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XXIII. The Bloody Games
"How in the world," I mutter under my breath, as I struggle to knot the tie. I've forgotten how to do this after so many years of wearing revealing, V-neck shirts. Somehow, I've managed to make a huge, strangled mess of the tie.
A pair of hands take the tie from mine and her nimble fingers complete the task for me. My eyes flicker up to Annie's and almost instantly, I look away like I've caught a virus from her. From my peripheral vision, I manage to see the faintest trace of a smile present on her lips. "You've improved a lot. You didn't look very good last time I saw you."
I offer a hesitant smile to her, finally looking at her. "Thanks. You grew a lot." And she has - by at least two inches. She's tall for a fourteen year old girl. Her hair's grown out to her waist, and her eyes are a bright shade of green, if that's even possible.
Annie beams at me. "Thanks. I'm almost as tall as Ayden!"
I gaze at her, questioningly as my mind draws a blank. "Who's that?"
A frown settles across her forehead and she smoothes out the length of her dress. "My boyfriend. I'll see you later."
Shrugging, I loosen the tie a little and undo the top two buttons of my shirt. The sleeves are rolled up to my elbows and I look at my reflection in the mirror, running a hand through my hair. I contemplate whether I should gel it back or not, but decide to leave it mussed up.
"Hey, man," Oliver greets, slapping me on the back as we walk to the Hall of Justice. "How're you feeling?"
"Good, good. Any idea who's volunteering this year?"
"Wesley Mitchell and Andromeda Zoerig."
"Andromeda Zoerig?" I reply. "Not surprising but I would've thought she'd volunteer next year or the year after."
Andromeda Zoerig. She is probably worse than Althea Yule, who already seems to have claimed the title of Queen Bitch. She brought knives to school, and was often seen balancing the handle on her fingertip. She'd vandalise the school property by carving into school tables with her weapons. Her nails would be at least an inch long and the sight of them would be cringeworthy. I've had several conversations with her and none of them would be anything I consider pleasant. A couple of times, she'd insulted and harassed both Rhea and Annie. I still haven't let go of the fact that she was planning on shoving Rhea into one of the school lockers.
Thank fucking God that I wouldn't be mentoring this year. If I did, I would've killed her before she'd step foot into the arena.
"I hope she dies in that arena," Oliver grumbles.
I nod along, refusing to agree through words. "Hey, Oliver. Whatever you do, don't volunteer."
"Wasn't planning on it."
Patting him on the back, I allow him to head over to the reaping area with his brother, Brody. I release a long sigh as I run my hand through my hair and sit down next to Joseph and two seats away from Mags. I plant a chaste peck on Mags' cheek and say, "I've missed you." She responds in a gargled manner.
"You look better," Joseph comments, staring straight ahead.
"Sorry about punching you," I apologise. "I was really out of line." It's been six months since I've last seen him and that time, was when I'd punched him several times the day my mother had died.
"Mate, don't sweat it. No harm done."
I send a smile at Shelley as she sits down between Mags and I. "Nice to see you out of the hospital," she comments with a smirk.
"Feels good too," I add.
Our conversation comes to an end as Venala takes her place onstage, strutting out in another peculiar outfit. I send her a subtle wink and a rosy blush forms on her cheeks. Shelley struggles to stifle a giggle and punches my knee. "Stop it." The video plays and I know it all too well by now. They talk about the Dark Days and the failure of the rebellion. She fishes her hand through the glass bowl for the girls.
There's no need to. Andromeda surges out from the crowd, whooping and punching her fists in the air with an eager, determined expression on her face. Rolling my eyes at her, I can't hold back the irritated sigh that escapes from my lips.
"Eamon Keeley." I take in a sharp intake of breath as I watch one of my mates make his way onstage. I come to realise that Wesley might not volunteer, especially after how Maxwell had been mutilated last year. But he does and I breathe out a sigh of relief, closing my eyes for a brief moment. Her stands at almost two metres. With much confidence, the bulky guy swaggers his way upstage and shakes Andromeda's hand. His hand is huge compared to hers, and the way he dwarves her is almost ridiculously hilarious.
"Give it up to your tributes this year, District Four! Andromeda Zoerig and Wesley Mitchell," Venala announces, "May the odds ever be in your favour."
For the next two weeks, I'm glued to Oliver's family couch. I squeeze in the living room with Oliver and Arden. The romantic gestures between the two of them are so sweet, it's almost disgusting. "There are children in the room!" I shout, jokingly, as Oliver leans in to kiss Arden. Brody and Syndi walk in only seconds later and we laugh.
Andromeda and Wesley are shown on screen for the Opening Ceremonies. They're dressed rather fashionably, with matching mermaid and merman outfits. Wesley holds onto a trident, much like I did exactly two years ago. Andromeda, on the other hand, quite literally looks like her body has been painted all over with scales, demonstrating the artistic skill of her stylist.
Days later, the scores of nine and ten are displayed for both Andromeda and Wesley, respectively. If I'm being honest, I never would have thought that Andromeda would receive a nine; I'd think she would've received higher and her actual score shocks me a little. "You'd think she would've gotten at least a ten," Oliver mutters.
Their interviews - oh, God save me - are in my opinion, horrendous. They both act charismatic, but brutal at the same time and those two personalities clash so much that they end up acting as arrogant bastards. They're worse than the pair from two, Althea Yule and Charis Rey all put together. They are bloody insane.
This year, the event takes place in a large cave, which held smaller caves inside. It's built much like a puzzle and it would take a lot of logic to figure out the maze-like area and only one contender seems to understand it - Krystal Haddock. It's often dark, and only a small amount of light seeps through the cracks of the caves.
The Games are bloodier than they have been ever since who knows when. They're bloodier than last year's when Althea claimed victory, and mine, and Cashmere's, and maybe even Gloss'. And from what I recall, Gloss was like the epitome of a killing machine at the age of fifteen. I'd only been twelve, nearly thirteen, when he had won. Father had pinpointed all the strong points and weaknesses of Gloss and the other tributes. Gloss had killed eight tributes, while I'd killed six. I had used a trident, knives and spears, while he utilised knuckledusters, knives and swords.
And while we both stuck to our preferred weapons, Andromeda and Wesley teamed up to claim what seemed to every single weapon known to mankind - with the exception of guns, of course. They take charge of the Careers. The number of deaths in the bloodbath is a whopping fourteen.
As the Careers slowly track down the other tributes, they capture them and torture them, incessantly. They flog them, pound them with knuckledusters, chop their fingers off and burn parts of their bodies. The Careers only laugh, sadistically at the screaming actions of their victims without mercy. It sickens me to the stomach. I pull on my hair, breathing unevenly and my heart going on an all too familiar overdrive. My hands become clammy with cold sweat and it feels as if Oliver and Arden's stares are burning through my soul, tearing me apart into pieces. The syringes and sedatives that Doctor Audrye has provided Oliver, come into use.
When I wake up a day later, I see Wesley raping the girl from District Seven, an act that's disapproved of by God. I find Arden hiding her face in the crook of Oliver's neck, as he rubs her arm soothingly. "This is disgusting," she murmurs, and he whispers sweet nothings in her ear. Despite the timing, I envy their relationship. I want to love someone the same way they love each other, and I want someone to love me the way I love them.
Brody watches the Games with us, demanding that he needs to everything good and bad about the Games, just in case he's ever reaped, which I'm hoping will never happen. He has four more years before he's safe, and Oliver has two. Syndi, on the other hand, has been forced to stay in her room by Oliver, and I don't blame him for doing so.
While the citizens of the Capital love the inevitable brutality of the Games, it's no assumption that they aren't particularly fond of what's happening. I guess burning, sexually harassment and excessive amounts of torture aren't very favourable in the Capital. When only eight tributes remain, Andromeda and Wesley manage to cut the number of tributes down to six even further, quickly eliminating the pair from District One, leaving the pair from Two and Four to battle it out. The girl from Two manages to escape, while the boy stumbles into one of our district's traps. Stupid move.
With the sponsor money of the Careers quickly plunging down, Krystal Haddock's sponsor money skyrockets. She's the female tribute from District Ten this year. She's fairly short, with lean muscles, though she doesn't look particularly strong. She kills off the leftover of the lesser districts - Theo from District Five, - as well as the boy from Two. Her tactic is to sneak up on the other tributes and hit them in the head with the blunt handle of her axe, before landing the final blow with the blade.
I almost feel like crying in satisfaction as Krystal silently throws her axe at the back of Wesley's head, killing him in an instant. For a moment, I fear that Andromeda gains the upper hand when she's realised what's happened to Wesley. She turns around, clutching her double-crossed swords in tight grips with a snarl. "Let's make the interesting, girly. I win, you lose. I think the Capital's all figured this out." She continues on and on, about how she will march home with victory, but she wastes too much time with words. Krystal has already pulled her axe out of Wesley's skull and shoved it into Andromeda's chest. Only seconds later, the eighteen year old girl from District Ten is announced Victor of the 67th Hunger Games.
A/N: My shift key is broken - sorry if there are a lack of capitalizations Dx Can we reach 100 reviews?! :)