Chapter 25

NARRATOR | Evelyn Tan, District 4

TIME | Day 1

TRIBUTES REMAINING | 17

No matter how much I spit, I can't get the metallic taste of blood out of my mouth. That girl from Twelve landed a solid punch to my jaw before I killed her, and my face throbs from the blow.

The mayhem is over now. Most of the other tributes have left, and I'm left in a field full of bodies. I rip my bag from Twila's hands, swinging it over my shoulder. I don't know why she decided to attack me for it - I wasn't looking for a fight, and there were plenty of other bags around - but fear makes people go crazy. I felt it too, the soul-crushing fear. The feeling that you could be killed at any moment, that you have no chance but to kill the girl next to you before she gets the chance to kill you.

I watch as three boys stumble away in the distance; it looks like Corbin and Judah, and that must be Otto in the middle. Otto looks injured, and the other boys are helping him walk as they carry their supplies away.

It's just us now, as far as I know. Lucas is a few feet from me, stuffing whatever he can grab into his bag. Violet ran through here a while ago - time moves so fast in here that it could've been minutes ago, who knows? She was yelling something about Safira, and it sounded like good news.

"We should check on the others," I tell Lucas, and he snaps his head up to look at me.

"Okay," he says quietly. He looks like he could puke at any moment, and he glances at Twila's body as he stands to join me.

I'm glad Declan isn't here - I wouldn't want him to see me like this. I killed a girl, and I know I've crossed a line I can't return from. Declan is like a brother to me, and I wouldn't want him to know what I've done.

"Don't tell Declan," I tell the small boy next to me as we circle the Cornucopia. "It's better if he doesn't know."

Lucas just nods, his eyes glued ahead of us. Finally, Violet and Declan come into view, and the cannon shots begin. They fire in quick succession, and Lucas and I freeze until they're finished. Five, six, seven. Then, silence.

Declan runs up to me, burying me in a hug. "Evelyn, I was so worried," he cries. "That was terrifying."

"Hey, we made it," I sigh, using this chance to wipe some of the blood on my hands onto my pants without Declan seeing. I remember that my District partner is afraid of heights, so the descent into the Arena must have been petrifying for him.

"We definitely made it," Violet says with a grin. Unlike me, she's made no effort to wipe the blood from her body, and her arms are stained in it up to the elbow. "And we're in the lead now by a mile."

"You found the sapphire?" Lucas asks in disbelief, a relieved expression on his face.

"After everything we were told about it?" Violet laughs. "It's obviously a trap. Whoever is greedy enough to grab it first will be a walking target. Not to mention that Verity's got the situation under control, apparently."

"Verity?" I ask, confused. I wasn't expecting her name to come up; what does she have to do with any of this?

"Verity's working with us," Violet says, her eyes sparkling. "She's going to get the sapphire, and it'll lead us right to the others. She told me so a few minutes ago."

"We can't trust Verity," I argue. I can't believe Violet is believing all of this; Verity is so slippery that there's no way this isn't a trap. "She'll lead us to our deaths, Violet."

"She doesn't have a choice," Violet shrugs. "We're her only hope now..."

Violet leads us around the Cornucopia, and it becomes obvious what she means. We stand right next to the body, and Lucas gasps at the sight of Safira Holland. I'm not surprised - I heard Violet cheering earlier, so this makes sense - but it's still unexpected. Who would've thought that after all the fighting and the tension between our groups, the feud would end just like that. And Violet's right: now, we have an advantage over Safira's old allies.

"Who's that over there?" Lucas asks, pointing in the distance. I glance at the tree line to see a boy lying across the ground. Behind him is a trail of blood extending all the way to the Cornucopia; at first, I think he's dead, but I watch as he drags himself further and further away.

"The boy from Twelve," Violet says, her eyes narrowing. "I thought I killed him, but I guess the wound didn't go deep enough."

"Should we... take care of him?" Declan asks, glancing over at the boy. I can see the gears turning in his head - I know Declan doesn't want the boy to die, but it might be the best thing for all of us. One less competitor for us, and it'll put him out of his misery.

"Leave him," Violet shrugs. "No point in wasting the energy, he'll be gone soon enough. There are more dangerous tributes to worry about than him. Let's gather the rest of the supplies and get out of here."

Violet grabs Safira's sword out of her hand, lifting it above her body and stabbing it into her chest. I can't stop myself from letting out a gasp - all I can think of is the girl from Twelve, and how the look on her face as I sunk my own blade into her chest. Declan grabs my arm, squeezing it tightly.

Lucas wastes no time dispersing, but he heads straight for a body nearby. It's a girl with red hair - I think that was his District partner. He leans over her body, and I look away as Declan leads me into the Cornucopia. Behind us, Violet collects supplies from near Safira's body.

"Evelyn, I'm scared," Declan whimpers, glancing over his shoulder at Violet's slouched figure. "I don't know what's gotten into Violet, but it's like this whole thing with Safira... it's consumed her. To harm a dead body like that, it's just sick. What if she does the same thing to us?"

I know what Declan means - in District Four, our traditions related to the dead are very strict, and any disrespect of the body after death is unheard of. Why would you disrespect the dead when you will eventually pass through the gateway of death behind them?

"We have each other, Declan," I reassure my partner. "We don't know what Violet's capable of, but we have to trust her right now, okay? She's our only chance."

"Okay," Declan says, nodding slowly. "But you should have seen her celebrate, Evelyn. It was so disturbing, in a place like this, to celebrate like that. It was like she couldn't wait to kill again..."

"Well, someone has to do it," someone says from behind us, and I spin around to see Lucas staring down at us.

"I don't know about you, but I joined this group so Violet could protect me," Lucas says, crossing his arms. "That's what we signed up for. I don't want to kill anyone, and I'm probably not strong enough to do it, either. If Violet's not going to take out the other tributes, who else is going to do it?"

Lucas is talking to both of us, but he's staring right into my eyes. I stare right back, willing him to continue. Tell Declan that I killed that girl, I dare you...

"You're right," Declan says, but I can still sense some apprehension from him. We'll continue our conversation later away from prying eyes and ears. Apparently, Lucas is more loyal to Violet than I thought.

"Come on," I say, pulling Declan to his feet and offering Lucas the fakest smile I can muster. "We're all still a team, aren't we? And we have the upper hand now. Let's take advantage of that."

Lucas wordlessly follows me out of the Cornucopia, but I know I'm in rough waters. I'll have to keep my thoughts to myself from now on. Still, I know that Lucas is right; without Violet, Declan and I have no chance of surviving this Arena. She may be dangerous, but she's on our side, and that's all we need right now.

A/N - A bit of a crazy chapter, hope you liked it :) This group is one of my favorites to explore because of their shifting power dynamics; despite being the outsider in the group, Lucas now has power over Evelyn because he knows that she killed the girl from Twelve, and that's just the start for these guys. And with Verity in the mix doing who-knows-what it's going to get interesting for sure!

I'm hoping to get a lot written on this story over the holiday break so we'll see where that takes us!

~S