Chapter 22: Trident vs. Sword
The four tributes were covered with bruises and bleeding wounds. They were all drenched in sweat. Their clothing was full of ripped holes. They breathed heavy from exhaustion.
Even though Amanda did not want any more, out of pure spite she had an uncontrollable urge to taunt the Gamemakers. She looked up in the direction of the treetops believing that the camera would be on her face.
"IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO!" Amanda shouted at the camera, challenging Plutarch Heavensbee with a maniacal smile.
They waited several moments. Nothing. They all took advantage of the brief respite, and went back to their backpacks. They all gulped some water. Amanda couldn't help but use some of her water to splash on her face to refreshen herself a little.
They all popped some Vicodin pills from the first aid kit to reduce the pain that they were having from their wounds. And they continued to wait.
In the Gamemakers control room:
Plutarch Heavensbee raised his eyebrow while smiling with amused interest.
"Impressive!" said Plutarch excitedly. "Now that...is television entertainment!"
Plutarch looked at the live television broadcast which showed Caesar Flickerman at the talk-show studio, shouting with delighted excitement to a cheering crowd on what they had just witnessed.
"Well, they have passed the test sir." said one of the Gamemakers sitting at his station console. "Should I release the force field and give them a safe, clear path to the south bridge of the island?"
Plutarch stroked his chin in thought as he looked at the cheering crowd in Caesar Flickerman's studio and a replay of the Muttation battle that the four tributes had just fought. As good as the television was, he felt he could still make it better; just top it off with something good for the benefit of the audience. He was the Head Gamemaker after all.
"Not just yet." said Plutarch. "Get Claudius Templesmith onto the audio broadcast system for the arena and give him some lines." He then addressed everyone in the control room while looking at the TV screen. "This is the Hunger Games after all. Let's give the audience what they want; a death at the hand of another tribute."
Back in the arena:
A force field appeared in the middle of the clearing, separating half of the group from the other; Susanna and Blaze were cut off from Amanda and Irene and vice versa.
The voice of Claudius Templesmith then boomed out of loud speakers that were hidden somewhere.
"Congratulations Susanna Xavier, Blaze Trenton, Irene Avion, and Amanda Snow on a job well done of defeating an army of muttations! Three of you will be permitted to walk free, but not all four of you! Amanda Snow, and Irene Avion!"
The two of them then I felt an odd sort of magnetic force that drew them towards each other for a brief moment with their weapons held out in front of them, and then they looked at each other in the face.
"Survival of the fittest!" said the speaker amplified voice of Claudius Templesmith, as though the, said words, made it obvious as to what the two Capitol raised girls had to do to each other then and there. "May the odds be ever in your favor!"
The classic old-fashioned blonde beauty, and of the pink haired granddaughter of President Snow looked each other in the eyes with serious faces.
"If it's any consolation Irene, perhaps it is for the best that the Gamemakers are making us do this." said Amanda. "This way we don't have to do it later."
Irene then raised her trident.
"I respect you Amanda." said Irene.
"Likewise." responded Amanda.
"But this is the Hunger Games after all." said Irene. "And I have a fiancé waiting for me to marry him at my Victor's ceremony."
"And I made a promise to my mother, I was coming home." said Amanda.
And without another word, Irene attacked.
Amanda scolded herself for getting caught off guard like that, but she lifted her sword and blocked the first hit just in time. She moved backward as she blocked hit after hit, on the defensive. Irene got past Amanda's guard and her trident opened a gash in Amanda's cheek. Amanda dodged away a split second too late, spun around and opened a bleeding gash in Irene's right side of her hip. Irene backed off, then Amanda threw a knife, the aim was good, but Irene hit the flying knife away with her trident just in time. Irene pulled another trident out of the chest of one of the fallen Mutts and throws it at Amanda. Amanda dodges. They both attacked directly and their weapons clashed.
This exchange went back and forth for several minutes. They seemed to be more or less evenly matched. The only thing that would resolve the fight was which one bleed to death first.
They both staggered weakly after awhile, their clothes became more and more drenched in blood. Amanda fell to her knees. Her titanium sword felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. Irene was still on her feet about to plunge her trident into her. Amanda thought back to her training. Nothing for this situation came to mind. She thought of Katniss's advice; wisdom of the mentor.
Flashback:
It was a day before the Games. It was a little extra advice for emergency situations.
"If you feel weak of fatigued during a fight, you can muster up reserves of extra strength you never dreamed." said Katniss. "Get angry! Think of things that will make you mad, and then get feisty on your opponent."
End flashback:
Amanda thought of horrible injustices of all different kinds. She thought of Lisa dying at the hands of the Gamemakers, and of Hector being tortured by Martha. She then felt that childish tantrum building in her as her blood filled with adrenaline while thinking of the things that made her mad.
In less than a second she had got to her feet and lunged at Irene, growling.
Irene, still in a weakened state did not expect Amanda's sudden burst of energy. She was now on the defensive as she backed up as she deflected Amanda's sword again and again. Amanda was not mad at Irene for anything, she was just angry in general, for the adrenaline. The sword and the trident clashed against eachother over and over as Irene backed up. Then Irene became just a little too fatigued from the battle. Amanda threw a knife and got Irene in the lung, missing the heart, Irene cried in pain, and with another hard slash of her sword, Amanda knocked the trident out of the way and cut off Irene's hand at the middle of her forearm. Irene cried out in pain as the stump gushed blood.
Amanda's mind froze in time. She remembered Katniss's advice of the moment before she killed Brianna Crane. The cost of surviving the Hunger Games was a high price to be sure, but she had to become a killer, she had to become a monster if she was going to win.
Amanda then stabbed Irene through the stomach.
Irene paused and choked. Her eyes went blank. Amanda withdrew her sword, and looked at the blood-stained blade. All of Amanda's rage then went out of her, and she was suddenly horrified at what she had done. She knew she was just trying to survive. She knew she was just trying to win. She knew that it was the Hunger Games. But she didn't care about any of that. She was able to do the deed in the heat of the fight, under her mentors advice for making herself angry, but then she realized too late that once the deed is done it haunts you for the rest of your life. She then choked and vomited all over the ground after she dropped her sword on the ground beside her, discarding from her stomach most of the feast of alien mushroom she had eaten more than an hour earlier.
She then took Irene's face in her hands and looked her in the eyes as Irene choked and coughed up blood as she struggled to breathe.
"I'm sorry!" said Amanda.
"Its okay." said Irene in a week voice. "I know that it was nothing personal. Tell my fiancé that I love him, and that my last thoughts were of him."
"Shall I fear retribution from him?" asked Amanda cautiously.
"He's been watching The Hunger Games his whole life. He knows how it works. He'll understand."
Irene then stopped breathing. She then lay motionless for a few moments.
'BOOM!'
Tears then went down Amanda's bloodstained and scared face.
Amanda then closed Irene's eyes.
"Rest in peace, Irene Avion." said Amanda respectfully.
The force field had been lowered and Susanna and Blaze were standing on either side of her their hands lightly on Amanda's shoulders for comfort. Susanna, in the District 5 custom, then touched her three fingers of her left hand to her mouth and held them out in respect for Irene.
"Susanna." asked Amanda. "When you killed Martha did you feel this way?
"Yes." responded Susanna. "But it was different because I was killing her in punishment for torturing and mutilating Hector."
Amanda understood and didn't respond. Kill an enemy in defense of a friend, that makes sense, you had to. But what did Irene die for? She had already discussed this with Hector on the first day about May Salmon. Amanda killed a non-enemy for television entertainment.
Her mind broke into despair. She felt sick. She then looked up a little turning her head from left to right as she spoke.
"18 of us are dead, Paylor!" said Amanda defiantly to the camera. "You have the power to stop this! We've already suffered a death toll from the war! Hasn't there been enough killing?"
She knew her statement would fall on deaf ears, but hoped maybe she could make a difference somehow, with her words.
In the Gamemakers control room:
One of the Gamemakers at his console looked at Amanda with a face of contempt and dislike. He tapped his panel, and then an image of a miniature Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared as a hologram in front of him on his panel.
"Shall I send in the T-Rex, Sir?" asked the Gamemaker.
Plutarch Heavensbee raised his eyebrow in interest, clearly he liked that idea. He stroked his chin pondering. Then he frowned and shook his head.
"No!" said Plutarch with a tone of finality. "They've had enough. The audience has been satisfied. Send them a message on how to make a medicine for their cuts and blood loss, then clear them a safe path to the south bridge of the island, and send them a pizza, complements of the Gamemakers… and give them two days off."
Back in the arena:
As Susanna and Blaze tended to Amanda's wounds, a few minutes later a Muttation called a Jabberjay perches nearby and speaks aloud in Plutarch Heavensbee's voice.
"In order to make a blood clotting and blood replenishing agent, please follow these instructions. Take 20 of the red alien flowers; blossoms, greens, and roots, whole, and grind them into a mush in one of your bowls. Then cut out one of the eyes of the dead Muttation warriors and squeeze the eye's juices into the flower mush. Pour approximately half a cup of water into the mixture, then add approximately 3 tablespoons of human blood. Mix thoroughly, then apply the mixture to all of your open wounds. By laboratory genetically engineered chemical processes of the mixture, it will cause any bleeding wound to immediately clot, as well as to significantly speed up the healing process of the surrounding tissue, and then when the mixture is ingested through the mouth, directly, it will stimulate the bone marrow to increase blood cell production by several times."
They then set to work following the instructions that were repeated several times by the bird.
Author's note: I didn't know what to do with this chapter. I was just trying to kill another tribute I guess. Please review!