The Deadly Attraction
Cato POV
The practice games are year our district,District 2, has 'Practice Games, where we spend 5 hours in a fake arena not killing each other but injuring each other until the other person can't stand. It's simple, really, well maybe me being muscular, tall and deadly with a sword is why I think it's simple, maybe not.
I walk to the fake arena with others in my age group, I don't really know that many people as most are scared of me, shame, hah whatever. I stand on my podium watching the arena create around us in a cruel, waterless wasteland. Once the dome is created I watch, along with everyone else here,(the other 23 kids my age) the clock.
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I sprint towards the middle and punch a boy,Jason, in the nose. I reach the swords and yank one from the rack. I turn to see a few people, two girls and three boys grabbing stuff around me. I hurl myself at the first girl blonde with green highlights and a medium build, she uses and axe to cut my wrist and I yelp out in pain. I slash my sword at her legs and she doesn't move, I catch her cutting her right leg open and she screams, I stalk away to the next person. A boy with dark brown hair and green eyes, he turns around and tilts his head to see me, I lift my sword to hit his shoulder but I tiny figure jumps in front of the boy. A girl with the same dark hair and green eyes, 'she's tiny, I'll get rid of her easily.' I decide swiping at her with my swords, she dodges and runs away. 'Chicken!' I think. I turn around to get to the boy who I find has disappeared. I suddenly feel a huge stab of pain in my leg and I grab it falling backwards, I feel a knife handle and hope for the best. I lift my hand to see it and it's covered in blood, I yell out I'm pain. Whoever did this is gonna pay. I hear footsteps and I look up to see the tiny girl with around eight knives in her hands, plus one in a knife pocket in the side of her pants, one on her shirt shoulder and one in her left boot. "Sucker!" She demands with a cruel laugh. I watch her grip two samurai swords from the rack and a pack that holds them on her back, she places them in and walks towards me. "I can't believe, you, of all people fell for my 'tiny little girl running away in cowardly fear' act it's ridiculous. I grumble, I hate being mocked. "Now, I never make pain slow,I can't kill you but I'm allowed to put you in immense pain, so I will." She sits on my chest and pulls out a smaller knife. "Blow your girlfriend a kiss,"She says. That small comment hits home, I've never had a girlfriend they all think I'm an evil freak of nature. Anger rises within me and adrenaline rushes. I shove her off me and push her to the ground. I sit on her stomach and imitate her stupidity. "Blow a kiss to your boyfriend," I say in a girly voice. From the look on her face I can tell she doesn't have one. She starts to struggle to breath because of my weight I step off her and punch her twice in the face until her nose and lips bleed. She raises a hand to her lips and her eyes fill with rage. She jump off the ground and kicks me as I grab my sword I turn to her, my leg throbbing and she pulls out her two thin swords from her pack. She flips them round and then I swipe at her and she jumps and hops around deflecting my blows easily. After a while I give up and turn back. Big mistake. She kicks my chest, harder than before and I fall to the ground, winded. She straddles me again. She pulls out the same knife as before and grumbles something to her self, then she speaks aloud. "I find it funny, you know, the great, terrifying Cato, you know, the boy who has no girlfriend, no friends, just himself and his sword, you know him right?" I thrash around but she turns her back and her arm is just long enough, unfortunately for me, to dig her knife into the deep cut she gave me earlier."oh, wait, you're the great Cato, lying on the floor under the control of a tinee-tiny girl," I yell out again and she puts a hand to my mouth. "You don't want to hear the scaredy cats who are fearful of you hear you in your pained-little-boy state do you?" I groan angrily, she's mocking me again. I try to move my arms but she shuffles further up my chest so she can pin down my arms with her tiny feet. "Fortunately for you my plan for people with boyfriends and girlfriends won't work sooo, I'll start my cutting your shoulders open." Before she can one of the only people I actually know pulls her shirt and her backwards. I jump up and the boy, well my 'friend,' Max punch's her stomach and pushes her shoulder backwards, not doing anything with it but almost making it pop out of its socket. He pushes her to the ground "Go mess with people your own size!" He shouts angrily. She smirks, hurt but not wanting to admit it, "Why?You scared I'll beat up you two?" She eyes me. Max goes to punch her again but I grab his fist."Pin her arms down," I say to him, he obeys quickly, his scruffy black hair falling over his face. "Now. My turn to cause you pain," I sit on her lower ribs and one snaps, she's thrashes in pain. I wait until another snaps until I get up. She doesn't want to cry I can tell, but tears well up in her eyes. It's weird seeing a girl who, a few minutes ago was threatening to cut my shoulders open, is now lying helplessly on the ground. I pull a knife out of her shirt sleeve and cut the back of her neck lightly with it. It won't kill her but it sure will hurt. She screams helplessly and tries to kick Max but he digs a fingernail into her neck cut and she stops fighting. "C'mon sweetie, it's ok, you can cry now." I say in a girly voice. "Never." She growls with rage. "Fine, have it your way then," I say carelessly. She can be ruthless, huh? Well so can I. I grab another knife and cut her shoulders open. I'm extremely surprised when she doesn't shed a tear, she's stronger than I first thought, she just screams until her throat is hoarse. A wicked smile works it's way onto my face. Bloodlust overcomes me and I cut her left cheek up. She sniffles quietly. I move to her wrist, I push up her sleeve and I see loads of pink scars covering her inner wrist so I open every one of them again and she doesn't respond as if the pain in that area is normal. A horn blows and I stand. That's the end of the practice games. After a few minutes all the other people are standing near the cornucopia and I notice that no-one helps the girl I cut open. She stands up weakly and tries to walk straight but she ends up hunching over in pain. I suddenly feel awful, I think over what I did, broke two bottom ribs, cut her shoulders open, cut her cheeks open, knocked out one. Of her back teeth when I punched her, nearly broke her nose, her neck and her wrist. I watch her wait until the hologram arena leaves and she falls. I rush over to help her up. I offer her a hand, she can't grab it because one hand holds her mouth and another holds her ribs. I grab her back and carry her to the nurses office, she doesn't stop me despite the injuries I caused her.