Swinging From The Branches ~ Lexyon Perti

The Final Four ~ Day Seven Part 2

"Hello Lexyon."

My blood runs cold as his voice reaches my ears. The one person I knew I had competition against, was standing behind me right now. The district four boy was going to be my biggest problem.

"Kai. Don't you have someone better to fight? Like Cayden?" I try to weasel my way out of this, hoping maybe he would take the bait. If he did I could stick a knife in his back and get rid of him.

"Taken care of." Oh, was that the canon from yesterday? Shit. With Cayden out of the picture, that makes me Kai's biggest competition. "Your putting up a pretty good fight for someone with one arm and a poor training score."

"Well, I have my resources and I like to play the underdog card. I've gotten pretty far, and I intend to go further."

"Well, it looks like you and I have conflicting interests. Let's see how much of an underdog you truly are." Kai lunges for me, a knife in his hand. I turn away from him. The smoke in the air obstructs both our vision as well as our lungs and I can see in his eyes; he knows this will not be an easy fight.

Maybe he will give up now and pursue me later. At least I will have a plan. I think to myself as I draw both of my knives. They glint with an orange hue in the residual fire light, making them look even more dangerous.

This fight isn't like the others I fought before; we move slowly, deliberately as we each calculate our next move. There is no rushing to slit the other's throat. Instead, we circle around slowly, inching towards each other.

I try to keep my distance from him, knowing he could overpower me. However, Kai's intentions are to kill as he stalks closer to me drawing another knife, his armed hands ready to strike the second I am too close. I keep my distance, moving towards the fire as I wait for him to lose his patience with me.

"Come on, you know the capital will get bored with us if all we do is dance around each other."  I tell him, to which his only response is a cruel sneer. "Alright then, all play and no talk. Got it."

I can't back up much further as I feel the flames licking at my thighs. Kai continues to move in on me, trying to hold back his coughing fit. I stay stock still, an idea coming to mind as sweat trickles down my legs. That's it, come closer. Easy prey, right here.

He takes the bait and only when he is a foot away from me does he take a chance. I drop to the ground as Kai lurches over me, sending himself directly into the flames. More coughing ensues and a string of profanity leaves his mouth as he dances out of the orange flames as quick as he can, dropping both of his knives in the fire.

"You little-" He doesn't finish his sentence, his breath hitching and coughing before he can utter another word. In place of words, he uses his actions to complete his thought as he draws his bow, his hands and arms shaky from the burns and heat, and fires. A moment later, an arrow protrudes from my shoulder. The  grotesque sight shocked me as the arrow had caught the edge of my body, but was far enough in to stick. It hurt, but the combination of smoke, heat, and shock kept my mouth shut. My eyes stared at the arrow for an eternity before my hand was able to pull it out and throw it onto the ground.

I bit my tongue as I removed it, drawing blood in both my mouth and shoulder. I couldn't show my weakness; not to him of all people. Only now do I register that I am weaponless, my knives lying in the snow where I fell. If looks could kill, he would most certainly be dead. This was the perfect opportunity for him, for both of us, as I stand weaponless and he bent over coughing. Whoever made the first move would win this fight. I was certain of that, and I wasn't determined to lose. My fists would have to do.

Kai is still hacking when I approach him again, my fist slamming into his gut, taking the air out of him. At least he stopped coughing; now he was gasping for air in a smoke filled area. I look over to my weapons, then back to Kai and decided to finish him off. Running to my knives, I find them in the now black snow and wipe them off, but when I turn to Kai-

he was gone.

"Are you kidding me? I should have just strangled the kid! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" My shoulder flares up in pain as I wave my arm around, "Ahh I hate him!"

My rant was cut short by another coughing fit as I struggled with the low quality air. Lying down in the snow, I found the air to be a bit easier to breathe. If someone found me now, I would be dead for sure. This air though, this is the best air I can get right now.

A shrill ringing brought my head up as I looked through the thick smoke. The ringing continued and I sat up, determined to find the source of the noise. Could it be? I spotted a silver container slowly descending a foot away from me. My first sponsor gift! I scrambled to my feet and grabbed the container, the rings stopping when I laid my hands on it. I sat back in the freezing snow, and opened my gift, only to see a flashlight? Batteries? I don't know who my sponsors are but what in Panem were they thinking? Then I see the small slip of paper tucked away neatly.

Everyone is blind, except for you. -D1

Wait, D1 as in District One? I'm not their tribute and yet, they are help- Oh. I killed Pinnochio, and she was the district one girl. I guess if I can kill a career then I am as good as one? I try not to overthink the reasons behind this and thank the heavens people are supporting me. The flashlight was simple enough, once the batteries were in a strong beam of light projected from the small object, and penetrating through a bit of the smoke. Definitely helpful. I think to myself as I pocket the note, I would have to thank them if I- no when I become the victor.

I take a swig from my only water bottle and sift through the snow and embers, hoping to find anything that I could eat; or really, anything that would help me at all.