The Last Hunger Games

Chapter 32 - Clouded Mind

I haul myself to my feet despite the world spinning in every direction around me, but as I go to take a step the spinning takes over and I land on my back with a thud. I muffled footsteps coming towards me, and then I am is slotted under my arms and another under my knees, and then I am lifted from where I lay. As I am somewhat carried, the black spots dash around my vision and sometimes take over completely, so for the rest of the short way back to wherever it is I'm being taken I dip in and out of consciousness and I am no longer sure what's real and what isn't. 

I am suddenly placed unceremoniously onto a hard surface, and once my head hits the rock ten the black dots all arrive at once, the ringing in my ears is so loud it feels deafening, and the pain is so extreme that it comes as a relief when I slip into the intoxicating sleep called unconsciousness. For goodness knows how long all I can hear is the slow but steady beat of my heart. 

I'm alive. How?

My head hurts, but I force my eyes to open with the small amount of brain power I have. Somehow they obey my mind's command, and as they open just a little, my eyeballs dart around to try and piece together my surroundings. I think that's been my biggest weakness of all in this arena: I always seem to need to know exactly where I am, what's around me, and a detailed plan of what I'm going to do next or I panic and, in this case, probably die of stupidity. That might seem like a joke, but believe me, anything is possible in this place. If the Gamemakers can come up with endless ideas for pods and those monstrosities we call mutts, nothing can surprise me now. I look all around me and I'm surprised to see that it's dark now and a cold breeze hits me like a sheet of ice. My teeth chatter and there's nothing I can do to stop them.

"Avita? Are you awake?" a voice says to me but I can't place who it belongs to. I make a sound i response because my doesn't seem to want to form words right now. What's wrong with me? It was only a small explosion. How are the side effects this bad?

"I thought you were dead for a while, but then Jack realised that there would've been a cannon if you were. Oh, I'm so glad you're alive!" a voice I finally place as Violet's says to me. She winces and lies back down, propping up her incomplete leg on a rucksack and wincing some more. Not gonna lie, I thought she'd be dead by now, as from what I saw before the explosion the damage on her leg is untreatable. Surely she doesn't have long left, and if that is the case, then why is she so cheery and chatty? 

"How's - your - ankle - Vi," I manage to say in various pitches as my voice struggles to work. "And - where's - Jack." I breath in and out heavily as I gasp for air, my lungs suddenly deciding they don't want to work properly either. This could be a long night.

"Jack's over there, it's my turn to keep watch right now." She yawns. "No faces in the sky earlier, the only recent ones were yesterday's."

"What?" I answer, this time in a voice so croaky that it sounds like a toad trying to speak English. 

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you. You've been out cold for a whole day! Jack's managed to get a few spoonfuls of soup into you, but other than that you've had nothing. Here, have some of this." She holds out a water bottle but my hands won't obey my brain properly and it lands on the roof with a bang, sending the precious water all over the tiny stones. A dark silhouette sits up quickly on the other side of the roof, wielding a long spear and yelling absurdities right and left.

"Shut up Jack! Avita's awake!" Violet says, and Jack puts down his weapons hesitantly and comes over. 

"You good with needles?" he says. That's a weird first thing to say to someone who's been knocked out for twenty four hours, but I make any sound I can with my voice box, and it comes out as a low moan. Ugh, I hate not being able to do anything, or even speak. One more thing to add to the list of things I didn't realise I take/took for granted. I'm okay with needles; I don't hate them nor love them. I know Celestia despised them and was so scared she would scream if one came anywhere near her. I don't have a clue how she managed to get her tracker on the hovercraft ride here without crying. I thought they'd have to sedate her or something.

Then, without any warning, there is a sharp pain in my upper thigh and I look to see Jack injecting me with a suspicious black goo. Is it medicine or a ploy to kill me? If they are killing me, then why? Surely Violet likes me enough not to go as far as murdering me. 

I start to hyperventilate and the ringing in my ears returns, and I'm about to scream to end all this pain when the whole world around me goes pitch black, and so quiet I can hear my pulse beating in sync in every part of my body. 

A/N: kind of a filler chapter but hope you still liked it :) and thanks for over 900 reads!