Chapter Twenty-Three: Cana Fairgrovel
"Psst." an annoying sound hissed quietly making Maize frown in her sleep, "Maize, mavi, wake up. I really have to pee."
She groaned softly in annoyance as she opened her eyes to glare at Cana blearily, "Really Cana? I told you to do your business before we scaled the tree."
Cana looked at her sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck before whispering back, "I drank too much water. Are you coming down to watch my back or not?"
Maize sighed before stretching out her limbs languidly, "You know I am, dummy. And watch your mouth, no one needs to hear that kind of language when they are half asleep..." she half-grumbled as they both untied themselves from the tree and their respective branches, Maize made sure that her knife was strapped to her leg before beginning to climb down. At the bottom of the tree she had hidden her newly carved bō staff underneath leaves and other similarly colored roots. She gingerly lifted it up with her foot, the palm of her hand lightly smacking against the wood as she gripped it confidently. Cana only rolled his eyes at her fondly before leading the way. They never did their business at the base of their 'home tree.'
Not only would it be gross (and possibly unsanitary), but the smell might attract people or animals to where they are sleeping. Instead, they take a five-minute walk in whatever direction the person who needs to go wants. So in the end, Maize guards Cana's back as he urinates on a tree. It was awkward at first but it was better than the alternative of one of them being literally caught with their pants down by a bloodthirsty tribute.
"Done." he whispers as he pulls up his zipper and they quietly begin to make the walk back.
They were two minutes away from their tree when everything went to hell. Suddenly leaves were loudly being crunched as the sound of beating footsteps made their way towards them. A deep battle cry poured out of the mouth of the boy from District 2 as he wields a heavy-looking sword over his head in the direction of Cana's vulnerable neck.
"Cana!" his name is ripped out of her throat as she manages to shove him slightly to the side but isn't able to prevent her District partner from taking some of the blow as blood spurts from a new gash in Cana's side. The fourteen-year-old lets out an anguished cry, but Maize can't afford to keep her eyes off the older teen in front of her. At seventeen-years-old, Tiberius Shimmer was a huge bulky mass of muscle, who had probably been bred for the Hunger Games (it was often seen as an honor for the tributes from District 2 to attend and volunteer for the Games).
His eyes were wild and cruel as he swung his sword once more in Cana's direction. Maize whacked his leading forearm with her bō before jabbing him in the center of his chest and neck in quick succession. While he gasped for air she smacked him as hard as she could across his head, ignoring the horrible sounding crack as Tiberius stumbled to the ground, before whacking him in the same spot and then once across his windpipe for good measure.
BOOM.
A cannon fires above their heads.
Maize has just killed someone. But she doesn't have any time to contemplate it before she begins to hear the sounds of feminine shouts in the distance. It seems the Career Pack hadn't quite split up yet and the female members were now heading in their direction. She turned to Cana who was pale from blood loss and began tugging his uninjured arm, they needed to leave the scene of the murd- they needed to go now before the others found them.
"Move." she whispered with panicked urgency, in her left hand she held her bō while her left pulled Cana along before coming to a thicket that would cover both of their bodies and began pushing Cana down first before crawling under beside him. The thicket was like a small cave made out of a dense group of bushes and two small trees where the ground underneath the foliage was hollowed out (kind of like a makeshift trench or small borrow).
Cana was panting beside her as he made a small pained sound, "Kutomba, it hurts." he hissed, cursing at his pain.
"Let me see?" she demanded as she gently tugged onto his hoodie to get a look at the wound. It was deep. And it looked like Tiberius had cut through the muscle in Cana's shoulder. Tears were streaming down the younger teen's face. He was in pain, and she couldn't do anything about it. Maize helped him pull off the rest of his sweater before ripping off the torn sleeve and putting to the side for now and using the rest of the fabric to press onto the wound despite Cana's pained groans in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
("It's not going to work. Blood loss will kill him before the infection even sets in. You don't have the supplies necessary to help him." a voice that sounded suspiciously like her Auntie Calla whispered in her mind. She resolutely ignored it).
"Inauma..." he whispered in pain, "Hurts too much."
"Shhh, it's going to be okay." she hushed him, trying to calm him down.
He grabbed her hand firmly. "No Maize it's not going to be okay."
(The words echoed around in her mind, reminding her of the outburst Cana had on the train when they first pulled into the Capitol).
"Shut up. That's not an option." she said firmly, ignoring the burning behind her eyes and the tightness in her throat.
A small sob escaped from Cana's throat, "Maize please." he implored her, "I'm not gonna make it, I can feel it..."
"No, no, no nononono. It's okay, I'm not going to let you-"
Cana lifted the leather necklace from around his neck and placed it in her hand. His District token was a necklace with a small wooden charm in the shape of a star. It was his mother's. "Give it back to her for me." he pleaded softly, all the fight gone from his voice.
Maize had to swallow her tongue to keep a shrill distressed scream from escaping her throat, "Give to your mama yourself." she protested weakly, as she caressed the dying boy's cheek to wipe away his falling tears.
He snorted, a wet pained giggle escaping from his bloody lips before it turned into a small cough. "Don't give up. You gotta wi-"
"Cana?" she whispered softly as tears streamed down her face.
BOOM.
"Nononononononono." Maize clutched Cana's still body to her chest, "Usiende!" she pleaded. "Please don't go."
Cana's brown eyes were staring blankly up at her, his face left in a permanent expression of pain and hope with his death.
Nononononononononononono.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
She was supposed to save him.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" a female voice shrieked, "Tiberius!"
Maize would hear the hovercraft arriving to take the bodies of Cana and Tiberius. She had to leave before the crane lowered to take Cana away or it would give her hiding place away to the remaining two members of the Career Pack. But she didn't want to leave. She didn't want to leave Cana alone. He deserved more than that. She gently shut his eyes before pressing a watery kiss on his still warm forehead.
"Requiescat en pace my dear friend." she whimpered into his temple, quickly pressing another kiss to his head before laying him down gently on the ground and bringing Cana's token to her lips kissing it gently before fisting it roughly in her hand and rubbing her fist on her chest in grief. Goodbye.
She ran out of the thicket as the crane lowered.
"There!" she heard a shout in the distance as the sound of pounding footsteps approaching her location.
Maize bolted from her spot before running towards a group of tightly packed trees and began to climb desperately. She bit her lip to the point where it bled, muffling the broken sobs that wanted to escape from her lips as the crane began to lift the corpse of her District partner in the air and the last two remaining members of the Career Pack appeared below. She clutched Cana's bloody District token in her hand, it's weight leaving an imprint in the palm of her hand.
Words: 1,407
Edited February 9th, 2020
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