𝙄'𝙇𝙇 𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙇 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝘼 𝙎𝙊𝙉𝙂 - 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙃𝙐𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙍 𝙂𝘼𝙈𝙀𝙎

𝟖

A voice taunts the pair of you from downstairs. " Come out, come out, wherever you are..." neither of you dare speak, in case they hear it. " We know you're here, space-buns." No. They know Izzy is here, and they won't leave without her blood on their hands. No. Izzy looks surprisingly calm, setting her spear down and rising. You grab her wrist, causing her to look at you. Her eyes seem to say ' it's okay, I'm ready for it' in that moment of stillness before she pries her hand from yours, and heads down the stairs for one last time.

You hear her kneel, some stray rubble scratching loudly against her pants. The same voice from earlier asks " Are you alone?", to which Izzy lies about, claiming she's solitary here, a convincing liar. The next thing you hear is her body hitting the ground. A canon. You vaguely hear that voice ordering Remus to check upstairs, but you don't move. It's as if your brain has stopped caring, like you're just a passenger, peacefully waiting for the final destination.

What brings you back to reality is Remus' dark eyes staring into yours. You grab your bow, and shakily load it and aim it at him. He's holding a knife, but no bow. Good. You lift your bow slightly, so that it would hit him in the head, a quicker end. You don't want to have to stab someone again. He turns his head slowly and yells downstairs. " No one's here!" 

He looks at you one last time before taking off downstairs. It's not long before they leave. You climb up onto the windowsill, sitting in the empty concrete hole. You stare at the stars, the moon, and await The Fallen. Each night, the Gamemakers project images of every tribute who died that day into the sky, so everyone can keep track. The anthem begins to play, the Capitol seal is shown, and it begins.

First up is Lorenzo. Guilt spreads through you - you killed him, even if it was to survive, you took his life, which is wrong. Next is Izzy, who lies just downstairs, crumpled, broken.You could have saved her, got her to climb to another building, and turned yourself in. Then comes her district partner, and the pair from 5 and 6, then Tilia Lance from 7 comes up. You feel sympathy for Thom Lawson, no one deserves the kind of pain he must be feeling right now. Then there's the boy from 9, and both from 10. Finally, there's the girl from 11, who must have been only 15 or so. Rye's out there still. He probably hasn't killed anyone, and he won't have to, if you have anything to do with it.

Energized by the idea of finding Rye, you get the lighter out from the neon green backpack, and shrug on the straps. You stick the javelin under the straps of the pack, securing it on your back. You can just carry the bow. Now all you have to do is face your ally's dead body.

Izzy is still there, as the hovercraft can't get her from inside the building. The poor child took a slit to the throat, causing her mouth to dribble a trickle of blood over the floor. You need to do something with the corpse. You crouch down next to her, gently closing her eyes, and set the lighter down. You kiss the three fingers on your left hand and raise them in the air. You strike a flame, and stare at it for a second. In 12, it's common to burn the body at a funeral, to let their souls fly with the smoke to the afterlife. Before you set her alight, you speak up. "My condolences to the Johnstones in 3. May her spirit fly free to rest in peace." With that, you set the corpse on fire.

You get out of there quickly, as the flames soon engulf the whole floor, powering through flammable pieces of rubble. You carry on walking southwards, hoping the Careers went back to the Cornucopia. It isn't really tiring, you aren't totally there, you are like a zombie, stumbling over rock and rubble.