Chapter 10: Cold and Heartless

The first thing that happened was the reapings, tributes were called up. I was beginning to understand why people said these were one of the most gruesome of the games, most of these tributes we Cato sized or bigger, including a few from the other districts like 11 or 7. Pansy came out to the stage when District 9 came up, she waltzed over to the girls bowl and pulled out the name of a pretty girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, Mile Cross. Then she made her way to the boys. I never noticed at the time but it was as if the crowd knew who was going to be picked. I was a little unsociable, I never paid attention to what went on around me. I knew their names and that was it, not where they lived, not who they were friends with and certainly not anything that went on in their lives but as the crowd of 14 year old boys began to move I became aware that my unwillingness to socialize meant I'd missed a lot. This time though, I caught the glare Adric gave his father as he passed him, this time I caught the reassuring smile exchanged between Mile Cross and Adric Petrelli.

The scene cuts from the reaping of district 12 to the chariots. To me, they didn't look so bad. Mile wore a golden dress with grain for the skirt, the skirt went down to her ankles and there was grain in her hair too. Adric himself had a suit of gold and white, grain in his pocket where a flower would be in the mayors sort of clothing. If someone just told me what he was wearing, I'd probably think he looked ridiculous but it kind of suited him. I guess Honeyman didn't like the normality, district feel to it. I'd assume they wore this sort of clothing because Adric was the mayor's son and that was the kind of suit our mayor wore. Next thing I knew, the interviews had started, they flicked through the other tributes, Mile looked like an angel in the golden-white dress she was given, Adric looked more like the devil with his red hair and dark suit. When Adric talks he sounds different, same deep voice but it lacked that tone that made him seem like he knew so much more than everyone, like he knew a big secret that no one else did. He seemed more... Natural and in a way, charming. The dark circles so often seen under his eyes were gone, clearly before his games Adric had been able to actually sleep. He proved that he could be both funny and determined, that he could be nice but not afraid to fight for what he needed. It was only two years ago but he looked so much younger. He was like a different person, his words flowed freely rather than the forced conversations he had with people now. I'm beginning to wonder why Adric wasn't a part of the 'popular group' our school had. Was he in it before his games and I just hadn't paid attention? Had he really changed that much or was he just a much better actor than I thought? When the interview ended the scene cut to the morning of the games.

The arena is nothing like I expected, you could practically see the bloodbath before the games had even begun. At first all you saw was a wide open space, the only light came from a small sort of opening in the roof of a large cave. At a second inspection, you could see a series of tunnels, a few torches lined the edge of the tunnels, the flames flickering to give an eerie sort of feeling. The cornucopia stood dead centre, the same as it was in every games. But compared to their surroundings the Tributes looked like ants. It was hard to take it all in, how the darkness surrounded the light area. You're mind reeling at what terrors could be hidden within. The grass was stained red; you could see it standing out against the vibrant green. Was that there to just creep the tributes out or was there something sinister behind it? The cornucopia was gleaming, untouched. When the countdown ran out, the tributes raced in all directions. One or two just stood there, not knowing whether it would be worse to travel into the imminent bloodbath or the horrors inside the tunnels. Their decision, however, was made for them by those who had chosen to go to the cornucopia. The ones who didn't go to the cornucopia made for the only other place they could go, the tunnels. A few grabbed the torches lining the outside but most just ran in hopes that whatever was inside couldn't get them. Adric and Mile appeared to have made an alliance, Mile raced forward and grabbed one of the bags that were scattered around the edge and made her way to one tunnel as fast as her legs could carry her but stayed near the space as if waiting for something. Adric, to my surprise, ran straight into the bloodbath, dodging in and out between tributes, avoiding their swings. He was fast. Very fast.

Once he reached the cornucopia he seemed to know exactly what it was he came for. Immediately, he went over to the large stack of swords and grabbed a set of two along with a double sword sheath. On his way out he grabbed a belt of knives and raced towards Mile, knocking a guy or two over as he went. It was strange really, to think that although these games are considered among the very worst, only 7 died on the first day, the usual was around half. These games didn't seem to have started out well for the Capitol despite it's potential.

Adric and Mile had set up a camp in the tunnels, near the cornucopia but deep enough that they didn't attract attention from the careers, who had set up camp at the cornucopia. It was a large open area filled with water and a few patches of rock, Adric pushed a rock type thing over the entrance to the water cave, it was light enough for you to move easily from either side, but that was providing you could find the rock to move in the beginning.

"What's in the bags?" Adric asked, waving the torch he'd acquired on his way in.

"Just a sleeping bag, some rope, a couple of matches, a pack of crackers,a pair of dried beef strips, a bottle of iodine and a water bottle, you know the usual." Mile answered. I watched as they talked for a bit before Mile went to sleep and Adric stood on guard.

As time passed, a sort of fog rolled through the arena, it poured in through the gaps in the wall of Mile and Adric's little cave. Adric didn't bother to move, as the fog came closer he started coughing, Mile woke up with a start as the fog surrounded her too. Adric's eyes narrowed as he noticed movement in the fog. The camera zoomed in on what looked like a sabre-toothed tiger.

"We need to get out of here!" Mile said, beginning to snatch their things and shove them in the bag. The tigers seemed to have come out of the fog seeing as there was no way in other than the rock, which was still in place.

"Really? I hadn't noticed!"

"There's no need to get snippy with me!" Adric rolled his eyes, the cat thing began to charge. Adric grabbed Mile's arm and dragged her towards the rock, pushed it out of the way and slammed the thing back in place behind them.

Days passed and more tributes died, I wanted to switch it off. One tribute had a run in with the cats, they ripped his insides out and left him there to die from his wounds, another was savagely beaten to death by the Career pack. There was one girl who accidentally set herelf on fire and never managed to find water to put herself out. Adric and Mile had a close shave with the cat creatures having barely managed to escape with Adric being thrown into the wall of the cave and Mile getting a simple bite, it wasn't bad or deep just a graze of teeth. Thats when things went bad for them.

Immediately after the bite, Mile became dizzy, she couldn't stand up straight and had to lean against Adric to support herself. She put it off as shock from being bitten by a tiger and having almost died but Adric seemed to think it was something more. It wasn't until the pair had a run in with what was left of the career pack that 'interesting' things began to happen. There were four of them left, both from district 2 (I think it was something along the lines of Lindy and Riven), the guy from district 11 whose name I honestly didn't catch, and the girl from district 4, I think she was called Coral. Was this what he did that was so terrible? Leave Mile at the mercy of them so he could win or something? Coral was hunched over, she clutched her right hand close to her chest, it was wrapped in a bandage with blood seeping through at an alarming rate. It was similar to the bandage wrapped around Mile's upper left arm, the point where the tiger thing grazed her. Coral was coughing and spluttering, she was skinny, very skinny, the skin you could see around the bandage was red and dry.

"You should kill her now, she'll thank you for it." She said, "They won't do it for me. I think they like my pain." Adric and Mile stared at Coral, Adric raised an eyebrow at the pair from 2 and the 11 male. The entire thing was weird, Coral was giving Adric advice on how to help his friend and the careers were refusing to kill someone. The same thought line seemed to be going through the minds of Adric and Mile.

"The tigers, their bites are poisonous." 11 told them,

"He takes some kind of sick pleasure in watching people in pain." Lindy said, pointing at her partner.

"As such, your friend here is safe for now. You on the other hand are not." The boy in question said, picking up his sword. Mile grabbed Adric's arm to move him away from the group, there was no way they could take on the career group. A small fight occurred, all who got involved came out with a fair few injuries but somehow no one managed to kill anyone. Adric and Mile escaped but both appeared worried about the words from Coral, having had a conversation about it later on. The next day, Coral's face appeared in the sky.

"She was right you know," Mile told Adric, "I think I'd rather you just killed me than live through the rest of this."

"You know I can't do that." he replied,

"Then are you going to let me die, the way she did? In pain?"

"I figure the Capitol must have a cure, just in case their victor has been infected. That means all I have to do is get rid of the rest of them and you'll be safe. They can cure you." Adric held her hand in his, Mile was still dizzy but she wasn't even half as bad as Coral had been. The poison must have worked slowly.

"And what if they don't? What if there is no cure?"

"Then they won't have a victor this year." After that, Mile continued to ask Adric to do something, anything, to stop the poison. He refused every time. These games were gruesome, every death was excruciating, bloody and lasted a long time but they were more spaced out, the games lasted longer than most because it took so long to find them in the maze and actually kill them. Adric set up a camp, the fog appeared at around the same point each day and at that point he carried Mile to another spot, to wait it out. Lindy's face appeared in the sky soon after Coral's and so did a few others over the days. Adric was determined to keep Mile alive. There were 7 left. If Adric had the chance to kill one, he took it. Anything to keep her alive. There were 5 left after Adric took his chances against the girl from 11 and the boy from 8.

The boy from 11 ambushed them, having separated from Riven after Lindy died, Mile couldn't movie. Adric couldn't leave her. I thought they were friends, that much was obvious from the start. I think by now it's obvious, given the way they look at each other.

They were much more than friends.

I'm not sure if it was love, I don't know if 14 year olds can love that way but if they can, I'm pretty sure Adric and Mile were in love. The way they talked and acted around each other reminded me of the stories my dad used to tell me about my mother. Adric looked at her the way my dad looked when he thought about my mother, the way Adric said her name when they were talking was the way my father said my mothers name.

I suddenly wished I didn't know how this would end. I wanted them to somehow escape this together, I didn't want Adric to watch her die. I didn't want to watch them be separated forever.

Adric managed to jam a sword through 11's shoulder and ran for Mile. They barely got away but Mile couldn't seem to move at all. She fell, her head not hitting the floor because of Adric's arms getting in the way, her pupils dilated and the bandage on her arm was soaked with her blood despite the size of the wound.

"I think it's about time, don't you?" she said, grinning up at him, "Been waiting to die for days."

"Stop it, you can't leave me. You can't." Adric told her, a sly grin appeared on her face followed by a half-hearted giggle.

"I love you, you know that right?" All he managed to do was nod.

"I don't want you to go."

"I know." she choked, "I don't know how long this'll take from now on but you have to go, if one of the other tributes gets here you'll be a sitting duck."

"I'm not leaving you. I won't."

"I need you to win for me." She was in tears, so was he.

"I don't want to. Not without you."

"Please, for me." She was begging, "You can have a life. We just weren't meant to be."

"We could have been."

After the canon went off the scene changed. It was like a blur really, there was just so much blood. Adric killed the boy from 7 and finished off 11. It didn't seem to matter that half of the tributes left were part of the career pack, didn't matter that they had been trained since they were children to kill people. Adric didn't seem to care who they were or if he even knew which district they were from, he killed them anyway. It was a little scary, to be honest, he had a cold, indifferent sort of look in his eyes after she died save for when he found another tribute. It was at that point his eyes would light up and the fire I'd seen after mentioning his games returned. No matter how big, strong or clever his opponents were, Adric had beat them all. The girl from 11, the boy from 11, the boy from 8, the girl from 1, the boy from 4 and the boy from 7 had all died by his hand at one point or another during the games. Then came the final, just him and Riven.

The fight was so different to the rest, this time they were both so close to the end and neither was willing to give it up any time soon. They seemed to be evenly matched, Riven was strong and skilled but Adric was fast and smart. Then Riven pulled out a tooth, one from the tigers. Adric, of course, noticed it. He always does. Unfortunately there really wasn't anywhere for him to go, all he could do was try to avoid being hit by it. He did dodge it for the most part but there was a rumble and the tunnel they were in began to collapse, both boys raced through the tunnels, keeping one step ahead of the collapsing tunnel, until they reached the cornucopia. Riven was in front of Adric so the poor guy had nowhere to go, he couldn't stop or he'd be crushed but if he kept going he'd be at a disadvantage. Adric didn't stop running anyway and didn't seem even vaguely surprised when Riven pinned him against the outside of the cave wall, almost as if he were used to it.

There was a struggle but despite Adric being stronger than he looks, Riven was stronger still. He managed to dig the tooth into Adric's neck, deep enough to draw blood but not at a point where he'd slit his throat. It would have been harmless enough if it weren't for the poison. Riven let Adric go and laughed, Adric himself nearly fell over, gripping the wall to hold himself up, his other hand flying to his forehead as through it would calm the dizziness.

"Whats the matter? Feeling a little faint?" Riven taunted as he grabbed one of the remaining torches surrounding the cornucopia. Both had discarded their weapons (other than the tooth) when the tunnel collapsed, meaning Adric was defenceless. Riven held the flaming end of the torch towards Adric, burning through his shirt and the skin underneath. Adric let out a gasp and moved away from the flame only to be pushed back by Riven, he struggled against him but the poison made fighting a particularly hard thing to do.

"Go ahead." Adric's expression was unlike any I'd ever seen before. It's sad and lonely and abandoned. "I'm done trying."

"Come on, don't be like that. It's no fun if you don't fight back." Riven laughed, he hit Adric and threw him to the floor. "-Fight-Me!-" he kicked him before and after each word, trying to get a rise out of him but Adric was broken. He didn't move or make a sound. Whatever kept him fighting before was gone, the energy drained away.

Riven pulled the metal part of the stick containing the fire off, this revealed another piece of metal that was pointed and designed to hold the other metal part in place, the other end of the torch was just wood but it was also pointed. Riven swung the torch at Adric and a large gash appeared on his side, blood seeped through Adric's shirt but he wasn't dead, it wasn't deep enough for him to die anytime soon. Riven had him cornered so that if Adric were to move forwards even a few millimeters the pointed metal would go into his side, yes it would probably miss all his vital organs due to the angle it was at but it would hurt like hell and make him too weak to really do much and then theres the whole blood loss issue.

"Guess you'll get to be with your girlfriend again soon. She must be so disappointed." There was a flicker of anger across Adric's face for just a second and the spark in his eye was back. Adric glanced down and then up, he had that face on, the one he gets when he's come up with a plan that was either impossibly brilliant or exceptionally risky.

Adric seemed to brace himself for something and then in one swift movement surged forward, fast and as hard as he could, letting out a groan of pain as the point pierced the skin. The result, however, meant that not only had it punctured his skin but Riven's as well only, the angle had cause the spike to go through Riven's stomach, destroying the vital organs found there. Adric managed to pull himself off the point and finish Riven off as fast as he could by pushing the spike through his skull, obviously Adric needed immediate medical attention and not just for the hole in his side, there was the poison and his nose looked like it was broken and a whole horde of other injuries the idiot needed treated, badly. He may have just won the games but the Capitol needed to act quickly if they expected to have a victor to crown. I think I understand why he hates his games, and I think I've just found another thing to be scared of. The way he acted, the things he was capable of... it was understandable now, I'm beginning to think Austin was right,

"He's cold and heartless."