The Rebel Victor | I [THG]

Chapter Twenty-Nine | The Beginning of the End

The two of them ended up making camp at the end of the valley. Both of them weren't in the mood to talk. Quinn couldn't even think of a way to form her own words. Her brain was fuzzy, and jumbling everything together to make one big mess. She just wanted to sort things out, she just wanted to fully convince herself that she could win, that she wanted to win-- mostly because she had decided that the idea of dying there, in the arena...it terrified her. And besides that, she didn't want Snow to have that satisfaction. But at the same time, she couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like outside of the arena.

Would she even be able to function? Or would she go crazy like Annie? Or maybe she'd just lock herself away after her Victory Tour like so many other Victor's. That seemed a bit more enjoyable-- being able to suffer all on her own, not trying to explain anything to anyone seemed so much easier.

"Congratulations, Tributes." Quinn flinched and looked up at the purplish sky at the sound of Seneca Crane's voice. "The seven of you have made it to day eight," his voice sounded like it was a good thing. That they were lucky. "Now, you are all in desperate need of something. Make your way to the Cornucopia, and at dawn there will be something there for each of you." he explained.

Calab looked over at Quinn, a bit of hope in his eyes.

"However, each and every one of you must go." Seneca Crane continued, "Each of you have a tracker that is controlled by the gamemakers," he paused. "If you do not make it to the Cornucopia by dawn, your tracker detonate and you will be taken out of the games." his voice fell silent, and the air in the arena seemed to get thicker at the thought of a small bomb being implanted in her arm. "May the odds be ever in your favor."

Quinn felt her heart beginning to pound violently in her chest. This was what she had been dreading, a feast. A excuse for the Gamemakers to possibly end the games by pushing all of the tributes together.

"We should start going..." Calab stated, his voice was hushed. He wasn't trying to hide any bit of fear he may have had.

Quinn thought for a moment, "But we are too far, aren't we?" she asked, looking up at him as he pushed himself up from the ground.

He shook his head, "It's right on the other side of Victor's Valley." he said, pointing towards the valley that they were so close to. The valley that he had just been escaping with his other allies.

"Do you think we'll get through?" she asked, stabbing her trident into the ground as best as she could so she could pull herself up. She leaned against it, a stabbing pain shot through her theigh and radiated through her entire leg. It was like her leg was a metal pole and had gotten struck by lightning. The pain still hadn't gotten nearly as unbearable as it had been, her body was just getting more and more used to it.

He sighed, "We have to try." he replied, "Otherwise..." his voice trailed off. "We don't have a choice." he stated as he motioned to his own forearm.

Together, the two of them made their way through the rest of the ridge filled valley. Although each step was painful, the thought of dying at dawn because she wasn't fast enough was just enough to scare her into forcing herself to hurry up and keep up with Calab. The sun had only set a few hours earlier, and the anthem hand already played. So they had a good chunk of time to get across the valley that Calab called Victor's Valley. The only problem was that it wasn't day light, it was the middle of the night. And if Calab, Scout, and Jakobb had been right, then that meant that there were mutations of Victor's waiting for them in the tree's.

Before the two of them crossed over into the valley, Calab pulled off his backpack and quickly pulled out the two full canteens and handed one up to Quinn.