blood in the water // part one
Mako was still drenched. He looked like a drowned rat, gripping the knife he’d taken from the hidden Cornucopia. Even in the darkness, though, he was in awe of the tunnels. With a smile on his face, he’d repeatedly reach down to test if the sand was dry or reach out to stick his hand through the water. The horror and fear of the whirlpool that destroyed the boat felt like years ago. It was so distant so quickly that both he and Zeppelin were off on their own adventures, set to meet back at a certain spot in a little while.
It was so beautiful, Mako nearly forgot there was more than just him and Zeppelin in here, exploring the underwater maze. He’d seen some fish, and was mesmerized by even the darkest waters rippling above him. Seeing a glow in the distance, he was drawn down one pathway. It seemed like just a mass of faint, wavy lights in the water until he looked above and saw the tentacles of the jellyfish. He’d been stung by them a couple times; and had tried to pee on more than a few stings his friends received. He felt no fear as he watched them slowly float through the water. They were annoying, and he was sore enough from the boat wreck that he didn’t want to put up with a sting on top of it, but he wasn’t very concerned.
When he caught sight of a figure up ahead, he quickly stopped in his tracks. Were him and Zeppelin not the only two who’d found these underwater tunnels? He took a few careful steps, holding the knife behind his back until he was able to get a better view of them.
Edie.
Oh, Zeppelin would be pumped! Mako started to pick up the pace and waved a hand. “Hey, Edison!” he shouted.
But she was already focused on something else, her hand pressed against the water on the edge of the tunnel. “Edie, do-” Too late. She leaned forward too much and went tumbling into the water with hardly a splash. “Damn it, Edie!” Mako started to run, ignoring the pain in his left ankle that was getting worse each time his foot hit the ground. The jellyfish were starting to float near Edie, but her body wasn’t moving. Could she not swim? Damn it, damn it, damn it!
Mako dropped the knife to the sand and took a deep breath before pushing into the water. He tried to squint in the salty water, but it was too blurry with the glow of the jellyfish to get a good look. Kicking back, he ended up falling flat on his back as he receded from the water. He rubbed at his eyes and tried to find Edie where she’d been floating before, but her body was nowhere to be seen at eye-level. He looked from side to side, and up above. Was she trying to swim to the surface?
Some of the jellyfish glided away, casting more light over the ocean floor. Mako saw Edie’s body there, still unmoving, and barely bothered to take a breath before jumping back in. She was drowning! She was drowning! Someone had to help her! With one hand on the sand to navigate him at all times, he pushed forward until he grabbed her ankle, then her shoulder. He should’ve taken a breath, he could feel his lungs starting to burst. Don’t suck in, don’t suck in... Two of them weren’t about to drown. He wasn’t about to drown, not again.
With both hands tugging Edie as fast as he could, Mako had to try to squint in the water to find his way back. Desperate for air, he let Edie go and swam as fast as he could until he broke the water again. He gasped for air once, twice, then returned to the water. The jellyfish were closing in again on Edie, but he didn’t think about it. It only took a handful of powerful strokes to get out to her, and Mako was working as fast as he could to get her back to the tunnel. The light of the jellyfish was getting closer each time he tried to squint through the water. He braced himself for what he assumed would be no worse than the annoying stings he got from the jellyfish in Four.
A tentacle wrapped around his left arm and he couldn’t help himself - he sucked in a mouth full of water out of shock. Not again, not again, notagainnotagainnotagain.
There was blood in the water.
His lungs were on fire, his head was swimming, his vision was little more than a speck as he spun. And he saw red. If there was screaming, the water in his ears blocked the volume. It was muffled. But the red was bright, so bright he practically fell right into it himself as he tried to catch his breath, tried to bring himself back to life.
Had he fallen on the motor this time? Was that what sliced through his left arm? He shoved the weight on his right arm forward and tumbled after it. Was this what it was like to die?
No, he wasn’t dying today. He hit the sand with a loud thud, and groaned before spitting up the water he’d swallowed. Red welts were already forming around his left arm that he couldn’t move. His vision was clear now, there was no black on his periphery. This wasn’t the dock, it was the Hunger Game, and a girl named Edie was in far worse condition on the sand next to him.
“Edie, Edie!” he shouted, tapping at her cheeks a few times. “Edie, now’s not the time to play coy!” His throat was scratchy from the sand and salt he’d swallowed, but he didn’t care. It didn’t look as if Edie would hear him. He tried to bring his good arm down on her chest a few times, but only some water dribbled out of her mouth. Her arms were covered in even more welts than his, and he saw some peaking out from the back of one of her legs. No wonder she couldn’t swim. He could barely breathe without the sting on his left arm bringing tears to his yees.
He placed his right hand flat on her chest and tried to pump, tried to get her weak heartbeat to go faster. But nothing worked. The girl was drowning in the water in her lungs, probably unable to force her body to expel it no matter how hard Mako tried to push down. He looked around, desperate for anything in sight that might help Edie. All he saw were the jellyfish, and the knife.
“I know it sucks, Edie, I’m so sorry,” he muttered, wiping at the tears and spit on his face as he hovered on all fours next to the girl. It did suck. He’d always wanted to be buried at sea, but never to be killed by it. People drowned all the time in Four, and it seemed like a horrible way to go. He knew it was a horrible way to go.
Edie didn’t deserve that. No one deserved that. To die bloody and fast was better than slow and suffering.
Mako crawled over to get the knife and came back to kneel next to Edie. He held the knife near her throat, like Maverick had done to him in training. All he needed to do was apply some pressure and drag. He’d done it to fish countless times. But he dropped the knife suddenly, trying once more to push all his weight into his good hand to try to pump the water out of Edie’s lungs, to get her heart going again as he barely felt it.
It was his last, best effort, and it did nothing. There was only one thing left for Edie to do, and he was making it longer, more painful, each second he wasted. Picking the knife up once more, he placed it to her throat one more time, adjusted his grip once, then twice, then pushed. Blood began to trickle out, there was a sudden spasm, and Edie was spitting up water. Startled, already set on his task, Mako pushed down harder before pulling the knife away swiftly. It dug deep, and he watched in horror as she spluttered up blood and water for what felt like hours. He didn’t move a single limb, even as his injured arm was throbbing. The sight shocked him so much he stopped crying over the pain.
Long after Edie went still, Mako didn’t move. The blood from the knife was still dripping - some went into the sand, some ran into a small pool in his palm, and a couple droplets went all the way down his arm.
It wasn’t until he thought he heard someone else coming that he suddenly scrambled. He threw the knife into the water, wanting nothing to do with it. He kicked at the sand to cover the blood and stuck his good hand in the water to get the blood.
No one was coming, it was probably just a fish flipping its tail too close to the tunnel edge. But that didn’t stop Mako. He had a burial to attend to now.
He cupped the water in one hand to try to wash the blood off Edie as best he could, but he didn’t want to disturb her body too much. He couldn’t move quickly or efficiently with one arm out of commission and now turning redder by the minute. But he still moved along, until he thought he’d done the best he could.
The sun was rising, he could see the water turning a lighter shade of blue and some golden streaks starting to seep through. With his one good arm, he dragged Edie along until she was submerged in the water again.
Was it a burial or a cover-up? How could he cover up what he’d done in front of his parents’ own eyes now? What would Mackerel think of him? Would they understand this was an accident, too? Manslaughter was still slaughter, wasn’t it?
There were no jellyfish to crowd Edie now as he hoisted her feet into the water and pushed her out into the current. The wound on her neck was still fresh enough that crimson clouds began to form around her head.
There was blood in the water.
And it still wasn’t his.