TW: Same as last chapter. Heavy amounts of violence and intensity.
Conrad Martell, 18, District 6
I was so close! So close to chopping him in half. So close to giving him everything he deserves!
But if he thinks my fire is burnt out, he has another thing coming!
The darkening air is smashing against me on this train roof to hell, yet I'm still crawling forward, nothing can stop me!
So, with the train picking up speed again, I haul myself onwards, sliding across the roof.
My fingers are straining though, slipping off one by one! I'm about to be sucked off into the abyss!
Think. Think. Think.
The climbing rope! That's it! It's my last hope of vengeance.
Using one free hand to fumble around in my bag and the other to hold on, I manage to wrestle out the rope and clip it onto my jacket. And at the top end of the rope is a metal hook - which I clip onto the train railings.
My fingers finally give way but I'm now hanging off the train by our rope! I can only watch as my bag flutters off into the night, all my things with it… our things. I don't care. All I need is my sword which is strapped to my back.
So, with the help of a ginormous swing, I've flung myself back inside the train, rolling to the floor under the orange candle lighting!
My legs spring me back to my feet! My sword is already in my hands again! There he is! His eyes wide and bright with shock.
Red mist descends in the way of my vision once more.
With a cry, I slash at him, more animalistic than ever! It's all blur in front of me but all I know is I'm trying to slice his limbs off. He's ducking and dodging out the way as usual, but fire suddenly lines my blade again, creating a whirlwind of flames around me as my hands spin my sword about!
The inside of the carriage is brighter than ever, with red-dancing fire!
He's stumbling backward through the carriage away from the blaze of fire coming at him but maintaining his composure!
I've completely lost control of myself and each miss has been cutting the inside of the train to pieces, including the metal railings.
Taliesin rolls under another swing, he collects two pieces of broken metal railing in his hands on the way.
Now grinning again, he scrapes the two burning metal poles together. The ends are razor sharp, as a dagger.
Again, he's able to block each attack with the snapped metal, he begins spinning around and around, cackling through the train as he does it, smashing the metal railings hard against my sword!
And suddenly I'm the one falling backward!
My eyelids blink profusely. I can't make sense of what's happening anymore. He's coming at me like a tornado now! Whirling through the air until he lands a kick on my arm! The metal heel of his boot cracks my hand, crunching my fingers together!
However, the pain filters through me like nothing.
Breathe.
The fog of red mist clears enough for me to catch my breath. Currently, he's standing directly in front of me, in his defensive stance, left leg and left arm forward. His eyes are scanning me all over, crawling up my body with a smirk, until they reach my hand. The one he just fractured.
I click it aggressively back into place, smiling back. Nothing he can do can hurt me. He killed Beckett, wearing my face. He's destroyed me already. Now he's staring at a risen corpse. A vengeful corpse.
He smiles back at me before slithering forward across the floor. I'm caught off-guard! His legs trap mine between them, sweeping me over! My head smacks down hard!
Now he's slamming his boot into my gut from above and stomping my ribs!
I'm left just with the sound of coughs and groans spilling from my mouth.
He halts, all of a sudden, and his voice rings through the torn-up train carriage.
"Is that it? Huh? Is that all you've got?" he taunts!
My eyes slip open to the sight of him glaring down at me, holding his hands up to the world!
"Are you all watching this?!" He calls out at the sky!
He turns his blood-soaked face back to me.
"You think they see any difference between us? You're nothing but another little street rat! Come on!" he growls, breathing heavily.
You're nothing but another little street rat.
His voice shifts to that of my boss. His broken record of a voice.
I'm back on that street, lying on the garbage bag, reaching my hand out to his through the freezing rain.
Then, there's a lake in front of me. A purple, twilight lake, glittering in the starlight.
Beckett is there, smiling down at me as I'm sat on that log, a soft breeze blowing against our skin. Insects are buzzing through our hair in the warm, evening air. Cicadas hum gently in the distance.
Then his little voice echoes in my head.
"You know what? I think I can come to terms with dying. That I can abide," he said in his softer voice.
"But I refuse to die as some… show, some theatre… like a puppet on strings. That's why I'm so carefree. You may think I'm in denial, I'm not. I'm just determined to go out on my own terms," he finished, heaving his chest.
My eyes shoot open! As Bloodtide brings down his metal pole to my face, my sword zips up to counter his attack. He groans in pain! My stinging blade caught his veins causing his pole to clang onto the floor.
His eyes go down to his weapon on the floor, perplexed.
"That's more like it!" he half-grins.
In response he slams his black boot into my gut for what feels like the hundredth time, knocking the wind out of me!
He brings his foot down to stomp on my ribs once again but this time I'm ready! My palm clasps around his foot, trapping him on the spot. Then, with my other hand, I impale my blade into his leg!
His entire frame buckles as he screams in pain, leaving him on just one knee!
Finally, I run the sword across his right eye in one swift motion!
An agonizing yell escapes his lungs!
And just like that he's staggering back, clutching his bleeding eye in pain.
When he stumbles back up to his feet, his hand slips down revealing a gory gash where his eye used to be! Dark, red, splodgy blood erupts from his eye socket. His other eye widens in shock at the sudden turn-around of the fight!
I'm back to my feet again, gripping my sword tight in both hands, and gritting my teeth. Just like my entire life, when I've been knocked down, I've got back up. Somehow. I had no choice. It's an instinct more than anything.
Martell… I remember now! My name means unbroken!
My two eyes sting into his one remaining eye. Deep inside it, I can see fear. I thought this fight would go on forever, that we were stuck in an infinite train of death, fighting for eternity. Now I see it. Moments from now, it will end with his body parts laying at my feet.
Taliesin Ulysess, 18, District 4
My eye's gone! He took out my eye! The bastard! What has he done!? Once I've killed him, someone will send me an antidote for the poison and a...fake eye… surely? They'll want my show to go on. I'm bringing too much entertainment for them not to.
Or will I be one of those hideously deformed victors? I suppose a scar on my eye would add a certain something to my image.
It's hard to see now under the river of blood but from what I can make out… he's staring me down, puffing violently!
He is towering above me, against my painfully average height. But I feel smaller than ever!
My immediate next thoughts are to reach for my throwing knives under my jacket. My hand swooshes to them… nothing! What? They're gone. I've run out! Impossible!
My brain flashes back to the moment I hurled a torrent of them at Serenity! No! I've been wasting them! I'm running out of options here!
With no other choice left, my defensive stance resumes. Left leg forward, scrunching my knuckles into a ball and squinting my eye.
Face boiling red, he slashes at me again however I duck under once again, landing yet another vicious spinning-back kick into his body! This time my heel smashes against his ribs, I even feel them shatter into pieces!
He staggers back but still, he's unwavering! All he does is breathe in and narrow his eyes to prepare to attack again!
How can he just shake off a break to the ribs!? How? How is he doing this? I tore him down, piece by piece. Broke his soul. Yet, he's still standing. He came back after everything I did to him, determined to rip me to pieces. In a strange way, I'm even proud of him… I think.
With the force of gravity behind him, he brings the sword directly down to my head, flames erupt out all around the shining blade. The only thing I can do is block it, with both my hands pressing back against my metal pole, backed up into the wall of the train.
He's now straining, pushing down with all his strength. In return, with my last effort, my arms push back… but they're buckling, shaking, they can't hold him back. Fear has flooded my heart! He's overpowering me! I'm losing. I'm doomed!
Even if I'm staring into the fiery eyes of the person who's about to brutally murder me, at least I can die knowing that in his last days - I made him the worst possible version of himself. That's the only thing I can relish in.
Does my show end here?
No! How did I let it come to this? How did I lose control of the fight? I underestimated the orphan from Six. Am I ready to die just yet? Is my destiny to be butchered in front of my entire audience by this stupid racer from Six? I'm about to fall hard, all thanks to Conrad and his bee friend? I need to do something drastic, fast.
My hands have almost completely given way now! The sharp edge is inches away from my face, the flames are touching my skin, charring at it!
My hidden knife!
I've got it! An old arm-breaking technique. One of the first things I was taught when I signed up to the academy. Plus, I hid one last knife in the back of my belt, I always keep an emergency knife.
If I pivot to the right very quickly - the force he's exerting downwards will cause him to collapse to the floor. Thus, before he knows it, his arm will be broken in the process - then the knife will be in his eye!
Two quick movements.
A toothed grin returns to my face, staring up at him. I'm not doomed, he is! What a fantastic twist!
But all of a sudden, I'm frozen! I can't breathe! The poison is crushing down on my lungs again… at the worst possible timing! My windpipe hopelessly sucks in as much air as it can! But I can't breathe!
"ARGH!"
The next second my hands give in! His sword moves in lightning motion, it cuts and burns through my chest.
Excruciating pain vibrates my entire body!
Together, we collapse down to the floor, exhausted, panting, sweating, and leaking blood everywhere!
The gaping slash in my chest should be bleeding profusely but at least the burn seems to have cauterized it.
What feels like an hour seems to go by but in reality, it's probably only a few seconds.
He's recovering already, steadily now, but he's getting up on his feet. He seems completely out of it, blinking and breathing from exhaustion, deep cuts and bruises cover his pretty face while he trips about but still, he clings loosely to his sword.
I, on the other hand, am crumpled beneath him in a pathetic heap, coughing in agony and bleeding.
He's about to chop me to pieces! The knife on my belt, I need it in my hand, but I've got no strength left in me! I need more time!
Words! My last line of defense.
"Hell of a fight, aye Conrad?" I breathe.
He doesn't answer, he's just standing over me, collecting his own breath to finish me.
"You gotta admit, we gave them a fantastic show. You, me, and Serenity."
"We made quite the team," I chuckle, under my teeth.
My face is parallel to the floor. My hand stealthily creeps behind my back to the hilt of my knife.
"Ya know, in another life, I bet we could have done a lot of damage together, brother," I mutter, my hand now secretly tight around my knife.
He takes one last deep breath.
"I had a brother…" he croaks, softly, his voice broken.
The door behind him bursts open!
Serenity is there, panting, and wide-eyed at the sight before her eyes. With me at my knees, running with blood.
"Conrad, finish him now. Or I will," she orders.
I bite my lips.
"Do that and her bullet will end up in you," I hiss.
"Shut up...don't let him talk, Conrad!" She shouts!
"We're the same, Conrad," I whisper.
His red face tilts back to me.
"We're not the same," he spits.
"Yes, we are."
"No, we're not!"
He plants his boot into my face, shaking my jaw!
The shadow of doubt that, I cast into his mind, gives me a split second to slide my knife out and lunge at his neck!
Serenity raises her gun then…
The carriage is plunged into darkness! All the candles fade out!
Not just the carriage, but the entire town. We all freeze, what's going on?
CRASH
I'm flung sideways, upside down, left, right. My body is smashed up and down into the bottom of the roof and the train floor!
The entire carriage seems to have been derailed, rolling over and over the pitch black on the stone rooves of the houses!
Even though I'm floating in the air, my right hand found its way to a railing, stopping my head from taking any more damage.
The carriage that I'm in eventually seems to come to a halt, sliding across a slippery surface.
I'm bleeding, bruised, burnt, exhausted but alive… somehow.
Conrad and Serenity were lost in the chaos. A deep cackle booms from my croaking lungs.
I'm still alive!
Harrison Jones, 17, District 11
"Argh!"
The gaping wound, still throbbing under my bandage, has been keeping me awake all night.
I press my hand up against it, wincing and groaning as I sit up from my bed.
It's so quiet in this squalid, dark, little hut. Too quiet. So much so, that I'm left alone, with my aching thoughts burning in my head.
The glow of the sunlight has just about peeked inside the window, but it does nothing to brighten up my spirits. Instead, my face collapses into my hands, smothering it.
Dread fills my lungs with each breath.
I'm no different from them. Those careers I was chastising, just yesterday. I murdered a girl from my own District, my own home. Even I knew - that is taboo back home, but it just came over me.
My mind calculated that it was a worthy sacrifice. A trade-off. Her life or mine. I was destined to change my District… for the better
But now I don't even think I can face going home. I'm worthless. Nothing. I'm doing the Capitol's work for them, killing the innocent children of Eleven. Just like the careers. It's only now I see it - I'm no different from them.
Eventually, I'm able to pry my sobbing face away from my hands.
Pushing myself up in pain, my eyes scan the room. Darrah! She's gone!
She… she must have left while I was out. She had every opportunity to kill me, I deserve it, after all. Yet she didn't.
A scream echoes in the distance!
Darrah!
I limp out in agony, collecting a jacket and my garlic bombs on the way and strapping them around my body.
After bursting through the door, the chilly air bites at my skin.
However, ignore it and stumble onwards, crunching into the snow.
It's so dark and eerie, everything's a cold, whirling blur. My adrenaline won't let me stop, however.
"Darrah!" I call out, stinging my injury in the process.
Although, I doubt she heard it. It came out as more of a squeak than any noise a human would make.
Coughing and groaning, my body ascends upwards, over a hill of snow.
Now, nothing but a dim, silent forest encircles me in all directions.
More screaming and yelping but this time closer. So much so - that I'm able to pinpoint where it's coming from.
My ears prick to my right and my legs follow soon after, guiding me over the layer of snow.
I make it around a thick trunk and freeze still!
She's in a ditch, kicking and thrashing against three vampires!
Three snarling and hissing vampires.
Instantly, my hand shoots to one of my garlic bombs and I fling it with all my strength!
It spins through the air with pinpoint accuracy, impacting the vampire that's directly on top of Darrah! It explodes into flames and lets out a deafening screech!
I'm fast to unleash the next two garlics on the remaining vampires, lighting them up in flames! They scream, wail, and flail their arms about - up to the moment their bodies disintegrate into ash.
Silence again. Safe for the deep breaths coming from Darrah.
She is still crumpled on the ground, panting heavily, and shaking.
Her bag strewn a meter or so behind her.
Her wide eyes shift to me, frozen above her. I don't even know why I did that, I'm a piece of shit that killed my District partner. Aren't I?
However, she then crawls off across the snow to a tree. She claws and rolls out of my vision, behind the white and brown trunk.
Instinctively, my legs take me forward over the ditch to where she's hiding.
Sobbing… faint sobbing is coming from behind the tree.
When I turn it, I find her sunken against the trunk with her face in her hands - shivering.
Not really knowing what else to do, I perch down beside her in silence.
However, my boots crunching the snow causes her face to shoot out of her hands at me, surprised.
The girl from Eight - a bite from the vampires turned her into one of them. My eyes scan Darrah for any bites. She seems to be fine by my fading vision.
"Y-you saved me," she stutters, her lips shivering.
"...I-I did?"
"Oh yeah… I mean i-it was the least I could do… you patched me up, after all," I stutter back.
Her face collapses back into her hands and breaks down again.
"I'm sorry," she murmurs under her fingers.
"All my friends died and it's only just hit me properly."
My head simply nods in response, I'm unsure of what to say.
"I-I was in the careers b-but I left them a while back," I say.
The small girl's tear-stricken face shoots up to me.
Her fists are suddenly clenched, like she's about to pounce in anger.
"El? Did you help with that?" She grimaces.
I'm shaking my head now - frantically.
"No… I-I had nothing to do with that but…"
My face sinks to the ground in shame.
"But that does not absolve me of my other crimes," I stutter.
We sit in silence for some time after this. As I gaze out at the falling snow, I can only begin to guess how they'll force us to kill each other soon.
But Darrah suddenly breaks this dark train of thought.
"I always used to like to imagine the story of each snowflake… before it fell. They all must have come a long way, with their own story. Don't you think?" She croaks.
My lips form a slight smile - a nice obstruction to my sour thoughts.
"So, what do you think you'd be doing now, Seven? If you hadn't been reaped?"
Her flushed, panicked cheeks cool a touch.
"Hmm… well I used to like playing in the forest with my friends and… I used to make these wooden instruments."
A little chuckle escapes her mouth.
"I used to get my friends into all sorts of trouble."
Her chuckle infects me and I'm suddenly joining her.
"That makes my summers sound… kind of boring," I laugh.
"I'd probably just be reading or playing chess with my grandma or chatting about, what I thought were, intellectual, grown-up things with my friend…"
"...whilst probably being condescending," I finish, tilting my head.
She chuckles again and we are left in silence for a few more moments. She seems like the exact person you'd want to get out of this alive. A candidate for me to redeem myself, maybe? That's why I began this small talk. I needed to know what kind of person she is.
"L-listen Darrah, if it comes down to just you and me at the end…"
Suddenly the arena descends into pitch darkness all around us, like a light has been switched off…
In turn, we glance at each other, bewildered.
Tatiana Emery, 15, District 2
The stillness is so eerie. The darkness has spread all around us like a virus is consuming the arena.
Yet, he's still there. As clear as daylight, facing me. Franz. His eyes drop, along with his sword.
He can't kill me… but I can kill him. I have to. They are all watching me now… she's watching me. This is my final test. My final hurdle to prove myself to her. She told me there would be sacrifices and pain.
She was right. She always is.
But the cause comes first. It is my purpose. It always has been. This is for a better tomorrow.
My fingers shake against the shaft of my spear as I stare down my former ally… friend. My conviction is as a mountain. Visible to all and unyielding. What's getting in my way?
Suddenly there is a mutter through the still air. Franz finally speaks up.
"Tatiana… let's just talk about this."
His cheeks are flushed red. He's sweating, despite the cold. He's scared.
But then he straightens up his back and maintains stiff eye contact.
"We could stop all of this now if we wanted… die together. You could do your writing and I could watch the birds…"
I don't reply but my hands remain shaken. I need to cut his words out of my mind, block out the residence to the cause that is his voice.
But he continues to speak.
"My father, The Capitol, your organization… they're all the same. It's time to stop living for them and live for ourselves!" He exclaims, throwing his arms out and lowering his guard.
Although, I stay as fixed as a statue, safe for my shaking hands.
"We don't owe them anything… you don't owe them anything," he continues, heaving his chest.
I simply shake my head.
"You're wrong… I owe them everything," I shoot back.
"She gave me everything," I mutter, monotone.
I swallow back the deep tears clogging up my throat.
"When it's all over and there's a better tomorrow. Then… then we can live for ourselves, and we can do our poetry, our writing and… you can do your bird watching…" I smile, slightly.
My shivering hand shoots out - in an offer.
"I could convince them to let you live… I've given them a lot. They'll do it for me… for us," I stutter.
His chest remains heaving, and he returns to his defensive stance with both hands gripped on his sword, shaking His head, solemnly.
"Then I would just be trading my father for them…"
"No… I'll go out on my own terms, thank you very much. Free, like a bird," he says with conviction.
My tears are at the bottom of my throat. With a deep breath, I'm composed.
My eyes dart to the cameras on our left by the hut. The lenses are pitch black and facing the ground. Everything is proceeding as planned.
My eyes then move back to Franz, readying himself for my impending attack.
"I'm sorry, Franz," I murmur.
"Me too," he smiles back, a single tear running down his cheek.
In a split second, I jab my spear out directly at his stomach at the speed of a viper, in an attempt to impale him.
However, he's faster than I could have anticipated, and he parries down with his sword, knocking me off balance a little.
Still, my shaking arms continue to thrust at his stomach, and he continues to parry, comfortably.
Our eyes are joined together, locked in a death stare. I was trying to end him as quickly and painlessly as possible, but it looks like I'm gonna have to switch it up a little. Do it the hard way.
So, I begin pouncing across the fluffy snow, stinging each strike at his head, and twirling through the air!
My spear spins and swings at his head, colliding with his blade! They shatter and echo against each other through the night!
Finally, seeing an opening, I twirl it directly at his neck with my hollow shaft, however he slips gracefully under, slicing my arm as he goes!
"Argh!"
A yelp flies out of my mouth. Blood now lines his silver blade and the snow beneath us is suddenly red!
A mutual pause ensues between us, facing each other, panting, and sweating heavily. I can't even look at the injury on my arm, my focus must stay on Franz. The obstacle to my destiny.
Although his own eyes go to the bleeding slash on my arm, regretfully.
It's then, he is suddenly standing tall with confidence that I've never seen in him before and he begins swinging at me, harder than ever! Bringing his weapon down on me with all the weight of his shoulders!
His blade crashes against the shaft of my spear.
CRASH
CRASH
CRASH
And with each blow, I'm sent stumbling back. The shaft of my spear is splintering… breaking.
He has more fire in him than I've ever seen!
We are now a mirror to each other… we represent everything the other is fighting.
My teeth grind together with fury! No! Franz won't stop my better tomorrow! I sacrificed way too much for this!
With a huge run-up, he takes a final swing with all his energy but this time my back foot swivels in the snow and my front foot trips him! He misses, slipping down from the momentum of his strike!
Here's my chance!
I strike down fast into the back of his thigh like a stinging scorpion, impaling his leg!
His howling cry of pain fills the air, freezing me in place with sorrow.
Enough that my focus is broken! Broken so much that I don't anticipate his next attack!
He slices upwards with his sword! I'm only just able to get my spear in the way in time!
It shatters in half, leaving me holding the two halves in shock!
"I'm sorry," he grumbles again as he thrusts at me.
My heels pivot back allowing me to impale the top half of my spear into his forearm!
He screams again!
As my hand rips it out more blood erupts from his limb, along with his sword, which wedges into the snow!
He flails his arms out desperately to grab his only defense however I'm too fast! My boot strikes out of his reach. It now lies meters away, leaving him helpless for my next attack!
In one last-ditch attempt to stop me, he seems to dive at my legs for a takedown! I've been so taken off guard that I'm not able to sprawl in time!
I'm lifted up into the air and slammed down onto the freezing snow!
The top half of my spear slides out of my hand across the icy surface!
He's above me now! Smothering out my vision! A knife slips into his hand from his back pocket and already he's forcing it toward my neck! His face is blood-red with wide, sorrow-filled, dripping with tears. My arms are keeping the razor tip of the knife only inches from my neck!
But, with all his weight pressing down, it will plunge in at any moment. His knee is pressing down on my lungs as well, suffocating me simultaneously! I… I can't breathe!
No! A better tomorrow. A better tomorrow.
My spear! I… I need my spear! It's my only chance!
My fingers crawl towards the tip end of it… just a… little further. They're touching it now!
Yes! Got it! It's clasped tight in my hand!
Without even a second to lose, I've rammed the spear tip into the side of his neck!
His tear-filled eyes drop in surprise! He gasps, frozen, releasing the knife just before it embeds into my throat!
As soon as I yank the spear out - his blood spurts everywhere! All over my face!
After he topples off me, he's crying and groaning in agony with his hand pressed on the gaping hole in his neck!
I crawl my way up to my feet even as he's flailing around on the snow, turning it red as he goes.
"Tatiana please!" He gargles, stretching his hand out to me!
His screams and pleading are too much to prevent the tears from spilling out from my insides.
"I-I'm sorry… I-I tried to give you a quick death," I stutter.
His weeps and cries are unending though. Will it help him if I talk to him in his last moments?
"I-I'll make sure you're remembered, Franz… w-we'll tell everyone that you died a hero. It's alright..."
"I'm gonna make the world a better place… trust me… I'll do it for you," I say.
I force out a smile against my sobbing.
"Please… I-I want it to end," he groans with the last of his strength.
"Okay," I oblige, plainly.
But can I do it? Can I kill him? My final test. They're all watching.
He's my weakness. The one obstacle in the way of my destiny… of our better tomorrow. Once he's gone, there will be nothing to stop me.
My hand moves up to wipe the tears from my soaking face and my composure is regained with a deep breath.
With the spear grasped firm in my hand, I kneel down next to him, my eyes staring dead into his own.
Whilst my other hand goes onto his shoulder, my eyes close.
And it's done. My spear punctures straight through his heart. His groans, cries, and finally, his breaths all cease.
BOOM
A cannon. My eyes peel open to the sight of his flopped body on a pool of blood-stained snow. Everything else is dark around and deathly silent.
I did it. My final test is complete. My purpose is clear now. Nothing can stop me. No one. I'll be the winner of these games and Saskia will reward me.
I knew it all along. Since that day she appeared in that antiques room in my house. That our destiny was to change Panem together.
A deep victorious breath.
I rise to my feet, facing out into the black night. Nothing can stop us now.
Serenity Jasper, 16, District 9
Agony all over my body. What happened? The train derailed?
A stinging, booming ring runs all throughout my brain.
Everything around me is blurry…
But my vision steadily fades in…
I… I appear to be lying on my back, inside the train carriage. It stretches above me vertically… all the way up.
Wait! I'm upside down! It's hanging off a building!
A jerk echoes the train all around me! It's slipping! It's going down!
Without a moment to lose, I begin clambering my way out the train carriage. My aching, bruised limbs are doing the best they can to haul me up but it's slipping faster and faster.
But my heart is on fire again, giving me extra limbs to carry me up.
Suddenly my heart ceases.
He's there. Bloodtide. Crawling his way up in front of me, smiling down.
My teeth grit together but I could not predict his next move!
He drops down suddenly, shoving the bottom of his heel into my face and then I'm plummeting back down again, caught in between one of the doors.
However, something catches my eye. My gun is lying just over there, on one of the now vertical seats.
My eyes race over to it along with my clawing limbs. I throw myself up to it, grasping it firmly in my palm.
My teeth grit, my hand tightens around my gun and my eyes squint in his direction.
It's gotta be now. I can't let him get away this time. His winning hand has run out. He can't bluff anymore.
And so, my throbbing, fractured limbs carry me up, scrambling out of the train carriage onto some kind of glass, oval roof.
What's below the reflected glass is vague however I can make out old artifacts deep down… some kind of museum.
I proceed carefully over the glass, trying my best to spread my weight out with my footsteps but I can't help the flush of wrathful energy engulf me when I spot him…
He's standing over a downed, helpless-Conrad, holding his dagger up to finish him off. Conrad's head is drenched in dark, splodgy blood and his face is cut up but he's still alive, barely. Taliesin looks the worst of the two however - with his face splattered entirely in blood, a burnt slash wound on his body and leg and one eye missing, replaced by another deep gash.
They are both still going however, relentless.
A couple of meters away from Taliesin, my foot cracks against the glass, diverting his attention back to me, as though I'm interrupting a pouncing cat.
My eyes are suddenly locked with his eye. He's sneering, crunching his teeth together.
Everything becomes a void of silence. Not even the sound of my own heart beating. Time seems to slow down to half speed.
Despite my aching arms, this time when my gun raises up to his head, my hands aren't shaking. My right leg is no longer pacing.
And he can see that, he looks dumbfounded for the very first time, afraid even.
But with the blood dripping down his entire body, he clenches his knife. Does he deserve a death as swift as a gunshot? Conrad would do much worse to him.
A split second. A split second and I've made a crazy decision. The barrel of my gun moves to his shoulder.
BOOM
He buckles down! Holding his shoulder in shocked pain however his next motion is so swift!
Before I know it, a sharp pain spreads through my entire body, starting from my ribs!
He tossed his knife into my torso and now it's jammed there, with blood oozing out of my clothes, trickling down!
The pain is excruciating and the shock has left me breathless.
But even as I fall down, clutching the knife in my body, my eyes meet with Conrad's.
He is still below Taliesin but he's conscious. I can see the new life in his eyes. Reborn.
I manage to send him a subtle nod which bursts his eyes into flames. That was enough, he's gonna kill him. I've never been more certain of anything in my life.
THUD
My body hits the glass roof…
Conrad Martell, 18, District 6
I… I can't see. My head is throbbing with pain. It smashed hard into the train roof. That's the last thing I remember before I lost consciousness.
My ears are ringing. My body shudders all over with bruises and cracked bones… like it's been shredded and put back together.
I was thrown out of the train as it crashed.
But I'm still alive… somehow.
That means he must be… because my purpose is to kill him.
My vision fades back in. The dark, cut reflection of my face is staring back at me through splintered glass…
I'm lying on… on a glass ceiling. Droplets of blood from my face and battered head are dripping down onto it. Patting lightly.
Beneath the thick layer of glass, a deathly drop awaits. It's cracking… it's giving way.
It's pitch black all around now, but a flickering shadow still darts out from the destroyed train, directly ahead of me. It's stumbling slowly to its knees on the glass, coughing and clutching an injury to its chest.
Taliesin! He's still going!
My heart pounds again, I'm not sure what with; fury, dread, or both.
But it's enough to ignite the last of my energy inside of me.
Remember Beckett!
His face flashes before my eyes.
Taliesin must pay! He must die!
My climbing rope stretches out in a long line to his knife, lying on the glass, mere meters away!
So, I haul myself at it, using my rope, groaning in pain from my broken ribs. However, his eye sockets peek up and suddenly he's limping in my direction - from the other side. As he gets closer, his face finally fades into view from the darkness. Rippling in fury and malice.
He trips one last time to his knee, letting out a rough cough.
I'm so close… inches from his knife. My fingers are crawling for it, the tips are touching it now!
But just as my hand clasps it, he suddenly lunges up and clamps my wrist down under his foot.
"Argh!"
He pries the blade from my fractured hand, now standing above me, his limbs limp from exhaustion. He is leathered in cuts, slices, burns, and bruises. Blood runs from the hole where his eye used to be.
Yet, he has a victorious smile plastered on his face.
He flips the dagger in his hand, lifting it above his shoulder.
"It seems our games have come to an end… Conrad Martell," he grins.
The next moment Serenity is there! Flashing in from the darkness. She fires a shot into his shoulder and in return his fires his knife back into her body.
A faint nod from Serenity as she topples down, Taliesin's knife embedded in her! She hits the rooftop, groaning in pain.
Taliesin's hand fumbles to the new bullet hole in his shoulder, he's disorientated.
A pause. A breath. He has no weapon. He's covered in injuries. Helpless.
Just as he turns back to me, with the last of my strength, my body leaps into action! Grabbing him around the waist with my arms, lifting him up, and slamming him into the glass roof!
CRACK
The glass breaks further, almost completely but it is strong. It holds, for the time being.
My right fist smashes into his cheek!
"How many people, huh?" I demand to know.
I strike him with two more fists!
"How many people have died for your little game?"
He gives no answer.
"The lives you've taken!" I croak!
I'm trying to see into his eyes. To see if there's any remorse, any guilt, any humanity left but there's… nothing. Just blankness…
My hands soon find their way around his neck, crushing his throat dry!
But a moment later, they loosen, waver, I'm hesitating. This isn't me. This isn't who I am.
Once, I was just this happy, go-lucky racer. I lost everything at a young age, I had nothing. Yet, I had everything. I found a way to enjoy life. Because that's all you can do.
Memories of who I was, before all of this insanity, flash through my head….
Shaking, my body pushes up from him, releasing him.
"So… what are you waiting for?" He mutters, blood splurting out from his mouth.
The memories continue… until they change from me racing through the back streets of District Six to… a certain someone.
Beckett.
A flood of memories suddenly envelops me.
The Free Day - listening to the gentle patter of the rain against the window.
The day I rescued him from that hole, his excited smile as he gave me his necklace, to bring me luck.
Escaping those careers with the wind rushing through our hair, we giggled and laughed together.
The day by the lake, we watched the sun rise and set together, shining into our hearts.
The day we laughed and played chess with Nadia and Seia on that sunny morning before the darkness came.
In the moment, we lived.
The memory flood passes. I… I don't want it to go because now I'm simply left with burning rage. Rage at the person pinned below me. It's all too much!
My body takes over, placing my knee on his chest and beginning to crush the life out of him… my mind moves quickly to the rope lying at my side. The other end of it is pinned firmly under the destroyed carriage.
The perfect plan lights up.
I begin wrapping the rope around his neck. Around and around and around, squeezing it tight! He gasps, chokes, and begs for air and my head tilts with pleasure, reveling in his agony
Then my hand clasps his neck, lifting his head up and smashing it into the glass beneath us.
We're going down together, I don't care.
I continue to smash it. Once, twice, thrice. All the while he's screaming and choking.
At long last, my arms haul him up to my chest, and, with both hands, I attach the clip to the rope, fastening it.
He lets out one last cry as he seems to realise what's about to happen to him and my entire body weight crashes down upon him.
But his cry transforms into a gargling choke as we crash through the glass roof together.
The rope snaps sharply at his neck, whilst I use his body to swing across the inside of, what appears to be, a museum.
My own body crashes onto a mountain of glass, sticking into my skin!
But my eyes are fixed on him, wriggling, shaking, and twitching violently above me, as the rope does its work and chokes him to death!
Finally, he flops still…
A cannon.
And I'm just left lying here, on the very top platform of this large, hollow museum, left with the sight of him. Alone.
Moonlight shines through the smashed roof with the deep, blue, night sky behind it.
His body is dangling above me by the rope, swaying from side to side in the freezing darkness with an awful creak.
No other sound. Just a back-and-forth creak as he swings by his neck.
Meanwhile, I'm just sat here on the glass for what seems like an eternity.
His floppy corpse is still hanging above me from the broken roof. The swaying has now halted to almost a complete stop, leaving him just there in front of my eyes.
I did it. I got exactly what I wanted. I brutally murdered him. So why is my heart filled with nothing but emptiness?
Revenge is best served on a cold plate, I guess.
But it changes nothing. Too little, too late. I was too late.
There's nothing left inside of me anymore, as I stumble my way to my feet, coughing and clutching my throbbing ribs. Each cough seems to shake them violently.
My entire body is on fire with pain.
There are stairs in front of me, leading down to the lower levels of the museum.
So, my body staggers on, descending painfully down the stairs into the dark abyss. I'm not even looking back…
Serenity Jasper, 16, District 9
My eyes shoot open! There's nothing but darkness in front of me. I'm… I'm still lying on top of this roof. Alive. How am I alive?
His knife! His knife is sticking into my body.
"Argh!"
The groan of agony huts me even as I fumble to yank it out!
Wait! That's it! The only thing keeping me alive still, if I pull it out then I'll bleed to death.
"Harper!"
I'm groaning the name of my brother.
"Harper… I-I'm coming," I stutter.
"Just… wait."
But the roof is shattered. So, I crawl to the edge, peering down.
He's gone. Conrad did it. We did it. Taliesin is hanging from the top of the museum from his neck.
It's like a ton has been lifted off my shoulders. A mountain. All the death, all the misery he's caused. It wasn't all for nothing. Was it?
My body rolls over… facing the darkness again.
Breathe.
My peace doesn't last very long though.
"Attention all tributes!"
It's an announcement but not the usual voice of the announces that we've come to be used to.
"The games have had a slight… change of hands. A new team is now running it but rest assured - the games will go on. Panem will have an ending to this story. Saskia Storm has decreed that."
Wow that was something. Sorry if it was a bit long and chaotic and I know a couple of people got two povs but I considered splitting this into a third part but then decided to just condense it down into one. This train fight scene has been occupying my mind for months so yeah it ended up being a two chapter fight scene which is pretty insane but yeah again I'm trying to balance story with character pov's and I thought it was important that conrad got the pov for taliesin's death for story reasons. Anyway we'll be back to other characters and possible subplot next chapter because we have a lot of explaining to do lol and I'll stop talking. This is the last chapter Jay/nautics is writing for a bit. See you next time!
Roles
Serenity: Vigilante
Taliesin: Disguiser
Harrison: Vampire Hunter
Conrad: Guardian Angel
Nadia: Potion Master
Charon: Werewolf
Marissa: Ambusher
El: Pirate
Tatiana: Arsonist
Franz: Transporter
Darrah: Medium
Eulogies
Day 1
24th: Ricky James (D9M) Killed by Serenity Jasper - decapitated.
23th: Tristan Card (D8M) Killed by Jade Hastings – Slashed through the chest.
22nd: Jonathan Priel (D10M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Knife thrown through neck.
21st: Elijah Axenfros (D7M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Blunt force trauma.
20th: Emily Lynch (D6F) Killed by Heather Monroe – Knife thrown into torso.
19th: Kalen Demner (D5M) Killed by Marissa Grey - Sliced with a sword.
18th: Aeliana Decima (D8F) Killed by vampire mutts – bitten in the neck.
Day 2
17th: Henry Haines (D1M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Throat crushed and neck snapped.
Day 3
16th: Adelina Claire (D10F) Killed by Gargoyle mutts.
Day 4
0 deaths.
Day 5
0 deaths.
Day 6
15th: Jade Hastings (D1F) Killed by Charon Aytigin – Throat ripped out.
14th: Charon Aytigin (D12M) Killed by Serenity Jasper – Shot in the chest.
Day 7
13th: Heather Monroe (D5F) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Throat slit.
Day 8
12th: Electra Shielle (D3F) Killed by Franz Kubo.
Day 9
11th: Seia Loam (D11F) Killed by Harrison Jones – Stabbed through the back.
10th: Nadia Miniera (D12F) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Knife thrown in into torso.
9th: Beckett Amory (D3M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Stabbed.
Day 10
8th: Franz Kubo (D2M) Killed by Tatiana Emery – Impaled by spear. There were so many way I could relate to Franz. From his introvertedness to him feeling like an outsider in every situation he's in. He was a quiet observer and just needed the simple things in life infact he was probably the most like me out of anyone in this cast (nautics). So yeah I really did like Franz and I'm glad he was able to open up to Tatiana and make a friend in her before that abruptly and brutally ended. Rip Franz I enjoyed writing you. Thanks for the submission Lilah32.
7th: Taliesin Ulysses (D4M) Killed by Conrad Martell – Hung by the neck. Wow what an incredible and multi layered character. His form was so good and there was so much to it and so many ways we could have gone with this character but ultimately we wanted him to go full evil and the darkest possible version of himself. I loved writing his schemes, what an amazing villain and mirror to the protagonists also forcing them to make difficult decisions constantly. After reading his form for like the 1000th time I realised the thing I wanted to focus on was his need for attention and to create the greatest show on earth so that's what I wanted to focus on. Sorry his death was so brutal but he had to go out as dramatically as possible. Thanks for the submission Void, I really hope I did your character justice!
Jade: 1
Taliesin: 6
Marissa: 1
Heather: 1
Serenity: 2
Charon: 1
Franz: 1
Harrison: 1
Conrad: 1
Tatiana: 1
Mutts/arena: 2