Captured Tribute Part III: Nothing to Lose
Strains of the Capitol's anthem burst through the tree cover above me, breaking the silence of the night. I don't look up, avoiding meeting the eyes of my brother. Catching the base of a tree sapling I stop myself from slipping down into a hollow that smells of damp earth. This was where we had seen movement two nights ago before Justin had left me. If what we had seen was any indication, someone had laid traps here for the remaining tributes to fall victim to and I was about to use them.
I had already spent all day searching for the ones who had killed my brother. The cornucopia was my first destination and I acted with complete disregard for my own safety. Reckless revenge was the only thing on my mind then and I was prepared to do anything to fulfil it. Perhaps it was a good thing no one was there to meet me. It gave me time to think, to plan for when we actually met. It was only a matter of time before this place came to mind and took me all day to get here.
Crouching beside the sapling, I allowed the light from the Capitol's announcement of the dead to illuminate the forest ground before me. The anthem is longer than I expect and it draws me from the task at hand. Almost against my will I glance towards the dome above and catch a glimpse of a girl who I knew to be captured. Justin's photo is next and I feel the combination of anger and sadness build inside me until I can barely breathe. I was alone now. The sole captured as Clayton had aligned himself with the careers. No one could be trusted and there was no longer anything for me to lose.
I look back towards the hollow and pick out various vines held taut in the shadows before the light fades. Standing, I carefully make my way through them to a spot relatively in the centre of the hollow. I gather together a pile of leaves and twigs, lighting them with the lighter Justin had left in my care. A fire was quickly set to blazing and I added enough wood to keep it that way for hours.
Taking my sword, I return to the sapling and cut it down, breaking it into several pieces. I bring them to the fire and construct a rough figure beside the flames, working quickly as the light would draw the hunters. Placing a spare log at the back of my work, I add a layer of moss and mud to the top and retreat to a thick tree standing closest to the edge of the hollow. I climb to the first y in a set of branches and settle in for the wait.
The hollow is much brighter than what I could have hoped for. The construction of branches and moss, while seemingly crude up close, served their purpose from a distance. It appeared as if a human form was camped out next to the flames, the figure casting shadows far in the forest. An arrangement of the few belongings I still possessed sat nearby, alerting anyone to who I was. I began to sing the lyrics to a Shakespeare play that Justin always loved, adding the final touch to my trap and luring in any potential prey. If luck was with me tonight, Engle would be the one to appear.
I grasp and ungrasp my sword countless times, watching the flames until they are reduced to just a few logs. My song ends and only then do I hear a creak in the woods, a snap of a branch, and a hoarse rebuke. Someone was coming. I smile, despite myself. Like moths to light.
They come slowly, first one, and then two. Four tributes at last emerge, weapons drawn and all of them looking like savages. They don't watch where they step, intent on the figure resting by the fire. Engle is not with them and my disappointment distracts me momentarily before I recognize one of the two girls in the company. She was the one Justin and I had injured with our traps. She would know where Engle was.
"What a pretty song." a boy comments.
I feel as if I am a wild cat, crouching in the shadows, waiting for my prey to slip up.
"Will you sing it for me as you die?" wonders the girl from Engle's group.
It happens like a domino effect, the lead boy breaking one of the many vines laid out. A net snaps up from the ground, drawing him into the air before he can scream. The surprise attack causes the others to back pedal, their retreat breaking the remaining traps. One has a heavy branch smack them in the back of the head, throwing them against an outcrop of stone. They remain still while the others begin to panic.
Something snaps beside me and a massive log secured by sturdy rope swings into the open hollow. It catches the other boy in the chest, propelling him into the branches of the opposite trees. When the log returns the boy is absent and the remaining girl, the one who had worked with Engle, was brought to the ground.
I blink, staring down into the ruined hollow a little caught off guard. The attacks were unexpectedly complicated, albeit very affective. It takes me a moment to regain myself and I see the remaining girl stir. Dropping quickly from my perch, I race toward the girl and catch her by the throat, ramming her into a nearby tree. The log had caused more damage than I had originally thought, the girl only able to struggle for a short time. It was pathetic and I felt no mercy even when I saw the terror in eyes that were beginning to swell shut.
"Where is he?" I snarl, pressing my sword to her neck. "Where is Engle Arons?"
She gasps, her mouth opening and closing like a dying fish as she looked around at the chaos.
"N-no. It can't be you." she whimpers when I let up slightly on her windpipe. "You-you killed them all."
Something snaps behind me and she flinches as a heavy thud announced the log falling to the ground. I see the forest light up in front of me as the log caught fire and glare at the girl beginning to squirm again.
"Did you hear the canons?" I question roughly. "Then they're not dead."
I bash her head against the tree trunk, dazing her as I drive my sword into the ratty top of her shirt and jacket. The girl effectively pinned, I find her short sword and gently draw it along her neck. I can almost hear her pulse racing and see her pupils contract in fear.
"Now, I'm going to ask once more and you better have a good answer." I tell her calmly. "Where is Engle Arons?"
She hesitates and I dig the tip of the blade into the base of her neck, drawing a slow trickle of blood.
"I don't know! I don't know!" she screams, panicking. "He left us two days ago and headed for the falls. Said that he would come back to finish the games when he had your blood. Only Clayton followed...I swear that's all I know!"
I frown, digging in a little further and dragging it towards her collar bone.
She screams again, louder and no doubt attracting the attention of anyone with ears. I could imagine the Capitol's cameras zooming in on us, picturing the faux President Snow watching with satisfaction. He had done it. He had pushed me to play the games by his rules.
The knife falls to the ground, but my hand remains around her neck.
"Remember what I did here." I tell her. "And if you should ever see Engle again, tell him I'm coming."
I yank my sword out from above her head and begin to walk away, kicking her knife away as I pass. I can hear her collapse into wheezing as the hollow filled with the smoke of the burning log and the trees around us that had caught fire as well.
"You weren't supposed to be like this."
I stop and turn slightly back at the girl's call. She stood, grasping at a collarbone that was spilling blood. Her gaunt face was hauntingly lit by the red light and she looked ghoulish.
"You were supposed to be easy to kill."
"I'm not exactly the kind of person you want to skin and hang from a cliff, am I?" I say.
She pales, backing away until she hits the trees. "How could you know-" she trails off when I meet her gaze.
"Run." I tell her.
The girl obeys, stumbling back and then turning into the woods. Three canon shots follow her crashing through the trees and I look to the ones she had left behind. Dead. All of them and I had inadvertently caused their deaths. No. My actions were not inadvertent. I killed them by leading them to the hollow. Their lives were on me, but it didn't matter now. I couldn't let that hinder me when Engle was still out there.
But you didn't know they would die. whispered a voice in the back of my mind. Justin's voice. You only knew of the traps. You still didn't kill them.
"Emma, what have you done?"
I snap, turning on the intruder who had managed to sneak up on me. We were on the ground within seconds and I dug my knee into Ronen's chest, pinning him beneath me. He raised his hands above his head, dropping a spear and a net.
"What are you doing here?"
"I heard my traps go off." he wheezed. "My god, Emma. What happened to you? You look feral."
His observation caught me off guard and for the first time I glance at my reflection in my blade. I was unrecognizable, my face streaked with dirt and ash, brambles and leaves stuck in my hair. My eyes were bloodshot and rimmed in red, revealing my grief. I turn back to Ronen and meet a surprisingly concerned gaze. For a brief moment I am overwhelmed by a feeling of relief and joy at seeing his face again. I want to collapse in his arms and to mourn my brother, but I can't. The moment passes in an instant, replaced with the thought that he could have been with Engle when my brother died.
"Were you with him?" I question, an unbearable pressure in my chest causing me to shout. "Were you with Engle when he killed my brother?"
"Emma, please think for a moment." he begs. "We had a deal-We had a deal." Ronen croaks when I press down on his windpipe.
"Damn the deal." I growl. "Just answer the question."
"No. I was not with Engle."
I search his face for the truth, but it doesn't help. I couldn't trust a career even if it was Ronen. My sword rises almost of its own accord and I realize that I am about to kill him. Even thoughts that I might have felt for him could not stop me.
He must have seen my resolve, because his hand wriggles up to catch my wrist before I could bring my sword down. I strain against him but he resists. Somehow he manages to flip me over until Ronen sits on top of me and he twists my sword from grasp. Ronen tosses the blade aside as I thrash beneath him and then catches hold of my fists, securing them above my head with a hand.
"Emma." his voice is soothing and his free hand cups my face.
I still immediately and realize that tears had begun streaming down my face.
"I don't believe you." I tell him, knowing that I was most likely going to die.
"Judging by your reaction I think not." he murmurs. "Don't worry. You're safe with me."
"Please don't say that." It was my turn to beg. "It's a lie and you know it."
He stares at me for a long time and then wordlessly gets off, crouching on the ground beside me. His hand still holds me captive, but he allows me to sit up.
"Emma, what happened? Why do you say your brother is dead?"
I scowl; resenting the fact that he believed Panem was real. That the games exist when all they were, all they were meant to be was books.
"Because he is you brainwashed moron. Justin Price is...was my brother. I watched him die in my arms."
His face blanks and he is momentarily speechless.
"I don't understand…How can your brother be here?"
I wrench my hands from his slackened grasp. "He was kidnapped and forced into this hell hole." I snap. "Just like me and just like ten others. We were taken from our homes by a madman to be killed because of some vendetta."
"I don't understand." he says again, but it's slower this time as if he were trying to piece something together.
I almost smack him, but instead retrieve my sword. Turning back I take him by the collar and bring him close, pressing my lips to his ear.
"The games aren't real." I whisper. "Panem isn't real and there is an entire world outside of this arena that your precious President wants to keep hidden. I was never born to kill, to defend my life in the games, because the games shouldn't exist."
I push him roughly away and stand, still questioning whether or not I should kill him. He looks up in confusion and something inside me softens. I had just told him his world wasn't real. This wasn't his fault and at one point we were aligned. But not anymore. I wasn't going to kill him, but I also wasn't going to stay around him.
Stepping over him, I start towards the smoke riddled woods and grab my things as I pass.
"I don't believe you." he calls after me.
"I wasn't asking you to."
I shrug my bag strap over a shoulder and leave the burning hollow behind. Three tributes had died tonight. Their blood was on my hands, but two lives had been spared. They couldn't make up for what I had done, but they had to. They had to make up for what I was going to do. Engle was near.