Chapter 5
This is it. The eve of the Hunger Games. In less than 24 I could be dead. For my interview, I'm wearing an insanely short white skirt, and a red "shirt" like the one I had worn to the first day of training. My heels match the "shirt" and are about 5 inches tall. My prep team has completely made over my face. I am almost completely unrecognizable. My nails are red. I am ready. Riley made me practice scripted responses. I am completely smitten with him, and he will tell the audience that I am pregnant. Oh, how I hate him. The second we're in the arena, I will kill him.
"Are you ready" Cecelia asks.
"I was born ready" I respond with a smile. Cecelia leads me to where the other tributes are seated
"Good luck" Cecelia wishes.
"Thanks" I answer.
I slowly take in the other tributes. Caesar greets the audience, then introduces the girl from district 1. She's playing up the mysterious angle. Her male counter part is going for ruthless. The districts slip by. 5...6...7... Eventually, I hear my name called.
"Hello, May Jessica. So tell me, what were you thinking when you were reaped?"
"Um, I was in complete shock, I mean, sure, I had taken out tesserae, but I only had 4 entries."
"Well, would you like to tell the audience what you can do?" "I can use spears, knives, tie knots, shoot arrows, and feed myself." I reply meekly.
"Is there someone special back at home, someone that you want to win for?" "Um, not precisely. I mean, I really like Riley Certix."
"The male tribute from your district?" Caesar exclaims.
"Yeah." I respond, blowing him a kiss. The capitol audience goes wild. Just then, a buzzard sounds, signaling that my time is up. As I waltz back to my seat, the audience is still clapping. I can't listen to most of Riley's interview, as I am still in shock.
His ending line catches my attention; "I just hope that she doesn't give birth during the Games." I smile guiltily at the cameras. I blush, playing up the crazed with love, pregnant, girlfriend. Hardly anyone even listens to the rest of the district interviews. The second I stand up, Riley's arms are around me. He picks me up and carries me up to our rooms.
"Tomorrow, sprint straight to the cornucopia, grab whatever you can, as fast as you can, then get the hell out of there. Got it?" he strategizes. "I got it." I mumble. He sets me down on my bed, tucks me in, and leaves. I fall asleep instantly, knowing that every moment I give into fatigue in the arena is a moment of weakness.
Chapter 6 The Games Begin
I'm roused at dawn and taken to a small room with a buffet of food. My stylist, Alec, is waiting for me. He hands me the tribute outfit. Loose black pants, a red shirt, an orange jacket, and green boots. I dress, then I eat everything that Alec puts in front of me. Fried chicken, potatoes, eggs, fruit, fish, salad, pasta, soup, and water. Oh my gosh I drink more water than I ever have in my life. I gorge myself past the point of disgust. But I don't care. I know that food will probably be hard to come by in the arena.
When the clock chimes 9AM, I am placed on a hovercraft where a tracker is injected into my left forarm. I estimate the ride to be about 45 minutes. I drop down onto my tribute plate. I scan the arena. It is mostly a beautiful meadow teeming with lushius plants. The gong sounds.
I sprint towards the cornacopia. Once there, I easily snag a belt of knives, 3 large backpacks, a bow and 2 sheaths of arrows, and a heavy box. While running away,the guy from 9 tried to wrench my belt of knives off so I stabbed him in the lungs, not even allowing him a final scream. Then I run as fast as I possibly can while carrying these things towards the caves. I reach one of the caves about 2 hours later. I dump everything that I had grabbed in a pile in the middle of the cave. In the backpacks, I find 5 empty gallon sized bottles, 2 first aid kits, a 1 liter bottle of iodine, a sleeping bag, and a blowgun with 2 dozen darts. I also have 24 arrows and 1 bow, and 11 throwing knives. Next, I open the box. It contains an absolutely enormouse amount of food. 10 apples, 10 oranges, a container of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. 2 watermelon, 5 containers of cooked meat, 3 loaves of bread, and a container of mixed vegetables. I hear a twig snap at the mouth of the cave. My head whips toward the sound. Turning, I see Brae standing there, the 12 year old from district 7.
"Will you be my ally?" she asks. Though she is 12, she looks about 6. June's age.
"Sure." I respond, and we shake on it. We know that this kind of deal can only be temporary, but what are the odds of us being the last 2 alive?
Brae adds her supplies to my pile. She has 3 axes, a medical kit, and a backpack that contains a pack of 50 matches, 2 fishing rods plus a bag of bait. Also, a blanket, 2 pairs of night vision goggles, 1 gallon sized bottle, and 4 loaves of bread.
Suddenly, I hear 12 cannons fire. Yikes, half of the children dead on the first day. Then the seal of Panem is in the sky and the anthem plays. First to appear is the boy from 2, followed by both from 3, then the girl from 5, the girl from 6, and the guy from 7, both from 9 and 10, the boy from 11, and the girl from 12. then the final seal is in the sky. The temperature plummets immediately, so Brae and I wrap ourselves in her blanket and my sleeping bag.
Brae turns to me and in her eyes, I see guilt, fear, and sadness reflected in them.
"I killed the pair from 3." she announces solemnly.
"I killed the boy from 9." I admit.
"Oh, you mean Niel. She says. Suddenly, I feel deeply, intensely ashamed. I had murdered a boy and I hadn't even known his name. What kind of monster was I? Brae and I slowly fall asleep.
Chapter 7
I am awakened by the sound of a cannon. Quickly glancing around the cave, I realize that Brae is gone. Oh no. What if that was her cannon? She was so much like June. I can't let her die. I arm myself with my belt of knives and tentatively step out of the cave. I see Brae sitting next to a pile of fish. Brae stares at me, her expression shocked.
"Were you going to kill me?" She asked.
"No, I thought that you were dead and had come to avenge that." I respond. "I caught breakfast, and probably lunch and dinner too." Says Brae, as she hauls in another fish. I carry her meat into the cave and begin to gut it. By the time I'm done, Brae walks inside with a few more. We light a fire in the back of the cave and cook the fish. We cook it all, knowing that it won't keep raw very long. Not to far away, I hear a large group of people arguing.
"Give me the spears!"
"No, you have the dagger."
"No, Ruby has the dagger."
"Just take something already!"
I motion to Brae, who immediately picks up her axes. I tighten my belt of knives and load my bow. We creep stealthily outside. The career pack is standing just to thr right of our cave with their backs to us, fighting. There are only 5 of them. Before they even know what happened, Brae has buried both of her axes into the pair from 1. Before they can retaliate, I drive an arrow deeply into the boy from 4's temple. The girl from 4 chucks a spear at me, but it barely grazes my side. Brae snags a few knives from my belt and throws one at the girl from 2. The knife punctures her throat, and she halves the rest of her breif, remaining life by yanking out the weapon. While I watched her die, I hear Brae cry out in pain. I whip my head around in time to see a dagger stab her in her back. I am filled with hate for this monster. She tried to kill a twelve year old girl in cold blood. I chuck a knife at her. It impales itself in her chest, just where her heart should be. Her cannon fires.
"Are you ok, Brae?" I ask, kneeling down next to her. Brae has her jacket tied around her wound. I carry her easily into the cave and lay her down onto our bed. I gently pry off her jacket. Involuntarily, I gasp. The dagger punctured into her spine.
"Will I die?" Brae asks, her voice filled with terror.
"Not if I can help it." I respond. As I slowly tug the dagger out of her spine, I start to cry.
"Are you going to be ok? Because I can't feel anything, so don't worry about hurting me." Brae soothes
"Then that's worse. Your nerves have been severed/damaged." I respond. I rip open a medical kit. Sifting through it's contents, I find a bottle of anti-inflamitary pills, bandages, antibiotic cream, and a needle and thread.
"Take this." I order, handing her an anti-inflamitary pill. "I have to sew it up. First I'll rub some antibiotic cream into it, then sew it, then bandage it." I explain.
"OK. OK." Brae agrees. Then she promptly passes out.
"Brae. BRAE!" I scream. I dump an entire water bottle on her face.
"Brae, oh my god, you can't die, you can't. Wake UP!" I screetch. By now I have resulted to slapping her face. The pool of blood around us has become scary. How much more can she stand to lose?
"May Jessica." Brae croaks. "You need to win. You need to win and help my family. Please promise, please."
"Yes, yes of course I will. Brae, I love you."
"To my family and friends from district 7, I love you, and I will miss you."
Brae's cannon fires. Tears flow steadily down my face, and my body coarses with sobs. Why is the Capitol so cruel? I slowly treat her wound. I know that the Capitol could fix it quicker, and better too. But I want to do it. Then I plait her hair back, scrub all the mud and sweat from her body. I wrap her in the blanket and kiss her forhead.
I gently lay her down outside of the cave. I know that unless there is another fight going on, I'm being featured.
"Does anyone see how completely barberic this is? The Capitol is stealing your children and sacrificing them. Is killing the innocent really helping to keep the districts in line, or is it just adding fuel to the flames? Any species that sacrifices it's young to settle their disputes, shouldn't be in charge. We should let some decent species take over, because this," I announce, pointing to Brae, "is uncivilized. In school, we are fed a blather of lies about how mighty and sophisticated the Capitol is, but killing the innocent children of the districts is wrong. It's cowardly, evil, cruel, harsh, nightmarish, and barberic. And it won't ever end. I'm sorry, Brae, that I couldn't save you. You remind me of my sister, June. To Brae's family and friends, I am sorry that she died so young. I am sorry that I couldn't save her. I loved her." As I finish, all the fight goes out of me. I convulse on the ground, sceaming and sobbing. Eventually, a hovercraft appears and takes Brae away. This makes me sob harder. This is how I fall asleep.
Chapter 8
I am awakened at dusk, when the anthem of Panem blares loudly throughout the entire arena. Then the faces appear. Both tributes from 1, the girl from 2, both from 4. And finally, the most haunting one: Brae. I count in my head. There is only 6 of us left. The boy from 6, both from 8, the girl from 11, and the boy from 12.
If I am to get out of this place alive, then I have to go on the attack. I quickly fill all of the containers I have with water, stash the food in one backpack, the water in another, and the medical supplies and sleeping bag in the last bag. I only have 3 knives, 23 arrows, and 1 bow left. I artfully hide my supplies in a bush. I put on a pair of night vision goggles, arm myself with spears and knives, and march back towards the Cornacopia, where some smart person is probably taking advantage of the career's deaths.
Sure enough, when I get there, Riley is sleeping. I stare at him for a moment, then stab him in the heart.
"That's for molesting me, you despicable moron!" I exclaim. It doesn't matter that he can't hear me, the rest of Panem can.
I pick through the dwindling supplies. I pick up 5 spears, 7 throwing knives, 3 more empty water bottles, 2 loaves of bread, and a large box of crackers. Also, thinking of Brae, 2 axes. I pack my supplies into a large backpack that contains a bowl, dried beef, a medical kit, and few yards of a thick, heavy, durable rope. Then I sprint back to my cave to sleep.
When I rise the next morning, I can sense that something is wrong. Sure enough, when I open my eyes I realize that everything has been flooded. My 4 backpacks have sunk to the bottom of the lake that has engulfed me. I quickly sling them over my shoulders and swim out of my cave.
I swim towards the Cornacopia, where I expect to find someone. I am mistaken, however. After about an hour of sitting atop the Cornacopia, I hear 2 cannons announcing that I am one of the last 2 people alive. I wait for the one other tribute to arrive. I am rewarded by the sight of a figure trying to run through the water. I stare at my only competition, the sole factor deciding wether I live or die. As the tribute gets closer, I identify him as the boy from 12. I heft a spear in my hands. I wait for 3 more agonizing minutes while he half runs, half dives toward me.
"I'm sorry." I yell, and I let it fly. The spear lodges itself in his stomach, and the water around him is stained red. I whatch him as he struggles in the final throes of death, then goes completely still. His cannon fires.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you the Victor of the 73 annual Hunger Games...May Jessica Bali!"