TW: I don't really consider what happens here self-harm, but I know others may feel differently so I'm adding this warning just in case.
On another note, don't forget to read chapter 27 if you haven't already, since these updates came relatively close to each other. Enjoy the show!
Giemci stands there gaping, her mouth opening and closing, her gaze nervously flickers between the four of us. Even Lincoln, her own district partner, is looking at her with a mixture of anger and disbelief.
"What did you do?" I repeat sternly. I can feel my hands start to shake, and I clench them into fists to stop them.
She betrayed us to the Careers, and maybe not even once.
She nearly got us all killed.
And Bran...
The thought of Bran nearly makes me see red. She got him killed. It was Bronze who fired the arrow, but it was her that put us in that position to begin with. Our plan might have worked, but now we'll never know.
And Bran is dead.
Giemci's gaze drops to the ground and she looks like she wants to cry. "I just wanted to live…" she says quietly.
"You really think you're the only one?" Camdyn cries. "You almost got us all killed! You got Bran killed!"
"The plan was stupid!" Giemci snaps. "It was stupid, okay? And I… I thought that…"
"You thought what?" Drake snaps. "You thought that telling them everything was the best option? You should have said something! We could have figured something out!"
"I didn't mean for anyone to get killed!"
"Bullshit!" I snap. "You're smarter than that, Giemci! We barely got out of there alive! Had the Gamemakers not interfered, we might not have!"
"I thought that if I warned them, they'd…" Her voice trails off.
"They'd what, Giemci? They'd just tell us, 'Hey, we know your plan. Just so you are aware. In case you want to rethink it!' Did you really think that's what would have happened? Especially with Bronze at the helm?"
Giemci seems to snap. Her face goes red and tears well in her eyes. "I thought they'd spare me!"
She immediately seems to realize what she said. She suddenly looks terrified.
"So, you were more than happy to let us and the Careers kill each other?" Lincoln asks quietly. "Giemci, how could you?"
"This is the Hunger Games!" Giemci shouts. "Only one of us can win!"
"You think we don't know that?" I cry.
"You could have had me fooled! But it doesn't matter anymore! I'm going to win. I'm going to win these Games and nothing is getting in my way. Not the Careers, not you, and certainly not your stupid curse!" Giemci chokes back a sob and reaches for her knife.
"Giemci," I growl. "Don't you dare..."
Giemci lets out a mixture of a laugh and a sob. "I won't let you!"
It happens fast.
Giemci charges towards me with a shout and I hold my weapon out towards her.
Camdyn lunges forward, grabs her, and the two wrestle for a moment until Giemci lashes out with her knife.
It catches Camdyn's stomach and I nearly cry out in horror as Camdyn gasps and stumbles back, holding the wound tightly.
Giemci doesn't bother to finish her off. She just keeps going for me.
Fine. If this is what you want.
There's a flash of silver and a wet thud. Giemci gasps and drops to her knees.
She coughs, blood dribbling down her chin and staining her left side where an arrow has clearly pierced her lung.
She looks over at Lincoln, who lowers his bow, a stone-cold expression on his face. Her eyes go wide and she begins tearing up. "Why?" she chokes. "I don't deserve this…"
She falls to the ground gracelessly, the arrow driving deeper into her body with the impact. She gasps for air one final time, then she goes still. Her cannon fires seconds later.
All eyes are on Lincoln now. He sighs and shakes his head. "I… I guess I'm a district traitor now," he mutters.
Drake shakes his head, clearly shaken. "Gigi started it."
"It won't matter," Lincoln says quietly. I catch a glimpse of tears in his eyes, but he blinks them away quickly. "It didn't for Galaxy."
My heart sinks. I don't know much about District Six, but from what little I do know, they place an extreme emphasis on district loyalty. They'd rather have no victor at all than a victor who killed their district partner, even if it was in self-defense. Galaxy Wash was forced to kill her district partner in self-defense six years ago and to this day, many people in Six still shun her.
They'll never accept Lincoln back now…
"Link…" I breathe. "You saved my life. You did-"
Camdyn coughs, and I find myself rushing towards her. "Do we have any medpacks?" I cry.
Drake begins going through the bags.
I get Camdyn onto her back. She groans softly and presses harder on the wound. "Shit…" she coughs.
"Just stay with me, okay? You're going to be fine!" I gently move her hands away from the wound. They're already soaked with blood. The wound isn't deep, but she's in danger of bleeding out anyway.
My breath hitches and I start to shake. I feel my mind slipping again, threatening to take me back to that dark place. I try to breathe, focusing on the lullaby in my head. I can't fall apart again. I can't fall apart again.
Don't be scared now.
Close your eyes.
Camdyn takes my hand and squeezes it with a smile, refocusing me. "It's going to be okay, Ames. Just let me go."
"Shut up," I say quickly.
"Amber, it's okay."
"I said shut up! Save your strength!" I begin pressing down on the wound myself, trying to stop the flow of blood from her stomach. "Drake! Where's that medkit?"
Not now… Please not now… She has to get to the finale. She has to have a chance! She just has to! For Gaius!
"I got it!" Drake cries. He rushes over to Camdyn. I unzip her vest and Drake begins cutting the fabric of her shirt, exposing the wound. "Okay, Cam? This is going to hurt like hell. Are you ready?"
Camdyn nods as I hand her a stick to bite down on. Drake begins counting. "One. Two." He doesn't wait for three. Instead, he pours antiseptic right on her wounds. Camdyn bites down hard on the stick and her grip on my hand becomes vice-like. Pain races across my hand and I have to try not to cry out myself.
"What happened to three?" Camdyn snaps.
Drake ignores her and begins applying medicine and bandages to the wound. It's not perfect, but it'll hopefully keep her alive until the finale.
"See, you're fine?" I say shakily.
Camdyn gives me a sad smile as her grip on my hand loosens. "This is just a temporary solution. I know that."
I shake my head. "These Games could end tomorrow. This temporary solution might just save your life."
Camdyn opens her mouth to say more but quickly closes it. She's keeping her mouth shut for my sake, probably, which makes me feel both appreciative and guilty at the same time.
"We're going to make it to the finale, all four of us, right?" I ask.
Drake nods with a watery smile, and Camdyn does the same. When I look to Lincoln though…
Lincoln is still staring at Giemci's body, a far-off look on his face.
"Link?"
Lincoln sighs and turns to me, smiling sadly. My heart sinks once more. He's not staying here. I can see it on his face.
Sure enough, Lincoln slings his bow over his shoulder. "It's been fun, but I think I'm ready to call it here," he says.
"You're leaving?" Drake breathes.
Lincoln nods. "Yeah, I am. Look, nothing personal, but there's only seven of us left now and…well… I know you want to go to the finale but… I don't know. I've been thinking about it for a while, but I didn't want to leave like Giemci did." His voice hitches a bit upon mentioning her name and my chest aches for him.
I nod. "No, I understand. Take some supplies with you, okay?"
Lincoln seems to want to protest, but eventually just nods. He goes in for a hug and I gladly oblige. "Thank you, Ames. For everything."
"No, thank you," I reply, tightening the hug. "You saved my life, Link. I'm never going to forget that."
Link smiles sadly when we pull apart. "That's what friends are for." He hugs Drake and squeezes Camdyn's hand.
"Be careful," I say. "This might sound weird, but I hope to see you in the finale."
Lincoln laughs dryly. "I appreciate that. May the odds be ever in your favor?"
"May the odds be ever in yours, Lincoln Turner."
Lincoln gives one final wave, before scooping up Giemci's body and vanishing into the woods. A few minutes later, the hovercraft comes for her, then vanishes, leaving the three of us alone in the woods.
For a while, no one speaks.
Just as the silence is becoming unbearable, Drake speaks up. "We should…come up with a plan for the finale."
I nod. "Yeah, good idea. Camdyn?"
"Yeah," Camdyn groans. "Can I sit up?"
Drake shakes his head. "I don't think that's a good idea right now. The medicine needs to take effect." Camdyn rolls her eyes but doesn't protest.
I open up our bags and begin rifling through them. "I don't feel like fighting them at the cornucopia is a good idea," I say. "Not after last time."
"I don't think the Gamemakers may give us much choice," Drake points out. "The finale almost always happens at the Cornucopia. The audience likes the whole 'ends where it began' thing. Bookends and all that."
My hands close around a bottle, a bottle that could only have belonged to Flower Power. I smile creeps up on my lips.
"You know what else the audience likes?" I ask as I hold up the bottle. "Foreshadowing."
"What are you suggesting?" Camdyn asks.
"We found the edge of the arena, did we not? And we have a couple of bottles from Flower Power. We know for a fact that if it gets into cuts, it's pretty effective."
"So, you're suggesting you knock all three Careers off of a cliff?" Drake asks.
"As nice as that would be, that's not entirely feasible," I reply, "but we can definitely weaken them."
"So, it's only a matter of getting them to the boundary," Camdyn notes. "How are we going to do that?"
"I don't think we'll need to," I say. "We just need to get over there and wait."
"What about Camdyn?" Drake asks. "I don't know if she can be moved."
"Oh, screw that," Camdyn retorts. "I can walk. I'll just need help."
Drake sighs. "Okay, when do we leave?"
"Let's give it a few hours," I reply. "Give the medicine time to take effect."
Camdyn shakes her head. "No, I want to leave now."
"Cam-"
I'm almost instantly cut off. "These Games are ending soon. I'd rather not operate on the Gamemakers' timeline. I don't want to deal with mutts again. Not like this."
Point taken.
We help Camdyn to her feet, and after making sure her wounds aren't aggravated, we start walking. It's almost nightfall when the first cannon fires, stopping us in our tracks.
My breath hitches in my lungs. "Link…" I breathe.
About a minute later, a second cannon fires. Camdyn curses under her breath and Drake sighs sadly. My eyes start to burn. If that first cannon wasn't Link, that second one was.
"Sounds like he took a Career with him," Camdyn says, her voice thick with tears. "That's our boy."
Drake nods. "Yeah. That was."
The anthem begins to play moments later. We look up at the sky and watch as Giemci, Lincoln, and Cedar's faces all appear.
I close my eyes tightly. It's just us three now. Us three and two more Careers.
Five left.
I take a deep breath, hold it, and release it, finding that sense of calm again and focusing on it.
Go forward.
No remorse.
Life will take its course.
"We can't let it be in vain," I say. "One of us has to win."
"And one of us will," Camdyn says, squeezing my shoulder. "One of us will."
I open my eyes and nod. "We should be getting close. Let's do this thing."
8th Place – Giemci Weldon – Shot by Lincoln Turner
Giemci was a lot of things. She was shy, smart, and very paranoid. She was one of those people who would do anything to live, even if it meant betraying her allies. It's hard not to fault her too much, because she was just a scared teenager who didn't want to die, and she went through a LOT of trauma throughout the Games, but at the same time, betraying your alliance to the Careers and getting one of them killed does not exactly put her in a favorable light. Perhaps she and the others could have talked it out, or perhaps not because Amber, still grieving Bran, was ready to kill her, but she sealed her fate when she charged Amber and slashed Camdyn. At that point, there was no saving her, so Lincoln shot her, becoming a district traitor in the process. Goodbye, Giemci. May you finally get some rest.
7th Place – Cedar Warwick – Shot by Lincoln Turner
And so the other traitor falls. Cedar was a TANK. He took so many hits and kept going, to the point where Amber was questioning it amid an attempted roaring rampage of revenge. He got wounded in the bloodbath, at the feast, he even lost an eye and was able to keep fighting. The only thing that could take him down was a surprise headshot from Lincoln. Honestly, it had to happen here. If he went to the finale, he probably would have won. He could have taken a face full of river water like a champ long enough to win. Lincoln probably knew this and targeted him first. That and it was catharsis after being betrayed TWICE in one Hunger Games. Goodbye, Cedar. Congrats on being such a heavy hitter.
6th Place – Lincoln Turner – Killed by the Careers
For the record, I don't really consider what Lincoln did to be self-harm, more like taking destiny into his own hands and sacrificing himself for his friends. He didn't go into this intending to die, but he wasn't really expecting to live either. District Six emphasizes loyalty to the point of being toxic, and he didn't want to end up like Galaxy, shunned by his whole district. After he left Amber's alliance, he decided to go after the Careers, both for revenge for everything they've done (He partially blames them for Giemci's fate after all, and don't even get me started on Bran) and as a way to help make sure one of his friends would win. He sacrificed himself for his allies, which is a lot more than most tributes are willing to do. He was such a badass with his bow and was relatively levelheaded compared to his more hotheaded allies. He will be missed. Goodbye, Lincoln. May your sacrifice be remembered.
So that was a wild chapter. I don't have a lot to say, just that I'm sad about Giemci and Lincoln. Five tributes remain, with Camdyn seriously injured. Amber felt herself begin to slip again, but thankfully, while she's still upset about these losses, she now has the tools to better cope with them and can keep moving forward.
In other news, the finale begins next chapter! What are your predictions? Who will kill who? Who will wind up winning? Will these questions ever end? I'm so excited to start bringing this journey to a close. I'll see you all then!