Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:
"Just one minute!", I shout at Eden, knocking on my door relentlessly. I finish getting changed into my black uniform and I head outside. "Ready?", I ask her. "Well what do you think?", she asks sarcastically, showing off her clothes that are identical to mine. We head off through a doorway labelled "J-1 to 10" and we pass through the crowds of civilians. Down a hallway with "J-6" printed in bold lettering on the walls, we arrive in some sort of training area. I let the spear go and I watch as it lodges into the test dummy's chest. Then the wolf appears out of nowhere and begins chasing me. I try to run, but it claws the back of my legs and I drop to the ground. Eden shoots an arrow, but it doesn't come in contact with the wolf until it chews on my face.
"Dathan!", Eden screams at me. I look up at her from the ground and she pulls me up. "What happened?", she asks, but when I check to see where the wolf is, all I see is people looking at me strangely, continuing on into the tryouts. "I- I.. I was in the Training Center! And the wolf-", I manage to get out before she interrupts me. "You're seeing things, Dathan. You're having flashbacks.
After that fiasco, we walk inside and get into a queue of men and women. When we reach the top, a woman asks us for our names. When we tell her who we are, she looks at me funnily, then smiles and says "Next please". A man stops us and tells us we have to wait for four more people to pass through. When the people give the woman their names, the man escorts all seven of us into a small room off to the side. "Hello, trainees. You guys will be part of squad thirteen; that's if you all pass your tests," the tanned man says, patting his greasy, pulled back, black hair. I take a look around and I check out each of the people. There's a young man with short brown hair, a tall woman with extremely long blonde hair, an older man with snow white hair and a young woman with black hair tied up in a bun. "So, let's introduce ourselves. My name's Kit," the man says, then proceeding to point at me. "You?".
"Dathan", I say. Then Eden says hers. "Fry," the brown haired lad says. "Keeka," says the blonde woman. "Nutorum," says the older man, and the last girl says "Boniqua." Kit tells us how we'll all go through an examination to see how well we would fare in the middle of a battle. He brings us through a door and we're out in an expansive hall. With streets and buildings that look exactly like the Capitol, Kit explains how we'll each be given a gun and we have to shoot the main Peacekeeper indicated with a blue helmet. He makes me go first.
Everyone sits in a room and looks out a window at me. Security guards give me some sort of massive gun and I struggle to hold it properly. "Three, two, one", flashes across a screen propped up on the side of a building. Suddenly, Peacekeepers rise up from beneath the street and aim their guns at me. Immediately, I sprint to the left and down an alleyway. It's a dead end. With nowhere to go and the Peacekeepers' footsteps getting louder, I lift up the lid of a trashcan and climb inside. I pull the lid back over and I wait in the darkness. It's cramped, but at least it gives me hope to pass this test. I hear the crowd of them right beside me and I stay as still as I can. The sounds of the footsteps start to lower until I can't hear them at all. I slowly lift the lid and scan outside. It's safe. I climb out and I peek around the corner wall of the alley. How stupid can they be? They certainly aren't people. They must be robots of some sort considering that there was nowhere to go but inside the trashcan, yet they didn't check if I was there.
With their backs turned and facing me, I decide it's best to attack while they're oblivious. I raise my gun and I step out from behind the wall. I press my forefinger against the trigger and my arm is blown back by the blast. I stumble backwards and the sound pierces through my ears. When I regain my concentration, I look up to see the Peacekeeper dead on the ground with a dot of red on it's back. Then to my surprise, the body armor bursts open in a gory fashion, spraying all sorts of meaty chunks and blood, including a few wires. Now I'm certain they're robots.
The remaining few Peacekeepers turn on their heals and raise their guns again. I retreat back into the alleyway, but instead of hiding in the trashcan, I hide behind it. I slowly peek around the edge of the trashcan and I catch a glimpse of the white bodysuits. I pull my head back in and I wait for a couple of seconds. I jump back up to see the Peacekeepers with their backs facing me, leaving the alley once again. I send a storm of bullets flying through the air and I watch as the robots drop to the ground. Good thing the others are watching from another room, because if they were just off to the side, I'm pretty sure they'd be dead because of me.
I wait for the bodies to explode, and once they do, I walk to the edge of the alley.. I scan the area to find that there's no threats. Cautiously, I hold my gun up, ready to fire and I walk slowly down the tarmac road. Suddenly, I see a green flash from the corner of my eye. I look up to see a traffic light with the green circle shining bright. But that means... I hear an engine running and I dodge out of the way just in time before the truck runs me over. I smash my hip against the curb of the sidewalk and I hold onto it in pain. The backdoor of the truck swings open and two Peacekeepers hop out. Then from the front of the truck, one Peacekeeper jumps out from the driver's door. I stand up with my gun in one hand, my other on my hip, trying to run for my life. I hear the bangs and the bullets hit the ground around my feet. I turn around a street corner to see that it's a dead end. I'm going to fail this exam.
I hear the footsteps approaching and I've got no options but to fire. When I see the white uniforms, I let go of my hip and I fire the bullets. One by one, the Peacekeepers drop like flies. I watch as the guts spray over the concrete walls, but when I'm about to rest for a moment, another Peacekeeper turns the corner. This time, it has a blue helmet. It's bigger than the size a human being should be, which frightens me desperately. It raises it's gun and fires, sending out about ten little spherical objects. Immediately, I dive in the opposite direction just as they explode almost instantly. Mini bombs. I hide behind a rundown car and glance through the window to see the Peacekeeper approaching me with it's gun aimed. It's now or never. I leap up from behind the car and I shoot my gun rapidly, watching as the bullets shoot right through the body armor. Specs of blood splash out from the suit, but within an instant, it bursts open with a wave of blood. "Dathan, please make your way back to the beginning please," Kit's voice booms around the streets. When I get back to the starting area, Eden dives onto me. "Well done!", she squeals, while all the others just say "Congratulations," very calmly. Looks like I'm a threat to them.
"Eden, you're up next," says Kit. I give her my gun and Kit brings us into the waiting room. Inside, I sit down on a long bench up against the wall and I watch the television screens. Eden starts running down the street, and just like what happened to me, Peacekeepers rise up from the ground. Without hesitation, she starts rapid firing at them and they burst open like pinatas. She must have taken a note or two from my examination. Unlike me, she takes a right this time and she's face with something I've never seen before. "What is that?", I ask Kit as I watch Eden stands there puzzled. "It's a pod. The Capitol's streets were full of them during the second rebellion. We've copied the information about them and made them ourselves, except these ones can't kill you," he explains. That worries me deeply; "Except these ones can't kill you". What will it be like fighting in the Capitol, but in real life?
The jagged metal structure is about a meter wide and long and it's got metal shards pointing out in different directions. It's almost like a small version of a Cornucopia from the previous years in the Games. Thinking wisely, Eden shoots the pod while staying far away from it, and I watch as a net springs out and covers a couple of feet around it. "Very clever," mutters Kit. Eden slowly tiptoes around the net and sprints on down the street. Just then, the Peacekeeper with the blue helmet appears out of nowhere. Creeping up behind her, it shoots it's gun and she falls to the ground. "Eden!", I scream out her name, even though she can't hear me. But she begins to move. When the Peacekeeper thinks it's job is done, it begins to walk away, but she rolls over and lands the finishing shot through it's back. As it falls face first to the ground, Kit speaks into his microphone to tell her to come back.
I rush out the door and ask if she's hurt, but she claims that she just "fell". "What was that thing?", she asks. "Kit told me it was a pod. They were used in the second rebellion in the streets of the Capitol to kill people," I explain. "There's a different threat in every single one of them so you never know what to expect," Kit adds. "Anyway, Fry is next."
After watching everyone pass their exams, we finally get to Nutorum who gets shot by a Peacekeeper. Apparently, it wasn't going to kill him but it was just as painful as a real shot, Kit tells us. As he's rushed off to the hospital to get drugged, Kit tells us that we've passed our exams and that we're officially part of squad thirteen, but we need to train every single day which doesn't sound the finest. Eden and I get to the canteen just in time before breakfast ends, and while we're eating some porridge, Finnick arrives and sits with us. "How'd it go?", he asks. "Well, we're officially part of squad thirteen," says Eden. "Thirteen? That's an unlucky number, you know?", he replies. We all fall silent until Finnick tries to cool the tension by laughing about it. "Everything will be fine!".
After finishing up our breakfast, Finnick tells me something important. "Oh, Dathan! I almost forgot. Crimette told me to put you through one last proxonium test, so we better get a move on." Crimette. The one who rejected my requests for food. The one who ordered the men to whip me. The one who ordered them to shock me. The one who ordered them to drown me. "No," I say. "What do you mean?", he asks. "No! She tried to kill me!", I shout. Eden puts her spoon down and looks at me anxiously. Finnick just stares at me too. This is it. They're going to take me away against my will. They're going to torture me. I can tell by the way they're staring into my soul. I've got to run.
I get up from the table and sprint through the crowds of people, even knocking plates out a few of their hands. Out the door and up the stairs, I sprint through the Hub and unlock my bedroom door. I seal it shut and I prop a chair up against the handle just to be safe. They can't get to me now. They can't put me through anymore pain now! They better stay away from me.
"Dathan!", I hear Eden yell from outside, followed by a series of knocks on the door which turns into bangs. Then I hear her and Finnick having a discussion for about a minute, but I can't make out what they're saying. I hear the twisting of a key and my heart drops. They must have a spare key. The handle begins to twist, but the chair is blocking them from getting in. "Open the door!", Finnick screams. I press myself up against the door just to make it harder for them. The door handle keeps wriggling, and suddenly, they get the door open for half a second and the chair is knocked down. Now it's only me to keep them out. I put pressure on the door and I force it shut every time they get it open for a moment, but I know we can't do this all day. With one might charge, Finnick forces the door open and I fall to the ground. Now both of them are looming over me and I scan the room for any escape routes, but there's none but the door that they're blocking. "Dathan," Finnick says calmly, trying to settle me down, but he's only trying to trick me. "No!", I scream. He whacks the button on the wall and the familiar hidden compartment opens up. He picks me up off the ground and pulls me towards the hole in the wall, but I struggle in his grasp. "Eden! Help!", I scream, but she just looks at me disappointed. I'm tossed inside, and I don't get even a second to escape because the wall seals me in. I'm dropped back into the glass box and I scream as the gas sizzles the inside of my throat. I drag my hands down the window, begging for help, but Finnick and Eden just stare at me silently. Before I know it, I'm face to face with the evil witch: Crimette.
"Hello, it," she says. "I have a name!", I scream at her, but she just chuckles. "You're nothing. You're an insane, mental lunatic so why should I treat you like a human?", she asks. I charge at her and I tackle her to the ground, but I'm fighting thin air, because when I look back up, she's standing just like she was a moment ago a couple of feet away from me. "Nice try," she whispers.
I toss my spear, and as she teleports about a meter to the left, I quickly run at her just as she forms into the space. Once again, knock her down to the ground, but this time I wrap my fingers around her throat and push hard. She opens her mouth to try and gasp for air, but not a single sound comes out. Her eyes start to bulge out and her face is becoming red. Her eyelids begin to close, and when they're fully shut, I hit the ground. "Well done!", exclaims Finnick. "You were so calm during that! You've passed your final task!".
I stand up to my feet and I'm face to face with Finnick and Eden, both smiling at me. "What did you see? What did you do?", asks Eden. I feel uncomfortable saying it, but I manage to get it out. "I strangled Crimette." The room falls silent. "You what?", says Finnick, utterly shocked. "What could have made him dream about that?", asks Eden. "He obviously must not like her very much," says Finnick. "The twat starved me," I say. They both just glare at me. "They drowned me," I whisper. Eden must know what I'm feeling like, because she immediately goes in for a hug and the water streams start flowing. Finnick awkwardly leaves the room while Eden chats with me on the bed, but the next thing I know, my eyes spring open. When I look at the clock on the wall, it reads five-fifteen. I must have drifted off for a couple of hours.
Instead of causing more problems by leaving, I just lie there doing absolutely nothing. I wrap myself into a cocoon with the silk bed sheets and I close my eyes. This is all too much for me. This was all my idea. It's my fault, but I never wanted any of this to happen. I didn't deserve the beatings, nor the electric shocks. I just miss home, and not down here or in the Victors' Village. I miss my real home. I miss my parents. Araxie. Leith. But the only time I'll ever be able to see them again is in the nightmares I have every night of them being blown to bits.
This story is clearly going to be a dark one... Anyway, what did you all think of this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Tell me your reasons in a review down below! Don't forget to take part in the poll on my profile for my Super Smash Bros. story!
I want to let you know something also: In the chapter "Another New Life", by a mistake I said U-District 5 for a LOT of parts when I actually meant U-District 4! Unfortunately, I can't edit it because I deleted that file to create space! Sorry!
Thank you all so much for reading, byeeee :)
