The 65th Hunger Games - EDITING

Chapter thirty-six

I look at my hand, still holding the mango-sized rock. There's blood on it, his blood. He collapsed on the ground beside me when I hit him on the side of the head. Unfortunately, I didn't do it hard enough; I can hear him grunting in pain. I slowly get up and walk past him. I grab the knife he was so desperately trying to reach. When I get back to him, he's still attempting to escape his fate, dragging himself away from me. I walk past him, up until the point where I'm standing right in front of his face. He slowly lifts his chin up and immediately stops moving as soon as he sees the knife in my hand. When I get down on my knee, I realize he's not looking at the knife anymore; he's looking right at me. Surprisingly, his eyes aren't filled with hate or fear. Instead, it's like someone sucked every emotion a human can feel out of his body, like someone ripped all of his dreams away from him. That's exactly what I'm doing. Just like me, he was probably hoping to go back home and see his loved ones again, to see the people that are waiting for him and desperately wanted to see him again. Now, he knows it's impossible and that I'm about to kill him; he knows there's nothing he can do to prevent it. He holds that look until the knife abruptly pierces his skull. The effect is immediate; life had already exited his body before his head even crashed on the ground. The canon goes off, startling me. I try to pull out the knife, but the suction from the blood and the lack of air inside of his head locks the blade in place. I don't have the time or the energy to fight for it; mine is somewhere on the ground around me. I just have to find it and even if I don't, I'd still have another one. I turn his lifeless body around and start searching for his token. Either he doesn't have one or he lost it because I can't find anything. With quite a lot of efforts, I am able to take his backpack away from him and open it. Inside, I find one small empty water bottle, a half-empty pack of dried meet and something packaged in leaves. Curious, I open it. Inside is carefully laid a chain to which is attached a pendant. It's not like Viviana's token; this one can be opened. I decide not to do it. Whatever secret is hidden inside is forever his to keep.

I watch the hovercraft take away his body, his own knife still stuck deep in his skull. Once they disappear from my sight, I put his token away in my bag with my allies'. Unlike his clothes and his hands, it's not covered in blood and was protected from the horrors of the Games. I wonder whose blood it was and if he killed someone. It doesn't really matter, he's not there anymore and neither is the person this blood belonged to. He was probably a murderer and so am I.

I'm on all fours, looking for the knife amongst the dried leaves when I hear something behind me. I turn around, thinking it's another tribute. It was way too loud to be a gift from a sponsor. I look around, trying to locate the origin of the sound. If it really is someone, or something, I'm screwed. I have nothing but my fists to defend myself. I do have another knife in my backpack, but it's too far from me and I wouldn't have time to reach it if something attacked me. My only option would be to run and hope that I'm faster. But then, I'd lose everything. I can't let that happen. I try to hold my breath so that I can hear better. Apart from the occasional bird chirping, it's completely silent in the arena. I slowly start walking towards the place where I think the sound came from, picking up the rock still covered in blood on my way. Maybe if I surprise whatever is there before it attacks me, I will have a better shot at winning the fight. I hold the rock as hard as I can, as if it was going to fall out at any moment. As I get closer to the tree I assumed the sound came from, I lift the rock up to my face, ready to hit my opponent. I jump forward, hoping to use the element of surprise at my advantage. When I find nothing on the other side, my heart starts to race in my chest. Surprised and scared, I start backing up. My feet bump into something on the ground, making me stumble. I let out a grunt when I feel the sharp part of the rock cutting my side when I hit the cold ground. I immediately stand back up, still unsure of my enemy's position; assuming there really is one and I didn't imagine it. I press my right hand on my side, trying to stop the bleeding. It's not that bad, it's only a superficial cut, but it's still an open wound and it could easily get infected. After a while of standing in silence, I start to consider the fact that maybe I was so stressed out by the idea that I just took someone's life that my brain imagined everything. I start walking towards my bag, still where I left it. I pick it up, still not letting my guards down.

My curiosity finally wins over mycommon sense and I decide to look at what made me fall on the ground. It'sprobably just a root; it certainly felt like one. As soon as I see it, my heartskips a beat. It's not a root; it doesn't even belong to the arena. Attached totwo silver parachutes is the reason behind the loud sound. Lying on the groundis the one thing I desperately needed to get out of here alive. Nothing canstop me now, not even the Careers. Victorious, I grab the trident and startwalking confidently towards the Cornucopia, each step bringing me closer to home.