Author's Note: I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long to get uploaded. I don't have much time anymore and I'm trying to really take the time to edit each of the chapters. Don't worry though, I promise that I will not abandon this story, even if it seems like I've stop uploading for a while; it just means that I've not had much free time and so it's been taking me longer with the chapters. Thanks so much for reading this far into my first ever fan fiction story :)
I have been forgetting to do this mostly, but I don't own any rights to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Foggy Mountains, Foggy Minds
Not much has happened since the wolf attack. Shine has been getting us all out on various hunting trips to try and track down the other tributes, but we've come up with nothing. I thought I'd be easy to find people since the snow leaves very obvious tracks, but there's nothing to be found. I'm guessing the Capitol audience is even more bored than we are.
We've reached day five in the arena with thirteen tributes left. The boy from 11, Aaron, died yesterday for no particularly obvious reason, but I'm beginning to suspect that all these mysterious deaths are tied to one other tribute. Titus.
The other odd thing is Cass. He's been distant since the wolf attack and attacking really…I don't know. Just strange. He'll focus like crazy on some random things, like, the mountain and the stars, but then can barely look me in the eye and focus for more than a few seconds. If I ask him what's going on, well, the closest I've come to an actual conversation with him is me saying "What's up?" and then him saying, "Mountain. Stars. So pretty. So lifelike." I don't get it, but I need him to snap out of it if we're going to get any of us out of here alive.
A cannon fire shakes the mountain and startles me out of my thoughts. I all glance around the camp, but everyone is still there. No hunting trips yet. I wonder what happened. And who it was.
A hovercraft appears in the sky maybe a mile to our right. I frown. That's fairly close, if it's Titus over there he might be on his way over. I look around the site, and see that Tiana seems to have come to the same realization.
"We should go over and check it out. Maybe we'll catch Titus." Tiana says, confirming my suspicion.
"I'll go then. And Gray, how about you come with me?" Shine suggests. Tiana is about to interject when Shine says, "You went on the last hunting trip and besides, someone needs to stay back to watch our poor little injured girl." She sneers at me.
"Hey! That was days ago! I'm just fine, thank you very much." It's true, my wounds healed completely yesterday, but Shine will take any chance she can to point out how weak I am because I got hurt.
"Well, we can't leave the camp unattended anyway, can we?" She counters slyly, still smirking. When no one answers, she turns and nods to Gray. "Let's go." They run off into the trees and out of sight.
Tiana sighs and flops down next to me in front of my tent. "I have to be the one to get him. I just have to."
I give her a sympathetic look. I remember the way I felt when Darryn was killed in the bloodbath, and I'm pretty sure she's feeling something somewhat similar. She wants revenge.
I turn over to watch Cass, whose pacing back and forth and the topmost edge of camp, staring up at the overly fluffy white clouds above and muttering incoherent nonsense. If there's any chance I'll have to get him to focus again, it's probably now, while Shine and Gray are out. I walk over and nudge him, breaking his concentration on the sky. "Hey."
He glances down at me, nodding distractedly. "Hey."
I grab him by the shoulders and shake him. "Listen to me." He struggles against my grip, his eyes narrowed but not on me, but the air above my head. "Listen. Focus." With some effort, he looks down at me. "We're in the Hunger Games, Cassius Achille. You need to focus. I don't know what you've been going on about these past days, but it needs to end. Right now."
His eyes seemed to sharpen when I said his name, and his face slowly cleared of that distant feeling as I continue to force him to look at me. He shakes his head a bit, then looks at me. "I'm sorry, Alexis. I've just…I realized something. I think."
"What's that?"
"I…I can't tell you. Not here." He looks around. Of course not here. From all the confusion he's been stirring up, we've probably got the attention of most of Panem.
I nod quickly. "Of course. Just…don't do that again. Okay?"
He sighs, glancing back at the sky longingly one last time. "Okay."
I smile at him, thinking things just might be alright now, but just then something, or, rather, someone crashes through the bushes. And it isn't Shine or Gray, or even Titus.
It's Avery, the girl from District Ten. I quickly go to stand in front of Cassius, he doesn't seem to have any weapons right now, but the girl just runs straight past us, eyes wide in terror. I'm about to yell down to Tiana, but Tiana beats me to it.
"ALEXIS!"
I whip around to face her and look down the mountain clearing to our campsite, where Tiana…where Tiana is battling Titus. Avery stops suddenly and looks back down the plateau, as if she's just realized where she is. She screams again. "It's him!" She dashes up the mountain, eyes bugged out, and sprints out of sight, straight into the fog, the way she'd gone when I'd last seen her at the bloodbath.
"Cass!" I yell. We begin to run down the mountain, to Tiana's aid. Cassius runs to grab his sword from his tent. I grab an extra spear from the side of the Cornucopia on my way down, but keep running. I stop maybe fifteen feet away, and throw one of my spears, hitting him in the left leg. Both Tiana and Titus roar, one out of pain, one out of anger. Tiana turns to yell at me. "This is my fight! Understand?" I nod, and back up to the front of my tent, but I still stand ready in case anything happens. Cassius runs over to me, probably having heard what Tiana said, but mimics my position, sword ready.
Tiana is a machine, her eyes burning with pure hate as she tackles what I know to be her only nemesis in this arena to the ground. She pulls a knife from her belt and stabs downwards as Titus, who's strength much overpowers hers, pulls himself to his feet. The blade goes short of its goal and hits him in the stomach. It should be a fatal wound, but Titus keep standing anyway. He pulls the knife out as well as the spear from his leg and tosses them aside, right into my legs. I pick them both up, tucking the knife into my pocket and holding the spear in my left hand. Titus' eyes widen even more, if that's possible, as he thrusts his spear forwards, sending Tiana diving to the right to dodge it. He lets out a laugh as he turns back to face her that makes me question whether or not he's completely sane.
A rumbling feeling begins, the same way it did when the chasm appear the last time we saw Titus, but this one's slightly different. It doesn't feel like it's under the ground more like…above.
A scream rolls down the mountainside as a figure shoots past as fast as she can. Avery. She looks like a cornered animal, eyes wide and defenceless, glancing back up the mountain to whatever must be pursuing her as the shaking grows stronger. And stronger.
"AVALANCHE!" She cries out just as she passes right between Titus and Tiana. It's like she doesn't even realize were there. Titus, however, does, and he tackles both Avery and Tiana to the ground, Avery pinned between the two of the as the noise of everything grows louder and louder.
I turn to Cass. His eyes are wide with fear, but he remains calm and seemingly controlled, just like he used to. I can only hope that it stays that way, at least for now.
"Grab the essentials. Quickly." My voice almost isn't my own. It's low, calm, and cold as steel.
Tiana and Titus tumble down the hill some ways, Avery screaming her head off in between them while Tiana yells just about every curse I know and more, struggling against Titus grip. Thankfully, while he is strong, he not big enough to have a secure grip around the both of them and Tiana breaks free just as Cass comes back into view, carrying a large backpack. I jump into my tent to grab my own. I groan frustratedly when I see that my bag is leaned against the furthest wall of the tent; I didn't plan very well for this. I quickly crawl my way across my sleeping bag and snatch up the bag. I'm about to leave when a sparkle on the bag catches my eye. The snowmobile keys. They must have fallen out of my pocket. I grab them, along with my sleeping bag, and rush back outside, my triumphant smile glowing on my face. Maybe we'll get out of this one alive after all.
Cass is waiting outside my tent, pacing anxiously, glancing ever so often down the mountain to where two figures battle through the mist. I can just make out the silhouette of a girl who must be Avery, lying face first one the ground.
I wave Cass over to the snowmobile parked inside the Cornucopia just as the avalanche comes into view above us. We have maybe 20 seconds before we're swallowed alive. I jump onto the seat of the snowmobile and Cass clambers on behind me as I jam the key into the machine. Lights glow in front of us and the seat rumbles beneath me. Or maybe that's the avalanche. I smash my fingers against various buttons and controls and suddenly we're lurching forward into the fog.
The figures of Titus and Tiana become clearer and clearer as we approach them through the mist. I begin to hear the clash of metal against metal and Tiana's angry cries as they finally come into view.
"Tiana!" I scream. She glances over at us, understanding the situation immediately as I wave her over frantically. I see her head whip back and forth between Titus and us as the rumbling grows stronger yet. We don't have much time.
"Go!" she cries, after what seems like eternity. "I need to finish this!"
"What?!" I protest, but in that instant Tiana turns back to her foe and tackles him. Straight off the edge of the plateau. "Tiana!"
"Come, Alexis." Cass' voice comes from behind me. His hands reach around me and take control of the vehicle easily, turning us away from the scene. "We need to go." Our headlights dance ahead of us as Cassius brings us up to full speed and we fly away into the fog, away from the only real Career I met with a heart.
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