Author Games Compilation [Cycle 2]

Task 2 - Do You Hear Something? [CORR]

AUTHOR GAMES: BREATH OF LIFE - TASK TWO

As they walk, they are quiet; as they walk, they are angry.

Bellona has her own reasons, namely those needless of questioning, namely those caused by Corr's willingness to flee. Corradhin has his own reasons, namely those he refuses to share, but mulls over nonetheless. He seethes at the drugs, at the Gamemakers, he seethes at the Careers, he seethes at a laughing God. Then again, what divine power would let the world carry on? What divine power would refuse to let the sun explode and take them all?

Finally, the sun beside him explodes, and her voice echoes. "Why did you try to leave?" When he continues walking, she tugs at the back of his shirt, and he twists quickly to wrench her little fingers off. Confrontation is not his strong suit, and so he shuts her down.

"Don't touch me."

She sees his anger, and he sees movement up ahead, a shadow against the cave walls. He throws a hand out in front of Bellona, shushing her, but before she can retort, he points forward, brows knitting sharply together. He knows who the girl is moments after she steps into the tunnel, a Career of vicious intent, and Corradhin slowly brings his arm around to the back of Bellona's pack, where he quietly unhooks his machete and straightens himself out to his full height.

Be the boy who sheds blood.

He's prepared before he's even realized it, and a thunderous tumult of speed and adrenaline makes his heart beat quickly, thickly. It's strange, feeling the itch to hurt, but she'd been one of the ones to bruise him, to bust him, to bury him. A heavy exhale leaves his throat, and without thinking, he begins to march towards her muscled figure, calling out amidst a growl: "Valeria!"

She is receptive, and turns her head to him briefly, waves ratty and eyes alight with fire. She, too, is seething, and her lips turn into a grimace before she pulls herself into a sprint in the opposite direction down the tunnel. Valeria runs because she is alone, now. Valeria runs because the odds are even, and even odds have never seemed to work in her favor.

"Corr," Bellona says, hands hovering above his tense form, "don't do it again."

But he does it again - he takes off in a sprint after her, and leaves Bellona chasing after, calling out for him to fall back. But he is too willing to go down that road again; he is too willing to war and fight; he is too willing. And he had promised a hungry people in the Capitol. He had promised to kill on sight.

He will kill on sight.

A whoop leaves his throat, an aggressive one free of cheer, as he chases and she flees. It clicks down the tunnel in a rapid haunt, like past tributes from Two said lights do when you pass through the tunnels in the Nut by vehicle. But it breaks against a bend, and Valeria slips beyond sight. Corradhin is ready for the corner, and he swings himself along by the palm, scraping lines into dry skin. He hisses. There's a downhill slope, and he skids carefully amongst pebbles, listening as they tumble and kerplunk and-

Splash.

He comes to the edge of a pool of water, and a cool smell radiates off its surface, cupping his nose in its aroma. But Valeria isn't here. She's nowhere to be seen and that's impossible because where the hell else would she've gone if not here and fingers run through his hair and then- his wide eyes catch a ripple. A ripple. With the dim light provided, there is a ripple, and beneath that ripple, a swath of dark, kicking away. There the bitch is.

A lump forms in his throat as he takes a few steps back, ready to get a running start, but more footsteps resonate from behind, and Bellona is catching up. She must see his stance, because she pauses. "You don't know what's in there. Don't be reckless." Her steps start up again, but he meant it when he told her not to touch him. Regardless, there will be no prayers for him; there will be no one to take his pain; there will be no one to save his soul. He is alone, uninhibited. And so he runs, and he leaps, and he dives.