I step into the tube that should launch me into the arena. I take a deep breath, just as the tube starts to move upwards. After some time, the tube stops, yet I am still standing inside a building. I look around, surprised. 'Where is the arena?' I mutter to myself.
'Please get out of the tube,' a voice-over demands. I step out of the tube. I look at my feet, and would you look at that, I am actually standing on a starting platform. The counter hanging above the copernica starts counting down. I take a swift look around. Next to me stand 23 other dazed Candidates. For a few seconds, I make eye contact with Yarrel. Seemingly, he also doesn't understand what is going on. I turn my gaze back to the copernica. I decide that I am not going to run towards it - there is a great chance that the professionals will kill me immediately if I try. Close nearby lays a small backpack, and I decide that I need to have it.
'Three, two, one, go!' The voice-over screams. I sprint towards the backpack, en swipe it away. Another girl (Tsara I believe) tries to grab it, but she reaches to high - finally my small posture does something good. I begin to run, away from the copernica. Behind it is what looks like a huge maze. I slow down, while I try to decide which of the three lanes I should go inside. There is also a huge flight of stairs. In one lane, there are… bedrooms? Right next to it are kitchens, and the third lane has bathrooms. An arrow zooms past my head. I do not dawdle any longer, but sprint to the kitchens. A knife almost hits my head, but I duck down and it sticks in the door of a refrigerator. I keep running, until I hear nothing except for my own footsteps and panting.
I keep running for a few more minutes, before I start to slow down. When I am truly really one-hundred percent sure that I am alone, I stop running and lean against a kitchen counter. I let my backpack slide of my shoulder, and unzip it to see what is inside. While I do so, the lamps above my head flicker three times. I swallow. That definitely means something. I decide not to bother with it, at least not for now. Still, I quickly glance around. There is nothing. I look inside the backpack. I hold it so that the light falls into it. I see a pack of dried fruit, a roll of cookies, an empty water bottle and a blanket. It is a lot for a small backpack, but I do not complain. While I open the water bottle to check if there is really nothing in it, I hear seven cannon shots. Seven deaths already. I shiver a little; it feels very real. I put everything back into the backpack. I look around for a small while. I do not remember where I come from, and there are kitchens everywhere. It is pretty creepy, actually. After a small round of ine-mine-mo I decide to go left. As I walk further, I notice that every single style of kitchen is standing here - from the poor, wooden kitchens from district twelve, to the rich, marble kitchens that the people in the Capitol own (Not use. They just own it). I let my hand slide over a marble kitchen island. Hm. It feels more like plastic. I take another deep breath. Alright, Hallie, what do we know? A huge amount of kitchens, similar huge amounts of bedrooms and washrooms, flight of stairs with who-knows-what. small backpack, blinking lights. As I think it, they flicker three times again, and I feel goosebumps. It really is frightening. A notebook to write it all down would be useful, I think.
I have been walking around for what feels like hours, and my throat feels dry. I also haven't found any weapons yet. The lights have flickered again, this time not three, but one time. That only makes me surer that it means something. One time, I thought I heard something. I ran away as quick as possible. I did not think I was ready for confrontation yet, not having weapons and the like. I open the water bottle again, checking for the sixth time if there really isn't any water in it. Not a single drop. I look around. The world looks different when you are thirsty. I debate whether I should ask my mentor for water, when my eyes fall onto a kitchen with a tub. I do not think there is actually water in it, but it doesn't hurt to try (Scrap that, this is the Hunger games, by all means it does hurt to try). I walk over to it, and turn it on. I can't help it; I start cheering. There comes water out of the tub! I quickly put my bottle under it. That seemed to have been a good idea, because when the bottle is filled for three quarters, the water stops. I hear the groaning of the waterworks under my feet. It sounds like the water is migrating away to another part of the arena. I didn't really have much of a plan, because I did not think we would be inside a building, but following the water does not mean like a bad idea. I take a few big sips of water. I never knew how good it feels to drink water when you are thirsty. We do not have a lot of water shortages in district 8. Before I go to the left, where the water has went, my gaze falls onto a kitchen with a glinstering knife block. I choose the three sharpest knives. I slide one into the phone-pocket of my backpack. I wrap the rest into my blanket, and slide it into the backpack. After that, I really depart to follow the water.
After a small while, the lights go off, and they do not go on again. I get startled and grab my knife, but I relax when I hear the anthem. I look up, but I do not see a projection with the faces and names of the fallen. I gasp when my hand illuminates, and Yarrells face appears. Oh. They project the faces of the fallen on our arms in the absence of a sky, it seems. I make a sign of peace for Yarrel - not that I am very religious, but I saw him praying a few times in the training centre. If there is a god, I hope that Yarrel is safely in his domain.
I do not feel safe, but I do need to rest. I spread out my blanket. I decide to lay on one side, and wrap the other side around my body. The hard floor is net very nice to lay on. Before I lay down, I try one of the tubs. I drink straight from the tub this time, and there are only a few sips before it migrates again, so it is alright. I sit down on my blanket, but decide to move it to behind a kitchen island, so that I am less visible. I eat two cookies and a few pieces of dried fruit. The nerves are still bouncing in my body, so I am not extremely hungry, and I need to ration my food - I have not found anything edible in this kitchen area yet, so it is completely possible that all the food is by the copernica. I wrap the blanket around my body. I fall surprisingly fast into a rocky sleep.
Survive, Hallie, my sister says. She pushes me through the hallways of a dark house. It is the only thing she has said since she has been doing it. I hear laughter sometimes, and the candles flicker twice. I try to turn around. Marine, where are we going?
Survive, Hallie. I try to stop her by tugging on her arm, but it falls of. With a scream, I wake up. I breath heavily. Slowly, I breath in through my mouth and nose. My own heart rate slows down and my heavy breathing goes quieter, but I still hear something. Something else is breathing. I peak from behind the kitchen counter, and I see a trail of slime on the floor. I try to make as little noise as possible. I get my knife from out of backpack, and clutch it against my chest. All of a sudden, I hear growling and moaning. I let out a little yelp. I am to afraid to breath. Whatever is over there, it isn't human. I hear something coming towards me. It sounds like hooves. It wanders around the kitchens, and it comes closer. I hear it growl again, when it is right over the kitchen isle I am behind. I stay as small as I possibly can. It makes its way around the counter, slowly, as if it is afraid to bump into something. The lights flicker, twice this time - The monster lets out a blood-curdling scream, and runs away. I stay in my crouching position for the rest of the evening.
Hey peeps! This is my first ever story for the Hungergames, and I hope you liked it. The story might feel a little weird - I had to translate it from my Original Dutch version.