Gerrick's POV #2
As Winnow walks down the halls of the justice building I find it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. I don't know why I'm so tired, I just slept for hours on the train ride here.
"Since you are only a temporary guest here in 7. You will be sleeping in this room." She opens a wooden door at the end of the hall and I walk on in past her. I look at everything around me and see a red couch that looked way more comfortable than the one on the train and a big window that over looks the town's square. Its almost night so I can barely see all the posters that hang around the town's square. "I know its not much, but it will only be for a night." She walks in the room and stands beside me.
"Its fine." I look at her with a smile.
"Ok!" She says in her cheerful voice after a moment of silence. "You will be outside early morning ready for the reaping. It should start shortly after you are ready." She walks towards the door quickly but I stop her.
"What exactly is my job?" I ask her.
"Well darling. Your job is to escort the tributes up to the visiting rooms after their names are called. So that means that you will walk them by yourself up the stairs and to their rooms." She takes a long breath. "Then you will wait outside their door until their visiting time is done." She claps her hands together. "You are assigned to the female tribute and you are not to talk to her." I nod my head. I've gone through the training of being a Peacekeeper, I know it more than she does I just never actually had the field experience of it. "Anymore questions?"
"Yea." I rub my head. "Since this is my first actual job as a Peacekeeper. I don't have a uniform. Where do I get it?" She gives me a quick smile then points to a wooden door that is on the other side of the room.
"Well if that is all. I am going to be heading off to bed as well." She gives me a nod and walks out of the room and shuts the door quickly behind her. I let out a long sigh and walk over to the couch. As I let my weight rest on the couch I feel my eyes become heavier than when they were in the hall. In almost an instant the world around me goes dark and I think of nothing. I think of tomorrow and I think of what will happen.
The sun beams on my face through the huge window in the tiny room. I squint against the sun's rays and stand up quickly. I take a glance out the window and see tons of people surrounding the square. Both Peacekeepers and citizens. Once my back is facing the window I walk over to the wooden door that Winnow was pointing to. I peer into the closet and see the white and black uniform with the helmet on the shelf above it. There is a thin black metal pole that is probably a foot long and it collapses in itself attached to the belt. I shrink a little inside thinking about the incident five years ago. I can't believe that I have turned into one of them. My head shakes roughly I'm not going to be a bad Peacekeeper. I'm actually going to bring Peace to the Districts not what the Peacekeepers do now.
Quickly I pull my shirt over my head and throw it on the couch. After I peel my pants off I grab the uniform from the hanger and beginning to put it on myself. In training I have worn many of these uniforms many times but I haven't had one to call my own because I haven't been out in the field. Once the whole outfit is placed in the exact pieces on me I look on the ground of the closet and see a FN P90 sub-machine gun. My mouth opens wide as I see the black metal sit before my eyes. I bend down and pick it up in my right hand. I stand up straight and hold it across my chest like I would be standing guard on the stage today.
As I stand with the gun in my hand and my body pin straight I think about my family yet again. I've always thought about my family, but lately its been worst than usual. Like a constant thought that can never be gone no matter how hard I think about it. "Mom, dad." That's the first time I have ever spoken that out loud. "Blye." As I whisper her name I think about the look on her face as the Peacekeepers pull her away from me. I think about her green eyes looking back at me. We had the same eye colour. That's how everybody could tell that we were brother and sister. I cringe away and let the gun hang at my side and walk to the door.
My hand wraps around the handle but before I can even turn it, the door swings open and Winnow stands in front of me. She smiles at me and taps her foot against the ground. "Forgot something?" She looks at me as if I had two heads. She gives and exasperated sigh and points to my head. My gloved hand reaches to my short brown hair. I smile at her and run back to the closet and place my gun on the shelf beside the helmet and pull the helmet off the shelve and slowly slide it on my head. I look through the tinted glass that covers my face and see like I had if I wasn't wearing the helmet at all. The Capitol's technology is actually pretty advance and that's probably the only thing they are good for. I grab my gun quickly and run back to Winnow.
"I'm ready." I say through a muffled voice. Its not that you can't hear the words that come out, you can actually hear it clearly it just sounds a little different from your regular voice because you have to talk through a small speaker that amplifies your voice. Winnow looks at me seriously for a minute.
"Ok." She stands with her hands on her hips and continues to talk. "You seem like a very sociable person." She takes a deep breath. "But you will not be talking to the tribute at all when the time comes." I nod at her and raise my hands in surrender. She gives me a smile. "Ok time to get ready. Its almost starting." I nod yet again and follow her down the hall and down the stairs. She stops suddenly and points down a hall. "That's where you will be taking the female tribute." I nod at her in silence and she continues to walk. As she opens the main doors to the square I gasp at all the people in the crowd.
"Everyone is dying to be here." I say while I shrug my elbow at Winnow. She turns on her heals towards me.
"This is not a joke!" I look at her mad face and realize it isn't. How could I joke about that. "Act professional."
"I'm sorry." I say with my head hung low. She fixes her dress and points her finger just by one of the glass bowls that hold the tributes names.
"Take your place." I nod and take my place by the bowls. I look around me with my gun held across my chest so that if anything happens I will be ready to fight. Or shoot. I Mentally shake my head and focus my eyes on the middle aisle. I don't understand the point of guarding here because where are the tributes going to run. All they have to go is in the town, which the Capitol will definitely find them, or they can run in the building and we can have a good game of hide and seek. I roll my eyes and keep looking straight.
The clip that was sent from the Capitol plays in the background and I ignore it. It just talks non sense about how the Districts came to be and the uprising which caused the reapings every year. "Welcome!" I hear Winnow speak through the microphone. "to the 36th Hunger Games! My name is Winnow Battenburg and I will be your announcer for today." I watch at the corner of my eyes as she digs her claw of a hand in the girls bowl. I find my self slouching a little bit. I'm going to be experiencing someones death sentence. My mind goes blank and I straighten up and hold my gun steadily. A white slip of paper is held in her hand and she walks over to the microphone and out stretches the slip in her hand and opens it up. "Blye Herriot." She says with a cheerful voice. A cry sounds in the crowd and I look in the crowd to find the name's owner. Blye is such a unique name. Its too much of a coincidence that there is another person with the same name.
I shake my head, but her last name is different. Its hard to tell because once we got split apart they changed my name so they had to of changed her name as well. I will find out if its her when she comes up on the stage. At the very back of the crowd of people a short girl with black hair that is worn in a crown of braids on her forehead begins to walk up the aisle, escorted by four Peacekeepers. As she comes closer to the stage I see that she wears a dark blue flowy dress with a white belt that is worn at her midsection. I feel my body shake in anticipation as she draws closer. "Please." I whisper. "Don't be her." Although I would love to be re united with my sister. I don't want that time to be now if it means her going into the games.
Her feet thump against the wooden stairs as she ascends closer to Winnow. I can't see her face because she isn't fully looking at me. I find my stare on her at all times and ignore everyone around me. I don't care if they notice. She looks over at me with a serious face and I don't look away. No one can see through the tinted glass but she can tell by the way that my head is positioned that I am looking at her. I feel a tear run down my cheek as I look into my sister's green eyes. Her eye contact breaks away from mine as she stands beside Winnow. My head follows Blye and I bore my eyes into the back of her head. I have to talk to her.
Winnow walks over to the boys glass bowl on the other side of the stage and pulls out a white slip. Like she did with Blye she walks to the microphone and booms her voice in the microphone. "Jugo Galloway." I don't bother looking into the crowd for this Jugo boy, I just keep my eyes on the back of Blye's head. She stands a little shakily but other than that she seems calm and collective. We both have grown so much, I wonder if she will even recognize me if I do revel myself. Before I know it Jugo is on stage and shaking Blye's hand. Winnow grabs both him and Blye by their hands and lifts their arms up high.
"Let's give a big round of applause for this year's tributes! Blye Herriot and Jugo Galloway." Winnow drops their hands at their sides and begins to walk them to the entrance of the Justice building. The other Peacekeeper and I walk behind them quietly as we walk up the long stairs to the entrance. As her head bobs up and down I hold back my tears more and more. She is so close to me yet so far.