Chapter 30
I am walking along the road towards Churchill Gardens, keeping my ears and eyes peeled for feral, tween roadmen.
It didn't take me long to find the dart.
I was worried that it would be buried under the two collapsed floors, or smashed beneath a fallen teacup.
However, as luck would have it, the lower half of the stairwell and the café were mostly in-tact, even if I did have to clamber over giant chunks of rubble. Whether the game makers kept that part standing to retrieve Izzie's body, or to let Corvid escape like a psychotic butterfly from its chrysalis, it worked in our favour.
It took me some scrabbling through debris, but I found the dart in one piece.
What took me more time, however, was mourning the loss of my precious PS6. After a frantic search, I found it crushed under an unhinged door. The little blue light on the monitor flickered at me through the clear pane in the door, as we said our goodbyes to each other.
With steely resolve, I reminded myself that I can't be far from winning the Games now, and I will surely acquire a PS7 when I return home to the Capitol.
Now, I walk with my head held high, the spoils of my deadly mission clasped triumphantly in one hand.
A noise startles me and I leap into a hedge.
When I poke my head out, I see a rat scampering across the road. I shiver with disgust.
I hope the rat is heading towards Pinty, as far away from me as possible.
When I reach the park – after only one wrong turn, this time – daylight has fully broken and the shadows of the trees are becoming shorter.
I look around for Corvid and Rubis, but they are nowhere to be seen.
As Corvid instructed, I scan for a place to hide and wait for them. However, as I walk further into the park, I hear a rumbling noise from the other side.
The only things I can liken the sound to are the vans that the peacekeepers drive through District Twelve and the engines in GTA.
As I walk closer, I reach the perceptive conclusion that the growling noise can only be a car.
Curiosity gets the better of me, so now I do the exact opposite of what Corvid told me to. Oh well; I only obey Rubis.
I exit the other side of the park to see a straight road extending in either direction. Less than fifty yards up the road is a bulky SUV, parked stationary, engine running.
To my surprise, Corvid and Rubis are sitting in the front seats, conversing with intense expressions on their faces.
When they see me approaching, Corvid suddenly looks panicked. They bolt out of the car and slam the door behind them. This leaves Rubis trapped in the car.
"What are you doing with him!" I yell, infuriated.
"You were supposed to hide!" Corvid shouts back.
"I'm glad I didn't, now! Who knows what you would have done with Rubis if I hadn't appeared."
Corvid looks serious.
"Midnight. Come here, right now."
They grip their axe as though preparing to use it.
I reply aggressively, "Er, I don't think so. I should have known you were up to something! Let Rubis go!"
Corvid shouts, "I'm on your side! Just come here!"
"Not until you let Rubis go!"
"Just look behind you, you blithering imbecile!"
On instinct, I break my stare away from Corvid and glance behind me.
The roadmen are there. All three of them, clad with puffer-jackets and tracksuits.
Elsie has transformed from the fragile girl I saw just days ago. Her skin has somehow turned orange, like ten layers of fake-tan-gone-wrong. Her eyebrows look like thick, black caterpillars and her high ponytail has gone from blonde to platinum. It is tied tightly enough to tear her hair from her scalp, with the biggest pink scrunchy I have ever seen.
She holds a thermal flask in one hand, with a metal straw, and a carving knife in the other. Her nails have grown into peach, acrylic claws.
Salto is a lot worse for wear. He looks exhausted, with bloodshot eyes and greying skin. His throat rattles as he breathes. One arm is in a sling, but the other grasps a thin-bladed dagger.
Pinty sneers between the two, like a mini-mafia boss. Her one visible eye is slit with sadistic triumph, as though she has already won the Games. Rats gather around her scuffed trainers and perch on her shoulders. Their bared teeth are almost as sharp as the two shivs she is wielding.
"Cheers for leading us to the Big Bad Emo." Pinty snickers, "Now mandem can do you all in, innit."
She charges, followed by her lackeys.
I flee down the road, away from them and Corvid.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Corvid running in the opposite direction. They yell something, but I am too far away to hear.
Pinty shouts, "Blud! Shank up Midnight. Mandem'll get the emo, innit."
As though the other two actually understood her orders, Salto tears after me and Elsie follows Pinty in pursuit of Corvid.
I run as fast as I can, weighed down by the sword on my hip.
Salto's laboured breaths punctuate his footsteps, not far enough behind me.
"Go away!" I shout.
"No!" He replies.
"Damn it!"
I thought children were supposed to obey their elders!
I keep running.
I struggle to unsheathe my sword with one hand as I go. It remains jammed.
I skid into the Morrison's carpark. I recall that the arena ends somewhere not far from here. I can't keep running, then.
Not because I'm out of stamina; because I'll hit a wall.
My only other option is to hide.
But by the time I spot somewhere, Salto is in the carpark with me.
I round a trolley-shelter and see Salto approaching through the translucent plastic. The roof has been blown off, but the walls stop him reaching me.
He rounds the corner to his left.
I do the same.
He dives right. I dive right.
Maybe I can wear him out like this.
No; I'm the prey here. I can't stop and get my sword out without giving him a chance to reach me.
I turn red at the thought of the public watching me, a six-foot tall warrior, cornered by a twelve-year-old. Even if he is a career, I refuse to die so embarrassingly.
I stall for time.
"How did you find us?" I ask.
"Pinty's rats led us right to you." He smirks.
How are rats that clever?! They must be Muttations. How unfair!
Salto spits, "Before I kill you, I wanna know one thing. Did Greg and Rob die painfully, for what they did to Sugar?"
"Yes." I reply, honestly, "Minx killed Greg, and Rob died by, er… a total fluke."
"It's better than they deserved." Salto growls, "Oh well; only one more for me to kill now."
I say, "I didn't do anything to Sugar! Look, you don't seem very well – physically and mentally – so how about we both just pause for a moment and-"
Salto's eyes narrow.
Just then, Corvid comes pounding along the road towards the carpark. Pinty, Elsie and a pack of rats are hot on their heels. One rat is attached to the back of their calf.
"Midnight!" Yells Corvid, "Get the dart to Rubis!"
They run right past the carpark.
"What?" I yell back.
"I might have a bit of a plan! Kind of!"
That is not reassuring.
Salto uses my brief moment of distraction to tear round the trolley-shelter towards me.
I yelp and dodge a stab from his blade.
I feel a sharp sting as he nicks my shoulder.
"Little shit!" I shout.
I knee him in the stomach and he reels backwards, coughing.
Salto lunges, but I am long gone.
I race out of the carpark and in the opposite direction to Corvid and their pursuers, back towards Rubis.
In an attempt to lose the brat on my tail, I weave around houses and through side-alleys.
To my astonishment, I gain a little ground. My triumph gives me a new burst of energy.
I must look so badass right now.
The sick, injured twelve-year-old has lagged far enough behind, that I can no longer hear him panting.
I think I've lost him.
I slow my pace to a jog and wriggle my sword out of it's sheath.
With my eyes cast downwards in concentration, I don't realise that I have run back out into the main road until I collide with someone running at full speed.
It's Corvid.
They came running back down the road from Morrisons, just as I exited a side-road.
We lie groaning on the ground together for a moment.
I finally unsheathe my sword and Corvid rips the rat off of their calf. They fling it into the hedge-row. It takes a chunk of their calf-muscle with it.
Corvid wastes no time in standing up and dragging me to my feet after them.
Just then, Pinty and Elsie appear from the direction the Corvid ran.
We start to sprint up the road towards Rubis, but a hoard of rats cuts us off.
"Bare neat li'l army man's got myself, innit?" Pinty chuckles, "Them Mutts'll take more than a chunk from your leg if you stop man gettin' these kills, trust."
Elsie picks at her nails and makes a ksksks noise.
With one escape route left, Corvid and I both look to the alley I just fled down.
Salto is running down it towards us.
"Found you!" He calls, "You're done-for now, you bastards!"
We are completely surrounded.
Pinty strolls towards her rats, so that there is not one single gap for us to flee through.
I look at Rubis, further down the road.
His eyes are closed and his head leans back against the front seat.
Corvid wails, "I had a plan! They weren't supposed to find us yet!"
"Did your plan involve killing Rubis?!" I seethe.
"What? No! He's not… Oh my God; he's asleep?!"
If it weren't for a lack of a cannon-blast, I wouldn't believe them. Of course, that doesn't mean that Rubis isn't dying.
Then Corvid yells, "WAKE UP, YOU LONG-HAIRED FREAK!!!"
I slap my hands over my ears at the volume.
Our attackers don't flinch.
Pinty says, "Man's gonna cut you up, fam. Emo first. Bare fittin', innit?"
Corvid glares and tugs their tracksuit sleeves further over their wrists.
"Cut me some slack;" They say, "my best friend got killed saving me."
Elsie says, "At least you don't have to watch Midnight die."
"Good." Says Corvid, "I don't wanna see that."
"Of course you don't." I simper, "No-one does."
"Drop your weapons and we'll make this quick." Rasps Salto.
Pinty adds, "Injure any of us, and mandem'll pick you apart an inch at a time, no cap."
Corvid mocks, "Aw, are you children too afraid to face an alt-kid and Midnight? Pathetic."
Pinty's eye narrows to barely a slit.
All three of them step forwards, preparing to attack. The rats between us and Rubis bare their yellow teeth.
Corvid looks more flustered than I have ever seen them. The funny thing is, I don't know if it's because they are about to die, or because they didn't get to enact their great plan.
The roadmen lunge.
It is obvious that they are going for Corvid first – the smaller threat.
Good thing, too, as I am frozen to the road with terror.
Corvid propels themself for the gap between Salto and Elsie.
They yell, "FOR IZZIE!!!"
Corvid makes it five steps before all three are upon them.
They swing their axe like a hammer. Salto and Elsie dive aside in time. Pinty, who is running at full pelt towards them, does not.
The heavy axe-head strikes her in the upper-thigh.
She hollers in pain, but Corvid has not won.
Salto's and Elsie's knives stab into their torso faster than I can blink. Corvid screams with pain and rage.
Pinty wrenches the axe out of Corvid's hands and joins the take-down.
Blood sprays. Corvid falls.
The hoard of rats rushes into the fray. I hop from foot to foot, suddenly unfrozen, as their furry, plague-ridden bodies skim my ankles.
With a final glance at a struggling Corvid, I leg it towards Rubis. If I get to the car fast enough-
"RUBIS!!!"
The cry isn't mine. It's Corvid's.
Rubis' eyes open lazily. His pupils dilate as he takes in the scene in front of him.
Me running towards him, and Corvid pinned down by three children and a blanket of rats.
Suddenly, the idle car-engine revs and Rubis drives forwards.
He picks up speed.
I dive out of the road, feeling the heat of the exhaust as the SUV powers past me.
The roadmen hear him raring towards them.
Pinty leaps to the curb, landing in a crouch, with one hand clamped on her axe-wound.
Salto and Elsie jerk and struggle, but Corvid's lacerated arms are wrapped stiffly around them.
Elsie screams as the car approaches.
Salto stabs Corvid manically, over and over.
The cannon booms.
Corvid's arms go limp. Salto and Elsie jump to their feet.
Before they can dive to one side, they are slammed by Rubis' SUV.
The crash is stupendous.
Bones crack. Bodies go flying.
The car bumps once, twice, over Corvid's emaciated corpse. Two more cannon-blasts ring out over the screeching of brakes.
Then the only sound is the thrumming of the stationary engine, and the pattering of rats that follows Pinty, as she hurriedly limps away.
I stand there in shock.
Three deaths in a matter of seconds.
I know I shouldn't be surprised that Corvid, of all people, killed themself. But the fact that they took two of my opponents with them, despite the agony they must have been in…
I wonder if they managed to salvage some part of their plan, after all.
I used to imagine myself posing triumphantly amongst my fallen foes, with my true love safe at my side. I expected that scene to feature me standing tall, one hand on my hip and the other gripping a sword, glistening with the blood of my enemies.
I did not expect to be cowering with wobbly knees, at the scene of a car-crash, next to two dead children and the body of a rebel who sacrificed themself for me. Most of all, I did not expect my true love to be the one who did the killing, and to now be trapped in the driver's seat of a car, with an airbag smothering his face.
I shake myself.
It's my job to smother his face!
I rush to the driver's side door. Thankfully, it still opens after the crash, even though the bonnet is badly crumpled.
I fight with the airbag, trying to peel it away from Rubis' air-passages. It slowly deflates and he takes a few deep breaths in.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" I say, "You were brilliant just then."
I wrap him in a big hug.
Rubis says, "Let's get somewhere safe, before Pinty and her Mutts come back for us."
Author's note
In my first plan of the plot, Corvid was supposed to die to a bird Muttation. Ten or more re-writes later and I can't believe I died to 3 year-7s, mutant rats and an armless man in a car. I didn't mean to give myself the weirdest death, but cest la vie, I guess. Or not.
Enjoy the finale in the next few chapters! I'll try to weave in some comedy amongst the tension, though the balance of funny to serious has quite reversed since Chapter One.
RIP Corvid :-(