The Arena

Chapter 6

"Darius I need to rest for a minute," I yelled ahead of me. We had been running for what seemed like two hours and although I could continue I wanted to stop. 

"Okay, we need to eat anyway and take a look at the equipment that we picked up. I am sorry that Talea is dead, but at least neither of us had to kill her, and now we don't have to think of a way to get rid of them. The game is ours for the taking," he says as he sit next to me opening one of the four packs that I had picked up. 

"And the way you used that bow, I didn't know you could shoot. I mean with a weapon like that there is no telling what you could do in here. although I wonder who left it."

"Darius, my friend, my only friend out here just died and you are talking about how at least we didn't have to do it! You should not talk to me for the next five minutes if you value your life. And I saw that you also went and killed Max without any hesitation like, you were ready to do it. And why didn't the three go after us too. The other two had weapons. Oh and last but not least, who is Coin," I am yelling now, not worried about the fact that others could be near. All I knew was that I trusted Talea and knew that if she said he was dangerous I was going to believe her. 

He looked at me stunned. With out waiting for a response I got up, grabbed two of the extra packs and headed off into the woods. I was going to go at this on my own now. I knew that h would betray me if given the chance, or that there was more than he was telling me. I wasn't going to give him the chance to do either. I heard him yell my name, but I was too far for him to track me. This was both good and bad. I was now on my ow, but I felt that this would make me an easier target. 

Then my mind flashed to Laim. He had been either following me or he still was. I knew that it was better that I didn't outwardly acknowledge him if he was there. It was better that he was in the shadows. I needed to think. Think of a plan. Talea's voice was still in my head "Coin." I knew that there was more to these games than Darius was letting on, and I had to find out what it was. So I prepared myself to start tracking him. I was not going to kill him, but I was going to watch him and figure out exactly what his angle was. 

As the sun was reaching the highest point, I had found him. It took sometime. I needed to get rid of the extra packs, only keeping the contents and ditching the empty packs where no one would find them. By the time I had found Darius he was with two other tributes Mags and an older man named Gene. 

"I lost her, I am sorry. But she mentioned the name Coin and I was thrown off. She knows. She knows that it is all a ruse. I tried looking for her, but there was no luck. She just disappeared," Darius says. I can feel my heart beating faster and faster, I am unsure what he is talking about but to me I know that he is now an enemy. 

"Shut up you idiot. I knew that your great great grandmother was an idiot but I never figured you for one. Listen, we don't know where she is. And she has no idea what is going on. She either thinks we are trying to kill her or use her for something, and right now both of those are dangerous. And why did you let her get her hands on a bow. That was the one thing I warned you about. Not to let her get one. Right now we have two choices kill the other tributes and wait for the Republic to send in the Runners, or we wait now and then have no control over how this turns out. I vote for killing," Mags' voice sounds like a snake she is hissing and spiting, gone is the soft voice of a woman who had lived a nice pleasant life. 

They were about to go out looking for more tributes, when a thought crossed my mind. I grabbed and arrow and took aim. They needed to know that I had heard everything and that I was going to fight them. As I pointed the arrow at Gene and took aim at his heart, someone grabbed my hand. Laim shook his head at me as if to indicate not to kill him. Then in one swift movement he threw a spear at him killing in instantly. 

Mags and Darius took cover. And Laim just smiled at me. "Listen," He whispers. 

"Laim," Darius shouts. "I know that you're here. I will find her before you do. And when we find you, you can bet I am going to make you death as slow and painful as possible. You are dead!"

Laim motions for us to quietly and quickly leave the area. And soon we are at a dead sprint. Running, not because we are in any danger, but because we need to find a spot to rest for the night. I hear the cannon and see Gene's face show up in the sky. 12 Tributes left. There had to be six teams of two at this point. That was the only way people could be living this long. All of the sudden fear shot through me. 

"Laim, what if not enough people are active in the games, and they send in the Runners, or what if they send them in just to get more action?" 

"They will send in the Runners Nicole. That is their plan, but we can fight them," he says in a deep voice and I am over come with a sensation of clam. "We need to find a place to rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is when things start to get interesting. And from the looks of it you need to talk." 

We found a small body of water that was being fed by a waterfall. We both got in the water and swam underneath the falling clear blue water. On the other side of the water was a small cove, we decided that this was going to be our resting place for the night. It would be hard to hear anyone who tried to approach us, but no one would be able to hear us talk, or see us by chance as they would if we were in the woods. We both striped down to our underclothes. I hadn’t realized how much of Talea's blood had gotten on me. As I was washing out the crimson stains, Laim built a fire and after a while we were both warm and eating. 

"It's hard to think that we are in the games right now," I said staring into the dancing flames. "I mean, in here they seem a mile away." Laim only grunts at my comment staring into the fire as well. 

"Laim, I need the truth, do you know anything about what Darius and Mags were talking about? Who is Coin, and why does it even matter?"

"I wish I knew Nicole, but I don't. It is obvious that they have something planned, but I couldn't tell you what it is or if it's good or bad."

"Thanks for my bow," I says after a few minutes of silence.

"I knew you would be good with it."

"I didn't but it was like it was an extension of me, I had seen Katniss do it so I knew that some part of me was a natural to it, but I never thought that I could kill anyone."

"You had to kill them, I know that it is hard, but if you didn't kill them, they would have killed you."

"No they wouldn't have, you would have stopped them before they did. You were there, watching me, following me. Why?"

"I... Well I couldn't let you be with Darius unprotected, I just had a bad feeling about him. And I wasn't with you from the very beginning I had to find you. Which I have to say climbing up in the tree to sleep, that was a good idea. The only reason I knew where to put the bow was because of Darius' snoring." He smiles at me, holding my gaze. 

"Why didn't you help when the three attacked us then," I ask is a small voice remembering Talea's scream.

" I wanted to help you, but I knew that if I made a move that Darius could have the opportunity to kill you. I was watching him and waiting for him to make a move on you. I am so sorry that Talea died, but there was nothing I could do about that," he is now sitting right next to me. I can feel the heat from his body and without even thinking I move closer to him. I know that he is right, either way Talea would have died. And I found myself not being mad at him but thankful that he had given me the chance to kill the one who had stricken her down. 

"Laim, I want to be standing at the end of all of this with you. I want to survive, but only if you promise to do everything in your power to survive with me."

"Nicole, I will do whatever it takes to keep you alive, and if I get to stand with you at the end of this I will count myself as lucky," Laim says as he gently lifts my chin. Then his lips are on mine. I feel something stir inside me and all sounds disappear. My hands are in his hair pushing is lips deeper into mine. He pulled me closer to him and took me in his arms. Pulling away only for a moment he douses the fire with water and we lay down next to each other and he kisses me one more time before I fall asleep to the sound of is heart.