#apogfinale

This was it. The moment all of Panem had been waiting for with baited breath was finally upon them. Fox and Delilah had beaten the odds, and now the two of them of them stood face to face as part of the final four. Delilah surveyed the girl in front of her, hair disheveled, eyes wild, mouth a snarling mess of teeth and lips; this was not the same Fox Delilah had come across in training.

Finally, Fox turned with shaking hands to face the petite redhead she loathed. The girl who had killed Colt, sweet, innocent Colt, and done it with no signs of remorse. The girl who had sent Fox into a mental spiral that powered her up and made her a killer, though in her own mind she was focused on being more of a protector, an eliminator of those who would hurt her or others. She’d disposed of the other killers, but now the biggest and worst remained. The one who had claimed the most lives as if it meant nothing at all.

“Looks like you’ve found your fight Foxy.” Delilah snarked as she kept her distance from the other girl. “What did it take? Seeing me kill Colt or losing Imogene?” She knew she was playing with fire here but she wanted to see just how far gone Fox was. Delilah smirked, strutting toward Fox. “What’s wrong, sweetie, cat got your stupid little tongue?” She cooed.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! I DON’T TALK TO FILTHY MURDERING SCUM LIKE YOU.” Fox screamed at Delilah. She was twitching, ravenous, a lunatic. If there was any shred of the girl she had once been it was buried deep inside. She was practically frothing at the mouth. What did Fox say about rabid animals? They should be put down for their own good? That sounded about right. Fox’s mind flashed red, she pictured Colt bleeding out on the ground and Charlie slumped lifeless and her body kicked into motion. Fox sprinted the distance between her and Delilah and jabbed hard at the smaller girl’s stomach with her shovel. Delilah laughed, blocking the hit with her war hammer as she cackled. “Oh, look at you, getting all feisty! Too bad you won’t be alive much longer to keep at it.”

Fox let out a low growl and lashed forward with her machete, stabbing deep into Delilah’s thigh and causing the Career to scream out, slashing at Fox’s cheek with one of her deer horn knives. The cut from training she’d given Fox re-opened and blood dribbled down Fox’s cheek, but it didn’t stop her. Taking her dagger, Fox aimed at the re-opened wound in Del’s shoulder, her weak spot. Del blocked the hits expertly, as a trained Career does, but that didn’t stop Fox from fighting back.

Delilah struck Fox’s face hard, her knuckles digging into the cut on her cheek and Fox tumbled back, thrown off-balance by the punch like their fight back in the training centre. She pulled her gas mask tightly over her face just as Delilah dove on her, pinning her to the floor with her knees on Fox’s arms. Fox’s heart pounded as she looked up at the girl, who smiled sickeningly.

“Now, you’re just a stupid little hick girl, right Fox?” Delilah taunted, dragging Fox’s chin up and staring at her through the eye holes of her gas mask. “So I’ll explain to you,” she cooed, holding up a vial of an unmarked substance. “Some people call this zombie powder. But it’s gonna kill you, and it’s gonna make it so much fun for me to play with you first, doesn’t that sound fun?” Fox’s heart pounded, but she slowly reached one hand to the side, trying to move slowly as to not be detected by Delilah’s knee pinning her arm.

Delilah pulled at the gas mask to get the toxin in Fox’s mouth, but struggled to get it off of Fox’s head given the way the straps ran around the back of the girl’s head which was currently pressed into the floor. As Del yanked Fox’s head up by her hair to unstrap the gas mask, Fox jerked her upper body up quickly, smashing the hard surface of the gas mask into Delilah’s nose, breaking it. As she did so, Fox reached the last few inches for her dagger, which she drove directly into the bandaged wound in Delilah’s side, twisting it and angling it upward, weakening the muscles there. Delilah shrieked and Fox took the opportunity to throw her hips up quickly and jolt pain through Del’s side wound, allowing Fox to free her arm and push Delilah off, thankful for years of harmless wrestling with Eagle teaching her how to unseat someone far larger than Delilah.

Fox shakily but quickly got to her feet and Delilah sprung at her again. Fox knocked the vial of toxin from her hand and it hit the floor, rolling across with some oozing out from a crack in the container. Delilah snarled, shaking her head at Fox. “You know I’m gonna kill you… just like I killed everyone else, Fox, don’t go thinking you’re special. You’re just going to share a plot of dirt with that little kid and no one is going to ever remember you… or him.” It pained Delilah to speak of a young boy so nonchalantly when little Rory was at home watching, but she knew she could weaken Fox with the mention of Colt. But Fox only had one thought on her mind. Kill the killers. Kill the killers kill the killers kill the killers…

While Delilah eyed the vial, Fox socked her in the jaw, stunning her long enough to scramble up the unstable mountain of gold. Acting quickly before Delilah came back at her, Fox reached back and grabbed the bottle of alcohol from her bag, never breaking eye contact with Delilah so she wouldn’t be caught off guard. As Delilah lunged to attack again, her sword sliced along Fox’s thigh as Fox brought the bottle of alcohol down hard onto Delilah’s head, still holding the top part of the bottle. The bottom of the bottle smashed, leaving Delilah drenched in alcohol and covered in tiny cuts along with a bloody lump where Fox smashed her. The liquid dripped into her eyes and cuts, causing it to sting painfully and Delilah screeched, blindly thrusting her knife toward Fox as she tried to regain her sight through the blurriness. “You fucking bitch!” Del shrieked. “Are you fucking crazy!?” Fox was left holding only part of an empty bottle with sharp, jagged edges as she dodged Del’s anger-infused hits.

Fox lunged forward, slicing across Delilah’s chest with the jagged bottle. The glass ripped Del’s shirt open and left angry claw marks across her chest. Del tried to break the glass with the hilt of her knife but Fox stabbed with her machete in her other hand, landing it deep into Delilah’s thigh and the force of the swing sending both of them down to the floor. Fox scrambled on top of Del, bringing her dagger down hard into the wound on Delilah’s shoulder and twisting it, clawing through the muscle and nerves and leaving that arm essentially useless.

Fox resumed her clawing at Delilah’s chest, face, wherever, she could reach. “You’re heartless!” Fox screamed, spit flying from her mouth and landing in the open chest wound. Delilah fought back, clawing and slashing at Fox’s arms and body with her knives. As Del left a long cut down the side of Fox’s thigh, Fox moved again to smash her dagger into Del’s other shoulder, slicing through muscle and flesh as she screamed.

“I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you how could you I hate you…” Fox’s screaming was more and more intense as she clawed with the glass, getting closer and closer to Del’s heart. Delilah regained a grip on her knife with her remaining good arm and slammed the hilt of it into Fox’s hand, smashing the rest of the glass over her, covering her in little cuts. Del used the opportunity to squirm slighly away from Fox, reaching for the cracked and leaking vial of tetrodotoxin which lay on the floor close to them. Grasping it, she tossed the chemical at Fox, aiming for her face but missing, splashing a bit more over her body. Fox couldn’t be calm anymore. With so many cuts over her body and a toxin now dripping from her skin, she didn’t know how much time she had left, if any. She had to end this now.

Armed with the shovel Fox swung it into Delilah’s chest, winding the girl. “I am just, in my cause.” Her whole body trembled as she spoke. “You’re a murderer, you need to be put down!” She swung the shovel into Delilah’s shoulder forcing the girl to scream again.

With all her strength Delilah kicked up into Fox’s thigh wound causing the girl to falter. “You killed, you’re just as bad as me.” She knew exactly what effect the words would have on Fox.

“I WASN’T THE ONE TO KILL AN INNOCENT KID. I DIDN’T BREAK UP A SET OF LOVERS.” She slammed the shovel into the side of Delilah’s head dazing her. “YOU KILLED COLT.” She slammed the shovel on Delilah’s face breaking her nose. “YOU MURDERED A LITTLE KID.”

A malicious grin overtook Fox’s face giving Delilah pause. “Time to burn for what you’ve done bitch.” Fox giggled before tossing the lighter at Delilah. The flames landed on her pant leg before spreading like wildfire up her alcohol soaked tribute outfit. She dropped to the ground screaming as she rolled in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

Clutching her shovel, she had to finish the job. Del laid on the floor, burned and bleeding with her heart nearly exposed from Fox’s clawing at her chest. Fox grimly dug into her body with the shovel, prying her heart out like it was a buried treasure. Delilah was now truly heartless as the final cannon of the Games fired.

There was only one final obstacle in Sutter’s way and it was the one he was looking forward to the most. His revenge was only partially achieved with Kyan but there was still the other half of District Four. Sutter stood stoic across from Delilah, the two of them staring at each other. By now both of them were injured and bleeding, but Sutter felt as strong as ever. All he wanted to do was rip the girl’s throat out and watch her suffer as she bled to the death. He was sure that Delilah felt the same way about him. The only thing was that only one of them would get that satisfaction.

“Well, damn. How did you not just die of guilt?” Delilah jeered, slowly swinging her war hammer around to taunt him. Sutter stood confidently, refusing to be affected by her words. Getting to him was exactly what she wanted.

“I had something I needed to do,” he replied through gritted teeth, making it clear what he needed to do was kill her. She just smiled in return, obviously amused by his whole determination of vengeance.

“Oh are you talking about that slut we killed at the feast together? Did you say goodbye? You know, that was fun, we should do it again sometime.” Delilah retorted, her answer silenced by a growl from Sutter who stood stock still across from her. He wanted this over with and he wouldn’t bow down to her taunts. “Fine. Then do it,” she cooed in attempt to provoke him. Delilah was always one to appreciate a good fight and it was evident that with Sutter that was what she was going to get. Without waiting any longer, Sutter took all three shurikens and threw them at rapid fire in hopes to distract Delilah a bit. She tried to dodge them but was not fast enough as she one of them cut her cheek. While she was busy focused on herself, Sutter went charging towards her and tackled her to the ground. The two fell to the ground with a hard thud, both of them grunting from some kind of injury. Delilah swung her fist around to hit Sutter in the groin, which made him yelp. She let out a laugh, throwing him off of her so she could grab one of her deer horn blades. As Sutter lay in pain on the ground, she swung her weapon around and plunged the sharp point into his shoulder. He screeched, the sharp pain making him wrap his hand around her throat. She gasped as he threw her back on the bottom, her head hitting the hard ground. Once she recovered, her hand wrapped around Sutter’s strong wrist.

“You know Sutter I expected better from someone who scored an eleven. You’re tall, strong, and by all evidence should actually be a challenge.” Then suddenly, she raised her dual edged sword and made a long slash across his back. He fell off of her, shrieking as his now open wound hit the ground. Delilah wasted no time climbing on top again, digging her nails into Sutter’s cheek. Her nails broke his skin, making blood drip down his cheek. He gritted his teeth as he spit into her face. Unseating Del as she scrambled backwards, wiping futilely at her face. She fought to get to her feet as Sutter stood.

”Even your little bitch of a girlfriend put up a better fight than you before you decided winning was more important than she was.” She grinned maliciously at him and watched as something inside the boy snapped.  He lunged forwards and though Delilah had training, Sutter had brute strength. The axe slammed against her hammer, jarring her arm back painfully. “I’m going to make you regret ever volunteering. By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to beg me for death.” He growled and launched himself at Delilah again. He passed her block and sunk the axe into her shoulder making her scream with pain. Delilah swung the hammer weakly at Sutter and caught him in the stomach giving herself a little breathing room. Already her arm felt weaker as the warm blood trickled down her arm.

If she couldn’t beat him with strength, she was going to have to rely on her speed. Sutter was emotional, rash, reckless. He charged forwards and Delilah sidestepped him. Spinning she slammed the hammer into his back with all her might and he gave a sharp cry of pain. Pure adrenaline kept him from buckling under the pain as he stumbled forwards, catching himself against a pillar. Sutter started fiddling around with his pockets which was never a good sign so Delilah charged the boy. The two exchanged blows as Delilah slammed her hammer hard into his stomach.

Sutter doubled over, his ribs broken as Delilah looked down at the knife sticking out of her stomach. She pulled it out and saw that Sutter had put something on it. Immediately a fierce pain gripped her system and she fell to the ground wracked with spasms. Doing the only thing she could think of Delilah lit the smoke bomb and set it on the ground beside her. Her vision danced and blurred as the smoke rose and billowed creating a wall between them.

A sudden noise forced Delilah’s eyes open. She pulled herself upright listening for it again. “Della!” The voice screeched making her blood run cold. All pain forgotten Delilah rocketed to her feet, her eyes searching frantically in the smoke. Finally they locked on to a small shadow cowering in front of a big shadow.

“I told you I had plans for him if you chose not to cooperate Miss Lalonde.” Even here Xanthus’ voice was unmistakable. Where once it gave her chills, now it did nothing but enrage her. Gripping the hammer tightly Delilah screamed as she charged Xanthus, swinging the hammer into his knees. His legs were already injured and he had no chance to dodge it causing them to buckle under the force of the assault.

“If you so much as lay a fucking finger on him I’ll-” the rest of her sentence was incoherent screaming as she brought the hammer down on his wounded chest, fracturing what few intact ribs he had left. Sutter gasped for air under the crazed girl and in a last ditch attempted sliced upwards at her with the hand axe catching her in the side. “FUCK YOU. TAKING CHILDREN JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN.” Delilah was too far gone to even notice and slammed the hammer against his hand forcing Xanthus to drop it with a scream.

She slammed the hammer against his jaw filling his mouth with teeth and blood. “I’m not Xanthus you psycho bitch.” He moaned as she continued to pummel him. He raised his arms over his face to protect himself but they did little as Delilah brought the hammer down relentlessly. Blood sprayed up from the assault coating the both of them and filling Delilah with a sense of righteous glee.

As Fox stumbled into the catacombs from her cavern, the light trickling in reflected off the shiny surface of the floor caught the girl’s eye. Coins. Gold ones. And jewels, and incredible piles of riches like she’d never seen. Her eyes glinted and she smiled, her face curling into a sickening grin. If she could just kill three more people, it’d be all hers.

Kineos was behind a pile of coins when he heard another tribute walking through the catacombs. He took a peek and it was Fox, from District ten. Kineos nocked an arrow into his crossbow and aimed it at her head, a quick and easy kill is what he was hoping to go for. He took a deep breath and fired it, missing hard.

As she looked into the pile, an arrow whizzing past her head grabbed her attention and she whirled around to see Kineos across from her, clutching something in his hands. A small crossbow. Fox frowned, where had she seen one of those- she paused, her eyes narrowing.

That was Imogene’s crossbow. And knowing that Kineos was holding it meant only one thing- that he’d killed her. They were gone, they were all gone. All her friends were dead. And Kineos, the boy in front of her, had killed her last one. She had to get revenge. With that, Fox charged across the catacomb to Kineos, her shovel outstretched. The fire blazing in her eyes was dangerous and Kineos was slightly startled, firing another arrow toward Fox. It clipped her in the shoulder and she snapped the shaft of the arrow off, continuing her charge.

Kineos threw his crossbow to the side and pulled out his dagger and dirk and prepared for a good little battle. She had a shovel out with her along with a machete. Kineos thought to himself, Who the fuck has a shovel in the games?

But it didn’t matter as Fox closed the distance and swung across with her shovel, connecting against his face. He heard a slight noise and looked up at Fox who was slightly blurry and she hit him again but on his back. He stumbled back, cursing, as Fox brought the shovel around into his other side, stabbing it into him. Kineos let out a yell and slowly got up, she could just kill him right now but didn’t, she must have wanted this to last. He looked at her and gave a small smile “Is that all you got you little bitch?” She let out a small snarl and swung her shovel again and Kineos dropped down and swiped his dirk across her leg and she let out a yell. He jabbed with the dirk then at Fox’s stomach, causing the girl to jump backwards, avoiding the hit but losing her proximity to him. Pulling her machete from her belt, Fox sliced hard at the gauze-wrapped area of Kineos’ left arm.  He let out a shriek as Fox sliced the gauze away, exposing the flesh again. Moving closer, Fox jammed her hand into the exposed skin, pulling hard at whatever tendons she could reach and Kineos screamed harder as she clawed at his flesh.

Bringing around his dirk again, Kineos knocked Fox off his body, sending her to the floor. Fox rolled at the impact of the floor and sprung back up to her feet, her eyes glinting.  Kineos’ blood dripped on the floor in time with Fox’s muttering of “kill the killers… kill the killers… kill the killers…” that penetrated the catacombs. Kineos approached her again and she continued to mutter as she shoved into him hard with the handle of her shovel, aiming for his head. He ducked, the shovel’s head smashing into his shoulder, causing it to crack as it shattered on the impact.

As he stumbled back from the hit Fox quickly lit the smoke bomb she’d taken from Joule and tossed it in a high arc right at Kineos. She snapped the gas mask over her face as it detonated right in front of the boy as he turned and tried to run. As he struggled to locate the girl through the smoke, she got low and crept across the floor to wind around at his back. As she did, she sprung forward and smashed both of her daggers into each side of Kineos’ ribcage, blood spurting over her shirt and over the floor, spattering over a few stray gold pieces that lay there.

Kineos shouted out, taking his dirk and shoving it hard behind him, slicing across Fox’s hip and opening the wound she’d bandaged there. Fox screeched back in anger, kicking his wounded knee from behind hard and sending him crumpling to the floor. As he toppled down, he reached for the front of Fox’s shirt with his hand and pulled hard, bringing her down with him.

Fox pulled herself on top of Kineos, pinning his arms down with her legs and squeezing her knees hard to send pain coursing through the boy’s body. “You can’t kill my best friend and not expect me to fuck. You. Up.” She hissed, her eyes manic and her tone rough and harsh. Kineos grappled for his dirk on the floor next to him and took it, slicing it into the side of Fox’s leg from where his hand was pinned underneath her. She shrieked, grabbing the front part of his hair and slamming his head against the floor, the small pieces of gold jingling as she did, and causing him to let go of the weapon which she threw across the floor. She pulled her dagger and held it to his throat, keeping him in place.

Wrenching around to grab the sheet of plastic while keeping Kineos’ head down with the threat of her knife, Fox stretched it over his mouth. “Death by deoxygenation relaxes the brain as the flow of breath stops and stops you from moving so I can give you what you deserve for killing her,” Fox hissed. Kineos struggled, moving his hips to try and buck her off but Fox was strong, she’d spent much of her life roughhousing with her older brother and knew just where to move herself to cause extreme discomfort to Kineos.

The plastic wouldn’t stay and she screamed. “Stop! Let me do this!” She screeched. “Don’t you understand? Do none of you understand that you deserve this?!” Fox screamed to anyone who was listening. Kill the killers kill the killers kill the killers… pulling her lighter, Fox moved the flame up to the plastic which she held on with one hand flat over Kineos’ face while she pressed his injured arm down harder with her left knee, causing him to gasp, holding the plastic in place. Burning the plastic, Kineos began to scream as the plastic melted to his face. Fox moved the lighter around, sealing the plastic in around Kineos’ nose and mouth, and sat back, smiling, as the boy’s breaths eventually slowed.

Shamus was easily Levi’s toughest competition. He towered over him, far more muscular and seemed far more comfortable armed to the teeth with weaponry than Levi was. But Levi decided he needed to rely on what he had. He had a quick wit. A wit that, hopefully, might just save his life. He felt so small and insignificant next to the boy with the twelve in training, the boy who he knew would be the one to go home. It’d always been Shamus. And Shamus absolutely hated him for no reason other than that he was just spiteful. But could the good guy come out on top? Levi hoped that for once he could. Shamus glared over at Levi as they raced across the grass, getting closer to one another. The wind was strong and the rain was pouring down on them. The ground was getting soggy quickly and the slip on shoes they were wearing were not ideal for a race in the rain. Shamus wanted nothing more than to get his hands on the little clown, to teach him a lesson between jokes and insults. Levi’s fire wouldn’t save him now and Shamus knew he could overpower him easily. As they grew closer to each other Shamus noticed that Levi was nursing a severe abdominal injury, maybe some broken ribs. Levi noticed instantly when the two faced off that Shamus sported a number of wounds. Wounds worse than his, wounds he was thankful that Starling didn’t have to deal with as she stood nervously by.

“Aye, I’m gon’ get yeh, Levi. Bes’ jus’ stop yer runnin’ an’ let et beh,” Shamus called out, swinging his shillelagh as he ran towards the boy. Unfortunately for Levi, he slipped and fell into a puddle, landing face first in the wet grass and crying out as his ribs hit the dirt. Shamus ran up next to him and laughed as Levi attempted to get up, wiped the muddy water from his face. “Need a wee bit o’ help there fella?” Shamus teased as he kicked the boy in the ribs, sending him flying onto his back, landing on his pack. Levi held out a few arrows but had no bow. Shamus laughed as he closed in on the boy, tapping the shillelagh in his palm. “I been waitin’ a long time teh see yeh, Levi…” he cooed.

Shamus wound up and took a big swing at Levis knee but missed as the boy slipped out of his pack straps and rolled away. He stood up, squaring off to Shamus, a group of arrows in one hand and a taser in the other. His face was fierce, angry, as if Shamus had hurt someone he loved. “How could you?” he hissed.

Shamus’ brow raised questioningly. “Do wha’?” he asked.

“Walk right through her like she wasn’t even there!” Levi screamed. “Just push her over!”

Shamus looked around, confused. “Who yeh talkin’ ‘bout Levi?”

“STARLING!” he cried out, knuckles white as snow as he gripped his weapons angrily. Annoyed by Shamus’ games, Levi growled and charged.Levi lunged toward and swung again, letting the bat connect with Shamus’ opposite shoulder. The crack was familiar and satisfying, echoing over the sound of the rain like thunder. Shamus stumbled a bit, wincing at the powerful swing this kid had in his arsenal. Levi had something to fight for, as Shamus did. But to Shamus, Levi looked twitchy and confused as a little mouse. “You’re not going to hurt her!” He had to do this, had to kill Shamus to save the love of his life. He wasn’t going to hurt her. The look on the Levi’s face was pure agony. The ideas swirled through his mind of what Shamus would do to Star, strange recollections of her screams that he couldn’t quite make sense of. The line between the hallucination and reality was blurring and Levi was confused and muddled.

“She ain’t ‘ere, yeh crazy piece o’ shite!” Shamus countered as he swung his shillelagh into Levi’s ribs again. The boy groaned but managed to extend his arms out and strike Shamus with the taser, sending electric currents through his body. Although not amplified by the rain, the taser still brought Shamus to his knees. Levi started to laugh maniacally, possessed by a mind that was slowly slipping into insanity. Shamus dropped his shillelagh and twitched in the wet grass. The wind howling in Levi’s ears, he turned back and shouted something to his hallucination of Starling, tossing her the coin as if she would really hold onto it. Shamus, still feeling some effects, rolled over and stabbed Levi in the achilles with hunting knife, bringing Levi down into the grass with him. Shamus pulled out the blade and cut into the top of the boy’s foot, twisting it and breaking his foot, separating his bones.

Levi cried out and angrily shoved all 5 arrows into Shamus’ side. He kicked Shamus’ in the face with his good foot and pushed away, waiting for the poison to spread into Shamus’ bloodstream. He crawled slowly to his pack as Shamus struggled to yank each arrow from his flesh. He got on his hands and knees, crawling after Levi in the grass, not knowing that there was a bit of poison flowing through him. Unfortunately for Levi, the heavy rains had washed away much of the effectiveness and while Shamus was feeling weaker, he would not die from it… at least not in the amount of time that Levi was expecting. Digging through his pack for his baseball bat, Levi made plans with Starling to proceed onward, but Shamus had other plans. Creeping up behind him, Levi turned just in time to see Shamus rise onto his knees and plunge the hunting knife into his shoulder. The baseball bat in Levi’s hands connected with Shamus’ chest and caused him to falter a little.

Surprised that he had this much strength left, Levi swung the bat around again one-handed, connecting with Shamus’ ribs. The force was not great enough to do much between his ribs and the new wound in his shoulder. Shamus tackled Levi to the ground and sliced him across the back. Once again, face first in the same muddy puddle, Levi struggled as Shamus pinned him down, pressing against his arms and keeping him in place. Levi’s pack was wide open, his contents spilling out. Shamus spied the clown mask and yanked it out, laughing. “E’en the Game Makers though yeh were a bleedin’ joke, Levi,” he hissed into his ear. Thunder cracked above them, lighting up the sky. “Well the joke’s o’er, funny man.” He slid the clown mask over Levi’s face and pressed the back of his head down into the grass, splashing in the puddle. He needed no weapon to end Levi’s life, in fact he preferred none whatsoever in this moment. His knees on Levi’s arms, Shamus used his hands to press Levi’s face into the puddle. Levi flailed as he sputtered on water that entered his mouth, even through the mask. He was suffocating and drowning at the same time. Shamus didn’t know which notion he enjoyed more. As Levi struggled for a breath, Shamus just pushed harder and harder until the boy became still. He held him there until his cannon fired.

Getting up, he wiped the rain off his face and stroke his fingers through his hair. He felt weaker now and he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t have long until the poison would take it’s proper toll. He reached out for the coin that Levi had tossed to an imaginary Starling and slid it into his pocket with the other one. He called out for Liv, who he had instructed to hide while he took care of everything… and he’d done just that. Liv came out running through the rain, nearly in tears at the sight of her weak Irishman. He handed her all three coins to add to hers and went to kiss her, but stumbled. The poison was making him weak and he needed her help to reach the boat. She walked with him, his shoulder slung over hers, as fast as they could to the spot where they had left the boat. By the time they got there, Shamus was fading.

It was just like their battle on the obstacle course, Shamus thought. He would try any dirty trick he could to get Blair’s coin and keep Liv safe. Luckily for him, her night vision goggles prevented her from seeing 180 around her. He saw her coming as he hid behind a tree, waiting for her to pass before he chucked the flashlight at her to get her attention. Her crossbow attached to her back, she seemed to be relying on her shotgun to carry her to the finish line. Shamus knew per limited experience with weapons, that she would only have 2 shells inside the barrel. If she had more on her, she’d have to stop and reload, which would give him time to strike. She spun around on her heels, the rain not falling so hard underneath the cover of the tree.

“Who the fuck threw that?” she cursed, pointing her shotgun into the trees. Shamus let out a quiet but persistent laugh. Blair searched the tree with her night vision goggles and found Shamus perched up high, hunting knife in hand.

Blair stood across from Shamus, her shotgun poised in her hand. They were both soaked and cold, and ready to get off this god forsaken rock.  Blair took a few steps forward.

“Hello Princess.” He said, giving Blair a hard, cold glare.

“Hello yourself.”  She responded.  They were only a few steps apart now.

“We meet again.” He smiled.

“Fuck off, Shamus,” she hissed as she cocked the gun. “Ready to die you Irish prick?”

The rain blurred her vision and he was hard to make out against the night sky.  She took the safety off the gun, knowing she only had two chances to get this right.  She wrapped both hands around the trigger, and fired. Just as she pulled the trigger, Shamus dropped down from the tree. The shell exploded against the trunk, shattering bark everywhere.

“Aye, yeh should get yer aim checked,” he taunted her.  The sound rang through the arena but Shamus still stood, swinging his shillelagh towards Blair, but missing as he was not close enough.  She was slipping in the mud, her whole body slimy and wet.  She tried to focus on his shadow as he moved towards her.  Tears streamed down her cheeks, in pain from her wounds and wanting to get out of the rain and onto the boat. She cocked the gun again but before she could fire, Shamus rushed her pointing the gun to the ground with his palm and narrowly escaping the shell that exploded water, grass, and dirt into the air.

“Awww, no, wha’s the matteh princess? Out o’ shells?” She clearly didn’t know how to use the gun, the recoil alone that pushed her back a few steps was enough to tell Shamus that. We wrapped his fingers around the barrel and yanked it from her grasp, slippery in the rain. Using both hands, he brought the handle of the gun up towards her face, thrusting against her nose and breaking it if it wasn’t already broken in the first place, crushing the night vision goggles against her skin.

She stumbled backwards, falling onto the wet grass. Quickly removing her goggles, her face was a battered mess. “Aye, yeh look like yer mum. The apple don fall far from the tree,” he insulted her, as everyone in the district knew about her parents abusive relationship. Blair glared up at him, angry snarled onto her lips. “Fuck you, Shamus, I’m nothing like her!” she screamed, turning to dig into her pack for her crossbow. He tossed the shotgun to the side and came at her with his knife, but not before Blair corrected herself and sent a bolt flying in his direction. The shot was close range and penetrated his chest, just underneath his collarbone. He growled and jumped on top of her, knowing she had no time to reload her weapon. Two poor weapons to have in a close combat situation.

His blade found her abdomen as he lunged at her, knees landing in the wet grass as he collided with her. She screamed out loud as he twisted the knife into her body, desiring to cause as much internal damage as possible. Through the pain, she managed to bring the crossbow over her head and smash it down on Shamus’ head, causing him to let go of his knife and fall to the side of her. She had a decision to make. Pull the knife out or reload the crossbow. Blood gushed from her wound as she made the decision, she cried as her tears mixed with rain. Shamus recovered quickly and kicked out, hitting her hands with the sole of his shoe, causing her to stab herself again with his blade. He kicked hard again, plunging it deeper into her stomach as he rolled back onto his knees.

Taking a mighty swing at Blair with the rusty hammer he pulled from his pocket, she leaned back to duck away from his advance. Pulling the knife out of her stomach again, she slashed wildly at Shamus, thrusting the blade into his thigh and bringing him back down to his knees. Shamus retaliated by smashing her hand with the hammer, causing her to release her grip. Leaving the blade in, Shamus gripped her wrist and climbed on top off her, perched on her lap. She struggled against him, using her free hand to reach across and twist the knife inside his leg. He groaned, screaming in agony, as he clocked her in the jaw with the hammer. She spat out blood, her jaw instantly broken from the force of Shamus’ swing. Still she fought, digging the knife into his leg and hoping to find the artery so that he would bleed out. But she didn’t have enough time to do so as Shamus upper cut the sharp end of the hammer into the bottom of her chin piercing her jaw and tongue. She screamed, gurgling out blood. He yanked her close as he twisted her wrist, breaking it with his bare hands.

Shamus grinned at Alex, knowing that he was responsible for Icarus’ death and also knowing that Alex had no idea… yet. She had an insane amount of items in her pack, he noted by the bulge on her back. At least she wasn’t able to use them all at once, which would be another advantage to him, he thought. She was armed with her bow and arrow and nothing else, since the weapon would require her to use both hands. Little did Shamus know, however, that they were laced with tracker jacker venom. He had his rope slung over his shoulders, shillelagh in one hand and his new, shiny hunting knife in the other. The flashlight and lighter in his pocket and morphling fresh in his system, they had no idea how interesting this fight was about to become.

She had her bow preloaded and she was prepared to get on the boat and make it home. There was no time to mourn Icarus, not now, not when she needed to get out alive. She knew as she ran into Shamus that with 4 others left besides her, she was the only person who didn’t have a coin. Her night vision goggles were both handy and a hindrance, as they limited her peripheral vision. As Shamus lunged towards her, she let an arrow fly, only to miss him when he rolled out of view. She scrambled to load another and was quickly smashed in the back of the head with his shillelagh. She screamed out loud and fell to her knees, reaching to feel the back of her head. She felt a wet warmth and knew he struck her hard enough to make her bleed. She felt dizzy, but she wasn’t giving up. Shamus laid in another crack, this time to her lower back.

She fell forward, her vertebrae aching with intense pain. The landing caused her bow to break, but she didn’t need that as badly as she did her arrows. She ripped off her goggles and rolled over, gripping an arrow and shoving it into Shamus’ thigh with as much force as she could muster. The arrowhead tore through his flesh and the tracker jacker venom spread quickly throughout his body. Shamus dropped his shillelagh, his grip weak from his more than likely broken knuckles. A snarl curled onto his lip as he pulled it out, the venom making him begin to hallucinate. First, he saw two of Alex, then there were three. She swiftly kicked his feet out from under him and he fell to the ground with a thud. And as he hit the ground, the rusty hammer that once belonged to Icarus fell out of his pocket. As soon as Alex caught sight of the hammer, the rusty hammer that she had pulled out of the tool box just the other day, she felt her blood boil. Here Shamus was, happily alive with the girl he loved while her Icarus lie dead. She ran as quickly as her injured body would take her and wildly pounced on the boy and punched him as hard in the face as she possibly could. Anger was taking over her body now, she’d never felt this much hatred towards someone before in her whole entire life. She flipped open her Swiss Army Knife and dug the blade as far into his shoulder as she possibly could and relished as he screamed out in pain. But the upper hand was only temporary. Shamus spun Alex off of him and pinned her to the ground.

She had majorly underestimated the boys strength and although his punches were wild they were effective and she felt one of her ribs break and her airways constrict more under the tightness of the rope. Alex started to wonder if this is what he did to Icarus, if he beat him to death and it just made her feel even worse, even weaker but she wouldn’t give up. She gained ground by kneeing him in the crotch and spitting at him in the face. Shamus curled up into the fetal position by natural instinct, groaning painfully. This gave her time to retrieve another weapon from her pack. She knew the amount of venom on the arrowhead wasn’t enough to kill him, but but right now he was weak enough to get. In time, he might end up getting a little crazy.

She pulled out a stick of dynamite and a lighter, thinking that she might be able to kill two birds with one stone, as Liv would likely come running to save her lover. But the lighter wouldn’t light in the wind that was picking up speed. Suddenly, the rain began to fall and she was doused. She looked over at Shamus, who was twitching and beginning to talk nonsense. She had to change her plan and she reached back into the bag for the kama, small, sharp, and would give Shamus a quick end once sliced across his throat. But when she went to turn around, Shamus was gone. She gasped, wondering where he’d gone, and as she stood up, kama in hand, a thick rope found its way around her neck. Shamus pulled tight, twisting it and pulling in an attempt to strangle the girl.

“Aye, Miste’ Mayor, I promised ‘er I’d kill yeh fer ‘er. I promised ‘er an’ I ne’er break a promise,” Shamus whispered into Alex’s ear. Confused at first, she quickly realized that the tracker jacker serum was making him hallucinate Olivia’s father. She gasped for air, swinging the kama around her and stabbing Shamus in the side with the blade. He growled, nearly unaffected by the pain due to the mix of venom and morphling. She yanked the blade out and plunged it in again, but Shamus moved backwards, bringing his knee up and connecting with her lower back again. The sound of her vertebrae cracking made him giggle insanely as she screamed, her legs collapsing. She fell to the ground, losing control of her weapon, no longer having feeling or control in her legs. Shamus climbed on top of her, the hunting knife in hand, and grinned at her like a mad man… and he was a mad man.

“Yeh treated ‘er like dirt, yeh crooked gouger, an’ now yer gon’ pay fer all the years yeh’ve been a corrupt villian. Fer all the years yeh’ve been ignorin’ ‘er an’ ‘urtin’ ‘er. An’ fer killing ‘er mother, yeh manky prick,” Shamus hissed at her as he brought down the butt of the knife into her face. Blood spread rapidly with the crunching of her nose. She screamed, gurgling as she swallowed her own blood. “Wha’s the matteh, Mister Mayor? Not a fan of tastin’ yer own medicine?” He snapped. With whatever effort she had left, Alex brought up her fists into Shamus’ face, pressing her thumbs into his eye sockets. Shamus elbowed her in the stomach and she coughed, spraying blood onto his face. He growled. “Tha’s it, yeh bleedin’ cossak! Time teh meet yer makeh!”