Prologue
It just happened, I couldn't stop it. The axe left my hand. I froze still, I watched it make each turn in the air knowing where it would finally land. A crunch of bones breaking and it was done. He looked down at his chest with (a dumbstruck look on his face, then looked back up at me, he looked me right in the eyes. A question formed on his dry, parched lips. Why? He collapses onto the ground beneath him. I snap out of my trance. "Blake!" I scream. I sprint towards him. When I finally reach him I cup his face with my hands. "Blake please, I didn't know it was you, please Blake PLEASE" A tear falls from my eye onto his lips, this must awaken something inside him because they begin to move. At first I think he's just trying to say something but when I lean in I find he actually is. Just a gentle whisper, all his lungs can manage. I pick up half way through a story he's telling. "..that deer didn't know what had hit it" His breath comes in short quick spurts and blood gurgles in his throat so I assume he's giggling. "Of course your father would never have let you out in the woods yet he always wanted me out there with him but my place was by your side and you never did listen to anyone so I went with you instead, the first thing we caught was that deer" I pull his head onto my lap scraping the axe ,which had gone right through, across the concrete floor. A stream of blood begins to leak from the corner of his mouth. "Don't you leave me blake, you cant go, YOU CANT FUCKING GO" I find myself hunched over his now dead body. I'm screaming by this point but not at him, at myself. A sharp object nearby that'll do just start to scratch myself with it but it doesn't satisfy me. I plunge it into my arm. Once I've calmed down enough to throw the stone aside I crawl back over to his body. "I just need to let you know blake, your the best thing that ever happened to me" I whisper to him in the hope that he can hear me from a better place. I leave his body and walk away. I don't know where but it's likely that it'll be my death. I'll try my best though for blake.. My train of thought stops there and another one surges into my brain taking it's place. One filled with memories of blake, the first time we caught a deer, the time when we snook out of our windows to see each other, the time we got picked in the reaping. I fall to the ground in defeat. What have I done, WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE! I've killed Blake, I've killed my best friend
Chapter 1
Chapter 1 The platform begins to move. Total darkness engulfs me, it feels like forever but it was probably only for a few seconds. Finally I get a whoosh of cold air. A bright light blinds me completely, a shock to my senses from the darkness I'd just been in. The platform jerks to a stop and I struggle to stay standing. I look across the huge circle and see someone who faulted to do so. Well I see the remains of them anyway. I look around to take in my surroundings, it looks like a city. All my surroundings are man made. It looks like the better part of my district.
There's 48 of us this time so the circles twice as big, meaning twice as long a run to the cornucopia. '20 seconds remaining' booms Caesar Flickmans voice. Okay you know the basics of the arena, now you need to find Blake. I scan the tributes faces but his isn't there. He must be on the other side of the circle, blocked from my view by the cornucopia. '10 seconds remaining'. Panic sets in, my body turns rigid. You've done everything you can, just run, find Blake and run. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
My body reacts before my brain. When I do finally regain my mind I find that I'm sprinting towards the cornucopia. A sharp pain shoots through my calf but I ignore it and push on. I'm there. I take a quick look at what's on show, nothing much weapon wise. My eyes fix on an axe. Without thinking I try to jog towards it. Shaun comes from out of no where towering over me. I step backwards, away from him but something sharp pushes against my back. "Well angie, looks like we're gonna have some fun with you" Says Shaun. "W..wh..what" I stammer. "Don't act like you don't know what I mean, there's twice as many tributes this year which means we're gonna be in here longer" I wait for him to continue "Well a guy has needs" A sadistic grin spreads across his face. The colour drains from my face. "You think I'm going to have sex with you" "Your getting there" He says. The realisation of what he's saying makes my stomach churn. In an act purely out of fear I make a snap decision. My hands fly back to the sharp thing that's still pushing into my back. I push it backwards knocking whoever was holding over. I swing it over my head. I start to feel relieved as it lowers down onto Shaun but something shocks me back into a state of fear. His hand flies up to stop the blow and seen as though I have hold of the sharp end it's the handle that his hand grabs a hold of. "Why thank you Angie" He grins. I turn and make a bolt for it. Unfortunately the person who I'd knocked over was holding a grudge and decided to stick out his leg where I was running.
I fall to the ground with a thud. I daren't turn around for fear of slowing down. I scramble across the floor, my hands splashing in puddles of blood on the concrete. I reach the mouth of the cornucopia, if I can just get outside then I might have a chance. I nearly reach it, my hand reaches out of the shadow the huge structure casts. My hand doesn't just reach out of the shadow it reaches into someones hand. I look up to see who's it is. "Blake!" I cry out. "Hey Angie" He smiles. He lifts me of the ground and without having to say anything we both run from the massacre behind and to the concrete jungle beyond.
After about 2 hours of running we take refuge inside an apartment block. Wordlessly we complete the necessary tasks needed for an overnight stay. "Angie" He says my name questioningly "Come to the roof, we need to know who's dead and it's almost time" Wow that sentence was morbid "Okay hang on let me just finish the alarm" I tell him. I've set a trip wire up at the door and I'm just finishing the last knot.
"This is gonna take a while, I'll meet you up there" I tell him. "I can't leave you on your own" Normally I'd actually agree with him but we need to know who we're up against. "I'm not fucking helpless you know, I can handle myself" "Fine I'll he meet you up there" He walks of begrudgingly. I concentrate on the knot, if I finish quickly then I'll be able to get up there in time, he'll never be able to remember exactly who's dead.
Finished, I fall backwards in relief. I close my eyes to relax for a minute. When I open them I'm greeted by Seths sadistic smile. "Hey there Angie, Shaun told me all about you" I let out an earth shattering scream, unfortunately I do this at precisely the moment the anthem starts to blare through the arena. He raises both his hands over his head, I raise my hands defensively as if it will block whatever's coming. Something heavy hits me on the head. I'm still conscious albeit barely, he must be able to tell as he brings the object down on my head once more, this time I pass out.
I can't have been gone for longer than a minute but a minute seems to have been long enough for Seth to do what he wanted because I'm now incapable of moving. My eyes, the only part of my body I can still move without effort, dart around the room finally fixing on another pair of gleaming eyes in the dark. I try to scream but my jaw just falls open, I have no control over my body. All that escapes my mouth is a soft moan. "That's right, keep quite we don't want Blake hearing now do we" Seth says. He let's his hands wander over my vulnerable body. They linger at the top button to my jeans. My body tries to protest but I can't move. "Don't bother, my token was some roofies" The clever bastard, they can't take things like that of you because it could hamper your chance in the games if your going through withdrawal. I switch my brain of because I know I don't want details of what happens next. My body jolts, signifying he's finished. My eyes stare blankly at the grey ceiling but I don't actually see. My brain is elsewhere, imagining Seth dying, slowly, painfully.. The roofies have worn of by this point but I can't let him know I have my strength back or he may overpower me whilst I'm still on the floor. An idea strikes me. My eyes flash to the thin metal wire that I used for the trip wire. Since it's right above my head I don't have to waste energy going to get it.
My hands close around it. I yank it free causing it to make a loud twanging sound. This alerts Seth but it's to late. I leap forwards closing it around his neck. I tie a knot and its done. He runs at me but the wires still tied to the wall causing it to snap even tighter around his neck. His head comes clean of landing right before me. I kick it away in disgust. His body falls to it's knees, blood spraying from his neck. It then falls to the floor blood still seeping from the stump. Its only when I follow the stream of blood to my feet that I realise what I look like. I'm covered in splotches of blood and the stuffs also pooling around my feet. Not that I'm bothered but Blakes gonna get a shock when he sees what a mess I've made of things. Speaking of Blake were is he, he's been gone for hours. Before leaving i drag the body to the window and push it out, next I get the head and do the same. I don't want the game makers holding a grudge against me if they can't get the body.
I've seen horror movies so instead of slowly walking I run up the stairs (which doesn't take long since we're on the top floor) and I don't call out his name incase I alert somebody to my presence. I find him on the roof staring at the sky. I look up to see what he's so entranced by. I catch a brief glimpse of a tributes face before the sky returns to normal. Is it really possible that I was raped, killed someone and disposed of their body within the space of 10 minutes. I decide not to think about it, it's over and that's that. If I don't think about it until I'm killed It won't be able to have an affect on me. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to lie to myself about my feeling on what happened until I get out of the arena, or most likely die.