Isa James, 16
Victor of the 16th Hunger Games
She follows Doug through the narrow corridors of the building that they're in, holding her hand over her face so that she isn't blinded by the harsh, bright light of the fixtures above them. "So we're going to the mentor's room?"
"We'll likely be the last ones there - most of them head off early so that way they can prepare and find sponsors quickly, but I made sure we'd leave later so that you can get the full experience. And so you could say goodbye and all that." Doug looks worried, and Isa realizes that he kept her with their tributes later so that way she could say her last goodbyes. She's about to lose her first tributes.
Oh, it's so strange to think that they're hers. But hers they are, and she knows that she'll cry like a child when one of them dies.
For a moment, she wishes that she could just hide in her room back at home where everything feels safer, but she clenches her fists and walks after Doug through the doorway. She's not going to be a child now. She's not going to run away.
She's going to do her duty, even if it means she has to watch these two die.
A few mentors look up from their screens when they walk into the room, and Doug leads her to the centre of the room. "Ben, the Twos, and the Fours all work next to each other so that they can discuss strategy. We don't often have to interact with those ones - although must of us will be swearing once the careers start in the bloodbath. We sit next to Kaitlynn and Rosanna, lovely people. We don't often get a chance to work together, but it's good when we do."
"Oh, that makes sense," she murmurs as she walks through the room. All of the others are here - fourteen victors, watching her from their own little worlds. Ben, Clay, Natalia, Caleb, Kaitlynn, Magdalene, Craig, Rosanna, Maddie, Josiah, Tomas, Falcon, Sean, Ashira, all of them are here.
She's surrounded by heroes, and she's never felt so small.
She wonders how Calaeno will do. They've talked about it, and Isa has told the tribute to run when she can. Calaeno won't do well in combat, but they can run fast. They'll be able to escape the bloodbath, and then they'll be in it for the long haul. Isa's had a few sponsors show interest in her tribute, and she's spent a few nights just trying to get as many connections for Calaeno. She knows that it might not work, that the arena might have anything in store for her girl and she hasn't been prepared for it all, but she's hopeful.
She hasn't talked often to Gil, but she knows the boy resents her. He resents the fact that she's here and Tony isn't, that she gets to live while his brother died. A wave of nausea rushes over her as she remembers how Tony had fallen off of her pedestal and into a million pieces, and she tries not to gag.
She can taste blood on her tongue.
"It's beginning!" a voice shouts in the room, and everyone heads to their respective screens. Isa slides into her seat and watches Calaeno being taken up, up, up by the tube and into the arena.
All around her is glass - well, on one side. Now that she has a chance to focus, Isa can see that Calaeno's in front of a large glass window. Behind it is shining snow, so bright that Isa can't look directly at it. They must be on some sort of mountain… is this a chalet? She remembers her parents talking about one, something about how they went to a ski mountain for their honeymoon. Before the Dark Days, of course, when districts were still accessible. It's a large, large room, with a small cornucopia in the centre that's overflowing with supplies. And there's doors, and stairs, and places where tributes can run to hide.
But as the counter begins to tick, Isa sees one more thing.
The doors are blocked by a wall of steel.
GAMES TIME GET READY - WE'RE GETTING IT IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
That is all. I promise there will be chaos, so get ready!
Enjoy. Until next time, TheAmazingJAJ