Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter 19 Out At Last

He completely wasn't expecting me to attack him, so I get him on the ground fairly easily. He also didn't expect the knife, thinking he had taken them all.

I try to kill him before he can do anything to stop me. I push the knife toward his chest, but he shoves me back by my shoulders. I fall off him sideways and he reaches for my arm. I pull my arm away and slash the knife at him. He jerks away to avoid it and I attack again. He has his strength on his side so I know I need to kill him as soon as I can. I need to be fast.

He blocks my attempt to stab him and grabs my arm. He forces the knife out of my hand and I know that once he has the knife, there is no hope of killing either him or myself. I frantically grab for it. I get a good hold on the end of the handle and the back of the blade. I pull it toward myself, something my dad told me never to do, and use my weight to pull it from his hand. He pushes me the second he lets go and in order to keep my balance, my arms fly to either side of me. The knife slips out of my hand and I dive after it. Dylan grabs me and slams me against the ground. It twists my leg and I cringe. He holds me down by my upper arms and a knee on my stomach. I'm getting crushed by him.

I note his position and bring my leg up to knee him between the legs. He doubles over a little and I have a chance to roll him slightly off of me. I scramble to the knife next to Levy, but Dylan grabs me by the waist and drags me backwards. I reach out in a last desperate attempt to get the knife, but all I end up hitting is Levy's leg.

Dylan lets go of my waist for just a second, long enough to flip me over and pin me again, this time with his leg holding down both of mine.

I give a scream of frustration and struggle, though I know I am effectively pinned.

Dylan's shoulders curl back suddenly and his back arches. His right arm goes limp and he coughs a few times. I feel something wet on my face and see the blood at the corners of his mouth. He falls on top of me and I can't breathe. He rolls to the side and I see Levy holding the knife. He stabs Dylan in the chest in case he's still alive and suffering.

And then he drops the knife and falls down next to me.

I feel relieved and exhausted.

"We won," Levy breathes.

We won. We won. We won we won we won we won we won we won we won we won we won we won we won we won we won.

My mind completely melts in relief.

I start crying and laughing in hysterics. I rise to my knees and wrap my arms around Levy. Tears are pouring out of my eyes and my heart has dissolved into the rest of my body. I feel so relieved I can't even think. All I know for certain is that Levy is here. We are alive.

We are alive.

We survived.

I sob hysterically and clutch Levy like he's my life.

"We... we... alive..." I get out.

"We did... we are..." he says. I realize he's crying too.

I laugh shakily. Somehow, I am laughing like I have the hiccups. I'm shaking and I'm sobbing and I'm holding Levy as hard as I can.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," I say over and over and over.

He is saying it back over and over until the only thing keeping me from insanity is the repeated words I know are all too true over and over and over and over.

I don't let go of him even when there are people here to remove the bodies and to take us away from this horrible, horrible place.

We are taken into somewhere and we won't release each other for anything.

Ben comes in and so do Shella and someone else. but I am still weeping and hiccupping and melting.

We won. We are alive. We survived. We aren't going to die.

We are going to live.

***

Eventually, we are able to separate and break our grasp on each other. We are immediately put on a Washington D. C.-bound helicopter. I keep an arm looped around Levy's the whole time with my head resting on his shoulder. His head is laying on mine. I close my eyes and ignore everything anyone says to me.

Shella stops trying after a while.

When the helicopter lands, Shella says, "Keep straight faces."

After so long of having my face in a weeping position, it feels relaxing to put it in a blank expression. Levy holds my hand as we step out of the helicopter. We are instantly met by hundreds of voices, cameras, and lights. Shella shoves her way through the crowd with us trailing behind her. We enter a building and ride an elevator up and up. Levy and I have to separate and I go with my prep team. I strip my bloody clothes off and carefully remove my locket to place it on a table. I step into a steaming hot shower and watch the water run red for a few minutes. I wash my hair and take my time. The water stings my wounds, especially the recent ones inflicted by the whip. The heat calms me a little and when I finally get out and dry off, I have calmed down again.

I am wrapped in a fluffy robe. My prep team dries my hair and pesters me with questions that I refuse to answer. They clean my wounds and bandage the worst ones. They wax my legs and I get dressed in familiar-feeling jeans and a shirt.

When I see Levy again, he looks clean and nearly untouched by anything. I hug him and inhale his familiar scent untainted by the Games.

"In a few hours, you have the interviews." Shella informs us happily.

"We have some time to kill," Levy says to me.

"I'm exhausted," I say.

"Me too."

"Sleep." I turn to Shella. "Where are our rooms?"

"Your room," I notice it's not plural, "is down that hall. The green door."

We walk down the hall and go through the green door.

The bed is spread with blue sheets. It's bigger than the other beds we had. It's a queen-sized bed.

We climb beneath the covers.

"I love you so much," I tell him. I know it's completely true.

"I love you with all my heart."

"Me too."

We wrap our arms around each other and our lips meet.

I love him with all my heart. He is my life. I can't imagine doing anything without him.

We part and I feel complete. "I love you," he says.

"I love you," I say back as I drift into a peaceful sleep.

Oh my gosh. Best. Chapter. Ever.

Right?

I actually feel at peace and completely relieved.

Don't stop reading. It's not over yet.

Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think.

Thank you.