This story was getting a little sugary. I decided it needed some darker stuff.
We had another night to recover before stage three. We all had our own rooms, but Steel and I stayed together in mine. I wished I had met her before. She never should have gotten Reaped. Panem needed Peacekeepers like her.
"That wasn't right," Steel said from the bed we had the Avoxes roll in. "They shouldn't have done that to Lyte."
"Yeah. I didn't like that either," I said. "I mean, criminals sometimes have to die, but he didn't do anything." It had been sticking in my head ever since it happened. The first phase I could understand. Panem needed the strongest. I understood obedience to authority, too, but what they did wasn't necessary. It saddened me to think some people abused their power that way. There were always a few bad apples in any government, but I was sad Lyte died because of it.
"This isn't the Panem I was born in," Steel whispered. "I used to be proud to be a Peacekeeper."
"Oh yeah, you were a long time back, right? That must be weird," I said. Steel had been born around forty years ago. She probably remembered the very first Games. "What was it like back then?"
"It wasn't like this. They didn't shoot children. We had to be careful, because sometimes people got violent, but not like this. I'm not sure I'll get through this. They said those were criminals and they deserved it. I believed it then, but I'm not sure I will if they tell me to do it again," Steel said. I wasn't sure I wasn't the same way. I'd always loved my country and thought the people who ran it had our best interests in mind. They sure didn't have Lyte's best interests in mind. Maybe I was being too idealistic. No one was perfect. Every country had its dark underside. I hoped ours wasn't as big as I was starting to be afraid of.
Stage Three involved some very ominous-looking equipment. Avoxes helped fit me into black uniforms that covered my entire bodie below my neck. A team of doctors came next and checked the fit of the outfit. Then they smeared cold gel on my temples and stuck some wires on by suction cup.
When we were ready, we paraded into another room. The walls and floor were black, and they were lit with a network of green lights that were set into them so they looked like a circuit board. In the middle of the room, there was a flat round table set directly into the floor at knee height. On a white platform set into one side of the room, Titian was waiting for us.
"I hope you're ready for Stage Three," he said. "I suppose you've noticed the table in the middle of the room. Very soon, you'll all be taking a seat there. We've tested your strength and your devotion. Next, we want to see your endurance. The table and your outfits are part of the same network. On my signal, you'll arrange yourselves around the table and place your right hand upon it. I'll start the test by pressing this button." he held up a button from his pocket. "When I do, impulses generated by the mechanism inside the table will flow into you through your hands. This will be very painful, and it will only get worse for every second of the test. It will also be amplified by receivers in your suits and the electrodes on your heads. To pass this stage, all you have to do is keep your hand on the table. Keep your hand on the table longer than three of your tablemates."
"That is some messed up shit," Troy said.
"Gonna crap right out, are you? I'll dance on your grave," Beth said. Troy didn't gratify her with a response. I looked at Titian, dispassionately waiting to see who was going to die, and felt a little more of my patriotism die.
Steel and I sat next to each other on our knees at the table. We looked at each other with wide eyes, and I knew she was as scared as I was as we waited for Titian to start the test. My hand felt exposed and naked on the table. I had never been so aware of any part of my body.
Titian didn't give us a warning. One second we were waiting, and then a jolt of the worst pain I'd ever felt shot through my hand and spread through my body almost as soon as I registered it. I'd been leaning forward to collect myself, and it might have saved my life. I flinched forward instead of back, and my weight suppressed the instinct to yank my hand away. We all looked over at the sound of Beth's scream and saw her jump up and away from the table. My already racing heart lurched sideways, even though I hated her. None of us wanted to know what would happen to her.
We all found out anyway. Beth's suit crackled and visible tendrils of electricity danced across her body. Her head twisted back horribly as she convulsed and fell. We could smell her burning flesh and see it blacken as she contorted stiffly into a crablike shape. One of her eyes burst like a microwaved egg and bubbled as it oozed from the socket. Through the whole sight, the pain was still coursing through me, but my brain had so much to process, I almost didn't feel it until after her legs stopped drumming on the floor.
I forced my eyes away and back toward Steel. She was looking straight across the table and her face was entirely without expression. Her back was straight and her knees were meticulously parted in a perfect military pose. She didn't seem to be in any pain at all.
Nothing natural could have caused pain like that. It was like a living blade shoved itself into my arm and was burrowing into my bones, scraping them out from the inside. It went past my patriotism and ambition. The only thing that kept me alive was fear of letting go. The nearly inaudible hum of the machinery grew louder, and the pain spiked. My back arched involuntarily and I started to whimper. I wasn't the only one. Tears were streaming down Margo's face, and Belisarius was hyperventilating.
"Stop it. Please stop it," he started to beg. "Let us out. Please." We all looked up from our private pains as we sensed what was coming. The horror gave us another instant of respite from the pain. Belisarius shrieked and pulled his hand away. I looked back at Steel, but I couldn't block the smell.
Maybe ten seconds passed. Maybe ten hours passed. At some point I forgot I wasn't breathing and had to remind myself to take in air. The agony penetrated into parts of my mind I could never consciously access. I wished it would burst out from inside my head and tear my brain apart so I couldn't feel it anymore. The air was saturated with the sound of someone's screams. Maybe more than one person's.
I looked at Steel again, and the edges of my vision were red. She was still blank-faced. Her eyes were faraway and there was a perverse serenity in her stillness. I wished she would look back at me. I didn't know how much longer I had. I wanted her to see me again before I went. I hoped she won.
The smell of charred flesh filled my nose again. The pain winked out. I opened my mouth to scream, because I thought I had pulled away without knowing it. But when I looked down, my hand was still on the table. I folded forward and fell flat onto the table. I was empty without the pain filling me up. Across the table, Troy's twisted body fell across Margo's lap. The test was over. Steel didn't have to be at attention anymore. She laid her hand in her lap and started to cry.