These Are No Ordinary Games

THE RACE

The three remaining Tributes manage to venture on their own, knowing that they are alive, and that is about it.  They knew that there must have only been a handful of them left, and the numbers were surely enough to mean these games were coming to an end. Brenda, Meg, and Dillon took comfort in that fact. They knew they’d be out sooner or later, and each one welcomed life and especially life outside the Arena. The Gamemakers had managed to place the sun high into the sky, and it wasn’t moving. According to the sun, it’s been noon for far too long, and that was never a good thing. The games always came to a peak when the natural world was manipulated and the Gamemakers insisted on ruining any way to keep time. 

 Meg plays the sounds of Issac’s screams in her mind over and over. The sound of such a hulking man being killed would always haunt her nightmares, and she couldn’t shake the chills that ran through her body. She remembers the few hours they had of peace together, and how Issac seemed to have such a fire in his eyes. She recalled how he looked before Sian managed to request medicine that saved his life. She had given up the one thing that could guarantee her victory, and now she was dead too. Sian and Issac were dead. The only real alliance Meg had, and she hadn’t really helped either one of them.

 She remembers all the chances she had-both to help and to possibly die-and how she decided to run and hide instead of fight. She lets sobs wrack her body as she mourns the loss of the only people she really got the slightest opportunity to know. She sends up a prayer that their families would find comfort. 

 Meg takes two thin sticks from a tree nearby and braids her hair then places it in a bun, using the sticks to hold it in place. She then takes the dagger and places it in her bun, hiding it from view at a quick glance. Satisfied with the dagger, she takes the slingshot and tests it to make sure it will hold and then finds a few stones to place in her pockets. Meg manages to send up a prayer of thanks and as she does, there appears to be something pulling in the fog of the Air Quarter. 

 Meg lifts her gaze to the horizon and what she sees horrifies her. She sees stone and earth form itself into a mass that was about five feet tall and looked about as big as a car. “Great, “she thought, “another Mutt.” She stands up and gets herself ready for a fight or a flight, depending on how this goes. She looks at the mutt and suddenly hears Kotori’s voice come over the ear-piece, “Meg, congratulations on coming this far. You’re in the final three. To make sure you go where we want you for the final fight, meet my golem. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor.” There is nothing but silence, and she loses her breath as the golem ignites into flame. The flame looks like it’s dripping, almost like the consistency of mud. 

 She decided at this point, flight is her best option. She stands near the tree she found her sticks at and watches the golem, and suddenly the creature hurls a ball of magma towards her. The tree near her ignites and sparks fly everywhere. Meg smells the distinct scent of burnt hair, and knows it was too close for comfort. She tries to think of where the Gamemakers would want her and decides to head back the way she came. 

 The earth beneath her feet rumbles and magma starts shooting from the ground. She glances back and realizes the earth shakes and rumbles when the golem jumps. She starts to time the golem’s jumps and finds it has a steady rhythm. She starts to time it and when the golem jumps, she bends at the knees and hips. When the golem was about to land, Meg would jump. This allowed her to keep her balance and she started to run with the rhythm in mind. Every time she should have jumped, she would stretch her legs a little farther like a leap. It allowed her to get across a distance and not face the chance of dying due to a loss of balance. 

 She can hear the rumble of the golem approach her and she smells burning earth. The golem approaches her and she can’t believe how such a large thing can move so fast. Then, she realizes why. It rolls into a ball and rolls a ways and then stands up and the process repeats. 

 The earth starts to shake a bit more and magma is hurled towards her, luckily it seems the goal is to get her to the location and that’s what it does. As soon as she breaches the point where the Cornucopia territory comes into view it stops and simply dissolves into the earth and Meg decides to stay where she is.

               Brenda managed to keep up her pace as she tries to get her thoughts sorted in the Quarter she remains in. Her ally has died, and she doesn’t even know what to do at this point. She knows there must be only a select few Tributes left, meaning the Gamemakers will be looking for a climax and a great finale to their show. Brenda smiles to herself, as she knows that the game put on so far, has been a brilliant one.

               She gathers her supplies and lays her trident and ringed blade in front of her. She decides that the best way to carry the blade was to place it around her upper body like a sash, and then she carries her trident in her hands, ready for any attack that may come. The weight from the bladed ring on her shoulder reminds her of the wound she suffered previously, and it’s still tender to weight.

Brenda heard her ear-piece come on and heard Ivy’s voice. “Glad to see you’re awake. I’m back for the finale. Here you go, you are in the final three and you have to meet back at the Cornucopia for the final battle. However, to keep you from staying where you are, I’ve made a lovely creature for you to deal with if you stay, and to possibly rough you up before the finale. Meet my golem.”

               Brenda stares ahead, and sees there is a mass of earth taking shape into something that could deal quite a bit of damage. The mass is formed of the earth, and there are vines, bugs, and roots in this creature, almost like its bones. The creature before her took shape. She watched as it became aware of itself and started moving in slow, jerking movements toward her. She felt that by staying by the tree, she would manage to avoid it.

               However, the golem had better things in mind. The golem started to crash towards Brenda and the soil beneath her seemed to move with her, keeping her balance from being right. She could feel the earth shake and rumble under her as she tried to get to the cornucopia, assuming that would be where the Gamemakers wanted the final battle to take place. She heads to the Cornucopia and feels the ringed blade bounce off of her shoulders, putting pressure on her shoulder, causing her to wince with the pain form her previous wound, “They’ll heal it when I win. They’ll heal it when I win.” That’s all Brenda has to keep her going, knowing she’ll win this and her body will be back to “normal,” whatever that may be now.

               Brenda loses track of where she is and before long, she realizes that she has made it to where she wanted. She is in close proximity to the Cornucopia, the golden horn shining bright with the sun being so high in the sky. She looks around and notices that Meg is arriving at just about the same time.

               Dillon was grabbing his supplies, getting his weapons together, he quickly stitched a strap that was long enough to hold the patchwork bag as a messenger bag that the mayor’s assistants used back home. He wound the chain of his Kusari Gama around his arm and grabbed the handle of the scythe part before he headed out. Suddenly, he heard Volt’s voice, “Dillon, good job on becoming a finalist in The Fourth Quarter Quell. There are two others out there standing between you and victory, do well and may the odds be ever in your favor. Also, have fun with a little creation. His name is golem, good-bye now.” With that, the ear piece clicked off and Dillon felt the silence press around him.

                              The silence didn’t last long; soon the golem that Volt mentioned came bursting through a small gathering of trees.  The golem he was facing was on fire, and he couldn’t believe the body of the golem wasn’t burning into ash, seeing as it was made of wood. Suddenly, Dillon was now on the offensive, he planned on taking this thing down before it took him down.

               Dillon quickly unwrapped his Kusari Gama from his shoulder and grasped it in a way that he could attack at a moment’s notice. The golem launches towards Dillon, narrowly missing the boy from Eight. This was going to bring Dillon some pain, and he knew it. “Don’t let him hit your arm. It may be healing, but it isn’t healed all the way.” With that, Dillon started to circle the creature to try and get a glimpse.

               Suddenly, Dillon had a plan. He took his weapon and launched the blade portion at the creature, and the arm of the creature was severed and fell to the floor, extinguishing with a hiss. Dillon quickly kept moving, ensuring he stayed light on his feet.

               It felt like minutes went on between each attack, but Dillon managed to take his weapon and remove the head of the golem, and quickly after that the golem dissolved into ash and blew into the wind.  Dillon managed to remain unharmed, except for his arm. This was throbbing in pain and agony.

               Dillon quickly sped off to the Cornucopia, feeling his tension grow. He glanced around and saw the other two Tributes. Meg and Brenda, the underdog and the District Partner.

THE RENDEZVOUS

Meg V. Brenda

Brenda looks at the place all three of them have come to, and she sees that Meg is there. The girl from District Nine, “I can’t believe she made it this far,” Brenda scoffs, “She probably didn’t even get a damn kill.” The feeling that coursed through Brenda was one of instinct and survival.  Brenda knew that it was either her or Meg, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Brenda buried under the ground. She pauses as she looks at Meg, who seems to be heading to the tail end of the Cornucopia. “That little bitch isn’t going to hide out and win. No, she’s going to fight this time.” With that, Brenda takes her trident in her hand and marches off to Meg, who now stood with her back to the Cornucopia as she scanned. Brenda could tell when Meg noticed her, Meg tensed up and got into a defensive position.

               Without warning, Brenda takes off towards Meg with the trident posed in front of her, ready to impale the girl from Nine. She runs as fast as she can, and she feels the ground beneath her push her forward. This was going to be her kill, and she knew it.

               Meg isn’t sure what to do, with her allies dead and no place to hide, she braces for impact. As Brenda sees that Meg isn’t going to dodge, she decided to get some physical contact going. She takes the trident, places it behind her, and hurls herself at Meg sideways. This knocks Meg down to the ground, and Brenda takes her trident and shoves it through Meg’s right arm, holding it to the ground.

               Meg manages to take her left hand to grab her dagger, and she isn’t sure she will make it out of this. She stabs at Brenda and the blade makes contact with Brenda’s calf, causing warm crimson to flow from Brenda. Meg is proud of the fact she managed to get that in, then Meg tries to get up-forgetting the trident had her pinned, thanks to adrenaline-and a shriek comes from her lips.

               Brenda takes her ringed blade and slices at Meg’s left arm, after a few failed attempts to make contact; Brenda manages to slice through Meg’s arm, causing a rush of blood to come from the stub that was left on Meg.  Meg lets out a scream that sounds like it comes from something other than a human. Suddenly, Meg is making inaudible babble to Brenda, begging for forgiveness. “No, I won’t let her live.” Brenda thinks. With that, she takes her ringed blade and manages to slice through Meg’s neck causing a spray of blood to soak Brenda as Meg’s head rolled away. Suddenly, a canon fired and Brenda knew it was either her and one other Tribute left, and she headed into the mouth of the Cornucopia to wait face her District Partner.  

Dillon V. Brenda

          Dillon grabs the weapons of his allies, and he gets them arranged in a way that he can still maneuver and do so very well. He watches as Brenda and Meg battle it out, knowing one of them will be the one who has to die by his hands in order to live and come out of the Arena alive. “Come on Meg, kill Brenda. I can’t kill her and go back to my home. It wouldn’t be right.” Dillon wanted to face Brenda, knowing it’d be a good show and the Victor would kill the other in a way that the victim would respect.

          As Brenda claims victory with her weapons and the sound of a canon, the weight of the situation weighs down onto Dillon. He knows what he has to do, and he starts to follow Brenda to the actual Cornucopia. The one place that would give life in these games, would be the place where the final death took place.

          He heads to the golden source of life and manages to use the sword that Tanner dropped as a stepping tool to get up to the top. He tries to be quiet, though it wasn’t successful, but Brenda’s pacing caused her to not hear anything as her shoes scraped on the Cornucopia. He grabs his blow gun and his darts and gets one ready and he leans over the edge of the Cornucopia. This was going to be the warning shot, it would give away his location. It’d be all the better if it killed her. He inhales and the dart launches into Brenda’s thigh, causing her to lose her footing and she slips.

          Brenda lets out a scream, it would have been stupid during the games but since it was only these two left, she knew it didn’t matter. She pulls the dart of and she realizes it was poisoned. If she could kill him before the poison killed her, it’d be fine. They’d save her. She gets up and grabs her trident and she goes to the end of the Cornucopia, to protect her back.

THE RISE

          Dillon realizes what Brenda is doing and decided to go for it, there is nothing else to do. As he jumps down from the top of the Cornucopia, a sleet starts to fall from the sky and he goes to get the sword, except it’s been frozen into the ground and the Cornucopia. “Of course, it’s a special sleet.” Dillon sighs. He decides to take one his Kusari Gama and readies it.

          As he approaches Brenda, their breathing can be heard, just barely. The sound of the sleet hitting the Cornucopia, the sounds of their feet scratching the surface inside; it all makes a melody of finality.

          Brenda lunges her trident at Dillon, as he manages to wrap the chain of the Kusari Gama around it, and rip it from her hands. He launches it out of the Cornucopia, leaving her without one of her weapons.

          She takes her ringed blade, and starts to go on the defensive. Dillon driving her as far as he can, to the tail of the Cornucopia. He swings his Kusari Gama and it starts to slice at her. She can’t get the blade blocked with her weapon in time, and she starts to bleed from the multiple cuts she is getting. The blood seeping from the cuts soaking her outfit.

          Dillon knows all he has to do is keep her from him and she will have had the poison take effect. Sure enough, as her body starts to twitch and she loses control, she collapses onto the floor, the ringed blade sliding out of reach. Her arms have become paralyzed and Dillon straddles her chest.

          “Brenda, I’ll take care of your family. I promise.” Dillon lets a few tears fall, it’s safe to do so now, and as he does, he takes the blade of the Kusari Gama and decapitates Brenda. Her head removed blood pours out and soaks the knees of Dillon’s pants. The sound of the canon reverberates in the Cornucopia, and then Dillon starts to realize what happened. He won, he really won.

          “Panem, Capitol, and Dillon; I present to you the Victor of the Fourth Quarter Quell!” Kotori’s voice rings out, announcing Dillon as the Victor.

          Dillon grabs Brenda and lays her and her head outside, so the hovercraft can take it. He weeps, mourning the loss of his District Partner.

          Soon, Dillon is picked up by another hover craft and he is formally announced Victor on the televisions across Panem. They replay scenes where his wit was shown, scenes where he was involved in deaths, and his final kill played over the air on replay for the next week it seemed. Dillon was Victor, Dillon was alive, Dillon finally went home.

Krista and Brenda v. Robin and Dillon and Tanner v. Issac and Sian v. Meg Dagger|Loaf of Bread|Water Bottle|Armor|Black Box|Ringed Blade|Bladed Whip|Pink Backpack|Trident|Blow Gun w/Darts|Patchwork Bag|Kusari Gama|GauzeX2|Anti-Infection Ointment X2|Bread|Water BottleX3|Fire Kit|Ninja Stars(6)|Brass Knuckles|Sword|Set of Knives|Night Vision Goggles|Capitol Grade Medicine| Ninja Stars(5)|Anti-Infection Ointment|Sling Shot|Dagger Brenda woke up at daybreak with a camouflaged Krista beside her. She looked around and saw that two silver parachutes had landed beside them, containing a bladed whip, which she assumed was for Krista, and a small pink backpack for her. She thanked her sponsors under her breath and placed her remaining loaf of bread, her water bottle, and her dagger inside the backpack, keeping her ringed blade at the ready. She would need it for the Feast. She nibbled at her bread and took a sip of water before waking Krista. The Feast was about to begin, and since it was mandatory, neither of them could afford to miss it. Plus, Brenda thought, it might just give them an opportunity to take out some, if not the rest, of the tributes.   She woke Krista and told her it was time to get moving. She handed the whip to Krista, who practiced cracking it against a few trees. A dead giveaway as to their location, Brenda thought. But they were moving before she could say anything. As soon as they got to the Feast, Brenda and Krista ran straight in. Brenda headed for the Trident and surprisingly found no one challenging her for it. She picked it up, slung the food bag attached to it over her shoulder, and whirled around, holding her new trident out in front of her. The weapon of the Devil. How perfect. “So we can’t just go after food or a weapon,” Robin whispered. “Guess not.  Let’s go after one,” Tanner said. “The blowgun!” Dillon exclaimed.  It was there.  Smaller than the bag of food it was strung to, but there. “There.  Look.” Figures were beginning to emerge from all over.  The feast had begun. Robin, Dillon, and Tanner sprinted after the blowgun at the mouth of the Cornucopia. “Those two!” Dillon shouted.  Brenda and another girl, from District Eleven, were running in there direction.  Then at the last second, Brenda split from her ally.  She was obviously preoccupied with a gleaming trident some distance away from the blowgun. But Eleven kept on coming.  Her name came to mind as Tanner and Robin whipped out they’re throwing stars.   Before Krista could reach the blow gun, she was thrown forward to the ground by a sharp pain in her back. “Brenda!” Krista screeched.  Whatever happened was sure to happen again.  She could feel blood seeping down her back.  She turned around, and saw the girl from Twelve running at her, another throwing star ready to go. She rolled out of the way and lashed with her whip, not caring where it went.  There was a loud cry.  It was deep; obviously male.  She’d gotten the boy from Five chest.  He’d backed away in time for the blade to not cause serious damage, though. “I just fixed that!” he shouted at her. Then the other boy, Dillon from Eight, grabbed the blowgun.  He turned it in his hands a couple of times, being deliberately slow. "Why hasn’t he attacked me yet?  Where’s Brenda?" Krista thought as she regained her footing. Brenda had been walking very quietly, very stealthily toward the four of them this whole time. She had noticed that the boy and girl from 3 and the girl from 9 were all missing, but she had ignored this fact, instead focusing on the fact that Krista was fighting a losing battle. Should she help her? But how could she win this battle without betraying her district partner? Well, they’ve all got to die sometime, she thought, and advanced to Dillon, who was trying to figure out the blowgun. He was leaning against the side of the Cornucopia, looking around in every direction but up. Brenda snuck over to the opposite side of the Cornucopia and climbed on top of it. Here goes nothing, she thought, and used her trident to knock the blowgun out of his hands from above. It rolled down the hill, and Dillon furiously tripped after it, yelling “FUCK YOU!” at the person atop the Cornucopia, not realizing it was Brenda. That gave Brenda enough time to slip off the structure without Robin and Tanner seeing her. Unfortunately, Krista hadn’t seen her either. Krista pulled the ninja star out of her back and felt the blood start rushing out of her, and she knew she only had one shot to survive. She cracks her whip twice at the boy from 5. She caught him on the cheek, and he immediately began bleeding. That did not slow the Tanner and Robin down, though, and Krista found herself swinging her bladed whip through the air in a circle above her head. This rapid swinging motion created a 4-foot radius in between her and the tribute nearest to her. However, she couldn’t keep up the swinging forever. Suddenly, Brenda, who had been running toward Krista since she heard the first crack of the whip, disarmed Tanner from behind by using her trident to knock the sword out of his hands. Brenda kicked Tanner behind his knees, causing his legs to buckle and him to fall down. She shouted to Krista, “Finish the others Or wound them so that they can’t follow us!” Robin, who was half-crying, half-laughing as she chucked ninja stars at Krista, who was doing her best to whip Robin, but not doing so well. Robin had been prepared, however, and Krista saw Robin’s ninja star coming toward her face. As if in slow motion, Krista raised the bladed whip to block the star from hitting her and brought it down on Robin’s jaw. As the whip made contact with Robin, the Ninja star sunk into Krista’s neck where it met the chest. It wasn’t enough kill her, but Krista could feel the warmth of blood start to flow out of her fresh wound. Robin’s open mouth had caught the blade, and her lower jaw was sliced open before she could raise a hand to defend herself. Her chin, her tongue, her philtrum, her bottom teeth, and her bottom lip—her signature defense mechanism from the Bloodbath—were all split in two by the whip. Robin fell to the ground, gasping for air and bleeding profusely. She raised another ninja star and hurled it halfheartedly at Krista, and it sunk into Krista’s knee.  She took bladed part of the whip and sunk it into Robin’s skull. She heard the cannon fire. The Girl from District 12 was now dead. Meanwhile, Brenda was dealing with the large boy from District 5. Tanner had managed to pin Brenda to the ground by sitting on her chest and digging his feet into her struggling arms. He had tossed her trident off to the side because he preferred hand to hand combat, and he was in the middle of a lovely monologue about how much he hated Brenda and how he had looked forward to this moment when Krista picked up the trident from the ground and speared Tanner’s chest with it. It hadn’t sunk all the way in, but the shock was enough to distract Tanner enough for Brenda to break free of his grip. Brenda was out of breath from him sitting on top of her, but she grabbed the end of the trident that Krista was holding and pulled it out of Tanner’s chest. There, in his chest, were three little holes that began to bleed, and he looked down at them and began to laugh. He laughed and laughed until Brenda speared him again, and this time the trident sunk straight through his chest and speared his heart. The cannon fired for Tanner, and he died with laughter still etched into his face. Brenda could see how hurt Krista was. She was losing a lot of blood. She helped Krista into the Cornucopia, and noticed some left over boxes in from the Bloodbath from days ago. “Here, hide behind here. Don’t make any sound,” Brenda told her ally. Krista was losing a lot of blood. But there were still 3 other Tributes who hadn’t showed up to the Feast yet. By the time Dillon scrambled down the hill to retrieve the blow gun Brenda had knocked out of his hands. He heard two cannons, and was confident his allies had taken care of the two girls. As he reaches the top of the hill where the Cornucopia is, he sees Brenda and Krista moving into the Cornucopia. He is stunned. All of his allies are gone. Done. Dead. Krista looked hurt, but Dillon doesn’t want to take his chances in another 2 on 1 fight. He made it out of one of them alive. He doesn’t want to press his luck. So he takes his weapons and his patchwork bag, and runs into the Earth Quarter, trying to think of a plan. Brenda noticed that both the ceiling and the walls of the Cornucopia had many rungs. Brenda thought she might be able to crawl up the side and stay there if any other tributes came in. She noticed a length of rope toward the back of the Cornucopia and grabbed it hastily. She used the same knot she had used in her private training session to sling the rope onto one of the ceiling rungs and pulled to make sure it was secure. She tied the rope around her waist and began climbing up to the ceiling. Would this work? It had to. She hooked her feet and hands onto the rungs of the ceiling, holding her trident and her ringed blade in her right hand, and lay there in wait. Before Meg and her allies go to the Feast, they share the first water. Meg lays all her items down, she has her anti-infection ointment, a dagger, a bottle of water, her makeshift slingshot and a stone. She finds some bendable branches and quickly weaves together a small bag then uses a few pieces of fabric from her tattered jacket for a strap. She places the items inside and they head to the Feast. Sian can feel the grass slightly compress under the weight of her feet as she walks slowly onwards. Meg walks behind her, facing backwards, keeping an eye on Issac, who sits on the ground at the far edge of the clearing. Before the two girls rises the golden, glittering cornucopia, in front of which sits a large, mostly empty table. "Meg," whispers Sian, turning around to face her ally "Hey - Meg! Look over here!" Meg spins to face the table, on which sits a set of knives, a few small, curved blades and a few longer, sharper swords. Sian carefully approaches them, not believing her eyes. "Who would leave this?!" she wonders aloud, running her fingertips over the cool metal of the blades. Brenda heard Meg asking Sian to go around to the back of the Cornucopia and stand guard there, while she took the front. Sian agreed and then it was only Meg in front. Issac seemed very weak to Brenda. He was leaning up against the wall of the Cornucopia, breathing heavily, looking over his sword. Brenda quietly undid the knot around her waist and very quietly readied her trident as Issac moved directly under her. Brenda took her trident hand and sent the sword in his hand clattering across the Cornucopia floor. Issac looked up to see Brenda falling on him from above. She had misjudged her ability to unhook her feet from the rungs, so she fell clumsily and bruised her knee. That gave Issac enough time to squeak out a small scream, but she had landed straddling his shoulders, and if twisting his neck hadn’t been enough to kill him, she finished the job by driving the middle prong of her trident directly into the back of his head and through his mouth. Three of his teeth skidded across the floor as Brenda yanked her trident out of his head and heard his cannon fire. Meg watches the whole fight go down. “You should help him. He’s your ally. But… Remember, only one can live," she thinks. " One can win. He’d help you though. This could get YOU killed or injured. But, he’s weak. No. This is a game. Alliances are always only temporary. I’m sorry Isaac but may the odds be in your favor. If you make it out of this, I’ll do what I can to help you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…” Meg grabs two of the knives, one of the large ones and one of the smaller ones, throws them into her bag and sprints away from the other Tributes. As she runs, she hears Isaac call for help. Meg’s heart breaks and sinks to her stomach, but she keeps pushing forward. Sian breaks into a sprint. She heard the cannon fire, and is afraid it was Issac. He was already weak so... Sian  the knife clutched tightly in her right hand - Krista does the same. The two girls move towards each other at an alarming pace, getting closer and closer together, until they are about to hit, when Sian drops onto her left knee, sticks her right leg out straight, skidding forwards, and trips Krista over. Both girls tumble to the ground, disoriented and thrown off course. Sian springs back up, launching herself onto Krista, who lies face down, knife flung from her hand. It lies a few yards away out of her reach. Sian lands with a thud on Krista's chest, holding her down. She doesn't weigh a lot, however, and Krista soon manages to twist her body around to face upwards. She pushes fiercely against the weight, and throws Sian back. She then crawls forward, pinning Sian to the ground, but Sian carries her knife, and attempts to drive it up into Krista's stomach. She misses, and the two girls roll from side to side, Krista trying to avoid the slashes Sian makes with her blade. Sian's muscles are about to give out when Krista slips, and her stomach falls down onto Sian's blade with a sickening crunch. Her eyes glaze over, and the coughs out a small mouthful of blood onto Sian's face, before going limp. Brenda heard the commotion. She decided not to chase Meg, and turn her attention to Sian. Sian instantly threw her knife at Brenda, just as Brenda threw the ringed blade at her. The ringed blade sliced from Sian’s belly button down to her lady bits. Sian gasped and doubled over in pain. Her efforts were not in vain, however. Her knife had caught Brenda right in the shoulder. Dots swam in front of her eyes, and Sian lost consciousness. However, being unconscious was not equal to being dead, so Brenda took her trident and stabbed Sian five times in four different places—the lower back, the upper back, the neck, the head. Her cannon fired, and Brenda knew that battle was over. Krista was now retching blood and bile onto the ground beside Sian. Brenda kneeled with the girl and held her hair while she hurled. Krista looked up at her ally and said “Thank you for everything.” She put her head on Brenda’s lap and closed her eyes. She looked so peaceful. Just like she did when she was asleep. Except this time, there was a knife in her chest. Brenda kissed Krista’s forehead and heard another cannon fire as the girl from 11’s ragged breathing stopped. Brenda gathers her belongings, and heads back into the dense Earth Quarter, leaving the carnage behind. Meg doesn’t stop when she gets to the Air Quarter. She keeps going. About a mile later she stops and finds a tree. She climbs as high as she can and wraps her arms around her knees. She feels the bag on her shoulders and remembers the knives. The knives that might save her life and take the one of her ally’s. With this thought, she breaks down and weeps.