A/N: Hope you like it. Thanks and Enjoy. (:
I stand in front of the crowd, hysterical on the inside, solidly unemotional on the outside. Caesar Flickerman is beside me, talking in his perfect showhost voice. His hair is a bright, almost neon pink, and he wears matching makeup. "So, Myth, is there anything you'd like to say to your audience?"
My eyes connect with the camera directly in front of me, and I let an easy smile stretch across my face, "Well, Caesar, I'd like to tell them that they shouldn't count me out as a victor just yet." The crowd goes wild, and the smile comes more easily. I know the clock ticks away, and my three minutes is almost up.
"Anything else?" Caesar asks, wanting something more.
"Yes," I answer, "I hope you all enjoy the show." I take a slight bow, rise up on my tiptoes, and kiss Caesar on the cheek. He pretends to blush in a drawn out, dramatic way, and covers his mouth with his hand like he's shocked.
"Well, there you have it!" Caesar says to the audience, "The stunning female tribute from District 13." The audience cheers, and I smile, whispering a good luck to Lyonel, the male tribute from my district.
By the time his three minutes had ticked off the clock, I'd sized up our oponents one more time before the games. Each District has at least one tribute who would be deadly in the arena. The ones I worry about the most are the boy and girl from District 1, Satin and Velvet, the boy from District 3, although I don't remember his name, the girl from 4, Alexia, and the boy from 6, Dome. The tributes from 7, lumber, must be kept away from the axes. The tributes from 11, agriculture, stick out in my head, the ones who can gather food. I want them on my team, Ambrose and Tulip. District 12 sports a pair of skinny tributes, with pale grey eyes and dark hair. They look as if they've been starving for months. I know both of them will die quickly.
We stand as the anthem of Panem plays loudly, and then we are filed off of the stage. I catch Tulip by the arm, and pull her close, whispering fast, "Alliance?" She nods, and then walks quickly to the elevator.
Lyonel and I run to the elevator on the left, and make it right before the doors slide shut, leaving us with the tributes from 3 and 4. I push the button for 13, and it lights up. "Wonder what the arena will be." Lyonel says, "Hope it's not a giant coal mine!" We all laugh, and shake our heads.
"Those two from 12 will probably die the very first day." Alexia says, laughter in her voice. "Did you see them in training? Can't do anything but hurl a knife, and even then, it missed so many times." Even I can hear the bloodlust her voice carefully contains.
I know she's right, but some part of me wanted to hit her across the face.
The elevator opens on floor 3 and then on 4, and Lyonel and I are left alone. The ride up to the 13th floor takes only a minute, but it seems like forever. Soon, Lyonel and I will be pitted against each other in the arena. Maybe not until the final days, but it will happen. Sophia, our Capitol attendant, is on us in moments when we get back on our floor, peppering us with questions about the interview, and telling us how amazing we looked in our shimmery grey costumes. Graphite, yeah right.
I smile a forced smile at her, and it's all I can do to keep from ripping her head off. She's so festive. Then, I am ushered quickly into my room to change outfits for dinner. I pull on a black shirt and a flowing black skirt, and am quickly escorted down the hallway by an Avox with short brown hair, and nearly black eyes. Sophia waits at the table, surrounded by our idiot stylists, Isabella, Jayden, Aiden, and Olivia.
Lyonel and I eat, and then are locked inside our rooms to await the beginning of the games the following morning. I know all of Panem will be watching us in the arena, and I toss and turn all night. At least it is better for me, with no family left. I think of Lyonel, and even the other tributes, who had to leave family behind. How difficult it must have been for them.
Sophia wakes us early, giving us enough time for goodbyes, I clasp Lyonel's forearm as we are being separated to go to the hovercrafts that will carry us to the games. "See you in the arena, Myth." He says with a smile.
I am bombarded by my stylists one more time, and kissed all over the face, before I step into place below the hovercraft. One stylist comes with me. Inside, a Capitol official jams a tracker into my wrist, and then we are moving. The countryside passes in a blur, and all is quiet inside the hovercraft. I turn the locket that hangs around my neck over and over in my hands, never daring to open it. This is my District token.
When the hovercraft lands, I am in a small room, and Sophia is there. Aiden smiles sympathy at me, and then strips me of my black clothes. The dark green jumpsuit he ushers me into is ugly, but it is comfortable, warm, and made of some sort of stretchy material. My long blonde hair falls in my eyes as Aiden pulls it high on my head and secures it with an elastic band.
I step onto a circle in the middle of the room, and Sophia blows me a kiss. Aiden murmurs his good luck, and then glass is all around me, and I'm being raised through the ground into the arena.
The glass goes down, and I look around. The anthem begins, but I take note of the songbirds I hear, the meadow we are in, the bright flowers everywhere. Everywhere is forest, and I realize we in a clearing. A golden Cornicopia sits in the middle of the field, stacked with weapons and backpacks and loaves of bread and cheese. Endless supplies are hung from tree limbs, dangling in the air around the clearing. I catch Lyonel's eye, and then the District 11 tributes nod at me. Four is a crowd, I think. An explosion is set off just to the left of me, and my head jerks to the side. The boy from 7 is blown apart, his body lands everywhere. Everyone is soaked in blood. The girl from 7 screams, and then the anthem comes to an end.
Caesar Flickerman's voice rings through the arena, and a warm wind picks up, "Let the first ever Hunger Games begin!"
A/N: Hey there, me again, I just wanted to say that reviews are compeltely welcome. Hope you liked it, next chapter will be up as soon as I get home from getting my hair done.