Trust Me

Four tributes left. I would be optimistic and assume that Adri was one of them, but then I'd also have to expect the worst and assume that Ingrid was one of them, too. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the sky as I waited to see the list of the Fallen, though the canopy of the trees blocked the sky and made it difficult to see. I just needed to see the first face. I just needed to make sure it wasn't Adri's. Or did I want it to be Adri's? If it was his face that lit up the sky first, that would mean that I wouldn't have to kill him or worry about him, and that the Game makers' plan was ruined. But it would mean that my best friend since I'd entered the arena was dead.

I watched the sky for what felt like a few more hours, but it was hard to tell exactly how long it was without the sun. It remained dark and void of faces.

The anthem began to play, and my heart began to race. This was it. The moment that I'd been both anxiously awaiting and dreading. As soon as the anthem had finished I stared up at the sky, fighting the urge to squeeze my eyes shut, but nothing happened to the sky.

A voice suddenly soared through the trees over a PA system. "Good evening, tributes. We have decided that, at this point, there are so few remaining tributes that we won't show the faces of the Fallen. It will be best if you can prepare yourself for whomever you may meet rather than knowing who you will be up against, since this modified arena is so very small. Sleep well, dear tributes, and may the odds be ever in your favor." The voice of Seneca Crane said, his voice soft and sweet, making it all the more despicable.

They were doing this to me. They knew I would want to know if Adri was alive, and if Ingrid was still looking for me. I didn't know if Adri cared about me anymore, so I didn't dare to think that he was feeling as disappointed as I was. The only thing I knew was that Adri and Ingrid must have been alive. If they weren't alive, then the Game makers wouldn't have tried to hide the Fallen from me. This didn't comfort me, though. I didn't know if Adri was angry enough to hunt me down so he could kill me himself, though I hoped desperately that he was still the Adri I knew and lo....I stopped myself short of saying 'loved'. I couldn't think that way now. Not after everything that had happened.

The cold racked over me, though it was less ferocious now. I wanted to start a fire, but I couldn't afford to let everyone know where I was. Not when the arena was this small. "Please kill me. Please let me freeze like this. I'm so close to death." I said softly, exaggerating my shivering. I hoped the Game makers would hear my pleas. Sure enough, the cold started to gently fade away from me. Of course they wouldn't want me to freeze. Not when they'd done so much to keep me alive so I could fight Ingrid and Adri. I was still cold, but I could manage it now. I hoped that Adri had expressed how cold he was. He had no sleeping bag, after all. But I knew the Game makers wouldn't kill him, either. We were safe from the elements for now, but I still had to keep myself awake to protect myself from rogue tributes.

When I peeked one eye open and saw the morning sun smiling down at me through the leaves, I wanted to smack myself. How had I been weak enough to let myself fall asleep?! I had no watch, no warning system, no camouflage...quite frankly, it was a miracle I hadn't been slaughtered already. I hopped to my feet and stuffed everything in my pack, but I left the unnecessary objects behind, such as the empty canteen and the frayed rope that had been snapped in half after I broke it going down the cliff with Adri and was now covered in 7's blood. I pulled the pack over my shoulder and noticed that it was lighter, but just barely. It would still slow me down. I trekked on, unsure of where I was supposed to go but determined to keep moving anyways.

I had only been walking for a few minutes when I heard rustling in the trees and low panting. I whirled around to see a ferociously large wolf, and I wanted to scream. Really? More beasts? Hadn't they had enough of those? Then again, maybe they'd had beasts every day, but the Game makers had kept them away from Adri, Ingrid and me. The wolf marched slowly out of the bushes, locking me in its terrifying glare, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that this wolf looked like Adri in a way I couldn't put my finger on. Of course the Game makers were keeping me alive, but it wasn't without a price. They would play with my head until Adri and I finally had the battle that everyone had been waiting for. I remembered all the mind games people had been playing since the start of the Games, and I knew that those mind tricks paled in comparison to what the Game makers were capable of.

I couldn't bear to stare at the wolf any longer, but I knew that any sudden movements would trigger the wolf's attack. I took a slow shuffle backwards, not daring to turn my back on it. The Adri-wolf stopped short, watching me with some sense of curiosity. I took another slow step backwards, but my foot caught on a rock. I didn't fall, but I stumbled enough to snap the wolf out of its trance. It let out a long snarl as a warning to its upcoming attack, and I turned on my heel and ran. I could hear the wolf panting as he leapt after me, his long legs carrying him faster than I could ever hope to run. I wasn't going to out run him. I saw a tree that looked easy enough to climb and knew that this was my only hope. I took the pack off my back and hurled it at the wolf, hitting him in the face and confusing him enough to make him stop and sniff at the pack. I took this opportunity to quickly scamper up the tree as high as I could, and I glanced down to see a mess of feathers and canvas everywhere. The wolf seemed to have picked up my scent on the bag and had shredded it, along with everything inside -- including the sleeping bag.

I could hear a howl off in the distance, and a cannon fired. So I wasn't the only one being hunted by a wolf. I glanced up long enough to watch the hovercraft scoop up a body on the other side of the Cornucopia, and by the time I glanced back down, the wolf was up on its hind legs, shaking the tree as vigorously as it could with its front paws. The tree groaned and creaked in protest, and I could hear the trunk start to splinter. I took a leap off the top of the tree, knowing it was better to jump and risk injury than to fall and get squished under the branches. I landed on the shredded remains of my sleeping bag, but it sent a jolt of pain into my knees, crippling me for a few seconds. That few seconds was long enough for the wolf to be at my side, glaring down at me. He growled and glared at me with Adri's eyes, and I almost wanted to hug the wolf. His fur was the same blond color as Adri's hair, his eyes the same color blue with the same mischievous glint in them, and I even picked up Adri's scent on the wolf.

I dared to reach up a hand, not able to control myself at this point, and I slowly lowered my hand to the wolf's nose, stroking its muzzle. The wolf' didn't growl or snap at me, but he didn't look pleased. I pulled my hand back to my side and the wolf growled at me again, taking another step closer so it was hovering over me, but then he sat down.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" I murmured, though I knew the answer. If the beast was going to kill me, it would have torn me to bits by now.

The wolf blinked in response.

"You want me to go somewhere, right? Where do you want me to go?"

The wolf's gaze darted to my left, staring intently down through the trees for a few seconds, before he glanced back towards me.

"You want me to go that way, towards the Cornucopia, right?"

He blinked again, his muzzle dipping up and down ever so slightly in what looked like a nod.

I was tempted to run in the other direction, but the wolf would probably just bite onto my arm and drag me down to the Cornucopia. Plus, there were now only two other tributes left, not including myself. If I did what the Game makers wanted, the Games would be over today, and as long as I didn't screw up, I could be going home before the end of the day. I reached forward and hesitantly patted the wolf on the head. I wanted to feel bad for it. It had only been created to mess with me, and it would surely be destroyed as soon as they collected it. But I knew that these beasts didn't have any kind of emotions. They might as well have been robots. The wolf slowly blinked its eyes shut as if it was pleased, but I didn't know if it was pleased with me patting it or if it was happy that I was doing what it wanted. I turned away and headed off to the Cornucopia, keeping one hand on the handle of my knives as I walked. I would finish this today, no matter what it took. I could free myself from the grip of the Game makers today, whatever the cost.

When I reached the edge of the trees around the clearing that held the Cornucopia, I took a few steps back. Everyone would be waiting for someone else to make the first move, and nobody would be stupid enough to run right out into the clearing.

As soon as I'd thought that, Ingrid came running through the edge of the trees, not stopping until she reached the center of the clearing. I felt the blood drain fro my face as I saw her. She was an utter mess, and whatever shreds of sanity she'd had before she came into the arena were now long gone.

Her clothes were shredded to pieces and only scraps remained, covering only what was needed. She seemed to have chopped her hair off, and it stuck up at wild angles, seeming to defy gravity. Her entire body was covered in wounds, but that wasn't the worst part. All across her skin in blood there were numbers. 1, 12, 6, 3, 5, 8, and many others that I couldn't quite see. She had painted the numbers on herself, but I didn't know if she'd done it in her own blood or in the blood of someone else. I already knew what the numbers meant. She had made herself a walking scrapbook. The numbers on her were the district numbers of everyone she'd killed.

Ingrid stood in the middle of the clearing with an insane grin on her face. From the looks of it, the Game makers had targeted her quite a bit. I could see 3 fresh gashes running down the entire left side of her face, her pale skin contrasted by the ruby red streaks. I wondered if the wolf that had chased her was supposed to kill her, or if she'd just fought back too much. Either way, she was no longer the picture of dark feline beauty she had once been. With her wildly chopped hair, her destroyed clothes and the deep gouges running from hairline to chin on one side of her face, she looked feral.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" She said. She had started the sentence by singing it out sweetly, but her voice had changed to a menacing cackle by the end of it. "I know you're here. I can smell it."

I grimaced. She had definitely gone insane, though she hadn't really seemed all that stable when she first entered the arena, anyway. I drew a knife in each hand, waiting for her to put herself at a better angle so I could fire them at her, but I didn't dare take even one step towards the clearing.

"Come on, darling. Come play!" She slid her sheath off her shoulders and threw it, along with her bow, to the side. She pulled every single weapon she had off of her, adding it to the pile with her archery set. "What's the matter? Can you not even take on a young girl without a weapon? And here I was, thinking that you'd be a force to be reckoned with! Did you really get a score of 11? Or did you have your mentor bribe the judges?" Her voice was regaining its normal smooth and taunting tone, but her eyes stayed wild. "I wouldn't put it past your mentor. He's a dirty cheat. Why do you think you were given better odds than your little friend Kip, when he's obviously the better one? Your mentor is a filthy liar."

I knew she was just playing with my head. I knew that letting her words get to me was stupid, and that I was just letting her wrap me around her finger. And yet, my legs didn't seem to care as they started carrying me towards the center of the clearing.

Her head whipped towards me as she watched me walk towards her, her shoulders hunching over like a cat waiting to pounce. I held my knives up, ready to throw them if she dared to make one move.

"Kill me. I dare you." She challenged. "Prove you're just as dangerous as the Game makers say you are."

"Do you honestly think I wouldn't? After all that you've done, do you think I would have any trouble killing you?" I said, wanting to call her bluff, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized she might be right. I killed Parq, but that was only because he had killed Kip and was about to kill Adri. Could I really kill anyone else with my own hands?

"You're not thinking things through. If you kill me, then it will be just you and your lover boy left in the arena. If you can kill me, do you think you can kill him, too? Won't your mommy be proud of you after you kill your best friend?" She cooed.

I whipped my head up to glare at her. I didn't know if she knew about my mother or if she was just trying to hit a nerve. She'd definitely found a soft spot. "So you think I'm going to let you kill me so I won't have to kill him, is that it?"

"I think you want me to kill him myself, and then you and I can fight for the title of Victor." She said, raising an eyebrow on the side of her face that wasn't mauled. "You have a shot at winning without having to literally stab your little friend in the back, and I get another number to add to my collection." She gestured to the numbers painted across her skin.

I scoffed. "You really think I'd let you kill him? Do you think I'd let you reduce him to nothing more than a number on your arm?"

Her face grew void of expression for a moment. "So you're not going to play along, is that it? You want to kill me now so you can kill your own little friend whenever he shows up?"

I could hear Finnick's voice screaming at me, 'Take it! Agree to her deal! You'll have a better shot of winning if you just take her up on her offer!' but I silenced those thoughts. "I don't want to win like that. I won't bargain off Adri's life just to save myself."

Ingrid's mouth curled into a grimace and a low growl echoed through her throat. I took aim with my knives, waiting for her to move a muscle so I could throw them at her, but her expression suddenly changed to one of shock.

I cast a hesitant glance over my shoulder to see what she was looking at, and I saw Adri standing at the edge of the clearing. He held his machete loosely at his side, but as I met his gaze he let it fall to the grass. His eyes seemed sad, and I wanted to run to his side and beg for forgiveness, but I seemed frozen in that moment.

I lowered my knives slowly to my side. I had forgotten Ingrid was even behind me until Adri's expression turned to one of horror.

"Winnie!" He screamed, and I felt a knife disappear from one of my hands before it plunged deep into my lower back. I could hear Ingrid scream with delight as I staggered to keep myself upright. She gave me a gentle nudge on the shoulder and I toppled to the ground. Warm sticky blood flowed from my back and dripped over my sides, pooling around my hips. I could feel myself slipping away as the world grew farther and farther away. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but my mind couldn't process anything that was happening. I couldn't even keep track of how much time had passed. It was like everything was happening all at once and in slow motion, all at the same time.

Someone was at my side. Hands were on my face, stroking my cheeks and my hair. I could feel lips on my forehead. My eyes lowered shut as all sound grew more and more distant.

Through the fog inside my head, I heard a cannon rumble faintly, and I knew it was my cannon blast – my death – as everything else grew dark, fading into nothingness.