I have heard that my last chapter was chilling and people were really enjoying it. I understand your enthusiasm! It was so much fun to write that chapter, and this chapter was pretty fun too, though I really had trouble killing off some of the final people that I had somewhat grown to like. Who was your favorite tribute besides Luke and Elizabeth? Please, let me know! And please, review the story, every chapter would be amazing, but even just one review is crazy inspiring.
Before I start my chapter, I just wanted to recommend another author on this site that has written some amazing stories. Their username is Allium Banner, they are my co-author that gives me a ton of help, and they have 5 stories, all of which are incredible! My favorites are Peeta the Vampire, Life without a Mockingjay, and Quizzical Laughter. They are kind of like this story, so if you like this, you will love those, and don't let my opinion stop you from reading the others too. I intend to read through them too, because honestly, I haven't read all of them. The link to their profile will be at the end of this chapter, and seriously, you'd have to live under a rock not to read and enjoy these, they are THAT GOOD! Any person who likes the Hunger Games must read these, or I will find a way to get back at you. No pressure! OK, before I bore you to death with my talking, here's the chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 16- Closing
Waking up is always wonderful. Realizing that you lived through the night and nobody tried or succeeded in killing you. And it makes it even better when you wake up with your head on the chest of a really attractive boy that you are in love with. And then you realize that you're still in the Hunger Games, and still supposed to be on your guard to stay alive. And that's exactly what happened to me the day it ended. The day the Games finally came to a close. Here's what happened that day in detail, because I could never leave anything out.
"Luke. Luke, wake up!" I yell. Luke stirs and sits up, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "What is it, honey?" He asks. "I just was going to tell you that I wanted to go hunting. Maybe kill a tribute to two." I say. "I'll go with you." He says simply. Then we get up and shoulder our bags, taking everything we would want or need, because we might not get back to the cave today. We leave and head up river, where I can hear the sound of a gun. Not cannon, a gun. Who would get a gun in here? It's an advantage nobody should be allowed to have. I bet it's Vale.
Before I can go any further, Claudius Templesmith starts speaking the words I hadn't thought about in a while. "Attention tributes, the Games may be won by two tributes from the same district. Or it can be won by one tribute." I shriek from joy! "Luke! Luke, we can win together! We can win now. There can be two winners." I jump up and down around and around, and then I compose myself, getting ready to kill.
"So where do you think that gunshot came from?" Luke asks. "No idea. But let's just walk around and look." I reply, trying to keep the mood light.
And we continue walking, straight into a BIP, bloodbath in progress. This one involved Vale, Drake, and Amber, and it increased their stupidity in my eyes by a million percent. They were standing in the middle of a path, just trying to kill each other. Vale was gushing blood from a wound on her upper left arm, right near her shoulder blade, and Drake was laughing his head off. How stupid is he? God, I would kill him if I wasn't so thoroughly entertained by all of this. Jarrica would have been salivating at all of this blood. Drake still held his gun, positioning it toward Amber.
"So what's it going to be Amber? Kill Alice, or get killed? I won't wait forever. Eventually the trigger of this gun-"He points the gun at Vale and shoots again, hitting her in the same exact spot that is bleeding heavily. She moans with pain, and I can see her tears and sweat rolling together as she stands there, clinging onto life. "Eventually, the trigger will just…slip." He continues, referring to Vale as when the trigger slipped. "You don't scare me Drake. You used to be nice. I know you wouldn't kill me. You don't have the guts for it." Amber seethes. She holds a stick that someone cleverly whittled down to a point. She's holding it as a form or protection, not a weapon. She's so naïve. She wouldn't use that to kill, would she? I don't know her that well.
Amber POV-
Oh my god, what have I done? I should have just said yes to Drake when he asked me if I wanted to be allies and kill Alice. I could have gotten Alice to run away and then say she escaped my grasp, leaving someone else to find and kill her. Vale wouldn't be close to dead if I said yes. She wouldn't have died in the same way at least. And Alice might not get killed now.
There's no way I am going to win this. Drake is going to kill me, and I'll be dead in a matter of minutes. Then he'll go on and kill Alice, and then Elizabeth or Luke will kill Drake, and then the two of them are going to fight it out to be the champion. I know the Careers; they take what's theirs, even if it means killing every person in sight. It won't matter that Luke is her true love, Elizabeth'll kill him off as violently as If he were a complete stranger, and I doubt she'll feel bad either. I'm pressure thinking again, so I just start paying attention to Drake, now standing far too close, and without his gun. I come to think about other things when a high pressure situation comes around.
If I wanted to kill him right now, I really could. But if I go for anything, he'll snap my neck faster than I can say make it quick. He's inching closer to me, making me about ready to die. It doesn't help anything that he has that wild look in his eyes that he gets when he is concentrated. He's so wonderfully attractive. Drake is someone I could totally see myself making out with somewhere dark and quiet, but none of that matters anymore, because he's going to kill me. He'll milk this up for as much sponsorship he can get, and then he'll have an even bigger advantage than the gun.
Then I do the one thing he's not expecting. I spit in his face and run the other way, almost colliding with Liz and Luke in the process. It's a good thing I can run really fast. I've vanished and disappeared before Drake can catch a glimpse of where I went.
Liz POV-
It happened so quickly. I thought Vale was dead for sure. And yet, she seemed perfectly capable of stabbing and killing. Drake came over to her, and she started taunting him. "Oh Drake, don't you understand that you will never win. You'll never amount to anything, and you'll die today." She starts, lying on the ground, gasping out the words with what I figure are her last breaths. "Oh and how do you know that, Vale? If anything, you'll be the one to die."
He says, leaning over her, inches from her face, pointing his pretty little gun at her mouth. And that's when she strikes. A hard, forceful stab right into his forehead with a knife I had no idea she had. Blood is streaming down Drake's face like a river.
And then he makes it worse. He does the one thing that should never be done by a guy that is dying with a girl that is dying and just stabbed him- he kisses Vale. She squirms a bit, and then he crumples to the ground to the sound of the cannon. Vale's eyes flutter and she crumples too. "Come on, I hate Peacekeepers. I don't want to see any of this." Luke says. We walk away from the scene. Two down, 2 to go. Amber's next. Or Alice. Whoever annoys me most will be the one I kill first, and also the slowest. If they get lucky, I might make it quick.
Vale POV-
The Careers are not the brightest crayons in the box. Elizabeth actually thought I was dead. Ha! I am alive as ever. Injured, but still able to fight. I'm still lying on the ground, thanking God that I'm alive to see this moment. I killed Drake Hemsington, the hottie of District 5. If only he wasn't so hot headed, maybe I would have let him live. But it felt so good to watch my knife stuck into his forehead. I spit on the ground a few times, still being able to taste the coppery taste of blood and Drake's tongue on my tongue and all in my mouth. I stand up, pain rippling through my shoulder. The pain overwhelms me, and I fall down, even though the pain is in my upper body.
I hear a sound from above and look up, squinting in the light. I can see the light reflecting off of something, and it falls down right into my lap. Just what I needed- a silver parachute from my sponsors. Oh my god, I have sponsors!
I tear into the parachute and see bandages and medicine for blood clotting. I wrap the bandages around my shoulder and my arm, making a sort of sling. I can use my other hand for everything, thank goodness for that. Then I pull myself onto my feet again with my free hand, which is harder than it sounds. I start to walk slowly, making sure my body is going to allow me to move. It does, so I start walking, keeping myself concealed in the trees.
Liz POV-
I still haven't gotten over the fact that there are 4 of us now. Just me, Amber, Alice, and Luke. I could be going home today if all goes well. OK, maybe not home, but I could be out of this Arena. I lean into Luke and wrap my arms around his neck, kissing him up and down his neck. "We could win all of this today." I coo in his ear. He nods and kisses me again. Sorry, we kiss a lot. And I said I was going for detail.
Anyway, for the third time that day, Claudius Templesmith announces something. "Attention tributes, you must all head to the Cornucopia. That is an order. May the odds be ever in your favor." Luke stares at me and I blankly stare back. "Do you think the people are getting bored? Maybe this is a way to make everyone die more viciously." I say. Well, Alice and Amber aren't a threat. They'll be dead quickly and then Luke and I will have won.
Luke and I walk to the Cornucopia, and my eyes automatically flicker back and forth. Nobody said you have to kill at the Cornucopia. I look through the trees and see Amber and Alice standing and talking. And then I see Vale, sharpening a knife on a fist sized rock. She's alive! Damn it! Why can't things just be easy for once!
Luke actually screams. He must be as surprised as I am right now. I can't help my nerves now- I run out with my knives all hidden in my jacket, ready to throw one into all their heads. If only people could make it that easy. Luke runs out after me, screaming for me to stop, but it's too late now. Now that we are all here, the bloodbath can begin.
Vale runs at Amber, and Amber ducks under her outstretched hand. Vale has bandages wrapped around her shoulder and left arm like a sling, and I must say, the blood flow looks a lot better now that she has It covered. If it got exposed again, the blood loss would kill her. Amber seems to be thinking the same thing at the same time. She rips the bandage off easily and makes a slice not just at the injured, clotted area, but all the way from her shoulder to her elbow. Blood immediately starts to flow and drip down her arm and onto the ground.
After about 30 seconds, Vale collapses, and the cannon fires. This time, she really is dead. Amber looks down at the body and then back up at me and the others with wide eyes. She is shocked. I'm just plain pissed off for not having thought of doing that first. I run at Amber, and she ducks under my arm. I turn around and get ready to swipe at her, and Luke stops everything with his persuasive voice. "Hey! I don't know about you girls, but I am SO sick and tired of killing people. Let's let fate decide who dies next. Shall we?" He says, making eye contact to each of us. I nod my head. "I agree." Amber says. "Me too." Alice whispers. Luke pulls his backpack open and pulls out four small red berries. He cups his hands together and shakes them around. Then he opens them. "One of these is night lock, the berry that can kill when swallowed. And three are wild raspberries. They all look the same. We'll each take one and let fate decide the rest." He says.
I pick up a berry, holding it. Examining it. Mine isn't night lock, and I know it. Amber hesitantly takes one, and Alice snatches one up. Luke has the last one for himself. "On the count of three. One….two….three!" He exclaims.
We all lift our berries to our mouths. We all chew, and then swallow. Amber falls to the ground, dead. She had the berry. Now Luke, Alice and I are the final three. This is where it all ends. "Luke. Ready to win?" I ask, glaring at Alice. "Win? You two? Never! You have to be from the same district to win. And Luke and I are from the same district. We would be the ones to win. Not you two." Alice laughs.
I grab Drake's gun from my backpack, pointing it at her. "You're lying! Tell the truth, or I'll shoot." I threaten. "Oh, poor naïve Elizabeth. Don't you know that he wants me, and not you? He fixed me like a doctor. He didn't pull away when I kissed him. We're meant to be together. And you're meant to die. Here and now. And go straight to where all the worst, most horrible and nasty people go. And that's where your parents will go too." She sneers. I pull the trigger.
The bullet goes straight into her stomach and she staggers forward, clutching at the wound. She pulls her hands away, showing them smeared red with her own blood. Her jacket is turning red now as the blood soaks through. She falls onto the ground. I walk over to her, and pull one last thing out of my backpack.
I place a pack of fever reducing pills on her chest. "I always had them. I would never give them to you when they were useful. But nothing can help you now. Because you're a horrible person, and I am only doing what I have to in order to survive. What I need to do to get my boyfriend out of here alive." I say, kicking the dirt. She mumbles something I can't hear, and then her words die out, as the cannon signals off when her breath cut out. Now it's Luke and I. No voice comes over saying we've won. Alice was telling the truth. Only one of us can win this.
I hand Luke the gun, and I position my hands around his, pointing the front at my stomach. "Shoot." I instruct. He goes wide eyed. "I would never!" He replies. "Luke, just do it! Do it so one of us can go home! Your family needs you! And that little baby coming will need you. I have nobody that will be overly upset. My parents will understand what I did for true love." I say, tears coming down like a river. He puts a hand in my jacket and fishes out a knife. My mom's. "No. I'm not letting you die for me. That's my job for you. My parents will get what I did. They'll be almost as pleased of the way I died as they would be if I had won." He says. He puts the knife in my hand. "We'll both do it. You'll shoot. I'll stab. We'll show the Capitol we can't be made into their slaves anymore. And people everywhere will see it." I whisper, soft enough nobody but him can hear it. He nods soundlessly. "One….two….-"Claudius Templesmith interrupts me. "Congratulations to Elizabeth Hirsch and Luke Mellark, your victors of the 88th Hunger Games!" He booms. I drop my knife and he drops the gun. He pulls me up and I kiss him all over as fast and quickly as I can. We've won. We're going to be together! And the hovercraft appears above us, ladder drawn. I scoop up the knife and we start ascending upward. All I can think is that I am going to have a wonderful life ahead of me. With Luke. With my parents. With his parents. And in this world.
The hovercraft starts and we are whisked off, heading back to the Training Center for our medical evaluations. And I have a feeling we're both just fine.
OK, so what did you think? Did it end the way you thought it would? Did anything come as a surprise? Please, let me know your thoughts. And as promised, the link to Allium Banner's profile is below. Please, check her stories out. They are really good, and you need something to read in between my posts. And I still need baby names, because there is a baby coming! Not sure what gender yet. Please help me out here! Can't do this all on my own or with just one person. I need some AWESOME names! So get reviewing! Thanks everybody!
.net/u/2954856/Allium_Banner