Chapter 7: The Launch Room
They all sat in the living room and watched the recap of Caesar Flickerman's interviews.
Blaze and Amanda looked at their interviews by the point of view of the audience, parts of it they thought were amusing, while other parts of it they wondered why they had said what they said.
Caesar Flickermen then told viewers to tune in tomorrow morning for the start of the Games.
Katniss and Peeta then turned to Blaze and Amanda.
"When the countdown hits 0, and the gong sounds, get yourself away." said Peeta, "You'll have an advantage if you can get away from the cornucopia with some supplies, but at the same time it is a gamble, a risk of you dying that is too high, and if you die at the opening bloodbath, then everything that we have done up to this point will be for nothing."
"Get away, find water, and as for the supplies at the cornucopia that you didn't get, if I can seal the sponsor deals, I can get you a few good valuable items." said Katniss. "One of you will win, we just need you to follow our instructions."
Amanda and Blaze were silent through all of their mentor's advice. They were both nervous. They both knew that their odds were good but still a chance for any one of the other tributes could win.
"And one more piece of advice," said Katniss, "The first piece of advice our mentor gave to us in our first Games...'Stay alive'.
"We will." said Blaze. And he and Amanda headed off to bed.
Peeta and Katniss walked away in the opposite direction and then they whispered to each other. Peeta asked "Do you really think that they will run away from the cornucopia when the Games start?"
"Nope." said Katniss.
In a secret underground compound yet to be discovered by the Districts, a group of remnants of Capitol, Political Patriots who are still loyal to President Snow, conspired.
"Long live The Capitol!" the one who appeared to be the leader said.
"Long live The Capitol." the other men said together.
"There is a conspiracy that the people of the Districts want Amanda Snow dead because of her grandfather." said another man. "But we need to make sure that she wins the Hunger Games. That will bring glory to his memory."
"There is no going back to the way things were." said the one who was leader. "The old system of government the way things were is gone forever. Right now I think our goal should be long term, probably take place after our lifetimes. But we may be able sometime in the future to form a new nation with a new slave class, but as I just said, that will be after our time. For now though, the Districts won the war, and there for let them have their freedom for six or seven generations, but for right now we are going to spite the Districts by helping the tribute that they hate the most, President Snow's granddaughter, to win."
"Here is my plan," said another man, "We have a large fortune stockpiled, we can act as an anonymous donor; we can donate a great deal of money to insure that during the Games Amanda Snow will want for very little."
"There's also a rumor of a conspiracy to make sure that Amanda Snow loses." said another man.
"Well, the joke is on them then, eh?" the man said with an amused expression.
The other men laughed as well.
"The only person with the power to rig the Games is President Paylor. And one thing I'll say about her is that she is fair. Her conscience won't allow her to make sure that Amanda Snow dies, plus I don't think she has the stomach for killing the former leader's children. Her attitude towards fairness is that she just wants the reaped children to participate in the Games, and that's it, and nothing more. And if Amanda Snow, of the 24 tributes, just happens to win, entirely by coincidence, then so be it."
"Well, we can use that to our advantage. We will sponsor her with what ever she needs."
"Then let's get to work."
The next morning, Amanda woke up and was face to face with her mother and Katniss.
"It's time to go." said Katniss matter of factly.
Amanda's mother was in tears.
"I'm worried you're going to die, sweetheart." said Amanda's mother.
"Don't worry mother. I'm going to win." said Amanda.
They took her up to the roof where a hover craft was waiting.
"There is food on the hovercraft, and there will be more food at the arena. Zoe will be waiting for you." said Katniss. "Good luck."
The Mockingjay hugged her tribute, Amanda got on board the hovercraft. There was a woman in a white lab coat that held a long metal instrument in one hand.
"This is your tracker, Amanda." said the woman.
The device was stuck into her arm and the tracker was planted inside.
She ate a hot meal, and then waited. There were no windows so she couldn't see where she was going, or how far. The trip took about an hour.
When they got there, Amanda was directed to exit the hovercraft through the side hatch. When the door opened and she stepped out side the hovercraft, the hovercraft seemed to be inside some kind of aircraft hanger. They appeared to be underground, or at least that is what occurred to Amanda after she was led through several windowless corridors. Amanda knew what this was, she had toured them before in old arenas. These were the catacombs beneath the arena.
30 minutes to launch:
She was led into a room that was supposed to be all her own. Zoe Bluth was waiting. This was the launch room, the place were she will be raised up to the surface and the Games will then begin.
Zoe helped Amanda to shower and dress. She then assisted her with some personal grooming, which consisted of nothing more than really combing her hair as makeup and other cosmetics would be irrelevant after the Games begin. When Zoe had arrived she had no say in what Amanda would be wearing, the Gamemakers provided identical outfits for all the tributes. The outfit was a jacket, shirt, and pants that Zoe dressed Amanda in, the fabric was thin and light, but the material was a remarkable fabric that would allow the skin to breathe in warm weather while insulating body heat in cold weather.
"The Gamemakers told me to tell you that you can expect tepid, but varying weather." said Zoe.
The time was short. With only 10 more minutes. Amanda ate another hot meal and decided to hydrate herself as much as possible.
It was then an alert from a speaker in the ceiling saying that there was one minute to launch.
"Good luck Amanda. I wish you the best and I will see you when you win." said Zoe.
Amanda stepped into the large glass tube. A cylinder like glass door closed and then began to rise upwards.
At first it was a moment where Amanda was in darkness but you continue to feel the motion upwards. Then she saw a light and then she was on the surface. she saw her fellow tributes under on platforms they saw the cornucopia.
Then the voice of the host of the Hunger Games, Claudius Templesmith, boomed out of the sky from giant hidden speakers.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Let the 76th Hunger Games begin!"
Amanda tried to take in her surroundings. They were all in a large field of green grass, the field was surrounded by trees. It looked a lot like the opening area of the cornucopia in the 74th Hunger Games, the one where Katniss and Peeta won. Except this time there was no lake. It was a clear blue sky, and the ambient temperature seemed within the mid 20's on the Celsius metric system.
To her right was Beverly O'Malley separated by about 10 feet. To her left was David Crane. Apparently the tributes were all lined up around the cornucopia in no particular order. She sited all of her allies. Lisa Derrek was three people off to her right. May Salmon was at the far side of the field at the end of the line. Hector Ardaman was three people to her left. Blaze Trenton was two people past Hector.
They had all agreed upon on the last day of training that May and Hector would run away from the cornucopia one mile in the direction of the sun while Lisa, Amanda, and Blaze would go for supplies at the cornucopia and then rendezvous together back with them as soon as possible. The idea of Blaze, Amanda, and Lisa going for the Cornucopia was a risk against their mentors instructions but a risk they were willing to take.
Amanda surveyed the cornucopia and the area around it. As always the mouth of the Cornucopia was filled with all kinds of goodies; she saw backpacks, crates, and food of different kinds, and spreading out from the cornucopia we're supplies decreasing in value the further away from the cornucopia the items were. 20 feet in front of her she saw a backpack that could hold anything, 6 feet in front of her and off to the right she saw a small plastic bag with two apples in it. Only three feet in front of her off to the left she saw a very small umbrella which would be useful during wet weather.
But as she surveyed the most valuable items in the mouth of the cornucopia she noticed something interesting; she couldn't seem to see any weapons of any kind anywhere she didn't see any swords, or knives, or spears, or bows and arrows, or anything?
She kept her eyes on Lisa, until Lisa made eye contact with her and she nodded in acknowledgment. She then did the same with Blaze until he made eye contact with her and they both nodded in agreement. She then did the same with Hector, and the same with May. The moment that they had all risen up to the surface, large holographic numbers appeared in the air over the Cornucopia, large enough for everyone to see clearly, counted down from 60. The whole exchange of acknowledgment with her allies and taking in her surroundings, and surveying the surrounding supplies took 40 seconds.
20 seconds left. She readied herself to run straight to the mouth of the cornucopia. They had decided this beforehand, she, Lisa and Blaze would all run straight to the mouth where Blaze and Amanda would watch Lisa's back, while Lisa would look through the supplies and select only the choice items, quickly.
10 seconds to go... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
"BONG!"
Author's Note: I love constructive criticism. Please review.
(Please keep reading for Chapter 8: The Blood Bath)
