Beta-read by gkmoberg1 & sydneylouwho

Glory & Gore by Lorde

And the cry goes out

They lose their minds for us

And how it plays out

Now we're in the ring

And we're coming for blood

Chapter 14

Winnow and all the other tributes stood tense on their metal plates – ready to move, but not too ready – all of them very aware of the consequences of stepping off early. The numbers on the Cornucopia counted down much too slowly for Winnow's liking.

Was it really only sixty seconds?

Winnow snapped back to attention as she saw the time narrowing down. One quick glance to her right saw Cato looking straight ahead – ready to run for the Cornucopia.

A dull horn sounded as the clock reached zero and Winnow leapt off the metal plate and was sprinted towards the Cornucopia. The boy from District 9 was just behind her – he would need to be dealt with first. In her peripheral vision she could see Cato to her right – pulling ahead and reaching the Cornucopia first.

Well this is it, Winnow thought. Now or never – Cato would prove himself ally or foe. The bulky blond grabbed hold of the first weapon he saw – tossing it straight to Winnow.

She caught the spear with both hands and pivoted – shoving the spearhead straight into the chest of the tribute who had trailed her so closely. With the death of the District 9 boy, the first kill of the 74th Hunger Games was now Winnow's.

As the boy from District 9 fell to the ground, the boy from 6 rushed past Winnow – a knife in his hand as he came towards Glimmer - but Cato tripped him before he could reach her, and slashed his neck with a scythe. Glimmer scooped the knife from the ground – angry that she had not yet killed.

Winnow, pumped with adrenaline, turned to see Kiva – Kai's friend – coming at her with a serrated sword, but she was ready for her. Winnow caught one of the serrated edges of the sword on her spear and pulled – the sword flew from Kiva's hand. With her unarmed, Winnow drew back her left arm and punched the girl straight in the face – knocking her to the ground. The dark-haired girl aimed a kick at Kiva's ribs – ensuring the girl would scramble up and run from her.

Out of respect for Kai – wherever he was– Winnow wouldn't kill Kiva. But she certainly wouldn't save her, either. Kiva rushed to grab a backpack, but Glimmer interceded and shoved her to the ground. Again, Kiva is able to get to her feet – but Glimmer only seized her by the hair and they both fell to the ground. It is there that Kiva died – Glimmer stabbing her again and again.

"Winnow!" Marvel shouted – catching the girl's attention. He gestured to Winnow's spear and then the trident he had in hand. Winnow nodded swiftly – tossing him the spear as she caught the trident.

Winnow turned back to the bloodbath with her trident in hand – a grim smile making its way onto her face knowing she had her favored weapon with her. She felt so powerful. No, that wasn't a strong enough word. With the adrenaline flooding her veins and sending her body into high alert, Winnow felt invincible. All around her the members of the opposing alliance were falling – the boy from District 7 lay dead with a knife in his back – most likely Clove's work.

Marvel's count was rising, too – the boy from District 3 had pushed the girl from seven to the ground in his haste to escape. Marvel chased the girl down and killed her as she tried to crawl away. Then the boy from District 8 – who injured himself during training - was disarmed by Marvel – and then his throat was slashed and his torso stabbed repeatedly.

By now, the tributes coming at them had slowed to a trickle – and they seemed to be avoiding Winnow. She couldn't have that, now could she? The girl from District 9 tried to get by her, but Winnow caught her by the arm and threw her down onto the ground. Winnow raised the trident above her head and plunged it into the girl's back. A pain-filled cry escaped the girl's lips – blood trickling from her mouth. Winnow forced the trident deeper and the girl fell silent.

The girl from 10 fell with an arrow in her chest – Winnow glanced back to see Glimmer had finally found her bow. It's about time, Winnow thought. How many were left?
She counted the bodies and found eight out of the ten – but the boy from ten and girl from eight seemed to be long gone.

Winnow felt movement at her left – pivoting and finding the girl from District 3 crawling away from Cato. He had slashed her back and allowed her to crawl away – as if she could truly escape. Winnow glanced at Cato – flickering her gaze from her trident to Three. A savage grin spread over his features and he nodded.

Winnow dug the trident into Three's body, grimacing as she heard the crunch of bones and wet noise of the girl's organs and blood spurting all over Winnow's cargo pants. An arrow whizzed past her cheek – and her head spun as she watched it hit its mark. "NOOOOOOOO!" Winnow screamed – watching in horror as the arrow pierced Kai's neck.

He fell to his knees, holding a hand up to his throat. Winnow ran to him – ignoring all else as she put her arms around him, holding him up. Kai let out an agonized gurgle – blood spilling from his lips and through his fingers. "No…no, no! Kai, tell me what to do! Kai, what do I do?!" She questioned hysterically.

Kai opened his mouth as if to say something – but all that came out was a whimper of pain – blood spilling down his chin. And then he went limp.

Cato and the other Careers watched her carefully – to see her reaction to the dead boy in her arms. Slowly, Winnow stood, letting Kai fall to the ground from her arms. She screamed out her grief – pulling at her hair viciously before the sound became one more of rage than sadness.

Completely and utterly silent – Winnow picked up her trident and slowly rotated in her spot. "Which one of you did it!?" she spat, grip tightening on the trident. No one answered her – making her lift her eyes to look at them to see what she already suspected – Glimmer was the only one holding a bow.

Winnow started moving towards Glimmer, who let out a shrill scream of fear. Cato started towards Winnow – a hand held out in caution, the other loosely holding a sword. "Winnow, no!" he ordered – standing between her and Glimmer.

"Why not," Winnow inquired through gritted teeth.

"You can't kill her yet. She's our bow," Cato tried to reason with her – placing his hand on her shoulder. He hoped his touch might distract her – at least from trying to kill Glimmer.

The dark-haired girl slowly turned her head to gaze at his hand on her shoulder. "If you don't take your hand off me, Two, you're gonna draw back a bloody stump," She bit out warningly. Cato's eyebrows rose at her – and he slowly retracted his hand. "We had a deal!" She hissed at him – shoving at the muscular tribute in front of her.

"I didn't kill him! Glimmer did – it was obviously an accident!" Cato exclaimed.

Winnow scoffed at him – moving around him. "A fucking accident!? Shit-brained Glimmer makes her first shot since fucking ever and shoots Kai in the throat and it's a fucking accident?! I don't think so!"

"I'm not a shit-brain!" Glimmer protested as Marvel forcefully motioned for her to shut up. "It was an accident! I thought it was someone else!" She tried to explain to Winnow – who only gripped her trident tighter.

Winnow yelled out as she heaved the deadly weapon at Glimmer – who started shrieking again like a gull. The trident impacted the metal wall of the Cornucopia - mere inches from Glimmer's throat. The dark-haired tribute stalked forward until she stood directly opposite Glimmer – who swallowed audibly in fear – only inches separating their faces.

"You're dead, shit-brain," Winnow promised coldly. "Maybe not right now, but soon. Because there will be a time – and it won't be long, Glimmer, until these three won't care if you're dead or alive." She said – gesturing a hand to Marvel, Cato, and Clove.

Glimmer let out a harsh breath in panic, her eyes frantically glancing to each of her supposed allies. "That's not true!" she protested despite Marvel shaking his head at her – urging her to just shut up.

Winnow was on her in seconds – wrapping a single hand around Glimmer's slender neck – slamming the blonde back into the Cornucopia, her head bouncing off the metal. "It's the truth, shit-brain," Winnow hissed in the girl's ear. "Just look at them – they won't lift a finger to help you now and they think they still need you," she continued. "Just imagine what they'll do to you when they don't."

Winnow stepped away – freeing her trident with a yank at its shaft. "Sleep with one eye open, shit-brain." She warned, tilting the trident in the girl's direction. It was enough to make the girl sink down to the ground against the Cornucopia – breath coming out in quick, shallow pants.

Winnow crossed the short distance between the Cornucopia and the lake – staring out over the clear water before dropping down onto the rocky edge before the water. With the trident laid over her lap – Winnow wondered how she ought to feel.

Kai was gone. Gone. Glimmer had killed him and Winnow wasn't sure she believed it was an accident. Oh yes – her fear of Winnow was definitely real and she had not been ready to face the consequences. That made Winnow think that perhaps someone smarter than Glimmer had been pulling her strings. While the list of people smarter than Glimmer was endless – the list of people that she would listen to was far shorter. And the person she believed to be her greatest ally was on it.

But that thought – that thought was too much for Winnow right now. There were tears burning in the back of Winnow's eyes and a heavy feeling in her throat made her want to be sick. She refused to cry. She refused to be so weak. The Capitol wanted a show and she would give them one. But not at her own expense. Nor at Kai's.

Winnow heard footsteps behind her and knew only two people were stupid enough to approach her right now – and one was scared straight. "Winnow, you gotta believe us. It was an accident. Kai was an asset, we didn't want him dead." Marvel told her.

Winnow grinded her teeth and glued the biggest smile she could humanly produce on her face and turned to look at him. "Of course, Marvel! That makes everything better!" She exclaimed – pushing to her feet. Marvel's features contorted in surprise. Cato – who watched from a fair distance away, hands folded over his chest – narrowed his eyes in suspicion of her words.

"It was an accident, Winnow," She imitated childishly. "It was an accident? Oh, poof! Kai's alive! Poof! We're not in a fucking battle to the death with other fucking kids! Poof!" She screamed at the top of her lungs – throwing her arms up in the air each time she said 'poof'.

The tall boy's face was painted in fear as if he was sure Winnow's trident would come hurtling at him any second now. "Marvel." Cato's voice called. Marvel's head spun, he saw Cato and took it as an opportunity to escape and trot back towards the group. "Get back to the Cornucopia and help Clove and Glimmer sort the supplies." Cato ordered – the other boy nodded and hastily tracked back to the Cornucopia in order to put more distance between himself and Winnow.

Winnow panted, trying to catch her breath after screaming at Marvel. Yet her eyes narrowed as she watched Cato approach. "Don't you dare fucking tell me it was an accident, too." She said between breaths as he closed the distance between them.

Cato didn't say anything – reaching for the thick chain he saw peeking from the neckline of her shirt. Winnow smacked his hand away – a look of utter rage on her features. "It's true, though." He uttered quietly, trying again to see if his ring was on the thick chain.

Again, Winnow rebuffed him – smacking his hand away more forcefully the second time. "I have the fucking ring, okay?!" She told him. "So don't fucking touch me." Winnow warned him.

Cato's face twisted between anger and disappointment. He leaned in closer to her until their noses nearly touched. "It was an accident." He said slowly in a way that was meant to anger her.

Winnow moved closer, seeing the muscular tribute's eyes darken. "I don't believe you." She retorted just as slowly in response – turning and moving around him to lope back towards the Cornucopia.

There's a humming in the restless summer air

And we're slipping off the course that we prepared

But in all chaos, there is calculation

A/N: I would like to thank my beta-readers and my reviewers for their continued support. As of now, the next three chapters are written and just need to get through my betas' careful inspection. I am doing my best to update as much as possible - but we're looking at a once a week schedule here, at least for now.

Please Review and show your support ! :)