VENUS《 FINNICK ODAIR

Chapter 15. LA VIE EN ROSE.

Her arms ached. Her vision lagged. Edith felt everything come to life only to decay in an array of kohl and stars. A screeching cannon boom cradled her unconscious for a moment, or maybe it was a year. For once she had woken to the next sonic boom she felt as old as time itself.

She didn't know what to think.

Her body was pulled by an unknown force of energy: limbs crawled. She called out for help, but she didn't know why. Why was she running away from the warm fire. Mali just lit it to boil the kettle had she not?

No, no. It wasn't Mali, no it couldn't have been Paylor. It was another name of M's. A girl with bleached braids, eyes as gold as the fire that she longed for.

Fuck where am I?

Edith escaped back to the house, that was the plan right? A hand made its way into ashy air, only for herself to snap into reality at the thud of the same hand meeting a wall.

Embers blew in the wind like comets, she was in orbit. Her course was set, and somehow she found herself sliding through the tunnel like a slide. But the slippery dip took longer than usual, weren't the slides on the playground shorter than this? I think I can remember?

Somehow, Edith landed in the subway tunnel with a thud. A booming echo that numbly roared. At that she scrambled down the tunnel, each thud of her right leg led an agonising tearing feeling. Her rations surfaced at the back of her throat, clawing.

I want to go home. It's cold here. The fire was warmer.

Keep going. Keep fighting.

But her body wouldn't respond, Edith just kept moving; one foot after the other. The tunnel door was closing in. It was brighter outside than she remembered.

Her arms moved grudgingly, Edith's body had began to stiffen. She just wanted to melt, but her arms had taken off her jacket and tied it around her waist before her mind could argue. The air felt crisp on her bare arms. Without her jacket, she could see the damage. It was like she was burned. Her hands were charcoal.

Edith scowled, half her brain still woozy, the other was fighting. It had met its maker and was bargaining her way out.

She blinked once. Edith was already climbing a tree. Her limbs begged for mercy, but the damage was done.

Edith blinked again, maybe not just for a second. It was nearing dusk, and her body was tied down to the tree with her jacket in a pathetic attempt not to fall to another tremor. Her arms were bandaged at the edges of the infection on her arms; it was cutting the circulation off.

Her backpack was opened and splayed on the thick trunk next to her. She must have passed out before closing it back up.

She gazed to her leg. Her pant leg had been rolled up above her knee and bandages blocked the spread of the venom moving any further. The wound was exposed. A slash of a tiger. Her leg was completely black below the bandage.

The tiger's claws were laced with venom. Even surviving that zoo without being eaten, only a single scratch and she was automatically dead. It just took a few days to kick in, and seemingly, despite her nauseating state, she realised the venom was making her desire death.

She yearned for fire, to breath in that yellow fog - but she'd get neither now whatever sanity left dragged her out of the townsquare, through the tunnels and up a tree.

Her heart began to pump, her brain fizzing with fear but a tired sleep had tied her down. Edith felt a pain reach her temples, a raw pull as if someone was lifting the skin off her forehead.