"You see these dark spots. These are the parts of the brain that aren't active anymore. They are basically dead tissue, though hopefully it hasn't gone too necrotic or else it's going to be a pain to get it restarted again.
"So we're reanimating the brain?"
"Everything but the dead parts of the frontal lobe. You see the frontal lobe is where the fiber of our beings is held, our personalities, emotions and, our decision-making processes. If we activate the frontal lobe he'll just be the way he was before the accident, probably just a sweet-natured boy. No, we re-activate everything else; we'll program a simple goal, and control the frontal lobe with some kind of microchip."
"And what goal are we programming…?"
"To kill of course. But afterwards his fits of rage will be in control by the chip, at least until the games start. He will know what he's doing, but he'll just be a shell. Like a robot if you will."
"I understand."
"Go gown up then, we have a procedure to get done."
Stephanie Fox
My last few nights have been plagued with fear and lack of sleep. Jasten is the cause of my insomnia and anxiety. He has scared me from ever leaving this room except when the escort, Diana is here, and she never really is which makes me think she is afraid of him too.
I recall chariot night when I was forced to ride next to him and he went into a rage and punched me in the face. I had to have my nose fixed after that and now I refuse to go anywhere near him. Usually at night I hear him banging around and screaming, hence why I can never sleep, but tonight it is quiet. The silence scares me even more, and I double-check my lock. Perhaps tonight I will get to sleep. I certainly need it, especially for training tomorrow. I curl up in my blankets and think of my mother, and I have to wonder if Lilly read my letter and forgave me. I will probably never know, but I convince myself that she has, and that she will mourn if I die. My eyelids are heavy and I give myself permission to sleep, at least while Jasten is quiet.
Lucian Sparx
"Psst, Lucian."
Somebody is calling my name. Who could be calling my name? I open my eyes and turn to face the voice. It belongs to Athea. I rub my eyes and put on my glasses to assure that I am not seeing things.
"What are you doing here?" I whisper.
"I need to tell you something."
"At 2 A.M.?" I groan as I see the clock.
"Yes, when I know that there aren't any cameras, or people listening."
"Fine, fine, what is it?"
Athea glances around as though somebody is going to come down from the ceiling. She is being paranoid and should know better.
"Do you have any secrets?" She asks suddenly.
"Well I have secret experiments that I've ran and if the Capitol ever found out I'm sure… wait what is this? A game of truth or dare? Is this why you woke me up Athea?"
"No Lucian! Don't you know me better than that?"
"Seeing as how I've known you for about 2.5 days I'm going to say no I do not Athea." I turn on my other side and curl up to sleep. I am tired, and I'm not wasting energy staying up with Athea.
"No Lucian. I have a microchip in my leg."
I flip back over. "You have a what in your leg?"
She pulls herself onto my bed and flicks the lamp on. I immediately cover my eyes.
"Gahh, Athea you could've warned me."
"Sorry. Look!" She points to a long scar extending up her calf. I see a small silver square pushing out from under her skin leaving a raised bump. How strange.
"May I ask why you have a microchip under your skin?"
"It's very important. I took it from my parent's lab after they died. I suffered a gunshot wound and that's when I placed the chip under my skin."
I am suddenly curious. "What is on it?"
She bit her bottom lip. "Well that's the thing… I have no idea."
"What? Then how could you know that it's important?" Yes, she is indeed wasting my valuable sleeping time.
"You know why the Capitol blew that lab up that day? It was because the people there were working on a new weapon to restart the rebellion. They had secret intelligence straight from the Capitol; they kept a copy on this chip here. This microchip holds the secret to breaking down the Capitol. Don't you see Lucian? This is how we start the rebellion again."
Though I am impressed that she has Capitol intelligence, I'm really not all that interested. Perhaps if we were at home in District 3, and not about to face imminent death I would be interested in extracting the information out of the chip, but right now my only purpose is to survive.
"Who cares about restarting the rebellion when we're all probably going to be dead soon?"
Athea looks taken back, speechless even, and I lean back and close my eyes hoping that she'll leave.
"Lucian… how can you say that?" No such luck. "This is why one of us must get back. This is why I woke you. I wanted you to agree to take the chip from me if I die and find a way back home to use it."
When I don't say anything she continues.
"Don't you care?"
"Listen Athea," I sit up in my bed, "my father worked for the Capitol and was killed, and my mother worked for the rebels and was killed. Is there any difference between the two? Because frankly, I can't compute what makes the rebellion so special. Either way people are dying, if the Capitol was overturned it would just be replaced with another dictator ready to make our lives hell."
Athea snaps back, clearly angry with my apathy. "Earth to Lucian, we are stuck in a game where we have to kill other children. The Capitol is horrible. We rebelled because the Capitol treats us like shit! And I'd rather fight and take the chance of having another bad ruler than put up with the one we have."
I sigh and stretch my arms out in front of me. Oh how I wish for my lab, as small and shabby as it was.
"I'll take your microchip Athea, but I don't know what you want me to do with it."
"You're smart," she says making her way towards the door, "I'm sure you'll figure it out." Her voice sounds bitter as she slams the door behind her.
I suddenly remember how Father always warned me about girls, and their tempers. I take her anger with a grain of salt and crawl back under the covers to sleep. She'll be okay by morning.
Stephanie Fox
Jasten is not at breakfast the next morning and the maternal part of me is worried about him. Although he is violent and unstable, I know he does not mean it, and in all reality he was probably a sweet boy before his tragic occurrence.
"Diana, where's Jasten?" I ask as I pick at my oatmeal.
She blinks a couple of times and dabs her mouth with a napkin. "He already ate. He was escorted downstairs to train a little bit beforehand to see how he handles the training room."
I imagine Jasten in a violent rage with a knife in his hand and I make a mental note to stay far far away from him.
I see Jasten right away upon entering the training room. I try to avoid him seeing me, but he turns around and sprints to me.
Oh no. What do I do?
A smile breaks over his face and he wraps his arms around my waist. "Stephy, want to train with me?"
"Uhh…" If I tell him no will he freak out? If I say yes will I die before the games even begin?
He grabs my wrist and pulls me towards a station. It's for plant identification. This is strange. I was expecting him to be picking up knives and throwing them, not at the dummies, but actual people.
The man whose running the station drones on about stems, leaves, flowers, what to look for in edible plants, and what to look for in poisonous plants. The information is boring, but I have to admit it's helpful, especially when you're from District 6 where we barely have any grass, let alone plant life. So when the man behind the station pulls out a few plants and Jasten immediately jumps in and names each one and it's properties, I am shocked. We had never learned the names just a few things to look for. There is no way Jasten could've known this unless he had learned it ahead of time.
"What's wrong Steph?" He asks me.
"How did you know that Jasten?"
"Know what?"
"What those plants are? Did you learn that at home?"
He blinks a few times, his eyes are blank and I can tell he's trying to pull out a memory. When that is unsuccessful he answers with a "I just do".
"Hey Jasten!" David from District 7 comes over to talk to Jasten, ignoring my presence.
"Come on let's go learn important things, like using weapons. You'll never make it if all you know about is plants." He shoots me a look, and Jasten follows him.
I don't have to be a genius to know that there's something fishy going on. Jasten wasn't in his room last night and then today he's somewhat, I use this term loosely, normal, with new knowledge that he doesn't even remember learning.
And what's with this David kid pulling him away? I have never seen them talking before. In fact, nobody has been gutsy enough to talk to Jasten. I look over to see Jasten picking up knives and throwing them at the dummies. I wonder how long it'll be until he goes into a rage, though with the way he's been acting David will probably get lucky today.
Kyra Valente
Upon entering the training center I decided to split from Boxer and head to target practice first. This is where I had the pleasure of meeting Dorien Oakfree and Scout Calloway. Upon first look I noticed Dorien's precision with the knife and I asked her to teach me a few things. She was reluctant at first, but eventually after enough begging she showed me a few tricks, and I was slowly getting better. Scout, on the other hand, had the 'I don't give a shit' attitude that was as admirable as Dorien's knife skills. It took an afternoon, but by lunchtime we had some kind of friendship going.
"You see that guy over there," Scout pointed to a tall burly tribute that was showing off by throwing large objects around the area. "That's my district partner River, also known as the biggest asshole you'll ever meet."
"So I'm guessing you haven't formed an alliance with him." I say sarcastically.
"Hello no," Scout said as she thrust her knife towards the dummy. It stuck in the forehead and Scout shrugged her shoulders. "I wasn't aiming for there, but I guess that would still get the job done."
Dorien let out her first laugh of the day, and I found myself chuckling along with her.
"Escule isn't bad," Dorien said. "Honestly I felt kind of bad for him. He sat in his room for most of the train ride. I could tell he was scared. At the time I wasn't planning on forming an alliance, so I never said anything to him. I figured we'll probably both die anyways, so what's the point?"
"Yeah," I say as I shrug my shoulders.
"You seem friendly with Boxer," Dorien says after launching another knife right on target.
I turn around to make sure he isn't within earshot. "Between you guys and me I don't trust him. I know he wants to get back home, not for himself, but for his brother. I don't have any particular person to get home to so I don't know how it is, but I imagine in that circumstance the drive to win is much stronger. I wouldn't be surprised if he stabbed me in the back while we slept once he had enough of our alliance."
"It is a stronger drive," Dorien says quietly, "and I feel as though I cannot trust a single soul for the same reasons as you can't trust Boxer."
"I don't know about you guys, but I play fair," Scout says, "and I also have somebody I need to get home too."
After a pause I decided to go for the question I've wanted to ask. "I'm going to skip the awkwardness and confusion and just ask this now. You guys seem you're you're strong both physically and mentally, and I'd be honored to be a part of a team. So, alliance: yes or no?"
"Yes," Scout says immediately and Dorien bites her lip, clearly she is stuck in indecision.
"Come on Dorien," Scout nudges her shoulder. "We need your knife skills, and plus it seems like you have your shit together unlike the rest of these idiots." She motions towards the other tributes. "Believe me I'll be killing them off before I'd ever think of killing you."
Dorien looks at her feet, and runs her hand through her hair.
"We can help each other. Think about the other tributes. District 1 and 2 might as well be in love with each other." I point to the group of four standing over at the archery station. You can't do this alone, if they were to gang up on you it wouldn't matter how good your knife skills are."
Dorien considers my words carefully. "Okay," she says, "but I can't promise I'll stick around for long."
"Fair enough."
I'm stuck at dinner later with the poodle escort whose name is Delphina, and Boxer. Poodle girl is wearing a pukey looking yellow-green that makes me lose my appetite and Boxer is having friendly conversation to her about training.
"Yeah his name was River. He showed me some helpful things."
"Oh River the asshole?" I ask suddenly after being silent the entire dinner.
Delphina covers her mouth in shock and Boxer shoots me a dirty look. "What would you know Kyra?"
"I know that he's an asshole, or do I have to say it again?" I say sarcastically.
Boxer chuckles and takes a drink of his water, thus ending the conversation. I make note on how he did not elaborate on this so-call 'helpful knowledge' and add it to the list of reasons why Boxer doesn't trust me, and why I cannot trust Boxer.
"Can I have someone come take my plate away? I'm ready for dessert and then bed." I say yawning.
Delphina hits a small button that is located at the edge of the table, and a few servants walk in. A boy comes over to take my plate.
"Can you get me…" upon looking up at him I am hit with what feels like a kick to the chest. I lose the oxygen in my lungs, and am struck silent. Standing over me about to take my plate is my brother Colton. I cover my mouth to suppress the yell. I know I am not to talk to these servants as it could lead to my death.
"Actually," I find my words. "Could you escort me to my room. Uh… I spilled something in there earlier… it uh... needs to be cleaned."
Boxer shoots me a weird look and I ignore it as the boy who looks like my brother follows me. I shut the door, and the boy pulls me into a hug. My suspicions are confirmed.
"What happened?" I asked quietly.
He puts his index finger to his lips, and walks over to dig through the drawers of my nightstand. I want to ask what he's doing, but I follow his direction. He finally retrieves what he wants and begins to scribble. I guess he doesn't want to risk the noise of talking.
He shreds off the sheet and hands it to me.
I am an Avox. I don't know if you know what they are, but the Capitol captured me and they cut out my tongue. I am silenced for eternity to work as a slave.
They cut out his tongue? I can't process this information right now and I fall onto my bed. I feel as though I can't breathe.
"We have to get you out of here. Mom and Dad are worried sick."
He shakes his head.
There's no way. He writes on the paper.
I bury my head in my hands. "How did you get here?" I finally ask.
I was captured during the riot that broke out. They brought me here and I thought I was going to be executed. Instead they decided to make me and the others into Avoxes. A fate I have found is worse than death. I do not wish for you to worry about me, and instead focus on surviving. There is nothing to do about me now.
"Mom and Dad need to know! They've been so worried!"
I know and they must stop. The Capitol is sick of their begging. I don't want you to tell them. I would rather they think I was dead. None of you can risk your life trying to save me. My only wish is that you look out for yourselves.
I shake my head, as the tears form in my eyes. All this time I had thought Colton was dead, but instead he was here at the Capitol. I feel guilt at the thought, and when I don't speak Colton begins to scribble madly again.
I'm sorry but I must go Kyra. They'll kill the both of us if they knew I was here. It is against the law to speak to an Avox unless giving a command. I will try to return, but I can't make any promises.
"Colton, no." I say. This can't be happening.
He pulls me into another hug before disappearing. I need to get back and tell my parent's. I must find a way to escape with him. And then I realize I must've spoken much too soon when I had told Scout and Dorien that I had nobody in the Games I had to fight to get back too.