A lot of people have been saying my last chapter was intense, and all I can say is I warned you in the author's note before the last chapter. As I mentioned before, won my review contest, and they decided who the first main death was going to be after the Cornucopia. You'll see who it is when you read it. I hope that you love this chapter. I really hope you do. And please, let me know what you are thinking, I love hearing from you in reviews and in messages, and it really helps me write the next chapter faster. So when you finish reading this, give me a review, and for those of you who want to, give me like…a hardcore review. Tell about what you liked, what I could do better, and give me a number from 1-10 so I can see what you're thinking. Here's the chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 12- Gone Without a Trace
I woke up to the sweet sound of Luke's breathing. Up…down….up….down. His chest rose and fell, and I lay on his chest. Last night's events flutter through my head. I was in love. I was alive. And I hadn't dreamed a second of it. It was completely real, and I loved it. I glance over at the clock on the bedside table. 3AM. I can't go back to sleep now. Luke's scent has intoxicated my too much for any of that nonsense.
I raise my head and body, realizing I went to bed naked, and so did Luke. I plant my lips against his, and he wakes up. "Oh. Sorry. Did I wake you up?" I ask. "Yeah. But I wanted you to. We have to be ready for you to get to training, and I need to get a shower, so I needed to be up early anyway." He replies, stretching. "Showering is a good idea. Mind if I join you?" I yawn. "The shower is certainly big enough." He laughs. He climbs out of bed and hands me a towel. "In case you don't want me to see you when we're not in the shower." He says. I drape it over my arm and walk into the bathroom after him. He flicks on the water. "Hot or cold?" He asks. "Whatever you want." I reply.
He flicks on the warm and I can see things starting to fog up. He steps in and I follow. He slides the door shut and the warm water envelopes us into something amazing and intimate I have never experienced before. I push a button and get some shampoo. I scrub it through my hair and rinse it out. Conditioner isn't necessary, my hair is smooth enough already.
Luke's hands go around my waist. I look up at him and our lips meet. This is fun. I enjoy this. I must sound deranged extremely right now. I turn around and kiss him a little while longer. "Should we get out?" I ask. "It's probably like 3:30 in the morning, we have plenty of time." Luke replies, kissing me again. I manage to get out of the kissing. "Yes, but we don't want to get all wrinkly, now do we?" I giggle. He flips the water off and I climb out and grab my towel, wrapping myself up. "Aw. That's no fun." Luke whines. "Maybe later you'll see me again." I say.
I grab my clothes, kiss Luke quickly, and head back to my room, where I find none other than Miklisho sitting on my bed. "What are you doing here? Get out!" I yell. "You didn't want me in your room? That's a new one, considering the past few days of events." Miklisho smirks. "I am in love with Luke, and you can't do anything about that." I say. "You could do so much better than him. I could do so much more for you. Make you feel special. Raise your confidence by a million percent." He says, trying to reason with me. "And how do you know that I don't already feel amazing? Maybe someone else beat you to it." I snap. "I did just come from Luke's room." I continue.
The color drains from his face, and I can tell I've hit a soft spot. That's Miklisho weakness- he's obsessed with sex. Well, that, smoking and steroids. He wants to have girls with him every night. He's bored of getting the same girls. And now he wants me…with him. The more I protest, the more he wants me. It makes me sick. "You are… lying. You wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do that." He manages to choke out. "You never know. Maybe I would. Maybe we have. Because unlike you, he doesn't force girls to come to him. He lets them choose, and then goes along with it." I reply, smirking at him. Then I walk over to the bed, grab him by the collar of his cheap knockoff name brand shirt and pull him up and out of my room. "Get lost!" I shout, and then slam the door in his face. It felt pretty good. Now I dry myself off and get into my training clothes. I look at the clock again. It's 5AM. So I head down to breakfast and make small talk with my parents. I didn't even really realize today was the day I'd be going into the Arena. The thought makes me gag a little. "We go in today? I thought that was tomorrow!" I exclaim. "No honey, you go in today." Artemis says gently. Artemis's black shiny shoes aren't so clean anymore. I wipe my mouth and head to the bathroom. Why am I throwing up so much? I really don't know. I go back to my table and eat a muffin, and then I am whisked off to Melody and my prep team for the final makeover before I go into the Arena.
What I see horrifies me. The Gamemakers must want us to die in the Arena, considering we're competing in a frozen wasteland and being PRACTICALLY NAKED! Yeah, I'm practically wearing my training outfit, but with booty shorts instead of regular shorts. I slip into them and pull my hair up into a high ponytail. Then I slide my knife into the sports bra and adjust it so it's undetectable. Melody goes for the full makeover with full blown everything, but I stop that quickly. "Do we have to put on a ton of makeup? It will just get messed up over time." I reason. "How about we add a little, but not a lot?" Melody replies. I shrug and agree. She applies a red gloss and some light brown eye shadow, and then I'm done. Thankfully, Octavia hands me a jacket to put on over the sports bra. I feel better now. The jacket has a high collar, so I'll be pretty protected. "I'm going to start a collection for sponsors in my salon. Trust me, the Capitol loves you and Luke, and they will support you." She whispers in my ear. I give her a quick hug and I suck back my tears that are desperately trying to come out. My parents, Artemis, and Marcus greet me at the door. Marcus in wearing a pair of normal shorts and a muscle top with a jacket over it, left unzipped. We share a panicked look and then we're off to the hover pad, where a hovercraft will take us to the place below the Arena and we'll be sent into our transport tubes that will sound off the gong and let us go. Get off the pad before the gong, the pads explodes, and wait more than a minute after the gong, and the pod explodes. Basically, there's a thin time slot when we are allowed to run. And then there's the worry of being killed in the first 10 minutes by someone. I had a feeling a lot of people were going to die that way this way this time.
The hovercraft rumbles and vibrates, and our 20 minute ride to the site is almost over. A tear trickles down my face. "Liz, honey, why are you crying?" My dad asks. "I'm scared. I don't want to kill anyone. I don't want to die. It's easier training for it than actually getting into the Arena and competing." I weep. My dad hugs me and Marcus strokes me hair. I get him off me quickly. "You're going to be fine." My mom says. "Just be your wonderful self." My dad says. "I'll protect you." Marcus chimes in. I hold out my hand and he shakes it. I feel generous, so I pull him into a small hug. He seems pretty surprised.
The hovercraft has landed, and now it's time to go. Marcus clambers out and I go out behind my parents. "Liz?" My dad asks. I turn to him. "Here's what you need to know. Stay with your allies until the final 8, if any of them are left, and find water. You know how to survive, so use your skills. We'll line up the sponsors. All you need to do is make the kills and keep yourself alive." My mom is saying. My dad nods and I hug them one last time. Then I stand on my platform, and the glass falls over it. My dad presses two fingers onto the glass in a peace sign-our special sign. I mirror it and then make a salute at the same time as him. Then the tube starts rising. I wave goodbye to my parents and we are in the Arena. It looks nothing like what we were told.
What I see around me is definitely not a frozen wasteland. It looks like a desert. I do a quick look around of the area and see that straight ahead there are some wooded areas and caves. And in the center of all the pods is the huge piles of supplies I had always seen and heard of. But imagine! A cave and woods…in a desert! I put my hands out a little and feel the glass is gone. There's only a little while left. I find out that Luke is to my left, and Phillipe is to my right. I hear a gong and start running. Everyone else runs too. I go to the piles and grab a backpack, a canteen filled with water, a first aid kit, a knife and a bag of night lock, a berry that can be used to kill someone when swallowed. I turn around and Phillipe is standing behind me. I raise the knife and stab him through the stomach before he can scream. A cannon fires and I know he's dead. Let the Games begin.
I keep on running until I hit a cave. I duck inside and to the side, where there is a little nook. I take deep breaths, because my breath is gone now. I know I am being recorded right now. Every little piece of the Arena is filmed and transmitted to the people of Panem. It's the way it works. I hear footsteps echoing along the cave walls, and I hesitantly peek out. It's Luke, MaryAnn, Micheal, Gilzira, Marcus, and Miklisho. Silke and Allen are not here yet. Their probably on their way. They are all whispering. Why they are doing that, I have no idea. "Welcome to paradise." I sing song, and they all jump. "You scared me!" Luke gasps. I smirk. That's perfect. Hopefully I am scaring people. "What the hell! We're competing now. So get moving. Set up a camp. Get a fire going! Do I look like I'm going to do all the work?" I say angrily.
Everyone scampers around, and Miklisho hands me a silver flask filled to the brim with alchehol. "Drink up, captain." He laughs. I take a sniff. It smells like night lock juice. Nice try, but not good enough. "Why don't you drink some?" I ask. He takes the flask back and does a very fake drop. It clatters to the ground and spills everywhere. "Darn it." He fakes whines. "What are you thinking? Don't waste it! Lick it off the ground!" I yell at him. He kneels on the ground and looks nervous. I smirk. "Get up! Next time, I'll let you lick it up, don't try and kill me, Cadet!" I say. Oh gees, I am sounding like a war general already.
I sit there and take a look at the contents of the backpack. There's all the essential supplies, plus a few packs of cigarettes and some boos. I take a cigarette and dip the end into the fire Micheal and MaryAnn are working on. Then I take a puff and stand on the cave wall, smoking up a storm. Nobody cares. Their all afraid. It makes me feel so wonderful. "Can I borrow a smoke?" Luke asks. I hand him my cigarette. "Take it. I don't like smoking that much right now." I reply. He takes it and tries to take a large puff like Miklisho. He vomits on the ground and Miklisho takes it. "Leave this to the professionals." He says. I don't protest. By now, I'd say it's about 7pm. It's nighttime, that's for sure. We've been working for hours, and yet it feels like a minute. Well, it feels like we've been here a year, but that's not the point.
The anthem of Panem plays and we all gather at the cave entrance to see who dies today. There's a name and a short clip showing each. Silke is dead. She got stabbed by Miklisho. He looks pleased enough. Then we find out Alexander, Leslie, Beck, Lindi, and Jacob are dead too. And Miklisho killed all of them except Jacob. He exploded from staying on the pad too long.
"You heartless person! Miklisho, Silke and Allen were our allies! OUR ALLIES! And you kill them!" Marcus is screaming. MaryAnn goes for a punch, and Micheal holds her back. "We're supposed to kill people! This is the Hunger Games! Open your eyes, all of you, and get a grip- we are here to die. We're here to try and kill people to stay alive." Miklisho yells back. "Well, we don't kill our allies yet. We're safe now, together, as a team. And if you don't like it, then leave and get your own allies. You're out of the Careers." I say sternly. He picks up his small backpack and heads out of the cave. As soon as he's out of earshot, we're all talking about him. "He's killing everyone! We can't survive with him here." Gilzira starts. "We'll all be dead by tomorrow morning." Micheal adds. "I don't want to die." MaryAnn cries. "If I'm dying, it's not going to be from him." Marcus says. "Someone has to kill him." Luke says. "I'll kill him. I have a plan." I say. I sound like the hero from an action movie, and it's pretty sweet.
At the stroke of midnight, I'm out of the cave with my knife in my bra and some water in my canteen. I can't cry right now, so I'll have to make a slight change to my scheme. But it won't matter. I'll succeed anyway. I spot Miklisho's camp and take some water from the canteen, rubbing it along under my eyes and around my face, making it look like I've been crying. I start with my fake moaning and kind of shaking and trembling, and then I'm heading toward him. Miklisho jumps up and takes the bait. "Elizabeth, what happened?" He asks. "Oh, Miklisho, it was horrible. Luke…he-he, thr-threatened me, and I told him to stop and he kicked me out and said he w-was the cap-captain of the Careers now. I need some help. Please, make me feel better." I cry. My fake crying is excellent, just like me lying and acting. Miklisho pulls me into a hug and presses his lips onto mine. I am so grossed out, but I play along. He goes for my jacket, and I let him take it off me. Then I wrap my arms around his neck and straddle him the way I did with Luke. Even more gross. I manage to put my hand down my bra and fish out my knife. Then I bring it around and stab it into his neck. He coughs, and blood spatters my face. I get off him and he falls to his knees. "Should have stayed with the team." I say, seducing him even in his last moments. He falls on his back and cannon sounds off. He's dead. A hovercraft comes and 3 Peacekeepers, the police of Panem, climb out. They pick up his body and put it into the hovercraft, then dust the ground and make it look like he was never there. I take his backpack. The hovercraft takes off, and he's gone without a trace. All those bodies are….gone….without a trace of existence left. Like a dream. But I know better. This is anything but a dream.
So, what did you think? Did you like it? Was it what you expected? Leave me a review or send me a message and let me know! OK, got to go, but I promise I'll update soon! Love all of you!