I gasped. It felt like the whole world started to go in slow motion. I looked at the boy who had stabbed me and saw he was just as shocked as I was. The blade felt like fire in my stomach. I was too in shock to do anything but stare. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Ethan running towards me.
The boy pulled the knife out of my stomach, making me grunt as a whole new jolt of pain surge through me. Almost like a paper cut times 1000. I collapsed onto the ground, my hands coming to my wound as I landed on my side. My breathing was becoming heavy and I was surprised I didn't go into shock and have my whole body shut down. The pain was bringing tears to my eyes as I rolled around on the ground, pain flooding over me like a tsunami.
But I knew what was happening as I laid down on the ground, blood pouring from my stomach, tears surfacing in my eyes.
This was how it was all going to end.
My life flashed before my eyes in a quick second, telling me about all the things I hadn't done. All the things that needed to be done. Everything.
My little siblings would probably be watching right now in school, or maybe in the Square. They would be watching me right now, dying, nothing they could do about it.
Or maybe they wouldn't be watching right now. Maybe Arkin and Auden weren't letting them watch, so that when only Aylor returned, they would know what had happened.
I just barely heard a scream, which pulled me from my thoughts.
It was Aylor. I tried to get up, but I was too weak. Too much pain. I heard yelling as blood came up into my mouth, and I let it fall out the side.
"Alycer! No!" Was that Ethan?
I couldn't move as blood dropped onto the ground, both from my mouth and stomach. It was almost as if I had gone into shock.
My forehead, my neck, my gut. Blood loss.
"Why do you still fight, 7. You're sister is as good as dead." A male voice I didn't recognize said. I looked down at my hands which were on my wound. They were covered in maroon blood and I had new blood seeping through the cracks of my fingers, tracing down my arm. Everything was blurry. I heard a faint cannon sound.
"Ali!" I heard a voice yell. I recognized it as Ethan. I closed my eyes just as I felt hands on me. They turned me onto my back and I opened my eyes.
"Oh my god..." Ethan whispered, his eyes becoming blurry as I tried to stare into them. Everything was becoming blurry.
"Are they gone?" I asked, my voice crackly. I could feel blood in my mouth, but I didn't have enough strength to spit it out, so I swallowed it. Gross.
I slowly closed my eyes since they could no longer hold themselves up.
"You were supposed to go home." Aylor said, grabbing my face in his hands. "I- Don't leave me. Please, Ali, please."
I tried to talk, but all that came out was a faint whisper, barely audible. "Aylor..." I felt a hand on mine as Aylor gently shook my head.
"Ali, no. No." Neia was sobbing. I felt someone grab my other hand as everything went completely dark.
Neia's POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Previously)
"Go!" I yelled to Ali as she grabbed the rope and swung across. I turned around only to find my bow meet sword. The sword cut my bow string in half, and I dove out of the way to avoid getting sliced just like my bow string. I swiftly grabbed my knife from my back pocket and barely deflected a sword swung right in my head.
I hopped to my feet and pushed the girl who was trying to kill me away, and accidentally into Josh, who was now having to fight two people.
"Neia!" Aylor yelled, and I ducked down. I looked up to see a sword swinging a couple inches above my head, and as soon as it passed, I stumbled to my feet, knife ready.
The boy quickly turned around. I smiled and lunged at him. He deflected my swing with his sword, but he was forcing me towards a tree.
So, I did the only thing I could think of. I kicked his hand, which sent his sword flying.
Sadly, I lost my grip on my knife, so it went flying, too.
"Shoot." I cursed to myself before the boy grabbed me by my shoulders, lifted me off the ground, and slammed me into the tree behind me.
Twice.
I fell to the ground on the second one, having hardly any strength to crawl away. I could still see, but barely.
Then, just as the boy lifted the knife up to stab me, Alycer came pouncing out of nowhere, grabbing his hand that was holding the knife.
Before I knew what was really happening, the boy grabbed the knife with his other hand and plunged it into her gut.
She gasped as her hands let go of his arm, and she looked at me. I couldn't do anything but watch as the boy pulled the knife out of her stomach, making her collapse to the ground.
I tried to move, but it was as if my limbs weren't under my control, as if they were dead.
So, I just sat there as my friend lay in the grass, dying. She was laying on her side, blood leaking out of her mouth and nose, along with her wound. From what I could see, she was still breathing. And crying.
Aylor was fighting off the boy who had stabbed her, and the Lethan was helping him while Josh was busy fighting off a girl. He finally stabbed her and she fell to the ground, and as he turned around, as he saw Alycer, he started sprinting towards us.
Finally, I could move again, and I slowly crawled over to Alycer. I looked at Aylor, who dove down beside Alycer just as Lethan and I got there.
Lethan and Aylor turned her in her side, and tears came to my eyes when I saw her face.
Her lips were blood stained and she had blood coming out of her nose. The dried blood from the cuts on her cheeks were a purplish color.
"Oh my God..." Lethan said beside me as Alycer opened her eyes. She looked at Aylor.
"Are they gone?" The way she spoke broke my heart and tears started to fall from my cheeks. Aylor cupped his hands around her small, thin face.
Ali's eyelids heavily dropped.
"You were supposed to go home. I- Don't leave me. Please, Ali, please."
"Aylor..." she whispered barely loud enough for us to hear. I put my hand on her bloody one.
"Ali, no. No." I whimpered.
Cannon.
She's dead.
I took my hand from Ali's hand as Aylor continued to gently shake her head in his hands.
"No." He whispered to himself, gently setting her head on the ground. "No, no, no." He swiftly got to his feet and grabbed his hair with bloody hands.
I couldn't hold it in anymore, so I let the tears fall as I grabbed Ali's arm. Her skin was damp from the sweat and she was super pale. I looked at her closely. She had loads of tiny freckles and her eyebrows were a really light color, same for her eyelashes. She had dried blood on her bandana and her cheek had fresh blood running from it. Blood oozed from the sides of her mouth and drizzled down the side of her chin. Her blood was still running from her fingers.
Blood loss. Why didn't I see it before?
I looked over at Aylor. He had gotten up and was leaning up against a tree, sobbing. He was hitting the tree with his fists so hard, that the tree rattled. I watched as Josh got to his feet and walked over to Aylor. Aylor sank to his knees and put his head in his hands.
"You killed her!" He yelled after a few silent moments, getting up and grabbing his sword from the ground. He started stabbing the boy he had killed (the boy who killed Ali). I looked away and Lethan hugged me. I started sobbing again as I looked at Ali. Her lips were now a bluish color and her skin was even paler than before. Then, I noticed a chain around her neck. I grabbed it and saw it was a locket. I unhooked it and put it in my hand. I opened it and saw a picture of a woman and a man, and the woman looked just like Ali and Aylor. Her parents. And a picture of Ali. More tears came to my eyes.
I walked over to Aylor and grabbed his hand. I put the locket in his hand. He looked up at me and I could see that his eyes were full of sorrow and pain. He closed his eyes and clutched it in his hand when he saw it was the locket.
"I think Ali would want you to have this."
Then, I heard something over head. Lethan stood up and started running towards it. I ran with him and soon all four of us were watching as the helicarrier lifted Ali into the sky. I sobbed even harder. Lethan grabbed me before I collapsed to my knees.
"It's okay, Neia. She's in a better place." Josh said. I shook my head. I had convinced myself she wasn't dead.
"She's still alive! We have to save her!" I yelled as I started running towards the helicarrier. I felt six hands on me.
"No! Neia, Ali is dea-" Lethan started to say, but I cut him off.
"She's not dead! She's not dead! She's... not... dead..." I said, new sobs coming. I fell to my knees this time along with Aylor. He was crying, too.
Just then, a sword went flying through the air and went splintering into Lethan's side. He gasped and fell to the ground. The sword fell out on its own, bringing a load of blood along with it. I dove to him, putting his head in my lap. I started letting the tears fall even harder.
Josh grabbed the sword and threw it back where it had came from. Straight into its masters hand. The sword sliced into the hand of the thrower and the thrower fell to the ground, yelling.
Josh grabbed his knives and ran over to the tribute. I heard screams, then a cannon. Josh came back over to us, tears streaming down his face. He sank to the ground and started crying. Now all three of us were crying while one of us was dying.
I looked down at Lethan and saw he wasn't moving. He scared me when he opened his eyes.
"Neia." He whispered. I tried to smile, but couldn't.
"I love you, Lethan." I said. Lethan smiled.
"I love you, too." That's when his cannon went off. I yelled his name after the cannon went off.
Three. Three friends I've lost in the past three days. They're gone. They're dead.
But they aren't dead.
They aren't dead.
They... can't be dead.
They can't.
Aylor and Josh crawled over to me. They both stood up and grabbed me.
"Let me go! I need to save them! Let me go!" I yelled. That's when I felt my head being smashed with something. I heard Aylor yelling.
"What are you doing?" He yelled. I felt someone get on top of me. I let a sharp pain in my arm and screamed. I tried to wiggled away, but failed. My vision was getting blurrier by the second.
That's when I blacked out.
~A/N~
Hey guys. I feel so evil. I killed the main character. But I hope you like Neia's POV because she's gonna be the new main character for the second book. Originally, Leia and I only wrote two books, The Game Plan and another one called Real or Not Real (which is the name of my third book). We never actually wrote the second one, only the first and the third. So, I hope you guys liked this book. I know it was pretty short but... I just hope you liked it.
I was thinking for my second book, it should have to do with the Odds being either against or with Neia's favor or something about Neia burning her way to the end in honor of Alycer. But, here are some names I've come up with.
1. Against the Odds
2. The Odds and I
3. Replay
4. Just a Piece
5. Fire is Catching
6. Burn
7. Light It Up
8. Just Like Fire
9. Playing With Fire
10. The 125
11. Fight
12. Fire In The Dark
Comment which name you like best. And yes, it's going to be nothing like Katniss's Quarter Quell. Hehe.