Here is the next chapter, following the two tributes from six. Both of them are young, but let's see how they react to being picked.
I don't own The Hunger Games. It's owned by Suzanne Collins.
District 6
Lucy Glade, 14
Lucy was sitting at a table with her mother and father, not talking at all. Lucy saw the tension around the room, while she was eating breakfast. The reason being? The reaping was happening today. Sure, Lucy was young and didn't have a high chance of getting picked, but she was still nervous whenever the reaping came. But, she tried to stay positive in the face of fear, as she didn't want to seem scared. So she tried to start something a conversation with her parents.
"Mom, Dad…Do you like my dress?" Lucy asked.
Her mother looked at the blue blouse with the pink ribbon that had her blonde hair be in a ponytail. Lucy also had some electric blue eyes to go with her look. Her mother smiled a bit.
"It looks beautiful honey. I think it fits you well." Her mother said.
Her father and got up out of his seat and began to grab some things in the basement. He got out of the basement and went to leave, but her mother stopped him.
"Martin, where are you going?" Her mother asked.
"To my job." Her father said.
"Really, now you have to go to your job? Why can't you stay? You know she could possibly-"
"You think I want to go now? Of course I don't want to, but if I don't, I'll get fired. Do you want me fired?"
Her mother shook her head no, and Martin opened the door and left. Lucy had always missed her father. He was off on his job a lot, not really giving her the time and energy to hang out with her. Most of the time it was her mother who had always seemed to care for her. But one time, when her father wasn't there, a peacekeeper hit her in the stomach, giving her a scar their when she was eight. She had tried to grab her stuffed animal, but had been hit in the stomach by a peacekeeper, keeping her from going anywhere. For some reason, after that, her stuffed animal had been returned to her the day after, which was strange to her. She wondered who could have helped her out. But she kept that thought in mind when she saw the other families began to make their way to the reaping.
Kellen Rails, 12
"Hey kid, where do you think you're going?"
Kellen looked on with his friends Aaron and Carter, as Carter had just stopped a boy that was around his age.
"Carter, please not today. Not on reaping day." The boy said.
"Yes today. You have some money right? Why don't you give it to us and not make this harder on yourself." Carter said
The boy looked around, and tried to get away, but was grabbed by Aaron from behind.
"Wrong choice." Aaron said.
Aaron then punched the boy in the stomach, making him fall to the ground. Aaron and Carter then looked to Kellen, which made him look upset.
"Kellen, get the money." Carter said.
Kellen hesitated for a second, and then he rushed up to the now groaning boy. Kellen looked in his front pockets, and found a couple of small coins for him to use. Then he looked in his back pocket, and found a gold ring.
"Oh shit, you've got gold?" Carter asked.
"No, wait, don't take that. I got it from a friend please!" The boy said.
"Shut the hell up. "
Carter then kicked him in the back, and Kellen winched a bit at when he hit the kid.
"Carter, I think we have to go soon. The reaping's about to start soon." Aaron said.
"Fine, but once it's over, were getting more money." Carter said.
Kellen didn't say anything. He rarely said anything unless Carter or Aaron asked him a question. Kellen wasn't really a happy child most of the time, since he lived in the poor part of his District. It was even worse that he was surrounded by Junkies. But, Kellen wanted to escape from all that. That's when he found Aaron and Carter, who were both around 2 years older than him. Carter had come up with the idea that they should help their families by intimidating other kids and taking their money so that they could afford food. But Kellen had asked Carter one thing, that they would not mess with his 8 year old sister, Jasmine. He agreed, and they've been doing this for the past year. Kellen didn't really know if this was the right thing to do, but it was keeping his family fed. As he was walking with Carter and Aaron, He caught Jasmine walking to the reaping.
"I'll catch up. My sister." Kellen said.
"But what about-"Carter began.
"Carter, let it go. It's just his sister." Aaron said.
Kellen then ran up to his sister Jasmine. She looked happy to see him, and she hugged him.
"Kellen, I'm glad you're okay. Your friends keeping you happy?" Jasmine asked
"Yeah." Kellen said.
"Great to hear."
Kellen and Jasmine began to walk together slowly, as the other kids around his District had already dressed up for what was to come. Jasmine then pulled on Kellen's black t-shirt.
"Kellen…are you going to be safe?"
Kellen thought about it for a couple of seconds. He was in his first reaping, but he was twelve, and had only about 2 or 3 slips in, which put him at a very low risk of getting picked for the games.
"Yes."
Jasmine smiled as she held Kellen's hand, making their way to the reaping ceremony.
Lucy Glade, 14
As Lucy as her mother got to the Reaping center, she saw the mayor's building right in front, with a railway that was above the building. Lucy didn't look at it long, as she had now focused her attention on getting her blood sample. She did as the peacekeeper was told, and got her finger pricked, and her blood was put on that sheet of paper. She looked back at her mother, who had a nervous glance to her. Lucy then walked to where she was supposed to go, which was the fourteen year section with the other girls her age. She looked around and noticed the other nervous faces around; trying not to panic herself at the situation she was in.
Then she saw the two victors come and take their seats to the right of the podium. She recognized both of them as the most recent victors for their District, Herb and Jenna. Herb was a lanky guy who had rags around his eyes with some very blank green eyes, and a black t-shirt and black pants with black shoes. To her, he seemed like one of those junkies. As for Jenna, she seemed to be more properly dressed for the occasion, with a purple dress, but then Lucy saw some blue sneakers underneath the dress. She then saw the escort come up to the podium. By the way he was dressed, be looked like a strange person. He had large gold glasses that had yellow feathers sticking out of the sides of the glasses. He had a green suit, with yellow dress pants and red dress shoes. But his hair was probably the weirdest thing that Lucy was looking at. It seemed that four long spikes were sticking out to look like a triangle, each with a separate color. This escorts name was Ashford, who always had a reputation for coming up with the weirdest clothing. Ashford then introduced himself.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Or, should I say girls and boys, since two of you are probably doomed. Anyways, this is the 57th time this District has come to choose two of you to go to these special games. But first, we must watch this fabulous video made by the Capital itself." Ashford said.
Lucy watched the video with the rest of the kids. Lucy didn't like how glorified the Capital made itself to be, as it wasn't as strong of a victory as the Capital made it out to be. And making two people from this District be chosen to fight to death with 22 other kids didn't feel right. But she wanted to believe that there was a way to stay alive without killing anyone. Once the video ended, Ashford came up to the podium again.
"Now, we will finally get to the wonderful time of this afternoon, picking the boy and girl for the games. First, let's start with the girls."
Ashford then slowly began to trot his way to the girl's bowl, which was strange to Lucy. Then, Ashford kept rolling his hands around the bowl multiple times, not stopping for about thirty seconds until he finally pulled a name out. He then trotted again back to the podium, and after a bit of some slapping onto the podium for dramatic tension, Ashford called out the girl's name.
"Lucy Glade."
Lucy stands there for a few seconds, trying to process what the heck she just heard. She then began to slowly walk past the other girls that were around her. She was beginning to hyper ventilate, and begin breathing really hard as she was now trying to walk to the stage there. But she never made it as everything went black.
Kellen Rails, 12
Kellen was surprised that the girl that was chosen had just passed out right on the ground. Kellen felt bad for her, since she was so young yet chosen for the games. Two Peacekeepers came up and grabbed her by the arms, dragging her up to the stage. One of the peacekeepers was slapping her softly in the face to try to wake her back up. She finally gained consciousness again, and after she got to the stage, asks the peacekeepers to let her go. They implied, and the girl went up to the podium when Ashford was.
"My goodness, that was quite a fall their Miss Glade. Make sure not to do that in the games, or else your dead."
Kellen thought that was too much, as this girl was just trying to keep her composure and not break down on the stage.
"Well, enough of that. Time to find the boy who will join her."
Kellen then started to shiver a bit in his section, and tried to keep himself calm. He knew there was a low probability he got picked, but there was still a high chance of him going into these games. And he didn't want that. How in the world was he going to pay his family if he got picked? He would almost guarantee to be dead. No twelve year old has ever won the games, and to Kellen, that wasn't likely to change anytime soon. He then saw Ashford come back with the boy slip, and he read the name out loud.
"Kellen Rails."
Kellen felt terrified by what he had just heard. He couldn't believe that out of all the boys here, he was the one that got picked out of everyone. He got out of the row, and he got to the walkway. He turned around and saw the Peacekeepers with their weapons there. Kellen considered making a run for it, but he wouldn't get about fifty feet before they would be on him and force him to come to the stage again. So Kellen decided not to make a scene, and walked up to the stage and went to the podium.
"Wow…I am not impressed right now. Probably easy deaths right here."
Kellen now had an angry looking face, at the fact that Ashford would just carelessly throw away their lives.
"Now, just shake hands, and I can go back to my latte."
Kellen looked at Lucy, who seemed to be almost in tears. Kellen shook Lucy's hand and then they both were escorted back to empty rooms. Kellen was stuck in a room filled with a chair…that was it. It didn't really feel that roomy, but that was enough for him. He saw his parents and sister entered and they hugged him.
"Oh my god, Kellen, I'm so sorry this has happened to you. I never…how could we have…" His mother said.
"Just not my day." Kellen said.
"But big brother, I don't want to see you go." Jasmine said.
"I don't know what I'm going to do now. It's hopeless." His father said.
Kellen then thought about what he was going to do. Kellen then reached into his pocket, and pulled out various coins and the ring that he had, and gave it to his father.
"Take this."
"Why?" His father asked.
"For you. You'll need it more than I."
The family then hugged him again, thankful that he did that. Kellen didn't really show any emotions, but did a half smile. Then his family was moved out of the room. After a minute more, his friends Carter and Aaron came into the room.
"Shit man, I didn't expect you here." Aaron said.
"I know." Kellen said.
"Kellen. I just need something from you. Do you have all that money I gave you? Don't worry; we'll give half of it to your family." Carter said.
Kellen looked around bit.
"Gave it to my family."
Carter looked shocked. Then he had a pissed off face.
"What the hell do you mean you gave it to your family? That money was meant for me."
"Dude, chill out." Aaron said.
"I'm not going to chill out. He gave away all of that for his stupid family."
Kellen was hurt by what he said.
"Carter, out."
"What the hell does that mean you prick?"
Aaron intervened and pulled Carter out of the room with him. Kellen was then left in the room all by himself again, not having anyone he knew that could help him out.
Lucy Glade, 14
Lucy was crying in her room, but she was trying to keep the cries down, so that she wouldn't get the Peacekeepers riled up. She waited for a couple of minutes more, before she saw her mother enter the room, and she hugged her tight.
"Mom…where's dad?" Lucy asked.
"I don't know honey…but I want you to know…I still love you." Her mother said.
They both hugged a little longer, before a peacekeeper came in and they escorted her mother out of the room. What Lucy wasn't expecting was for the peacekeeper to lock the door. They then turned around to face Lucy, which had her nervous about what they were going to do. It then took off its helmet…to reveal her dad. Lucy was shocked to see that her dad was there. He went up to her.
"Lucy, I know it's shocking that I'm here right now, but I don't have much time. All I want to tell you is that you can do this. Don't give up hope, and…Daddy loves you."
Her father then put on the helmet again, and unlocked the door and left. After that, she and the other tribute that was chosen were taken to the train outside, and escorted on by Ashford.
Herb, 48
Herb was in the bathroom, taking out some of the drugs that he had gotten from one of his dealers. He held the drug in his hand. He needed it, he wanted it. He wanted to forget the games, and he didn't want to remember what had happened. He usually kept a clam demeanor about him, but on the inside he was screaming for help. He had lost hope with trying to help the other tributes, as most of them he got either were too weak to go far, or for some strange reason died during the bloodbath. He just couldn't do it anymore. So, he had started using drugs to keep him sane. But when he got the needle out, there was a knock on the door. Herb suddenly put the drugs away in a secret place.
"What is it?" Herb asked.
"Herb, the tributes are coming on the train. Maybe you should talk to them for a bit?" Jenna said.
Herb didn't say anything at first. He didn't really feel like helping at all, since he saw the two tributes that got chosen. One was a girl who passed out while walking to the stage and the other one was a twelve years old, which meant certain death. But, he probably would get yelled at by his sister for not at least trying to help, even though he didn't have a lot of hope.
"Fine, just give me a few."
He heard Jenna leave, and he quickly grabbed his drugs and placed it in a secret hole where he put stuff that he wants hidden. He then covered it with some tape. He then opened the door, and looked at the room to the right of him. He saw Jenna sitting down on one of the comfy chairs, along with the two tributes, Lucy and Kellen. He wasn't inspired by Lucy, but at least with Kellen he kept his cool, so he wanted to talk to him. He made his way to the chair next to Jenna, and he took a seat. Jenna took the go ahead and started the conversation, as the train began to move to its next destination.
"I'm so sorry you two are here right now, it must feel terrible that you're in this situation." Jenna said.
Herb didn't hear the tributes talking, and Lucy seemed to not be interested in talking. Herb then looked at Kellen, who had a pissed off face to him. Herb saw the determination in his eyes.
"Just enjoy yourself as much as you can. We'll try to help you survive."
"So how are you going to help us?" Kellen asked.
That made Herb reconsider Kellen. He wanted to win, and didn't seemed to be scared of dying. He was going to help him to the best of his abilities…without using to much of the drugs he had.
"Kid, if you want to survive the games, there's a couple of things you need to understand." Herb said.
And District 6 is done. Both of these tributes are on the younger side, so there really isn't a lot of confidence in the tributes. Next are the tributes of District 8. See ya.
