A girl comes out from hiding. Her hair is jet black, she's covered in scratches from head to toe, her outfit is that of any tribute in this games, and she looks just like me. In fact, even her arm is bandaged up the way mine is. And yet, there's something wrong, something that sets us apart.
"Hello Blaze Boltson," She grins as she pulls out my diamond dagger. I check my belt and let out a sigh of relief. My actual dagger is still there. Still, that small matter doesn't set my mind to rest. Am I going delusional from the heat?
"Surprised?" her face still holds the same sly grin. After a long pause, I realize something weird about her face; her eyes. They're the same shade as mine, but instead of round human pupils, her's are slit. She has cat eyes, animal eyes, mutt eyes.
"Who are you?" I ask, hands shaking, "What are you?"
"Can't you recognize yourself? I am you."
"No you aren't, stop lying to me!" I shout. She just starts to laugh, not threatened at all by my efforts to intimidate her.
"Put simply, I could be you. I possess everything you do, including your weapons and... oh never mind I guess you'll find out soon," She continues in little giggles. In the back of my mind, though it's the least of my worries, a thought crosses my mind: Is that how I really sound?
"So what? Are you just going to stand there giving me a creeper's smile all day?" I ask.
"Blaze! Help me!" I hear a child's voice scream. It's close. It's male. It's Jaden's. Just as I get ready to sprint towards his voice, I clear my head and remember Katniss's game.
"Nice try, but I'm not that stupid," I say turning to face myself. It's more for me than her. The voice is so convincing. What if it really is Jaden? What if they're torturing him and I'm just standing here?
"Really?" The voice comes from behind. I pivot and find my little brother holding a butcher's knife to my throat. He begins a frighteningly sick little laugh.
His eyes have slits in them too. He's just a mutt, I try to convince myself. Using jabberjays to torture tributes is one thing. This prank is on a whole different scale. It's not really him, I tell myself. Then kill it! I scream.
"Good job Jaden! You're the best brother ever!" My Doppelgänger chides.
The Jaden clone coughs up a green slime in my face and sinks to the ground. I pull my dagger out of his stomach feeling as if I want to pass out. My evil reflection's praise gave me confidence to believe the now puddle of goo wasn't my brother. Besides, he would never try to kill me. Still, I feel like I really did just kill Jaden.
"Oooo, so you have some backbone after all!" The Doppelgänger taunts,"Now let's see if you can kill your self!"
I throw the knife at her and she dodges it with ease.
"Your gonna have to do better than that!" giggles fill my mind.
So she has good reflexes. So what? If she didn't It'd just be an insult, I tell myself to keep from panicking. Her words from earlier come to me,"I poses everything you do. Including your weapons and... oh never mind I guess you'll find out soon!" What if this clone also poses my thoughts so she can figure out how to defend herself while I attack? No! It can't be true! If that was the case, she'd be unbeatable and that would be no fun for the crowd to watch.
Thunk. I drop to the ground as a blade whistles above my head.
"Sharp moves! Now dodge this!" Soon I'm assaulted with a hurricane of daggers and knives. I dive behind a tree and gasp as I feel a sharp pain in my calf. She lied to me. not only does she possess the weapons I have, but she has many more.
"Your pretty clumsy aren't you? It's a wonder your still alive!" My clone's voice has changed. It's starting to sound even more like me. What can this mean? Before I can figure it out, I'm dodging more knives. I spring back up onto my feet and throw some rocks at her. She doesn't even bother to dodge them.
She keeps on hurling knives at me as I throw rocks and whatever I can grab at her, trying with all my might to escape. This mutt will kill me. If I don't get away from her quickly, I'll be a goner. No, I can't let that happen! I can't let some fabricated version of myself beat me.
Without notice, a parachute floats down from the sky. My clone's eyes widen with interest and she allows me time to shuffle with the thing. As quickly as I can, I un-wrap the parcel. Inside is a black folded pouch of some sort. My eyes lighten knowing what it is: a knife set.
"So, looks like Tristan did his strip show," She smiles.
My eyes widen, "How did you..."
"Didn't I tell you already, I'm you. I have all the information you do."
I quickly draw out a knife and throw it at her. She drops to the ground to evade it and in the moment, I throw another at her. It barley misses, and gives a little scratch, but no major damage. Now, I only have ten left. I can't spend my time wasting this gift. I need to finish her off as soon as I'm able.
We run, playing a game of cat and mouse for another fifteen minutes or so. My breathing is ragged by now and my sweat is blinding me as it pours down my face. The longer this goes on, the less energy I'll have. The worst part is, she looks like she did in the beginning. There isn't any sign of fatigue surrounding her at all. Her breath is even and not a single drop of sweat slides from her body.
"Getting tired already? Wow you must be out of shape! Maybe this little fight can help you lose a few pounds." My clone says sounding like a nasty gym trainer.
"You know you, if you're really my clone, you weigh just as much as I do, so you're calling yourself fat." It's a weak retort, but I'm too tired to come up with anything better. Furthermore, I have to figure out how to beat myself.
Let's think, my clone possesses the same weapons as I do, she doesn't tire, and she has the same basic skills as I do. Bing! A light bulb goes off in my head. When I was little I used to watch this cool show about spies call "Stealthy Strategy Solver." In every episode it would end with the quote, "As a spy you must know your enemy's strengths and weakness, but also know your own!" If this truly is a clone of me, then she has the same skills and weakness as I have! So now all I have to do is find out what my weakness are and how an enemy would play them against me! Then, I can use that info and surmount the challenge that is myself.