𝐅𝐎𝐗𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 [EDITING]

twenty

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That morning, Glimmer and I were awoken by the harsh scent of smoke. It burned my nostrils and dried out my eyes, sending small tears down my cheeks.

As soon as I figured out that the smell was actually fire, I jumped up from the spot I had been sleeping in, and realized that the smoke wasn't coming from our fire, but from the forest around us. The bright flames in the trees behind me licked at the sky with fiery tongues and swallowed up the trees as if they were nothing more then paper. I noticed Glimmer picking up my backpack and motioning to me with her hand to run.

She hastily grabbed her sword and my hand, and we ran through the forest. It seemed like there was no escape from the fire except in the direction of the cornucopia, so we ran that way, stumbling upon the dirt as we went along.

The blazing hot fire began to lick at our feet, scorching the heels of my boots. I winced in pain as I felt my calf be licked by the scorching flames, but continued to run. Finally, the fire had lead us to the clearing where the cornucopia stood. I could see Cato dash out of the forest and into the clearing with nothing but his big, glinting sword in hand as well as an axe, that must have been one of the things he had taken from the feast.

The fire that had been chasing us had stopped and crowned up something that seemed like an invisible wall and left us safe. For now at least.

Then it hit me. I finally realized what this was all about. The game makers had gotten bored of us and wanted us to finally fight. For there to finally be a winner. For two unfortunate people to be slaughtered.

Glimmer looked at me, "we should split, you know, so we don't really feel bad when one of us dies, and I think this is like, the final fight I guess." She said quickly, fumbling with her sword as she spoke. It made sense yet  the words that had just come out of her mouth seemed foreign. I think about leaving her, I'd didn't even think of one of us dying in the hunger games. After the past few days I had spent with Glimmer, and I really hate to admit it, I had fallen for her. And I think she had done the same for me.

I nodded and Glimmer nodded back at me. She walked off to the other side of the field and gave me a reassuring smile. She dropped our backpack on the ground and readjusted her grip on her sword. I took two of the six knives I had out of my belt and grapes them tightly, causing my knuckles to turn white.

Cato's gaze met mine from across the field, his cerulean eyes seemed to dig into my own. I felt like he was under my skin. He bothered me. And I wanted him dead.

He smiled his stupid sideways grin and began to walk towards Glimmer and I, slowly increasing speed as he went. Finally, he broke into a sprint, dragging both of his weapons along with him. He was about ten feet away from Glimmer now and she had raised her sword above her head, ready to strike. It seemed as if the sky had begun to turn dark in only a matter of seconds, faux clouds covered the bright sun and droplets of water broke through the clouds and fell onto my face.

Cato dropped his axe, bringing the huge sword above his head and slamming it down on the ground just inches away from Glimmers left leg, she jumped away just in time for him to not hit her. Glimmer grazed Cato on the shin with her sword, leaving a small trail of blood down the side of his leg.

Glimmer moved away from him as quickly as she could, but sadly she wasn't quick enough, Cato lunged forward with his sword, and stabbed her in the stomach and pulled it back out. She clutched her stomach where the sword had landed and dropped onto her knees, still clutching her wound. Dark crimson blood seeped from the cracks in her hands and dripped down onto the ground, staining the grass a deep red.

Glimmer looked at me, tears in her eyes, and smiled reassuringly. "Win for me." She simply said, the words barely escaping her mouth. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped to the ground, a pool of dark crimson blood encircling her fragile silhouette. A cannon shot in the distance, signalling that her death was real. I felt like a black cloud had gone over me, causing no sunlight, or happiness to touch me. I screamed, I felt hollow from the pain. Almost numb from it. All I could feel was anger.

I ran towards Cato, Glimmers body laying directly behind him. He grins maniacally and walks slowly towards me, glinting sword in hand. "See this?" He said, using his sword to point to Glimmer's now lifeless body. "That's how you're going to end up Foxface. I'm surprised you even got this far. Now I'll kill you, slowly." He howled, a wide grin spread across his face.

"No." I said under my breath, I don't think Cato heard it, but I didn't care. I grasped my knives tightly in my hands, and threw one towards Cato, it missed him, landing right beside him.

He looked at the poorly aimed knife and laughed. "That's cute, don't think it'll help you live though." He said. I threw the other one that I had in my hand, and it missed, again. Fuck. I was done for. Cato laughed again and walked closer to me, slowly dragging his sword behind him.

I backed up as he followed me to the cornucopia, my back was now pressed up against the cold metal. He pressed his sword up against the nape of my neck, and I winced in pain as it dug into my skin. I slowly reached for my belt and gingerly slipped one out of it's pouch. I fastened my grip on it and jabbed Cato in the thigh, he dropped his sword and letting my escape his grasp that could possibly lead to my death.

I ran as fast as I could, but I felt a blade pierce my skin. I tumbled to the ground from the impact, my arm had been cut rather deeply but I ignored the injury and got back up. I took another knife from my belt and threw it behind me. Remarkably enough it landed in Cato's other leg. He yelled out in pain and pulled it out, leading to even more blood to pour from his deep wound. A small smile pulled at the sides of my mouth and I felt terrible about it. I had become a monster.

I watched as Cato flailed on the ground, the blood slowly pooling around him. I ran over to Glimmer's body, and snatched the axe that lay beside her. I slowly walked up to Cato, letting him bleed out. When I reached him, I stood over top of him and raised the axe above my head, and brought it down with as much force as I possibly could. It landed with a loud thunk in his torso. He looked at me with eyes wet from tears, and coughed up blood, some of it ending up on my face. His eyes went blank and lifeless. A cannon fired in the distance. He was dead. Gone. I was the winner. I had really won.

The bloody axe slipped from my hands and landed on the ground. I dropped to my knees, they splashed in the puddles of water that had formed on the ground from the rain. Hot tears dripped from my eyes and stained my cheeks, I tried to get up but I couldn't move a muscle. I felt stuck. I felt like my chest had caved in and crushed my heart. I felt broken. I felt broken and like I couldn't be fixed. I buried my head in my hands as the tears kept flowing down my cheeks and dripping off my chin, crashing on the ground like harsh waves against tall rocks on a stormy night. My hands shook violently as I took in what had just happened.