Ruby
The night before I go into the arena is a nightmare. I can't sleep at all. I start to drift off, and my mind falls into dark dreams filled with images from previous Hunger Games. A boy with his face cut in half, a girl who gets her eyes gouged out by a group of llama mutts, 2 twins who are pushed off the top of a valley and land on the ground with a sickening crunch. Will I be one of the deceased? Will I die as they did, at the hands of children, maybe even younger then myself? It makes my stomach turn unpleasantly just thinking about it. My death could be tomorrow, or the next day, or maybe even next week. My demise is almost sure to be coming soon.
I close my eyes and try to think of the good things in my life. Alix, Romulus, Gregor, they're all like best friends, even Petra does her best to be lovingly. Back home there is April, Dedalius, my mother and father, they're probably watching me with their noses pressed against the screen, praying that I stay alive long enough to come back home and see them.
I turn towards the clock projected on my wall. 2:36 a.m. It's going to be a long morning.
Gregor
It's late and I should be sleeping, but I just finished organizing a sponsor for Ruby and Alix, and there's still a file of paperwork that needs to be signed. My hand aching, the pen in my fist running out of ink, I sign my signature yet another time. There is a knock at the door.
"Come in," I whisper.
There are footsteps and the door clicks shut, but the person doesn't say anything.
"What do you need?" I ask, looking up from the documents. The rest of my statement dies in my throat as I see the person standing in front of me. My brother, Lukas.
I grip the pen so hard my hand goes white. Lukas starts walking towards me, and I shake my head.
"N-no, don't I don't need this, not now…"
But he nods and continues walking like some sort of silent specter.
"Lukas…don't do this to me…please…" I whisper, my back hits the bedpost, and I silently wish I could go through it right now. Just melt away and not have to face the things I don't understand.
Lukas sits down at the edge of my bed and smiles at me. It's a brotherly smile, the kind he used to give me when we were kids out in the meadows and I tried to lift a shovel 2 times my height.
He holds out his arms and I immediately jump into them. He's 5 years older then me, and we're both grown men, but I feel like I'm eight again, and we're at home during a thunderstorm.
"You don't know what it's like…I thought you were dead for so long…we all thought you were…"
He tussles my hair, and I look up at him.
"But…it must be worse, living like this, as a servant."
He shrugs, but I know he's constantly in pain. He lets go of me, and I do the same. He gets up, and makes a motion as if he's wearing binoculars. I know what he means. They could be watching us.
He waves at me, and I wave back, dazed, before he's gone, and the room is silent once more.
Alix
I pound my hands against the wall. It's unfair, it's all unfair, why should we be forced to suffer, when the capitol people lounge about eating delicious foods and not working a minute of their worthless lives? Tomorrow I'll be in the arena and what then? Usually I'd have a basic plan. Grab whatever is nearest you, whether a bag or a weapon, even one you don't know how to use, grab it and run for shelter, food, and water. But this is the quarter quell, and who knows what tricks those rotten Gamemakers have hidden up their sleeves?
And what about Ruby? I know I promised to save her life, but do I even know how? What if it comes down to me and her? Would she have the guts to kill me, even if I told her to? Would I even kill myself, or be hesitant to die, and kill her instead? No, I would never do that, not even if I must sacrifice my own life. Or would I?
Ruby
Petra knocks on the door with her annoying catchphrase: "It's a big day, go out and face it!"
Little does she know I've been up for hours with absolutely no sleep, waiting for her to say that. I'm already dressed, and I rush out the door before she's even had the chance to walk away, knocking her off her feet as the door bursts open.
Romulus is waiting for me at the table. He tells me to grab something to eat on our way to the hovercraft that will take us to the arena.
My throat feeling tight, I manage to gulp down a muffin. My fingers play with the clasp of my mother's necklace, which I remembered to put on this morning.
The hovercraft is like a giant grey panel. A ladder drops down from a hatch, and when I step up on it, my hands stick to it as though it's covered in quick-dry sap, like the kind that grows on pine trees.
Still stuck to the ladder, a woman in a white lab coat comes over with a long syringe. My eyes widen as the lethal looking point catches the light.
"Nothing to worry about," the woman assures me, "I'm just putting in a tracker for the arena."
I find that being injected with a 7-inch long needle is something to worry about, but I suck it up as the point pierces my skin. I'll probably face worse in the arena.
The suction keeping me to the ladder releases me soon after, and I rush to the window, hoping for some kind of foreshadowing of the troubles lying in wait for me. But all I can see is the tops of trees, so close I feel as though I can touch them.
I sense we're nearing the arena, and I don't know what to expect. A gigantic sliver dome in the middle of the woods?
Unfortunately, I don't get to see, as the windows black out as we begin descending. No sneak peeks for any tributes, I'm guessing.
Again, I'm stuck to the ladder as it descends down a tube glowing with florescent green lights. I enter the Launch Room. There's one Launch Room for each tribute, each has never been used before and will never be used again, because they never reuse any of the arenas, unless you could Capitolists on vacation.
Romulus helps me change into the simple tribute outfit, a black jacket and sweatpants, with a belt and long knee high boots. Normally I don't like boots, but these will be great for storing things like knifes and matches and they have a springy sole, which will be useful for jumping.
Romulus pulls my necklace out from beneath my jacket, where the Mockingjay feathers barely touch the zipper.
"It's a lovely necklace," he says. Like always, even in times like these, my stylist has an eye for fashion.
"Thanks, it was my mother's."
There is a pause.
"She'd be proud to have a daughter like you."
I snort. "You think?"
He looks serious.
"Come on, some one with your looks and attitude and skill, even right now when your in the face of danger? Not many parents can say they've raised a kid like that. I bet half the tributes are quaking in their boots.
He makes me smile, and I throw my arms around him.
"Thanks Rom," I say into his shoulder.
He pats my back. "No problem. Good luck Ruby."
A voice comes on through the intercom overhead.
"Tributes, prepare for launch."
Still holding him, I back onto the silver plate behind me. Finally, I let go. Romulus nods, and I swear his eyes are watery. A clear tube slides around me and I know this is it, there is no going back. Breathing deeply, I wave at Romulus as the cylinder begins to move upward, and then he is gone. I am in total blackness. Then, there is light, so bright that I have to blink multiple times to see my surroundings.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Booms the voice of the Hunger Games announcer, Silas Antoniou, "Let the One-Hundredth Hunger Games, Begin!"
It's a swamp. In the minute I have to realize this, I can smell the naturally grimy air, see the fog drifting around our ankles, and hear the splashes as frogs and other unknown animals dive into the murky water. To my left is a bog, with tall reeds and cattails. To my left is a foresty looking area, with willow trees so bent over their long leaves hide the inside. Surrounding me in a semi-circle are my fellow tributes. Then I look to the middle, and this is when you can finally see this is no ordinary Hunger Games.
Instead of the usual cornucopia overflowing with hundreds of items to help you survive, this year's is practically empty, with a small bunch of items grouped in the very center of it. I notice the Careers staring at it hungrily and know that I have no chance whatsoever of getting anything. And so my survival rate drops even lower then before.
I've been experimenting with chapter formats, so if you like how the begining of this chapter is set up (Different character point of view for the same time) please tell me, because I have a few other chapter's I'm wanting to do that with.
Thanks for reading! :)