The 25th Hunger Games
Chapter 6
Diane and I sit gazing out of a window like two 5 year olds. For one thing the Capitol did not lie about its beauty. In fact, I think the cameras have not quite captured its elegance. I bet every Tribute has had similar words pop into their brain when seeing it. Pearl columns rose to support buildings and glass works of art glinted in the sunset. Just the mere sight of it almost made me forget that I was being transported to my death. Almost…
"Beautiful isn't it?" asks Diane right next to me. I guess the cameras are waiting for me to say, "Yes you are" or something. I'm having a hard time being her friend; I don't think I could pull off a lover approach.
"Beats District 3" I mumble as we pull into the station. In a blur of movement, we meet our prep team. Strange folks is an understatement, one of Diane's team has a rainbow running down her face. Well, I think it's a her…
"Ethan, this is your prep team." My mom says without emotion.
Venus has hair that resembles a red velvet cupcake. It's completely straight and without a flaw. She wears a uselessly frilly white dress and her skin is died a pink color. Cupid is a very young looking stylist. She stands at about my height and she's wearing heels. Her babyish face almost makes her look like a cherub if it wasn't for her lime green eyes and eyebrows. Her hair is dyed light blue and she wears the same color as her eyeliner. But these freaks don't prepare me for what Phobetor was. She had what looked like fox ears atop her head, and her face looked as if it was reconstructed to look like a fox. She had what looked like fox fur covering most of her, and she even had what looked like fox eyes. She was essentially an Anthropomorphic Fox. Just the idea of that gave me shivers.
"What on Panem are you?" asks Diane obviously trying to continue her bad girl role.
"Some freak from the Capitol obviously" I say loudly, playing along with Diane's idea.
"Excuse me!" she yells out in her annoying Capitol tone. Her mood switches from anger to sadness to pure depression as her face contorts to fit with every emotion. Watching the emotion fit with the fox face is something I am surprised to say is amusing. Eventually they lead her off to some place where they wont see her cry in public.
"Hi!" beams from behind; before I even turn around I could tell it's my new Stylist. She's become a legend over in District 3, every year she dresses the Tributes up in something that turns head. But that's not why she's known. She is this mess of nerves that has the chance of breaking down no matter what the situation is. Her name is Gaia but her nickname according to the residents of District 3 is Lunatic. She even responds to the name Luna.
"Luna…" I whisper as she tackles me into a hug.
Her voice is a mess of sound that I have a hard time unraveling, I think she's bouncing around with excitement over the fact she worked for my mother once but she might as well have been raving about how her silly little head works. Just as I think I'm about to pass out from the lack of air, she gets separated by me by a shaking cane. Chronus fits his name well, he looks withered by time and the elements. He overall looks like a regular old man, except for his neon green skin. He clutches a cane to walk and it's a mystery on how he is still a Stylist.
In another flurry of movement, we're whisked away to an area where they will work on us. They have to work on getting us presentable. So in other words they turn a mess of a Tribute into a shiny mess of a Tribute. I find myself standing half naked in front of my Prep Team, each of them holding tools that they have to make me look like a proper Tribute.
They attempt to cut my hair, but every time they get close to it, I scream objections at the top of my lungs. Eventually they break down and just agree to clean it. After that monumental task is done, they swiftly go to work on cleaning my closely bitten nails. They anticipate the state of them and quickly apply something that makes them grow before my eyes. The rest of it passes painfully slow and the chattering of their voices slowly becomes white noise. They argue whether or not I will win. Venus thinks that I have a shot, while Cupid and Phobetor are arguing whether or not the boy from District 4 or District 2 will kill me. They come to the conclusion that I'll die in the bloodbath. Whoops! I accidentally tripped and rewired the hair dryer to explode.
Cupid storms out of the room crying as her blue hair slowly burns. So that's two down, one to go. But before I could think of how to get Venus mad at me, they declare me finished and summon Luna. She skips into the room holding some circuit board green suit. With painful speed, she quickly slips the tuxedo-like garment over me. At first, I'm confused because the only thing that resembles District 3 in the suit is the color, but with a press of a switch, the whole suit transforms into the city like view of a computer chip. Every movement sends lights traveling throughout my body. I soon realize that the circuits are actually real and have the potential to short circuit. That thought brings my mood up.
"Thanks Luna" I say politely. She goes into her super-fast talking state, there she blabbers on about how she had to learn Circuits and NOR and XOR gates and stuff. She says how she has been secretly working on this one for years and she was saving it for the Quarter Quell. After that, her words become nonsensical and too fast paced. I tune her chittering out and focus on what matters.
So my current plan for the games is to run into the Cornucopia with Diane. We both agreed that we're fast enough for it but survival is another question. Both of us are going to grab two backpacks and then meet up. Then my plan falls apart at this part. I spend the next hour thinking of what to do next but keep coming back to the conclusion that I'm going to die. I shut those thoughts out a tune back into he real world.
"Helloooo! Earth to Nerd in Tux!" I hear from my right. Diane's standing right next to me and we're in some room.
"Wait! Where are we?" I ask as a turn my head from side to side.
"We're about to go into the Games…" she says in a tone that almost makes me believe her.
"Nah, I'm just messing with you," she says smiling at my reaction, "We're about to go on the chariot ride."
I take a look at her dress. The green fabric flows in a nearby breeze along with her hair put into a ponytail. Her smile catches me off guard and I find myself smiling at her too. We both quickly turn away blushing knowing that the camera are probably on us. Whether or not we did that for the cameras are up for debate.
Standing atop the horses about to march us in front of a crowd, I turn on the suit from a switch hidden in the pocket. The green fabric again bursts into the city of circuits it was earlier. Also in my pocket is a measly paperclip that I snuck in. As the horses for District 1 start I almost lose my balance atop the chariot, Diane quickly grabbing my arm saves me. The crowd cheering slowly turns into a distant roar, and my face takes an even redder color, but even as our horses start, she doesn't let go.
We raise our hand into the air as if we already won the games and a smug smile fills my face. The face of a Victor, on the face of a death-bound tribute. The crowd goes wild at the sight of us. The flashing light of our chariot enhances our smug grins. The crowd goes wild and screams our names. The little incident on the train had pulled off. And as we hit the halfway mark, I signal Diane to start the nefarious plan I came up with moments before it started.
The paperclips slipped from our pockets and into our hands. My right hand quickly goes to work bending the paperclip into a straight line. I bend that in half and we both release the grip from each other at the same time. We search our sleeves for the right terminal and attach one end of the paperclip to it. We attach the other end to another wire and the suit goes into overdrive. We quickly join raised hands again. The lights on it are flashing even as we remain still and the suit seems to be smoking. The crowd holds it's breath but that moment passes as they see our triumphant faces.
We look like some ethereal being with the smoke rising from us and just as the horse slows to a stop the smoking stops along with it. While President Snow makes his speech, Diane and I look for another correct terminal. We position the paperclip in the right spot as he closes up the speech. He wishes us all a happy Hunger Games and as begins to say, "May the odds be ever in your favor." Our suit flashes so brightly that even he looks over to see. The light remains enough for the crowd to notice and for them to take it in. They begin to cheer wildly and attempt to throw roses at our departing chariot. We wave our last goodbyes and we're out of sight.