I walk through the forest, my head buzzing with sadness and anger. How could I be such an idiot? Kate trusted me and I’m a complete idiot.
I hear a sound behind me. Kate? Maybe looking for me to apologize. I need to apologize to her first.
A rabbit hops out of the bushes and I throw my axe at it out of disappointment. It wedges into the rabbit’s skull and it flops dead. I walk over to it and take the handle of the axe in my hand again, lifting the limp body of the rabbit with it. I smile. At least I’ll have something to eat. My smile fades soon though, and I think about Kate and Prim. Would they have something to eat tonight? Are they together? I wonder where Gale is too. I haven’t seen him since we split up to find the girls.
Another noise behind me. I turn around to try to see through the thickness of the trees. Everything suddenly starts to get dark; the Gamemakers manipulating the environment. Fog starts to roll towards me, and my throat tightens. I remember the 75th games; poisonous fog that caused painful blisters on the skin. I toss the rabbit into the fog to see if it has the same effect, but the rabbit’s skin remains unscathed. As the fog surrounds me I feel unaffected by it as well. This fog isn’t here to hurt me. Maybe to hide me?
No, to hide something else.
I lift my axe and move into a defensive stance. My mind is buzzing with fear and anticipation at the oncoming.
“Who’s out there?” I say, hoping to get some sort of reply. Kate would surely reveal herself to me if it’s her. Gale wouldn’t pull this crap, but I still hope it’s one of them.
“Gale?”
No reply. My heart is pounding out of my chest now. I look around me, but I can hardly see. I know one thing though, I am in danger.
“Where are your friends now, Harry?” A voice says. I can’t pinpoint the direction it comes from, and I don’t recognize it right away.
“Who’s asking?”
“Oh don’t be coy. You knew I would come eventually, didn’t you?”
I know the voice. My heart is pounding faster than it ever has before, and my hand starts to get clammy. I tighten the grip on my axe, as if it was my life.
“What do you want Loverboy?”
“Your face in the sky, your blood on my hands. Take your pick Harry.”
Is he asking me which answer I prefer or offering me the chance to kill myself before he does?
“Well to be honest with you Louis I prefer to walk away from this. Maybe you should too.”
I will not lay down and let him kill me.
“Would you like to know what I’d prefer, Harry?”
I will not lay down and die to spare myself from him.
“I don’t want to hurt you loverboy.”
I will survive.
Louis leaps out of the fog, sword in hand. I throw up my axe to deflect his swing and our weapons clash together. Part of the blade nicks my forehead, and as I try to push Louis off me a stream of blood trickles towards my eye. With all my strength I push him away and lock eyes with him. His eyes have gone completely dark, wild. He’s become an animal; a mutt, bent on killing me.
“I want to hurt you.”
He starts wildly slashing at me, and I struggle to block him and slash him back. The fog surround us, the world beyond each other is completely gray. Louis lunges at me, trying to stab me, but his sword gets caught in the bark of a tree that reveals itself from the fog. I hack at him with my axe and land a blow in his shoulder. As I pull out my axe, hot blood splashes on my face and hands and into my mouth. Repulsed, I fall back, spitting and gagging. Louis struggles to pull his sword from the tree, and I start to run. The fog covers my trail, but it also clouds my view. I frantically stumble around, searching for cover.
I hear a scream erupt from behind me, like an animal being tortured. I stop in my tracks, horrified. The mockingjays pick it up, and the scream continues on around me. I start running again, wanting only to escape from this hell.
I come crashing to the ground as Louis tackles me, stabbing me through the shoulder with his sword. I can feel the steel ripping through my skin and muscles, and the pain shocks through my whole body. Louis rips the blade out and I scream, unable to hold it in. I force myself to move my arms and push up, and Louis again tries to stab me. He misses and instead cuts my ear, and I force him off me. He falls to the ground and I stumble to my feet and face him. My breaths are heavy and sweat covers every part of my body, forcing my clothes to stick to my chest. I run at Louis with my axe high in the air, and let it crash down on him. He blocks it with his sword, and I move my axe in a circle in an attempt to disarm him. His sword goes flying into the fog, and I kick him down. Again I try to hack at him with my axe, but he kicks me in the groin and I drop it. I scream out in pain, cupping myself. Louis scrambles for my axe but I kick it into the thick fog. Louis looks at me, smiling, and pulls out a dagger from his belt. I hold my breath and try to stand up, but the pain in my groin keeps me from getting up and my shoulder is pulsing from my stab wound. Louis looms over me, and I relax. I’m ready for the end.
And then I think of her. Her smile, her laugh. The way she bites her lip when she’s nervous. How embarrassed she was when I saw her smiling at her body in the mirror. How she looked in the chariot under my arm, all dressed in white. Her angel wings and the way they bounced on her shoulders as she ran towards me on stage at the interviews. The look in her eyes when I told her I loved her.
Oh my god.
I love her.
I love her more than anything in this world.
I can’t die before I tell her that. I can’t die with her thinking I don’t.
I can’t die before I see her again.
The dagger comes down towards me, and I kick Louis’s feet. He falls on top of me, and I grab his wrist to take the dagger. He fights back, thrashing against me. I punch him, determined to win. He bites my cheek, and I punch his face. The dagger releases from his hand and hits the ground. I try to grab it but Louis knocks it away from us, and starts crawling towards it. I grab on to his shoulders and pull him back towards me. He puts his hand on my face to push me away, and I clamp my teeth down hard on his fingers. I start crawling towards the dagger as Louis screams in agony, and manage to find the handle as fog starts to engulf it. I turn to Louis and grab his hair with my fingers, pulling his head towards me. He screams, and the mockingjays copy it. I look up at them and Louis escapes me, grabbing the knife from my hand. He lunges at me, bloodlust evident in his eyes.
Boom.
