Lock And Key Game Tasks

Task Two: The Maze of Death

Rising up into a crouch again, he started back toward the Cornucopia. Footsteps headed his direction, but they were hesitant. They're afraid of me, Sartan noted. They should be.

"Sartan. Let's just get this over with," a girl's voice hissed. He recognized it as the district three female—Ella Parker. Her weapon creaked as it was drawn back.

A bow, he thought at the same instant he said, "What? Too scared to face me in hand to hand? Coward."

The moment he heard the snap as the arrow was released, he twisted to the side, hitting the ground in a roll to avoid it. Coming out of the roll, he threw the dagger, aiming for where the sound had come from. As soon as he threw it, he darted that direction, knowing he would need the weapon. He reached her body just as it fell, and he ripped the dagger from her chest.

This had been the moment.

Out of all the millions of hours he had spent training, it had all boiled down to this one instant. Learning to throw a knife and accurately hit a target was a difficult skill to learn, and even more so when he had become blind.

The fact that this had been a kill shot, made all those hours completely worth it.

Searching the corpse, he grabbed the bow and arrows, slipping his dagger in his belt and slung the quiver on his back.

Nocking an arrow, he stopped and just listened to the world around him for a moment. To the right, someone cried out followed by a thud. To the left, two female voices yelled and cursed as they danced around the area, fighting furiously back-and-forth.

He listened to the girls carefully, trying to pinpoint who they were. When he was certain no one was targeting him, he followed the sounds, took aim, and fired. Considering archery was his worst skill, he knew it would be pure luck to even hit them at all. There was a scream, followed by a light thud.

"Thanks Sartan," a girl's voice said. He recognized her voice as Vivian from district four. "You helped me out by killing her. Poor, poor Maisie."

He launched a second arrow in Vivian's direction. There was a light clank, followed by Vivian stifling a scream, and then her footsteps as she darted off.

As the sounds of fighting dwindled and died down, Sartan fired several more arrows, but doubted that any of them actually struck anyone. He reached behind him to grab another arrow, and paused.

He only had one arrow left.

Voices echoed around the room, yelling and grunting as they fought. Sartan guessed that there were three of them—likely two against one. One of the voices, a girl, cried out, which was abruptly cut short with a gurgle. Footsteps vibrated through the ground as the two tributes stalked toward him.

"Look at the blind man with only one arrow left." Sartan easily recognized that tribute as Roy from district ten.

The other voice laughed. It was Conner Riley, from district thirteen. "Yeah, and there's two of us." Conner's voice had come from further left, telling Sartan exactly where they were.

They both rushed him simultaneously.

Sartan stood still, perfectly calm. He waited until the last possible second before firing the final arrow at Conner, and threw the bow at Roy. He pulled out his dagger as Roy batted the bow away. Sartan lunged toward him in the same instant Roy lunged for him.

His dagger slammed into Roy's collarbone, driving downward until it pierced his heart. Sartan smiled, relishing the feel of taking a life. Roy's knife had stabbed him in the side, but Sartan didn't flinch or wince.