Arena
Day six
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AUGUST RAN AS fast as he could, not thinking about what he might see when he gets to Bishop. Sweat dripped in waves over him, warming his body to a dizzying temperature. Pearl's drripped into his eyes, but he simply wiped them away.
When he finally got to his destination, he couldn't have guess what he would see. Well, technically he could have, but at the same time he couldn't possibly know that it would look the way it did.
Aaron stood with a wide grin right under a big tree, in a headlock he had Harlow, whose face was blue from the lack of oxygen, her hands clawed desperately at Aaron's arm. A few metres away from him laid Bishop, his blonde hair was dyed red, as a pool of blood soaked under him into the earthy ground, leaving it muddy. August was close to puking at the sight. A crestfallen look took over his face and he couldn't keep his eyes on the young boy any longer. He felt horrible. Sick.
Aaron suddenly took his attention by crackling.
"Sorry, about the kid, man. But don't worry you will be joining him soon." Just as he said those words, August heard a rustling coming from behind him, and without a second thought he lifted his axe and threw it at the approaching figure.
The girl from District two, Ciara, didn't even stand a chance, as the axe flew right into her chest. An immediate cannon followed, announcing her death. As well, as August's first kill. The dark haired teen couldn't look away from her unmoving body. Her chest didn't lift to indicated breathing, her eyes didn't blink as they started emptily into the sky. He killed her. He was a murderer. Now the Capitol did it, they made him one of them. A murderer.
August almost cried then and there. He just murdered someone. And it scared him how simple it felt. How he didn't even have to convince himself to do it. He just did it. And the ease at which he did it, was what scared him shitless. Though not as much as the void of emotions he felt about it.
He didn't care that she was dead. He couldn't care less, whether she lived or died. What he cared about was that he was now a murderer. A cold blooded murderer.
He looked away from the corpse, not even bothering to take out the axe, as he couldn't even look at it without feeling disgusted. He didn't know if he was even gonna be able to look at an axe again, without thinking about the kill that made him a murderer.
When a second cannon sounded, he was pulled from his thoughts. August spun around and looked at a satisfied Aaron. The district two boy, had snapped Harlow's neck and now smiled sinister at August.
August couldn't feel a thing, except guilt. Guilt for leaving Bishop. Guilt for killing Ciara. Guilt for thinking that Harlow might be a traitor to him, without even trying to ask her what she was doing with Aaron. Was she even planning anything? Or was she just a chess piece in Aaron's messed up spiel.
August didn't know. But he did know, that he had to avenge Harlow and avenge Bishop, whether Aaron actually killed him or not.
"I know what you might be thinking-" Aaron started, kicking Harlow's body away from him. The gesture brought hot anger towards August as he watched her lifeless body follow Aaron's instructions. Her neck was in a disgusting angle. It looked sickening. And if he was in any other mental state, he would have probably puked at the sight. But he didn't. Instead he glared at Aaron, not able to move at all.
"-but she didn't actually know anything. I did want you to think that though." He smirked in triumph. Aaron nodded back at Ciara. "Cia and I made up this nice little trick. We looked out for potential threats and then nagged our way in their midst. She with the careers and I with you guys."
Aaron laughed raising his head to the sky and then looked back at I. He picked up a machete and I moved a few steps back. "I thought you guys were a bigger threat, but you guys weren't as dangerous as I first thought. Though, you and the little boy, did see behind this all."
He lifted his machete and August moved back again until his heel met the familiar metal of Bishop's spear. Without leaving Aaron out of his sight he moved down to take the spear.
"That's was a smart move, getting away. It made it easier to make Harlow believe that you were leaving us behind. It made her mad. And that was good. If she's mad at you, maybe that would make killing you easier." He put his hands on his hip, machete still in hand. His steps were heavy and the leaves under his feet crunched loudly. "And while Ciara took out Joiner, I took care of you two. Good thing that you split up, because together you might have had a chance. Another good thing is that he's very little-" he pointed at Bishop and another sweep of anger boiled inside of me. So he did kill him.
"-and you're injured. Although the meds should help right? I didn't want the fight to be boring so I helped a little." Aaron moved like a cat and swung his machete high up in the air. Just in time August realised his move and lifted the handle of his spear to keep the blade from meeting his head. That move made Aaron laugh.
"Seems like the medicine did help, good." Aaron moved the machete away and took another step back. He looked like he was enjoying it. Confident that August didn't stand a chance against him. August took a few steps back, ready to strike with the spear, but Aaron parried.
"Well, anyway-" He continued. "-I managed to get the kid and then Harlow got suspicious, telling me how I should have made it quick. But for what, seriously, the people want a show."
Aaron sounded like a maniac, which he probably was, as August tried to hit him again, this time going for his legs. Aaron parried again.
"Dude, I am talking, it's rude to interrup. Anyway, she got like all mad and that just really annoyed me, you know how women can get with their bla bla bla." Now it was Aaron throwing a blow. In a last minute jump, August manage to escape the blade from hitting his shoulder, but it still sliced the side of his arm. He hissed in pain, his hand instinctively went up to the wound, applying pressure.
"So, I had to kill her, and just when I was about to, you came, and you know-" Aaron shrugged nonchalantly as if he was only telling a friend about a prank he just pulled.
"Now we're here." He finished. It seems as if the story was the only thing that kept Aaron from actually trying to kill August as the boy suddenly sent much more aggressive strikes at him. August had a hard time blocking them. His arm war burning, with each his he blocked and sent. It was a hopeless match for him. Aaron was stronger than he was, that much was clear to anyone watching. Instead he did the only thing he could think of. Run.
He hoped that on the way, he somehow managed to come up with an idea on how to win this, seeing as brutal strength won't work on Aaron. The other boy was stronger than he was. August knew that. He had to outsmart him.
It was hard to think straight when being chase by a maniac through a jungle with no idea where to go, while also bleeding. The roots seemed to be growing exactly where he was running, blocking him. He thought that maybe the gamemakers were trying to slow him down, so they could get the bloody ending they wanted.
August almost lost all hope, when he heard a loud splashing sound. Almost like a waterfall though he couldn't remeber ever seeing one. But to be honest, he hadn't been to this side of the jungle before so it might be possible for him to just not have seen it.
He sped up, not turning around, but he did hear a sound of frustration. Aaron seemed to fall behind. August tried to keep going at that pace, already feeling dark spots taking over his vision and his rip aching again, even though the painkiller were still suppose to work. His arm was starting to beheld more furiously, apparently the machete knicked him more than just a bit. But he pushed through it all taking steadier breaths and blinking the spots away, as he moved towards the noise of the waterfall, with a sudden idea popping up.
There, in the distance he could see a cliff, he was running on the cliff in fact. If he was just to be able to get Aaron close and be able to kick him down there, he might stand a chance and not die. He ran by the side of the cliff and dared to look back for just a moment. Aaron was gone. Hopefully he just fell behind, August thought.
He spotted the closest tree to the left of him, and ran up the trunk, before grabbing onto the first branch he could reach. He slowly pulled himself up, struggling with the spear in his hand and his bleeding arm, and hid up in the tree, ready to throw the spear, and lose his only weapon in hopes of catching Aaron off guard and kill him. He just needed the odds for once, to be in his favour.
And it seems that they were. As August watched Aaron jog on from the tree line, he even though about just jumping on top of him, maybe he'd get lucky. Though that seemed stupid, as Aaron was stronger and could probably just toss him away, and even if he got him injured, August might die before he even get the chance to kill him.
But, upon a closer glance, Aaron seemed pretty much exhausted. Almost ready to give up as his legs only carried him forward at a slow pace. The jog was a sad thing to watch and August almost smirked at the thought that he might be able to actually overthrow him.
The boy slowed his breathing to the best of his ability and decided to just fuck it as Aarom passed below him. With a small courageous leap, the District seven tribute jumped down on Aaron, taking the boy down in surpise.
He didn't even look at what he hit and only stabbed his spear down into the others body. Then he pulled it out and stroke again. The spear head cut through the layers of flesh as Aaron let out an animalistic scream of pain.
August set in to strike again, when Aaron found the energy to push the other boy off of him. August jumped back on his feet as quick as he could, but Aaron had already pulled his machete and cut August's leg deeply.
August could feel the blood flowing out like the waterfall beside him. With the speed at which the blood flooded, he was soon to be dead, if he didn't act now.
Though the same could be said towards Aaron. Two holes, were the life liquid just oozed out of, were etched in his torso. Aaron didn't bother holding them and try to keep the blood inside. His face was filled with rage, and his eyes twinkled sadistic. August knew that he was about to run at him and went back to his original plan. To get Aaron over the cliff, behind him.
August took a few steps back careful not to fall over the cliff himself and not to reveal the plan towards Aaron. Though he doubted that the other boy was even sane enough to think about anything but killing right now.
As predicted, Aaron leaped forward in a sprint. August only had to wait for the right moment to jump to the side.
And there it was, just as Aaron lifted the machete for a deadly blow, August jumped to the side. He didn't consider Aaron being able to stop before falling, but quickly regained his footing and lifted his bleeding leg to kick Aaron over the cliff.
Screaming up in pain, August fell to the ground, holding his bleeding leg tightly, trying to slow down the bleeding, which just seemed to get worse. He managed to ignore the pain just for a moment to scoot closer to the edge of the cliff to look down. The cannon hadn't fired, yet, so he thought that maybe the cliff wasn't that high. But he was wrong, it was high, but Aaron didn't want to give up.
Down at the bottom he saw a distant movement of black clothing fighting against clashing waves. Aaron fought to not drown. It was a wonder he even survived the fall. But August was sure that Aaron was going to die any minute now.
Slowly August looked away, though be didn't move. Instead he just looked back to his leg, holding tighter onto the wound. He had his injured arm holding onto his leg and his uninjured holding his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. All he had to do was not die before the cannon. Easier said than done, because Aaron wasn't going to give up, and August was getting dizzier with the minute.
It took another several minutes of him fighting against the water and trying to get away from the cliff wall, as the water would kill him if he was to be smashed against it, until he couldn't hold out anymore.
The final cannon finally fired and August let out a exhausted breath, falling on his back with heavy breaths. He wanted to cry like a baby about now, not caring for the cameras. Just glad that this whole thing was over. But he couldn't. He just couldn't cry. So he just layed there, as Claudius Templesmith anounced him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner of the 60th Hunger Games, August Gray!"
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end of part o
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