Chapter 16- Safe and Sound
Hey, hey, hey! What's up my friends? HG won 9 surfboards at the Teen Choice Awards and Loinsgate recently cast Amanda Plummer as Wiress and Jena Malone as Johanna Mason! Also, I recently saw BRAVE and when Merida (IHNC if I speeled that right) had her hair wet it kinda hung down straight, but wild and wavy and I was like 'OMG! It's Angel!' LOL. So now I give you the sweet sixteenth chapter. I hope that we know about Finnick soon! GARRET HEDLUND IS MY CHOICE!
Disclaimer: I'M TOO LAZY TO WRITE AN AWESOME TRILOGY LIKE THG. I CAN ONLY MAKE UP MY O.C.S
FINAL WARNING: Keep tissues nearby while reading this. Do not, I repeat, do not sue me if you are wearing mascara and at the end of the chapter it's ruined. That's all.
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I am paralyzed. I'm all out of Ringlet's arrows that I was badly shooting earlier. Knives you idiot! KNIVES! I reach down to my belt and slice the head off of the snake. Cold blood and venom splatter my face. I kick the corpse away and keep running. I could die. Any moment now. A Gamemaker holds my fate.
"Angel!" Glamour shouts. I look around, but only hear her voice. "The venom- Tracker jackers!" It's tracker jacker venom. This is bad. Who knows what will happen if I get bitten? Once in my life, Travis was stung by a tracker jacker. We had to pull out the stingers and grind up some leaves and make a gross, green, goopy paste. Worst thing was we had to use saltwater so the pain was blinding. I had to help Emily and I kept screaming any time that Travis made a sound of pain. I was so terrified. I ran outside and climbed a tree- TREE! I remember the pine trees that are everywhere. I dodge to my left and pull out the two thick knives, I begins climbing. But my hands are sweaty and I'm nervous. The snakes snap at my feet. One of them sinks a fang into my ankle. Grabbing it by the neck, I yank it out and throw it as far as I can. I keep climbing until I reach a branch twenty feet off the ground. I stop there. There's no stinger to pull out. I wait a few moments, then slowly climb back down the tree. I search for a few moments, then come across the green leaves. I don't have one of Emily's special bowls and I'm not using any water. I chew up the leaves and spit into my hand. It sticks very nicely. I sort of limp trying to find my allies, hoping that they were smart enough to climb a tree. Then I hear a scream so loud and terrifying that it stops me dead in my tracks.
"Gadget!" I shout. She screams again. I limp towards her voice, hoping that nothing happened. The snakes are at my feet again. I suck up the pain and run fast as I dare. I throw knives the the reptiles. One hisses at me. To my own shock, I hiss back. Then sink a knife into his eye. The pull it back out and slice the head off of one. The venom is acting fast. I glance around and grab a tree branch. I light it on fire as a torch to keep the snakes away. Isn't that what Abigal did to keep garden snakes away in her backyard? I hold it out, the cameras are not doubt zooming in on my face.
Who am I? I am Angel Caprice. I am sixteen years old. I am from District 4. Shoreline. I am a tribute in the 68th Hunger Games. Why? Because I would rather die myself, than have my best friend die. I came here expecting death, now I'm in the final seven. I fell in love with Finnick Odair. He loves me. I can't die like this. I'm going to die fighting. For him. For my family. For my district. For Panem. This is my life. My fate. It will not be determined by someone who has lived an easy life sitting in a spotless room wearing a uniform that would take me years to buy back home. It's my life. I'll decide where it goes from here! I make the path!
With a sound between a cry and a scream I jump out holding my torch to their snake eyes. I throw it at the mutts and keep running. My ankle is really starting to hurt and it's definitely going to swell soon. I come to a clearing in the woods. I run straight into it. A forcefeild. It's rock hard, rather than electrified, like the fence the blocks you off from the wild back home. My nose starts to bleed a little. But I need to find my allies. This won't happen to me. I'm not sure if I can survive on my own. Not now at least. I'm wounded and I'll go crazy with Collin's death and this venom in my blood. I lie down for a few moments propped up on my elbows, gasping for breath. The world seems to be spinning. I look at my ankle. It's already the size of a small apple. I peel off the leaves alread caked with blood and sweat. I chew up another set and press it on. I secure it in place by wrapping gauze around it.
"No!" Who's voice is it? Is it even anyone I know? Or is it just my imagination? "Nonono!" I hear it again. I run faster in the direction of the voice. "Dammit! Live, you're not going to die!" It's Glamour, I think. Her pale hair is painted with dirt and blood. Her face remains clean, due to how much she's sweating. In her arms is some sort of person. A child, torn and bloody. Pale skin, veins standing out all purple and blue. It's skin looks like marble. "Angel, you have to help me!" The voice echoes around me.
"Hold onto this lullabye,
Even when the music's gone,
Gone."
Who's singing? Is it me? Glamour? A voice in my head?
"I-I-I can't." I say falling into the grass. I think I'm twitching, the grass has been heated by this Gamemaker sun, each blade feels like a red hot poker. I begin screaming I think. No, it's Gadget. Gadget? When did she get here? Is she the ragged marbly flesh streaked with blood dying in Glamour's arms? Oh, I'm going to vomit again. And I do.
"Please." Gadget sobs. Then I hear it. Her skin, the sun is burning the venom on her skin. She is being burned alive. I begin to cry. "It hurts! Make it stop!"
"Dammit! Shut-up Gadget you'll be fine!" Glamour shouts. All of us are going crazy, it's the venom. I just lay on my side, back turned on them, all I can hear are their screams. The cameras are eating this up, I know it. Going back and forth from Glamour, screaming and desperate to save the torn flesh in her arms. Me, glassy eyed and frozen staring at nothing. Gadget, dying a long and painful death asking for nothing more than to make it stop. The Capitol folks are on the edge of their seats.
"Please!" Gadget screams loudly. "Make it-"
"SHUT-UP!" Glamour yells so loud that all the birds fly away. Gadget makes chocking noises, I curl up, burrying my face in my kneecaps. "No, no. Gadget, I'm sorry. Wake up. Wake up, I mean it! Dammit! Angel! Angel do something!"
"Just close your eyes,
The sun is going down,
You'll be alright,
No one can hurt you know,
Come morning light,
You and I'll be safe and sound."
It's me. Now I know it's me, singing to song so soft that you can barely hear it. Glamour resorts to slapping the girl in her arms.
"Please! Gadget, don't die on me!" Glamour shouts. I roll over and look at her. She lays Gadget out on the grass. The tiny girl from District 3 keeps her knees curled, her hands over her heart, laying on her side. I begin oooing while Glamour sobs. I continue with the song as she picks up a small purple flowered clover and tucks it behind her ear. I sit on my knees. I keep singing as the cannon fires. I have to hold Glamour back when the hovercraft comes by to pick up Gadget.
"You didn't do anything." Glamour accuses. "You just sat there, singing." She growls. Then she slaps me across the face.
Darkness.
Snow. Snow? Snow. It's falling all around me. The flakes flutter gently to the ground. It rests in my hair, on my face, my skin is the same color as the ground. I look at my ankle, the swelling has gone down a bit. Then I realize what this means. I'm still alive. I'm still in the Games. Glamour didn't kill me for not saving Gadget. There are six of us left. Me, Glamour, Chip, Daniel, Willow, and the boy from District 5.
I could win this.
Finnick's POV
"I told you, she's a fighter." I say to the President. It's hard not to smirk.
"You realize that if she wins, it's your family, right?"
"Yes sir. I know that."
"I can't just have a Gamemaker kill her off. That would leave the world wondering. She's pretty, a fighter, and she got a ten. If I kill her the bloodthirsty veiwers will be rabid."
"Yes sir."
"What are you even doing here, there's someone waiting for you at your Capitol house. Go." I leave the room. I get a slap in the face from Cashmere.
"This is all your fault." She spits. "I can't believe this, it's so wrong and sick. We're people."
"So know you're saying that?" I ask. "What was going through your mind when you were in the arena?"
...
Stange way to end a chapter, I know. So, when will our lawyers be talking? JK Anyways I hope you liked it. The next chapter is coming soon.
Song Credit: Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift feat. The Civil Wars from the HG soundtrack.