twenty-two - resurrection

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something has shifted in the air. i know it the instant my eyes open to a dewy morning sunrise, and i discover the sleep deprivation finally caught up to me. i actually slept, and for a while, too.

the orange sky is peeking through the leaves above and bathing us in a warm glow. i massage my stiff neck and turn to the branch beside me to see that matthias has fallen asleep as well. his head is resting limply against his shoulder in what is probably an extremely uncomfortable position. his lips are parted and eyelids flutter occasionally.

i stretch, feeling my back crack as i do so.

"ah, that is disgusting."

"you don't like the sound of cracking joints?"

"i think it's gross."

everything reminds me of either carly or asher one way or another. even the way matthias is sleeping makes me smile a bit, remembering how carly would say he looks stupid and then throw berries at him. i should probably wake him up.

reaching over as far as i can without falling out of the tree, i tap matthias on the shoulder. he stirs, sleepy eyes opening slowly. he sucks in a deep breath and stretches his arms over his head with a yawn. he blinks and turns to me. "did you sleep?"

i nod and he seems pleased with himself, as if it was his doing. which it probably was. his voice had lulled me to slumber quicker than i could have imagined.

matthias yawns again, his hair sticking up in all directions. i chuckle, untying the rope from around my thighs. "c'mon, sleepyhead. we need to get moving."

matthias grudgingly throws the rope down to the ground and climbs down the trunk after me, landing on the soil with a soft thud. he pulls out his sword and i unsheathe two knives.

"ready?" i ask. he nods, still looking exhausted. i sigh, face him, and quickly press my lips against the soft flesh of his cheek. his breathing hitches and he's wide-eyed when i pull away.

"what was that for?" he wonders when he finds his voice.

i smirk. "needed you alert. looks like it worked."

matthias's face flushes in embarrassment and he grumbles under his breath, following behind me as i walk.

we aren't out for long when i no longer hear matthias's feet behind me. i stop, turn around, and discover he's staring in complete shock at something, mouth open in a gape.

"son of a bitch," he mumbles beneath his breath. "carly!"

my heart stops. i rush to his side, finding what he's looking at.

carly is rigid as she stands with her bow poised, a scowl on her heart-shaped face. her blue eyes search the area around her. she doesn't seem to have heard her name. my heart swells with joy until i notice something that causes the happiness to evaporate and turn into suspicion.

i grab matthias's wrist tightly. "matthias." my voice comes out in barely a whisper.

"what?" he asks, just as quietly as me.

"look closer."

his eyes squint at her, and he seems to catch my drift. carly is in tip-top shape. her clean, blonde hair is in a perfect ponytail at the crown of her head. there's not a single scratch on her face. she doesn't even seem to be in any form of pain, mentally or physically.

and then she sees us.

the moment her cold eyes lock with mine, i'm positive something is wrong. normally an insult would fly out of her mouth like, "i told you idiots not to look for me," but there's nothing. not even a speck of recognition flickers across her stony face.

"run!" matthias hisses, pushing me forward. we break into a sprint just as an arrow thuds into the tree beside where his head used to be.

fire trickles up my side from the clotted wound as i move. it's not bleeding yet, but i know that too much strain will cause it to rip open.

my breath comes out in quick pants as i brush aside giant leaves and weave through patterns of trees. twigs snap under my feet even though i'm trying to land lightly. it seems like every force of nature is going against us as a shadowy figure darts out from far in front of us.

reaching behind me, i grab onto matthias's sleeve so he doesn't miss my incredibly sharp turn to the right. soon i realize that playing cat and mouse won't do us any good. we have to fight her.

i skid to a stop and yank matthias to my side so he doesn't zoom past me. carly is bounding toward us at a swift speed, leaving time for only a few words to be muttered between us.

"what-"

"i don't know."

"okay."

carly notices we have stopped and stands straight, taking out her bow and arrow. i realize she doesn't even seem to be out of breath in the slightest, which is extremely weird as we had run hard and fast.

we had fallen asleep before the tributes showed in the sky. was her face in the stars last night?

"she lacks in close combat," matthias quickly reminds me before ducking into a roll and moving toward her. he barely calculates each step before he takes it, but he knows what he's doing.

carly is working at an extremely rapid pace and never seems to run out of arrows. as soon as she fires one, she's already reaching for the next. that's not how she fights. she's quick and nimble. never would she stay in one spot; she'd always be on the move.

"that's not carly!" i shout, running forward and using my knives to knock aside arrows that zoom my way. matthias nods, a small signal that he heard me, and manages to graze her stomach with the tip of his sword. she barely seems to react.

now with two targets on her hands, she begins to get a little confused. i know that normally, carly would abandon the bow and take a chance at hand-to-hand. but this one doesn't cease with the arrows.

i duck as one flies at my face and land a hard kick to her stomach. she lands on her backside at the force, giving me a snarl before swiping her legs under my feet. matthias catches me before i can fall to the ground.

carly gives an animalistic growl as she grabs my legs, flipping me over so she's hovering over me. an arrow is aimed between my eyes. then she's knocked off of me by matthias, who is better at fighting than i ever could have guessed. he's always hidden behind the sword. now he seizes the opportunity to use what he excels in.

carly is the one on the ground this time, thrashing around as matthias pins her beneath him. his arm reaches back and he sends a powerful punch to her face. she gasps in pain as a crack echoes through the forest. he has broken her jaw.

but whatever the capitol has done to her causes an inhumane reaction. her hands do not go up to her face. there is no clear expression of pain. instead she grabs onto matthias's neck and begins to choke him.

it's too late when i notice the figure from before standing above me, the rising sun casting a shadow behind them. i don't hesitate in jumping up and clenching onto my knives so hard my knuckles are white.

standing before me is milo with a trident in his hand. it's obviously way too heavy for this small, wiry frame, but he seems determined to use it anyway. his petite face is eerily blank as he stares at me.

if i try to use my knives, i'm done for. i know that the instant sunlight glints off the sharp ends of the trident. as fast as i can, i switch them out for my throwing daggers, twirling them around my fingers before holding them tightly in my hands.

before he can make the first move, i launch a dagger at his heart. he swiftly dodges it and stabs forward with the trident, causing me to duck and roll away. on my way up, i manage to wrench my weapon out of a tree.

luckily, i was right– the trident is way too heavy. milo's movement has knocked him off balance. he staggers and i take the opportunity to release a blade at him.

it lands in his neck. his eyes go wide as can be and he slumps to the ground, crimson leaking out of the lethal wound. cringing, i reach over and pluck the weapon out of his skin, wiping it clean with his clothes.

matthias is still struggling with carly. his face is beet red with strain and i can see sweat glistening all over his skin. they're both on their feet, swinging at each other in what seems like a choreographed routine. our carly may have been poor at hand-to-hand. however, this version seems to excel at it as if she's been training all her life.

before i can blink, carly has jumped up, legs around matthias's neck as she brings him to the ground hard. he punches at her thigh that's blocking his airway, face flushing to a scary magenta.

i don't hesitate. i sheathe a dagger and pull out a sharp knife, running forward and sending it deep into her upper back. carly lets out a whimper – the only humane thing she's done since we found her – before her body goes slack.

with much effort, i pull her off of matthias so he's able to breathe again. he's on his hands and knees, gasping air into his burning lungs. i drop beside him, helping him to control his breathing.

"what – was – that?" he asks, sucking in breaths between each word. a cough escapes his lips.

"i don't know," i reply honestly, noticing for the first time that i'm out of breath as well. my hair hangs around my face, having mostly fallen out of its ponytail. even though the sun has barely risen, it's already sweltering hot. droplets of sweat dot the back of my neck. i pull my hair up into a better ponytail before helping matthias into a standing position. "you hurt?"

he rubs his cheek, face contorted in pain. "she got me in the face, but i'll be fine."

my eyes drift to the two bodies around us. i grab the bow and arrow from where it lays on the ground and slip the quiver from carly's back, shuddering as i do so. once it's free, i slide it over my head and onto my back.

"if more of them come, we'll need all the weapons we can get," i note breathlessly, wiping the sweat from my forehead. i jerk my head toward milo. "think you can handle that trident?"

matthias nods. "yeah." he sheathes his sword into his belt and steps around milo's body, grabbing the large weapon off the ground. he tosses it up an inch before catching it, spinning it in his hand. "i think i'll be good."

even though i want to collapse from exhaustion already, i know we have to move on. more tributes could have heard the onslaught and be on their way to us.

it's a miracle my wound hasn't reopened yet. i hope and pray that things go right for once and it stays closed for good.

as we walk, the two of us munch on a breakfast of berries and the animal we killed the day before. we each sip from the water bottle, lips cracked and parched from the lack of it.

about half an hour later, we're just starting to regain our strength when someone appears in front of us, blocking our path.

"look who we have here," a female voice sneers. matthias and i stop dead in our tracks. my side burns when i look into her deadly, malicious eyes and the long black hair fanning her face. i feel like i'm going to throw up.

standing before us is bliss, and she doesn't look like she's going down easily.

gif is thalia with her knives

________

BETCHA DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING BYE

xoxo,
kristyn