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Chapter Twenty-Two - A New Friend

Tiana and I sprint back to camp, her, carefully, and me, crashing through bushes and tumbling over fallen logs, desperate to get back to my friend.

You know he has to die at some point if you want to get home right? the evil part of my brain says. So does Tiana here, who you just saved. And Jayden. And Ash and Willow and Spencer. Why are you just delaying the inevitable.

"Shut up, me." I growl.

"Sorry?" Tiana asks, running alongside me.

"Nothing." I say quickly. If there's a way, I think to myself, determined. we'll find it. And what's most important right now is saving my friend.

As we approach camp, I can hear a strange howling noise mixed in with the battle cries, as if my allies were fighting the wind. What is that?

A cannon sounds through the trees that nearly stops me in my tracks. Oh god, what if it was Cassius? Tiana and I exchange a nervous look and keeping running, expecting the worst.

We finally come in sight of camp, and I'm terrified by what I see.

"Wolf mutts." Tiana whispers.

I've never see anything like them. Five of these creatures circle our allies as the attempt to fight them off. with a knife, a ski pole, and a snowboard. Their weapons lay scattered around the campsite. I guess they weren't able to reach them in time, except Shine, who wields a knife. The other two hold a ski pole and snowboard respectively, as if they plan to beat the other, much larger animals to death. Or, in the case of Gray's ski pole, poke its eyes out to death. On the bright side, they're all alive. I wonder whose cannon it was.

One glance at Tiana and I immediately understand the plan. We can both use long-range weapons, so we split up and each sneak over to one side of the circle, about ten feet back. The wolves are so focused on their prey they don't even notice, but I see Gray give me a small nod, as he focuses on stabbing at the nearest wolf with his pole. I have one trident in hand, which should take down one wolf. Tiana has who-knows how many knives with her, so she should be just fine. My spear is strapped to my back pack, so that's a no for now. That leaves the two knives in my belt holster. I've never tried knife throwing, they're so much smaller than spears or tridents, but it's worth a shot.

Ha. says a voice in the back of my head. A pun in a time of crisis. Well done, Alexis.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at myself and throw my trident, hitting the wolf on the left right in the neck. I hear more howls as Tiana easily takes the three closest to her, leaving me with one. I pull one of the knives from my belt and throw at the last wolf. As soon as it leaves my hand though, I know it's off. I whip my back pack off just as the knife reaches the wolf and hits it in one of its hind legs. That will definitely slow it down, but it only seems angered as it limps its way towards me with surprising speed, dragging its back leg the way I would drag my heavy school bag home some days, like it's an extra, unnecessary limb that I would be happy to dispose of as soon as possible.

I tug at my spear on the backpack, but it seems to be caught on something, maybe one of the buckles. Sighing in exasperation, I lift the entire bag and stab at the wolf just as it reaches me. I smile in satisfaction, but the grin is quickly ripped off my face when I see the expressions of my allies. They're all looking at me, horrified. Well, except Shine, of course. In fact, she looks rather excited, as if she's watching the best television show of all time. What's going on? I open my mouth to ask when I realize they're not looking at me, they're looking behind me. A growl sounding from maybe three feet behind me confirms my suspicion. My trident and spear are both out of reach, so I reluctantly pull my last knife from my belt and turn around just as the wolf pounces.

I fly backwards and crash into the snow, my knife spiralling in the other direction, landing about ten feet out of reach. I thrash, terrified, but the wolf mutt is probably several hundred pounds heavier than me. It bares its teeth at me, exposing the lovely four-inch fangs that will probably be my destruction. The creature's claws sink into my left shoulder and thighs to pin me down, and also cause a lot of pain. My right arm is free, but it takes all of my energy to just keep thinking and not black out at this point. Besides, I'm weaponless, what would I do anyway? Punch him?

I close my eyes in defeat just as the wolf raises one paw, probably to rake across my chest and insure my slow, painful death. If it waited just another five or so minutes I'd probably already be gone thanks to the blood pouring out of my shoulder and thighs wounds. I wince, waiting for the final blow, but it doesn't come. Instead, I hear a whistling sound, followed by a whimper. I open my eyes again just as the wolf's weight crashes down on me. His head smacks into mine, making my vision blur and black spots dance before my eyes.

"Alexis! Alexis, are you okay?" Cassius comes running up to me, and, thankfully, pushes the dead wolf off me so I can breath again. It rolls over beside me and I see the knife embedded deep between its eyes.

"I'm okay." I manage a small smile.

Cassius looks at me, inspecting my wounds. "Yeah right. Oh god, Alex, your shoulder…" he trails off. "Guys! Someone get the first aid kit!"

Tiana comes over, handing Cass the supplies. He begins bandaging my cuts as Tiana walks over and pulls the knife out of the wolf that would have killed me, putting it back to its place in her jacket. I guess she notices me watching and smiles softly at me. "Good knife." she whispers, only loud enough for me to hear. I smile back, maybe, just, maybe, I've made a new friend. She clears her throat a little, looking away. "I never got a chance to thank you. For pulling me out of the chasm. To really thank you, I mean. Then I saw a chance."

I smile again, understanding. "Thanks."

She grins at me. "Hey, what are friends for?"

This makes me smile even wider. "Apparently, for saving your butt from a mutt." I joke.

"Nice rhyme."

"Thank you."

"Okay, I hate to break up your girl bonding moment here," Cass interrupts. "But we need help. You've lost a lot of blood. We need medicine."

At his words, I see a silver parachute with a big number "4" on it float down to us. He catches it and opens up the canister, smiling. "Perfect. Thank you." He looks up, addressing our mentors, or, more accurately, the sky. He looks back at me. "You should get some rest. I can do this, I think."

"Well, fine. I'm so glad to be trusted to your capable hands." I say, ever so sarcastically. Despite my words though, I fall asleep the moment I close my eyes.

uh oh! Alexis has an injury! A bad one, by the sounds of it. thank goodness for sponsors, huh?

THE FALLEN

Demetri, District Two Male, killed by Titus (D6) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

Pascale, District Three Female, killed by Gray (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

Jane, District Five Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

Darryn, District Five Male, killed by Cara (D11) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

Kya, District Six Female, killed by Gamemakers' chasm on DAY TWO

Nico, District Eight Male, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

Heather, District Nine Female, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

Blake, District Ten Male, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

Cara, District Eleven Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE

?, ?, killed by Titus (D6) on DAY TWO

Total: 10, 14 Remaining

(And those remaining are...)*

Shine D1

Gray D1

Tiana D2

Jayden D3

Cassius D4

Alexis D4

Titus D6

Willow D7

Ash D7

Jasmine D8

Spencer D9

Avery D10

Aaron D11

Damien D12

Camille D12

*one of these tributes just died, we do not know which besides the fact that it was not any of the tributes who appeared in this chapter or the killer of the tribute, Titus.