The 100th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 22

Ben almost stumbled to the ground as Ash wrapped her arms round him abruptly.

 "I swear if you die, I'll kill you." Ash whispered in his ear as Ben squirmed in her embrace.
 He was glad for once that the arena was pitch black, that way she wouldn't see how his face had gone nuclear when she pulled away and walked off, in the direction of the Career tributes.

 Ben shook his head, making sure to clear any unnecessary thoughts from his mind. Now was not the time for distractions. Especially ones with pretty faces. Not where they were going.

 He carefully followed Ash the best he could, catching a glimpse of her every so often when the silver moon peaked out from behind the clouds.

 He hadn't noticed the moon before, and he suspected that it was purely there to give the career tributes an advantage now that their suits were dark. A way to even the odds.

Fayora had two allies, both wearing similar orange colored suits. One of them was mumbling about someone named Hugo, and how he should have figured out how to turn off some sort of light. Benjamin could only assume that the blonde girl meant their suits.

 They walked right by where Ash and Ben had squatted behind a bush, following a trail of footprints.

  Ash brushed her fingers over Ben's hand, giving it a tight squeeze before she nodded, stepping out of the underbrush and the two tiptoed behind the group.

 The moment Ash flinched towards the girls who brought up the rear, she whirled around, a flash of metal glinting in the moonlight.

 A shuriken flickered out of the girl's hand, glancing off of Ash's surprised face. Before Ben could so much as move, the girl had Ash pinned to the ground, sitting on her chest.

 "I know you're there somewhere." The girl called out tauntingly. Fayora and the boy stood on either side of the girl and Ash, watching the forest.

 The moon decided to be helpful and come out of the clouds right then and reveal Ben's position, a couple yards away from where they were.

 "Well well well, if it isn't a certain midget." Fayora held up her hand, and the boy pulled the blow-dart out of his mouth. 

 "Fayora." Ben hissed back, dread pooling in his stomach. 

 Fayora looked at Ash, and rubbed her cheek, the certain part where Ben had sliced with the knife yesterday.

 "Where are the rest of them?" Fayora asked, turning her attention back to Ben.

 Ben pressed his lips together and said nothing, which made Fayora grin, her smile equally parts terrifying and sinister.

 "I wonder .  ." Her voice trailed off and she looked at Ash again. 

 Ben wanted to scream. He wanted to jump into the fray and pull Ash out of the other girl's grasp. But he knew it wouldn't do either of them any good. He wasn't even half the size of the district two tributes. 

 "Does this mean you are reconsidering our offer?" Fayora wondered, kneeling down to get a closer look at Ash, who cursed Fayora's bad breath, which earned her a slap across the face.

 "What offer?" Ash barked, spitting in Fayora's face with a mixture of blood and saliva.

 Ben expected Fayora to murder Ash right there, but she just laughed and stood up. "I take it that means that you didn't tell anyone of our .  . . friendly pep chat?" 

 "What is she talking about Ben?" Ash tilted her head slightly to look him in the eye.

 Ben couldn't hold her gaze, he looked at his hands, picking at the finger-less gloves he wore.

 "Didn't Benny tell you?" The girl on top of Ash sneered, leaning close to her face and pressing their noses together. "He's gonna be apart of the careers." 

 "He is?" The boy spoke for the first time, shooting the girl a confused glance. 

 "Shut it Leroy." The girl spat. "Of course he is, or else his girlfriend is gonna die!!" She said the last part with an eager gleam in her eye. 

 Fayora rolled her eyes at the two. 

 Ben would have been bemused if Ash wasn't at knife-point. 

"She's not my girlfriend." Ben grumbled, again very thankful for the darkness of the arena.

Fayora glanced between the two, an amused smile on her face.

  "What are they talking about?" Ash spit out as the girl on top of her pushed the shuriken closer to her neck.

Ben couldn't make himself look her in the eyes as he explained how Fayora had offered him a place in the Career pack when they captured him and Wesley. "-I didn't want to say anything because  . . .  I never thought  . . . I mean, I didn't- wasn't- am not going to, and I wasn't planning on joining, and I'm still not." He tried to explain to her, he felt the confession settle a wedge between the two, their trust broken, shattered into a million pieces.

"Oh but that's where you're wrong Benny boy." The other girl sneered, "because if you don't agree to help us then your bitch- er girlfriend is gonna die."

"I'm going to die anyway, and by the way, the name is Ash, so the girlfriend name calling can stop." Ash rolled her large eyes.

"Such positivity." Fayora chuckled, "What'll it be Ben? Keep your girlfriend alive, and join us, or both of you perish without mercy? I'm sure my friend Sailor is more than anxious to get her hands on someone's throat."

"Don't do it Ben, you could do so much more harm-" Ash began to say, but the girl on top of her pressed her shuriken closer to her neck cutting her off.

"Let her go." Ben muttered.

"What was that?" Fayora stepped closer to him and tilted his chin up to look at her in the eyes.

"I SAID LET HER GO!!" Ben shouted, his voice echoing in the darkness as he smacked Fayora's hand away from his face.

"One little thing." The girl murmured, pulling out another shuriken and stopped right above Ash's cheek.

Ash's lip twitched with rage as the girl pierced her skin, cutting into her flesh.

She didn't say a word herself, but Ben lunged in her direction, only to be caught by both Fayora and Leroy.
They held him back as the girl stood up, getting off of Ash.

Ash scrambled to her feet, and picked up her pole, aiming it in the Career's direction.

Blood trickled down her face in the clumsy shaped word saying "Mine" with a 2 over it.

"Now be a good little girl and run off to your allies." The girl waved one of her hands in Ash's direction, wiping blood off of the shuriken tauntingly with the other.

  For a split second Ash looked torn, then Ben shook his head, his eyes directing her to where Fayora's hand was clamped around his wrist.
He hoped she got the message.

She swore under her breath and turned into the woods and ran off, disappearing from sight.

"Why did you do that?" Ben asked the girl hoarsely. "Mark into her face, I mean, anyone could kill her. She's not your kill to claim."

"Well duh," the girl tossed her long blonde hair. "In the night she dies, whether by my bloody hand or someone else's, there will be a name under hers. If that name isn't mine, Macy Kreps, then I'll know exactly who my next target is, and they won't be so lucky."

Ben didn't have anything to say to that, the only thing ringing through his mind was that, he was with the careers now.

Sorry I have to end it there, again, none of this is edited, so if you find a mistake, please point it out!!
-Agent Emily.