𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 / 𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉

𝐕𝐈𝐈

I fell to the ground in a heap, my ears ringing from the sheer volume of the explosion, several more following. I coughed out the dust and debris that had already filled the air. My first thought, Treech.

"Treech!" I yelled out to the best of my ability, a string of coughs following. I rose to me feet, stumbling over many times, dodging the falling ceiling.

"Marigold!" I heard him call out. I couldn't respond only headache inducing coughing being able to escape my mouth, my asthma coming into play at the worst time possible.

I fell over onto the ground, feeling as if my throat was closing in, desperately searching for air, the painful ringing echoing through my head.

An arm grabbed my waist pulling me away for some more falling rubble. I briefly looked up to see it was Treech. A red mark appearing on his upper cheek.

"Treech, your hurt" I said to him. All he did was chuckle in response.

"Barley"

He took my arm, carefully supporting me as we stood up, I felt my knees buckle with the relentless coughs escaping my lungs, trying to keep me upright he headed for the entrance as fast as possible. Realization set in, he wanted to get me fresh air, of which I desperately needed.

Marcus tried to pull Treech away as the entrance was blown up leaving a path to freedom, he refused Marcus' short pleas still trying his best to support me. White uniforms sprinted towards the entrance, the tributes from 1 searching for freedom. Soon after gunshots fired, I grabbed Treech by his collar making him fall to the ground, safe from the merciless bullets.

I could feel my body giving up as I lay there on the ground, trying to pull myself up, tears making their ways out of my eyes. All I could think of was the war, how I found myself in the same situation 12 years later, struggling for air and balance, unsure if I was going to make it out or not. Except this time, I had someone who desperately wanted me to survive.

A falling piece of concrete managed to land right on my foot, I let out a small yelp, pain pulsing through my leg as I collapsed back onto the ground. Treech fell to my side trying to push the piece of concrete off, but his attempts were futile. He rushed to face me, and began to call for any sort of help that was never given.

Peacekeepers swarmed him, brutally pulling him by his arms away from my dying body, the smoke taking control over my lungs.

"Wait no, Marigold! She's inured, help her, Marigold!" he helplessly called out. I looked up at him, terror on his face as the tears followed. I lay my head onto the ground as the ringing took over silencing everyone's screams. The pain in my head growing stronger leaving the world a silenced blur. My eyelids started to flutter as everything turned to nothing.

~

When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see that I was in a hospital ward and not the afterlife. Lysistrata gasped beside me with joy.

"What happened" I groaned at her, sitting myself up on the bed.

Without hesitation she answered, "The arena was bombed Marigold, the Ring twins died, Felix is in critical state and Coriolanus is still asleep."

"The Ring twins died" I whispered. The Ring twins were family friends, often coming over to my house as we would play together. Memories flooded my head; I could almost see the younger versions of Apollo and Didi playing with the dolls they had brought over.

"What about the tributes I asked" I asked, I needed to know if Treech was safe.

"Both from 6, and 1 died, the pair from 9 just barely survived, probably won't last that long in the games with how injured they are. Dill's coughing has gotten worse, Sabyn, the girl from 2 died on a fence post and Marcus is yet to be found" She replied slowly, making sure I understood that now 6 tributes were gone before the games had even begun, Marcus making a close 7, but the Capitol wouldn't let him free. After all, you can never escape the Capitol.

"How are you?" I asked, releasing I hadn't even asked how she was doing after the bombings

"I'm good, just a few cuts and bruises, nothing to fatal, I would've been dead though if not for Jessup, I was trying to get up not even noticing the falling rubble coming towards me and he pushed me out of the way" she said with a sigh. Lysistrata cared about Jessup, this made her care for him even more, I could tell.

"What about Livia, Treech?" I said panic rising, I hadn't even considered my best friend and tribute.

Lysistrata giggled a little at my panicked state, "Both of them are fine, just like me only a few cuts and bruises, Livia is in the room over, Treech," she hesitated. "Treech is still at the zoo."

"I can't believe they are still keeping them there, even after the bombings?" I said frustrated. "I have to go visited him, make sure he's still good for the interview and games- "now my tone was determined, I needed to make sure he was really truly okay. A question lingered in the air, one that I knew the answer to but couldn't do anything about. "Are they still doing the interview and games?" Lysistrata gave a sorrowful sigh as she nodded. The sick sick Capitol.

A nurse walked by pushing a cart of different medicine bottles that rattled as she walked. She had jet black hair pinned up neatly into a bun and bags under her eyes. Ever since the war hospitals have been severely under-staffed, doctors and nurses working overtime.

"Excuse me nurse," I called, "when can I leave the hospital?" The nurse rushed towards me flipping through a clipboard.

"You were set to be out later tonight, considering you did crush your foot, but I guess you can get out now" she said, eyes still on her clipboard. "I will have to give you a crutch to help your walking, I would give you two but lack of materials and all." She continued slightly breathless.

"Okay" I said to her slightly nodding. The nurse quickly sped off to the other side of the ward picking up a single crutch.

"Here I'll help you up, care to help Lysistrata" she said breathlessly, trying to maintain a calm deminer.

I sat up and dangled my feet off the side of the bed noticing the amount of bandages rapped around my foot. Lysistrata bent down to my side rapping and arm under mine and onto my back, the nurse doing the same on my other side. The nurse quickly slipped the crutch under my left arm still supporting me. I began to walk on the crutch managing just fine.

"Okay well you seem to be pretty good with the crutch, I'll just get you your medicine" the nurse said before rushing over to the cart rummaging through the bottles.

"This bottle is pain killers for your foot, this is medicine for headaches, you'll only need the headache one for a week or so. And here, this is an asthma pump, didn't know if you already had one or not, but better safe than sorry" said the nurse handing the bottles and pump over to me. Lysistrata took them and put them into my bag before handing the bag over to me.

"Thank you nurse and thank you Lysistrata" the nurse nodded in acknowledgement and scurried off. Lysistrata pulled me in for a hug.

"No problem, check that Jessup is okay, for me" she whispered. Of course, she knew I was going to the zoo. I smiled at her support before making my way to the hospital's lobby picking up as much free food as possible making my way out of the doors.

𝐀.𝐍  Finally this chapter is out!! I just stayed up most of the night to watch eras tour Melbourne n1 and OML new song for ttpd!! Anyway, the interviews and maybe the start of the games will be next chapter we'll see. 

I don't really have much else to say so, sayonara my lil cabbages  💐