The 24th Hunger Games: Part Eight: Burned

The 24^th Hunger Games: Part Eight: Burned

By L.N. Price

            As it stormed down on them, Kaede swung his axe down, holding on to it tightly as the wave kept coming.  Using all of his strength, he looked towards where he had last seen Lux, moving against the water to her.  Every step felt agonizing as the wave continuously pushed him back, the water rising quickly.  From the area in front of him, a hand reached out, hooking onto his arm with an iron grip, its owner’s head coming out of the deep water.  When he spotted the blond hair, he sighed in relief, pulling on the hand and bringing her to his side.  “Are you alright?” he yelled over the still roaring water.  Lux stiffly nodded at him, letting him pull her in the direction of the forest and higher ground.  They needed to get out of the water before they found out how flooded the area could be. 

            Using as much strength as he could muster, Kaede pulled the two of them back in the direction of the forest, only letting go of Lux when she was able to stand straight.  Behind them all they could hear was the sound of rushing water, the other tributes missing for the time being.  For once, the only imminent danger was the arena and not the tributes who were supposed to be hunting one another.  Maybe the water would even take out one of the Careers if he was lucky. 

            The water moved around them, nearly sucking the two in as it rose.  Each step grew more difficult as the liquid swirled around his ankles acting like a suction cup and almost cementing his feet to the ground.  It had started with him hauling Lux out of the giant mass, but now she was steps ahead of him, using both her arms to pull herself forward.  Kaede, on the other hand, had no such luck, fumbling instead with his one good hand.  He struggled with each step, trying to focus on Lux but he was being dragged down, and to make things worse, could hear the water bubbling.  They were going to boil him. 

            Panic returned to him in that moment as he tried to reach out and grasp something, his right hand leading the charge, while his left ached wildly.  The pain seemed to spread from his hand to the entire arm, pulling itself back from the branch he had reached out for.  Lux, who was getting further and further away appeared not to notice his losing battle, her hands already starting to find dry ground.  Around him, he could feel the new surge the water took on as it began to heat up, cool enough not to burn him, but warm enough to warn him of what was to come.  Slowly the water rose, reaching his shoulders and then his mouth, flooding into him.  He coughed, trying to break the flow of the water, but it was relentless, pushing to finish what it had started.  Soon he would sink into the deepening expanse, dragged down by the arena made flood.

            There was a sharp pain as something latched onto his bad arm, pulling him towards it.  He no longer had the energy to fight it, instead letting it yank him to whatever it had planned for him.  The arena disaster had been meant for him, he was sure of it.  The game makers couldn’t have some nobody from one of the other districts defeating one of the Careers.  Why else would they need such force?  Kaede briefly glanced at what was currently guiding him, and felt a flicker of surprise as he met Lux’s annoyed face.  She wasn’t actually looking at him, but the expression on her face made it clear just what she felt as she pushed against the tide, bringing him in behind her.  Easily she got up onto the dry ground, groaning as she tried to lift Kaede up beside her.  In that long moment she could only pull him bit by bit, his mind losing control of his body, and the water growing in intensity.  It burned, sparks of pain shooting up his leg where the hot water seemed to latch on, a cry loosing from him as he tried to coil away, but failing.

            “Kaede!”  Lux tightened her hold on him, straining to drag him further aground.  “Hold on,” she groaned out, her voice nearly lost to him in the midst of his own yelling.  All the pain he had ever felt from his hand was nothing in comparison to this, every pore of skin on his leg crying out at once in an agonizing plea.  He could do nothing to help her save him, his body collapsing on itself.  With a last cry, she helped him up from the water, pulling him even more when his body began to slacken. 

“You should have left me behind,” she said, falling back against the ground in exhaustion.  Her breaths were heavy and quick, slowing just enough for her to sit back up and look at him and his leg.

           

“I didn’t know how.”  He tried his best not to let the pain show, but the burn was setting in, drawing out more pain.  “How does it look?”  All he could see were her scrunched eyebrows, which didn’t give any hope at all.

            “You should have left me,” she repeated, looking at his face finally.  What he saw in those eyes stunned him.  When he didn’t say anything to that her frown deepened, her eyes falling back on the leg that had made him forget all about his hand.  “What were you thinking, Kaede?”  With an alarming intensity, he could feel the exact placement of her hands on his skin, their outline drawing out a groan.  Taking a ragged breath, he pulled himself into a sitting position, his calf screaming out in pain when it dragged across the ground.  “Kaede!”  She looked like she wanted to smack him, but thought better of it, opting to glare at him instead.  “Are you an idiot?”

            The question hung in the air as he stared at her hands on his leg, pressing down on the burned skin.  “Kaede?  What’s wrong?”  Lux leaned closer to him, nearly getting in his face when he still didn’t answer.  “Answer me, Kaede,” she pressed, jabbing him in the rib to get his attention.

            When he spoke, it was with a tightness, the pain seeping into everything he did.  “It feels like someone raked me over hot coals,” was all he said, leaning himself against the tree.  

“We need to get some water on your leg,” Lux said, no longer looking at his face, which hid nothing from her.  She searched through their bags, pulling out a canteen from both, and weighing them experimentally.  Nodding at one, she uncapped it and poured its contents on his leg, a cry coming from him when it met skin.

When she stopped the flow of the water, it still took him a few minutes to break through the agony.  “Don’t do that again,” he breathed out, finally looking at her.  She smiled for a moment before the frown was back, along with the water.  “Shiiiiittttt,” he moaned, panting against the pain.  The burn that covered his leg no longer felt like a thousand pinpricks but a warm sensation, a painful one at that.  Somewhere during the healing session his eyes closed, and unconsciousness overtook him, Lux fading out of view, and any sense of survival.

When he came to, there was a small fire but no sign of Lux.  Where the water had once threatened to claim him was bare land, showing almost no evidence of what had once been there.  His leg still ached, but it no longer felt as if every pore was burning away, the skin where the water had managed to touch him was a bright red, contrasting against the untouched paleness of his usual tone.  The pant leg on that side was also torn, all the way up to the knee, letting the cool night breeze hit the wound in a refreshing sense of relief. 

Even with the sense of relief that he hadn’t lost yet another limb there was still the knowledge that he was further handicapped.  It had been a miracle that Lux had allowed herself to ally with him in the first place, but now the wound served as a ticking time bomb, his anticipation growing at his impending death.  That would be the only result for all this to work out for them; she would kill him and win the games.  He would do it, so why wouldn’t she?

He tensed as she came back into the clearing, a small squirrel clutched in her hand.  “How are you feeling?”  Her question was left unanswered as he watched her every move.  “Kaede?”  She finally glanced at him from her place in front of the fire, a small knife raised to skin the animal.

As her eyes narrowed at his silence, he spoke, trying to shake off the wariness that had settled inside him.  “Fine.”  He wouldn’t lie and tell her that he was completely healed, but he wouldn’t let her know how weak he still was.

“Just fine?”  She emphasized the word he had used, the knife emitting a strange sound as it tore the fur off the squirrel in several clean strokes.  “I thought we were allies, Kaede.”  He looked at her then, but she was focused on her work, not even glancing at him anymore.

“We are, but what about in the morning?”

Her eyes met his, but there was a softness to them.  “I won’t kill you right now, Kaede.”  She shook her head and put the knife down.  “I don’t think I’d be able to at least.”

“Why?”  He realized that he wasn’t exactly helping himself, but he was curious.  “What would stop you?”

She gave him a funny look, but still answered.  “You are the closest thing I had to a friend here, well besides Chrome.”  A small laugh left her even though the atmosphere between them was still tense.

“A friend?”

“Don’t let it get to your head, Kaede.  I will still fight you when or if the time comes.”  She picked up the squirrel, and held it over the fire, reminding him of his injury as the animal’s flesh turned darker under the heat.  “In the morning though, we will have to split up.”  Her words filled the quiet darkness around them, hanging over the two of them.  Those eyes of hers studied him, preparing for whatever reaction he would have.  “We’ve made a decent team, but like you’ve pointed out with your worries, it’s about time.  If we stick together much longer it will make it much harder when the end of the games nears,” she continued, waiting for him to say something, anything really.

           

“I know,” he replied, his voice icy.  “I’ve already had the thought just like you said.”  To be honest, he had thought she would’ve killed or left him when he had been burned, but she had stayed.  She had called him friend.  He had never heard that term from anyone ever.  But the Games came first, and she was right.  How could they kill each other if they thought of the other as a friend?  They couldn’t, that was the answer, but of course, he had tried his best to ignore that thought the moment it had entered his mind. 

            Lux pressed a piece of squirrel into his hand, and bit into her own, only offering a small awkward smile when he stared back at her.  “What if it’s me versus you in the end?”

           

She paused in her eating, the small smile gone instantly.  “Then we will have to face each other, Kaede.”  He nodded, though he wasn’t looking forward to the outcome.  When she finished her portion, she gathered her belongings, stopping only to look at him out of hesitation.  He wanted to tell her to stay, but the look in her eyes was as much a warning as a goodbye.  They were friends for now, but in the morning that would all change.  He couldn’t ask her to be here any longer than she had already been.

“Go ahead.  I’ll leave in a little while,” he whispered, motioning for her to leave.

     

       She nodded and stood, taking her bag and spear.  “Good luck, Kaede.”  Then she was gone, leaving him in that clearing, wondering what he would do.  It wasn’t like he could hunt down anyone in his condition, and it didn’t look good to be found and forced to run.  He was an open target lying in wait.  In the morning, he would have to move, but right now, even with the food in his belly, he had little energy to move further than a foot away from that tree.  Until morning, he would have to sleep, and maybe then, he could think clearly enough to formulate something of a plan.