To Save a Victor

Chapter 13

The next few days were filled with an overwhelming amount of stress. Ariel managed to stay alive, staying with the career pack which had picked up Peeta somewhere along the way. Her and Cato clashed violently but neither seemed to want to kill the other. Blood was shed, but death never came. The days began to blur together until the only thing I knew was the blue light of the screen. 

Katniss Everdeen was still alive, somehow surviving on her own. Finnick brought me some dinner while I watched the Careers move through the woods. The Capitol view camera gave me the first sighting of Katniss Everdeen we had had in at least a day. She was hunkered down in a tree or would it be hunkered up? I could barley hear myself think over Cato's loud whoops and hollers, calling for any tributes who dared to come challenge him. Ariel smacked him on the arm and Glimmer shot her the stink eye. A bad feeling crept up on me as they approached the base of Katniss's tree. Clove, the small girl from 2 saw her and yelled. From there they all took turns trying to climb the tree. All of their attempts to flush her out were in vain so they turned to catcalling, shouting insults. Finally that seemed to boar them and they began to set up camp. Ariel was the last person left at the tree. Her cold blue eyes flashed in anger as she glared up at Katniss.

 "You're the reason no one thinks I'm going to win." she bared her teeth, and kicked the tree, like it was going to harm the girl sitting atop it's branches. 

Then her name was called from the camp and she turned away from the tree. They left Peeta on guard and the rest of the pack slept. My view flew in to the tree to Katniss who seemed to be talking to someone. It took me a while to see the little girl, Rue, I thought her name was. She was pointing to something on the branch above Katniss. 

A tracker jacker nest.

 Nasty things, if I had the choice I would choose the giant scorpions from my games. At least you could outrun them and fight them if need be. Also tracker jackers could fly. Katniss began scooting towards the nest using the branch above her to support her while she sawed on the branch attached to the nest. I knocked myself out of my daze and clicked the keys on my board, sending a parachute in an attempt to wake Ariel up. I was hoping it would hit her on the head or something but it landed about a foot away from her. Peeta picked up my gift. Some rolls from District 4. He read the note attached to it. 

"I would get out of there". He looked around trying to see where the threat was. He was making his way over to Ariel when the nest fell.

Peeta's eyes widened and he sprinted away as the nest exploded like a terrible piñata. Jackers went everywhere. Ariel was the first one up, the movement drew the bugs towards her and they swarmed her. Screams echoed through the clearing as the rest of them tried to run. Cato and Clove got away unharmed leaving Glimmer and Ariel to take the brunt of the stings. Ariel fell to the ground convulsing, her once bright blue eyes clouded with the hallucinations she screamed again before her body stopped moving and the cannon boomed flowed closely by Glimmer's. 

Words flashed across my screen, "Tribute deceased... Game over..." District 4 would not have a repeat winner this year.

I packed up my stuff and went back to the tribute center. The first thing I did was throw my sweatpants and sweatshirt on the floor and turned on the shower. I watched the steam rise around my feet as the hot water pounded me on the back. I undid my hair and felt the water's heat lessen as my hair became the barrier. 

"Damn It!" 

I hit the shower wall, the impact stung my hand. I my head dropped into my hands, if I was going to cry about it, this was the place. I was supposed to do this year after year. Watch innocent kids die, over and over. The worst part about it all was the fleeting hope that one of them would make it out. It was part of the cruelty of the games. A false hope dangled in front of the whole country like a dog bone. I turned the water off and just stood there for a moment counting the drips of water off my fingers. Once I composed myself I stepped out into the burst of warm air that dried me, my hair fell like a dark, shiny, curtain across my back. I dug around in the drawers for some real clothes coming up with a dark red sweater and jeans. I pulled them on and made my way to the dining room, I grabbed a roll before heading back to the elevator. When it opened I was greeted by Finnick. 

"Beatty! Where were you?"

 "I came back to shower and then I was coming back."

 "Why did you leave your tribute?" he snapped.

 "She's dead Finnick." I snapped back harder 

"She is?" his voice softened in surprise. 

"Yeah, Everdeen dropped a tracker jacker nest on them." 

Finnick winced before speaking again. "Snow's onto us." 

I almost dropped my roll.

 "You don't say."

 He nodded, 

"Can we talk about this later?" I asked. 

 He nodded and I slipped into the elevator. 

"Thanks Fin."

"No problem Beatty." Then the elevator doors snapped closed. 

I hung around the control room for a few hours at a time taking shifts for the others but I took a weight off of Haymitch's shoulders by volunteering to watch Peeta. Katniss and him were holed up in a cave while the rain pounded down around them. Earlier a rule change had been made, two tributes could win if they were from the same district. That meant there could either be a pair from 2 or 12. Chess had his hands full watching Clove and sometimes Cato. Finnick and I had both tried to relieve him from his post but he refused. I knew that he wanted her to win so badly, it was so close he could almost taste it. After being turned down several times I stopped offering but instead brought him coffee and food. 

Peeta wasn't doing so good. Haymitch had left to catch a quick shower and I was left to watch both of his tributes. I wasn't sure why he was trusting me with both of their lives but he did and I wasn't going to let him down. Peeta had blood poisoning in his leg where Cato had stabbed him a few days earlier. I figured a feast was coming, it had better be because they didn't have enough sponsor money to buy the medicine that would stop the blood poisoning or anything that would make a dent in it. Within the next hour a feast was announced, to take place the next morning. Peeta protested Katniss's going and she halfheartedly agreed but she looked up, as if asking for help. I had already sent them some soup but I scanned the products available and found what I was looking for. Knock out juice it was jokingly called in 4. We used it when we got sick and couldn't sleep or to ease a suffering death.  One spoonful of that should knock him out long enough for Katniss to get out and back from the feast. I sent it. It was fairly expensive but I hoped Haymitch would understand. It landed outside of the cave and Katniss grabbed it and darted back into the cave, out of the driving rain. She opened it and her eyes lit up in recognition. I smiled as she curled up next to Peeta the bottle of medicine tucked under her arm. 

Well look at that... I am still alive! I am so sorry for the late update! I had it all written up and ready a few days ago but then I got in a little wreck and got a concussion so I couldn't edit this chapter without getting a nasty headache. But I'm alright now and I will do my very best to update more frequently. I hope you love this chapter! Its really starting to get exciting now!

All the love❤

Buckaroobelle