Brie and the games (similar to hunger games with more romance

by pandasforlife

Set in the near future, Brie is struggling with life working in her parents business at 14. her only sole comfort is that of her younger sister. But suddenley she finds her world turned upside down as a battle between the English and americans is planned and she is forced to fight. She cant say no because her loved one life is the one at stake. Also with romance!

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1. NIGHTMARE

A person lay there in the forest, with her bloody face covered in scars and bruises. Her clothes were filthy, her brown hair was tangled in knots, and her family lay beside her weeping and weeping. As I walked closer and closer to the person I saw some recognizable features. I recoiled back in shock as I saw that the person who lay there, dead,… was me.

"AAH!" I shrieked, throwing my blanket onto the floor. I instantly calmed myself down telling myself it was only a dream. It was only a dream.

"Br-" I heard a baby voice say. I jumped hearing it. Wow I was very jumpy today. I looked around my room and then sighed. "Lily? Have you come into my room again?"

I heard a little giggle as Lily got up, from behind the blanket, in a beautiful fashion. I wondered how an 18-month-old baby could be so graceful. Her full name was lily-rose but I preferred to call her 'lily' or sometimes 'Lil'. She walked over to me carefully and then fell into my arms. I picked her up and gave her a cuddle in my bed.

"how many times do I have to tell you my name is Brie."

She smiled and said 'Br-' again. I gave her a little tickle and she giggled again and rolled around on my bed.

I tickled her more before noticing that she was sucking her hand. I was grateful that she did that. It was a sign that she was very sleepy, though often she wouldn't want to go to sleep. I shuffled along to the end of my bed and pulled her along with me.

"Come on. I know its not very comfortable sleeping with parents who are snoring away loudly. You come sleep with me."

She nestled into my chest and started closing her eyes as I wound my arms around her. I looked at Lily closely. I looked at her eyes and how, even when they were closed, they still looked beautiful. I looked at her cheeks that were as red as roses which complimented her pale white face beautifully. Finally I looked at her tiny pink lips which were shaped into a heart and I remembered the first time, when she was 14 months old, when she gave me her first kiss. I realised that, although I always knew she had the beauty of the two flowers she was named after, I had never looked at her this closely and seen how perfect her features were.

At that moment I had yawned and I realised that I was feeling quite sleepy too. But that horrifying image of me was what kept me awake.

"Oh for goodness sake Brie! Did you have to go disturb your sister?" Mum shouted waking me up. So I had eventually gone to sleep then. I slowly sat up, carefully untangled myself from Lily and hissed," Mum!"

She looked at me sharply. "What? Look it's seven thirty and you have work to do. I don't want Lily interrupting you and stopping you from going to work and following our footsteps." She pulled my blanket away from me. "now hurry up and get dressed to go into the shop." I waited until she left my room to start groaning.

Once I had dressed, I gently woke Lily up because I knew it was time for her breakfast. As usual while mum stood in the shop, waiting for me, I made breakfast and fed Lily.

"One little spoonful of porridge" I said as I put it a tiny bit in her mouth. "And another little spoonful of porridge." I said putting another tiny bit in her mouth. This was the only way to make eating food entertaining for her, by singing the words and doing little actions. She clapped her hands and laughed wanting more.

"Ok then." I chuckled and I repeated the whole thing again and again until she'd finished everything in her bowl.

"Finally now you come!" Mum groaned as I walked into the shop.

"Sorry." I said. "I was feeding Lily"

"Urgh. How many times do I have to tell you? I decide when to feed her and I can feed her myself. You just focus on your job." I sighed and go to behind the till in my place while mum continued talking.

"Right Dad's gone to buy things for the shop so you'll have to stay for a little longer. Don't make that face! Its all good practice." Then she walked off leaving me on my own in a small old shop. I started knocking my knuckles on the metal surface and started humming a little tune. I realized, as usual, I would be standing here a long while.

I watched as a bunch of girls walked past the shop, chatting about school work, and I envied them.

It wasn't me that chose to stop school at the end of year 9 and work in my parents shop. Oh no. it was my parents.

I remembered being vaguely excited about doing gym because there were new equipment coming, some including handle bars and hoops to swing on. When I got home my parents pulled me aside and told me they had some exciting news for me. I wondered what they both looked so happy about. They told me that because I was fourteen I was allowed to quit school and start working. My mum had a huge smile on her face as she said "And we've decided that you will be the one to carry on our business when eventually we're too old to."

I just stared at them, speechless.

Then my dad spoke. "We know how much you wanted to be a part of our business so from now on you can train to work in the shop. We'll teach you."

There were so many thing running through my head like why should I start working at fourteen, why did I have to stop school, and why was my freedom being… taken away from me. I wanted to say no, I wanted to tell them how much school meant to me but most of all I wanted to tell them that I wasn't interested in the family business and that business was not what I wanted to do in the future.

But I couldn't. My parents were so happy that day and I knew if I said no I would disappoint them… and I didn't want to do that. I was only angry at whoever changed the rules and had made me start working.

I sighed as more and more girls and boys walked past, groaning, laughing, shouting.

As the day went by I only got a few breaks and those breaks I used to see Lily. Every time I walked into her bedroom or into the living room she looks like the happiest person ever but every time I have to go it's painful hearing her cry for me.

"Brie!" Mum called while I was eating dinner, which was carrot and leak soup with a piece of bread. I wondered if I'd ever be able to eat dinner in peace without mum or dad calling me. I put my spoon down and was grateful that Lily was asleep as I walked down to the shop to mum.

I noticed she was holding a letter in her hands. When I approached her she handed it to me. "Here read it." She said. "It's for you." Just as I was reading the beginning sentence which read 'Dear madam/sir' mum stopped me and began telling me about it herself.

"It says that ALL boys and girls between the age of thirteen and seventeen, who live in Dale, must come to this government 'meeting'"

Dale was the county that we lived in. off course just like other county's Dale was split into towns and we lived in the town of Linkon.

"What?" I asked, wondering why.

"It's a government order so we cant ignore it. I'm afraid you'll have to go. Hmm…" She thought for a second. "I expect that all your classmates will be there too. "

Finally! I thought. Finally a chance to fit in and be a part of something. A chance to be included. I hated being outside the circle and missing out on so many things but at the same time I hated all of my classmates too.

" There's also a train ticket." Mum showed me the slip of paper. "You're on cabin C. That's all it really says. You'll have to go alone. There's only one ticket."

I had taken the train many times before so that wasn't a problem but what I was really worried about was why I had to go alone. And why they hadn't bothered to give us any information other than what was on the letter. I was going to ask all the questions I had in my head to mum but I knew she wouldn't have a clue so I left it.

"Wear good clothes because the government may be there and as soon as your done with this meeting come straight back, ok. Don't start chatting to people from your school and gossiping."

"But why me. We're only children."

Mum put on her serious voice."You're not anymore. You're turning into a young lady now and you'll need to be a bit more independent. Ok."

I was independent. I was independent enough to take care of my own needs and also take care of Lily's needs when mum wasn't around. But I knew it wasn't worth arguing with mum so I just answered with a "Yes mum." Then I asked. when is it ?"

Mum peered at the letter again. "You have to be there by...

eight-thirty a.m this Friday. So in four days time."

The next three days were almost exactly the same as the day before. Nothing had changed much.

The night before Friday, after I put Lily to sleep while mum was checking all the bills, I was folding my best shirt and jeans onto my bed. I chose to wear my sturdy boots because they were the most cleanest out of all my other shoes.

As I lay on my bed I started to feel nervous for the first time, wondering what was going to happen at this little 'meeting'.

But soon I started to feel my eyelids getting heavy and I knew it wouldn't be long before I fell unconscious.

To my terror I had the same dream with the horrifying image.

It was 5:30 when mum woke me up and I gasped again as I tried to recover from the dream. Mum told me that the train trip takes 3 hours. She'd been talking to some of my classmates mums and asking them about the 'meeting' but they didn't know anything about it either. They didn't even know where it was being held so they were going to use the train ticket as well. Mum referred to them as my 'friends' but none of them were my friends. None of them wanted to include me at school so I was mostly stuck wondering on my own in the playgrounds.

Some of them were nice enough to smile and talk but they still didn't want to include me as I joined halfway through year 8. I barely answered back when someone talked to me and asked me questions. I never talked much. There was only one person who I talked to properly but all of that disappeared soon after.

I was more nervous now as today was the day. I was wondering why because I didnt even know why I was going to this place. Maybe it is just a little meeting for teenagers, I thought.

But something told me there was more.

2. JOURNEY

Thank goodness Lily was still asleep otherwise it would have been hard to make a quick getaway. I kissed her on the cheeks softly and then said bye to dad, who was in the shop, and then got into the car with mum.

we were silent in the car and it made me feel awkward. Usually Lily would be in the car with us so the silence would be filled in but today she was fast asleep so we had to go alone. Me and mum weren't really that close. We didn't have heart to heart chats with each other and we never had any 'girly'times together, not that I wanted them. I couldn't talk about my problems with her and that's what made it hard. I was not close to dad ether but then again I don't know any daughter who was close to their dad.

To fill in the unbearable silence I turned the radio up. Loud music blared out of the speakers, scaring me, and I quickly turned it down but not down to nothing. There was still a little bit of noise coming from the radio and that was good.

After about 45 minutes of driving we arrived at the train station. Finally after a long amount of searching I found cabin C.

"Right remember to come straight back after this meeting." Mum reminded me.

"Yes mum." I said.

We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds until mum then said "Okay then I'll see you in a couple of hours bye."

She started walking off and I replied, "Bye mum."

As I got on the train my heart suddenly started beating more furiously and I halted to a stop.

Oh god.

I realised that half my year group were on cabin C. I was going to hate this train train was organized in groups of four seats around one table. There were about ten tables cramped together into one cabin.

I looked around, dumbly, to find a group of seats with no one else on there but everyone else had already spread themselves as groups over the seats. I realised that I would have to sit on a spare seat with another group of people. No-one had recognized me yet as it was so cramped but I knew it wouldn't be long.

As I was searching for a seat I saw that Claire, Amy and Sophie, were all sitting around a table. There was one spare seat next to Sophie.

They were probably the nicest people out of our whole year group so I slowly trudged along over to their table and sat next to Sophie. They seemed surprised to see me but thankfully they didn't say anything. They probably knew that if they talked to me I wouldn't really answer back so they just continued with their conversation. I was glad that they chose not to intefer with me and just left me alone. Maybe the train journey wouldn't be so bad, I thought.

But as usual I thought too soon.

"Hey look! It's the girl!" A voice came opposite me.

Oh no.

It was Kyle and his stupid gang. They were supposed to be the coolest guys out of our year. They were also the biggest bullies.

All of his gang laughed at Kyles joke.

"Aww I didn't think you'd be here seeing as mummy and daddy dragged you away from school. Apparently you're going to follow your parents footsteps and become a great big businesswoman! Ha-ha fat chance!"

I looked at him, shocked about how he knew.

He smiled as he read my face. "wondering how me and the whole school know?" He said.

I automatically looked around the train at everybody else still waiting for him to answer the question in my head.

"Well it was your parents off course! When you had dropped out of school all of a sudden for no reason people were curious. They wanted to know. So while they were driving down your road some of the parents went to your parents shop and asked why very subtly. My mum happened to be one of them." oh no this was taking a turn for the worse. "Ha! You should have seen my mum when she came back in the car. She was rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she said,

"God did you hear that woman! she was going on and on about how she was going to grow her daughter up to be a big business woman like her and how she didn't need school. Seriously who'd want a mother like her." Kyle imitated his mothers voice and then laughed, along with the other boys.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists trying not to get Kyle's words get to me but inside I was imagining it; My mum telling Kyles mum all about me becoming a businesswoman and then Kyles mum rolling her eyes as she told her son all of what my mum said. I knew it wouldn't have taken long for what my mum said to go around the school to everybody else all because of Kyles mum and everybody else. I wished they'd stopped poking their heads in.

I was dismayed. All this time I thought that nobody would have thought anything and at they every least they might have actually thought I was 'cool' for dropping out of school, though I didn't. But all this time they were all actually laughing at me.

Well nearly all of them.

"Hey!" Sophie shouted. "Just leave her alone and stop bullying her."

They started laughing harder but soon after a few minutes they became tired and started talking about something different.

Sophie turned to me. "Don't worry about them."

"Yeah" Amy had cut in. "They're just losers who are trying to wind you up. Just ignore them." If I was at school I might have smiled and agreed with them but now after hearing that practically the whole school had been laughing at me the last thing I wanted was for people to feel sorry for me.

"I'm not." I said harshly as I turned my back to them and wished more than anything that I had a table all to myself. I felt uncomfortable with many annoying eyes fixed on me and I just wanted them to go away. But then I heard words behind me that pushed me over the edge.

"Oh poor Brie. I'd hate to have a mum who had already decided my future when I was still a kid! It must be really hard for her. Maybe that's why she never likes to make friends."

Then I heard another voice.

"Yeah" they agreed. "I don't know what's actually keeping her going."

I didn't know who the words were coming out of but suddenly I realized I was dangerously close to tears. I quickly got up and slid open the stiff door to run to the nearest toilet to stop anyone from seeing me.

I ran into a cubicle, locked the door and forced the tears in. I didn't want to come out looking like a red tomato. I sat on the lid of the toilet and thought about what the girls had said.

And I realised that they were right.

If Lily hadn't come into my life then I wouldn't have been able to put up with all the hassle of trying to keep my parents happy and keep myself happy. Lily was the person who kept me going and made me happy. I didn't know what I would do without her. But I dint like having Mum and Dad being portrayed as the 'bad guys'. I knew they were only doing what was best for me though they never asked what I wanted. Never.

This just let the tears come out. I felt the moist in my eyes and I didn't bother fighting it. I felt them brim over my eyes and roll down my cheek.

I sobbed and sobbed until there were no more tears left.

I had stayed in the toilet for about half an hour and I decided it was probably time to leave. Ok just another half an hour left, I thought.

When I went back into the crowed room I was expecting a lot eyes to turn to me but, to my relief, everyone was so absorbed in their own conversations that they didn't even turn to look at me. The next half an hour was much easier and most of the time I was fiddling with my straight brown hair, hanging loose and plain as usual.

We all jumped when the train halted to a stop furiously. I immediately jumped up and headed for the door but as I headed there Kyle pushed me back. "Out of my way newsagent girl."

I gritted my teeth to stop myself from wanting to punch him and took deep breaths. There was a long queue for the door and each cabin was even more crowded as everyone wanted to get out of the door first and see where we had headed.

I just sighed and waited at the back. Wherever we were meant to be headed I knew it wouldn't be anything special.

As I got out, eventually, I was surprised to see that there were neat straight lines formed outside each door. I wondered if everyone on this train was going to his meeting. I guessed so. They probably had to use the other train as well. After all Dale was a very big place. There was an adult at the front of each of the lines holding a check board and a pen. I think ours was called 'Rachel'.

She was calling out names of everybody in our line.

We had to answer with a "Yes miss!"

It reminded me of school when every time a teacher marked the register we had to answer with a "yes miss!" or a "Yes sir."

I remembered one irritating teacher whom every time she did the register would ask me to repeat myself again.

"Speak up dear. You're as quiet as a mouse" She would say. I didn't mind it the first time but after another couple of times she found it quite amusing and would pick on me especially. I hated her and it hurt to remember the whole class laughing at me again.

"Brie!" Someone shouted.

I was suddenly brought back to reality as I realised that Rachel was shouting my name. She had obviously called it out a number of times.

"Yes miss!" I answered, embarrassed.

Off course this was bound to lead to another teasing so I wasn't surprised to hear someone murmur; "Now she's deaf too."

Once Rachel had ticked off all our names along with everybody else she told us that each of the categories, from 13-17, were going to be headed to different buildings all next to each other. I wondered why we were split into different categories and put into different buildings. I realised it must have been so they wouldn't have a clutter of teenagers all in different age groups.

She described the buildings a bit but I hadn't bothered listening.

I was too busy thinking about what Lily might have been up to. I figured she'd have been awake by now and I was worried that she might be bored. Dad was quite good at entertaining her but was no good at taking care of her needs such as changing her nappy and feeding her. That's what mum was good at but unlike dad she was useless at entertaining her. I was good at entertaining her and I knew when to feed her and when to change her nappy. I wished badly I could be back home with Lily.

This journey had better be worth it, I thought.

"Ok. The people that are nearest the gates will lead on first and you just follow on in your lines, ok?

"Yes, miss" we all droned.

"Good."

As we were walking in straight lines with the adults next to us Rachel came and joined me at the back.

Why me? I thought.

"So are you excited about today."

"Well I don't even know why we're here so no." I muttered.

"Well you'll find out soon. If you get picked it's a great honour."

I looked at her, confused, and asked, "Picked for what?"

I could see that Rachel had accidentally given too much out although she barely told me anything. "Oh don't worry about it. You'll find out soon anyway." She quickly rushed back to the front and announced, "We are now in the city of Brulam?"

Brulam? It wasn't a city I had heard of. But then again I barely had a life outside of the house so it wasn't surprising that I didn't know.

"Brulam?" I'd heard voices ask.

Oh, so maybe it was a town nobody had heard of.

"Yes Brulam." Rachel said as we continued walking. "It's a forgotten town that nobody knows about because it's made up of mostly forests. There are only five buildings in the entire city, that have just been refurbished, all next to each other and that's where you will be going."

No wonder no one knew about the city. Five buildings and everything else forest. No houses, no shops, nothing.

The only life there would be animals. The city would have been filled with animals.

While I was thinking so hard, I did not realise that we had stopped.

"Wow!" I heard many voices exclaim.

I looked up to see what was so fascinating and I was taken aback by the view. It really was fascinating. Everywhere all around us was trees beautiful wildlife. Every tree seemed to be filled with different species of birds all humming a song. The grass were shining green with water drops falling off them and if you squeezed your eyes and looked hard enough you could see beautiful plants all fully grown because of the perfect amount of rain and sunshine here. However, the most obvious thing here were the 5 buildings all symmetrical stood next to each other all with signs saying either one of the categories from 13-17 year olds. We were looking at the view from the top of a hill.

We still had to walk a bit longer to reach the place and I wondered if close up Brulam wasn't quite what it looked like before.

I was wrong. Nothing had changed.

"But that means this city is tiny." I whispered.

"Oh no." Rachel said, scaring me appearing out of nowhere. She laughed when she'd realised she'd scared me. "This whole forest goes on forever and forever. It would take you weeks to find the end of the forest, maybe even months." She led us towards the door named '14 year olds'.

"Right this is my queue to leave. I hope everything goes well for all of you. See you!" she shouted as she headed out.

"Bye!" Everyone shouted back apart from me. I wanted to know where we were going.

We were led into an empty room where there was just a young woman aged about 24-25 standing there. I thought it was just the people from my year in the 14 year olds category but I had forgotten there were two secondary schools in Dale. As the other 14 year olds managed to squish in I realised we had formed neat rows.

Then the young woman spoke, "Hello. My name is Sara Morris. Okay I'm not very happy about doing this but I must follow orders." Her voice was medium pitch and a little husky. "Right I don't want you to ask any questions. Just please do as I ask. After everything has been sorted, someone from the government will come and explain this to you in much more detail. So just for the moment, don't ask any questions. Do you understand?"

"Yes," we all answered, slowly, a little confused.

She smiled, "Ok then. Come this way." She motioned toward the big double doors. We all followed her; curious to see what was behind the doors. She pushed open the doors using some force and all of us, including me, gasped.

3. MUCH TO PROVE

We all just stared for a long time. The huge hall was filled with equipment. There were ropes and monkey bars but they weren't like gym equipment. No they were much more solid and obviously much harder. This is what made them stand out. There were beam bars, bows and arrows and so much more. Round me I heard murmurs and a few gulps. Standing in the corner of the huge hall, wearing suits, were three men all, I presumed, from the government. They had clipboards in their hands and had stern expressions on their faces.

"Go in." Sara nudged us. We all walked in slowly looking around us automatically. As I walked further into the hall I recognized more equipment such as weightlifters. I knew for sure Kyle would be itching to show off his strength using it. I hoped that it would drop on his feet and that he would be humiliated.

There was so much noise around me. After a few minutes we were silenced by the three men.

A high-pitched whistle echoed out into the room making everyone jump. I'd never heard a whistle making a sound so loud. Then I realised that it wasn't just one whistle being blown, it was three. All three men had blown their whistles in perfect unison as if they'd practised it. They stepped forward and the man in the middle spoke. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen." He spoke in a clear formal manner. "My name is Gary. This is David on my left and James on my right. I know you must have many questions and I assure you they will be answered soon. But first we would like you to follow all of our commands. We know you're surprised to see all this equipment out in front of you and we know it wasn't what you were expecting."

Then the James took over and spoke. "This is not a test of any kind so don't be worried. We would just like to see what you're capable of doing. We want you to try out all of these equipment even if some of them are not your strong points. Every category, from 13-17, have exactly the same equipment so don't think that there is an unfair advantage." He peered at his watch and then said, "Ok off you go!"

Everyone around me flew like a pack of birds to a particular activity leaving me in the middle of the hall wondering where to go. The three men's eyes shot at me and then the man named Gary snickered and said in a soft voice, "Sweetie it doesn't matter if you can't do any of the activities. Just have a go, eh?"

I hated his sugar sweet voice and the way that he too felt sorry for me for being the odd one out. I immediately ran and joined the line for one of the activities at the back. I hated him for jumping to conclusions and even though he looked like he was trying to be nice I knew inside he was laughing…at me.

I quickly looked over to see how many more people there were to go until it was my turn and I realised there was only three. There were hardly any people waiting for this activity and I wondered why. When there were only two more people left, I took a closer look to see what the activity was.

Oh no.

It was the monkey rings but they weren't your children's monkey rings that were really low to the ground. They were proper wooden rings. It seemed too childish to call them monkey rings. I watched the small boy try to get onto the first ring but he couldn't. And then I watched him slip. Thank goodness there were soft mats on the floor otherwise he would have broken his back for sure. He flexed his fingers and went to sit on a bench. That got me worried and then relieved. Worried because what if I couldn't do it? But then relieved because then I wouldn't have been the only one to not be able to do it. I watched the last person, before me, climb onto the bench and then swing on a rope.

A rope! There was a rope we had to swing on first before we had to get on the monkey bars. This had to be the hardest activity of all of them. I looked around and saw rock climbing bars, balancing beams and again the bow and arrow. But I hadn't seen an activity where you had to master two things.

This was just my luck. I had to choose an activity randomly and I ended up choosing the hardest one. But then I reminded myself that I was getting into a big fuss for nothing. I didn't even know why I was doing this in the first place.

"Go!" a voice shouted. I shook my head and then I realised that I was up. I looked at the person behind me who had shouted. I didn't recognize her but I did recognize that she was getting impatient. So I took a deep breath and climbed onto the bench. I waited for the rope to stop swinging back and forth and when it eventually did I grabbed onto it and held it firmly. I looked up at the solid rings to see how far I would have to reach.

Holy crow they were high! Even a tall person wouldn't have been able to grab it easily. I would have to jump and grab it. Swing and grab, I thought. I took another deep breath and was about to swing.

However, just as I was about to swing I noticed out of the corner of my eye that all three men had their eyes on me watching me carefully. As if that wasn't enough I realised that Kyle and his gang were also watching me sniggering. I gripped the rope even harder and I realised I had much to prove. But I didn't let that get to me. I told myself not to worry and to just swing.

Automatically without even thinking about it I jumped and felt the air rush past my face. This was it. I had just one chance to jump and one chance to prove myself. I felt my legs slide off the rope and I knew I had to jump. I built as much force inside me as I could and then I jumped. I waited and waited to fail and crash onto the mats.

But it didn't happen.

I couldn't believe it! I had made it onto the first ring without falling. To my surprise, I actually heard some clapping and cheers. This was unusual. I quickly peeked at the three men and I saw they were nodding their heads, impressed.

That boosted my confidence and I was finally beginning to feel like I was proving to them that I wasn't a weak little girl.

But then I felt my hands slipping. No. I couldn't give up yet. I struggled to hang on and my sweaty hands just made it worse. Focus, I thought. Focus. I told myself that whatever happened I would not let go of the rings. I held onto the ring and then reached out to grab the other ring. But I couldn't feel anything. It was out of my reach. I would have to use my force and push again. So I kicked my legs and pushed as hard as I could. And then I felt it. I felt the wood under my hands. There was another round of applause and I realised that everyone was watching me including the three men who were staring at me intently. I noticed that Kyle was also staring at me intently but he was irritated. I smiled. There were just two more hoops to go. I could feel myself beginning to tire and my back started to ache.

C'mon just two more hoops, I thought. I could feel my legs going back and forth uselessly so I used it again. I pushed using all the little force I had left and then reached out and grabbed the ring but then I didn't know what happened and I was suddenly clinging onto the last ring. I had managed to grab onto one ring but then so quickly, I didn't realise it happened, grab onto the other ring the next second. The room exploded into cheers as I swung from the last ring onto the bench. People patted me on the shoulder giving me praise. I looked at the three men. They all smiled and nodded. As I took in all the praise and the questions mostly "How did you do it?!" I felt my fingers burning so I sat on one of the benches and rested for a little. Next to me, I didn't realise that Kyle was there with his hand in his head. He looked up after a few seconds and after noticing me leaned away. "Urgh you think you're so amazing Don't you?" He said. "Just 'cos you did those rings."

Anger built up in my body and I repelled back. "No I did not! And you know what it was thanks to you that I actually completed that course."

"What?"

"Yeah you. Sniggering at me just waiting for that chance to humiliate me. That was what made me go on. You just think about that." With that I'd decided I had had enough with resting and I wanted to get back. I wondered if I'd ever be able to get on this type of equipment again. Definitely not. So I might as well enjoy the moment, I thought. Just because I had completed the rings it didn't mean I was a amazing at all the courses. I struggled a little with the archery not sure where to clip the bow but after a bit of help and a few goes I managed to hit near the balls eye. After that everything went like a breeze. I just enjoyed myself on the beam bars and laughed when I fell off and to my surprise people laughed with me and I could tell that they weren't laughing at me.

I also made sure I never bumped into Kyle.

I even helped out Sophie and her friends. When she was lining up I could tell she was scared. "Oh I don't think I can do this." She told me.

"Hey don't worry about it. Just focus and control yourself when you're up there. Think that if you let go something terrible will happen." That was what I'd been thinking that if I let go I would be humiliated further.

She had done really well and managed to nearly get across to the third ring and just slipped but she got right back up again to have another go.

That made me happier that people actually listened and took in my advice. I felt like I fit in abit more.

But then the whistle rang making us jump again.

"Alright Ladies and gentlemen. Your time is up." I noticed that the man speaking was the only man who's voice I hadn't heard. His voice was a bit deeper than the other two, David. Then Gary spoke. "Right you must all be knackered after all that excellent work so you may go into our canteen and have nice rest and eat something. It's on your right as soon as you go out. Ok off you go."

I followed everyone to the canteen and was surprised to see that it was basically three extremely long wooden tables with plates already set out and in front of you there were massive bowls of food.

It was a feast.

"Oh yes!" I heard people shout. I wondered why they thought this was so important that they prepared a feast. All they did was test us on our strength and skill… although people in the government were so rich maybe they thought that they should spoil us.

I heard lots of "Lets sit over here" and "No not over there!" Which made me realise that I had to sit somewhere. I immediately told myself I must avoid sitting anywhere near Kyle. I looked around and I saw an empty space next to Sophie again. I walked over to the chair and quietly sat down.

"Sorry do you mind if I sit here?" I asked.

They all smiled back warmly, "Not at all."

I wasn't used to having options on what I could eat. I was used to just eating what I was given, so when I was given the choice, I was a little bit stuck.

I ended up with a classic meal; roast potatoes with roast chicken, vegetables and stuffing. Amy very kindly offered me gravy with it. The food was delicious, the chicken was warm and succulent and the potatoes were nice and crispy. The stuffing was soft and had a really nice flavour to it and the gravy was the icing on the cake.

I felt full after I'd eaten but I hadn't realised that there was still dessert. There was so much variety and it was hard to get used to but eventually I chose the one that looked the most appealing, the chocolate fudge cake.

As I bit into the cake I could feel the melted chocolate oozing into my mouth. It was perfect.

Once I'd gone through everything and I had nothing more to do I had a look around the place. I hadn't noticed that there was a stage built up at the end of the hall. The place was shaped out almost like an assembly apart from in most schools you weren't allowed to eat during assembly.

"Hello again, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you had a nice feast."

There were some shouts and murmurs of "Yes!" but mostly everyone stayed quiet, including me.

"Right good. So now we have some important news to announce but off course don't stop eating."

All three of them stepped up onto the stage and they held identical microphones. Gary was holding a laptop. He was obviously the most important, I only just realised. Then using a projector he projected what was on the laptop onto the wall. I didn't know what was projected on the wall. It looked unfamiliar.

"Right…guys this on the wall here is a randomiser. What we have done is we have put in all your names, separated into girls and boys, into the randomiser and then we click the green button and off it goes! It will end up with one girl at the end and then one boy. They are the people we will choose. The boy and girl will work together."

"Before we press the button we would like to say whoever gets chosen this is a great honour." So they were going to pick one boy and girl who would have to work together.. They all smiled and then James on the right hand side said, "Right girls first."

Then with one click, heard by everyone in the room, the randomiser went. I curiously watched the randomiser flipping through all the different names so quickly I could only make out certain letter and not the whole word.

As the words were flipping through I wondered about what the boy and girl would have to do. If we were just tested on obstacles maybe they would have to do an obstacle race or maybe they would have test in which they would have to control themselves.

Suddenly I was interrupted with a booming voice.

"Brie Henderson!"

I looked up, shocked.

4. SHOCK

People automatically clapped. Though why they clapped they probably didn't know. I sat in my seat looking dumbly at everyone else.

"Come on. Come on up onto the stage!" Gary said motioning for me to come. I stood up and walked, feeling self-conscious, up onto the stage. I awkwardly walked up the steps and onto the stage next to the three men who patted me on the shoulder and gently pushed me to the front of the stage.

I didn't even know why I was standing here and I knew none of my other classmates knew either but still they carried on clapping.

"Okay. Okay." The man on the left hushed. "Let's see who our boy is going to be."

Then with another swift click, he pressed the button.

I didn't know if I should have been worried or happy. The three men told us countless number of times that we should be very pleased to be chosen but something inside me told me I shouldn't. But Within seconds the next name is called.

"Carter Devon!"

Oh no. Please anyone but him!

I couldn't believe it. I was going to have to work together with Carter Devon.

The person I'd vowed never to look in the eyes again was going to work with me. I told myself to stop being a drama queen and calm down. After all it wasn't like I was going to have to communicate with him and depend upon him. No that would be hell.

I forced myself a smile as everyone clapped but I don't think I managed it.

But I was soon able to sulk again as the three men pushed us towards another set of doors.

"Okay everyone. We are just going to tell our chosen ones…well everything so off course eat some more if you wish and you may watch on the projected screen everything that is happening. Okay we'll see you later."

They waved before leading us into the room. While we were going one of them whispered into our ears, "You're on camera and all your friends are watching you, so don't embarrass yourself or us." His voice sounded almost threatening.

The room was set out like those of a police station where the cops would harass the criminals. There was a round table with three seats on one end and two on the other.

"Make yourself comfortable." Gary said. When they sat down they sat in the same order that they were before. I sat down carefully, annoyed that they made us looked stupid in front of the year because we were still in the dark. I realised that everyone would be watching very closely at what was happening and that made me grumble.

The all looked very businesslike as they sat on their chairs with their hands crossed. It was if they'd rehearsed what they were saying as Gary first spoke then James and then Dave and then it continued until they'd finished what they were saying.

"Okay, so I'm sure you kids know that we the UK are in the middle of a crisis. Our financial status is going down and we now owe a heft amount of money to a few countries especially America." Gary said.

I knew that much. I was sure almost every kid in our school knew that. The UK were being shamed for their big debt which was mostly being owed to America who gave money to develop new facilities. A lot of money. But the government hadn't used the money every wisely and had mostly spent it on themselves which was why many of the people in the government were sent to prison and they were replaced.

Then James spoke, "Well as you know it's been a few years and we still haven't paid it back and as a result America is getter more arrogant. So they made a deal with us."

Now Dave took the speaking role, "It's a little like a competition if that's how you young ones call it. Both countries will go against each other in a gruesome battle… no think of it as an adventure and you will be out there for weeks maybe months. The last pair standing will be crowned champions in each category."

"The Americans are so arrogant they sure they're going to win so we made a deal with them that if we win and they lose then they will be the ones who will owe us a big debt and we wont have to owe them anything. It took a lot of persuading but we did it eventually. That's brilliant isn't it."

We both looked at the three men as if they were crazy. There were only two words which caught my attention; gruesome battle. There was a long pause until Gary finally spoke in a careful manner, "It was a clever idea of us to reverse their idea around. We believe in all of you in each category. Now do you have any questions?"

There were a billion questions in my head but I asked one of the main ones, "You said g-gruesome battle. What does that mean."

Gary answered again. "Oh we said think of it as more of an adventure didn't we." He could see he wasn't fooling any of us. "Ok I'm sure Rachel or Sara have already told you about the forest which lies just outside this building." He looked at us confirming that we knew and then carried on, "Well that forest goes on for miles and miles. It takes five days just to get there by helicopter! Imagine how long it would take if you were walking and if there were many obstacles slowing u 's why the Americans thought it would be a good place to have our… battle."

There was a bit of a silence until Carter spoke. It was the first time I'd heard his voice in a year and the low soft voice made it hard for me to concentrate. "So are we just expected to walk and walk until we come to the end?"

The men hesitated until Gary spoke. "Well... yes and there are many obstacles that are going to be in the way to make it more of a challenge. We know how much you kids love challenges!" He tried to sound enthusiastic, "Off course your health is going to be an obstacle but then there a re going to be some physical obstacles such as climbing trees and swinging on rings." He looked at me in the eyes. Some of the Obstacles we would have set up and some have always been in the forest… such as the wild animals."

That immediately spiked my attention. What kind of animals might have been there. If they're wild then some might be fierce.

"In about a month or so all the obstacles will be ready but you know there's only so far the builders can go to put the obstacles. So when you see a red flag it means that there are going to be no more obstacles in your way. That's good isn't it."

"But there are still going to be our physical obstacles?" I asked.

"Yes off course. Cant let it be too easy. You'll have to find sources of water and make food. You'll learn all the good and bad food to eat in your training."

I still didn't understand. Was it going to be a fun task or was it going to be serious. "So what are the Americans role in this?" I asked.

"Oh well you're going to be against the Americans. Their going to try and get to the end before you so your going to have to try and pick them off. You're all going to start from different ends of the forest but I know that at some point you will come across each other and you will have to fight."

I didn't like he words he used; pick them off, fight.

Now I understood abit more. Everyone, from each category would start from one section of the wide forest and then they would have to find the end of the forest but along the way they would come across their opponents and they would have to fight them. I would have to make my way through a never ending forest with Carter Devon and survive for god knows how long… without Lily.

"Okay give it to me in a nutshell." I said.

"Okay in a nutshell. So that we don't have to owe any money but instead we get money from America we've done this deal. They're so arrogant they're sure they're going to win. You will have to survive through the forest and try to… well basically survive avoiding the obstacles and getting food and water. We have made a decision that it will be broadcast live as an entertainment show on television from 12 o'clock till 6 o' clock. You will be against the American team but you only have to concentrate on the opponents that are in your category. You will have to work as a team and you have to have trust between the two of you. You will have to depend your lives on this person." Carter immediately looked at me but I quickly looked away.

James noticed this and said, "Seriously you really have to work together, ok? You will have weapons as well." He saw both our faces, alarmed and quickly said, "Don't worry you're not going to kill them with the weapons. You're just going to make them pass out for about ten minutes so you can go ahead of them. "Clever isn't it?" Yeah clever if you're the one shooting with the weapons. Not so clever if you're the victim., I thought.

"What happens if the Americans beat us?" Carter asked.

"Well then…"

"What?" we both asked.

He hesitated for a bit but then was back to himself. "Then you get a punishment which is… that you'll have to be a slave for the Americans for as long as they want you to be."

I felt sick. I'd understood everything now. The government were using us as a way to get money. They were putting us through torture. God knows how long we would live in that forest, trying to scavenge for food and also going through obstacles. and we would have to trust our partner with our lives. All of this so that they can pay off some debt. I felt really sick now.

I jumped up, "No!"

Everyone seemed surprised but then the three men quickly adjusted their faces. " I knew there'd be one." I heard.

Look the only reason I cleared the rings and made it onto the shortlist was because I wanted to prove to you three and Kyle that I wasn't a weak kid who was useless, ok! That was what kept me going. I'm not actually strong and I don't behave like a warrior.

Gary shrugged, "Well we don't care how you did it you still proved you were strong enough to fight the battle.

That just made me even more angry. "You're going to put us through hell and probably kill us just so that you can pay off some debt and get money. You are the most greediest people I have ever seen!" I shouted at them. Carter suddenly tugged at me but I didn't care. "Do you think we're in the olden times? Do you think we're at war and we're the soldiers because that's how you're acting?"

Gary, (I'd kind of guessed by now that he was the main speaker, the one who did nearly all the talking,) rose and said in a deadly voice, "Oh it is war." Then he changed his expression into a more soothing one—which I knew was fake immediately – and said, "Why don't we go talk about this in a another room with no cameras so your friends wont be watching us the whole time."

I'd completely forgotten about them and I wondered what they'd be thinking now. I'd never spoken out before. I had always hunched up in a corner and never said anything. They were seeing a different side to me. But I quickly erased all thought of that and focused more on the subject though my anger didn't go. I realised now that the spokesperson had been holding my arm, and gently trying to lead me, so I quickly shook him off. "No. I'm not going to do anything until you promise to let us go."

His lips pressed into a tight line and he looked back at his two fellow men. They made a very small nod at each other and then as Gary turned back to me – a sly smile reaching his lips – he said, "There is nothing I can do to make you change your mind?"

I started to get a little wary and worried but I stayed firm and shook my head.

He smiled even wider, "How about if I say your sister's life depended on it?" And all three men laughed.

6. GIVEN UP

It felt like all life had been sucked out of me as the words repeated inside my head. I couldn't make the obvious question, 'What do you mean?' come out of my lips but I knew the men had read it on my face.

They presses a play button on the laptop and turned it to face me, still smiling. I flopped down on my seat and watched expecting the worst. And it came.

At first all I could see was black, just black. But as the video went on I could make out a horribly familiar face. My sister. There were screams of terror and pain as my sister, strapped to a chair, tried to tug out of it. And then I heard the worst. "Br-! Br-

I knew, instantly she was calling me and I reached out for her almost thinking I could grab her out of there. Her face was terrified as she struggled some more. Each time she called me I gasped.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and I didn't fight to stop them. I let them all out and the whole time I was watching the video.

Suddenly the heartless man slammed the lid down and looked at my lifeless face.

All the fury and anger bottled up inside me suddenly flowed out, "YOU HEARTLESS PIGS!"

I kicked my chair out of the way and lunged for the men but mostly Gary who was stood smiling. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Brie!" Carter cried out as he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back.

"WHER IS SHE? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TOO HER?" I cried. I tried shaking Carter off but he seemed surprisingly too strong. Eventually Carter won and he managed to pull me away from him but I still carried on kicking and screaming. I even ended up kicking Carter. He was struggling to hold onto me as he whispered, "Don't let them defeat you like this."

At first his words stopped me but then some painful memories back at school came back into my head and I snarled back at him, "What like he defeated you?"

He knew I wasn't talking about the three men but about somebody else.

Guilt washed across his face and he immediately let go of my hands but I had calmed a little now so I didn't go and lunge for their throats again … though I thought about it.

I sat down on the seat and remembered Lily's pained cries.

I let all my tears out. But I didn't put my head in my hand, and hide my face, like I normally would. Instead I stared motionless into the walls. Then I remembered that we hadn't moved rooms so everyone must have been watching on the camera.

"We haven't hurt your sister… yet. She is being escorted home but we can easily bring her back and

There was nothing I could do. I had to fight, so that they would let Lily go, but the first thoughts that raced through my head was 'I'm going to die.' Suddenley I was reminded of the horrifying image in my dream. Was that my fate? Was I always destined to die in a brutal way? It seemed so.

I wanted them to always regret taking me in as their fighter so I knew I had to disappoint them. There was only one way I could do that. Die immediately. I told myself that, once I was thrown out there, the first obstacle or animal or maybe even opponents that got in my way could defeat me and I wouldn't even object. They'd be more bothered if they realised that I died without even trying.

"Changed your mind?" He asked.

I almost smiled, "Yes."

That was all that had to be said. Once the three monsters asked Carter if he was going to accept or put his family in danger as well, and after the coward quickly said no, one of the men, straightaway, went to the feast room and told everyone to go home while Carter and I waited.

"Right. You will be able to say goodbye to your family for a little bit but that's it" I was surprised they even gave us a few minutes. After all this I was convinced, they were going to drag us into the forest and chuck us in there straightway. But we had to do all the hard goodbyes first.

Suddenly a woman rushed through the doors followed by a man. They were both dressed formally, the lady with a light pink shirt and pencil skirt with high heels and the man with an expensive looking blazer over his shirt and tie with matching shoes. I recognized the man. He was the deputy minister of Dale. He was Carter's dad. Carters mum rushed up to her son and gave him a hug. "Oh my boy, I can't believe this has happened to you." She had tears in her eyes as she said this. To my surprise, his dad's face was blank as if he did not care about what would happen to his son. He patted his son's shoulders as he said, "I'm sorry son."

"That's ok dad." Carter replied. Then a buzz echoed out into the room. Carter's dad reached out into his pocket and then took out a phone and looked it. The most likely thing he was doing was probably looking at a text. Carters mum ignored him and looked back to his son.

I sat there awkwardly not quite knowing what to do. The three men had disappeared so it was just me, carter and his mum and dad, though it wasn't like that for long. Carter's dad put his phone back into his pocket and then peered at his watch. After a second or two he looked back at Carter, "I'm late for my meeting."

I wondered if I heard wrong. Did he care about a meeting more than his son? This could have been the last chance to see his son and he preferred to go to a meeting. For one moment, I really did feel sorry for Carter for having such an uncaring dad. Then I remembered I should not be feeling sorry for him.

Carters mum threw him a sharp look but Carter quickly interrupted, "Oh no it's ok dad. You go to your meeting." I noticed his face was slightly red. Carters dad patted his shoulders again before turning around and heading for the doors while Carters mum gave him another hug, "Be careful, son." Then she looked at me, "I'm so sorry, Brie." She said.

She had no reason to be sorry but instead of pointing it out, I pressed my lips together and forced a smile.

Carter and I stood in the small room, awkwardly waiting for something to happen. There were only two other people in the room; the guards who let visitors in.

One or two times I felt Carters eyes on me, making him feel uncomfortable. I stared straight forward never looking at him.

The doors heaved open again and I looked up wondering who it could be. It was Claire, Amy and Sophie. What were they doing here? They all ran up to me and all spoke over each other saying how horrified they were and how upset they were.

"Hang on did you wait all that time just to see me?"

Amy was the one to speak, "Off course we weren't going to leave without at least saying… goodbye." As she said this tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Don't cry" I soothed patting her shoulder.

"Claire also dabbed at her eye. "Those three men are all monsters doing that to you and your sister. It feels like we have been friends forever though we have only got to know each other for a day."

"Friends?" I said surprised. I had never had a friend before. It felt strange and also good but I reminded myself that I wouldn't have any friends for long.

Sophie gave me a hug, which also felt odd, "None of us knew about your sister and how… close you were. Even Kyle and his stupid gang were a little taken aback."

Well that was certainly a shocker.

"We'll do everything we can to help you." Claire promised.

"Thanks," I said. "But I doubt there will be much you can do to help."

They all nodded, sad. Amy sniffed, "Well we wanted to give you something and we hope you like it. She pulled my arm out gently and I watched curiously, as she worked over my arm. I could not see what she was doing as her hands were in the way. When she finally let go of my arm i felt something light on my right wrist. I examined it curiously and I realised it was a bracelet. The chain was simple- just metal links joined together- but what made the bracelet so unbelievably beautiful was the charm hanging from it. It was a beautiful Sapphire that shined in the light, funny how they knew it was my favourite colour, or maybe it was just a co-incidence, and although they weren't real diamonds I still loved them as if they were.

"It's to represent all of us." Sophie explained.

I couldn't think of anything to say apart from, "Wow." I had to adjust myself to speak, "Thank you so much. I – I don't deserve this really." The truth was beginning to hit me and I realised I was starting to get teary. "I will wear it always," I promised. I hadn't realised how much time had gone by until one of the men at the doors cleared his throat and said, "Um, there is another family wating so if you girls would like to make your way…"

Claire looked like she wanted to object but I quickly interrupted, "Oh no you girls go."

They looked at me for a long moment and then nodded. As each of them gave me a last hug they all whispered something in my ear. I had only realised once they had walked out the door that they had all said, more or less, the same thing; Stay alive.

But the words meant nothing to me. My fate had already been decided and I was going to stick to it.

Then I heard a voice that threw me off my plans and pain shot through me. I had tried so hard not to think of this moment but I knew I had to face it and be strong.

It felt like it was the first time I had heard their voice, ringing like a thousand bells as she ran up to me. She was like an angel as she spoke, "Br –

I fell to pieces.

7. SENSATION

She ran up to me and like routine, I immediately scooped her up as she gave me the biggest hug ever. I hadn't realised that by now the tears had flooded out. She looked at me, confused, and then wiped a tear away.

I felt whole now that she was here. I felt pat on my shoulder and I looked to see who it was. It was mum. "I – I don't know what to say." She said and she pulled me into a hug. It was strange hugging mum but it also felt nice and warm. For once, I actually felt like a kid. "Why have they done this to you?" She sobbed.

"I don't know," I replied. "They're filled with greed."

"I shouldn't have let come here. I should have known better,"

"No mum," I soothed. "It looks like it was always my fate to fight for them."

I had never really believed in fate but now I did more than ever remembering the horrid dream I had the very day I got the letter. It was strange to think that the letter was actually inviting me to my death.

I looked around me and realised dad wasn't here and I knew he must have been staying in the shop. I didn't feel hurt by it at all as mum told me. "There has been a bit of a problem in the shop. Someone tried to steal a packet of cigarettes but we don't need to talk about it. However, I wanted to know I didn't ask. If dad was ok then that was fine.

Mum stroked Lily's hair, "She's been missing you, you know." She whispered. "I don't know how we're going to cope… or how she's going to cope." I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about how much pain Lily would be in when she realised that potentially I might never come back. I squeezed her tighter.

Mum shook her head wiping her tears away, "Honestly here I am talking about how Lily won't be able to cope when really you're the one who is going to be at risk!"

"Mum please don't." I whispered. I didn't want her to cry. Mum sniffed and then she held my hand, " it's crazy thinking that I cant sop this. They took Lily back home but I demanded that they take me and Lily back to you. I thought I could… stop them. I'm so sorry Brie."

"Mum it's ok and I'm really glad that you came to see me."

Mum looked me in the eyes and took hold of my shoulders, "Brie promise me, promise me you will do you're absolute best to stay alive. Promise me."

I had never seen my mum crying like this… for me. I had never felt so emotionally in pieces before in my life. It felt there was a bond that I had had with Lily for so long, now with my mum that had never been discovered until now.

And this time I couldn't sigh and say yes like I had with the girls. This time it was different because I was talking to my mum who suddenly felt like my mum. I looked at mum feeling guilty now about planning a suicide mission, "I- I don't know about that mum."

She nearly went into hysterics. "NO Brie! Brie listen to me. You will stay alive." I didn't know what to say. Her face fell when she realised I had given up hope. Then she said in a small voice, "Please Brie."

I calmed her down by soothing her shoulders, "It's ok my mum I will try to stay alive." However, I wasn't sure. Should I try my hardest… but surely even then I would still die. On the other hand, should I not try and die purposely and make the three monsters furious. I was not sure.

I could see she wasn't sure whether to believe but at least she had stopped the hysterics. I looked at Lily. Her face was scrunched up and her eyebrows were pulling down towards each other. She was wondering why mum was crying so much.

She took hold of my face, and stared into my eyes. At that moment I didn't know what was happening. I felt a new sensation inside me. I tried to look away from Lily's stare but I couldn't.

I gasped as Lily finally looked away and pulled me into an extremely tight hug, gripping onto me.

"Brie are you ok?" Mum asked.

What the hell was that? I asked myself. Had she just looked right into my eyes. Was is an accident. No she must have know what she was doing. Was she trying to tell me something.

I gasped again.

Was she trying to tell me to stay alive?

8. EXCRUCIATING

Little children are just as clever as adults, they just think in a different way.

This was a theory that someone, I couldn't remember who, had come up with which Einstein had credited as "So simple only a genius could have come up with it"

Although I had also credited it, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it true. I had always thought that children would learn as they grew up.

But this was something different.

"Right I'm afraid your time is up. Come on now miss."

The different tone of voice caught my attention and I looked up.

No! The guard was tugging Mum and Lily away from me. I felt Lily coming apart from me.

"No!" I shouted gripping onto Lily.

It all seemed to happen so fast. I screamed and gripped onto Lily, not letting go and then Lily screamed, shooting pain through me, and didn't let me go and then Mum cried not letting go of either of us.

"No please!" I cried as he started pulling her away. Lily's face was red and the tears wouldn't stop falling from her cheek, nor had mine, as she screamed and tried holding onto me.

But she was not strong enough.

I held on tighter to Lily. Another guard had then grabbed hold of my arms, like vice chains, and pulled me away. "No!" I cried the never-ending tears still going. I kicked and I screamed trying as best I could to break through the chains. But it was no use. The other guard pulled Mu and Lily away and the last memory I had of Lily and Mum was them screaming.

I realised now that I must give something to Lily. I would do what she asked, do what she wanted. I would do everything I could to stay alive when they threw me out to fight my fate.

"This way," Gary said leading us into a lift. I had never really liked lifts. I never felt safe in them. It was like a block of flats was specially devoted for the whole fight. The trip through the lifts only lasted a few seconds and we were quickly onto the next floor.

"And this is where you both, your designers and your trainer will be staying. He opened the door, numbered '28', and my eyes filled with many different colours and furniture. The flat was very lavish. The door opened to a couple of steps, which Gary skipped down, and led straight to a living room with four brightly coloured sofa's facing each other pointing inwards towards an expensive looking coffee table. Next to the sofas was a long rectangular table. Even the tablecloth draped over the table looked posh. In the corner there was a big antique grandfather clock. I walked over to it and stroked it without thinking. "This is your bedroom Brie." I heard Gary say.

I looked up when I heard my voice. I didn't like the way he said my name. He rolled the 'r' whenever he said it. I took a look at my room. It was much bigger than my room at home and I didn't like it. There was a bed a table a piano, which surprised me, and a TV. I also had my own en-suite. Everything was so different. The rest of the bedrooms were almost identical apart from the wallpapers were different and various other things were different.

"Lunch is ready," a high pitched voice called out as we were looking around the last bedroom. I wondered why The monsters didn't live in our flat but then I realised they probably didn't want to share and wanted their own luxuries. Gary turned to us, "Ok lunch is ready. I will let you enjoy your meal in peace.2 As he was just about to go he added, "Oh and make sure you eat plenty." He grinned an evil grin which made me want to feel sick. When I turned back around to face the table somehow everyone had managed to seat themselves on chairs and had already started eating. It was like another feast except there were less of us. There were two girls and one boy with brightly colours=d hair that I guessed were our designers and then there was our trainer and then there was Carter. I realised, dismayed, that I had to sit next to Carter since there were no other free seats. I slowly sat down looking all the food. There were fruits in pretty bowl but mostly there were lots of fatty food. Probably trying to toughen us up. I scooped up some potato wedges and chicken drumsticks and started munching. When I'd swallowed my first bite the designers spoke.

"Hi I am Zoe," I made a note to myself that she was the one with green highlights in her hair.

"I'm Katrina," She was the one with the pink hair.

"And I am Paul." He was the one with the blue hair, I noted. Hmm fairly ordinary names though there was nothing ordinary about their appearance. How ironic.

"I bet you can't wait to be redesigned into, like, celebrities!" Katrina said, excited. I smiled a tight smile. She made us sound like dolls.

Paul was also excited. "Practically everyone in Europe knows about this batt-… competition" He quickly amended. There was no use in him quickly changing the words. I knew what he was going to say.

Then Sara spoke. It had been a long time since I'd heard her speak. She looked annoyed and sounded sarcastic, "Yes it is all so amazing isn't it."

I didn't know why but I suddenly liked her more than the designers. Something about the fact that she was not denying what this really was and the fact that she was clearly unhappy about the whole situation.

"Training starts an hour after lunch so you can wonder about the whole building except never ever enter Gary and the other two men's rooms otherwise you will die." She said. I had a feeling she might have been in that situation already. Carter nodded so I copied him as well. Then he spoke and again for some reason my heart started racing faster, "How long will training last?"

"2hours today but for the rest of the month you will be expected to train for two hours in the morning afternoon and in the evening."

I looked over at the designers, "So what do we need them for?" I didn't realise how rude I came across but the more it sunk in that I really was doing this the more fierce I felt.

But the designers weren't at all hurt maybe because they were expecting it.

Zoe answered my question, "Well we can't have you looking plain and ordinary when your being on television! While you're here in this flat, you'renot going to be on Tv at all. Out there when you start fighting for real, you're going to be on TV almost all day. I'm sure you have been told that. So we'd still like you to look good. In addition, there will be a time when you can meet the other people from the other categories but off course not the people in the American team because –

"How about when it comes to training time I'll tell them the details seeing as I am their trainer and mentor." Sara interrupted. I was glad that she did because I was starting to wonder how long Zoe would go on for.

Zoe pursued her lips but nodded. And we finished lunch but a few times I could swear someone was staring at me.

10. REALISATION

I wasn't quite sure what to do when the designers told us we had an hour to ourselves so I went into what was supposed to be my bedroom. My eyes immediately laid on the beautiful piano. I sighed. It had been a long time since I had played the instrument.. I used to play it in school in my spare lunchtimes by myself and I'd remember how I'd had wished I could have piano lessons.

I laid my hands over the ivory keys and gently played something random. The sound filled me with so much happiness that I wanted to sit playing the piano for the whole hour.

But my thoughts wanted to think of something else. Constantly I was reminded of Lily and it hurt.

Think of something else, I told myself.

Unfortunately the piano reminded me of school and my thoughts washed over my second worst image. An image of Carter appeared in my head and I immediately tried to shake it off… but I couldn't. My mind was forced to think of the horrible time again.

The first time I talked to Carter was in our first Maths lesson in year 7. My head played back what happened like a blurry video I knew most of what he had said. We were asked to measure the perimeter of a rectangle using string. I remembered holding the string tightly while Carter, my partner, measured the perimeter. He had asked me to work out a complicated calculation involving multiplication.. Thankfully multiplication was my strong point in Maths. I was glad. It took me less than ten seconds to quickly work out the answer as I wrote it down. When I told him I could see he was doubtful and he checked it himself. When he confirmed my answer he said, "Hey, well done."

I wasn't sure why but for some reason I felt really happy. I thought the only person who could make me happy was Lily. Later on in the lesson I remembered laughing and taking away his maths book. He laughed as well and then I remembered us getting in trouble but I think the teacher particularly liked us because we got the work done quick. However he was much better than me in maths. He asked me what I'd got in my maths test in primary school. I'd told him what I got which was somewhere around 85%. I automatically replied asking him what he got and he surprised me telling me he got 98%. I was glad he seemed interested enough in me that he asked me this stuff.

"That's amazing," I said. He just shrugged. Then I realised I was sitting next to him in German as well and history. It's not like I believe in fate but it seemed a bit strange. How strange that I'd ended up liking the first boy who I sat next to and talked to. I wonder sometimes what would have happened if I hadn't sat next to him in maths.

Often I would laugh at him for doing something stupid and I remembered one time when he'd been searching for his pencil and asking me where it was. I just laughed but then a couple of months later I found it in my bag! I always wondered whether he'd put it in there himself. It continued like that. I was happy to talk to him. A few times I remembered when he would go quite far and ask me out.I always said no. I couldn't be sure if he was joking or not and I was not a risk taker. I wasn't like his friend but even still my heart raced every time he talked to me.

We smoothly made the transition into year 8. Everything changed. We weren't the new kids anymore and people started to get inevitably divided. I didn't really hang around with anyone much. I usually hung around in the library by myself or in the piano room. I only looked forward to particular lessons. Things stayed the same for a couple of months but then I noticed that he'd made some new friends and I saw that he was now classed as 'cool.' It annoyed me that there were different classes of people. It wasn't fair. It made it harder for me to talk to him. But I remembered a few times some people would say something like, "Oh Carter thinks your friends with him." Or "Ooh Carter likes you!" I'm not sure why but I would immediately repel back with, "Ew! Later on, I would regret what I'd said. Although I would keep on saying I wouldn't like him I always hoped he wouldn't give up hope and would still like me. Because I did in fact like him. I was selfish but at the time I thought people would laugh at a cool person going out with someone uncool. It was like in the olden times where people would have laughed and looked down on you if a white person and black person were together.

So that was why it came as a shock when I realised he had moved on.

We went onto year 9. That's when everything went wrong. I didn't like the painful words but my mind forced me to remind myself of those painful few months again.

I remember the first day back at school after the summer holidays looking around at everyone in our form group. Off course I wasn't surprised to see most of the girls with even more make up on and more extravagant hairstyles. It made me wonder. Should I put bags on make up too and spend two hours on my hair every morning? The idea had repulsed me. But off course the face I was initially looking for was obviously his. Off course through the summer holidays, it wasn't like every cell in my body ached to see him and every thought in my head was filled with him, but occasionally I would find myself wondering what he was getting up to.

He looked a little bit different. His shoulders were more broader and his face was a little rounder. He had lost his younger child face. Nothing happened the first couple of months and I started to feel like I should impress him. But every time after I tried a new hairstyle or put my secretly bought make up on and confirmed it looked nice I couldn't walk into school with it. I just didn't have any self esteem.

Then one day it all happened. Carter was making his mates and some girls laugh in form time. I couldn't tell who they were because I could only see the backs of them. He was spilling out a few jokes to them. Although I didn't find the jokes particularly funny I still laughed wanting to somehow impress him. And then one of his mates turned around and scoffed. It was Kyle.

I couldn't believe it Carter was hanging around with Kyle and his gang…with some bullies. I felt hurt.

"Who told you to laugh loner?" He exclaimed and then laughed along with his mates and then he looked over at Carter. After a second carter then laughed…at me.

It stung. The pain washed through me as I looked down hiding my face. Luckily there was no one else who had heard that very little conversation but his bullying laugh had stuck with me. Even now I could still hear it in my head and I realised that Carter had gotten over me and was obviously to cool for me. I ached inside but didn't let it show outside. I remained the same hidden hostile girl who never answered anything but somehow still did well in school.

That was when a new law was passed of teenage workers and when I finished my school life.

As I finished the song on the piano my flashback had also finished. As I lifted my hands off the keys I realised I had tears in my eyes. I quickly wept them away and thoughtlessly went to sit on the massive bed. Who needs such a big bed? I thought.

And then suddenly realisation hit me.

I wasn't supposed to be a little emotional girl who cried at little memories when I went into this battle. I was supposed to be tough and skilful and I should definitely not show what a cry-baby I was. The only good thing about me finishing school was that at home with Lily I acted like myself and wasn't hostile and hidden. I was playful and soft. I had to act like I was in school again. Well, I thought, that wouldn't be too hard as I bet Carter would be bullying me the whole time. But maybe he would drop the whole bullying thing if he realised we were going to put each other's life in their hands. I jumped when I heard a creak outside my bedroom door. I immediately looked over to where I heard the sound and caught a little glimpse of a figure quickly running away. It was carter, I was sure. What was he doing there? Was he watching me? I didn't know what to feel but I certainly didn't let my hopes rise. He does not care for you or like you Brie, I told myself.

STORY

"Come on guys. Your hour is up?" Sara shouted. I abandoned all my thoughts and went down to the dining room/living room to see that Sara had changed her clothes. She had left her high-heeled boots and glamorous dress for a plain t-shirt shorts and trainers I stood there awkwardly while Sara jumped up off the sofa, waiting. for Carter. When he finally appeared, Sara took us to the lifts again.

"Okay it is building number 7, okay. You've got to remember the number because next time I'm not going to escort you." We both nodded. I looked down as the lift started hoping not to get sick. We immediately halted to a stop and I heard a gasp. I looked up and a gasp quickly came out of my mouth when I looked past the doors.

Sara spoke, "Guys this is your practice arena."

The arena was massive, even bigger than the hall where we met the three men. It was also filled with much more equipment, some I had never seen. Sara explained to us that each person from each category had arenas with exactly the same as ours. In the centre of the room I saw some monkey bars – the name really didn't suit its appearance – but there were more wooden hoops to get through. That was really going to push me. There were also some obstacles similar to it.

"Before I get you started I'd like to answer some of your questions," Sara said nudging us towards a small round table in the corner of the room. She started talking without us having to ask any questions. I kept my face straight and showed no emotion to what Sara was saying and also Carters annoying stares. That boy was really starting to get on my nerves. I smiled to myself. I was already getting into my expected character.

"Okay we have tried to fill the arena with equipment that is similar to what you will come across in the…battle. But the truth is we don't really know exactly what you're going to be facing." My body stiffened as I heard this. So we were doing this blind?

Sara quickly worked to reassure us, "But we have been given clues by the three men, Gary, James and David. They are organising half of what happens in the battle. And off course the Americans are organising the other half. From the clues we have been given you are most likely going to in a forest of some sort with some rare exotic creatures."

That was one of the times when my face hadn't remained straight. My eyes bulged wondering how we were going to survive if we had no idea what they could do or if they were poisonous.

"Don't worry we will talk to you about exotic animals and tell you everything about them. At first I thought you were going to be in a rainforest like the Amazon but seeing as that is impossible I decided that it was likely you are going to have things brought in from the rainforest."

I remembered learning about the rainforest in year 9. I found it fascinating learning about how plants and animals adapted to it but right now I couldn't remember an ounce of what we learned.

"Why don't they just tell you what we are going to be facing?" Carter asked.

Sara sighed, "I guess they don't trust me they think I'm going to tell you everything and take away the element of surprise… I suppose they assumed right 'cos if I had known I would have told you two."

I decided I liked Sara the best out of everyone. Although she was a part of the team who were basically killing us she obviously didn't like what she was doing and actually wanted to help us as much as possible.

I then asked a question which had nothing to do with what we were supposed to be talking about.

"So why are you doing this helping them kill us."

She winced at my choice of words and whispered, "You don't know that you're going to die." I was about to interrupt but she quickly carried on, "Look I'm sorry I really don't want to do this but I suppose I sort of know understand how you feel Brie because I went through something similar to you."

I was surprised that she was just talking to me and not Carter. I raised my eyebrows confused.

"About Lily." The pain inevitably shot through me as I breathed out quick gasps. Saying her name was even more unbearable.

"What are you talking about?"

"Would you like to hear my story. It's quite sad." I nodded.

"I had a baby sister too, you see. Her name was rose. I adored her just as much as you do yours even more than my mum, who was never really around so I always looked after her. I am twenty right now but a couple of years ago, just like you; I was sent to Brulam and was judged by Gary, James and David on my skills. Off course just like you I had no idea what was going on. They were looking for potential mentors."

She sighed before carrying on, "I was going crazy with worry that day leaving Rose by herself with my mum. I was worried that she wouldn't be looked after properly. Anyway when they brought me into that secret room and told me I was going to be a mentor for the 14 year olds let me tell you I was shocked. And off course after they told me a little bit about it I immediately said no. I didn't care if they were in debt but putting children's lives in danger, I couldn't even think about it and I insisted no…but then -" She trailed off and her eyes squeezed with pain. I was going to ask what was wrong but she quickly carried on wanting to get her story over with. "They threatened me telling me if I didn't commit to this that they would…kill my sister." She gasped just like me and then I understood. She wasn't the person I thought she was, she was kind caring and loving. She quickly started apologising while in tears, "I'm so so sorry, I really didn't want to I- I can't risk her life like that. I'm so sorry it's just too much."

And I knew it was all over for me. Even Sara had admitted it, I didn't have to look over at Carter to know that he was thinking the same thing, we really were going to die.

Automatically I reached over to comfort Sara but inside all hope was lost for me.

Finally, she had started to calm down and I started to get up making my exit.

"Where are you going?" Sara asked her throat had cleared up and she sounded like herself again, "Don't you remember we have training."

TRAINING

I learnt a lot of skills. How to shoot with arrows how to look for food. Sara taught us about the different rainforest animals that could be there and made us remember all the plants we were and weren't allowed to eat. One time we even learned how to ride a horse. Sara told us a little bit about staying contact with the three men and her with walkie- talkies. Both sides would have them. She told us to use them wisely. Throughout the whole session I never made any eye contact with Carter. Not even when his hand accidently brushed across mine when we were learning to how to tie knots. We learnt how to swing across the room with ropes and how to kill animals. But all of it was fake. It all felt wrong.

It was a lot to learn and it felt like we were preparing for a test not for death. Every time we did something right Sara would congratulate us as if we had won a medal but we all knew that this was not enough.

"We're going to do something different today" Zoe said once I'd dressed in my ugly uniform; grey shirt and dark jeans with boots. The days went like a routine. Wake up, get dressed, train for two hours, do nothing, lunch, train, maybe play piano, train, dinner, bed, wake up after having nightmares… We weren't allowed to go outside unescorted so I preferred to stay inside. It's what I had done most of my life.

"What?" Carter asked.

"Today we are going into a forest to practice your skills. I raised my eyebrow, surely it wasn't allowed to train in the forest we were going to be fighting in. Sara answered as if she'd read my mind. "Off course not in this forest. There is another forest just half a mile away. It's just a plain forest but there are the odd animals. I winced, so we were going to kill animals just for practice.

"I know," Sara sighed. As we were walking she told us a little bit about the forthcoming event happening next week where we had the chance of meeting the other fighters from our country only. "That's where your designers come in. It's a good chance to get to know people. And if you become good friends you could even help each other."

Right. We were going to be struggling to help ourselves let alone help others. "Do we have to attend," I asked.

"I'm afraid so. Also the producers have changed some of the plans. Just for that day the event will be aired on television that's why the designers are going to be there to make you look 'fabulous'." She mimicked. I almost smiled. How odd. I didn't think I was even going to reach a smile here but maybe because I knew Sara I was beginning to forgive her for things she obviously wasn't to blame for.

When we reached the forest Sara gave us some bows and told us to climb a tree. I was a little nervous because this was something I hadn't done before. It was a lot harder than rock climbing. I watched Carter carefully and tried to copy him. I gripped the tree hard and put my foot up onto a stump. Then I heaved myself off the floor. I wasn't sure where to put my foot next so I tried to turn my head to ask Sara for a little help but then Carter whispered "Over there." He pointed to a small stump to corner of the tree. I nodded and followed his direction. I managed to get up as high as Carter but I was annoyed at myself for trusting Carter completely.

"Well done," Sara congratulated us and then pointed to a squirrel in a nearby tree. She lowered her voice to a whisper and nodded. But there was only one squirrel. Was I supposed to shoot one half and Carter the other? I took my arrow out of my bag and aimed. I saw from the corner of my eye that Carter was getting ready to aim as well. But I wanted to get there first. He recognized this and worked quickly to release his bow. But he rushed too much and the bow missed. Before the squirrel had a chance to even turn his head I quickly released my own bow and I watched as the squirrel fell to the floor. I smiled and then looked at Carter who strangely smiled back at me. Sara smiled too. "Great first shot, Brie. That was a very fast response as well." Then she turned to Carter, "Not bad yourself just don't rush it." The day carried on like that with me and Carter playing it out like a game. It helped to ease the pain of the fact that we were killing. I again found myself frustrated when I laughed along with Carter but I couldn't help it.

"Right lets get packing and go home." Sara said as she picked up her rucksack. I made a face; I didn't like it when she called the flat home. I didn't want to let myself think that it was either. It was just the last place I was going to be in before I headed to my doom.

I had a hot shower when we got back to the flat. As the warm water trickled onto me, my thoughts ran back over what happened in the forest. It felt almost magical me and Carter laughing beside each other.

By the time the week was over I could shoot, climb basic trees, separate poisonous plants to edible plants and manage to look intot eh eyes of Carter.