Chapter Nineteen: The Beginning of the End 

Later on, Lucy and Marvel decided to move on again. It really did get tiring moving from one area to the next daily but this way Cato had less of a chance of locating them. The only people sure to be able to locate them were the Gamemaker's because of the trackers they had in their arms. The only way they would stop tracking them was when they died. Well, if they died. 

Lucy trudged along slowly as Marvel followed closely behind. They were both very miserable about having to spend their time in the arena...Lucy had lost count of how long they'd been here, she didn't know the time either. But the actual time didn't matter anymore, the only time that mattered was the countdown to when they got out of the arena and that time relied on them. The faster they killed the five remaining tributes, the faster they could get home. But, they could never seem to find tributes anymore...

Lucy twanged the string of her bow miserably as they walked along but then gasped and stopped dead and she held out her arm for Marvel to stop too. He stared at her confused but she pointed forward and Marvel followed her finger. 

In front of them was an area of burnt trees. It wasn't a recent fire, it seemed that it had happened quite a while ago because the place was smoking. Marvel frowned and wondered what had caused the place to be set alight. 

"What do you think happened?" He asked and Lucy stepped forwards, stepping onto the burnt area. "Do you have any ideas?" 

"Well, judging by this place, the incident happened early in the games. If this had just happened it would have smoke and possibly even had f — " Lucy paused mid sentence and narrowed her eyes and then turned around and faced Marvel. "Remember when we first found Katniss, and she was in that lake? She had an injured leg, remember?" 

"I do remember, but what are you trying to say?"

"Perhaps Seneca Crane got a little inventive with her nickname and decided to give the Capitol audience the real 'girl on fire'." 

Marvel thought for a moment then smiled. That was why Katniss was injured. The Gamemaker's had tried to kill her with fire, it was so ironic yet so amusing to him. The Gamemaker's could be their friends and also their enemies. 

"Lets move on, we don't want to be killed by fire either," Lucy said and tugged on Marvel's sleeve. 

"If we're keeping the ironic thing up, I think we'll be killed by diamonds, Miss Dime," Marvel grinned and Lucy giggled as Marvel took the lead and they walked nearer to the centre of the arena. They would be avoiding the cornucopia now because of Cato. Lucy had figured that Cato would only go to places he knew now that Clove was gone, she was the one with the sense of direction.

"I'm going to go hunt for some food, you stay here and gather up some leaves or anything else you think is edible. But for goodness sakes don't even attempt to eat it before I get back, Rookie taught me what's edible and what's not around here..." Lucy sighed and loaded her bow. 

"Alright, I promise not to eat a thing even if it is very tempting." He replied. "I'll only eat it when you say it's safe." 

"OK, and if you need my help just whistle that tune I taught the Mockingjays yesterday. They'll repeat it and I'll know you need my help." 

"Got it, but just to confirm — " Marvel looked up and whistled Lucy's tune and the Mockingjay's swiftly repeated it back. "Alright, got it." 

"See you in a little while." 

"You too." 

And with that, Lucy left and Marvel watched her until she was swallowed by the trees. He then looked around at his surroundings and tried to decide as to what was edible and what was not...he thought that just to be on the safe side he wouldn't pick any berries, he could end up killing both of them even if Lucy had checked to see if it was edible or not. 

He began picking up leaves and then creating a small pile on his coat, which he had taken off just a minute ago. He kept gathering everything he thought was edible, lost in his own thoughts. Until he heard the cannon...

Lucy was suddenly very alert, the bird that she was just about to shoot flew off and she gasped. She ran back towards to where Marvel was and whistled the tune as she ran, the Mockingjay's repeated it but she couldn't hear it when the only thing she could hear was her own speeding heartbeat. 

And just as she was about to whistle again when Marvel ran straight into her and she fell backwards. Marvel gasped then helped her up almost immediately. 

"I'm so sorry," he said quickly. "So sorry..." 

"It's OK, I just thought it was you so I ran as quick as I can." She replied, shaking his comment away. "But who'd do you reckon — ?" 

"Lets hope it's Cato, Fire girl or Lover boy. We don't need to worry about the District 5 girl or Thresh from 11, they'll be easy to kill off." 

"I don't think Katniss has died, I'd say it's either Peeta or Thresh...or do you think it was the girl from 5? If I'm honest, I thought she'd die ages ago." 

"Me too...I definitely don't think that was Cato's cannon. But lets hope it's Lover boy, Fire girl won't last one minute without him." 

"Well, we'll find out if it was Peeta in a minute won't we?" 

They headed back to where Marvel had been gathering supplies and Lucy went through what was edible and what was not and they ate. Even though the two had been eating, they had both lost a lot of weight...you could see it in Lucy's face but she didn't really complain about the lack of food. As for Marvel, this was what he had expected. Or what he had wanted to sign up for. 

When they had finished eating, Marvel slipped on his coat and they got moving again. They wouldn't rest until tonight, they were going to see if they could kill any tributes. 

"It's what Careers do best," Marvel grinned as they walked along. 

"Or what Marvel does best," Lucy laughed. 

"Oh I don't know, I think Lucy does pretty well too. She's killed off one less tribute than I have in these games." 

"I have?" 

"You have, you killed off the District 4 girl and the two District 9 tributes, I didn't expect you to do that at all." 

"But I-I had to! All three of them tried to kill me! Oh I feel so bad now..." 

"It's what you said you'd do if anyone attacked you. But it doesn't matter, Lucy, it's not as though you've broken the law — " Marvel stretched out his hand to her as he hopped onto a stone in the river. She took it gladly. 

"But I killed innocent people, innocent people who wanted to get home just as much we do..." 

"But they are home now, they're back in their District, waiting to be buried." 

"I mean..." Lucy sighed and stopped jumping on stones in the river and Marvel stopped too and turned around to face her. "They're never going to get back to their District alive. That's what I've always hated about The Hunger Games, 23 out of 24 tributes every year will never get to see their families again, never be able to wake up again, never be able to live again. And you know why they get killed? For the Capitol's enjoyment. Sure, The Hunger Games might be in revenge for the 'Dark Days' where are the District's rebelled, and the thirteenth obliterated...But what about all those innocent children? Haven't The Hunger Games lost their meaning? Isn't it just a sporting event now? Isn't it just something our District encourages us to go in? Isn't it just all about the fame and popularity?" 

Marvel stared at her and waited for her to go on. 

"That's why I've never understood why you've always wanted to go into The Hunger Games. These games make me sad...and sometimes when my parents forced me to watch them...I would cry when I went to bed, cry because of all the children that are lost. If you think about it, every year 23 children have died and in the 50th Hunger Games 47 children died. Over 74 years, including the one's that are dead now: one thousand, seven hundred and fourty five tributes have died as a result of The Hunger Games."

"This is why I ask you to help me with my math homework..." Marvel bit his lip and Lucy glared at him. "But that isn't the point. You're right, The Hunger Games is just something for the Capitol's enjoyment. I can't believe I wanted to be here all these years, the more I think about it, the more terrible they seem." 

"They are terrible and that's why I hate them...oh goodness the Gamemaker's will probably kill us both now. Oh what have I said! On live television! We're most definitely done for." 

"No, we're not. You only voiced your opinion, it's not as though there's a rebellion going on right now..." 

"Oh and what would you bet that's not happening?" 

Marvel shook his head and hopped on a few mores stones before making it to the edge, Lucy followed him miserably. 

*      *      *

Lucy and Marvel continued their depressing journey around the arena miserably, not even bothering to set up camp. Knowing their luck, they would encounter Cato at one of the worst possible times now, for example: one of them dying and the other trying to save them. But after all, they still had Thresh, Katniss and Peeta to worry about as well. 

"Cheer up, we’re so much closer to winning now," Marvel said as he took his spears. He placed a hand on Lucy’s cheek, her face was somber and she hadn’t livened up a lot since Rookie died. "You do realise we’ve only got four more people to finish off and then it’s just us, then we can go home! Us two! Back in District 1 again!"

Lucy shook her head sadly. "Nothing will ever be the same though, even if we do go back home everything will change. Do you not realise this?"

"I — "

"The games change people, Marvel, they change your life and it’s not always in a good way. Even if you do become a victor, they’ll be sacrifices you’ll have to make."

"Like what?"

"You won’t be able to go out with the population of District 1 swarming around your home, you won’t live with your family because you’ll be in the victors village, and you won’t be able to do anything normally. If we do win, we’ll both become celebrities and the whole of Panem will know about you..." 

"But this is what I signed up for, well what I wanted to sign up for...besides, it’ll be fine. We’ll have houses that are practically next door to each other in the victor’s village! We’ll be right next to Cashmere and Gloss as well!"

"MARVEL!" Lucy snapped, her face full of shock.

"What? Won’t you like that?"

"Very much so! But do you realise what’ll happen to me when we’re out of the games!?"

"No..."

"I’ll give you a clue, it happened to Cashmere."

Marvel thought for a moment about what had happened to Cashmere after her games but he couldn’t recall any events that had made her life a living hell. He shook his head and Lucy gave him a frustrated face.

"The Capitol will make me become a prostitute!"

Marvel stared at her in shock. Of course the Capitol would do that. They had done the same thing with Cashmere; they made her sell her body. Marvel looked painfully at Lucy.

"You’re fifteen years old they w-wouldn’t make you do that!"

"Don’t you believe it..."

"Look, Lucy, when we get out of these games. I won’t let them take you, I won’t let them do that and if they put up a fight about it, I’ll go instead..."

"Marvel..."

"I’d rather I go than you."

Lucy shook her head sadly and the two set off towards another place where they would camp out until they were lured out once again by one of Claudius Templesmith announcements...or someone trying to kill them.

As they walked a little further it began to turn dark suddenly. Lucy stopped walking and turned around to face Marvel in confusion. What was going on? It only felt like three in the afternoon. 

"What's going on?" Lucy whispered to Marvel. "What's happening?" 

"I don't — " but Marvel was interrupted by screaming in the distance then the sound of the cannon. "Know..." 

They both looked up in to the sky and the face of Foxface — who had been killed earlier — and then a picture of Thresh. The sky returned to dark again and the two stared at each other in panic. 

"What's going on. Why did Thresh die? How did he die? What's happening, Marvel?! What do we do?" 

"Shh, nothing's going to happen to us." Marvel said quickly. "I promise you nothing will happen." 

"But what was — " 

"It was nothing. Thresh probably was chasing after us and got killed by Cato." 

"Then Cato's after us then! Marvel we have to hurry!" 

"OK, come on then." 

Lucy took the lead again and began to speed walk, she was terrified that Cato was going to come out of no-where and try to kill her...and for that matter, Marvel too. Lucy glanced over her shoulder nervously and kept making sure Marvel was there. 

"Everything's fine, Lucy, nothings going to hurt us," Marvel reassured as they continued to walk. 

Lucy nodded but for once she didn't trust Marvel. The Gamemaker's must be planning something terrible, if they hadn't already. Thresh wouldn't just die like that. There had to be some explanation for his death. Thresh was very smart and very strong, nothing simple could kill him. 

"Five of us," Lucy whispered suddenly. "Five of us." 

"Yes, there's five of us left — keep going," Marvel gave her a nudge and she sped up a little bit. 

"Five of us left in the 74th Hunger Games. Cato, Katniss, Peeta, me and you. In order to win we have to kill off the other three." 

"Yes, keep going." 

"And that means that the Capitol audience are getting impatient. They're getting tired of us hanging around, there's not been much action recently and if I'm correct, I don't believe Thresh's death was too exciting. Two people can go home this year and it can either be me and you or Katniss and Peeta. Or just Cato on his own." 

"No offense, but you're kind of stating the obvious..." 

Lucy ignored him. "The Capitol audience wants to know who goes home and who ends up their graves and you know what? They have the right to know." 

"I, uh, sort of gathered that..." 

"Because you know what they're doing? The Gamemaker's are plotting something...they're plotting something real bad for us. How bad I don't know. But what I do know is that we're not going to get out of this arena clean..." 

"It's all going to be fine, everything is going to be fine. Everything's going to be perfectly — " 

A low thundering sound could be heard and they both stopped dead. It gradually got louder and both of their hearts beat louder in their chests as whatever was making the noise came closer. 

Then suddenly...

It all became quiet.

Lucy looked at Marvel and he looked back. They waited in silence and stared at the place by the bushes where they thought the noise had come from. Lucy shrugged and was about to move on when a figure jumped out of the bushes towards them. 

Her stomach flipped and at first she thought it was Cato. But since when had Cato ran on all fours? Had the arena made him even more of an animal? The thing growled at the two District 1 tributes and Lucy shook in fear while Marve raised one of his spears and held his other arm out to protect her. 

Lucy's eyes adjusted to the darkness a little more and she made out a creature that resembled a wolf in a way but was not a wolf. It had fur and a dangerous face with teeth bearing. It's claws were much longer than any animal she had seen before and Lucy knew at once this definitely wasn't a real animal. 

It was a muttation. 

Marvel stared at the thing as it let out a low growl and both flinched. Lucy shifted Marvel's arm and stepped forward very slowly. The muttation stared at her and she stared back curiously. It's eyes were a dark brown and it's face almost seemed human. It looked at Lucy thoughtfully and it stopped growling. 

She recognised the eyes. But how could she recognise the eyes when she had never seen this thing before? Was she mad? Apparently so, she couldn't recognise it. She was being stupid. 

But then it clicked. 

Those eyes...she'd stared at them in fear when she'd been in the training centre. Those eyes she'd seen when she was about to flee. Those eyes she'd seen which appeared so terrifying at first and had turned out to hold a nice person behind them. A person who'd not only tried to protect her in the games, but had been a friend. A friend that she wished she could see again one last time...

"Clove?" Lucy whispered as Marvel gave her a confused look. "Clove? Is that you?" 

"Lucy, what are you — " Marvel began but his voice was cut short by a low whimpering sound from the creature. 

Lucy's eyes widened and she looked sympathetically at the creature and reached out to stroke it, just as three more muttations appeared behind her. Lucy stared at them and recognised their eyes too; the two District 9 tributes and the District 4 girl. They were her victims in the games. 

When Lucy was staring at them, Clove's muttation began to growl again but Lucy was too absorbed at looking at her victims' muttations that she didn't notice it and Marvel was desperately trying to call her name. But she wasn't listening. 

And that's when the muttations all pounced at Lucy.