❛ HOPE ISN'T SOMETHING GIFTED TO YOU
IT'S SOMETHING YOU ACHIEVE. ❜
in which a small girl from district ten must
protect those she loves, or die trying.
𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙋𝙇𝙀𝙏𝙀𝘿 (UNDER HEAVY EDITING)
― oc x...
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AS I RELEASED FROM OTTILIE'S HARSH GRIP, I ran into the foliage and my fingers curled around the edge of the sharpest knife I could find in my belt and held it to my chin. I tried not to shake as the duo raced towards me as I climbed an average sized tree in hope of escaping. Heart beating fast, I pulled the blade higher, ready to aim. They killed Penny and Flax, why shouldn't I have killed them?
"Stop," Blaise announced sharply, stepping out from behind another bush and putting himself between their weapons and I. "She's Althea's kill."
"Please," I muttered under my breath as I straightened my back against the tree and clasped the knife tighter in my good hand, away from their sight. I still wanted to keep my skill a secret until the leery final moment. A surprise was always a good tactic. "If you want me to be Althea's kill. Why won't you let her find me instead?" I said, loud enough for them just to hear me. In a sudden response, Rey drew his spear from the latch around his backpack threateningly and pointed it towards me, not removing his gaze from mine whatsoever.
"You could just pass by natural causes," he announced, passing his spear quickly between his hands. "She wouldn't know." Blaise smirked at me and nodded to Rey as he lifted his weapon to his shoulder. His fists clenched as he threw it towards me. I closed my eyes; expecting to die yet again. A quick breeze past by the side of my neck, whistling through the air. It missed. My heart rate slowed back to a normal rhythm, as Rey buried his head into the sand and avoiding eye contact with the others. Blaise sighed with absolute disapointment in his fellow teammate. He threw him back a deathly stare and nudged his shoulder as he stepped forward to exchange conversation with Ottilie.
"Well then..." Rey stood next to Ottilie and delicately placed his hand on her shoulder, curling her snow blonde hair around his fingers. "If you die trying, Blaise," He cruelly joked, "I'll be left with Tilly." Blaise boiled up with red burning anger in response. The pair from District One must have had some sort of background or history with each other before we all arrived in the Capitol that I didn't know about, but it was obvious that they were attracted to one and other.
"Let me try," Otillie huffed under her breath as she flicked Rey's hand aside and unhooked the golden bow resting around her neck like a messenger bag. Pulling a sharp arrow from her quiver, she jeered at Rey and slotted it into place against the edge of the bow. She began to stretch back the bow string to her cheek and looked me in the eye. The arrow was soon released and was racing through the air just like Rey's spear, clipping a few locks off the edge of my pony tail.
"Leave it Otillie. She's Althea's kill, like I said," Blaise stated cowardly as he guided them away with his hands, forcing their backs to move away from the tree I hid in.
I peered down at the three cautiously prior to saying, "Why isn't Althea with you three? Where is she?"
Ottilie chuckled sinisterly, a smirk prowling on her lips, "Why would we tell you?"
I was stunned into silence momentarily, not by Ottilie's statement, but with the thoughts of my own decisions. Stood before me were three highly trained assassins. One deadly hit from them would send me down the height of that tree, plummeting towards the sticky sand that would absorb my blood. The chances of my survival diminished rapidly as they watched my movements longer. They studied my quirks and actions like they were positioning themselves to shoot their prey. I had to move before they moved.
My hand gripped the branch to my side, balancing my body for an indirect attack. If I was able to bring down the selection of trees to my left, I could have created a force big enough to knock them into the bushes on my right. Luckily, I knew exactly how to do so, and I snaked the blade through my fingers. Aiming my eyesight towards the remainder of the forest, my palm released the metal, letting it soar towards a thin branch in the distance. And, as if I were conjuring a chain reaction, leaves toppled down onto the bodies in front of me, landing in a pattern stretched out over their feet.
"One more chance, Ten, or we'll come for you—" he paused, just to add to the tension of the moment— "and your friend." He wiped his forehead as he swung his axe through the air to hit the collection of branches by his side; Ottilie and Rey not flinching the slightest. He swiftly scooped up my backpack and threw it towards me, landing at the foot of the tree. Rey smirked as he said his one last input on the conversation. "Just like how we killed the pair from Eight."
Yet, as they walked away, Blaise and Ottilie threw me one last glare and an uncertainty travelled down my spine. What if they did come back? What if they found James? Where was Althea? I was certainly dead now if I wasn't destined to be already.
In the spur of the moment, I crawled down from the tree, retrieved my backpack and paced out into the maze of leaves and branches. I was going to take a risk, just as Bradley said, instead of doubting myself anymore.
