Chapter 6: In Which There Is Much Running
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature
As Annabeth woke Helena and Frederick, Magnus and Percy gathered up their few things and scrambled up a tree. Why they hadn't done that in the first place, she didn't understand.
One can always seek the safety of the trees in the Hunger Games. Even Magnus should have known that. But there was one problem, Percy was horrible at climbing trees.
Ever since she had met Luke and started training with the dagger, she'd learned how to climb trees. Magnus had followed after her, and he had more of a penchant for it than she did. It was almost as natural as breathing for him. It was actually kind of annoying.
In fact, it was something that had kept them from being captured by the Peacekeepers on more than one occasion.
So, while Magnus was thriving as he climbed the tree, Percy was… struggling. It was the complete opposite of earlier that afternoon with the river and the swimming. Magnus had gone back to the ground and attempted to help Percy up, but they were having very little luck in succeeding.
"Screw it," Magnus said, securing his bag over his shoulders, "we're going to have to run."
"Think we still have time?" Percy said.
Flashes of yellow eyes reflecting in the moonlight were picked up by whatever cameras the Gamemakers. Or maybe the eyes were actually glowing. She wouldn't put it past them. They had done stranger things before.
"Sure." Magnus and Percy stood back to back, clearly having seen the wolves. "Plenty of time. I just have to be faster than you."
Percy snorted, drawing the sword he'd stolen from a Career during one of their cat and mouse sessions.
Magnus pulled out the frying pan from his bag. He, unfortunately, didn't have a weapon at that moment. He had somehow managed this long without one. He twirled it in his hand, hand clenching tightly around the handle.
The wolves circled around them, sticking to the shadows and protection of the low brush and tree branches. Their low snarls seemed to make the leaves tremble, although that could have been the slight breeze that was making their hair tickle their cheeks.
"On my count," Percy said, "we run. One…"
"Three!" Magnus said, shooting off in one direction.
Percy and the wolves took off after him. Despite having run most of the day, and despite Magnus's asthma, the pair were somehow doing it. Steadily, they were getting farther and farther away from the wolves and closer to… hopefully a safe place. Adrenaline might have had something to do with it.
"You, you didn't," Percy said, catching up to Magnus, "didn't wait for me to, to finish, finish counting."
"Yeah, well," Magnus said, sounding a lot more breathless than Percy. Whatever he was going to say, he didn't get to finish.
The yipping of the wolves, happily giving chase, caught the attention of some unwanted visitors. The Career pack.
A hand settled on Annabeth's shoulder, making her jump. Randolph.
He nodded at her, keeping his eyes on the screen as he took a seat nearby. There were bags under his eyes. His face was more drawn and ached with the need to get a proper night's sleep. She no doubt looked the same.
Honestly, she was surprised to see him so soon after the disastrous interview. Still, he had every right to be there. He was family, after all.
Matthew and Bobby had woken up at some point. Both of them gripped her hands tightly. She wasn't sure if she wanted them to see this or not.
She turned her attention back to the scene playing out on the screen in front of them.
Magnus and Percy had managed to get the wolves to start fighting with the Careers, managing to shake the beasts — who were only wolves in name. There was something completely off about them that made Annabeth wish she could unsee everything about them.
One Career — the guy from District 1 — kept on the trail of the two boys. He was just as vicious of a predator as the wolves and much more terrifying in his human shape.
The Capitol created more than just one type of monster. Some were created in the labs, some in the streets of the Capitol itself, and the others in the districts themselves. Monsters were monsters, regardless of their creation. It was simple as that.
The screen split between the chasing of Percy and Magnus and the battle with the wolves, which ended much too quickly for the Capitol's liking, no doubt. The remaining Careers took off in the direction they thought the other had taken off in. But they weren't right.
Annabeth hoped that the District 1 guy wasn't leading them into a trap. Something dark and foreboding settled in her mind that it was.
She swept her eyes back and forth between the two scenes. She tried to bring her hand up to chew on her nails, but Bobby held her hand. She settled on bouncing her leg.
She let out a shaky breath when the small Career pack got so horribly lost, they found the cliff Magnus and Percy jumped off earlier that day. They must have backtracked at some point.
The Gamemakers realized this too and instead focused on Magnus, Percy, and the District 1 guy.
He was merciless in his pursuit. Several times he almost caught up with them, waving around his war hammer. He attempted to knock into one of them with the blunt weight on the end, but he had little success. Both of them were too quick.
Still, he could keep pace with them. Annabeth wondered if he'd be quicker if he didn't have the hammer, but decided against pondering on that too long. It led to terrible images of them being pulled apart, limb by limb and their skulls caved in.
She shook her head, hoping to be rid of them. But with every passing moment, they were beginning to seem more and more possible.
The chase only ended when Magnus and Percy were forced to stop. In front of them a sheer cliff face reached high above them.
"Climb," Magnus said, his breathing sounding more like sobs.
"Not this again," Percy said, already moving forward.
Neither of them got very far when the Career arrived. They were out of his reach, but not out of his war hammer. They tried to scramble up farther, but neither were particularly skilled in rock climbing.
Then again, neither was the District 1 guy.
One would think, with all that training that Districts 1, 2, and 4 put their children through, rock climbing would be one of those things that they were trained in. Apparently not, as the chaser and assaulter was just as terrible as the boys.
Annabeth added 'climbing' to her mental list on How to Successfully Survive the Hunger Games. One could never know if that would ever become handy.
Still, the District 1 guy managed to get one of them. The hammer struck a leg and, for the briefest of moments, Annabeth couldn't help but worry as the body fell to the ground.
But the boy who had been hit hadn't gotten their leg broken, which was good. And he wasn't Magnus.
Relief swept over her, and she silently begged her cousin to run away while he still could. One death would satisfy the Capitol and the Career for the evening. He just had to get away and everything would be fine.
Percy lied on the grass, clutching at his leg. His much too green eyes squinted past the tears up to the District 1 guy. Fear and pain and regret danced in those eyes.
It could have easily been Magnus.
His attacker smiled down at him. At least, it looked like he was smiling. It was difficult to see in the darkness of the night.
He raised the hammer above his head, ready to bring it down on Percy.
"Any last words?" The District 1 guy said. Didn't he know not to do this kind of thing? It never really worked. Especially against the younger kids.
Percy didn't get to answer. He opened his mouth, ready to say something or cry for his mother or scream or… or… something. But…
The camera was focused on Percy's face when there was a thunk. Then it focused back on the District 1 guy.
There was a strange look on his face — surprise, mostly. He loosened his grip on his hammer, allowing it to drop to the ground. Percy scrambled away from it and him. And he collapsed onto his knees before falling to the side.
The camera focused on the back of his head.
It was caved in by a rock.
A canon went off.
The camera moved to Percy's face and then panned over, focusing on Magnus.
His hands were still held out and his face gaped with something horrid, like he couldn't believe what he had just done. He was shaking and breathing heavily.
"You," Magnus said, looking at Percy. Magnus gulped. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Percy said, a little breathless. "You?"
"I've been better. How about your leg?" Magnus hopped off the boulder he'd perched on during their not-quite-a-flight up the cliff.
"It's in pain, but I think I can still walk."
Percy got to his feet. He was able to take a couple of steps, but his injured leg trembled under him.
Magnus was at his side at one, keeping him from completely landing in a heap in a puddle of the dead guy's blood.
"Let's get out of here," Magnus said, helping Percy walk.
[line break]
Magnus had always been good at patching people up, especially himself. People tended to mock and bully him in school for being asthmatic. Running at school had been something they'd all taken with pride. Annabeth was the fastest in her class. Magnus… was most certainly not.
But he made up for it by knowing how to stop bloody noses and patch up scrapes and get inconvenient splinters out from under fingernails. He was incredible at it.
Not to mention his gardening had a surprisingly green thumb.
It wasn't something he particularly boasted about, but he was amazing when he was given the opportunity to garden.
Or when he managed to help rid her neighbor's goat of worms and strange lumps. There was just something about him that was good with that kind of stuff.
In all honesty, Annabeth was jealous of him for that. But she was more proud that he could do that. And he was better at it than anyone else.
So, when he was bandaging Percy's leg, making sure it was usable until… well… something happened to either of them, she couldn't help but feel her heart swell in adoration for him. This was the Magnus she wanted the Capitol to see. This was the Magnus that everyone ignored. This was the Magnus she knew could be the real him.
His teasing Percy at every opportunity was just the sugar on top.
"...and done," he said, looking over the leg one more time to make sure he had done everything he could with the supplies they shared.
No doubt the Capitol had something that would help Percy heal quickly, but they would be denied that until the very last possible moment. Either they would have to be amongst the last surviving — which they were getting close to, there were only five of them now — or… or Magnus would have to die.
She shook away that thought as she watched them bond over stupid things. They managed to get a few hours of sleep. In that time, the Capitol 1 guy's remaining Career pack members found his body before it was carried off by an aircraft. They decided to split up at that point. May the best man win. Yay!
The next morning it was rainy, forcing the pair to find a more permanent shelter in an uninhabited cave. Or maybe it was a den. She didn't want to think about what those Careers had done to those wolves quite yet.
It was a slow day for the Capitol. The rain made things difficult for the Tributes and the Gamemakers. There always seemed to be a slow day in the arena.
She was glad for it, as the boys mostly rested for the first time. Although, they had very little food, and she was certain she heard their stomachs growl on more than one occasion. Neither of them said anything, though. They both knew what it was like to go without food.
She hoped the Capitol would have some kind of sympathy. This kind of camaraderie between districts? Well, not unheard of, but these two were the youngest in their game and the longest to survive under their circumstances in many, many years.
It was rare that someone under the age of fifteen won. Sure, there was the occasional fourteen year old — mostly the most obnoxious people from the Career districts, but anyone younger barely survived more than a couple of days.
She prayed that someone would send them something but no.
Actually, now that she thought about it, people seemed a bit more reluctant to give gifts this year. She wondered at the reason for that. Did they not like the competitors? Were they holding off for something big and grand to happen closer to the end?
She hoped not.
Still, the day wore on, turning into night.
The next morning, a red sunrise painted the sky a vicious hue. It had to have been foreshadowing for what was to come.