There's Nothing More Important than Family, chapter 23

The camp isn’t easy to find. Some of the blood has already been washed away and more of it has been covered up; I suppose the gamemakers want to make this hard on me. The fact that it’s incredibly dark doesn’t help at all. I am now in an unfamiliar area of the arena. The dirt on the ground is packed and the trees are shorter and leafier. There are no bushes and the trees are planted a foot or two apart; evenly, on all sides. Its uniformity is unnatural and it makes me uneasy. The layout is too perfect.

The blood leads me to a trail and I follow it warily. I must be getting close to Kelly and Dane; I need to be ready for anything. They probably have split up. It’s about that time in the Games. The two of them have either parted ways or are fighting t the death right now. I hope it is the second choice; then I’ll only have one Career to kill. I hope they’re kicking each other’s butts. Then I’ll have less work to do.

The trail stops at the base of a mountain. There is blood smeared high and low across the rock. It looks like Mahogany tried to climb the mountain, but the blood stops about halfway up. I look around, but don’t see where he went next. The trail has gone cold.

I swear and stab the ground. What will I do now? Dane and Kelly could be on the other side of the arena! I sit down on the rock angrily. The forest is quiet. I see no animals and feel no wind. It’s absolutely boring. What I wouldn’t give for a distraction.
That’s when I hear it.

I look up and glance at the mountain. I hear it again; the unmistakable scream of Dane. Nothing else in the arena could make a sound like that. I hear another sharper squeal that has to be Kelly, but it comes from behind me. There’s nothing but mountain. Where could they be?

I stand back from the mountain and examine it. I wonder if there’s perhaps a cave where the blood ends. It’s worth checking out. Carefully keeping my distance from Mahogany’s dried blood, I begin to climb.

It’s tedious. I am tires and sore, so I scale the rock slowly. I don’t see any caves, but it’s getting harder to avoid the blood. Screw it, I think. At least it’s not fresh. It sticks to my clammy hands, giving me better grip. I guess Mahogany is useful after all.

When I reach the end of the blood trail, I see no cave, but the blood continues to the right, so I climb sideways. The mountain beside me creeps in; I can barely crawl through the opening in between the two mountains. Good thing I’m not claustrophobic. If Louisia were here, she’d be freaking out.

I see an opening in the tunnel. When I get close enough, I can see a small valley behind the mountains. It’s the perfect hideout. My hands find a rope ladder and I slowly lower myself down. Right at the bottom, I see a massive amount of blood in the early morning light. This is where Mahogany fell; I know it. I walk around, and see tons more blood over by another mountain wall. That’s where Jason died. I don’t hang around there long. A few yards away I see the carcasses of a few chipmunk mutts, which looks pretty fresh. That’d explain the screams I heard. The other two are nearby.

I wander around for a while, but I stop in my tracks when I hear Dane growl, “It ends here.” I glance over my shoulder, but I see no one.

I am about to move one and admit that I imagined his voice, when Kelly hisses, “I agree, darling, but do you really think you can win?”

I crouch down and creep silently towards where I heard them. There are thick ferns and bushes nearby, so I dive into those. Through the shrubbery, I see the two Careers standing across from each other. Dane is wielding his long, silver sword and Kelly has a dozen knives hanging from a belt. There’s a wicked double-bladed knife in her hand. I notice one of her knives appears to have been ripped from a katar.

Dane’s eyes are smoldering. “In case you don’t remember, I took out that fricken spy from your district. He put up more of a fight than you could ever manage.” Dane wipes the sweat off his forehead, and I notice multiple gashes in his arms, legs neck and one on his cheek. To my amusement, many of them seem to be oozing blood.

Kelly, who looks perfectly fit, snarls, “I could have taken him, but it all worked out in my favor; you’re injured and I’m completely fine. You’ll go down easy.”

“Your arrogance will be your downfall.” Cackles Dane. “You think this will be easy, but it won’t be. You’re just a little girl; you can’t touch me.”

Dane pushed her over the edge. Her eyes flash and she throws the knife in her hand. He cusses, and jumps out of the way. It just grazes his shoulder. “It will be easy.” She sneers. “You’re all brawn and no brain.” Dane gives a great war cry, and lunges at Kelly. She’s quick and nimble; she agilely leaps to the side. “See?” she taunts. “You’re so predictable, my friend. This will-“ She screams as Dane slashes her thigh. He attacked while she was talking, but not very accurately. Regardless, it hit her, and it looks painful.

“You talk too much.” He tells her cockily.

Kelly throws more knives with increased intensity. Dane tries to dodge them, but they all hit him; one gets stuck in his calf. It looks as though she pierced a muscle. Kelly chucks another, giggling insanely, but Dane deflects it with his blade. Now he’s on offense, slashing and thrusting wildly. I see worry in her eyes as she slides out of the way each time, only by an inch. He cuts her wrist and her chest. She’s gasping for air as she falls onto her back and Dane brings his blade down on her head. She rolls out of the way. The blade gets tangled with her hair and gets stuck in the ground. I hear horrible ripping as she pulls away. There is a whole bunch of her hair stuck to the sword, and her head is bleeding. Her hair is uneven; long in the front and short in the back. It looks ridiculous.

Dane is struggling to get his sword out of the ground and Kelly sees her chance. She unlatches another knife from her belt, and jumps onto Dane’s back. He yells in rage and struggles and Kelly ties to slit his throat. He grabs her arm and throws her against a tree. The ‘thump’ her head makes when it contacts the trunk is not reassuring.

Dane spits out a mouthful of blood and approaches her. “See?” he mocks, repeating her earlier tone. “Now I’m going to finish you with my bare hands.”

I don’t exactly see what happens next. Dane bends down to pick her up, and a cannon goes off. He falls to the, Kelly’s last knife is stuck in his chest. She gasps in relief and warily gets up. I see her shaking. She picks up her knives from around the area as she breathes deeply. “One down, one to go.” She whispers to herself. “The hard part is over.” She walks away, presumably to her camp.

I make myself comfortable in my green cover. There will be a showdown tomorrow; it’s inevitable. I want to be fully rested, because I know Kelly will be ready.