Standing on the Edge (That Goat Will Probably Eat You)

Bloodbath Mk II

Alice curses as somehow, both of her knives miss. It’s not worth another shot. Forest, tall and slim – she’s forgotten what his face looks like – is bobbing up and down on the rough ground and she’s only got two knives left. She’s missed her chance with him, unless she wants to run out and charge him down...

...which she doesn’t want to do because Garth and Faraday have appeared on the other path, not fifteen feet from where she’s crouched. Garth spots Forest and races off in his direction; Faraday stands there, holding up the sword awkwardly. He doesn’t look like he wants to be here, but do any of them?

Forest continues to run, head down, thinking only of grabbing some food and running away. No more knives pepper the air around him; why not? He looks up just in time to see a big, white-clad figure with crazy eyes lurch around the pile.

He ducks, swinging wildly with his trusty axe. He hasn’t had to fight before and although his size is an advantage defensively, the lack of food and the harsh climb has sapped a lot of his strength. The blow doesn’t get anywhere near Garth, who jabs out with the spear.

Forest sees it coming and twists to one side; the spear handle brushes his ribcage but other than that it doesn’t connect. No time to think about how lucky that was, and he takes another wild swing with the axe. His arm jars painfully as it collides with the floor, bouncing back up. Garth, startled by Forest’s plucky resistance, tries to swing the spear around so that he can’t dodge it.

Desperately, Forest shoves the axe in the way, blocking it. His feet scuttle on the ground but so do Garth’s. It’s practically a miracle that both boys are remaining upright.

Only seconds since Alice threw the first knife, and already Forest and Garth are locked in battle.

Faraday watches, torn between running to help Garth and running away. He shouldn’t help Garth; they’re enemies now. It was stupid to want to come here, essentially running into the lion’s den. It looks like Garth is on the offensive, but every single one of his shots is blocked by the thick axe. He’s too far away to see the expressions on their faces, but he can hear each boy grunting with the effort and the knock of wood on metal.

A noise behind him makes him turn around and he only just sees the flash of metal in time to throw himself behind a boulder. Alice. And that was too close; his breathing comes sharp. Oh hell. He shouldn’t be here. What kind of idiot volunteers for this? Little Christian had better be grateful...

He can hear Garth and Forest, still fighting, but doesn’t dare to look around. If Alice is moving she’s doing it quietly and he presses himself as close to the cold boulder as he can, just in case that somehow helps. She could come from any side, and he’s ready to throw himself at her with everything he has.

“Sorry, Hulk,” he whispers. The boy in the picture, the love of Alice’s so far short life. See, he remembered the name this time. Will the others be apologising to Callie? Or are they only thinking about keeping themselves alive, like he really should be?

The boulder tips forwards slightly, nearly crushing him. He rolls out of the way, knocking his shoulder on a particularly sharp rock, and leaps to his feet; Alice is closer than he’d expected and by the look of it was pushing on the boulder. Her face is gritted with the effort.

Garth and Forest are at deadlock, matching each other blow for blow, neither one able to land a hit.

A fierce roar spreads across the whole of the arena, shaking the rocks under the tributes’ feet.

Agatha has arrived.

Alice spots a creature soar over the ledge and land in the middle of the plateau with a thud. It looks like a goat, except she’s prepared to bet that it isn’t a normal eat-your-shoes kind of goat. This goat looks like it will probably eat you. It glares around at all four warring tributes as if deciding which one looks tastiest. She can smell it from here, blood and Capitol. Not a good combination.