Deadly Game - Chapter 22

Hey, sorry that I'm not so active right now, but we have a week off from school, and I'm at my 'summerhouse', which means our internet connection sucks!!! (And it also means that I'm forced to go outside and do stuff with my family all the time - taking walks, ice skating, snowball-fight....)

So, I'm trying to upload, but I'm sorry if I'm not able to answer your comments :( I'll do it when I get home...

That's Blondie - a.k.a. Willa, D1 in pic

<3 Anna

Chapter 22

I sit by the cave, and wince as Axara carefully wraps a new bandage around my shoulder. It's healing – but it hurts.

I describe what happened to me, and they sigh loudly.

"What?"

"You just can't keep yourself out of trouble, can you, Cassie?" Faith says.

"Umm... apparently not." I shake my head.

"Well, you can be happy to survive that. You seem to have good sponsors," Axara comments, and I make a face as pain once again shoots through my shoulder-blade.

"Ow," slips from my lips, and Axara immediately keeps still until the wave of pain has disappeared.

"Sorry, Cassie. I'll be more careful."

"No, it's okay. It's deep, that's it. You can't do anything. Just get it over with." I grit my teeth as she keeps wrapping.

The sharp sound of a cannon startles us all, and Axara moves to quickly.

I bite my lip to stop myself from screaming out in pain.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry..."

"Just get it over with," I say again.

"I wonder who that was," Faith says, obviously trying to distract me from the pain.

I do, too. Hopefully not Andie.

No, it can't be Andie, since the cannon was so far away. He can't have made it that far from here yet. But really, I need to stop thinking about it. He'll have to die anyway, so what's the point in caring? I'll only hurt myself in the end.

Yeah, what's the point?

The point is that he doesn't deserve to die. Not many people here deserves to die. Okay, maybe Rino and the Careers, but, in the end, they are people too. They have feelings, families...

I force the thoughts out of my head. I can't afford to think like that.

In the games, you need to be selfish.

But there's a line you can't cross...

The line between not being able to feel, and to feel, but reject your feelings.

That's what Andie said.

I'm not heartless.

Axara finishes bandaging my shoulder-blade, and I rise, deciding to check what's in the silver parachute.

I find a water-bottle, a piece of soap, some food, a flashlight, some matches, a thin thread, a little container with poison, and a long, pointed object, that looks like a big needle. It's sharp, and made out of a shiny metal.

I weigh it in my hand, then hand it to Faith, along with the poison.

"That's your weapon," I say. "It's not heavy, and it's short enough for you to handle. The poison makes even one scratch deadly."

Faith inspects it.

"While talking about scratches, Cassie, maybe you should clean up yours," Axara says, pointing to my face.

My hand shoots up to touch my cheek, and comes back red of blood. Dried blood, though.

I search the first-aid pack for a tissue, then dip it into the stream and carefully wipe my face. The knife only grazed the skin, and it's not deep, so I don't bother doing anything else but spraying some sterilizing liquid on it.

Another cannon sounds.

"Many dead today," Axara says.

Faith and I hum our agreement. I start putting away things from the parachute. My gaze lands on the soap.

"I don't know about you guys, but I feel kind of dirty?"

They nod eagerly.

We strip down to our underwear, one at a time, and bathe in the stream. The others keep watch and wash the clothes of the one bathing, if they need to be washed.

I start, and the water is cold as ice. Still, I force myself to stay there, and soap every centimeter of me – I hate being dirty. I wash my hair properly, then give the soap to Faith who is washing my coat.

My coat is soaked with blood, and the knife tore up a big hole in the shoulder. When Faith has removed the blood, Axara fixes it somehow with the thread we got from the District 12 boy, and a needle from the first-aid package. I stare at it as it dries inside the cave, close enough to the fire.

"How did you do that?"

Axara looks amused. "District 8, textile, remember?"

I shake my head in wonder. My coat looks almost whole again. Then the cold attacks me as I stand there in my wet underwear, so I hurry to the small fire, warming and drying myself.

After me, it's Faith's turn to wash herself, and I keep watch as Axara washes her clothes. When Faith also has dried herself and her clothes enough to dress, she stands by the bushes, carefully scanning the area for signs of danger. Though I doubt she'll see any.

The other tributes are probably quite much on the other side of the Arena, and since it's been three deaths today, I don't think the Gamemakers will harass us either.

I wash Axara's clothes. They're full of dried blood, too, my blood. Faith only had stains, but Axara has been playing nurse, so she's been in way more contact with my wounds than Faith.

When we're all dry and clean, we sit down, and eat.

I check how much food we have left, and it's not much. Well, whatever. We'll have to hunt soon anyway.

After the meal – which I may call a late lunch – we just sit by the fire, absentmindedly staring into the flames, everyone in their own world.

I wish I could talk with Evan or Riccy, or maybe even Will. Just someone who isn't in this mess, someone who can see it quite clearly from the outside. Denlay, I think. She's so calm and understanding, so smart. I want to talk with the ones that understand me completely.

A wave of longing washes through me.

My family... what I'd do to see them again.

Suddenly, I remember the seashell-necklace around my neck.

"And when you feel like you have no hope left, then touch the number four..."

My hand reaches out, hesitantly, and I grab the necklace. My thumb runs along the edges of the seashell, but I don't touch the number four. It's not time yet.

Instead, I run my fingers over the sliver chain, playing with it, while once again imagining the faces of my friends and family, re-living old happy memories.

We keep the fire burning as the evening comes closer. I see a silvery full moon, and know that it's soon time to see who has died.

Yesterday the clouds were too thick to see anything, but today I can even see the stars. I suddenly wonder who the person was that died yesterday, the one who' s face will never meet our eyes again.

Maybe I'll never know.

The anthem sounds, and I shudder as faces appear.

First the boy from 12.

Then the boy from 7.

The last picture surprises me.

It's Blondie.

I delete her from my mental list of living tributes. Dead: Willa, District 1, Day 3.

Her beautiful face can be seen for a few seconds, and I watch the blonde, almost white hair and the blue eyes until they disappear.

Another threat gone.

I shake my head, and wonder what killed her.

We decide the shifts, and I offer to take the first again. I need to be alone, and think.

We say goodnight, and they go inside the cave, trying to catch some sleep. I position myself quite close to the fire, and stick my two knives into my belt. I reach for the third, and curse when I realize it's probably still stuck in the calf of the twelve boy.

Instead I grab the bow and quiver. I've never tried archery, but how hard can it be?

I turn my face up towards the moon, a perfect circle in the black sky, surrounded by stars.

Stars... An old memory pops up. Dad and I used to watch stars. He would teach me the names of the formations. How could I forget?

I watch these stars, try to see if I remember.

Yes, I do.

The familiar groups of stars form the same patterns, and I remember the stories Dad told me about each one, so it would be easier to remember them.

I listen to the sounds of the night.

When it's time for Faith's shift, and I curl up inside my sleeping bag, it's colder. The temperature seems to drop quickly at night.

I close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.

I see a movement by the rocks, see a quick flash of blonde hair shimmer in the sunlight.

"Melli, I see you, by the rocks!" I scream, and run my fastest to the circle we drew in the sand. I hear Melli leaving her hiding-place and panting as she tries to beat me to the circle.

I reach it first, jumping inside, and say triumphantly,

"Melli-Pearl in the seashell!"

Melli pouts and moves to stand in the circle.

"It's unfair, you're so fast, Cassie!"

I laugh. We're playing a game we call 'seashell'. One of us closes her eyes, – she's the seashell – and counts to 30 while the others hide. Then the seashell has to find them, and run to the circle before them. She 'locks' them inside by saying their name, then 'Pearl in the seashell'.

If Melli, for example, would have beat me to the circle, she'd have to scream, 'Melli-Pearl safe!', and then stand in the circle until everyone is found, or someone frees her. My job is to lock everyone inside without any of them running to the circle and saying, 'All Pearls freed!'. If someone does, I have to start counting again. If I find everyone, the one I found first – Melli – will be the seashell the next round.

I start searching again, and soon both Willow and Pearly are locked.

I run to lock Will, and beat him easily. Then I start searching for Riccy. He's the best hider of us, and the second best runner – after me – so he's hard to catch. I back slowly away from the circle, keeping my eyes wide open. I catch a glimpse of Riccy among the small cluster of bushes, and he meets my eyes. A challenge.

My bare feet hit the sand as I run fast to the circle. I see Riccy leave his hiding-place, and soon he's running, too.

We run side by side, and I know I'm faster. I add some speed, spurt to the circle, leaving Riccy behind.

My foot hits the sand in the circle.

"Riccy-Pearl in the seashell!"

I turn to face him, and see him running at full speed towards me. He doesn't stop in front of me, but runs straight into me, tripping me to the ground. I laugh, and he starts tickling me.

"You're too fast for your own good, Cassie-girl!"

"Stop, stop!" I half laugh, half scream.

Eventually he stops, and helps me up. I smile at him, and he smiles back.

Suddenly his face changes into fear, and I'm not on the beach anymore. A seventeen year old Riccy stands in front of me, his face full of fear, and I'm confused. Two seconds ago he looked like he was twelve, so I'm pretty sure I look like fifteen now, not ten anymore.

A dark and dangerous forest surrounds us.

"Run, Cassie, run!" Riccy screams, then suddenly disappears. I turn around, frantically searching for him.

"Riccy? Riccy!"

"Run, Cassie!" I hear his voice, and it seems to come from nowhere.

Fear takes over my body, and I run. I don't know where I'm heading – I just stumble forward. Suddenly Evan is by my side, also looking afraid. He grabs my hand, forcing me to run faster.

"Come on, Cass, we need to get out of here!"

I run with him, and suddenly I hear an explosion behind me, and the ground shakes. I scream as more and more explosions sound behind us.

"Riccy! We need to save him!" I fight Evan's grip, but his hand is clenched around mine, and I can't shake him off me.

"We need to flee, Cass!"

"But Riccy!"

"It's too late to save him, Cassidy! It's too late!"

I run with Evan, my face wet of tears as the world keeps exploding around us.

I wake up, panting and sweating, a scream ready on my lips.

A single tear runs down my cheek.

It was just a nightmare.