A Circus of Eagles [An HG Fanfic]

Fight - Caitlin

I can't turn down a face like that. A Knope always helps those in need; it's why we helped the rebels along at first. Quietly, so that Milo won't notice - not that I think he'd notice anything, he's so focused on pacing around after Thalia, choosing his moment - I shuffle into the Cornucopia and select a bow and some arrows. Not my best weapon, but I'm not getting close to Milo. Sylvester pulls his feet aside so that I can pass him and I tap a hand to his shoulder in reassurance, but the expression in his eyes is so blank that I don't think he's noticed. Sylvester had retreated back into himself, protecting himself from the horrors of the games. I wished I could do the same, but inability to ignore how things really are has always been part of me. He could fool himself. I couldn't. Milo could have set this whole circle on fire and I don't think Syl would realise.

Titan and Columbia, arms brushing, are just watching. Neither of them look afraid. Neither of them look about to intervene. Columbia spots me, though, and her perfect model's skin creases in a small frown. Notch! The arrow doesn't seem to want to fit around the string and it's threatening to tip me into panic, and I haven't got time to sit and work it out. And Milo is gaining, and even as it finally clicks a treacherous thought in the back of my head urges me to run and save myself.

No. I'm not running. It's not even about whether I like Thalia or not now. If I don't help, I'm not a Knope. That's all it is. No sentimentality, not in the Hunger Games. Just my identity.

Thalia swipes at Milo, but he's just out of her reach and instead she nearly topples over herself, her feet catching on the rough ground. Spotting her unbalanced, he lunges forwards; she avoids it, but only just. Her eyes catch mine.

"Caitlin!"

And I fire.

The arrow whips by Milo's face. It's a foot or so ahead of him, almost closer to Thalia, but for a second his eyes flicker over to me - chills run down my back again - and Thalia doesn't need the shout that Columbia gives her. The stick cracks into Milo's temples. He cries out again and teeters sideways but somehow doesn't fall.

And then Thalia's running, not towards us but away. It's not much of a run; all desperation, it's just one foot in front of the other, lurching here and there, but it's getting her away from Milo and his strange expression and it's getting her away from us. Columbia meets my eyes. I had the bow in my hand. In that moment, my vision shifted, though nothing had changed. I was no longer looking at Thalia Glitz, re-enactment actress from the Silver sector, a girl who once played Annie Cresta and struggles to start fires. I was looking at a shape running away from me. Not anybody. Hardly even human. For that fraction of a second, firing the bow seems so easy...

Milo howls. It drags me out of the horror of this thought and just in time too, because he's given up on Thalia and is lurching towards us. Blood streaks down his cheek, sticky red against the darkness of his skin and the grey of the sky. He looks like nothing could stop him. My breathing is coming quicker. In the time it takes me to notch the next arrow he's covered half the remaining space and I can hear him panting with effort. Thalia has disappeared, but we won't be so lucky. I won't be so lucky. The Cornucopia is behind me and although the thought of taking refuge in it seems tempting, my logical side kicks in and reminds me of all the horror flicks I've seen where the foolish victim traps themselves somewhere small with only one way out. I have to stand my ground. As terrifying as that it, as much as every part of me is screaming for me to run apart from the little bit telling me that I'd never fired an arrow this time last week, I have to do it.

Titan and Columbia aren't doing anything. This stings until I realise that all the weapons are in the Cornucopia, therefore behind me, and therefore they'd need to get past Milo to get to them.