Firecracker: The 99th Games Book One

Arena, Day 11 Part 4

It was a grueling series of fights. No one gave as the rebels battled the Careers in a showdown that slowly wore all of them to the brink of exhaustion.

And then...a turning point.

Adel's rapid attacks brought her into the midst of a muddy puddle. Her foot slipping, she kicked mud over at Laurel, and the murky water happened to splash into Laurel's eye. Laurel recoiled with a cry, just long enough for Marco to seize the opportunity and thrust his sword at her shoulder. Levi, his attention snatched, started to aim at Marco, but this time Hinata acted first; his final arrow sailed through the air and pierced right into Levi's side, just at his hip joint.

Levi cried out in pain, doubling over. Alert, Laurel looked over and ran to his side, horrified.

"Levi!" she cried. "Are you okay...?! Sh*t, sh*t, h-hang on, I'll fix this...!"

Marco stared at her, slowly lowering his swords.

Forgetting her two enemies, Laurel carefully lowered Levi to the ground, fumbling for one of the Careers' backpacks. "It's okay, you're gonna be okay, I'll find the bandages! Y-you're the smart one, you gotta tell me how to do this...!"

Levi nodded, gratefully clinging to Laurel's arm. Marco stared at them, expression wavering.

Faqir blew past him, lifting his sword and poised to stab Laurel through the back. Marco gasped, racing over to slip between the two.

"Wait!"

Faqir slid in the mud as he tried to stop, nearly crashing into Marco. Laurel turned to look over her shoulder and hissed viciously at Faqir, reaching for her spear. Marco turned to her instead, frantically waving his swords.

"Wait, stop!" he begged. "Hold on! Don't hurt her!"

Laurel froze, staring up at him. She cradled Levi closer protectively as Faqir backed away and lowered his sword, confused. Even Adel had stopped attacking for a moment, watching her allies warily. She and Piero panted with exhaustion, eyeing each other.

Marco looked between Laurel and Levi...then tossed his swords to the side. Laurel watched him, narrowing her eyes.

"Marco, what are you doing?!" Piero hissed.

"Trust me," Marco begged, holding out a hand to calm Piero. He glanced down at Laurel, taking a deep breath. "...You don't want each other to die, do you?"

"...So?" Laurel spat.

"So if one of you is going to become the Victor, you can't both go home," Marco said sadly. "...You know that, right?"

Adel was actually listening, apparently curious (or at least taking a break). Piero observed her, going to stand between her and Marco in case she attacked.

Laurel winced. "And?! Are you going to magically fix our problems or something?!"

"We have a way," Marco said quickly. He hesitated, shifting. "...Break the shaft of the arrow off if you can without moving it too much, but leave the arrowhead in the wound. If you take it out, he'll just bleed faster. Once we get out of here, w-we can go see a doctor."

Laurel hesitated, staring at Marco. She looked over at Levi, who, fear slowly melting from his eyes, nodded. With remarkably steady hands, Laurel carefully took the arrow shaft in her hands and snapped her top hand to the side, breaking off a good two thirds of the shaft with impressive stability. She looked up at Marco pleadingly, eager for more instruction.