Garden of Eden

Chapter 19

We remain where we are, sizing up the other two.

The boy from 6 is holding his war hammer over his shoulder. His backpack slung over the other. His companion wears her pack over both shoulders. She doesn't hold anything in her hands, but I notice that she's slowly reaching for the sickle at her side.

"Well this one's a looker," says the boy, nodding at me. He leers and actually licks his lips. I suddenly feel uneasy.

"Why have you been keeping her all to yourself, Twelve?" he continues, clearly talking to Haymitch. This causes his partner to laugh. It's not a particularly pleasing sound.

"He's not half bad himself," she comments. Haymitch and I continue to stare at them in silence.

"Oh, don't be like that, baby," the boy from 6 says. "What do you say to ditching that lame ally of yours and coming with me?"

He looks at me, waiting for a reply. I don't give one.

"Unlike him, I bet I can show you a really good time," the boy persists, glancing me up and down perversely. He's practically undressing me with his eyes, the sleazebag!

"What about you, darling?" the girl asks Haymitch. "Lose the tramp. I'll do things you wouldn't even believe." She winks seductively at him.

I frown at being called a tramp. Taking a step forward, I glare at her. "Back off."

Suddenly, and without any warning, the boy charges forward. He screams and raises the hammer over his head. He charges towards me.

I draw into my bag for my blowgun, that weapon being able to effectively work over a long distance. I'm too slow, though. The war hammer would've hit me square on the head, crushing my brain, had Haymitch not tackled him to the side. I see the war hammer fly out of his hands. The two begin fighting.

Finally holding the blowgun, I look up to where 8 is standing. She's gone. Only her pack is on the ground, evidence that she was there at all.

I look around frantically for her, not wanting a surprise attack. Hearing a noise in the tree, I look towards it in time to see the girl from 8 jumping down. She's brandishing her sickle, thrashing it about like a madman. I would have laughed at the mere sight of it, had the situation not been so dire.

Quickly raising my blowgun, I aim it at her. The dart would've hit her in the neck had she not knocked it away with her sickle. She aims the sickle downwards on me. I have just enough time to deflect the attack with my blowgun. She knocks the gun out of my hands. Now without that weapon, I back up against the tree. She follows; a manic look on her face.

And I thought the Careers were insane. These two are exactly like them.

She sees the look of fear in my eyes and laughs hysterically. When she reaches me, she places the sickle against my exposed throat.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you," she says sweetly. "You District 12s are nothing. Just like that little girl. Even with the two from 11 with her, she still died easily."

My head swims as I take in what she's saying. Then I'm furious.

I stamp my heel onto her foot. Then I knee her between the lungs. She screams as I do a quick spin, getting around her. I kick her in the back before she can turn. The sickle falls to the ground even as she's still falling. I kick it into the bushes where she can't see it.

Now weaponless, she gets up and turns to me, fuming with pure rage. I look around for my blowgun even as she's charging at me, assuming, like her, that I don't have another weapon.