Anyway.......
Day 11
Quiro Irascan
District 2
Chailyn smiles. The mist has not given way. How this is good I don't know. "Why are you smiling?" I ask. She looks at me. "The Gamemakers have cut off the swamp. They're forcing us together." I stare at her. "Isn't that bad?" I ask. She laughs. "Bad? No. We can eliminate them all in one strike." And then what? I think.
But I know. Chailyn'll kill me. She's a cold blooded killer, with no qualms about anything. Her conscience is either extremely small or nonexistent. I think it's the latter. "So, should we find them?" I ask. She nods. "Whoever we find first, those two lovebirds or the little kid." I snicker at her calling Alec and Stella 'lovebirds.' Chailyn had mentioned during her interview that she liked making fun of people.
"It'll be a lot less more trouble thanks to the Gamemakers," I say. She snorts. "Duh. And you were the one who kept on wheezing when Thurmal was 'leading' this party. He never was. I was." I nod. I had known that all along. If we'd followed all Thurmal's instructions, we'd all be dead. "So let's go," I say.
She nods, and runs off. While we're running, I flashback to my encounter with Ilio Vazon, AKA Odyseus Orcon. No matter what I say, matter what I am. The encounter had brought back memories, memories of my childhood. I remember being out on the deck when I saw a man with graying hair and a black coat running through the city.
I had heard Peacekeepers shouting, so I had known this man was wanted. He'd slipped inside Odyseus's house, closing the door. The Peacekeepers had seen him, and followed him. I heard screams inside the house, and then I'd seen Odyseus running out. He kept on looking back behind him, as if afraid the Peacekeepers were after him too.
After this, I saw the man from before running out of the house, followed by gunfire from the Peacekeepers. They came out and surrounded him. He was breathing heavily. Then, the gun was out of the man's sleeve, and killed the Peacekeepers. He then scampered off, in the direction of the exit to District 2. The Capitol's official version of the event was that the man, who they refused to name, had entered his house and shot them all dead.
I knew better than that. So when my father (who was high up in the district) went to meet with the mayor about some issue, I followed. I watched from the window as they talked. I'd seen a file, with the man's picture on it, and part of his name was showing. Sol- Then I had to duck because the mayor turned to look my way. The punishment for breaking curfew was whipping.
Rela had confronted me about it years later. She'd pieced together bits of the story from who knows what, she's like Chailyn in that way, and threatened to tell. This happened to be during the reaping for the 21st Hunger Games. Before she could tell Dad, she was called. Rela was known as violent and as a bully. Nobody cared to take her place.
So imagine my surprise when my brother, who I actually liked, was called up. I had so wanted to take his place, but I had a feeling that Rela might kill me. My secret died with her in the Arena. I remember something else from that night where Odyseus's family was destroyed. The man, who I now call Sol, had told me something.
"Thirteen is not unlucky." The statement had been so random, that I had been shocked. Then he had scampered off. I had always wondered about that, but I'd never figured it out. I am cut off by my thoughts by Chailyn raising her hand. We've reached them. We don't see them, but we can see two tents. Stella appears to be on guard.
Chailyn pulls out her bow, and notches an arrow. She aims at Stella, and then releases. Fast as lightning, she dodges to the right, and the arrow flies into the swamp. "You," she says. Chailyn smiles. "Me." She fires another arrow, which Stella doges, and then pulls out her machete.
She yells for Alec to get up, and he does, and grabs his sword. I pull out my sword. I strike at him. He blocks the stroke, and returns with his own. We go on for maybe a minute, until he somehow manages to disarm me, and positions his sword at my throat. "Stop!" he yells at the dueling pair of Stella and Chailyn.
They stop fighting, seeing that I'm at his mercy. Chailyn sheaths her knife, and smiles. "Surrender," says Alec. "We won't harm you." Chailyn barks out a laugh. "Yeah right. This is the Hunger Games, nimrod. And nimrod you are." Before Alec can do anything, she flicks her knife, and it impales itself an Stella's chest. Alec's face changes, and he's about to kill me when Chailyn flicks her other knife, sending it spinning his sword out of his hands.
She dives for the knife in Stella's chest, and I take my chance to dive out of the way. Alec howls and charges toward Chailyn, with no weapon. I easily step in front of him, sword drawn. He stops, and then backs up, as if expecting me to advance on him. "Kill him then," Chailyn says. I look at Alec. "Leave," I say, and he obliges, picking up his sword, and runs.
Chailyn looks at me strangely. Was that the right thing to do? No matter what I say, matter what I am. GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I fall to the ground, seething. Then, an eerie calm comes over me. I have accepted on fact. I was never meant to live. I am going to die.