Deadly Game (A Hunger Games fanfic)

Deadly Game - Chapter 28

Heya!! So, this is actually two really short chappys combined! You'll see where I was about to stop... but anyway, I have two songs to go with this chap. For the first part, Nightingale by Rachel Macwhirter. For the second part, Eyes Wide Open by Taylor Swift.

Eyes wide open ----> (Notice the lyrics)

Please, if you have the time, go listen to Nightingale too!

<3 Anna

Chapter 28

To my relief she isn't dead. She's just unconscious.

The situation is kind of funny. It's my second ally in the time of three days that I find unconscious. But I find nothing to laugh about at all.

The first thing I check when reaching Axara is her pulse, of course, and it is there. Weak, but there. A slight warm breath hits my hand when I hold it over her mouth.

It seems like she's been under water too long, not getting air.

I swear. Then I start dragging her to the shore. She's heavy. I haven't noticed my own clothes or my backpack, 'cause I've swam with clothes on before, and these are a special kind – they don't suck up the water like sponges – the droplets just drip off the fabric. So I'm soaked, but my clothes, boots and backpack are completely dry.

Lovely.

Somehow I manage to fight the strong current and reach the shore – I think I'm running on pure adrenaline right now. It's a wonder I get her and myself safely out of the water. I pull her up on the sand of the beach, lay her down. I don't worry about the Careers – they're on the other side of the river, and if they don't already know a good place to cross, they won't be coming here anytime soon.

Or, should I say, he isn't coming here anytime soon.

Marco is the only remaining Career, 'cause I'm pretty sure it was Clarie's cannon I heard. A wonder she managed to hang on for so long, 'cause my knife hit her pretty bad. And Drew is definitely dead. No one survives an ax thrown into the stomach like that, and with that force.

The tributes remaining are me, Andie, Marco, Swan and Axara. Only five of us.

Four, soon, if I don't do something quick. The problem is, I don't know what to do.

At that moment, Axara starts coughing.

I help her up, and watch in horror as water mixed with blood leaves her mouth. So it's as I guessed. She has water in her lungs, and probably inner damage.

My heart sinks.

I'm no surgeon. I can't do anything for her.

I'm going to lose her, too.

"Cassie?" Axara chokes out, and I pat her back slightly.

"It's me, Ax, it's me." I don't recognize my voice. It's so frail, so... broken.

I can barely hold in the tears. My hands are shaking, and I fight to keep them steady as I remove the wet hair from her face.

"Don't leave me."

"I won't," I promise her. She smiles slightly, then starts coughing blood again. I take a parachute from my backpack, and wipe her mouth with the sliver-colored fabric. The parachute is immediately drenched with blood. She's hit a rock, I think, and something inside her is broken.

I hold her hand.

"Please..." She starts, trying with weak fingers to remove the golden chain around her neck. I help her take it off. She drops it in my palm. "Take this... bigger one for you..." She starts coughing again, and I use the parachute to remove the blood.