Liberosis - The Hunger Games

35

Annie leapt into his arms, squeezing her arms around his neck, his arms slid around her waist as they clung desperately to each other. They had become family in these games, they had become a part of my family- and now it was time to let one of them go. Finnick wrapped his arms around me as silent tears fell from my eyes, Haymitch's hand squeezed my shoulder comfortingly.

Annie scrambled up the nearest tree scaling it as high as she possibly could, fighting the loud sobs threatening to escape her throat and gripping the crossbow she wielded tight to her chest. Pluto sprang into action, wrapping his hand around the mouth of the nearest career, the district two girl- his knife quickly dragged across her throat, sending a spray of blood over the two remaining Careers. "Come on Pluto," Finnick uttered, squeezing me tighter.

He was too slow.

The District One boy woke away with a startled expression, "Horace!" He called, as Pluto threw the knife directly into his eye. He collapsed on top of the limp boy of the girl Pluto had just killed, Horace immediately leapt into action, before Pluto had the opportunity to strike, the larger boy's axe was at his throat.

"I'll drag this out," Horace hissed, digging the head of the axe deeper into the throat of the boy, "I don't think we're alone here Portello,"

The camera flicked back to Annie, clinging onto the branches of the tree above the chaos, tears still running down her face. Her eyes were flicking around the arena in search of a way out, the dam wall was mere yards from them- she glanced down at the crossbow in her hands before looking back up at the weak point in the dam wall. She couldn't get a clear shot on Horace, but Pluto could swim, as could she- perhaps there was a chance Horace couldn't.

She scrambled to aim the crossbow at the dam wall, but the ruckus below was growing louder and more unbearable by the minute. "Little Annie," Horace sang wickedly, burying a small knife into Pluto's arm, the boy let out a scream of agony and I felt my stomach clench tightly with anxiety. "Come out come out wherever you are," Horace twisted the knife around in Pluto's arm and the boy cried out once more, "Tell me where she is,"

"I would rather die," Pluto shot back through clamped teeth.

I noticed Annie's shaking frame in the tree as she tried her best not to make a sound, she bit down on the flesh of her arm to restrain the sobs from escaping her mouth. "She can't shoot like that," Atlas remarked from beside her, a slight disappointment in his tone, "She needs to slow her heartbeat,"

"She can't," Finnick responded, squeezing my hand, "She doesn't have an anchor- she can't calm down,"

"So, send her one- give her an anchor," Haymitch said gruffly, "God, do I have to think of everything around here?"

It only took several seconds for a parachute to be dispatched into the arena, but by that point, we were too late.

"Time's up Portello," Horace growled animalistically, there was the sound of a clean slice through the air as Pluto's head rolled away from his body. I couldn't help but gag and the amount of blood pouring from the body. Finally, after a few torturous seconds, his head stopped moving- directly above the tree that Annie was hiding in.

His eyes had clouded over, but they were still open, still as blue as they had ever been. Annie bit down on her arm hard enough to draw blood. The emotions hit me like a tidal wave, Finnick took me in his arms and buried me into his neck comfortingly. He was crying too; I wasn't sure if was for Pluto of Annie- I wasn't sure either. He was too young, we all were.

It appeared we weren't the only ones affected by the violent death, Cashmere and Gloss stood shocked by the screens of the district two mentors, Cashmere's hand over her mouth with shock. The mentors from Two stared at their screens, but I noticed Enobaria biting the inside of her cheek.

The parachute we had dispatched floated through the air, but it went unnoticed by Horace, who was maniacally scouting the grounds in search of survivors. His body was covered in blood, blonde hair matted with the dark liquid and a rabid glare in his eyes. The parachute landed in Annie's lap and the terrified girl's trembling fingers pried it open as quietly as she could.

Inside the parachute were three items- three people to remember, to hold onto- anchors for her to keep.

A sugar cube.

To remind her of Finnick and his relentless snacking on the item, his obsession with all things sweet. To remind her of the late-night tea parties we had shared when the three of us couldn't sleep- to remind her of comfort.

A macaroon.

To remind her of myself, and perhaps subtly Blaze. It was the first food we had shared together and certainly not the last time we ate the treat side by side- to remind her of family.

A clementine.

To remind her of home, of the losses she has overcome. Of Clementine Ford, the girl to drowned protecting her. Annie needed someone to fight for, we wanted her to fight for herself. To let Clementine Ford have not protected her in vain.

It was all she needed to raise her crossbow at the wall, her hands as steady as before and a look of determination in her eyes. Three arrows were all that were needed for the Dam to tremble and split, sending a tidal wave of floodwater to the Arena. Everything went down, the trees, the tributes- the only thing visible in the chaos was a flash of red hair, moving her arms powerfully through the water, fighting with the tide as opposed to against it.

Three cannons fired.

Soon after the water began to drain from the sides of Arena, leaving a coughing Annie in an open, destroyed clear, bodies strewn around her. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the victor of the 70th annual Hunger Games, Annie Cresta!"

With those final words, Annie let out a gut-wrenching scream.

ONE MORE CHAPTER FOR THIS PART BITCHES

Sorry, I've been away for a while, I've had a pretty hard year health-wise and I'm trying to focus on regaining some kind of normality. 

Times are crazy, take care of yourself 

xx