Deadly Game - Chapter 28

Heya!! So, this is actually two really short chappys combined! You'll see where I was about to stop... but anyway, I have two songs to go with this chap. For the first part, Nightingale by Rachel Macwhirter. For the second part, Eyes Wide Open by Taylor Swift.

Eyes wide open ----> (Notice the lyrics)

Please, if you have the time, go listen to Nightingale too!

<3 Anna

Chapter 28

To my relief she isn't dead. She's just unconscious.

The situation is kind of funny. It's my second ally in the time of three days that I find unconscious. But I find nothing to laugh about at all.

The first thing I check when reaching Axara is her pulse, of course, and it is there. Weak, but there. A slight warm breath hits my hand when I hold it over her mouth.

It seems like she's been under water too long, not getting air.

I swear. Then I start dragging her to the shore. She's heavy. I haven't noticed my own clothes or my backpack, 'cause I've swam with clothes on before, and these are a special kind – they don't suck up the water like sponges – the droplets just drip off the fabric. So I'm soaked, but my clothes, boots and backpack are completely dry.

Lovely.

Somehow I manage to fight the strong current and reach the shore – I think I'm running on pure adrenaline right now. It's a wonder I get her and myself safely out of the water. I pull her up on the sand of the beach, lay her down. I don't worry about the Careers – they're on the other side of the river, and if they don't already know a good place to cross, they won't be coming here anytime soon.

Or, should I say, he isn't coming here anytime soon.

Marco is the only remaining Career, 'cause I'm pretty sure it was Clarie's cannon I heard. A wonder she managed to hang on for so long, 'cause my knife hit her pretty bad. And Drew is definitely dead. No one survives an ax thrown into the stomach like that, and with that force.

The tributes remaining are me, Andie, Marco, Swan and Axara. Only five of us.

Four, soon, if I don't do something quick. The problem is, I don't know what to do.

At that moment, Axara starts coughing.

I help her up, and watch in horror as water mixed with blood leaves her mouth. So it's as I guessed. She has water in her lungs, and probably inner damage.

My heart sinks.

I'm no surgeon. I can't do anything for her.

I'm going to lose her, too.

"Cassie?" Axara chokes out, and I pat her back slightly.

"It's me, Ax, it's me." I don't recognize my voice. It's so frail, so... broken.

I can barely hold in the tears. My hands are shaking, and I fight to keep them steady as I remove the wet hair from her face.

"Don't leave me."

"I won't," I promise her. She smiles slightly, then starts coughing blood again. I take a parachute from my backpack, and wipe her mouth with the sliver-colored fabric. The parachute is immediately drenched with blood. She's hit a rock, I think, and something inside her is broken.

I hold her hand.

"Please..." She starts, trying with weak fingers to remove the golden chain around her neck. I help her take it off. She drops it in my palm. "Take this... bigger one for you..." She starts coughing again, and I use the parachute to remove the blood.

"Smaller... Mailey.... Tell her I love her and Eriza... and mum...dad." She looks at me, her eyes pleading.

"I will."

"Thank you, Cassie... love you... sister. Win... for me and Faith... promise?"

"I promise I will try my best to win. I love you too, Ax, sister. "

"Good...bye..." She chokes out, her last breaths labored, and her greenish eyes meet mine. Then she sighs, and her eyes become glassy. A cannon fires.

"Goodbye," I whisper to no one. Ax has left me. I am alone.

I lower her onto the ground.

I don't know for how long I kneel by the corpse.

I just sit there, my eyes closed. I'm unable to move as my brain tries to realize what has happened. Again.

************

"It's snow," Axara says, dipping her shoe into the white stuff, kicking at it.

I cautiously step inside, the cold hitting me almost immediately. Snow. Something I never thought I'd see. It's way too warm in District 4 for snow. The only thing coming down from the sky there is rain.

I walk a few steps into the room, the snow crunching under my feet as the fake wind whips snowflakes into my face. The almost sharp dots hit my skin, and I smile. It's exiting to see new things – that's the only thing positive about being reaped.

I pick up some snow, see it melting in my hand, watching the pretty patterns of the flakes. Ice-cold water from the melting snow runs down my hand, and I let it all fall back. I see Axara doing almost the same thing as I, watching and feeling the snow.

I suddenly get an idea, and scoop up a handful of snow. Then I throw it straight into Axara's face.

"Ah!" She screams as the cold hits her face. "You little monster!"

She wiped the snow from her, eyes, and prepares to throw back, but I'm already running into the cluster of big spruces, hiding from the snow she tries to get in my face.

She chases me, and I prepare myself to throw more snow.

"Come out, you little evil creature!" She laughs, pretending to be mad, and failing miserably. I hide behind a big spruce, and wait for her to run into me. Instead I get a mass of snow down my neck, the wet, cold liquid running down my back. I squeal and turn to face Axara, but she's running already.

Laughing I follow her.

We hide behind the spruces, chasing each other, and throwing snow. Soon we realize that it's easier to throw if you form the snow into a ball, and our snow-ball fight starts.

I think I win – throwing knives mean I have a good aim, but Axara is quite fast.

In the middle of this mess, we forget who we are, where we are, and what awaits us. We laugh and have fun, like friends.

****************

I stare at the snow that is stained with blood, Axara's blood.

It hits me that I'm all alone now. No allies to keep my back. I have no one left here.

I just want to go home, get away from all of this, disappear to the better place in the song I sang for Faith, fly like a bird. Leave all this death and pain behind.

But I can't escape. I'm meant to do this. Axara was never. She wasn't really prepared like I am, she had skills in other areas. We were both forced into this, without equal chances to survive.

I have to keep my promise, I have to win. I'll do it for them. For the children who's lives the Capitol stole.

I'm strong, and I know no one can force me into anything from now on. I will not give in. I'm walking my own path, making them pay for killing Axara as entertainment.

I'm not backing down anymore, not hiding. This is who I am, and who I want to be.

They can't play with me anymore.

I'm free.

I'm watched all the time, I know it.

Like predators they sit by their TV's, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for me to break down, to show them I'm just another weak girl in the games.

But I won't give them the pleasure of that.

I'm such a new person now. The games have changed me. I've found who I am, realized how cruel this world really is. I'm not a naive small child anymore. I can't keep pretending everything's fine, when it isn't. This isn't a world anyone deserves to live in. It needs to change.

And I'm going to be a part of those who change it.

One step ahead.

Immediately my head jerks up, I open my closed eyes. My gaze flickers around me, searching for threats, and I'm on guard again.

Every death in here is a lesson. Faith's was the fact that even when you believe you are safe – you aren't. Julily's meant that there's no helping everyone, that so many are already out of my reach. Drew's told me that to achieve your goal, you sometimes need to sacrifice something. Even your life.

Axara's told me that the unexpected happens, that surprises comes when you're not prepared. So you need to be on alert all the time.

And every lesson I've learned has left a new scar inside me, a reminder.

But still, here I am, and I'm not going to give up. They probably never thought I'd make it, but I will. I'm stronger now.

Even though I'm alone. The Capitol's presence is all around me, but it doesn't scare me anymore. I know I'm on live TV, and I have a manuscript I'm supposed to follow. But I'm not doing that. No, I'm changing the rules.

Nobody will save me if I fail, so I will just need to succeed.

I have what they don't – I have love. The Capitol has power, has discipline, has ways to force people. Threats. But love wins over hate in the end, always.

I do what I did for Faith. I clean her up, leave the bracelet on. I slip the chain with two lockets around my neck. I fix the tangles in her hair, wash her face, rub snow on her coat to get rid of the blood.

Then she's ready.

I kiss her forehead, and step back. Then I remember what she did to Faith, and melt snow in my hand to paint a cross on her forehead.

"Goodbye," I whisper, keeping my eyes clear of tears. Then I slide my fingers down to close her eyelids over her eyes, and decide that now that they are closed, mine will be open.

Forever on guard.

Then I back from her body. Her backpack is already in my hand, so she's free from weight.

I move away, leave, go to the edge of the forest. Once again, I hear a bird's warning sound, and the hover-craft appears. They pick her up. She looks like a sleeping angel as they transport her body up into the hover-craft. Snowflakes surround her, fall into her blonde hair.

I press my fist to my heart, say a silent goodbye.

She's gone now, also physically.

I climb into a tree with my backpacks, wait. The faces in the sky contain Drew, Clarie and Axara.

Four of us left now.

Me, Marco, Andie and Swan.

The night goes dark, but I do not rest. I stay on guard, ready to act due to potential danger, keep my eyes open all night. My heart beats steadily in my chest – I'm not afraid anymore. I'm just going to get this whole thing over with. I keep my bow in my hands, arrow ready.

I've got one goal.

Winning.