Chapter 12

I lunged at her, knife in my hand. "Oh, so that's how you want to play it?" Astrita evilly grinned as she pulled out her own set of knives and motioned for the other Careers to back off. "She's mine."

We engaged in a one-on-one battle for survival. Well, more survival in my case. Entertainment and revenge for hers. We were both equally matched; her skills versus my speed and size. We seemed to dance with each other for what was hours to me, but most likely a few minutes for everyone else. Then I saw the perfect opportunity for me to strike; she had stupidly left her right side unguarded. I jumped at her, my knife cutting open into her flesh. It didn't go deep enough to kill, but seriously injure is what it did. Blood started gushing out of the wound as she gasped and pressed a hand to her side.

"You. Did. Not. Just. Do. That."

Fueled with more anger than before our match had even started, she moved even angrier than before, but slightly slower due to her injury. She managed to slice my right arm, which thankfully wasn't my dominant, but still made me hiss with pain. Starting to back away, I realized how stupid I was, going into a battle with Astrita. Then I realized once again why I went in; for all of my allies. For Bates. Rosetta. Cristoff. My dead sister. Everyone that's ever suffered because of the Hunger Games.

Still backing away from the fight, my mind started hatching a plan about how to escape, victorious. However, it would be very risky, because if one thing went wrong I would be dead in an instant.

"What's wrong little girl? Too scared now?"

Smirking, I replied "In your dreams. Just needed to see how my arm looks." Doing a quick check-over it, I saw that it was looking worse than it felt. "Yep. Still an arm. A bloody one, but hey! I have it!" Astrita rolled her eyes and started running towards me. This was it. A bead of sweat rolling down my head, I drew back my left arm and released my knife. I watched as it went soaring through the air and finding its way to Astrita's chest. Right where her heart was. She whimpered and fell to the ground, seemingly in shock that I managed to throw a knife and eventually kill her. Running over to her, I needed to make sure I got my knife back. It would be the only weapon I would have from now on, considering my other allies had either died or run away.

When I reached her body, Astrita was in a bloody mess. Her once white shirt was now red. I hadn't heard a cannon yet, so I knew she was still alive.

"I can't believe you," Astrita coughed, blood splattering my legs. "You, of all people, managed to kill me. Come here." I warily kneeled down, not sure of where it was going. The other Careers were still keeping their distance, probably excited that they were one person closer to winning. "Violet Langston. The person that killed me, Astrita Noble." She winced. I looked up and saw the Careers disappearing into the maze. Great allies. "I'm going to die soon. You and I both know that. But I won't be leaving without killing you first." Before I knew what was happening, I saw that she still had a knife, hidden from sight, and plunged it into my ribcage. I staggered back, hearing her cannon go off. Looking down, I saw my shirt slowly turning red and saw the world start turning black. I couldn't die. I came so far; I couldn't die. I collapsed, and heard someone run over to me, screaming my name. Opening my eyes, I saw a blurred face that vaguely looked like the girl from District Ten. I couldn't focus on it though, because I heard a cannon, and the world turned black.

In front of me stood my sister, all dressed in white. She had beautiful white wings that wrapped around her. "Welcome, Violet. I've been waiting for you for quite a long time now. But I am glad to see you." She ran over to me and engulfed me in a hug.

"But- the Games- Astrita- knife- what?"

She laughed, and it sounded as if bells were ringing. "You're in Heaven now, Violet. You're so close to death that you get to see what everything's like."

"So I'm not officially 'dead' yet? Just on my way to being dead?

She nodded, her wavy hair bouncing. "Yup! Now granted, we don't usually do this to everyone. But you're my sister, so you're special."

"Wonderful." I wasn't sure if being special was a good thing or not. "Where is everyone else? Like Bates? Cristoff?" I gasped. "Can I see Rosetta?"

She looked uncomfortable. Rubbing her arm, she answered. "Well, they haven't been dead long enough to officially earn their wings. We also don't usually let people who have died- or on their way of dying- see other people besides someone they're really close to until they earn their wings."

"Why? I want to see them."

Kate looked defeated. "Alright. But if Mr. Godswallow finds out, I'm in big trouble." She started walking, and I followed next to her.

"Who's Mr. Godswallow?"

"Well, he's like the trainer for newly dead people. I work for him by helping welcome all of the newly dead."

"Oh. Okay." I looked in front of us and saw Rosetta. "Rosetta!" I shrieked and ran over to her, wanting to hug her. She looked up, and a smile lit up her face.

"Violet!" We embraced. "What happened to you? Did you die? By who? How? You were supposed to win!"

"Well... I'm not officially dead yet, just on my way. I wanted to see you though."

She smiled, but quickly replaced it with a frown. "Wait, you're not dead yet? Then you have to know about-"

She was shushed by Kate, who quietly told her she would talk to her later about it.

"About what?"

Kate looked angry, but motioned for Rosetta to continue.

Shyly, Rosetta explained. "Well, if you're on your way of dying, but not fully dead, you have the option of going back to Earth under a few circumstances. One is, you will forget everything about this place. Secondly, you will most likely be in excruciating pain, and you will have to suffer through it. Lastly, you will not be able to come back to Heaven once you die again; you have to be reborn three times before you can return. That's it I think."

Kate nodded. "I didn't want to tell you just yet. But now that you know, you have to make your decision right now."

I didn't know what to do. I acted on impulse.

Opening my eyes, I saw the girl from Ten kneeling beside me, putting bandages on my side.

I groaned. "What happened?"

She jumped, startled by my speaking. "Well... uh... you got stabbed and I came in to try and help you survive. My other ally, Samantha, was killed by the Careers after she killed Edward.. I was running away from them and I found you, lying on the ground. I figured you should survive, so I helped you."

"But why wouldn't you just kill me? Then you'd be closer to getting home."

She shook her head. "I couldn't do that. That would just be wrong. I also wanted to know if you wanted to be allies, and a dead ally isn't much use."

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Okay I'll be your ally. My other ones were killed, and one ran away. The coward."

Sandy seemed incredibly happy. "Oh thank goodness! I was scared you would just stab me and continue on with the Games.

And that was that. We talked for a little bit longer, until it was time for us to see who all had died during the day. First was Astrita, then Edward, followed by Samantha and Bates. Four people in one day.

I turned on my side and thought back to the dream I had while I was knocked out. It was such a strange dream, having everyone be in Heaven. The mind is a very strange place, and I guess mine just wanted to be in Heaven, seeing everyone again. I nodded off, not wanting to face the next day in the Games.

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