The Tribute and the Victor

Chapter 17

Raven then dropped to the floor and held his arm, Lance must have stabbed him at some point. Maybe when he was piled on top of him? Just then, I turned round to find Calix and Zander attempting to fight off Willa, she was big and muscular like Lance but she had her jet black hair scraped up in a high pony at the top of her head. Suddenly Calix went to stab Willa with Zanders small dagger, but as he lifted up his arm, she pushed him back with so much force, he came flying straight into me, dropping the dagger in the process. Zander quickly snatched the dagger and was just about to plunge it in her heart but her powerful hand reached his before he reached her chest. She prised the dagger from his hands and stabbed him straight through his stomach. Killed with his own weapon. I thought. Calix quickly reached for his bow and shot Willa straight in the eye, and then twice more in the chest and the face. 3 dead tributes now laid around us, Lance, Willa and Zander. I stared at the three bloodstained bodies in pure shock. I jumped at the sound of 3 cannons booming in the distance to symbolise the death of the tributes. "We've got to get out of here so the hovercraft can come and collect the bodies" Calix said as he helped Raven to his feet. But that wasn't the real reason he wanted to leave so quickly. He clearly didn't want to be in the presence of Zander's dead body slumped on the ground. None of us did for that matter. He was our friend. And now he was dead."At least he's with Nerissa now i suppose" I said quietly as I helped Calix carry the severely injured Raven across the deadly dessert. I heard Raven mumble something under his breath but I didn't question it. When we felt as though are legs were about to give way. We decided to stop by a couple of huge boulders. As we hauled Raven up onto the rocks, we noticed a faint beeping sound. "I'll go check it out" I whispered to Calix as a picked up my spear and headed towards the back of the rock, and there it was. Our very first sponsor. I ran to the tiny metal capsule and popped open the lid. It was some sort of cream. I guessed that it was for Ravens arm and ran back to his side. "Raven! Calix! We've got a sponsor!" I exclaimed. "What is it?" Calix asked. "Some sort of cream to put on Ravens wound" I said as I grabbed my water bottle. Before I applied it to the wound, I cleaned it with what little water I had left, I then scooped up a considerable amount of the cream and smeared it gently across the gash. Raven let out a small sound of relief as I rubbed in into the wound. "That's better" he said as he flickered his eyes open and sat up slowly on the rock. We spent what was left of the afternoon on the rocks and decided to set up camp. Both Raven and Calix had sleeping bags but i hadn't managed to pick one up from the cornucopia. That evening they were forced to share the same sleeping bag as I was not intending on sleeping without one or sleeping with one of them. I found it quite amusing, but Raven on the other hand was about ready to kill me himself by the time I'd finally stopped teasing them.