Jason Baize (17) D8M
My heart didn't race while I got into the tube. It should have, probably, and I refuse to claim that it was because I was confident, collected. I wasn't terrified at all because I was long beyond caring. I knew I could die and my stupid child's brain didn't really process it. I knew that I could die and very much intended to make it happen, an emotion I could see Silver mirroring. I was wrestling with my brain yet again, trying to remind myself that my life mattered while trying to convince myself that it didn't. Both points couldn't be correct and yet both held the same weight in my mind.
The tube rose and I felt the same nothingness I saw in Silver's gaze. Her face didn't rise or fall. She didn't flinch; she wasn't jostled. Her body remained perfectly still while she rose, just like my heartbeat remained perfectly steady. The tube stopped moving and I didn't notice until the countdown was already down to 50 seconds left. My eyes jerked themselves forward and I suddenly focused, the world coming into view around me.
Every part of the Arena was comfortably familiar to me. In front of me was a plain clearing of grass, rustling slightly in the wind. The Cornucopia was in the center of it, goods tossed into it. I noticed jackets deep in the center of it and and gloves and hats scattered around it. I knew already they would come in handy. There was a slight chill to the air, nothing more than I was already used to, but it would only get harsher. We were in a cold area, and chilly at noon meant freezing at night. The Careers were staring at the weapons but I was staring at any possible shelters around me.
Already the clock was down to thirty seconds, the last moments of my life slipping away from me all too quickly. Seeing a world I recognized lit something up in me, brought back my urge to run. I stretched my legs and rubbed my hands together to warm them up, getting ready to flee. I needed supplies to stay warm. I needed to leave to stay alive. It was going to be a hard decision to make, and no matter which I chose I would regret it. People had a way of always convincing themselves they were wrong, never looking at how they did could have been right.
Behind me I heard the lapping of waves and suddenly I knew where the wind was coming from. I knew without looking that the shore was rocky, not a sandy beach, and I knew the water was just about freezing cold. The rocks would be too, at night. During the day they'd be delightfully warm, the perfect place to bask for hours straight and pretend you weren't about to get a sunburn. I'd drawn on rocks like those before, laying stomach down while the sun hit my back. Every part of me wanted to run to the rocks, but they were warm, and they were by the water. The Careers would go there straight away.
As the countdown hit ten I made my decision. I'd run into the Bloodbath. I didn't have a choice. Food and water and supplies galore were all in front of me. Sure, there was water behind me, but it might not be drinkable. Might. I was going for the empty water bottle closest to me and the pair of gloves just a little bit away from me. They were a few feet from me at the farthest. They were an impossible distance away.
My breath steadied as the clock ticked down. What a phenomena. I got into a sprinting pose, happy for the year of track I took but knowing it wouldn't really matter. Seven days without exercise makes one week. Weak? My teacher's favorite joke. That was the last thought running through my head when the gong finally went off. A stupid joke I hadn't been told in three years.