35. The Final Stretch

       I knew the Gamemakers made it look too simple. There was no way they would’ve been that nice in giving a nice feast with perfect, non-contaminated food. I knew enough about the Hunger Games to second guess everything and to never assume that the Gamemakers made the tributes’ time easy in the arena. The gift of snow was just to make us think they were being nice to us, concealing the harsh blow that was the feast at the Cornucopia.

            What happened next was something I had longed for. The moment I collapsed to the ground, I heard two battle cries: Seraphine and Sutton. I heard loud crashes of plates and the table. Meeka snarled, and Eric cursed under his breath. I staggered to my feet only to have slightly blurred vision.

            Seraphine was battling Eric while Meeka and Sutton were wrestling behind the knocked-over table. I could hear them both battling. Meeka gave a shriek of pain; Sutton had to have done something to him. Seraphine was a quick girl; she ducked Eric’s blows and managed to rip the pack to shreds. Eric gave a roar of outrage and knocked Seraphine on her butt, feet away from him. He stalked towards her, and I saw Sutton fly over the table, rolling on the ground. Meeka leapt over the table, a dark glint in his eye. He flicked off candle wax from his face.

            I tried to rush to the girls’ aid as best as I could, leaping for my ax. Eric kicked me in the face, knocking me on my back. I coughed, feeling something catching in my throat. I forced it back down with a swallow and propped myself up with my elbows. Seraphine was dodging Eric’s chains that he lashed at her with while Meeka was trying to slice Sutton up with the sword. I crawled to the pack, retrieving my ax. I shook my head, trying to improve my vision. Let’s make these last minutes of my life count. I knew that I couldn’t escape death’s grasp this time.

            I shouted and struck at Eric’s back. He twirled away only for my ax to collide with Meeka’s sword. I gritted my teeth and went on the assault, all while trying to keep my balance. It was hard, battling a Career when I had fuzzy vision. I nearly got swiped a few times by the blade of the sword.

            Meeka tripped over Sutton, who was just now waking up. She had been knocked unconscious during all the chaos, I just realized. Sutton and I jumped on Meeka. He knocked us both in opposite directions; I rolled towards Seraphine’s battle with Eric. She was still avoiding his chain strikes. I saw she had a red cheek, so Eric had gotten a hit on her before. I had never heard her scream though. She must take pain well.

I limped to help out Seraphine, swinging my ax threateningly at Eric. He pounced on me, knocking me to the ground. I coughed, feeling something rise in my throat again. It had a nasty taste to it.

            Eric pressed the chains against my neck. I was hacking terribly; Eric was making it worse by strangling me. I tried to reach for my ax while trying to give my throat some room to breathe under the chain’s wrath. I wasn’t successful in either. My muscles twitched frantically, begging to move freely. I couldn’t pry the chains off me. I screamed hoarsely, trying to keep stuff from coming out of my throat.

            “At last, you’ll join your district partner in hell,” Eric sneered at me. I whimpered.

            “More like you’ll join your sister in hell!” Seraphine roared.

            She jumped on him, jabbing him in the neck with something. He gave a yell of pain and shoved her off him, sending her flying once again. These boys certainly knew how to knock girls off their feet. I socked Eric in the face and wriggled out of his grasp.

            Eric staggered to his feet while I crawled away from him. He yanked something out of his neck: a dart. Seraphine stabbed him with a poisoned dart. Her poison worked quickly, so Eric would be dead within a minute. Score one for the girls!

            “Help Sutton!” she barked at me. I gave a nod and turned my attention to Sutton and Meeka.

            Sutton didn’t have much of a chance to whip out her arrows on him, because Meeka kept swiping at her with his sword. Sutton tried to load an arrow, but instead used it to defend herself from Meeka’s sword. The arrow was cut in half almost instantly. Sutton tossed it away, looking frightened and angry. Since I knew Seraphine wouldn’t have much longer to deal with Eric because of her poison, I charged for Meeka. I felt like I was tottering because of my poison.

            I felt extremely dizzy, so I stopped, trying to make myself feel better. I was waiting for my knees to buckle under me.

            “A little help here!” Sutton pleaded to me. She screamed as Meeka struck her arm with his sword. She grabbed it, retreating from him.

            “Seraphine, another dart!” I begged.

            “I don’t have anymore!” she said quickly. “I lost all my others when we jumped down to rescue you!” Damn it. I heard Seraphine grunt as Eric continued to try and assault her.

            I struck at Meeka’s heart, thrusting my ax there. I grinned maliciously, but Meeka smirked. My smile faded.

            “Do you think I’m that stupid?” he growled. He has protective armor. Well, his body was well protected, but not his neck or his head.

I tried to rip out the ax, but it was stuck in his armor. Meeka backhanded me on my injured side of my face, sending me to the ground. I got on all fours and coughed again, my cheek pounding. This time stuff came out of my mouth. Blood pounded in my ears dangerously. I shook my head, trying to keep my vision straight.

            I crawled away from Meeka as he stalked me. He had a murderous glint in his eye.

            “I can end your misery right now,” he snarled, yanking my ax free from his armor with one swift tug. I scooted away as far as I could, but Meeka brought his foot down on my leg—the one the mutt bit. I yowled and clutched it. The ax glittered in the moonlight.

            Seraphine came out of nowhere and rammed into Meeka, knocking him to the ground. I shot a quick look at my right. Eric was on the ground, still as a corpse. No cannon sounded yet for him.

            Seraphine cried out as she got punched in the face and thrown off. Sutton helped her up and charged for Meeka again, this time missing. He smacked her pretty hard. After she went rolling, she didn’t move.

No…he couldn’t have killed her. Whatever he did to his district partner, I didn’t appreciate it.

            “NO!” I yelled in outrage. Meeka snorted at Sutton’s body, and then his attention turned back to me.

With what energy I could muster, I jumped onto Meeka, but it was a big mistake. In a second, he had a massive arm around my neck, sword blade just under my chin. I stopped, limbs freezing. He turned us so that Seraphine could see the situation. She froze, looking to be in thought.

            “Take a step towards us or load a weapon, and I’ll slit her throat,” Meeka snarled.

            Seraphine was out of focus in my vision. My legs were wobbling, like they were going to collapse at any second. This poison must love to just make me suffer with each passing minute.

            Seraphine did nothing. She just stared, looking hopeless. She knew Meeka wasn’t bluffing about killing me. I was afraid to try and do anything to loosen his grip. My lower lip quivered. I knew I was dead anyway, whether Meeka killed me or the poison did.

 I saw Seraphine’s eyes flicker to something, then back at us. My brows knitted in confusion. Was she trying to figure out a way to free me without me dying?

            A second later, Meeka yelled out in pain, throwing the sword away. I leapt away from him; Seraphine grabbed me to steady me. Sutton was on Meeka’s back, and she plunged an arrow through his neck. My mouth dropped as Sutton’s face was twisted into an expression of determination and anger. Meeka’s blue eyes were wide; his hands desperately trying to dislodge the arrow from his neck and toss Sutton off him. Sutton leapt off of him just as he fell, blood leaking from his neck. She flicked what fresh blood she could from her hands. Meeka’s gaze was blank, staring in surprise.

            “Nobody tries to kill my friends,” Sutton snarled, panting. “And that’s what you get for trying to kill me.” Oh, so she does consider Seraphine a friend. That was a step up from how she felt about her when Seraphine first came close to us.

Two cannons shot off for the Career boys’ deaths. There would soon be a third—my cannon. I wouldn’t be able to cheat a poisonous death twice. I wasn’t that good.

Sutton looked at us, standing by Meeka’s body.

“It’s done,” she panted. “We did it.”

            “Yes!” Seraphine chirped. I couldn’t celebrate; my legs had given out on me, forcing me to fall to the ground.

            “Bridget!” both the girls cried. I fell on my side; Sutton turned me over on my back. Both girls’ faces were blurry to me.

            “Can you hear me?” Sutton begged. I blinked, glaring up at the moon. I coughed. “We’re losing her!”

            “Let me check to see if there’s a hidden antidote,” Seraphine panicked. I felt her grab my hand. “Hang on just a little bit longer, Bridget. Don’t die on us.” Seraphine disappeared.

            Sutton constantly kept looking at Seraphine, then at me. My eyes kept threatening to roll back into my head. I prevented them from doing so, but I couldn’t do it for much longer.

            “Just hold on,” Sutton breathed. She squeezed my hand. “Seraphine’s trying to find a cure.”

            “We did it,” I croaked, lolling my head to look at her. “We beat the boys.” I wheezed.

            Sutton smiled somberly at me. “Bridget, you know what this means for us, right?”

            “What?”

            “We’re the only three left.”

            Dread settled into my bones. We’re the only three left. Did this mean our alliance was done for? Would we end up together, facing the Gamemakers?

            Wait, why was I thinking like I was going to last much longer? How would Seraphine and Sutton be once I was gone? Would the alliance fall then? Would they go their separate ways or stick together, like I would want them to?

            “Any luck?” Sutton called.

            “No. I’ve ripped apart every single piece of food possible,” Seraphine whined.

            “There has to be an antidote.”

            “I’ll keep looking.”

            “Look faster!”

            “I’m trying!”

            “Stop fighting,” I moaned. “It’s not helping.”

            “Sorry,” Sutton said quietly.

            “I—I knew you guys would come for me.” I laughed dryly. “I knew…”

            “It wasn’t an alliance without you. Besides, we weren’t going to take on the boys unless you were with us.”

            “You…saved my life.” I inhaled sharply.

            I closed my eyes, taking in huge breaths. Just hold on; just hold on, I kept telling myself. I heard Sutton muffle a sob. She thought I was in my last moments. For all I knew, I could be. I would get to see Daniel and Mom up in heaven, but I would never get to see Dad, Troy, Ewan or his parents again until they passed on. I could never grow up, fall in love, get married or have a family of my own.

I couldn’t have a life beyond the Hunger Games in District 7.

            It was hard to believe that I came so close to achieving what seemed to be deemed impossible. To come so close and fall so short was unbelievable. I gave it my all, just like Daniel. We both failed. We both aren’t coming home back to 7. At least Sutton and Seraphine would become the two victors of the final Games should they manage to accomplish that.

            “Wait, I found something!” Seraphine chirped eagerly. I popped open my eyes to see her face in my view again. She uncorked a small vial of red liquid. It looked like blood. I eyed it wearily. “This has to be the antidote.”

            “Give it to her,” Sutton panicked.

 I opened my mouth just enough for Seraphine to pour the liquid down my throat. I nearly coughed it up; it tasted like horrible cough medicine. I swallowed, releasing a shudder. My blurry vision was starting to go away already, but my weakness was still with me. Suddenly I felt like I wanted to pass out into a deep sleep.

            “How do you feel?” Seraphine asked me.

            “I think I’m going to live,” I surmised. I cracked a smile.

Seraphine and Sutton took a hand of mine, and each other’s. This was going to be our way of saying enough is enough, stop the Games—we aren’t going to kill each other. It was kind of obvious that we wouldn’t kill each other. Even though the alliance hadn’t been formed for very long, it felt like we’d been together from the start of the Games.

“We’ve got to try,” Seraphine whispered.

            “We won’t do a thing,” Sutton shouted to the skies. “End the Hunger Games, because we aren’t going to kill each other. Give the people of Panem a Games to remember, give them a gift of having the three of us win! Give our districts, and Panem, what they want!”

            “End the Games now, so we can get our friend the real help she needs!” Seraphine pleaded along with Sutton. “Please, we beg you!”

            “It’s the final Games anyway. Rules can be bent!”

            Wow, and days ago Sutton thought I was crazy when I shouted to the cameras. Of course, this wasn’t out of outrage for the Hunger Games’ creation—this was to save all our lives, to ensure that we won.

            “Okay, okay!” Claudius Templesmith’s panicked voice rang above us. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the final Hunger Games: Bridget Melina, Sutton Hanson, and Seraphine Grayson! I give you—the tributes of Districts Two, Seven, and Eleven!”

            Seraphine and Sutton exchanged elated looks. My smile got broader. I couldn’t believe it; I bet Sutton and Seraphine couldn’t either. I bet a lot of people were behind us, and I bet the Gamemakers were considering their reputation as well. They didn’t want the final Games to be remembered for the worst outcome, they wanted it to be remembered for the best.

            Even though some districts despised the others, they could all come together when they really wanted to.

We did it. We beat the odds. I sighed in content, breathing easy. I felt so much better mentally, but physically, I was wiped out.

            A hovercraft got under the moonlight, throwing down a ladder and reeling down a small net. Sutton and Seraphine helped me sit up and eventually stand up. With both supporting me, they helped me into the net while they grabbed the ladder. Both the ladder and the net were pulled up into the hovercraft. I didn’t dare look down at the arena; I would never have to see that place ever again.

            Immediately, medical staff put me on a stretcher, putting needles and whatnot into my skin. I squinted as the bright lights nearly blinded me. All the while, I heard Sutton and Seraphine struggle.

            “We need to be with her!” Sutton screeched.

            “She doesn’t need visitors,” said a male voice. “She needs the medical staff to check her out.”

            “But I bet she’s frightened!” Seraphine protested. “Please! You could scare her into shock! She’s been through enough!”

            “Get them out of here and settled down before they make her worse,” said a woman.

Worse? Am I that stressed out? What did the medical staff know? Maybe they could tell because of some test or monitor they had on me. Both Seraphine’s and Sutton’s struggles could be heard even as they passed into another section of the hovercraft.

            The medical staff had mouth masks, so I could only see their eyes.

            “Can you hear me?” said a woman with curly brown hair. I nodded weakly.

            “W-why did you take them away?” I asked hoarsely. I tried to sit up, but a hand pushed me gently back down onto the stretcher.

            “You don’t need their stress to pile onto you,” she said softly.

            “I’m fine. They’re my friends—I want them to be here with me.”

            “You’ll see them later tonight.”

            I yawned, suddenly feeling really sleepy. I blinked long, trying to keep my eyes from snapping shut on me.

            “You’re going to be alright.” The woman stroked my hair. I moved my head away. I didn’t like people I didn’t know touching me, let alone my head. “Just let the sedative take over.”

            “Will there be any long-term damage?” I croaked.

            “We won’t know until we check.”

            My eyelids were drooping on me now. I really wanted to go to sleep, but I wanted to call out to Seraphine and Sutton, to beg the medical staff—no, demand—that they bring the girls back in here with me. They could be getting checked out right now too, like me. I bet they don’t like that very much. They might not like the help and attention they’re receiving, but I welcomed it with open arms. I was safe now, out of the arena, done with the Hunger Games.

            I was going to have a life outside of the Games. I was going to have a future, and so would Sutton and Seraphine. We would be talked about for a while and remembered as the last victors of the final Hunger Games, three girls who came together to beat the odds, took down their opponents, and managed to convince the Gamemakers to end the Games just for them. We’d be remembered as three girls who made history with having the last Games have a first: instead of one victor, there were three.

            As I was slowly conking out—which I happily did—a small smile played on my lips.