The Bloodbath

The yelling of the boy whose leg had been mangled drowned out all other sounds around her. If the boy she was talking to replied to her in this instant she would not be able to hear him. The sound was horrible, and it was a wonder that she was not making one just like it. Being honest with herself, she wanted to but held it at bay. Instead, she focused on keeping herself upright and maintained a continuous scan of the area around them. She had to be ready for the next mutt attack because it could be the last thing she sees.

The girl she had watched be struck by strange object and then wound mutts turned toward the leopard. Her swing didn't strike as the leopard collapsed before she could hit it. Seemingly, the previous wounds it had suffered - such as the paw that same girl had severed - had amounted to too much. It died, spread out before the girl like some horrid rug. Three mutts down, but more continued to rise up from below.

The hyena cackles, nipping at people but not landing any serious blows. Somehow, they were able to mostly out-maneuver it. When a boy went to strike at it, though, he was met with resistance and couldn't bite into the thing's flesh. A distance from them, the emu struck vicious blows at many of the tributes surrounding it, sending blood splattering across sand that was already turning red. More screams, more yelling.

A great white shape comes up from below and she nearly drops the sword again. Only with the greatest of luck does it not turn their way and instead moves toward a different group of tributes. One of the people attacked is Luella and Joey watches in horror as the giant creature takes the girl's foot off with a swipe. Luella shouted at the thing before once more placing herself between her combatant and those she tried to protect. Even on the edge of life, she would give all she had and more to try and save others. Joey was more concerned with saving herself.

Then the alligator thrashed through tributes and left carnage in its wake. Another casualty, another death, as the jaws close around one boy's leg. She turned away for a moment, knowing in the split second before her gaze truly leaves that the boy's limpness only meant one thing. The sound of the canon seconds later confirms that.

The boy in front of her speaks, filling the momentary silence after the canon. It is hard to believe that they had already lost three people, but she knows that so many more will follow. She would most likely be one other them, and this boy as well. "I'll watch your back, if you watch mine. I-" He pauses, swallows. She can only imagine what he is feeling, for she knows the utter dread she is experiencing as well. "I'll do that. It's the least I can do."

"I'll watch out for you, too." This was not exactly what her parents had taught her, but she felt as though they would still be proud of her. She was looking after herself but also trying to offer aid where she could. Unlike in the war, she was actually part of a group - even if that group were a disheveled, bloodied, bunch of kids. They were doing something no tributes had ever done before, they were uniting against the real threat.

That was when the snake struck again. Not on her, though, not on her. Instead, she looked on in horror as the giant python coiled around the boy's leg and its teeth sunk deep into his leg. She watched him crumple under the weight and the pain. "No, no!" Lifting the sword she went to strike at the thing but she couldn't for fear of cutting the boy instead. Then she didn't have to worry about him anymore because a canon fired.

The snake released and moved to the next target, but she didn't watch it as it left. She dropped to her knees next to the boy and reached out with her mangled hand, anguished. This is what she had gotten for making a promise she couldn't keep. She had just told him she would watch his back and then she had failed him within seconds. Perhaps her parents had been right anyway, perhaps she was better off fending for herself and no one else. She had managed so much better when she only had to worry about her own flesh.

Another canon fires but she doesn't look up. She grieved the boy she had only just met, feeling responsible for his death. When not one but two more canons fire in shot succession she finally looks up. The mutts have wrought a path of destruction, leaving a wake of horror and death. Three other bodies lay on the ground, eyes unseeing. She sees the snake attempting to open its jaw wide enough to eat one of them and feels a deep anger unlike she had experienced before. The coldness she felt toward the rebels and the Capitol couldn't compare to the burning mix of despair, desperation, and hatred that sat in her gut like a live coal.

Behind her, another shout from Mario. A name, one of the dead. More shouting, there is a chaotic mess of noise erupting around her but she tunes it out. As she closes on the snake there is another canon. So much blood, so many lives, all lost in so little time.

She had to start doing something about it or she would be next.

I have to kill this snake.