There's Nothing More Important than Family, chapter 20

I feel a sharp pang in my stomach. Hunger has woken me, like an alarm clock. By the look on my comrades’ faces, they’re starving too. I took our large supply of food for granted, only eating when I felt hungry, not on a regular basis. Look like that came back to bite me in the butt. I swear, the others can hear my stomach growling.

Breah is moving the fingers on her left hand carefully. She winces every time she moves her thumb. I crawl over beside her, and she smiles. “You’re a lot like Kendra.” She tells me quietly. “She’s sweet and self-entitled too. And stubborn. You two would either be best friends or you would hate each other.” I laugh softly. With her good hand, Breah reaches down her hoodie and pulls up her token; a locket. She opens it and shows me the picture inside. “That’s Kendra.”

Kendra and Breah look alike in some ways, but very different in others. Her black hair is a lot longer, and it’s twisted into a knot on the back of her neck. Her smile is wide and dazzling and her bright green eyes sparkle. She has olive-coloured skin unlike her sister, whose skin is brown. In the picture, she’s crouched on a tree branch, waving at the camera.

“She’s beautiful.” I tell Breah.

“She got my mom’s looks.” Breah explains. “I have more of my dad in me. Boy, is he ugly.” I giggle.

“Do you get along with your dad’s new kids?” I ask her.

“No.” Breah’s answer is blunt. “I hate them. My father has taught them to hate me too. Whenever I walk by, they hiss horrible names at me. The oldest one of them is eight and he knows worse words than I do.” She stared angrily at the ground. “I’m kind of glad I got Reaped. Not so that my dad is proud of me or anything like that, but so he can see what he missed out on. Maybe when I die he’ll grow a heart and send money to Kendra, to feed her. I hope he’s watching when I die. Maybe he’ll feel some kind of remorse.”

“Breah, you won’t die!” I argue stupidly. With her broken wrist, chances are that she will.

She half-smiles at me sympathetically. “If you say so.” I know she’s just humoring me.

“We’re all gonna die if we don’t get some food soon.” Grumbles Nathan.

“Let’s start hunting, then.” Jason suggests.

It’s pointless; only two of us are capable of hunting, and they’re too busy making sure the other two are safe. Whenever an animal scurried by, Jason and Nathan are both distracted. Breah and I find some berries, and we eat those, but they are in no way filling. The only thing we’ve accomplished is making ourselves more tired.

I collapse in the crevice and hold my starving belly. Is this how I’m going to die; slowly and painfully from lack of food? Maybe if I’m lucky the Careers will find me first.

I’m creating scenarios in my head (‘The Various Deaths of Zania Roberts’), when suddenly, trumpets echo throughout the arena. I sit up. “What the-“ I begin to say, but Nathan cries, “Shh!”

The voice of Claudius Templesmith, th Hunger Games announcer, rings in my ears. “Tributes, may I congratulate you on making it this far!” he declares. “Today at noon, at the Cornucopia, there will be a feast. For some of you, this is life and death, for others, you can simply replenish your supply. See you all there, in one hour! Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!”

Jason beams. “This is great! Now we won’t have to worry!”

“Unless the Careers get the food first.” Argues Breah.

“True, but what other choice do we have?”

In the end, we all agree the feast is our best option. We set out for the Cornucopia, strategizing as we go. Nathan pulls me back, behind the others. He whispers urgently, “This isn’t a good idea, but it’s our best way of getting food. When we get there, I want you to stay in the forest, hidden, no matter what happens. We’ll be fine, just stay away from the Careers.”

“I promise, I will.” I tell him. He nods determinedly.

We get to the Cornucopia a few minutes before noon. I find a tree with a thick trunk, with lots of leaves, and I hide behind it. It’s good; I can see the battle ground but the Careers can’t see me.

The other three prepare themselves a few yards away. To my surprise, Breah intends to join them. She holds five chakrams in her broken hand and the last one in her throwing hand. The look in her eyes is kind of scary; I wouldn’t be surprised if she was imagining the Careers with her father’s face.

The Careers are lounging around the mouth of the Cornucopia, their weapons somewhat ready. They are not expecting a challenge; they are idiots. Kelly isn’t with them, but I can’t figure out why. Maybe she doesn’t like getting her hands dirty. There are a lot of supplies left in the Cornucopia; the Careers haven’t even made a dent in the pile.

The sun is high in the sky; it’s noon. A table rises out of the ground in the middle of the clearing, and it’s covered with fancy Capitol food. After eating nothing for a couple of days, it will be wonderful to sink my teeth into this.

Jason, Nathan and Breah reveal themselves. The Careers all cackle as my friends walk towards the feast. Vella gets impatient. She gets her switchblade out of her pocket and charges at them. Breah throws a chakram, which gets lodged in her opposition’s arm. Vella gets angrier and starts cussing at Breah. Jason steps forward and stabs Vella in the heart, just to get it over with. ‘Boom’. The cannon blares. So far, so good. In my head, I think, ‘That one was for Georgie.’

The other Careers advance, now serious. They know we’re not playing games. Mahogany goes straight for my brother, while Dane and Jason engage in a sword fight. Satin comes after Breah, katars ready. Swiftly, Breah flings a chakram at Satin, but it just grazes her hip. A second chakram gets stuck in her shin. She swears in rage, and lunges at Breah, who deflects the katars with her chakrams. Sating stabs at Breah’s broken arm. Nothing major happens, but it cuts a couple of the Velcro straps. Breah looks even more determined than before.

“Oh no!” Satin taunts, but she’s gasping. Her wounds are bleeding hard. “Did I hurt your boo-boo?”

Breah raises her eyebrow. “Seriously? You are asking me that?”

Satin scowls and I hear a click. One of the katar’s blade splits into three. It looks like she has one knife and one wolverine claw. “You asked for it, cripple.” She trusts the triple-bladed katar at Breah, who stops it with a chakram. While Breah is distracted, Satin stabs the other katar into Breah’s stomach and clicks the button while still inside Breah, making the blade split into three to make the wound grow bigger. The cannon fires. “HA!” yells Satin, while I scream. Satin changes one of her katars to be single-bladed again. She alternates stabbing Breah with both, until Breah is no more than a hunk of bloody, ravaged meat on the ground. You can hardly tell that it used to be a human. I start to cry.

Suddenly, a hand claps over my mouth. I drop my knife as another is pressed against my throat. The other three Careers are occupied, so there is only one possibility of who this could be: Kelly.

“Nice hiding spot.” She hisses. My shrieks are muffled by her hand. “I’ve been waiting for you.” She tells me. “Looking for you all over. It would’ve been a lot harder to find you if you hadn’t screamed. Thank you so much for all your help!” Kelly finishes tying a bandage around my mouth, and pushes me against the tree trunk. She traps me by pinning my hood sleeves and hood to the tree with knives.
“Comfortable?” she pretends to ask me. “Good. Now we can begin. Any last words to your family?” I can’t answer; my mouth is full of cotton gauze. “Too bad. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you.
“Zania. We’re all friends here. Mind if I call you Nia? Of course you don’t. Well, Nia, I am here to give you a makeover.” She holds a knife with a curved blade and a jagged edge. “I’ve been in contact with your stylist, and we agree, it’s time for a new look.”She grabs my ponytail and cuts most of it off. She tries to cut my token too, but Kerany’s life-lasting spray works; she can’t slice it.
She scowls and starts cutting designs in my arms and legs. I scream, but no one can hear me since I’m gagged. It hurts so much, my vision is going red. I squirm, and the knives are looser, but I’ll never work my way free in time. Kelly moves up, to start on my face. I feel the blood trickle into my eyes and I know I’m growing weaker. I hope that my family isn’t watching, especially not Alex. He’ll never be able to sleep again. Kelly does something to my cheeks, and then steps back.
“Oh Nia, darling, you look fabulous!” she cackles. “Now, I forgot the finishing touch in my backpack over there. I’m going to go grab it, okay honey? Don’t you dare move!” she turns around and walks back through the leave canopy, to a bulky leather backpack. I don’t know what’s inside, but I don’t want to know.  I pull away from the tree as hard as I can, and to my surprise, the knives pop out and I am free. I rip the gauze from my mouth and run as fast as I can manage to the clearing.

“Nathan!” I cry shrilly. “Nathan, please, help!”

“Zania!” he calls back, pushing Mahogany to the ground.

Kelly pushes me over from behind and then rolls me over so I’m facing her. “Naughty girl, did you think you’d really get away?” she’s holding the foot-long machete from my nightmares, but this is worse. This is real life.

“NATHAN!” I scream.

She smiles. “Lights out!”

Kelly plunges the machete into my body. I hear Nathan cry out in rage before everything goes black.