Day 13 - Part 2

"B-Buck, we're the last two."

Her words hit me like another punch to the gut. I say another because I've been getting more than my fair share of them lately. Her face is scared and terrified, and I know mine must be too. I take my backpack, which is full of weapons, and fling it as far as I can.

"I'm not going to even try to fight you," I say.

"I won't either," Meadow says, "so what do we do?"

"I don't know," I say, "The have to have a victor, but they won't let both of us win. They're probably going to kill one of us."

"How?"

"I don't know."

As if to answer my question, at that moment, we hear a howl coming from the forest. A chill runs down my spine. I instinctively back toward the Cornucopia, away from the forest. Then we see it.

Or them, because from the forest come huge wolves. They walk on both two legs and four, and there's something disturbing about them.

Meadow shrieks, and we both take off running for the Cornucopia. It's our only chance. Thankfully, we're fairly close to the golden horn, so I'm able to get there without getting torn apart. When I get there, Meadow is already on top of the structure.

"Their eyes," she says, terrified. I would look back, but I have to get to safety first.

I climb, but my crippled foot makes it hard for me. Just when I think I've made it, I tumble back down. The wolves are closing in. Meadow screams. She slides down.

"What are you doing!" I shout at her, "Do you want both of us to die?"

She insists on pushing me up, and I reluctantly agree, because once she's made up her mind, I know she won't change it. As much as she's changed, she's still persistent when she's made up her mind. Once I'm up, I grab her hand. I look at the mutts, which are getting way too close. Then I understand what Meadow meant.

Their eyes aren't eyes of wolves, but human eyes. I see the collar around each wolf. Then it finally dawns on me.

These are mutt forms of the dead tributes.

I see a relatively calm blonde mutt, the number 12 around it's neck. Peeta. He had said that he didn't want them to change him. I know that his corpse is somewhere on a hovercraft, but it's hard to believe that that mutt isn't really him.

One by one, I pick out the others. First I recognize Rue, her small mutt fast and agile. Amber, who runs and moves silently. Cato and Thresh, whose mutts are huge and imposing. Then I see an unusually ferocious and hateful mutt, with brown hair.

Collar Number: 8

Definitely Rick.

Then I see Maple's and Jack's, side by side, communicating silently, and my heart almost skips a beat.

"Come on!" Meadow shouts. Shocked, I realize that I was dazed and had drifted off into my thought world. I move away from the edge just as Rue's mutt jumps, swiping at the spot where I was. I shudder, knowing that I would be dead if Meadow hadn't warned me. The mutts jump and leap, but we stand in the middle of the Cornucopia's roof. She and I stand back to back, each watching a side. The light is growing dimmer, even though it isn't time for nightfall.

"Buck!"

"What?"

She points at a spot, and I look at it.

What I see scares me even more. On the edge, Jack's, Maple's, Rick's, and Rue's mutts have started standing on each other, so that they will be able to climb onto the Cornucopia.

"I guess this is the end for one of us," I say. She nods.

All of a sudden, her face brightens, just a little.

"Nightlock," she says. She means that whoever gets knocked down can save themselves from being mangled.

"I dropped mine, at the acid," I say.

The mutts keep slipping, but it's only a matter of time before we're overrun.

"I'll give you some," she says and reaches into her pocket. She opens the container and is about to pass some into my hands when a we hear a close growl.

We look at the direction, and we see Jack's mutt, standing on the Cornucopia.

He leaps.

We don't even have time to react before Meadow is falling off, her hands still holding the berries she was going to give me.

"No!" I shout.

The mutts see her and gather around her, ready to kill her slowly. They never get the chance. In one jerky motion, she swallows the nightlock.

A cannon sounds.

Trumpets sound, and Claudius's voice announces,

"I present Buck Hardwick, the victor of the 74th annual Hunger Games!"

I slide off the Cornucopia as the mutts enter a hole in the ground.

I am steaming mad. Anger is all I feel. At the top of my voice, I scream every dirty word I learned here at the Capitol. She didn't deserve this. Jack didn't deserve this. Maple, Rick, the Careers, and everyone else, no one deserves this.

Except Snow.

I see nightlock berries lying beside her. She must've dropped them. Then I realize that the Capitol doesn't have to get their victor. They'll hate this, and I'm going to do it. I pick up a few berries and stick my middle finger out at the sky. An old gesture that means hate.

I hear the hovercraft above. They think I'll be happy to go with them. But they won't have anyone to pick up. I get ready to eat the nightlock, my finger still up in the air. This will be my way of saying that I can take control of myself.

All of a sudden, I can't move. I'm frozen. I see that I'm being lifted up, and I realize that they dropped the ladder on me, freezing me with the electric current. I can't do anything. I'm brought into the hovercraft, and I see someone remove the berries. No problem, there's tons of ways to kill yourself in here.

I feel a prick in my arm, and everything goes black.

I open my eyes and see a white ceiling. I remember my decision to try and commit suicide, so I try to move my arms. I can't. I look around, and I see that I'm restrained by steps holding down my wrists and my ankles. I struggle, but I know it's no use.

The door opens, and I hear a familiar voice.

"Long time no see."

It's Austin. I am his first success.

"I guess so," I say.

"How are you feeling?"

"Physically, I'm fine. But other than that, I'm feeling horrible. It's like I-I," I stop not sure how to describe this terrible feeling.

"You don't have to explain. I know the feeling. It's like you feel like that you should've died in that arena."

It's a little scary, hearing him describe it exactly. But again, he's always been good at understanding me.

"But you have to live," he says, "Have to survive."

"Why should I," I say. Living with this guilt isn't worth it.

"Your family needs you, your friends," he says. Then he leans down as whispers in my ear.

"You could do so much for the rebellion."

Startled, I quickly pull myself back together. I ask him with my eyes, and he knows it, but I get the feeling that I'm not getting anymore information today.

"Just rest okay? You have a lot more to do later."

An innocent passerby would think that he was referring to the Victor's interview, but I catch the hidden meaning.

If I thought that these small acts of defiance were hard, then I have a hard life ahead.

But watch out, Snow, I'm coming for you.

A/N So this story is now finished! I have a few ideas for a sequel, and I was just wondering how much interest is out tthere! Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me the entire time. I am currently working on an (or is it "a") SYOT, and there are still quite a few blank spots, so be sure to check it out! (EDIT: The SYOT is now closed, but still check it out) Thanks again!

Joseph