The Purest Snow

Chapter 20: The Reaper

"Wakey, wakey, capitol!" Lucky Flickerman's voice announced through the speakers of the auditorium. "Day three here we are at the 10th annual Hunger Games! Festus! Sit down! Same seats!" Lucky Flickerman snapped, sending Rosella and Tigris into a fit of laughter.

Lucky Flickerman opened by recapping the few events that had happened since his last update. Pup Harrington made a point of announcing his breakfast order for Lamina to all of the other mentors, which no one could compete with, as no other tributes were in sight.

As if on cue, Lucy Gray suddenly sprinted from the tunnels, causing Coriolanus to stand quickly. Jessup followed closely behind in a much slower and more disoriented fashion.

"Oh my god!" Tigris exclaimed. "What's he doing?"

Rosella leaned forward and squinted at the screen. "It's rabies..."

"What? How do you know?" Tigris asked.

"He had a bat bite from the train here, it was getting infected- look! Foam!" Rosella sprang from her seat and ran over to Coriolanus.

"Coryo!" She said, "It's rabies! Jessup has rabies. From the bat on the train."

"Oh my god, it is..." Lysistrata said.

"Hydrophobia," Coriolanus said under his breath. He went to work on the communicuff.

"No!" Rosella said.

"He's right," Lysistrata said. "Let me, Coryo. He's my tribute."

"Miss Snow, get back to your seat!" Lucky Flickerman gasped. "What is this chaos!"

"Lyssie, please don't-" Rosella said, as Tigris and Festus both made her way over to help the situation.

"Ro, c'mon, please," Tigris said.

"Festus!" Shouted Lucky. Tigris led Rosella away and Coriolanus turned to Lysistrata.

"Lyssie..." he said. "You don't have to."

"If Jessup can't win, I want Lucy Gray to. That's what he'd want. And she can't win if he kills her," she said. "Which might happen anyway."

On screen, Lucy Gray was struggling to escape Jessup, despite multiple attempts to snap him out of his state.

"Stop running! What did you do to me?" The microphones picked up Jessup's voice shouting. Lucy Gray backed up onto the pile of rubble in the center of the arena, and before Jessup could follow too closely, Lysistrata's drone flew into the arena and headed for Jessup. It crashed over his head and doused him with its contents. In the blink of an eye, Jessup had gone from desperately pursuing Lucy Gray to flailing back off of the pile of rubble with a deafening smack to the floor.

He lay motionless, and Lucy Gray cautiousness made her way down.  "You go to sleep now, you hear, Jessup? You go on, it's my turn to stand guard. "That's right. Let yourself go. How are you going to dream if you don't go to sleep?" She moved forward and laid a hand on his head. "It's okay. I'll watch over you. I'm right here. I'm staying right here." Rosella leaned forward and clasped her hands over her mouth, while Tigris let a few tears escape her eyes. Coriolanus took notice of the reactions of them, and many others in the stands, observing their sympathy and sorrow at the emotional sight.

After a hug from Coriolanus, Lysistrata walked over to Tigris and Rosella. Rosella stood to give her a hug as well.

"I'm so sorry, Lyssie," she said.

She nodded. "I'm just glad to be done with it," she replied. She leaned in closer to whisper; "If you ever need help taking down these games... count me in."