The Last Hunger Games

Chapter 14 - A Surprising Reappearance

(A/N: It's gore time peoples!)

The morning passes slowly, and I spend most of it thinking about how I can escape the two Nightshire brothers down below me. In the 74th Hunger Games, I remember seeing that little girl called Rue leaping from tree to tree like she was a bird, so maybe I could try that. The nearest tree is a good five feet or so away though, and even I couldn't make that big of a jump onto a thin branch. 

I only have one other option: To kill the Nightshires. I know that it will be on my conscience for as long as I live - even if that's not very long - but it's my only option if I want to keep the Snow name alive. For now though, I need to organise myself.

I put my backpack on my lap and drop the night vision glasses into the bottom, as I'm sure they're strong enough to have everything else on top of them. Maybe I should sniff the water flask before I put in, as perhaps Azaria poison had a distinctive smell. I sniff it and my nose goes all tingly and numb, even though I can't seem to find a particular scent. This is definitely Azaria. I go to put in my backpack, but I fumble with it in my hands, accidentally letting it slip. It falls to the ground beside Caspian and Cedric with a thud. They instantly start ridiculing me, but I don't let them get a reaction.

"Oi, midget? Dropped something?" says Cedric, waving the flask around.

"Aw, is this your precious water supply?" says Caspian sarcastically. Cedric tilts the bottle up and chugs the whole thing, not stopping for breath, before I can tell him to stop. They might be trying to kill me, but I can't just let him drink the whole thing of poison. That's just evil.

"No! Cedric, that's poison! I got it from - from the stream over there!" I yell at him, and luckily they believe me. I can tell that they do because the blood drains from Cedric's face, leaving him a deathly pale colour. 

Caspian looks up at me. "What does the poison do?" he says. I have to tell them.

"His skin...it will dissolve. From the b - b - bottom to the top,"  I say more quietly, trying to hide my shaky voice. This kind of poison is so disgusting even Grandfather didn't use to use it. 

"Well take your boots off," says Caspian to Cedric, who has gone even paler in horror at his situation. There is nothing I can do; his death is inevitable. I start retching when I see the skin on Cedric's feet and ankles starting to flake off and turn into dust. I want to go down there are comfort them, tell them that Cedric won't be able to feel the skin coming off, but I don't, for fear that Caspian will murder me. One swing of that mace would polish me off for good. I squint and see his fingers are dissolving now, and they both have tears running down their faces. 

"I'm so sorry," says Caspian.

"It's ok, it really is. I was never gonna win this, and at least I won't have to kill you. If you win, tell Enobaria I -" Cedric's words are cut off as the skin off his neck disappears into thin air.

"Cedric, no!" Caspian says as the last of his brother's skin dissolves and all that's left is a piles of bones and organs and blood and tears. 

"Oh my -" I say accidentally. To tell the truth, the sight below me is purely horrific. A cannon sounds, signalling Cedric's death. For the next few minutes all I can hear are the wails of a heartbroken Caspian Nightshire that's just lost his brother. As far as I know, Cedric was the closest person to him and he will be distraught over his death. Caspian moves away a bit as the claw comes down multiple times to collect the remains of his brother. 

Once the claw is gone he glares at me with so much hate in his eyes you'd think I'd murdered Cedric on purpose. I guess I did kill him if you think about it. That's not a nice thought: he was my first kill.

"Caspian -" I begin, but he starts speaking. He practically spits the words out. 

"You did this," he says through gritted teeth. "You killed my brother and you won't get away with it." 

"No, Caspian, it was an accident!" I say, packing my things at full speed and standing up precariously on the branch. 

"Oh yes you did. You killed Cedric and now I'm gonna kill you." He picks up a long, sharp swords and starts to climb, not taking his eyes off me for a second. I see no path of escape, only that five foot leap I saw earlier. It is my only choice, but why am I so afraid? 

Maybe because my life depends on it. 

Maybe because if I don't jump, my life will be ended by Caspian Nightshire with a single sweep of his wrist. He is halfway up the tree now; almost at my branch. 

I make sure to get a good run up on the branch, then I sprint along it and take a huge leap off the end. For a brief moment I feel the sensation of being suspended in mid-air, and then falling. I've missed the branch by a few centimetres. I lurch my arms forwards and feel a surge of pain in both shoulder joints as my hands grip the slippery surface of the branch, and I am left dangling here, awaiting my death. Another massive pain surges through my upper body as try to haul myself up the branch. The pain is so extreme that I end up half on, half off: my stomach is lying on it whilst the rest of me dangles from either side. 

How am I not dead yet?

I turn my head, expecting to see a sword come flying at my neck, when a cannon fires instead. Someone has just died. A figure appears from around the side of the oak tree and I squint and see it's Avita! She is dragging a body round too, but she'd better hurry because I can hear the creak of the hovercraft claw getting louder by the second. I get a glimpse of the corpse as it is lifted not far from where I am. 

Caspian is lying on his front, soaked in his own blood, a spiked mace buried deep into his back. I could bet it was Avita that killed him. She even said that she did some mace throwing in her private session with the Gamemakers. Avita now has unlimited access to the Nightshire's rather large collection of weapons and, most likely, they had plenty of food and water too. She spends a minute or so packing everything up into a huge rucksack that used to be Cedric's and then comes over to the tree I've found myself stuck in.

A/N: Bit of an abrupt ending, but otherwise this chapter would've gone on for ages. But yeah, hope you liked it ;)