Chapter 50:

Glacia Skylar, District Two, Age 18

Victor of the 125th Hunger Games and Fifth Quarter Quell

Glacia turns her attention to Ardos, hoping she's not the only one feeling unsettled by the growing darkness of the forest and their unsuccessful day of searching for the remaining tributes. But before he can say anything, the anthem starts to play. As they both glance up through the treetops, Glacia's stomach grows uneasy at how late it has gotten. Only two faces are shown, but with the remaining number of tributes, they made up a huge number.

As the anthem stops, a wolf howls nearby, too close. Glacia is immediately on edge at the sound, growing anxious with each passing second. "We need to get back-" She cuts off with a small intake of breath as she turns to face Ardos. Fear overwhelms her as she stares past Ardos, right into a pair of glowing red eyes that hover just above his shoulder.

And then the creature lunges forward.

Glacia stumbles back, crying out in shock as the wolf muttation starts to rip into Ardos, blood covering its muzzle. She starts running away, fear driving her to race through the woods. The forest has grown nearly pitch black, leaving her to bump into trees as she tries to run away from the creature, unless she ends up the same way. A sharp impact to her head forces her to the ground and Glacia stares up at the trees for a moment, stunned by the impact as she brings up a hand to touch the tender spot.

But as she does, she realizes that she's surrounded by silence.

Glacia slowly sits up, desperately trying not to make a sound as she peers out into the darkness, expecting to see another set of glowing red eyes waiting to attack her next. But she only sees black and scrambles to her feet, start to run once more and keeping an arm outstretched to block any low hanging branches. All the while, images of the terrible mutt fill her mind. That creature had been so terrifying, especially with the way it started ripping into Ardos…

Shit.

Glacia comes to a halt, hesitantly looking back in the direction she was running in. His cannon hasn't fired yet. Ardos is still alive. For a moment, she considers running back to help him, before seeing in her mind the image of the creature attacking him once more. No, there's no way she can help. That wound was too deep for saving. Yet as she starts running once more, tripping over branches as the trees start to thin, a haunting thought starts to creep in. Ardos never let out a single scream. And before she started running away, she saw his face.

He was ready to die.

As Glacia clears the woods and comes to a stop in the abandoned city, her stomach starts to twist. She knows she's going to be haunted forever by the look on Ardos's face right before she abandoned him to die. But as she stares around at the decrepit buildings, the shadows inside seeming too dark and full of unknowns, a new uneasiness starts to fill her. She escaped one horror just to enter another.

Boom.

Glacia closes her eyes at the sound of the cannon, a little thankful to know that Ardos is now dead and no longer being mauled. But when her mind keeps repeating the sight of him being attacked, she quickly opens them once more. She cannot think about that now. Not when she doesn't know what she'll find in front of her. To the east, the cliff with their campsite – well, hers now that she's the last one alive – looms in the distance, far enough away to let her know that she has a long walk ahead of her. Yet she refuses to go back through the forest, even if the path may be shorter.

Glacia takes a moment to unhook the crossbow from her belt and load a bolt before she starts walking into the city, forcing the image of Ardos out of her head and focusing on what's in front of her. She can only hope that Lisia won't send a mutt after her in here. After all, they're now at the final four.

That thought makes her pause for a moment before quickly picking up her pace. The end of day five and they're already at the final four. She's so close to winning.

A scream off in the distance has Glacia spinning around in an instant, crossbow raised as she searches the area she just walked through. Her heart races in fear, knowing there must be a mutt chasing a tribute. Unless Lance and Caitlin found the other tribute…No, they wouldn't draw out a death and the screams are heading in her direction.

The screams grow closer and Glacia grips her crossbow even tighter, silently hoping that she still remembers how to shoot the thing accurately. A boy starts to come into view, weaving around buildings and stones, all the while glancing behind him, his face full of terror. But then Glacia catches sight of the terrible mutt chasing him and she knows she's going to have terrible nightmares about all of the mutts once she's out of the arena.

The upper half of a woman stares at the boy, eyes glowing bright red and tangled black hair flowing behind her as it runs after the boy. No, not runs, slithers, as it has the bottom half of a snake. Glacia shivers a little in disgust at the mutt before raising her crossbow, starting to track the movements of the mutt as they both get closer. There is no way she is letting that thing get close to her. She takes in a deep breath and holds it before pulling the trigger.

The bolt strikes the shoulder of the mutt and it lets out an ear piercing shriek as it turns its attention to Glacia. She throws the crossbow to the ground, scrambling to get her spear out, certain the mutt is going to attack her. But it turns around, heading in the direction it came from and leaving her behind.

Glacia lets out a sigh of relief at not having to fight the mutt before picking up her crossbow and attaching it to her belt. But the boy lets out a scream at the sight of her, reminding Glacia that he's there. He tries to run north before stumbling over a piece of stone. Glacia chases after him, stomach still uneasy by the mutt as she gets her spear out. The boy tries to crawl away from her before bumping into the side of one of the broken buildings. As she slows down near him, he stares up at her with wide, scared eyes. "Please don't!"

"I have to," Glacia says, but she isn't sure if she's telling the boy or herself as she starts to hesitate. Her mind goes to the letter in her bag from her mentor, reminding her of what she can't afford to lose. She's so close to making it out of this arena and this boy is one more person standing in the way. "I have to win and only one of us can make it out of the arena." Glacia pauses for a moment, taking in a deep breath as she braces herself for what she must to. To kill. "And that person is going to be me."

The boy starts to scream as Glacia brings down her spear, cutting off the sound as the spear pierces his heart.

Boom.

Glacia yanks out the spear, taking a step back as her stomach twists at the dead body in front of her. Another body that she has caused. But she pushes aside the feelings, just like Darach had suggested. This is no time to start feeling guilty about killing. Not when only two people stand between her and victory. And she has to win...

Did I forget two Wednesdays in a row to update and so I just said yolo and updated on a Thursday? You bet I did! But we love our Queen Glacia Skylar, Victor of the Fifth Quarter Quell! If you liked this little taste of her Games, well lucky you, I have her story fully written already! Yes this is a Shameless Plug for my Fifth Quarter Quell stories, but mostly Glacia's lol.

Next week is a victor who was best friends (maybe even lovers?) with someone in these Games... We love a good bit of revenge. See you (hopefully lol) next Wednesday!