Where am I? What am I doing? And why is someone counting down?
Around me are others, sharing the same look of bewilderment. I look up at the sky. We are out in the open. But why do I have this feeling of being watched? I want to talk but I can't. My tongue is completely numb; I have no control over it. I can't even feel probe my cheek with it. I reach a finger in my mouth and feel nothing. I almost fall of the metal disk I'm standing on. My tongue is gone.
Confined is the word. Everything I want to say is in my head, locked away. I can't call for help. Nothing.
My tongue! It's gone! A girl's voice shrieks in my head. I revolve around my disk, seeing the other redheaded people. There are 23 others. 11 other identical boys and 12 identical girls. We're all positioned in a perfect circle. We're all equidistant from a golden horn. A name for it wants to surface. In fact, this whole place has a familiar air to it. Why can't I pull it up?
The seconds are counting down. 45, 44, 43, 42...
Then I hear a scream for real. It's to my far left. Then an explosion follows. Everyone jumps but our feet don't leave the disk. Did the girl get shot for making a sound? Nonetheless, a metal disk is destroyed. The surrounding earth is torn up. The girl's few remains are the only evidence that she was even here.
30, 29, 28... I look ahead at the golden horn. At the mouth are all kinds of items. Backpacks, food, and weapons. Weapons everywhere. But from as far as I can remember (which goes back about 30 seconds), I've never had an experience with archery or swords. More importantly, who are these weapons supposed to kill? I look around. These people, these tributes, are our competition.
Tributes! That's what we are! But who are we tributes for?
There's about 10 seconds left. Everyone is eyeing the golden horn like it's their salvation. They've got this look on their face. A mix between beast and death, a look both the boys and girls share. But it's not until a gong sounds that I, too, feel a rush of excitement. And danger. These tributes are my competitors.
Let the games begin, I think.And in the far reaches of my mind, I feel that I'm not too far off from the truth.