Chapter 6

Author's Note: Please answer the poll on my profile. If not more than ten people have not answered it before I get to a certain point in my story, I will choose the story's ending. I would appreciate if you already started writing reviews on this story. I only have received one.

It would have been stupid to think that Michelle's attempt to avoid the games would last more than a few seconds. She stood for some time staring at all the tributes menacingly as they whispered is shock. The Michelle everybody knew was a coward who stayed in her room collecting dust. The whispering went on until Sam Atkins yelled a battle cry and rushed to Michelle with the arrow that hit his arm. She leaped to the side but he was too quick for her. He stabbed the arrow in the back of her head and kicked her forcing her to the floor. The tributes applauded with admiration for the, "boy who dared." Meanwhile, Michelle was on the floor trying to regain her non-existent strength.

"Come on. Now is the time to finish her off." said Julius

"Julius! Why focus on that girl when there are so many more juicy targets not far away!" said Sam

"Well, it is one tribute less." said Julius

"We have a lot of things to do. Nature itself is strong enough to kill that girl. Come on, if we stay here the other tributes will surprise us the same way I did when I ambushed that little girl." said Sam
"I'll kill her! I am not one of those cowards who are afraid of being, 'surprised'. The fact that Sam has not run away by now is amazing to me." said Beatrice

"Why do you call killing a girl who is practically dead being brave? On the contrary, if you are as brave as you say, let her recover and after that you can duel with her." said Burgundy

While Burgundy spoke, Nooria Masharfi rushed to the scene. With her bare hands she beat Beatrice until she collapsed. Sam's partner from the espionage group, Jillian Johnson, rushed to the battle scene. Still, she was no match for the Nooria. Nooria picked Michelle up and dragged her away with Burgundy's help. Laura Griffins stood in desperation looking at Beatrice, her ally, lying on the floor. She stared directly into Nooria eyes with a stare which promised disproportionate revenge. Laura would take Beatrice's place as the leader. The situation in the arena had changed in not much more than a minute.

The mountains were hard and contained more obstacles than the one in District 2, which seemed impossible for the rebels to invade. It did not help the duo that they had to drag Michelle up the mountain. There were a lot of plants to be tangled with, but not many plants to eat from. Burgundy realized that when he saw from the distance a boy fall to the ground after chewing from a red plant, (Later it was discovered this boy was the one who had driven the bus into the treasure box and apparently survived the crash). Franklin Cosby who tried to catch up to Burgundy and Nooria slipped every time he tried to climb. Once he made it he fell into a hole with a mine (which then became his resting place permanently). Julius Adriano had to launch himself with a catapult before he made it up. Some people just gave up and continued fighting on the surface.

The rebels did not wait one second to start the avalanches. The first was most strongly encountered by Alfredo Galatzia. He had no choice but to jump off the mountain in order to survive. Burgundy and Nooria also were hit by some rocks but were strong enough to hold on. They also held on when they encountered a falling Georg Molovoskof, who had been hit by the avalanche. The strongest avalanche was the one where Burgundy and Nooria were forced to take refuge in a cave. The games had started for real.

Unfortunately, during the last avalanche, a huge boulder fell and covered the cave's exit. Now Burgundy, Nooria, and Michelle were trapped in a cave with little oxygen while lacking food and water. Luckily, they had wood to start a fire and some mattresses Nooria had found on their way up. Also, Nooria had this elastic band which would prevent blood from streaming out of Michelle's wound. Of course, there were loud speakers in order to hear the discussion of the games at night by Peter Lawrence.

Nooria and Burgundy were getting ready to stay here for some time.

Michelle woke up at about ten o'clock at night. She still seemed pretty drowsy but was able to stand up and walk. With strong breathing, she muttered some words but never spoke directly to anyone. Just before midnight, she went back to sleep and did not wake up until the late morning.

The night-time discussion of the games went on for almost half an hour non-stop. Before it started the names of the dead were announced throughout the arena. These were the fallen tributes from as of 11 o'clock on that day:

Scott Griffin, torture department group, age 16 (Killed by Albus)

Jessica Frakenlord, military group, age 14 (Killed by Beatrice)

Jerry Dullham, military group, age 17+ (poisoned by plants)

Franklin Cosby, high command group, age 15+ (killed by mine explosion)

Horace Bloomberg, media group, age 18 (killed by rock-launching catapult, courtesy of Julius Adriano)

Charles Wells, economical group, age 13 (killed in an act of unity at the start of the games)

It was also reported that 10 others were wounded (critically or mildly). Among them was Michelle Boswell, who was still in a serious situation. Most of the injured were still able to climb the mountain with their injuries. Some were acting as if nothing happened when they carried a five inch sided square hole on their backs from an explosion. Some few seemed to have disappeared and were dying in obscurity and may have not been found until they starved to death. For those who were able to walk the games meant the law of, "survival of the fittest."

An unidentified person fatally wounded President Paylor during a conference over the increasing starvation in certain areas. Plutarch Heavensbee would become president if the games ended successfully. If they were not successful, there would be election in which he would surely lose. There was a lot of growing tensions in most districts to overthrow the current government. Many people wanted the games to fail, seeing it as an opportunity to destabilize the current government.