The Hunger Games: Life as a Career

by Thelostsoul225

You've read the story of the Girl on Fire... But have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Career? Iris Sienna, a 17-year-old girl, chosen for the 70th Hunger Games, has to put her career skills to use. But after meeting her fellow contestants, will she be able to kill them if she had to?

Chapter one

Ty steps closer to me. He tightens the knives between his knuckles. "If an opponent has the upper-hand on you, what should you do?" he asks.

"Defend." I respond. Ty grimaces. He sprints in my direction, flinging the knives toward me. I pounce into the air, flashes of silver flowing past me. Then a sharp pain sears my right leg. I fall to the ground clutching my wound. One of Ty's knives sunk itself deep into my flesh.

"Iris, screaming in agony shows weakness. In this position, you are nothing but a defenseless, weak girl." He kneels in front of me. "You will be slaughtered in the first five minutes of the Games." Hot tears form into my eyes. I hate Ty. I hate him. He reaches for the knife. "I believe this belongs to me" he pulls it out, with a sickening wet sound. I scream. Blood flows from my leg. He walks away from me, leaving me in the training room.

I drag myself to the door, Pain radiating itself throughout my body. Doing so reminds me of last years' Games. A boy from District 7 flung a metal axe at the girl from District 9. The axe hit her leg, incapacitating her from running. She tried her hardest to drag her body away from him. I remember she was sobbing, and screaming as she tried to get away. The boy grabbed her by her hair, making her scream even louder, and slit her throat. Almost decapitating her. I remember the canon, signifying that a tribute has died didn't go off that quickly. It took her a while to die. Will that be me? I think. If I get chosen for the Games, will I be killed like her? The image of her lifeless body seeps into my mind.

I haul myself to the door, and clutch the metal knob. I pull the door back and see Ty sitting in front of the entrance.

"I enjoy your vigilance, Iris. It will work to your benefit once you're in the games."

Trying to fall asleep wasn't easy. The haunting memory of Mason being shot with an arrow through his heat lingers in my dreams. I see him running in abandoned ruins of a ancient city. He sprints in a narrow road, while he's chased by another boy from District 2. The boy from 2 carries a bow, as he runs, he slings an arrow into the string. Mason runs faster, be he is in no way to out run the speeding arrow. It catches him, digging itself deeper into Mason's back. I can tell by the look on Mason's face that the air has been ripped of him. His eyes widen, and he falls to the ground. Dead. He shouldn't have volunteered.

When Mason was alive, we would work together with Ty, our physical trainer for the Games. Mason was the closes thing I had to a friend. Mason's face is still clear in my mind, as if her were standing right in front of me. His skin was dark, the color of a murky swamp. He didn't have much hair, and he had dark brown eyes. Ty forced him to volunteer. He told Mason that if he didn't volunteer, he would make sure that his brothers' and sister's names would be entered into the reaping more times than any child has had before. Ty could do this. After all, He was the head peacekeeper in my district four years ago.

I shift in my bed, turning to my side. I close my eyes, but my leg is still radiating with pain. The medic in our district wrapped up my leg. I cant walk on it, so I used one of my Grandfather's old cains.

What if Ty makes me volunteer? I think. He cant. I have nothing else left to lose.

My family was killed by a group of peacekeepers after trying to harvest apples outside the fences that Border in District 11, my home.

I close my eyes again, and try to clear my mind. What if Ty threatens to kill me if I don't volunteer?