With the Cornucopia in sight, Thresh and I both sped up. As soon as we reached it I turned to him.
"What now? We get in it? That won't do much good . . ." I thought out loud.
"Listen Katniss, you go and climb that tree. The one with the branch hanging close to the top of the Cornucopia. Quickly!" Thresh shoved me in the direction of the tree.
I quickly scrambled up it, heading for the branch Thresh pointed out. As soon as I laid my first hand down on the branch, I heard a rustling a little ways off. The rest of the beasts were already after us.
"Quicker!" Thresh shouted desperately. He was trying to find something to hold on to on the top of the Cornucopia.
I stood up on the branch, determined to make the jump that would make me safe. I got a running start, and jumped. And the branch snapped. I guess I didn't think too much about what would happen to the branch, since I was in such a rush. I wasn't a very large girl, but the branch wasn't exactly safe to run on in the first place. No branch is, really.
Despite the branch breaking, my left foot landed squarely on top of the Cornucopia. I nearly fell off and I was winded, but I was on top. I noticed Thresh a moment later, trying to pull himself up. I quickly went to pull him up.
"Getting on top of the Cornucopia was a good idea," I said through gritted teeth as I was pulling Thresh up.
"Thanks. You mean that genuinely, right?" Thresh asked. He was nearly up now, but the beasts were nearly here.
"Yea."
I finally manage to pull Thresh out, and just in time. The rest of the beasts tore through the trees. I took note that they were mainly those I didn't know by name. The girl from District 3 who I dropped the tracker jack's nest on, the boy from District 3 who re-wired the land mines for the Careers, the boy from District 10 who was missing a leg, and the rest of the boys and girls from miscellaneous Districts. Those three were the only ones who weren't killed that first day in the bloodbath.
Thresh and I stood up and stood tall on top of the Cornucopia. I bet we would've looked heroic, so the Capitol's audience would be swooning over us. We watched as the beasts ran up to the Cornucopia, clawing at the smooth golden surface to find some place with give so they could pull themselves up. Well that wasn't going to happen.
I took the dagger in my hand and threw it at the girl for District 7 who had her mouth open when she was trying to climb. She screamed out in agony as I reached down to yank the dagger out of her throat. I successfully retrieved it without getting bitten, so that was good. I turned to Thresh to see that one beast had managed to pull himself up due to Thresh's ankle while Thresh was fighting one that could jump. I sliced open the throat of the boy who latched onto Thresh's leg before it could bite.
"Thanks," Thresh muttered, concentrating fully on killing the beasts.
"Just kill these things. That'll be thanks enough," I said as I spun around.
I was met by the boy from District 3, who was just then hobbling over to me. Another beast, the boy from District 8, appeared behind him. Then the girl from District 3 was behind him. I quickly got out my bow and loaded an arrow. I aimed it directly at the first boy's throat and shot it. He fell over, blood gushing from his neck. I grabbed another arrow for the second boy, but he refused to open his mouth so I turned to the girl. She stupidly had her teeth barred the entire time, opening her mouth about every two seconds. I shot the arrow into her throat. He fell off the side of the Cornucopia like the first boy had. Now it was me and District 8 boy.
The beast smiled malichiously at me. I spat at his feet. That caused him to lunge forward, grabbing onto my leg. I stabbed the knife into the back out his neck, but it went a little too far because the next second I felt a stab into my leg. I shook him off as he disintigrated so I could look at my leg.
It hadn't gone in too far which was good. I didn't really have any choice though. It's not like I was trying to be stupid. I turned back to Thresh, seeing as most of the things were gone. He had killed the beast that he had been fighting when I killed the one on his leg already. He was fighting the boy from District 10 and the girl from District 9. It looked like he was doing fine, so I turned back around and pressed my back to his.
"Wha-?" Thresh spun around to see what had caught onto him, but instead he found me. I could visibly see him let out a sigh of relief. He turned back around and started fighting.
"No offense, but I trust you more this way," I said, smiling. Thresh laughed.
"Now's not the time, Katniss. Don't make me laugh," I could still hear him chuckling.
There weren't any more beasts on my side, so I tried to count how many should be left. I found that impossible since I wasn't exactly sure how many tributes we had started fighting when we reached the Cornucopia. I turned back to see how Thresh was doing and noticed he had already finished the previous two beasts off. He was now fighting the girl from District 6 and the boys from Districts 5 and 7. I decided to help him, so I took on the boy from District 7. Thresh killed the girl with ease because she too had stupidly had her mouth open.
The beast I was fighting put up his own fight quite well. He tried to bite me when I pulled out the knife, but he didn't open his mouth wide enough for me to send the knife in. To my great surprise, it caught the arrow I shot at point-zero range before it was hit. That's nearly impossible to do. I decided that the only thing left I could to was get it when it was turned around. I made it look like there was something behind him. I gasped and my eyes turned into saucers. The beast was watching me carefully, debating whether or not he should believe me. Apparently he did, since the next moment my knife was sinking into his turned neck.
Thresh had finished off the District 5 beast, so that was all of them. Well, until the girl from district 10 hopped up behind me. I didn't notice her. Well, not at first. Thresh turned to me and smiled. I smiled back. Now, looking back, I knew Thresh saw the beast behind me. but he didn't say anything. He let it approach, hoping it would finish me off for him.
I still had my knife drawn, so thankfully when it clung to my leg, all I had to do was shove the knife into its neck. I guess Thresh didn't think about that. I turned back to look at him and saw that his face was completely filled with rage. Then he looked at me and I saw his eyes soften. He didn't want to kill me. He even told me that before. I didn't know whether or not I should take advantage of that.
"We shouldn't stay here to fight each other. Let's go somewhere with level ground. There's no more hiding, Katniss. This is it. One of us is going to die," Thresh stared into my eyes, daring me to do something.
"Fine. Let's go," I said as I hopped down from the Cornucopia.
We were walking, side by side, to the middle if the grass beside the Cornucopia. Just as we were about to attack, a sudden growl stopped us in our tracks. We turned simultaneously to find that the beasts were all getting back up again. It looked like they were all joining together. I turned the other way to see the previously deceased beasts heading our way too.
"Thresh, if one of us dies then I'm sure these things will stop attacking. Ignore them and let's fight," I said with as much confidence I could muster.
Thresh nodded once, and then the games began. He made the first move, lunging at me with his knife out. I dodged it and sliced his wrist. He yelled out in pain, but I didn't care. I refused to care. I had to kill him. I had to kill him to see Prim and Gale and my mother again. I had to kill him to do Peeta justice. I just had to kill him, for everything I loved.
I reached for my bow, but my hand met nothing. I looked around desperately for a moment, then my eyes landed on the Cornucopia. It was lying there, on top of it. I must have forgotten to sling it over my back once I had used it. There was just so much going on, and now I don't have it.
"What, don't have your precious bow to save you? You know, bows are for cowards. People use them so they don't have to fight up close. Well now, you do Katniss. How does that make you feel, huh? Being called a coward, I mean. Or maybe you have already. I wouldn't be all that stunned. Maybe your pare-" Thresh stopped in mid sentence when me knife struck into his chest. For a moment, he couldn't move or talk. Then he looked down to see the knife handle sticking out.
He stared at me, his eyes full of an emotion that I couldn't name. Then he fell to his knees. And he laid back, closed his eyes, and then he died. It was so still and so quiet for a long time. Then a cannon went off and broke me away from my spell. I looked around and noticed that all the beasts were gone. What happened? Did I really just kill Thresh? Did i just . . . . win?
No, I couldn't have. Really? Did I? I felt as though I was in a dream. I walked around for a bit, wondering what just happened. I moved away from Thresh's body so the Capitol could come and pick it up. I first grabbed my bow and then ran for the river. I sat down and stared at m bow, hard. Was I a coward for using it? I couldn't be, this is how I've been feeding my family for as long as I could remember. What happened next, though? Did I actually win? I replaced the bow where it should be, behind my back, and went to walk some more. I aimlessly wandered, wondering when I could leave.
I finally allowed myself to think back on what everyone had said to me during the Games. All the things that Peeta said to me, all the things he said he loved me for. I thought it was all an act. It was all an act. But still . . . . he remembered me when we were that young? Before Rue, I can't remember the last time that I sang. I didn't sing at all after my father died. I know Peeta didn't make up that story, because I remembered that pretty little dress. It had been Prim's once too, but she outgrew it. Despite how much my mother argued me not to get rid of it, I did anyway. I sold it at the Hob for some pretty little coins that treated us to bread.
Was I so oblivious that I didn't notice Peeta's actual feelings? Or did I and I just didn't return them? Or was he just a very very very good actor? I guess I would never know for sure. Since it was my fault that he was dead.
All at once, a wave of emotions came crashing down on my heart. I gasped suddenly as I remembered all of the people that I had hurt or killed, all of the things people had said to me, all of the things that made me think that I shouldn't be here, all of the reasons why I shouldn't win . . .
I started to feel nauseous and dizzy. I threw up next to the river and started to get up and walk away. I felt light-headed, and everything was becoming black and fuzzy. I tried to snap out of it, but it wasn't working. My eyes felt like they were being weighed down by boulders. I could very faintly hear "Katniss Everdeen, you are the winner of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games!" before I fell over and passed out.