The Ultimate Sacrifice (The 107th Hunger Games) [Fan Fiction]

24. Mayhem

24. Mayhem

A noise woke me up.

I fluttered my eyes open to notice I had turned in my sleep, and my head was right on Bane's chest. I scowled. I craned my neck to see his face peaceful. How did that noise not wake him up?

I heard movement behind me, so I assumed Jenna or Victor was awake. I felt Bane stretch against my body, opening his eyes. He smiled like he just won the Games.

"See? What did I tell you?" he gloated. "You're still alive and breathing."

"Did you hear the noise?"

"What noise?"

Suddenly, Jenna screamed. I rolled out from under the blanket, knife whipped out and ready. My body stiffened up, eyes bulged.

Jenna was retreating from Victor, but I thought it wasn't him at first. Cautiously, I crept towards his body. I jumped back a step.

Victor's eyes were eerily open, staring into an endless space. His arms were folded tightly across his chest, as if he had been trying to warm himself overnight. His fingers were black, as was the tip of his nose. His lips were a frightening blue, and I saw no fog of breath escape from his lips.

Victor was dead.

I shook my head, turning away. He was a corpse now, a frozen body. The noise that woke me up had been Victor's cannon, I now realized. He had died while we were all asleep.

"And here he thought he could survive the night," Jen whispered. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself. "Props to him for being brave, but he was still stupid."

"He died just now, while we were asleep," I croaked. I saw his sword near his body. "We better take his weapon before the hovercraft comes for him."

Jenna made a quick snatch for Victor's sword.

I turned my back on Victor, not wanting to take a second glance at him. I wasn't sure if Bane ever saw him, but I could see the hurt in his eyes. To me, losing Victor wasn't like losing family—it was more like losing a friend I lost touch with for years. That was the same for Ben and Aubrey.

We crawled our way out into humid woods. I sucked in a breath; I didn't like humidity very much. The woods seemed to be lively with a few birds and insects chattering around us. It was weird, because to me, it felt like we didn't lose Victor. It would take some time for me to realize that there were three Careers left instead of four.

Half the pack was wiped out, and half was still in the running to become the victor of the Hunger Games.

Since the humidity was so rough on us, we almost chugged through both of the water bottles I had filled with the rain from yesterday. I wondered where the other six tributes were. Were they fairing any better than we were? Were they all hiding from us or everything? Did anyone plan on making an attack on what was left of the pack, now that half was gone from the Games?

My thoughts went back to the Cornucopia explosion. We never got a chance to save Aubrey or at least see her one last time, she had died immediately. Ben had only outlasted her by a few minutes before he died. If it hadn't been for Bane seeing District 12's girl, we would have never gotten her—well, the rest of the pack never would have. I had had my own business to attend to at the time.

That still irked me. How could I hesitate when it was my job to wipe out all who opposed me? My mind wasn't in Career killer mode in that moment, because I let him go. Was that mindset wearing off?