Chapter 17--Attack and Recovery

                                    

                                          
"AHHH!" Glimmer shouted, waking up almost instantly at the buzz of the wasps, swarming all over the six of you angrily.
                          
"BEES!" you heard Pearl scream, bringing Clove up as well as she batted them away with her knife. 
                          
Your vision was clouded with the golden glints of the wasps, flying with a maddening buzz as they tried to aim at you, at any part of your flesh that was exposed, and you tried to bat them away with your backpack. You felt Cato pick you up as the tracker jackers began to sting you on the hands, on the neck, and on your forehead. "TO THE LAKE!" he cried to the others.
                          
Everyone tried their best to head there, and you suddenly passed out as the hallucinations began to play through your mind. Reliving your father's last moments in the mines. Peeta's confession to the Capitol of his love for Katniss Everdeen. The tree leaves turning to blood and splashing all over your body.
                          
"(Y/N)! No!" Cato cried, picking you up in bridal style as he ran after Marvel and Clove, not daring to look back to see if Glimmer or Pearl were following. "No. Don't die on me. Don't give up. We have to get you to Peeta. We have to keep you alive. I can't lose you," he kept whispering to you, making you smile faintly. 
                          
Soon, you all reached the lake, and a sigh of relief escaped your lips as you lowered your body into the cool water, ripping out all the stings from the flesh as you examined them. True, you got a lot, and even seeing them made you feel dizzy and nauseous. Instead of seeing three stings on your arm, you saw nine, and the stench of the pus only worsened the effect. 
                          
"Where are Glimmer and Pearl?" Clove asked, looking wildly around the lake. "I thought they were following us."
                          
"No idea," Marvel said hollowly. "They may not have."
                          
"DUCK!" Cato hissed, pulling you all under the water as the buzzing began to register in your ears again. Apparently the tracker jackers could still "track down" their targets, but not for a very long time. Even underwater, you were able to make out the buzz dying off in the distance, followed by a cannon. 
                          
Instantly, you surfaced and gasped, breathing in a huge lungful of air. The cannon...who was it for?
                          
"Glimmer," Cato whispered. "Damn. I can't even believe it."
                          
"Glimmer was such a good tribute to be with," you murmured, sinking back into the water. "I'll miss her and Pearl. Especially their jokes about us," you added cheekily, looking up at Cato. 
                          
Clove and Marvel smiled as well...until Clove saw the hovercraft coming. "(Y/N), did Glimmer give you her arrows?" she asked. 
                          
"Crap," you cursed. "No. I'll have to get them before they're gone for good!"
                          
"Go go go!" Cato cheered as you managed to wade out of the lake, just as you saw Pearl approach you with a hazy look in her eyes.
                          
"Pearl?" you asked. "Is everything okay?"
                          
Pearl did not respond to you. Her eyes were glassy and empty, and in her hand she held a knife. "Oh yes," she replied in such a hollow voice it might just represent a ghost. "Yes. I'm just fine. In fact, I have never felt better killing a tribute," she said eerily, holding out the blade in front of you to gut her. 
                          
Screaming in fright, you ran away from her and all the way back to the tree, where you saw Glimmer's body lay so still. This girl, so breathtakingly beautiful and sexy in her golden dress, has completely lost her beauty to the popping stings that the tracker jackers gave her. Gritting your teeth, you took a deep breath and began to detach the bow from her hand, but her grip on it was so tight it was almost impossible for you to get it out of her hands, but finally with a deliberate yank, you managed it. The arrows easily slipped off from her shoulder, and you quickly put them on in addition to your backpack, still feeling slightly dizzy on your feet.