Kisarna Talent, District Four- 18
Apparently I was a hero and not a villain. That was nice to learn. On the one hand, I was a Career, but apparently since the Capitol was sorting us that canceled it out. As far as they were concerned I was a hero. I kind of just thought I was a normal girl. I was from Four so I trained for the Games, just like people who with a family history of Peacekeeping joined the Peacekeepers. Anyway I was in a new Games cooked up by the Capitol for some creepy-sounding secret job. Fun.
It's all fun and games until there's a handgun in the Bloodbath. A very un-warlike hand-curled-to-my-chest "woah what the *#( " occurred when I saw that bad boy lying underneath a pile of daggers. I snatched it up and whirled around to face my competitors. Onyx saw the gleam of the metal and reacted so uncannily fast that he was on me before I could shoot. We wrestled on the ground, thrashing and batting at each other, until I wrenched the gun up towards his face and pulled the trigger. The jerk of his body unnerved me in its unnatural violence. Blood coated my face like spray-paint before I could shove him off and stand. The others had all turned at the noise and when they saw me everything went still.
Five bullets. Onyx was already dead. So were Luxen, Jack, Severa and Torchy. Titian said when seven of us were dead we'd move into the next section. I had two competitors to choose. My first kill was Mary Ellen. She wasn't the biggest threat. In fact, she was one of the smallest. But if I picked the two best choices I marked myself out as too smart to let live. With the next bullet I shot Troy in the knee. The Bloodbath ended when seven of us were dead, wasting the bullets I had left… unless I didn't shoot to kill. After I shot Theo in the knee I knew the most intelligent one left would cut the risks and try to attack me. I wasn't surprised when it was Rhoda. Seven Tributes dead. Eight left to outlive.
I knew Titian was right at the next challenge. The man in the chair would die either way. I was only choosing if I would die with him. And it was a criminal anyway. How did I know he didn't rape a kid or something? I pulled the switch with only a flutter of guilt. I wasn't surprised when everyone else passed except Lyte. Panem didn't instill a deep sense of the value of life in its citizens.
I don't like talking about the third challenge.
Steel, Troy, Margo and I were the only ones left at the fourth challenge. We were soon told it would be a team challenge. I'd gambled on team challenges when I started kneecapping people. I lucked out with the rules Titian explained.
"On the desk in the room you will see a button," Titian explained over an intercom as the four of us sat each in a room. "You have two choices: press or don't press. If all four of you press, no one dies. If three or two of you press, the second one that presses gets to pick someone to kill. However, you can only pick from the others who pressed. If only one person presses, that person gets to pick someone to kill from the other three. If you don't press, you increase your chances of safety but lose your chance to eliminate your biggest threat. You have two minutes and no timers. Time starts now goodbye!"
I stepped out after two minutes and the results were revealed. I hadn't pressed. Steel hadn't pressed. Margo pressed first, forty-five seconds in. Troy pressed second at ninety-two seconds. Troy's only pick was Margo and then there were three.
I think we all knew what it meant when Titian said we'd be executing another criminal. I took a moment before I opened the door to prepare myself for what I knew was inside. And what a perverted mirror it was. Arien's eyes looked so much like mine. It was like facing my own conscience to look him in the eye and raise the gun. It wasn't out of malice and it wasn't out of justice. I shot my twin brother for exactly what the Capitol wanted its Victor to show: submission. To show deference to the Capitol before anything else, even family and morality.
There were a lot of benefits to being a Victor. I had riches and fame and respect. I had a lofty position in the Capitol and had a great deal of power when I carried out the missions they assigned to me from time to time. What I didn't have was my twin brother. I never told my parents my involvement in his death. As far as they knew he was accused of treason and executed. On good days I was even able to forget him.