One Last Game -Haymitch Abernathy-

Chapter 37

Amelia felt better now that all the bumps were gone. There was no more pain or discomfort. She stayed in the water, using the water to clean her face. Peeta had stepped out to use the spile to get water. Katniss and Finnick were close by.

"I'm sorry," Katniss broke the silence. "About Mags."

Amelia kept her eyes on the water. "She was never going to make it." It was a sad but true fact. Mags did what she had to do. There's a silence. Amelia continued to scrub her hands in the water. "Amelia," Finnick whispers after a moment.

She looks up at him just as Katniss grabs an arrow. The girl is on high alert immediately. Following Katniss's line of sight, she sees monkeys. There are several. Amelia grips her machete tightly and slowly pushes off the ground. They're surrounded by them. They're in the trees and on the ground.

Finnick slowly picks up his trident. He's careful not to alarm the creatures. They're mutts sent by the Capitol. Amelia keeps her weapon pointed outwards. The sun is starting to rise and gives them more light. It helps show how many of the creatures there are. "Peeta."

"Yeah." He's hunched over a tree.

"Walk over here very slowly." That alarms him. The blonde looks up to see a monkey inches away from his face. It roars, and Peeta stumbles backward. He moves towards them in the water, but the monkeys follow. So far, none of them have attacked. Amelia has no idea what they are waiting for.

The group of four is significantly outnumbered. If a fight breaks out, they don't have much of a chance. Amelia wasn't sure what to do. She was prepared to fight other Tributes, but not a pack of mutant monkeys. Her skills with a machete were good but not good enough to take on twenty monkeys.

The monkeys roared. "We need to get to the beach." Amelia could see the beach from where they were. It wasn't far, but it wasn't close either.

They were getting closer. Amelia wasn't sure what to do. Finnick was closest to her, but Katniss and Peeta were only a few feet away.

A monkey jumped towards Katniss, but Peeta hit it with his machete. That started the fight. Amelia swung her weapon as a monkey leaped towards her. Katniss began firing her arrows, and Finnick wielded his trident.

Amelia was supposed to keep Katniss safe, but that was hard right now. Everything was happening so quickly. She buried the machete into the skull of a monkey. The girl ducked as another jumped at her. She barely had time to get the machete out of the second monkey before the third attacked.

Another came up from behind and pushed her forward. Amelia managed to turn and slice the animal's legs. She then brought the weapon down on its head.

Katniss had been forced under the water. Luckily, Peeta was able to help. "We need to get to the beach."

"Go," Amelia screamed. Katniss and Peeta needed to get to safety. 

The older girl stayed, wanting to take down as many monkeys as possible. Finnick pulls his trident out of a creature. "Come on." He forced Amelia to follow. If he didn't, he feared she would have stayed.

Amelia began running after Peeta and Katniss but didn't make it far. The monkeys are faster and spread throughout the jungle. Grabbing one of the throwing knives, she throws it at a monkey chasing after Katniss. Finnick cries out as a monkey pounces on him.

Amelia doesn't think about her next actions. She just reacts. The machete pierces through the monkey. Amelia pulls it out and kicks the creature off of Finnick. "Thanks."

She doesn't bother with a response. Amelia looks back to see Peeta and Katniss dragging someone. She has no idea who it is, but it doesn't matter. All she can focus on was taking down as many of the mutant monkeys as possible.