THE HUNGER GAMES: the taste of Whiskey and Snow // CORIOLANUS SNOW

Thirty

A loud noise woke them in the night. A familiar voice whispered.

"See I told you they'd be here!" It talked, sounding close to them.

"Ratley?" Whiskey whispered, disoriented from sleep.

"Okay, fine. Now you kill him then," Coral sighed, gesturing for one of the other boys to hand over their weapon. A short looking one gave up his rusty rake.

"Can you hold down Whiskey? I don't want to hurt her," Ratley pleaded, "I'm only here for him."

"Kill? Did you say kill Whiskey?" One boy laughed. Coral laughed too at Ratley's reaction.

"No! Not kill, just keep her from getting in my way," he panicked.

"As you wish," they mocked. "But once you kill Coriolanus, hand that rake back over or we'll kill her too."

"Wherever," Ratley sighed. He started moving towards her and Coriolanus's sleeping figure.

The reality of situation kicked in and Whiskey suddenly realised they were in danger. Before one of coral's boys could hold her down, Whiskey jumped up, screaming to wake Coriolanus. She tackled Ratley, knocking the rake out of his hand.

Snow startled awake, confused but quickly jumping to his feet too. Coral immediately charged at him, swiping with her rusty pole. Coriolanus ducked just in time and it smashed into the concrete, echoing with noise.

"Whiskey?!" Ratley yelled, trying to grab her, but Whiskey was crawling away, trying to escape. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her back. Her knees scraped along the ground, making her yell in pain. She tried to grab anything she could get her hands on and finally  wrapped her hands around a sharp chunk of a can. Flicking back, she sliced his face. He screamed, but held her still.  Whiskey cried out for Coriolanus, begging that he was safe.

In the meantime, Coriolanus was fighting off three tributes, all trying to murder him. He'd gotten ahold of Coral's pole and was swinging it at them. The older boy ran at him, full speed, so Coriolanus smashed him in the head, making him drop to the floor. Coral and the other boy yelled and attacked him at the same time, managing to knock the pole out of his hand. Coriolanus kicked the boy as hard as he could, breaking his teeth. The boy rolled away, just as Coral picked up the rusty metal pole and slammed it as hard as she could into the ground, missing snow's blonde hair by a few centimetres.

"What are you doing, Ratley?" Whiskey cried, pushing against his strength. He dragged her upright, holding down her arms. "Why are you doing this?" She tried desperately to kick his knees and stomp on his foot.

Coriolanus kicked out Coral's ankle and she fell backwards. He kicked her stomach as hard as he could, making her yell and fold over on the ground. She writhed in pain. The younger boy tried to move toward the other one and Coriolanus kicked his face, adding to the blood.

"Why am I doing this?!" Ratley yelled, sounding insane. "Why?!"

Just as Coriolanus turned around to make sure Whiskey was okay, Ratley slammed his mouth into hers. She pushed against his chest, begging to make it stop. Ratley grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. "What's the matter? I thought you loved me!!"

"Stop! Get off me!" Whiskey yelled, scratching his eyes. He tried to kiss her again so she kicked him in the balls. He collapsed, but not before Coriolanus slammed him as hard as he could into the wall.

Ratley flopped to the floor like a worm. "Whiskey..." he sobbed pathetically. Blood seeped from his right eye. She turned away, crying.

Coriolanus grabbed the pole and in a blur of rage smashed in into his head, again and again and again. Whiskey screamed and grabbed the pole mid swing. "Stop! It'll only make it worse."

"He deserves to die," he yelled.

"Please," she cried. "I beg you!"

Looking at her face, he finally gave in, dropping the weapon. They turned away from the blood and violence and moved away, Coriolanus limping. He looked back one last time, but Ratley wasn't moving. Blood poured from his ears and mouth. He realised there was no reason to hit him one last time, because he was already dead.

With a sick yet powerful feeling, he turned back around and held Whiskey's trembling body.

They limped all the way up to the top of the arena, not wanting to stay in the tunnels, and hid in the rubble. There they stayed, trying to calm down.

"I can't believe Ratley would do that!" Whiskey cried. "He was my friend. He was trying to kill you."

Snow frowned and wrapped his arm around her. "It's okay. You're okay."

She hugged him as they lay in the rubble until finally, she drifted off to sleep.