The Tribute and the Victor

Chapter 32

"No!" I screamed as I wrapped my arms around Axe's body and buried my head into his chest. I didn't want to leave him. I couldn't, not when I just watched him kill himself to let me win. Let me win... Then I remembered I had won. I had won the Hunger Games. I was no longer a tribute...I was a victor. Just then, as if he had read my mind, I heard the booming voice of Claudius Templesmith. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victor of the seventy-third Hunger Games, Darcy Quinn! I give you - the tribute of District 7!" Suddenly a hover craft flew down from the sky, but it wasn't to pick me up, it was to pick up Axe's dead body. I held onto him as tightly as possible as I didn't want to let him go, but the force of the craft pushed me back until I was far enough away from him for them to collect his body. It was torture way watching his limp body being carried up into the sky, I felt as though I was going to pass out at any moment, not just from the trauma though, I had many severe injuries that were probably going to be the death of me if I wasn't treated soon. Just then, a second hover craft appeared in the sky, ladders were sent down for me to climb although I had a hard time managing to cling onto them as they hauled me up. The second I was pulled into the craft, I don't know what happened. I just lost it. For a moment I thought I had gone crazy. But I couldn't help it. I screamed and kicked like a child, demanding to see Axe's body again, I was dragged my two large men and pinned down, while another women attempted to sedate me, she must have had a pretty hard time getting the needle in as I must have battered it out of her hand at least four times before she could eventually get it in. And that's when I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed. All my injuries were gone. Everything was white, the beds, the walls, the floors. It was all very strange. I sat quietly for a few moments in my bed until finally the door opened. A small avox girl came in slowly holding a tray of food. A glass of water, soup and a small slice of bread. It wasn't much, but I didn't care. The faster I ate it, the faster I would see Caleb. Once I had eaten, I gave her a reassuring smile so hopefully she could give me the all clear and let me out of the hospital, but sadly, that wasn't the case. She simply took my tray and left silently. Thankfully, after only a couple of hours, she came back in with a change of clothes, and gently undid the straps on my bed, releasing me from the hospital prison. Once i got changed into a simple shirt and trousers, she led me out the doorway and down a long corridor, and that's when I saw him, stood there with his arms open wide for me. Caleb.