Chapter 8:
Air
Aryan, District Two
I wake up in a small concrete room, curled up in the corner. What the hell? Where am I? What happened?
I stand up and see that I am in the room that I was in before the Games started. Wait….Why am I here? Was all of that a dream? Have I not even been into the arena yet? Why am I down here? The last thing I remember is eating the snow after fighting that Kyja girl. Was that real?
But I also remember going blind after that, though. And I can see now. What is going on?
There is a plastic chair in the corner, with a small note card on it. I pick up the note and see that it says 'Air'.
Air? What is that about?
Suddenly, the card flies from my hand and is thrown to the other wall, as if by an invisible giant. I step back to the card and pick it up. Examine it. There's no fan or anything on it. So why did it fly away from me? I swear I didn't blow on it.
Again, the card flies from my hand, and this time it swirls around in the air, like it's caught up in a mini tornado. What is happening?
Is it me? Am I doing this? How did I do it the second time? Or even the first time?
I thought about the air thing, and it flew from my hand. And I was also concentrating on the paper in my hand. Is that the reason?
I grab the card again, and this time I concentrate on myself and the 'air' thing. I want to see if it is only with the card, or if the 'power' will work on anything. I guess this is like telekinesis in a way.
And as I think about it, I feel myself float up. I look down in surprise, and see that my feet are no longer touching the ground. I'm flying!
But the second I stop concentrating on it all, I fall like a heap of bricks to the ground.
"Damn," I groan, rubbing my forehead. I can feel a bump already forming there.
Whatever. It's worth it. I have a freaking power! I am power!
A loud beeping noise fills the room, and suddenly a huge glass tube comes down from the ceiling. This is exactly what happened a day ago. The glass slides apart, like an elevator, and I step in with a grin. Whatever is to come, I am ready for it. I have this power, and I am almighty.
And just as the tube sucks me up, I concentrate on the old plastic chair, and it flies to the other side of the room with a crash. I smirk to myself.
Nic, District One
I think I am in a dream until I see the small cut on my wrist. I earned that in the arena. But I was only in there for a day. Where am I now?
I am in a small cold room that is strangely familiar. It looks like the room I was held in before the Games started. But why am I here now? A loud static noise crackles above me, and I jump in shock. I come up to my feet, alert and ready. But there's no one, just a metallic voice filling the room.
"Tributes of air, please enter the tube. You will be entered into the arena momentarily."
I look across from me to see a clear tube shoot up from the floor, and it splits in half, as if it has doors. I shrug, disregarding the strange words from a moment ago, and enter the tube. The familiar feeling of my stomach dropping returns as I shoot up into the concrete above me, gray and white blurring around me.
Why am I coming back up? What is going on right now? Wasn't I already in the Games?
But I forget all of that when I rise up from the ground, on a silver platform. I squint against the brightness when I get all the way up from the ground.
Instead of twenty-three people surrounding me, and a gigantic Cornucopia in the middle, I see two boys spread out evenly from me, making us into a triangle around the center, red Cornucopia. This one is considerably smaller, and I can only see jugs of water and backpacks in it.
There are no weapons. What in the hell is going on here? Why are there only three of us? And why is the arena totally different? All I see for miles and miles around me is just white ground. There is no vegetation surrounding me.
And then I realize something strange. I look across and see Aryan. That's fine. But the weird part is that his face is black and white, like old footage at school.
I can't see the blonde hair of his, or the muddy brown eyes of his. I squint my eyes, and look closer, but nothing changes. He is still in black and white. I look down at my own skin, which is no longer gloved, and I find that it is not a fleshy pink color, but it is a grayish white color.
What is happening?
"Welcome, Tributes of Air, to the Fortieth Annual Hunger Games! You may all be a bit confused right now, but as they say, ignorance is bliss! You may notice that there are no weapons in the Cornucopia before you. There is a reason for that. I believe that the more clever tributes have figured out why."
I hear Aryan cough from his plate, and I see he is smirking.
"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in you favor!"
The gong sounds, and we are all off, sprinting from our mounds on the ground into the center where the valuables lay.
I guess there are no alliances here, are there?
I am all alone, but I will win.
Are we the only tributes left? I sure hope so, so then I can get home faster. These two ought to be easy. At least the Jason guy will be. Aryan will be a little more difficult to tackle, but I believe in myself.
Jason, District Seven
I don't care what the man says. I just run off of my plate when the gong sounds, and sprint into the middle where Aryan and Nic are. How funny. All Careers in one arena. And yes, I consider myself a Career.
There are no weapons in here, but that's fine. I can use my strength against these two sticks of boys. I tower over both of them, and really, the only competition is Aryan. I need to knock him down first, and then the Nic boy will be easy as pie.
I get in first, since my spot was directly in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia. I reach down, and grab a black backpack, scooping it onto my shoulders. There is a jug of water at my foot, and just when I bend down to grab it, I am pushed away into the red wall of the horn.
Immediately, I stand up, and look around angrily for who pushed me. But I see no one. Only the fine white sand for miles, and a desolate gray sky above me.
Why is the sky gray? And why is my hand gray? Am I seeing things? Am I now half blind?
Am I color blind?
I don't have time to waste on stupid things like this. Who cares if I am color blind now. I don't, but I need to find who shoved me. I grab the jug and shove it into my backpack, then charge out of the Cornucopia. I sprint around it, and find Aryan and Nic together, laughing like fools.
Suddenly, I am shoved back again. But no one is near enough to me to push me.
"What the hell?" I bark angrily at them. Aryan raises his hand to me, palm first, and I am flying backwards, and my backpack is on the ground below me as I skid across the ground on my ass.
I feel like a total fool, here, on my ass because of two short guys with mind powers that can push me over.
I stand up slowly, anger boiling up inside of me. I narrow my eyes at them, thinking about how they could possibly throw me over like that. And then I see Aryan flying through the air, but instead of hitting the ground and skidding like I just did, he flies up into the air, hands palm down to the ground. Nic's hair flaps around in the wind from Aryan.
How is he floating? I know that I managed to throw him, but how did I?
As I am thinking about it, I feel myself being thrown into the red wall again. This time my head clacks loudly against the metal, and I gasp in sharply. I put my hand to the back of my head, and feel warm liquid rush from the spot of impact.
I slide down to the sand, hand still on my head. There is way too much blood now. The world goes fuzzy around me.
Am I dying? I think.
I hear a tiny voice in the back of my head, and slightly tilt my head to hear it better. It sounds like a girl's voice.
What? I demand.
Who is this? What's going on right now? the voice replies.
Jason, District Seven. No clue why, either. Who are you? I ask.
Eve, District Seven, too. How can this be happening? Are we really talking over mind power?
I guess so, Princess, I grunt in my mind. My head is pounding now, and I can feel the blood flowing down over my neck. I don't really have time to chat now. Too busy bleeding to death, at the hands of some short kid.
Ouch, sorry. Well, have fun in death. I've heard that it's a lot better than this hell-hole.
I laugh a bit. I remember her from school. She was pretty funny, even though I didn't really know her. I always wanted to meet her, but she was always surrounded by a big crowd of her friends. I was always shy around groups. I still am, actually.
I can hear you, you know.
Oh, sorry.
Why did you want to meet me? I'll tell you now, there's nothing exciting about me, she says.'
I roll my eyes, but it costs me too much pain, so I stop. The world blurs around me again, and I squeeze my eyes shut, grinding my teeth in pain.
Shit, shit, shit, I think.
Where'd you get hurt?
Head injury.
I'm sorry I never really talked to you. Seems like we would've been friends, she thinks to me. I smile a little.
Goodbye, Eve, the friend I never had.
I am thrown against the wall once more, and the world explodes before me into bright colors and flashes.
Goodbye, Jason.
I land back onto the ground, eyes shut, curled into the fetal position. Every bone in my body feels as if it's broken. It's not just a head injury anymore. I am dead meat, as far as they are concerned.
I know I'm dying. I know blood rushes from my body now. I can feel some bones piercing the skin. It hurts, it hurts like hell, but I know I'm dying.
Maybe Eve is right. Maybe death is better than this hellish life.
I sure hope so.
I can feel myself fade away as the pain abates and the sounds of Aryan and Nic's boots grow farther and farther away from me.
I'm gone now.
Aryan, District Two
Nic and I have agreed to split from each other, and be away for as long as possible, until the Gamemakers force us back to the Cornucopia to kill each other off.
I sprint away from Nic, supplies and such in my arms.
Do I feel remorse for that murder?
No.
He nearly killed my ally, and I barely knew him.
No regrets whatsoever, even as his cannon booms in the distance.
A/N: Oh yeah, getting to the good parts! I'll start posting the deaths of the main characters (all of the ones that I have written for).
District Four- Ryan
District Five- Braden
District Seven- Jason
District Eight- Shayna
Okay! That list will grow soon here! Okay, tributes with the least amount of votes will die, so please vote for your favorite and keep them alive, for at least a day more! We all thank you! (My friend typed that, haha.)
Sorry about the not daily thing, I was a little busy with homework and stuff, but I'll try to update again soon!
Thanks again!
Goodnight or good bye!
