astonished.
"I came by late in the evening around when the anthem was going on.", he replies. It occurred to Ren that him and Shay had missed the anthem last night. She fell asleep soon after they returned from their encounter with Daisy and even though he tried not to, he must have slipped under sleep's spell too. He tried to imagine Daisy's face in the sky that night and wondered if there had been others. He hadn't heard any cannons besides her's that night, but it could be possible that there were more. "I didn't even know you guys were here until an hour or so into arriving because you guys were so quiet and fast asleep.", Safin laughs.
Ren opens his mouth to ask of any other faces in the sky, but Shay interrupts, "Really? I'm surprised Ren's snoring didn't tip you off." Ren playfully punches her and she giggles.
"I'm surprised you guys didn't die of heat stroke. It was scorching last night and you guys were fully covered in outerwear.", Safin says, his eyebrows lifted.
"Eh- you get used to the crazy weather in the circle.", the district seven girl shrugs with a smile. Ren stares at her somewhat taken aback. She was awfully hushed until Safin walked into the picture.
"Who all was in the sky last night? If you don't mind me asking.", Ren finally gets his question out into the open. He learns Daisy is the only one and for a while they chat about the lost tributes. Ren and Shay make sure to leave out the part that they were responsible for Daisy's death. They start talking about the day in training when the large group sat together at lunch. There were nine of them then. It strikes the three crazy how quickly they all split apart after building a bond. They know Ryan, Reed, and obviously crippled Jeret's cannon's went off early in the games. None of them had heard of where Toth had disappeared to, but Safin said he had been with Nan and Aurelia for a few days before he set off for the bloodbath.
From there the three discussed Safin's alliance with Nan and Aurelia and how Aurelia is in desperate need of a medicine which he is sure the Capitol will provide in the little banquet. "I never planned on going to the second bloodbath. In fact, my intention was to take Aurelia and Nan as far away as I could from it. Just in case others knew about it. But then Aurelia got the disease and I decided to split so I could retrieve the medicine. The Capitol could at least give the girl a fair chance in the games."
Ren scoffed at the idea of the Capitol being "fair". "How do you even know she has it? And how will you know where to find them?", Ren asks in disbelief of Safin's quest.
"There's only so many places you can go in this arena. You and I both know that.", he replies, referring to him and Ren's sneaking around in the training center and seeing the map of the arena. Ren's lips rearrange into a smile. Now that he's actually been in the games for a few days he wishes he could go back and give that gamemaker a better punch. One that would make up for being put into a game with 23 other kids ready to gut you alive. "Anyways, their not going to wander into the snow-capped mountains anytime soon without proper gear. And Aurelia knows better than to get near the beach since the careers set out camp there and she's not on good terms with them. That leaves the forest and the meadows."
"The careers assembled their camp at the beach. Good to know.", Ren said to himself.
"And you know she has the disease because?...", Shay asks still confused.
Safin takes in a deep breath and watches his feet swing over the tree branch he sits on. "Let's just I've had family history with it."
Ren and Shay catch on to where Safin is going with this. "Yeah, I get it. We've both experienced losing family back in seven.", Shay says dimly. Ren takes a moment and thinks of his father and the meopola and can't imagine watching someone in the games struggle with it. Maybe the Auburn's and Kirro's are cursed. Ren sits and takes in the idea that maybe the two families are plagued by death. Shay snaps him back into reality when she speaks back up, "but in the games, why would you risk your own life to save her. Wouldn't it just be easier to let her go?"
"It would be easier... But... There's a sort of family history there too, I guess you could say. And I'm not one to break a promise I made."
XxXxXxXx
"Are you sure you're alright?" Nirvana had witnessed Luke coughing and wheezing for the past few hours in the coal mine and her worry was building up quickly. Even after living her whole life in the horrible air quality in twelve, Nirvana had been taking heavier breathes in the mines. The air was so thick and there were certain fumes that seemed to come and go that made you want to gag. Poor Lucas was never given the opportunity Nirvana had. His lungs weren't used to all the dust.
Luke took a big breath and replied, "I'm fine. I'll get used to it. I just want to know where this little tunnel will lead." The tunnels were dark and bland. There was nothing new or interesting about them. Just lamps in rows that seemed to go on forever. There were carts piled high with chunks of coal, but the gamemakers weren't gracious enough to leave tracks around the tunnels. No, riding a cart through the tunnels would be too easy. So the pair are usually left in silence throughout the tunnels just walking. Sometimes Lucas would try to match Nirvana's steps so he'd have something to occupy his mind. Luke abruptly bent over and let out a symphony of coughs that made his chest ache.
"Yeah, you sound just fine." Nirvana's sarcasm kind of bothered Luke in a way. He had a short fuse sometimes, and the anxiety of the games seemed to make it easy to blow up. While Luke pulled himself together, Nirvana bent down as well but to fix her gold anklet she brought as a token. She can't help but feel a pain her chest as well, but for her friends back home. "You got a family back in nine?" She needed something to get her mind off her own home.
"A grandfather and a sister."
"That's all I get?", Nirvana begins to laugh but it dies down after Luke doesn't smile back. "I've got a sister, too. And a brother... You don't realize how much you love them until you get here, huh?" Her voice begins to slow and become more like a mouse. What would Anthony think when he heard her say that? She questions if he even knew she still had some love for him as a brother. And if he still loved her like a sister. She looks down and watches her footsteps in silence thinking about home. She feels a warm grasp on her shoulder and sees Luke close by her side. He says quietly: "I miss them too."
XxXxXxXx
I'm going to have a six-pack by the time the games are over. Toth smirks as she drags the heavy logs. For a few minutes she worries that it's heavy because the wood is too dense and it won't float. She has to encourage herself several times that the wood is dry and it will float. It wasn't all for nothing. She didn't spend the past three days building it, then dragging it through the brush and sand.
The sand was the worst. The wind made it look easy. It blew sand all around the desert (especially in Toth's eyes). But her feet would get buried under it and it was hard to move through. The same went for the raft. It would burrow into the sand and it would take all her strength to pull it through the grains.
When at last Toth sees the vast ocean her mind is put to rest. She is so close she can almost taste the salt on her lips. She had the luck of getting her first gift from a sponsor two days ago. A 7000 ml water bottle and a handful of iodine tablets. You can't imagine the pure joy on her face when the parachute dropped down for her. She had her first drops of water in three days. She couldn't wait to have this unlimited water source right at her feet.
Toth went on high alert when she saw the tents perked up on the other side of the shore. It was surely careers. She could only make up one though. Maybe the rest out hunting for tributes. If she could get into the water quickly it would be easy to get past her. The fact that she was facing another tribute 500 feet away from her in an open clearing didn't even faze her.
Yet somehow, Toth had an uneasy reason. She was about to enter a no-tribute zone where she would only be tormented by the gamemakers. And she would have no more decisions to make herself.
XxXxXxXx
Five days in and the careers have got one kill under their belt. Lexi made sure to remind Julian and Apollo of this constantly. "I've kept you alive for the past couple days haven't I?", Julian sneered, spit flying out of his mouth angrily, while walking towards Lexi with his knife. "Now if you behaved like a real woman, you'd keep your mouth shut." Lexi looks over to Ryan as if to ask if she can kill him on the spot. She's well done with the nonsense of being here. She just wants to kill something. Someone. She grins slightly at the thought of leaving the group and stumbling upon Julian and Apollo's prize kill- Aurelia. Imagining the feeling of killing her just to rub it into Julian and Apollo's faces makes her numb with pleasure.
Ten loud noises like thunder that burst through the arena stun the numbness out of Lexi's body. The faint image of little parachutes slowly come into view for all of the careers. They're falling faster than a normal one would and look like they're heading for the middle of the arena. They are not far from it, not at all, so they break into a sprint hoping that they're not the only tributes who saw them.
Shay, Ren, and Safin, who are already in the center of the arena, wait anxiously for the parachutes to fall. The image of fresh food, lots of water, sleeping bags, and the cure for Aurelia's illness is painted in all of their minds as their eager eyes watch the parachutes make their way to the earth. Ren sees the careers come into view, "we have company.", he says worried. "Shay, stay in the tree. It's not going to be safe anymore with them here." Shay objects at first, but the sparkling metal weapons in the career's hands makes her agree and disappear into the tree's brush.
Safin's eye catches the careers right after he sees a canister floating peacefully that has Aurelia's name printed on it. He starts climbing down the tree clumsily so he can get ready to grab it and run. He isn't going to want to have the company of the careers after Aurelia's little scheme.
About twenty feet from the ground, the parachutes on the canisters detach and they fall towards the ground at a rapid pace. They all shoot toward the pond and enter it with a large splash. Safin is the first to dive in, followed by Ren and then the four of the careers. The "pond" was deceiving from looks. Ren and Safin had witnessed its depth before but it was new to the careers. The pond measured 15 ft deep but it had a small perimeter so all of the tributes were cramped together. The careers took this chance to take a lunge at the district four and seven boys.
Safin, being from four, is in and out of the water in a matter of seconds. He has grabbed the canister he needs for Aurelia and two unlabeled ones. He throws one of the unlabeled up to Shay who catches it barely. Then he starts a mad dash out of the area.
Back in the water in almost the same instance, Lexi, Julian, and Apollo grab the remaining three canisters while Ren swims to the surface with four canisters in his arms.
Shay begins to make her way down from the tree to help her partner. She sees Ren emerge from the water, his arms full of goodies making her smile, even in the chaos going on. She looks away for a split second to make her way to the bottom of the tree without falling, then looks back towards the water to see Ren gone. Panick sets in and she runs toward the pond to see the soft outline of her love and Riley holding him down. She jumps in to help, but only to see blood flowing through the water. Through confusion she can't tell if it's from Ren or Riley and on impulse she kicks Riley in the head so he falls backward. Ren is given the chance to swim up and gasp for air, which he quickly takes. He is still clutching the canisters, not giving up what he waited for all this time in the past five days in the games. He makes his way onto the ground and holds the gaping wound on his side.
Shay is not a second behind him and just as she's about to make it out of the water, the pool goes ice-cold and the top freezes. Shay's leg is left stuck in the ice and she is unable to move. Just like her encounter with Zane on the first day in the arena. She screams knowing the careers are directly below her.
Safin, hearing her cry, stops in his tracks. He takes a short moment to think, but ultimately runs back to aid her. When he reaches her she is still stuck and the careers are still swimming underneath her, Apollo is near the top banging on the ice so he can get out. Safin stomps on the ice near her foot until enough is broken and she can be free. "Get Ren up somewhere high, where they can't see you!", Safin yells. Shay follows his orders and grabs Ren around the waist and drags him quickly to the nearby pine. Safin grabs the canisters he dropped to help and then sets off again.
Not soon after, the ice disappears. All of the careers hop out, trying to warm themselves quickly. But Julian, too torn by pride and anger forgets about warmth and sets out to pursue his quest to kill Aurelia. He bursts out of the water and catches up to the district four boy pinning him against a tree. "The girl. Where is she?!" Julian yells shivering with a knife on Safin's neck.
"I left her. She's as good as dead."
"And yet you still carry a canister for her?", Julian sneers. His arm is shaking, but strong. "I'll kill you district four! Tell me where she is!"
Safin takes a long pause for his heavy breathing then opens his mouth and says, "Sorry." With that, the knife slides into Safin's flesh making him wince. "I'd tell you if I could.", Safin says with a laugh pretending like the pain is nothing. Through anger, Julian stabs the district four boy dozens of times in the midst of a temper tantrum. Safin's cannon goes off in a matter of seconds with Aurelia's canister still in his hands.
XxXxXxXx
"Was that a cannon?"
"I'm not sure. I can't even tell what time of day it is in here.", Nirvana replies. The thought of others dying around her doesn't even scare Nirvana anymore. It's a good thing. Less people to fight. Luke engages in another serious coughing fit which makes Nirvana stop for him. "Start holding your shirt over your mouth like I told you. It will filter out at least some of the bad air."
"Just give me a minute to rest, okay. This isn't just coal dust it's worse.", Luke says angrily. Or at least he tries to, but is restricted from the dryness in his throat and mouth.
Nirvana sighs loudly, "You can't spend any more time here. The more time we spend here, the more crap is going into your lungs." She hands him their water bottle and lets him sit crouched over to get over the coughing fit. "I'm going to walk ahead a bit. Catch up when you're ready." Nirvana sees Luke do a slight nod so she makes her way down the winding tunnels. She feels a chill go down her spine and wonders if they're under the mountains now. Before Zane joined their group, she and Luke had ran into the snowy area. Without the gear for it, they turned back. But now, they may have no other choice but to go through.
She stands in place so Luke can catch up a little. She finds a little piece of coal she can kick around and occupy herself. "Ughh.", she growls, "Luke, c'mon!". The silence behind her worries her so she trots back to where he was earlier. "Lu-"
She finds Luke laying still on the ground. She falls to the ground and shakes him. He's stiff. "Luke!", she yells while looking for a pulse. There is none. The cannon for Lucas Des' Ray has gone off and his own district partner missed it due to the thick barrier between the real world and the underground.