The Capitol Games

Chapter 50

Laython's scream comes again, as I tear through the woods.

"No!" He yells, his voice getting louder as I race to him. "Help!"

"Laython!" I call out. "Laython!"

"Help!" Comes his voice again, this time even more panicked.

I can my heart pounding as I push my legs to go faster. Something is obviously wrong. Zora should be with him, but I can't hear her.

Then I finally see him.

He's tied to a tree, that has berry bushes clustered around it. He's struggling desperately to break free of the rope that holds him.

"Laython!" I yell again, still running.

He whips his head in my direction, and his sweaty face turns frantic.

"Lian help her!" He screams. "Help Zora!"

And then I see Zora.

She's a dark figure, in the middle of a sea of descending silver parachutes. She's holding one in her hands, and throws it with all her might towards Laython.

It's a green parachute that lands near Laython's feet, but he all but ignores it. "Get out!" He yells at Zora. "Get out!"

I raise my bow, and shoot at one of the parachutes that's near Zora. The force from the arrow sends it sailing away from her, but it's no use. There are about thirty parachutes all around her.

I take out another arrow and shoot it. The futility of it is not lost to me, so I take off running towards her and Laython again.

But then the parachutes start going off. Blue flashes begin to fill the air, and Zora starts zigzagging through them. One explodes into a pearly white fog right infront of her, and she screams. From where I am, I can't make out what happens to her, but push myself to run faster. I can't lose another ally, I can't lose Zora. I won't.

There are loud bangs one after another as the parachutes go off. Zora falls again and again, and gets hit with blades, and white fog, and green acid, but keeps stumbling through the fog of the parachutes.

Laython finally claws out his bindings, and bolts blindly towards her.

My lips just form his name, but it's too late.

One parachute explodes right in front of Zora in a blinding flash of orange.

I get thrown to the ground. A hundred meters ahead of me, Laython does too. A cannon goes off. My stomach drops. My legs and arms shake as push myself up, and start to stumble towards where Laython is lying.

But then there's a snap and a click behind me. What ever gnarled instincts I have left throws me behind a tree, just as a gunshot rings near my ear.

There's only one weapon that could have made that sound.

"So close," comes Jett's cool, hard voice.

Fear rises up in me so fast and hard that my hands actually shake. There's a ringing in my ears from the gunshot. My heart hammers off-kilter, and my hands slip on my bow.

Focus.

I take a deep breath. This is it. This is it.

The pine leaves crunch behind me as Jett approaches. The parachutes that were around Zora continue to go off. From where he's standing, Jett can't see Laython.

I take another deep breath. I need to get rid of that gun. I don't stand a change otherwise. I quietly draw a knife from my boot, and flip it in my hand. The cool metal of the blade calms me down just slightly. I hold the knife hilt out towards my shoulder. Then I carefully move it out from behind the tree.