Act 18
'Troy'

It had been two days since Helena killing Marcello. She hadn't been back this way since then; not that I was complaining. It meant that I had time to help my arm heal up, though it wasn't wanting to. It definitely was clean. Puss had come out of the wound, which was the gunk that had been in originally. It was good that it came out, though the wound was still not starting to scab over. If it didn't scab, it wasn't likely to heal properly.

I worried as I looked as my wound.

What if it doesn't heal? What will I do? I thought.

I had heard if a wound doesn't heal properly, there was a chance for the need to amputate. That would mean me having to lose my arm. The aspect of losing my arm scared me. Not only for the practical loses, I'm right handed, but because of the social stigma against crimples. They cannot work and thus shunned by a lot of people. Children are told to keep away from them and the adults send a lot of horrible looks towards them. They are treated like lepers. And while it isn't right to treat them like that, I have to admit that I have personally acted like such around them. I'm not proud of it, but I have. Maybe this injury was karma taking over for all the horrible things I have done.

Need to change the topic, I thought, shaking my head.

It had been two days and no deaths. Last time this had happened, five people had died and a landslide had occurred. I was hoping they didn't bring in another landslide or a different "natural disaster" to "liven things up". But then again if people didn't die, the Games would never be over and no one would win.

The day came and went. My wound hadn't gotten any better and no one had passed my tree. I had thought of getting down and trying my luck at hunting down another tribute, but my arm wasn't in any condition to fight. If I ran into one of the strong tributes, Helena or Silver, I wouldn't stand a chance. I was best not pushing my luck.

Night came quickly; quicker than I thought. I hadn't been paying attention to the time apparently. As I lied up in my tree and slowly drifted to sleep, the gong rang out.

"What the-" I shouted, cutting myself off.

After so long of not hearing it, the gong's ring startled me; almost causing me to fall of the tree. Thankfully I caught myself. I looked up towards the sky and almost gasped at the tribute whose portrait appeared in the hologram. It was Helena.

"She's… Dead…" I said.

Earlier...

Helena walked through the valley with a lack of confidence she had once had. After killing Marcello, his words had been chiming through her head. She wasn't sure what he had said that got to her. Maybe it was being call pathetic. Maybe it was because he noticed her apprehension towards people. Or Maybe it was because he had sounded just like her father. Any way she approached it, she couldn't get the words out of her head.

"Why is this happening?" she questioned herself aloud.

She had never had an issue with severing her ties with people. She didn't even have an issue with killing people. She had killed many tributes so far, one of them also being a Career, aside from Marcello. So why couldn't she just let go of Marcello?

"He's right," she said, finishing the sentence in her thoughts. I am pathetic.

"Who's right?"

The voice came from behind her. Upon turning around she was greeted with the sight of a brunette male smiling at her. His jacket was black, indicating he was the final tribute from District 12. Helena hadn't bothered to remember his name. Not that it mattered. She kept a hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword.

"Looks like you're not one to talk," he said, shrugging. "You look like you're ready for action."

He was a little calmer than Helena, though she couldn't understand why. There was only four left and in had been ten days since they entered. Anyone would start to become stressed. Even she was becoming stressed. Instead he seemed increasingly confident with every moment that passed.

"Look," he said. "You are obviously troubled, so why don't you just admit defeat. You have killed so many, so you cannot think you are going to just live. You deserve to die."

Helena knew she deserved to die, but she couldn't. She had a reason she had to continue her fight.

"I will not die!" she shouted, beginning to pull out her sword.

Before she had fully drawn her sword however, a solid silver arrow pierced her heart. It had turned out it came from Silver. In the dark Helena hadn't noticed the bow he had been carrying with him or the quiver strapped to his back. The arrow had quickly gone through her and was now sticking out of the center of her chest. She fell to the ground, gasping as she coughed up blood. Silver walked over, staring down at her as she died.

"I just wanted my mom to be safe and proud of me," she said between gasps.

"We all want our parents to be proud of us," said Silver.

He took out the arrow from her heart, blood following behind the head of the arrow, and positioned it to hover over her head. Without a single word, he jammed the arrow into the side of her head, killing her instantly.

"Sheesh," he scoffed, standing up.

He wiped the bloody arrow on his pant leg and looked around.

"Well, which direction next?" he asked himself.

Less than a 1,000 words, but I will make up with it by updating twice. This chapter was the well-anticipated death of Helena. I hated her, but I love her. Her love for her mom and her style of playing the Game was something I appreciated about her. I could actually see me being that ruthless sometimes when imagining myself in the Games. I short, I related with her. It's sad, but true.

Deaths in this Chapter:

*Helena: Placed 5th; Killed by Silver.