CHAPTER 11
Pictures
At the top of the cave, Olive stood still with her bow in her hands, ready to shoot the moment someone appeared through the exit. She could feel how tense her ally was. To be fair, she was doubting the plan, too. It could have been too rushed-thinking they could overpower two people who had trained to kill since little and her own district partner.
The nerves consumed her, more so when the sun began setting. If there was something she utterly wanted to evade, it was fighting at night. Nothing good could come out of that. Without light, who knew what could happen? It was way too dangerous.
Perhaps, if the careers appeared once the sun set, she and Jackson could slip by them and go somewhere else. While the careers didn't have the spile or iodine, they wouldn't be able to drink the water from the cactus. If they even knew they could, to begin with.
"I say we wait a bit more. If they don't appear, we get out of here," Jackson suggested, readjusting the grip on his axe as he moved closer to her.
"You read minds, Jack," she joked, looking at him for a split second before glancing down again. "Any last words? We might actually die tonight, after all."
"It's been an honour to fight by your side, soldier Olive," he commented mockingly, grinning widely as she snorted, a hand blocking her mouth, trying not to laugh out loud.
"Likewise, soldier Jackson," she whispered, letting the peaceful silence surround them before rubbing his back comfortingly. "I hope we both make it."
"Me too," he muttered under his breath, taking her hand off his back to hold it together with his own. They were no longer waiting and expecting. On the contrary. They hoped to have misunderstood their mentors' message. "Let's not do something stupid. The sun is already setting. If they come here, the mutts will take care of them."
"What mutts? Haven't you noticed? Since we declared we'd fight the careers, not even one seems to be anywhere near," Olive pointed out, looking at the cactus field, which usually had a few mutts here and there, and was now completely empty. "Me and my big mouth. Sorry that I dragged you into this."
"Drag? Reality is far from that, honey. In any case, it's my fault. If I hadn't jumped to my district partner's rescue, now we could be somewhere far away—," Jackson stopped talking as a scream resonated under their position. It came from the cave.
Both let go of each other's hand, getting ready to attack whoever left the cave. A boy exited first, being closely followed by two girls. The careers. Olive thought, getting ready to shoot at the boy's heart. However, a much-unexpected presence made her stop.
Behind the group, a much larger version of the already impressive scorpion mutt was following them. If she squinted, she could distinguish how the boy had a bandaged arm. A proper one, not like the one Jackson's district partner had.
"What should we do?" Jackson whispered to her, watching as the group began fighting the mutt. They couldn't do much. Though they had great weapons, they were clearly tired. Perhaps due to dehydration. It wouldn't be too crazy to assume that the cactus field was one of the few ways, if not the only way, of getting water.
"Dying from poison is just too cruel," Olive muttered, glancing at her ally with a hopeful look. She wouldn't force him to do anything. If he didn't want to intervene, she wouldn't either. The only problem was that he thought the exact same thing. If neither made a decision soon, they would end up doing nothing from pure wondering.
"You're right, it's just too cruel," he nodded, holding his hand out for her to take. "Let's go save them, Liv."
Without any more wondering, both jumped down. Jackson joined the careers' side, while Olive shot arrows at the mutt, who seemed to be reinforced to not let it be killed easily. "Jack, buy me some time! My arrows aren't doing anything! I have to find its weak spot!"
"All right!" he exclaimed, helping Two stop the mutt's stinger from attacking One. However, as he took a good look at the mutt, a thought ran through his head. "Liv! The eyes! Shoot at the eyes!"
She did as he said, which made the mutt step backwards, letting Jackson, Two, and Olive's district partner give the killing blow with their weapons. As the mutt fell to the ground, so did the three careers. They were seriously hurt. Even Jackson got a few scratches and a cut while fighting.
"Well, now this is when the true dilemma starts," Jackson muttered, sitting next to Olive, who stood still, looking down at One, who was tossing and turning due to the pain. "Should we kill them? It's not like we can try to save them. Also, we've proved to be very bad as healers. And I think that the death we can offer them will be much quicker than what the venom is doing to them."
She looked down, faking to ponder on the situation, though she knew perfectly well there was nothing to think about. There was no other way. It was the Hunger Games, after all. No form of kindness should be shown between tributes. Alliances were already as cold as ice. She and Jackson's friendship was something way out of normality.
With her bow pointing at One's heart, she sighed and let go of the arrow, hearing the cannon's deafening sound resound all around the arena. "I can't kill my district partner. Please, do it for me, Jack." She muttered, turning to face her ally, who was silently watching her aim at Two's heart.
Just as Two's cannon sounded, the faces were shown in the sky, distracting Olive as she looked up, expecting to hear her district partner's cannon at some point.
"Olive, look out!" Jackson shouted, throwing his axe mere centimetres over her head, causing her to turn around, where a gigantic scorpion mutt was about to attack her. As fast as she could, she reloaded the bow and aimed at the mutt's eye. "Don't! I don't have my axe to take him down. Don't waste any more arrows. Let's go up!"
"OK!" She exclaimed, turning back around to face her ally, who stood in front of her district partner. Something wasn't right. Her district partner was standing again, but she wasn't looking at the mutt or trying to get away. She was pointing her trident at Jackson. "Jack, duck!"
He barely dodged the trident when Olive felt how something threw her to the ground, accompanied by a stinging sensation. Fuck. The scorpion. I forgot about it. She thought, trying her best to get up from the ground. She couldn't focus on his ally's fight, not when she had to deal with the scorpion first. Although, if she had already been injected with poison, it would be better to make sure Jackson at least survived the night.
As if she was ignoring the mutt's presence, she turned around and ran toward the two. In a few seconds, her district partner had managed to give Jackson a pretty nasty cut with a knife she had been hiding somewhere. Olive stopped in front of her ally, pointing her bow at the girl, and letting the arrow fly.
"Jack, can you climb?" She asked, forcing herself to take her eyes off the corpse as the cannon sounded to look at the mutt, which was approaching at a dangerously rapid speed. He denied. There was no way he could support his own weight with such a big cut on his arm. "All right, change of plans. You stand behind me, and if I tell you to run away, you do."
"I'm not fond of that plan," he said through coughs. "Also, I doubt I'll last for too long. The mutt before this one got me pretty good. I guess neither of us is going to make it, huh?"
"Don't say that. We'll cure you somehow. Also, your body doesn't have as much poison in its system as your partner had. You'll make it. I just have to get rid of that thing," Olive ordered, piercing the mutt's eye with her arrow. The mutt backed a few steps again, taking a few seconds before advancing.
That's it. When it's in pain. I have to shoot him in between his eyes. She realised, noticing as she only had six arrows left. This better work. As she let the second arrow fly, it pierced the mutt between his eyes, knocking him to the ground, where it didn't move any further.
"Finally," she breathed, feeling how her body became significantly more tired, and not precisely due to fatigue. Turning around, she met Jackson's lost eyes. He was sitting down, his back pressed against the cave's wall. "Jack! No, no, no! You can't give up! Not now."
"Hey, it's OK," he muttered, watching her stumble her way to him. "You're also pretty bad, huh? Come here, sit down. Let's enjoy the night."
"Enjoy? What do you mean enjoy? We have to bandage your wound!" she urged, trying to make him take off the shirt so they could wrap it around the cut. However, he stopped her, taking her hand while forcing her to sit beside him. "Jack, please. We need to take care of it."
"Just leave it, Liv," he breathed, taking her hand closer to his heart. "We were right all along. Poison is a very cruel and painful way to die."
"That's it? After everything, you're just going to give up? You're not even going to try to survive?" She said, rage taking over her tone, though she didn't want to sound like that. Not when there was such a big possibility that both would die right there and then.
"What reason do I have to keep fighting, Liv? My only family left is about to die by my side. You told me that if your brother died, a part of you died with him. Well, it's the same for me. I've lost many parts of myself. I fear losing one more might be the last step to drive me to insanity." He affirmed, looking up to meet her eyes. "Tell me, Liv, should I just ignore that?"
Olive lowered her eyes, shaking her head while taking the quiver off her back. "It's not fair, though. You'll leave me way before the poison kills me." She muttered, resting her head on his shoulder, causing her jacket's side to get tainted blood red.
"What are a few hours apart compared to an eternity together?" He said with a light tone, kissing her forehead to comfort her somehow. Olive chuckled softly, raising her head to contradict him, only for her lips to meet with his. The kiss completely surprised Olive, whose eyes widened before turning her head to look at the ground. A soft, rather quick chuckle left Jackson's lips. However, that was all she heard after the kiss.
Everything had become too silent too suddenly, worrying Olive, who looked up to check on Jackson's condition. His eyes were lost, almost as if he was lost in thought. But there was no reaction. It didn't matter how much she tried to shake him awake, he wouldn't budge.
"No, not so soon. Come on, please, Jack," she begged, dragging him off the wall, so he would lie flat on the ground. She hadn't much strength left, and the venom wasn't making things any easier. "You don't just kiss someone and then drop dead, you idiot!"
Olive couldn't process much at the moment. Her own mind was being tricked by hallucinations, and her body was shivering uncontrollably, though she wasn't cold. Her body collapsed by Seven's side. His cold and shivering hand came into contact with hers.
"Jack, say something! Please! Come on, anything!" She continued shouting, but there was no reply. Rapidly, she began reanimating him. Tears left her eyes, running down her cheeks. "Jack . . . please."
The cannon resonated around the arena, stopping Olive in her tracks. He's dead. My friend's dead. He has left me behind. She couldn't have much more time left, either. Her mind was going haywire, making her see things. Horrible ones that seemed like nightmares come alive.
Theo took Jackson's place. His body was as cold as ice, not breathing or moving at all. Annie ran in, frantically trying to reanimate him, while another mutt sneaked up on her. The moment Olive blinked, Annie was dead, too. Gianna. Her father. Finnick. Mags. Their bodies appeared next to her twin and little brother. Everyone she cared about. Everyone she felt affection for. Dead.
Officially, Olive Navin Cresta had lost it. Everyone through the cameras could see as she completely broke down in front of her ally's corpse. Her shivering body covered part of his as she cried her eyes out on his chest. Her fists repeatedly collided with his chest next to her face.
It didn't take long for exhaustion to take over her body, forcing her body to stop. Her eyes closed slowly. It was as if a cloud engulfed her, allowing her to float around, though she didn't know the direction. It was a weird feeling. After having her mind racing with all kinds of thoughts, she finally felt at peace.
A light appeared, floating around the blank sky to get her to follow it. Olive did so, letting her body float behind the light as they got closer and closer to a door, where her feet were finally allowed to touch the invisible ground.
The more she stood in front of the door, the more she regained her senses as if they were slowly being given back to her. Where am I? She thought, trying to look around, but she couldn't. She was paralysed, looking directly at the strange door. It was covered with sand and had many desert-like decorations.
Without being allowed to go anywhere else, Olive resigned and opened the door, encountering a hallway. Everything was white. Floor, walls, roof. There was nothing with colour. The only bits of light came from square-shaped, framed, moving-like pictures. They were placed side by side, going all the way until the next door.
She looked at the very first picture, curious about what it could show. With a sad smile, she encountered her last glance in Jackson's eyes. Is this what they mean by, 'my life flashed before my eyes'? Am I supposed to watch all my life before going to the other side? . . . mum, Jack, they must be waiting for me. I should make this quick. She thought, passing to the next memory.
Huh? A moving picture? Olive thought, glancing at a square-shaped, framed, moving-like picture that was now beside her. She didn't remember where she was or what she was doing. In front of her, there was a close-up of Jack's eyes. She recognised that moment. After all, he had just kissed her what seemed like seconds ago. So why was she now in some sort of hallway with other pictures ahead of her?
Is this what they mean by, 'my life flashed before my eyes'? She wondered, taking a step towards a picture that was two or three steps ahead of the one she was in front of, only to forget where she was all over again.
As Olive stood in front of a golden door with sea-green decorations, she wondered where she was. What felt like seconds ago, she was talking with Finnick, and now she found herself in front of that door, without being able to look anywhere but in front of her. A nightmare, perhaps? She deduced, opening the door to see what was on the other side.
In front of her, there was a long hallway, which had lined-up, square-shaped pictures by the side. The first she encountered was Finnick's sea-green eyes. Just that. It wasn't even moving. Just a close-up of that mysterious yet fascinating colour.
She wondered why such a weird picture would be wherever she was. However, she didn't pay much mind to it and continued walking forward. "I found a description to mine. Fondness." A picture beside her replayed, showing Finnick's clear, surprised expression.
Olive chuckled softly, remembering that moment perfectly. It took her a while to move to another picture that was a few steps ahead. The memory was weirdly pleasing. As if it had been a long time since she had felt so happy and protected.
"When I wake up, I have to make sure Finnick knows how grateful I-" she muttered while walking towards the other picture, completely forgetting what she was about to say, or if she had said anything at all. "I . . . So weird, I'd swear I was about to say something . . ."
There was something weird about the place that she didn't like. Looking back, she found nothing. No beginning of the hallway she was walking. No other pictures behind her like the one beside her. With a shrug, Olive directed her attention again at the image, encountering a memory.
By the time she arrived in front of a wooden door, with more thorns than roses as decorations, there were names she had completely forgotten about. Finnick. Mags. Librae. Ron. They were only some victors from her district in her memory. Piscia was just a noisy and cruel person. And Cario didn't even exist.
I feel like I've forgotten something important. Olive thought. Without knowing why, as if it were a reflex action, she opened the doors, encountering a white hallway with moving-like pictures. The first thing she saw was a brief moment, though one of the hardest she remembered to have lived. Theo's name being called during the reaping.
Oh, yeah. I had forgotten about that for a split second. She thought bitterly, lowering her eyes for a second before walking hurriedly to another picture, which was not too far away from the one she currently was.
Picture after picture. Memory after memory. She kept forgetting as she advanced. Every time she looked back out of confusion, she would encounter the white space. No images or pictures anywhere. There was only one way to go. Forward.