And tomorrow...the Games truly begin.

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The Hunger Games, Fleeing Snake

Part 10

-Errol's view-

Topaz was first for the interviews. She was dressed in some tacky ballerina number that made her legs look too fat and her chest small like a prepubescent boys. Okay...admittedly she probably looked alright at best, but I couldn't see past her smug attitude and shameless lust over Cato. I never thought of myself as a bitter person but there it was, in the form of some girl who thought she could take Cato from me. She finished her interview quickly and was continued by the second District 1 girl. The guard stood next to me listening on his headset for my turn on the stage. The audience applauded for the second girl and Caesar Flickerman turned to the crowd silencing them.

"Please welcome the first of the District 2 tributes. The boy who shocked the world as a snake shedding his skin, Errol Sinclair!" The audience started cheering and the screens behind Caesar lit up with my carriage ride transformation. My snake eye contacts had been put back in and Miss. Salome had added a black bar coming off the corners of both my eyes, more snake like I guess. I was astounded how she chose to present me. A normal boy, in a normal suit but with eyes of a snake, a small but poignant transformation.

Caesar took my hand and led me to the stage, the crowd still cheering like mad.

Luckily the interview went quickly. He asked about the inspiration for the snake, what the transformation felt like and a few more personal questions. Near the end of the interview Caesar looked more serious and scooted closer to me. "One last question, because I feel we are so close." He said laughing, the crowd joined in after I chuckled.

"Of course, since were such good friends." I said with a smile.

"Is there anyone special in your life?" He asked with one eyebrow arched. There was a moment of silence as I thought. I looked into my lap, pretending to think, but I already knew what I wanted to say.

"Well, its...complicated." I said still looking down.

"Isn't it always?" Caesar said smiling like a fox. I looked up at him then out to the audience.

"There was someone...a boy back home." I said, looking into the cameras and telling the world. I could hear the audiences shock and whispers. Caesar put up and hand and calmed the crowd.

"A boy? Were you two close?" Caesar asked still trying to quite the audience. He didn't react to the most obvious part of my response, and I was grateful the didn't.

"We were friendly, I guess. It was one of those crushes, you know?" Caesar nodded as I continued. "I was just a kid when I first saw him. It was like..." I paused for a moment, making sure everyone heard my next line. "It was like the sun had come up. Like everything about this person was so warm and bright." I could hear the audience swoon and aww as I finished. Caesar was smiling and nodding his head.

"Thats lovely my friend. Absolutely lovely. Do you want to say anything to him now?" He asked waving to the cameras. I smiled and looked down again.

"No, theres nothing that needs to be said now." I looked up and smiled at Caesar, wiping away a single tear. The crowd cheered for my admission of affection and Caesar offered me his handkerchief.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Errol Sinclair the Boy of Snakes!" Caesar took my hand and we rose form our seats.

"The Boy of Snakes?" I wondered to myself. I hadn't planned on a title but I accepted it was graciously as I could. Caesar and I bowed for the audience before I was escorted off stage to Talmud.

"Oh Errol, Errol, Errol! That was fabulous!" Talmud said hugging me around my neck. "Oh look at you, those pretty snake eyes look all the more striking when there are tears in them." He finally let go and went back to he monitor to watch Cato's interview.

"I'm just going to head back Talmud. I'll see you after the evaluations." I said trying to leave.

"You're not going to watch?" He asked somewhat surprised. "Even after...all that's happened?" I looked back at him, wishing he hadn't said that.

"No, there's no reason to watch right now." I turned away and left the studio as fast as I could. Its not that I didn't want to hear Cato's interview, its just that I knew what he was going to say. He had said it before, to his parent, to his friends, and to anyone who he had ever known.

Back at the tributes building I was cleaned of my makeup, removed of my contacts and put back into my training clothes. I noticed that in the last few days I had been able to put on a bit of muscle, my arms were large and my frame was no longer lanky and thin, but fit and strong. I had to give all thanks to Miss. Aphelandra. I was not the messenger of District 2, I was the Boy of Snakes, and more than ever I finally felt ready for tomorrow.

I was the first to the training center followed by the girls of District 1, Cato then rest. Cato and I were placed in a room by ourselves to wait for our turn, it still felt odd, and it was odd that it felt...odd. We had known each other for over 10 years but in the course of less than a week we had become complete strangers. I didn't want to cuddle up to him and hold his hand, all the admiration and affection I had for Cato had been taken from me, but part of me wondered if it had ever been there. All the words had been said, there was no more time for tears and kisses, now was the time for survival and action.

"How did I do?" He asked, probably talking about his interview. I leaned my head back against the wall.

"Perfect." I said closing my eyes. Cato chuckled at my response.

"Liar." He said still chuckling. I opened my eyes and looked at him confused.

"Errol Sinclair." A loud sensitized voice rang out and alerted me to my turn. I got up but didn't want to leave. "Go, we'll talk later I guess." He said waving me off. I nodded and left through the large metal doors.

The training room was empty and the last of the cleanup crew was leaving. I walked into the center of the room still thinking about what I was going to do. It was something I should have planned a while back but it never really occurred to me how important this was. I surveyed the room slowly seeing racks of spears, knives, swords, bows and arrows and even paints. Everything we had trained with over the last few days was laid out in a circle around me, it was only a matter of choosing how to use it. "You may begin. ." I looked up and saw the head game maker speaking to me from the observation platform. I nodded and went to the center of the room. I stood for a moment, looking at everything around me, and it finally hit me. "Well, I am a snake," I whispered to myself. I went over to the spear rack and grabbed as many as I could.

I walked around the room mapping out everything as I walked, jabbing a spear into the floor every so often. I wasn't timed so I made sure to take it slow and make everything perfect. It took me about 10 minutes to plant every spear in the precise location. Some were in the ground, some were on the pillars and a few were sticking out of the roof, seemingly in random places.

"Anytime ." The game makers warned. I went back to the center of the room and stood quietly. I closed my eyes and let my body take control, I knew where to go and all I had to do was let my instincts take me there.

-Cato's view-

He was taking an awfully long time. I never did ask Errol what he was going to do for his evaluation, it seemed wrong to ask. Aphelandra and I had made a simple plan of me showing off my sword skills on some test dummies, but I wondered what Errol could do. Maybe he would wow them with his agility, that seemed like his greatest strength. After what seemed like 30 minutes the doors opened and Errol walked out completely out of breath. I ran up to him and saw how tired he really was. His breathing was hard, his muscles were tense and he was sweating like a pig. "What...are you okay?" I asked helping him to his seat.

"Cato Eucliff." The computers voice called forcing me to go. I looked back at him still trying to see if he was okay.

"Go, we'll talk later I guess." He mimicked me from earlier, and I left. Knowing we would probably never speak again.

-Errol's view-

We had all gathered in my apartment for breakfast. Myself, Talmud, Miss. Aphelandra, Miss. Salome, Cato, and his stylist Miss. Sandersonia. We all ate, some talking, some too stuffed with food to speak and others were too preoccupied to eat at all. We were all waiting on the results of our evaluations and after we had finished eating we gathered around the television to watch. Caesar Flickerman was already on the screen preparing to announce the scores.

"We had some incredible tributes this time and the scores are promising to be way up, up from last years!" He said with a smile, flashing his plastic looking teeth. He began and started with Topaz, who scored a high 9. Her friend scored a 7 and Cato came up scoring a 10.

"Oh Cato that's fabulous!" Talmud said patting him on the back. Cato put on a smug grin and it reminded me of his old self, so full of pride and confidence.

"Hush they're announcing Errol's score!" Miss. Salome said trying to get to pay attention.

"Errol Sinclair of District 2, with a score of..." Caesar said unfolding the card with my score. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped and looked at the card intently for a few moments. "Um, Errol Sinclair...With a score of 12."

We all became silent, deathly so. I looked over at Cato and he looked back at me. In that moment I saw not sadness, not anger or fear, just a blankness, like what had just happened wasn't real for him. Cato quickly got up and left with Talmud and Miss. Sandersonia following quickly behind. "Good work Errol. That's very good work." Miss. Aphelandra said getting up.

The rest happened in a flash. A sleepless night, to afraid to close my eyes. A tasteless breakfast and a pre-battle talk with Miss. Aphelandra. She made sure to tell me everything three times over before the peacekeepers took me and Cato from the tributes building. We were taken to a large hanger where we were split into two groups. My group was the first to board our hovercraft and launch for the arena. As we flew I looked at all the tributes getting ready to die. Most were silent, knowing too well that there was no longer a point to talking. A few were crying, but it sounded more like sniffling. I looked back at the end of the craft and saw one tribute doing none of the three. It was the boy from District 10, the one who had taken out my contact earlier. He was in his chair, eyes closed, with his hands in front of his head, whispering to himself.

He was praying.

I didn't know what god he was praying to, or even what he was praying for, but in those silent moments in the craft I closed my eyes and said a prayer to whatever god would hear me.

"May the road rise up to meet us.

May the wind be always at our back.

May the sun shine warm upon our face;

the rains fall soft upon our fields

and until we meet again,

may God hold us in the palm of His hand."