Chapter 16

I stand frozen as fear as I see Kale materialize from the thick woods. James has stopped and is staring at him, body tense and rigid. Beside me, I hear Andrei climbing out of the burrow.

"Hiriam?"

Kale leaps forward, pickaxe raised, towards James, a smile cracking his tan face. But James quickly leaps to the side before the deadly weapon can strike him. He takes one of his hatchets and throws it at Kale, still mid-air.

But somersaulting through the air like an acrobat, Kale lazily grabs it and lands deftly on his feet. He smiles as James starts backing up, slowly advancing, a pickaxe and hatchet in his hands.

I'm suddenly rushing forward with my two spears, and I hear Andrei behind me. As I sprint closer toward Kale I throw my spear, and it jabs the tribute if the arm. I hear Kale cry out in pain, but then, clenching his teeth, he pulls the weapon out and laughs.

"God, what idiots you three are. You're not trained in killing like I am."

And then Kale leaps into the air and lands on top of James. He raises the pickaxe, but I rush forward before the blow can make contact. I jab my spear at Kale's back, but in his peripheral vision he's seen me and reacts before I can hit. Falling onto his back, my thrust flies right over him, and he quickly spins his legs, tripping me. I stumble and fall to the ground as Kale rises.

"See? I told you."

Kale aims his hatchet at my head while pinning James down with his powerful foot. Frantically I try to back up, but Kale slowly leans down and grabs me by the shirt.

And then I hear something whoosh through the air. I look up and see one of Andrei's bombs. It hits Kale in the chest, and he immediately staggers back. I jump back to my feet and pick up the bomb.

Which is lit.

My heart seizes up as I see the fuse burning down, fast. I raise my arm to throw it away, but suddenly I feel Kale's weight knock me down. The bomb bounces out of my grip, just out of my reach. I feel Kale beating me like he did Lucy, and I feel fury and fear combine until they become one enormous thing, a thing of power.

"Get off me, you damn tribute!"

And suddenly I am lifting Kale up off of me, all of his muscular body. I stand up, and he's still over my head. And then, with all the strength I contain, I throw him to the ground.

Behind me, I hear the bomb go off.

Kale and I are flying through the air like rag dolls, powerless to do anything. I feel a sharp pain, a sliver in my side, and everything seems like it's on fire. Then we're both falling and falling. I feel a hard thud throughout my body as I impact, pain coursing through my veins. The scene is focusing in and out, and I start to grow dizzy. I dry heave once, twice, then lay still. Everything's quiet except for my heavy pant.

No. There's something else. Another noise that's…

Kale slams into me.

All my breath disappears and the pain intensifies as he lands on top of me. Vaguely I think of how powerful Kale is, how he can stand a bomb and beatings. (everything starts growing black and the sun sparkles on my skin and the tree leaves rustle and the blue sky seem to wink at me like a thousand eyes like a kaleidoscope and the pain seems to be disappearing just like the world because everything is going black and everything is going black…)

And suddenly the crushing weight is off of me. The blackness slowly melts away and I glimpse James attacking Kale, fury in his eyes. I try to move so I can help him, but I can't. I see Andrei join in, trying to help, but Kale's so strong. I weakly crawl forward, as if I could reach Andrei and James I could save them. I pant heavily and see Kale knock James down then stun Andrei with a powerful uppercut.

And now I know it's the end.

Suddenly the darkness is back and my vision is gone. I stop my movement, feel my bruised and battered body. Everything is black, and I start to grow claustrophobic.

(pain is in my body it courses like a bolt of electricity hot and burning and everything is dark like the hide of the night except that there are no stars but only the blackness and it is never going to go away because of this and there are no winking eyes like last time and i feel all the pain that i've ever endured and it goes through me because the blackness is never going away and because the blackness is never going away…)

Noise.

From off into the woods.

A sliver of light appears through the darkness, like a dangling harvest moon. It expands and the noises grow louder, and more light appears. I can see the world again, and finally everything is light. I suck in air, clear, sweet air, and then look to up.

Octavian catapults from the trees toward where Kale stands over Andrei and James. In the light, the hooks shine and sparkle brilliantly. Almost as if they're talking.

But Octavian. How? He was dead after the explosions; we checked his pulse to make sure. How is this possible?

Octavian is suddenly next Kale. And then he slams his hooks into Kale's face.

"Bloody fool!" Octavian screams. "These tributes are MY kill!"

Immediately James and Andrei back-up. Kale, face bloody, slowly rises, caught in between a smile and a grimace.

"Ah," he says to his attacker. "You must be Octavian. I've heard much about you."

Kale lunges forward, an almost calm expression on his face. He swings his pickaxe but Octavian raises his hook before it can land. As the metals contact, there's a small spark.

Then Kale drops to the ground and somersaults backwards. Octavian dashes forward, swinging his hooks wildly. One bites into Kale's shoulder, drawing a thin line of blood.

"Bastard!" Kale spits at Octavian, then kicks him in the stomach. Octavian flies back and slams into a tree.

Out of my peripheral vision I see Andrei and James edging their way toward me. They creep forward and then help me up. My legs are still unstable and my head is aching. For a moment, blackness threatens to overpower me once more.

I hear a bloodthirsty yell and see Octavian launch himself away from the tree. He slashes his hooks at Kale, but the other tribute parries with his pickaxe. They thrust and swing at slash, always blocking, never drawing blood. A battle of the titans.

Kale ducks a blow and swings his pickaxe at Octavian's legs. The point embeds itself in the right leg, and blood is suddenly spurting out. Octavian stumbles and falls, grunting, as Kale retrieves his weapon. And then Kale, standing over him, thrusts the pickaxe downward. At the last second Octavian rolls over and the blow only grazes his side. Then, breathing heavily, Octavian grabs Kale's legs and throws him down.

Octavian crawls forward with his hooks, shimmering in the afternoon, and places them on top of Kale's stomach.

"I want to kill him!" Octavian suddenly cries out, as if talking to someone else. He stares at his hooks, a mad gleam in his eye.

"I don't bloody have time to make him suffer! Let me do it quickly, then we can have more blood!"

Kale pushes Octavian off with strong arms. The tribute rolls off of him and tumble into the grass.

"That's the thing that sets us apart," Kale says to Octavian, pinning him down. "We're both cold killers and are good at what we do. But you, sir, are mad, and that just gets in the way."

Kale reaches down and wrenches a hook from Octavian's grip, then he places it over his arm.

"Don't worry," Kale says softly. "I'll make this slow."

He slashes.

Octavian howls in pain and blood rushes out of the open wound. I can see that the arm is only attached by several veins and arteries. The blackness threatens to return.

Kale looks at the arm contemplatively. Then he reaches for it and pulls it away.

There's another shriek, and Octavian now only has one arm. Kale holds the other one in his hands triumphantly.

Behind me I suddenly hear scuttling, like the sound of millions of tiny legs moving.

"James, Andrei," I whisper. "What is that?"

Kale is stooping down, ready for the kill. The scuttling grows louder. The hairs on the back of my neck begin to prickle.

A storm of black erupts from the trees. On the ground, scuttling like crabs, are hundreds of tarantula-sized spiders, black eyes gleaming, pincers clicking.

Kale turns, a bit frightened. But Octavian…his face suddenly loses all color.

"Not spiders!" He shrieks. "Anything but SPIDERS!"
Kales turns and dashes into the woods with the hook and pickaxe. The spiders approach Octavian, eager for the blood. Suddenly they're crawling all over him, biting him and tasting his blood, tearing away flesh and eating the skin. Octavian continues to scream and writhe, but soon his whole body is covered with darkness. As the spiders feed they grow larger, and soon they start popping. Octavian's screams begin to die away, replaced by horrible moans. More spiders pop, one by one, until none are left. Then silence prevails.

All that's left of Octavian is a bleached skeleton, picked clean of all remaining flesh. A cannon goes off.

"Well," James says, breathing heavily. "At least we know he's dead this time."

A/N-

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