Aidra Moson, an eighteen-year-old girl in District 2, sat lounging on a planter wall in the Academy court yard. She had a textbook in her hands, reviewing all the names of different sword-fighting techniques while munching on a pear. In just sixteen short hours, her final exam would begin. It was the one all sixteen- to eighteen-year-old students looked forward to, the one they tried their hardest to pass with top marks, because placing first in the Exam would guarantee the rights to volunteer as a tribute in the next Games.
Aidra flipped a page, but the book was promptly snatched from her lap. She looked up to see Cato Alderton lean against the planter next to her.
"Why do you need to study?" Cato asked, thumbing through the pages and pausing to look at the illustrations of swords. Next to Cato, Aidra was considered top of their year. Most everyone expected either or both of them to enter the Games.
"Because I have nothing else to do," Aidra said, pulling the book back. "We can't go on the ranges before the Exam, and I didn't want to go home. Dad's freaking me out a little right now."
"Ah, he's getting nervous for you?" Cato guessed.
Aidra laughed. "Pretty much. He kept drilling me on strategies and fighting styles. It was making my head spin."
"Y'know that Clove girl?" Cato asked, trying to steal the book back. Aidra nodded, stuffing the book in her schoolbag. "She's taking the exam with us."
Now Aidra really laughed. "She's only fifteen! She's got no chance of passing."
"I don't know," Cato said. "Have you ever watched her on the knife range? She's pretty good. I don't think I've seen her miss yet."
"I'll be impressed when she can do it blindfolded." Aidra herself had tried it, and was mediocre at best. She could hit a dummy, but never in a kill zone.
Cato chuckled, knowing Aidra's frustration with herself in that area. He glanced at a spot behind Aidra and leaned in, nodding. "She takes everything too seriously, huh?" Aidra turned around and saw the girl in question through the glass, practicing hard in one of the knife ranges.
"I guess she's not really taking the Exam for a score," Aidra said. That would be the only way they'd let Clove into a range the day before the Exam.
"She's too young, anyway," Cato snorted. "Probably just in it for the experience." This was probably true. A lot of twelve- to fifteen-year-old students could enter the Exam for field practice, but they wouldn't get any sort of score. They were the students who often didn't take the thing seriously. Students like Cato and Aidra had to treat it like a life and death situation. Because, in a way, it was.
"Hey, we could do the obstacle course," Aidra suggested. "They'll let us on that, and we could make a race out of it."
Cato grinned. "I'll beat you there," he challenged, launching himself off the planter wall.
Several hours later, Cato and Aidra lay on the back lawn of the Moson home, talking about the weapons they'd take were they chosen for the Games.
"A sword, no doubt," Cato said. "It would make for the best Games Panem has ever seen."
"You are so old-fashioned," Aidra jibed. "They used swords so much in the first bunch of Games."
"Alright, what would you use?"
Aidra thought about it for a moment. "I would love to get my hands on some poison. I'd get all the food except what I wanted to eat, and just sit back as all the other tributes died off."
"That's no fun," Cato complained. "Where's the action in that?"
"Okay, I'll poison their food and you can hack away at them with your sword. Deal?"
They laughed, and kept laughing until Mr. Moson ordered Cato home and Aidra to bed. "You've got a big day tomorrow," Mr. Moson said, shutting off the lights in Aidra's room. But even after he left, Aidra lay awake, imagining what sort of thrills the next several days would hold in store for her.
All students taking the Exam were dressed similarly: a simple, form-fitted unitard that covered from neck to wrist to ankle with electrode sensors running through the fabric, a sort of headdress that carried more sensors through the scalp, and mid-calf boots that were standard for all students. On the suits, a ring of life-line lights shone around the neck and torso, indicating the in-test life status of the student; green for alive, orange for injured, and red for deceased. Over the whole ensemble went the usual student training uniform: dark shirt, canvas trousers, and a belt signifying age. On the back of the shirt was a number; for Aidra it was 1.
Aidra fastened her boots while watching the holographic introduction in the launch room. It explained that everything the students were about to experience were just projections, but they should not take anything lightly. The weapons would not do any damage unless they came in contact with the sensors on the head or suit, and even then the pain felt would only be temporary, a simulation. The orientation ended with the instructor saying the usual may the odds be ever in your favor.
So it was going to be like the Games, Aidra had suspected as much. A VR Hunger Games. And the person placing first would get to volunteer in a month. A disembodied voice announced one minute to launch. Aidra stopped fiddling with her boot straps, making her way to the metal plate that would rise. Maybe she was nervous after all. The part about simulated pain had surprised her; not that she didn't have her fair share of scars from training.
The metal plate began to rise, and Aidra smiled to herself. There were only six serious testers this round. The rest were younger kids looking for a bit of extra fighting experience. When she was level with the playing field, Aidra saw that they were all paired off with someone else, to represent the 12 districts. Aidra smirked when she saw that she was paired off with Cato for District 1. The other four testers had either a two or a four on their back, and the youngest students present had a number from an outlying district. Supposedly to mark their slim chance of surviving the Cornucopia.
Glowing golden numbers illuminated the Cornucopia, counting down from sixty. When the countdown began, the gridded plane transformed into a valley surrounded by scrub hills. The air was warm and dry, and the tallest trees didn't surpass twenty feet. Aidra took in the surroundings, calculating the best way to go. Then she surveyed the goodies at the Cornucopia, grinning when she saw a jacket of beautiful throwing knives. She glanced at young Clove to see her staring intently at the jacket as well. Too bad she'd never make it ten feet.
The gong sounded and Aidra sprinted to her prize, making it there just seconds before Clove did. In one fluid movement, Aidra had a knife out and was hurling it toward the younger girl's chest. The lights on her suit instantly turned red, and Clove glared at Aidra until she was lifted out of the mock arena.
Aidra glanced to her side to find Cato there, sword in hand. "Allies for now?" he asked.
"For now," Aidra agreed, fastening her jacket over the suit. They then stood almost back-to-back, picking off the younger students and effectively eliminating almost have of the students. When the fighting finally died down, Cato and Aidra and one other girl named Mel were left alone at the Cornucopia. All the rest had taken what they could and ran for it.
"How many did we get?" Aidra asked. She picked through the weapons, adding a handsome knife with a serrated edge to her belt.
"Eleven," Mel said. She was a small girl for sixteen, with dirty blond hair pulled back into a slightly messed-up bun and freckles across her pointed nose. "There's ten more running around out there."
Aidra eyed the number 4 on Mel's back. "And most of them don't even have to be here."
"So let's fix it." Cato swung his sword around, watching the sunlight glinting off the blade.
They arranged their packs so that they had enough food to snack on. You had to hand it to the instructors, Aidra thought, they really went all out to make the Exam as much like the real Games as possible. They followed the wild path of disturbed bushes and dirt, finding a pair of twelve-year-old students by a stream. Mel took care of one with her ax, and Cato got the other.
"Thirteen down, ten to go." Cato said, grinning at Aidra. She returned the smile but carefully. She knew she was included in Cato's count.
"We should find a place to set up camp," Mel suggested some time later. They'd gotten another 'tribute', and were feeling successful enough to head back to the Cornucopia. "We can get some sleep and continue hunting in the morning."
Cato sat with his back against a rough, twisted tree, keeping watch. His sword was held loosely in his hand, and he barely flinched with Aidra sank down next to him.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"What'll happen if I don't pass," Cato said automatically. "I'll be nineteen in September, and then I'll be too old for the Academy and the Games."
"You could train for Peacekeeper," Aidra offered. "That's what I'm going to do."
"Yeah but you've got until December to do this," Cato gestured vaguely at the arena in front of them, and Aidra reminded herself that it was really just an illusion. "Then at least if you can't get in the Games you can do this again."
"Yeah," Aidra grinned in spite of herself. She remembered entering the exam once before, when she was thirteen. She'd been killed twenty minutes in. "But I still have as much of a chance as anyone." She shivered at the thought of doing it for real; the thrill of the hunt was her favorite kind of adrenaline rush.
Aidra pulled out one of the smaller knives and began toying with it. She caught Cato's eye and nodded toward Mel's sleeping form. Asking a question: When do we get rid of her? Cato shrugged, indicating that it didn't matter to him. Aidra put the knife away, guessing that the moment Mel heard her shift to get a stick there would be an ax flying at her chest.
"I'm going to get some sleep," Aidra said. "Wake me when its my turn for watch."
"Sure thing."
The next few days could either be called hell or paradise. It all depended on who you asked. For the younger students who somehow forgot that the whole thing was Virtual Reality, those days were terrifying. Sure, they could fight, but none of them were as brutal or as eager to draw blood—or in this case, turn the suit lights red—as Cato and Aidra. It was just the two of them once day three had passed, because Aidra had gotten sick of the way Mel tried to dominate everything. So she got a quick knife in the back and was out before she realized what happened.
Now on day five, the pair were quickly eliminating the rest of the competition. As far as they knew from the nightly updates in the sky, there was only one other testing student left, and one fourteen year old that they couldn't seem to find. Cato and Aidra guessed that they'd paired up and were trying to track them down.
One afternoon, they were lazing by a rocky creek. Aidra had her bare feet in the water and Cato was filling the canteens.
"So what'll happen when it gets down to you and me?" Aidra asked.
"What, you mean who will kill first?" Cato looked up from the canteens. Aidra nodded, and he chuckled. "I'll give you a ten second head-start, alright?"
"Not if I get you first," Aidra countered.
A sudden crashing through the trees and a scream brought both of them to their feet. The two girls who'd been evading them tumbled down the hill, both of them looking sorely battered. The older girl, the one with a 2 on her back, had flickering orange lights on her suit. Cato got to her first, and both Cato and Aidra turned on the fourteen-year-old. She had a wild look in her eye, and before they could act the girl was hanging off Aidra, shrieking repeatedly that something was real, something was real. Then she collapsed and the suit lights turned red.
"What on earth was that about?" Cato asked. Aidra shook her head. She was just as bewildered as him.
Then they heard the buzzing.
Then a whole swarm of tracker jackers appeared through the trees.
Somewhere in the back of their minds, they knew the swarm was fake, that they wouldn't really be hurt, but their hearts were pumping and sounding very angry. They couldn't help it, they ran as though the devil was on their heels. Aidra had one knife in her hand, though she knew it would be useless against the swarm. The pounded through the brush, through as yet unexplored territory. So of course they didn't see the ten-foot cliff drop sharply in front of them.
Cato landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him, and Aidra landed on her leg at some crazy angle. She knew it was broken without even looking at it. Gasping, Cato helped her up and the two of them staggered on. They were going for almost ten minutes before Aidra collapsed from the pain. That was when they realized the tracker jackers were no longer following them.
Aidra leaned against a stump, taking a moment to look at her leg. Whether it was really broken or not she could not tell, but the pain was sure real. When she gingerly probed the spot she winced, and looked away.
"What a finale, huh?" Cato laughed breathlessly. "I guess even the instructors want a show."
"They've got to have some fun," Aidra said.
"Your lights are orange," Cato said, pointing. "Was that from the fall?"
Aidra nodded. "It feels like I broke my leg."
"Well, do you want to wait for a bit before we get this over with?" Cato asked mockingly. "Or should I just run you through now?"
"You know full well I could get a knife in you before you reach me with that sword," Aidra said menacingly. Her grip tightened on the knife in her hand, the only one that survived the fall.
Cato chuckled and sat down on a rock next to her. "I'm in no hurry to end this," he said. He pulled off his pack and dug through it for one of the canteens, which had miraculously not been left at the creek. He handed one to Aidra.
"To the thrill of life," Aidra raised her canteen in a halfhearted toast.
"Because we only live once," Cato added. He slid down so they were sitting remarkably close, casually throwing one of his arms around Aidra's shoulders.
"You're not going to break my neck," Aidra muttered, guessing Cato's plan. "Only weapon kills count."
"That's true," Cato set down his canteen and took Aidra's as well. Then he pulled her to her feet, causing her to wince and nearly gasp with pain. "I can think of a better way to do this." He gripped her behind her back, then drew his sword and held it against her stomach. At the same time, Aidra pressed the point of her knife between two of Cato's ribs.
"So what now?" Aidra asked. "We both attack and see who lasts longer?"
"In a minute," Cato said slyly. He leaned down and rested his forehead on Aidra's. "I'd like to clear something up first. Is it true that you've got the hots for me?"
"What girl in the district doesn't?" Aidra answered evasively. "Maybe I did at one point, but not now. Not when you're about to kill me off."
Cato considered this. "I guess you're right."
At the same time Cato slashed Aidra's stomach, Aidra forced her knife handle-deep into his chest. The pain they felt was nearly unbearable, and their suit lights were flickering between orange and red. The sign of the dying. Aidra clutched her stomach, feeling as though she had to hold it together to prevent her insides spilling out. She completely forgot about the pain in her leg.
Cato, on the other hand, was wheezing and coughing, and he kept checking his lips as though he were coughing up blood. Aidra silently congratulated herself on puncturing a lung. If she could hold on long enough, he'd either bleed out or drown in his own blood. And then her spot in the Games would be secure.
But all at once, Aidra's lights turned red and the pain vanished. She sat up and looked in disbelieve at Cato's still orange lights. She punched him in the arm. "You bastard!" She cried. "I was going to win this!"
The lights on Cato's suit turned green, and he sat up rubbing his side. "That was quite a stick you got there," he said. "I'll be glad of the competition if you make it in."
Yeah, if, Aidra thought bitterly.
The field around them dissolved back to the blank grid they'd started on, and a door opened to their right, beckoning them. They went through the halls to the head instructor's office, where Cato was commended on his performance and guaranteed a spot in the 74th Annual Hunger Games.
"All you need to do is volunteer when the time comes," said the Head. He turned to Aidra. "Since you came so very close to passing, your name will be put in the reaping an extra twenty times, so your odds of getting in the Games will be higher than that of your classmates."
"Thank you," Aidra said. That was more than she'd hoped for.
They were excused, and the pair of them walked slowly to Cato's house.
"What do you think the other tributes will be like?" Cato wondered aloud. His eyes were glinting with excitement. The reaping was only three weeks away.
"Boring, talentless and weak," Aidra suggested. "They always are. You'll win this for sure."
Cato grinned at the confidence Aidra had in him. "Of course I will. That's what I do."