Danny Draddock D9
I'm underground, in my special room underneath where I may die. It's quite a scary thought but I'm trying to keep calm. It seems to be working. A trainer told me how to keep my cool while fighting and I'm doing that. Just breathing in and out very slowly. Standing, not sitting otherwise they'll never get me out of that seat. I can imagine my mother at home. Weeping into the shoulder of my aunt. She needs to know that I have a chance, but for all she knows, I'm dead in a matter of minutes. A robotic like voice says that I need to go into the tube. It takes me by surprise. I slowly walk over to the glass capsule and as soon as I'm in there, it silently seeps shut.
The floor beneath me then begins to rise and I'm being thrown into the arena. I'm on a large field, it's flat for miles around. However there's grass everywhere, ranging from the small 1 foot ones up to the enormous 3 meter ones. I'd hate to be in there. You could be being stalked by your killer with them being only a meter away from you and you wouldn't suspect a thing. However it could be used to your advantage as a place to hide. I won't be able to throw axes in there very efficiently so I decide not to go into there. I can't imagine the arena is very big because the horizon seems unmistakably close, maybe 2 km each way making it 4 km across. Seems about right.
60 seconds.
All around the cornucopia is 24 boys. Ranging from 12 to 18. The 12 year olds must feel like walking off right now and killing themselves. As soon as I'm thinking that a boy probably about my age walks off his podium and blows up which causes the boy to his left to lose balance and fall off his podium, also blowing up. Already 2 dead and it's not even started. I can't see the people on the other side of the cornucopia but that doesn't really matter. I stare into the centre looking for some throwing axes, there must be some somewhere.
30 seconds.
Come on Danny. Find those bloody axes. Come on.
15 seconds.
I'm looking around frantically. I need o have found the axes by the time the gong goes off then I can quickly get them and get out of here. Come on, come one, come on.
10 seconds.
Where are they?!
5 seconds.
There they are!
4 seconds.
But they're so close to the cornucopia.
3 seconds.
How do I get into there without surely confronting someone.
2 seconds.
But I could die?
1 second.
However I need those axes desperately.
GOOONG!
Without thinking any longer I shoot off my podium towards those axes before anyone else can even process the thought of the gong going off in their mind. I'm there in about 5 seconds. Pick up the bag and another bag that could help my survival and run away. However when I was thinking about it I didn't realise what would happen when I try and retreat to the grasses. Everyone else is still running in so I'm being confronted by a horde of bloodthirsty kids.
In my peripheral vision I see a boy a bit smaller than me throw a knife. I have to jump on the floor to get out the way. I bang my head on the ground which really hurts. I need to get out of here as soon as possible. Come on Danny! I get up and attempt to continue to run.
I'm running quite fast and am just out of the ring of platforms. I just need to get into that long grass over there, the 2 meter one and then I'm safe, for now. I'm still running as fast as I can when a horrible pain centred at my left thigh shoots through my body. It makes me groan and I look down. That very same person has thrown another knife.
Right I have had about enough of you, you stupid bloody idiot! I take an axe out of my bag and throw it straight at the boy. It hits him straight on the forehead and he falls to his knees and onto the floor. As much as I don't want to kill people, it had to be done for the greater good of the human race. He just needed to die. He did also throw a knife into my leg which is excruciatingly painful. I look down at my leg and pull out the knife and stuff it into my backpack. I carry on running away from the cornucopia, into the grass.
The grass muffles the sound of the fighting very well actually. I've probably been walking for about 15 minutes now when I find a huge rock in the middle of the grass. It's covered in thick shrubbery though so it will be quite easy to hide in even though it can probably be seen for a hundred meters each way. I realise that there is a chance there is someone else there. I pull out an axe and take the knife that i got when it went into my leg out of my pack.
I stealthily move towards the rock, being as quiet as possible.
I hear some rustling to my right. There might be someone near. I turn to my right and don't move a muscle. The rustling is continuous, someone is walking towards me! I can't move a muscle. The rustling is louder and louder, they must just be walking and they're now about 2 meters away, I know that because I can see their clothes.
1.5 meters away.
It's getting tense now. I need to take him by surprise, maybe by jumping up or maybe by just lunging at him. I think I'll quickly lunge then pull put and hope for the best.
1 meter away. Here goes.
I lunge at him, holding my long sharp knife. I feel the knife press into something soft and I know that I've got him. Killed my second person. I go closer to him and see him on the floor. He's looking up at me in defeat and I can't bare to look into those eyes any longer so I kneel down and slit his throat. He struggles and writhes around a bit but stops after a couple of seconds. The cannon doesn't go off though because the bloodbath isn't over yet. I can still hear it in the distance, but I still know he's dead. I've killed 2 people, so 4 people I know are dead. I'm 99% sure there will be many more dead right now but I only know for sure about 4.
I check his pockets for anything and there isn't anything. He must have legged it at the start. All the District 9 victors ever have done that, legged it at the start. The part that this tribute didn't seem to realise is that we're all District 9 here. No other districts. No careers. No girls. Just 24 boys from District 9.
I pick up my pack and go to the rock. I go round the other side and see it;s a cave, and it;s extremely well hidden by vines. I go inside and it seems pretty cosy. Cosy enough to house a murderer it seems.
I sit down and check the contents of my backpack. I empty them all out onto the floor.
First is a box of matches which is good, I really need to keep warm tonight. I have a 2 litre water bottle which is full! It's so good that it's full! Water is pretty scarce in District 9 so I don't have clue where I would otherwise get it from. I have another full water bottle in there too! I'm so happy. I also have a sleeping bag and 5 more knives. Apart from the water, my favourite thing in here is the pack of dried fruit and the bread. It's good bread too, the delicious District 9 bread. Seeing as we're the grain district, we better have good bread. It tastes just as good as the bread we make from the grain from tesserae. Mmm. I really do need to ration off my food and water, i don't know how long I'll be in here for. I decide to snuggle up in my sleeping bag now and go to sleep, I'll be awoken by the cannons for the end of the bloodbath.
However I never got awoken when the cannons went off. Because they never actually did go off. I wake and still hear shouting, screaming and groaning from the cornucopia which is about 1km away. Oh my god. They must have been fighting all night.
I decide to have some more water and some dried fruit. I have about half a litre of water and about 5 pieces of fruit as a quick breakfast, stuff everything into the bag and set off. I'm refreshed and ready to go. There should be tributes out there that didn't have an as comfortable night as me. I've got the advantage here then.
I'm just walking through the grass which is slowly becoming shorter and below head height when I'm startled by the cannons.
22 in total. Probably a record. Along with the 2 dead at the start, 21 people died around the cornucopia. I killed 1 next to my rock here. 19 went into the middle at the start and there's now 1 left.
I need to go to the middle as soon as possible then. There's only 2 of us left and the longer I wait, the longer he gets to recover and he's clearly an amazing fighter.
I have a swig of water and begin my fast walk to the cornucopia.
I get through the grass and see him lying down on top of the cornucopia. Maybe he hasn't seen me! I carefully put down my bags and put the 5 axes and 5 knives in my belt. I also have 1 axe and 1 knife in my hands. I'm ready.
From his stance, he must be resting so I stealthily make my way to the cornucopia. He must have seen me coming because he gets up and slides down the side of the cornucopia. It's James Holmes who volunteered. I gulp. Out of all the people I would want to face, he is definitely the last. Give me a career any day.
He's smothered from head to toe in blood and had a huge gash on his right hip. You can even see the bone! He must be in so much pain but he is making it out that he's OK. I think he's just trying to intimidate me. He picks up the sword next to him and swings it around a bit, getting the hang of it.
Surrounding us are 19 dead bodies. The game-makers obviously didn't have time to take them away.
"You ready to die Draddock?" he calls.
"Are you?" I counteract with. I can't let him get the upper hand mentally, otherwise he's already half of the way to killing me.
He walks closer and I throw my axe at his calf. I calculate that he's going to dive to his left and the axe skims his calf taking a huge chunk of flesh off. He can't run now. I take another step forward and throw another axe, he throws a knife while on the floor. My axe misses. His knife embeds itself in my ankle. Ow! That hurts so much! I need to kill him while I can.
I take out another knife and run to him. He gets up and counters all my attacks.
We fight knife to sword probably for about 20 minutes. Constantly swiping and slashing and taking bits off each other and diving and ducking away from each others blows. It's absolutely exhausting.
As I turn around he takes his chance and slices at my side. It does not go deep but it is enough to make me fall over. With that he jumps on top of my front. I'm struggling to get away but I just can't. I can't get away. I'm going to die. I'm going to die in The 100th Hunger Games along with 575 other tributes. Of course I am, I always was right?
James is saying something about me being a good fighter and that he'll miss me. He starts to stroke my face with the tip of the knife. I'm struggling to get out but he's just keeping me down. To my left is a knife, but I think it's too far away. He's telling me a story but I'm not really listening, I'm trying to reach that knife. The ends of my fingers can just touch it but I just can't quite reach it.
James finishes this story and says he's now going to kill me.
With 1 final push I get the knife and stab his waist. I pull out and he rolls off me. I stab again, and again, and again. I get an axe and slice off his head.
The cannon goes off.
I'm the male victor from District 9.
"May I present to male victor from District 9, Danny Draddock!" the announcer booms out.
I get inside the hovercraft and find Melissa already there. Melissa being the first girl picked.
"So it's me an you eh?" I say.
She mumbles, "I guess so."
There isn't going to be a Katniss chapter for the first round, sorry for any disappointment.