Judeau felt his body go numb. All he was aware of was the crowd pushing him forward to join his fellow tribute. He waved vaguely as he was led off. The next few hours were a blur of movement. He was alone in a room full of fruit saying goodbye to people he may never see again: his father, best friend, cousin, dock partner, and then, at the end, her. She walked to him and stood behind him, her arms wrapped around him. They sat there in silence until the peacekeeper came in to get her. As she left, she turned and said, "Hey J-man…try not to die." He smiled slightly at this and said, "No problem, Ana. I've lived through worse." She smiled at that and blew him a kiss as she was escorted out of the room. Then, surprisingly, a man he'd never met before entered and took a seat. He stared at him for a long time before finally saying, "I think we have a decent chance of survival. The name's Pippin. And it's my job to keep you alive."
Judeau was known throughout district four for the "incident" that had happened three years previous. He and his brother Ray were out fishing when a shark attacked. Judeau barely made it back alive, but Ray was bitten. When Judeau came back to the village alone and covered with blood, they knew something had happened. All he had was Ray's ring, a gold band with a trident stamped on it. No one blamed him for it; no one except himself. From that day on, his life changed. He was allowed to do minimal dock work in exchange for volunteering around the district. It was then that he met Ana. She had also lost a brother, and the two of them had hit it off. It was her that taught him how to dance. He loved to dance, and, now that he was facing death, thought that he might love her too. Pippin listened to his entire story on the train ride to the capitol without interrupting. Colin, his fellow district four tribute, had gone to bed and would be talking to her mentor. Pippin sat back when his story was done and said, "Lost family, lost love, all of this has made you bitter and heartless. Sound good?" Judeau looked blankly at him. "Okay…maybe not heartless. How about determined? Or even just pissed. Hell, you could even throw that dancing bit in and go for sexy. I guarantee some rich creeper in the capitol will sponsor you just for that. Which do you prefer?" Judeau thought for a moment and then asked sheepishly, "Can we combine a couple?" "Of Course. Which two? Determined and heartless? Or what about pissed and heartless, I think that'd be a good bet." "I was thinking more…sexy and determined?" Pippin thought about it for a moment before saying, "That'll be hard to pull off. But we can try."
The next day was the opening ceremony. Judeau walked to his chariot in his king Neptune outfit. Pippin and Aggie, his stylist, were right: this costume did show off the best of him. It was, essentially, a golden loincloth with a sea green sash hanging from it. He had the golden crown of Neptune on his head and held a trident, points dulled so as to not be deadly. He noticed some of the girl tributes glancing at him as he walked to where Colin was standing dressed as a mermaid. He was halfway there, when a girl walked up to him dressed in a tight-fitting leopard print outfit.
"I'm Charlotte," she said extending her hand, "District 9."
"Judeau, 4," he replied shaking her hand.
"So, they only say one can win," Charlotte continued, "They don't say anything about not teaming up. You wanna be allies?" Her question surprised him. He just looked surprised at her.
"But," he tentatively said, "Won't we have to end up killing each other then?"
"I doubt it," she said shrugging, "there's twenty-two others to kill. The odds aren't in our favor; I just thought it'd be nice to have someone watching my back."
"I don't know…" Judeau said. Charlotte looked around quickly and pulled him closer to him.
"Look," she whispered in his ear, "I'm not some girl that's never been outside or anything. My district hunts. I've killed just as much as you have I'm sure." Judeau smiled at this and said, "Alright, ally." She grinned. The ceremony lasted much shorter than he expected and he was back in his room in no time. He found a note from Pippin on his bed that read, Kick ass tomorrow.
At training the next day, Judeau got his first real glimpse of the competition. The only one that he thought would give any real trouble was the mammoth of a boy from district 7. His name, Charlotte informed him, was Newt. He caught him staring at him a few times during training, and at lunch on their final training day, he approached him. "'Sup. You're Colin's district mate right?" he said towering over him. Judeau nodded, trying to be as friendly as possible. He nodded and grinned wickedly. With that, he walked away. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Charlotte said to him. The next day, once he performed for the game makers by stabbing things out of the air thrown at him with the large trident that was provided, he watched himself be scored an 11. "Is that good?" he asked Pippin. His mentor just nodded, grinning widely.
The games came all too fast after that. One minute he was drinking hot chocolate with Pippin and the next, he was in a cavern, dressed only in a skin-tight green muscle shirt and baggy black shorts, waiting for the games to begin. Aggie was with him, giving him moral support. She handed him Ray's ring, reminding him that it was his token. Suddenly, the metal circle he was standing on started to rise. "Good luck, Kiddo," Aggie said, waving. He rose into the world that greeted him, the arena. As he looked around, he tried to remember how long to stay on his circle. One minute? Two? He couldn't remember. It was then that he noticed the arena; it was a large beach, with large sea caves scattered everywhere. He smiled, realizing he was in his element.
Suddenly, he heard an explosion coming from somewhere to his left. He saw the charred remains of a district 2 boy who had decided not to wait. Mined! He thought. The ground is mined! He heard some god-like voice speaking out over them saying, "We remind all our tributes to stay on their circle until the trumpets sound. You have 30 more seconds. Be patient." With that, he got an idea. He fingered his ring and started counting in his head. He saw the cornucopia, supplies piled high, and then at Newt, who was flicking him off. 20. "I'm coming for you first!" he was yelling at him, "You're dead!" Judeau looked at Charlotte and tried to motion for her to run away while he got supplies. 10 seconds. He poised himself, ready to spring.
5 seconds. Judeau threw Ray's ring at Newt, hoping it was big enough. At the same time, he leapt from his space. Newt exploded a second before the trumpets blared. Judeau was at the cornucopia grabbing 3 backpacks, a trident, bow, and 2 quivers of arrows before the other tributes moved. He called for Charlotte to follow as he ran off along the beach. He could imagine Pippin smiling at his genius as he ran to a cave where Charlotte was waiting. He handed her the backpacks and grabbed the trident before saying, "You look through our stuff. I'll stand guard."
He started walking towards the mouth of the cave when he stumbled. He fell crashing to the floor wondering what he tripped on. It was only then that he noticed the numbing sensation flowing over him and saw Charlotte with the bow in her hands. "Sorry, Bud," she said, "but you remember rule number one. Trust no one. After all, it's kill or be killed. And I don't plan on being killed."
In his last moments alive, he tried to throw his trident at her. With his mouth full of blood and consciousness failing, he managed to mutter, "Good luck, ally. Try not to die."