Chapter Six

"Have no fear for atomic energy,
Cause none of them can stop the time."
- Bob Marley

Jazmine was banging on his door, and Huey didn't bother to ask why. They had one more day before they would be ushered into the arena to fight for their lives.

"I know you need rest, but I don't want to be alone tonight." Jazmine said the words bitterly. Like she hated herself for needing his comfort. "Can I sleep with you, tonight?"

"You'll be doing it from now on, anyway." He patted the other side of the bed so that she could lie on the pillow next to his. "Come on."

She crawled over to the spot next to him and then stared at the ceiling with him."Do you hate me?"

"What?" Huey turned his head to face hers. "Not any more than usual. Why?"

"I forced your hand in front of the entire world." Jazmine didn't meet his gaze. "In front of that girl you like." Her voice got lower. "If I were you, I would be irritated with me."

"What else is new?" He snorted, reaching out to grab her chin and force her eyes into his. "I don't love what you did, but I know that you only wanted to help." He tore his eyes away, hating how pained she looked. "It's not like romance is at the top of our list right now. Stop beating yourself up over it."

He rolled over towards the edge of the bed and stared at the door for a moment, listening for Bushido. Then he rolled back toward her and pulled her close,sitting so that both of them were positioned upright.

"Someone's outside, and it's not Bushido." He pulled her behind him and ripped the wooden panel off the bed, pushing the mattress to the floor. He lifted one of the metal slats from the bed frame. To his relief, she picked up one as well and got into stance.

"I'm ready." Jazmine had been listening too. She crouched down as the footsteps got closer. "I'll take the left. You take the right."

"We come in peace." They heard a Chicagoan accent outside of the door. Their eyes widened when they realized that it was Isis. She and Michael Caesar walked inside. "It's about Makayla."

Their eyes widened when the window behind them flew open.

Most of the Chicago elects, including Cindy, were standing outside, staring at them. Meanwhile, Caesar was rolling into their room with his hands lifted in surrender.

"Look." Cindy blocked Huey's attempt to shut the window with a wooden stick of her own. "I'm not worried about killing you two when the time comes, but I don't agree with that little girl dying in these games. We're all planning on looking out for her, and even I have to admit that she's a lot safer with the both of you. Vince knows what's up, and he agrees with us."

The rest of the tributes behind her nodded. Tasha, Kevin, Cairo, Jennifer, Ming, and Hiro were standing nearby, glancing at them with pleading eyes.

"What about Grits?" Jazmine's eyes narrowed. "What happens when he decides to kill her?"

"He wouldn't do that. Not to a defenseless kid." Cindy's voice was firm. "You don't know him. Not the way I do."

"I know what I saw these past few days." Jazmine's voice was quiet, but they could all feel the anger building inside her with every word that she spoke. "How do you know that he won't kill her 'woke black ass' like he claimed? He seems even more enthralled by the games than you are."

"Look." Caesar stood next to Huey, who still had a tight grip on the metal bar just in case the dreadhead made a wrong move. "We may have different reasons for playing this game how we play, but I think that we can all agree that Makayla doesn't deserve this. The way they treated her the other day makes me worry about her the most…she's just a kid. And she's not built for this like the rest of us are. So, from one Chicago kid to another, please. Help us look out for the youngin', man. She needs all the eyes and ears on her that she can get."

"Seriously, bruh." Cairo piped up, getting closer to the window to look up at his old friend. "Regardless of how much I can't stand you… if you couldn't save her, I don't think any of us could hold that against you. That Wuncler dude is clearly on some bullshit. Since when have the games gone this hard on a defenseless kid?"

Huey was quiet, examining each face of the Chicago elects before he nodded at Jazmine, his gaze certain as he lowered his makeshift rod. "They mean it, Jazmine. They want to help."

"Fine." She threw down her own weapon. "But if I find out any of you lied to us tonight, it'll be your ass in that arena." Jazmine growled. She marched right up to Caesar and got into his face. Then she pulled him by his shirt and dragged him across the room until he reached the window.

Once Isis moved out of the way, she shoved Caesar to the ground.

He popped up with a pained groan, dusting himself off. "Trust me, you don't want any issues with either one of us."

"Whatever bitch." Cindy growled. "You ain't really bout that action like you claim."

But when she turned to walk away with the rest of the elects, Huey caught a flicker of respect in the blonde girl's eyes.

Jazmine noticed it too and released a small sigh of relief. It gave him a small bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, things would turn out okay.

He woke up to Jazmine standing near the window. There was a breeze lightly moving the curtains from side to side. He came over and stood next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" He stared at her arms, watching the way they trembled lightly. "I know that having them swing by like that was invasive for you. It probably reminded you of the first raid a few years back."

They'd never talked about what had happened that day. It had been terrifying watching the militia storm through the neighborhood that night. They had demanded entrance to everyone's homes in order to ration supplies, and whenever a neighbor showed any form of resistance, they would torture them and their entire household until they were dead, until there was nothing left.

"I still can't get their screams out of my head, Huey." Jazmine finally whispered. "It's been four years, and I can still remember how loud they were. How rough they were." She leaned her head on his shoulder and kept her eyes on the sky. "That was the day that everything went to shit. We've been in hell ever since."

She wasn't lying. Huey remembered how they had been instructed to stay up in his room while Tom, Sarah and Robert stood guard downstairs, watching them take every bit of food they could find out of the house and into the large tanks that they had sitting nearby. The raids had been conducted after the Federal Bureau of Investigation had concluded that several homeowners across the country had violated Wuncler law by stockpiling large amounts of food for themselves.

Ruckus had been proud that day, watching smugly as they'd shoved past his granddad. He bragged about how they'd been surveying him and his grandsons through a hidden camera in their television. The guards had run upstairs, angry with Huey because he showed no emotion. They had threatened to kill him, knocking out each adult who tried to intervene one by one. They began to close in on the boy, their weapons drawn.

He hadn't done anything wrong, and they had still identified him as a huge threat. Even at only twelve years old. He'd been beaten. Treated as a criminal for not making it clear to them that he could be controlled. They had pushed him onto the ground that day, yelling things at him, beating him with batons while Jazmine and Riley screamed for help that wouldn't come.

She'd jumped in front of him that day, tried to save his life, begged them to stop, only to be brutalized as well. Ruckus had stood by, watching it all happen to the people who had taken him in when nobody else had. To his best friend's grandchildren.

He'd stood by and laughed at it. Laughed at how brutal the beating had been.

The last thing Huey remembered was Ruckus saying their uppity asses deserved it. He had left them on the floor, unconscious, until Tom came to, collecting all the children and unconscious adults in the guest room while he stood guard. He had been the one waiting at the door with a gun, while robbers and vigilantes went from rich home to rich home, desperately searching for food.

It was Tom who had saved him from a concussion that day. Tom who had peeled open the floorboards of his home to give his grandfather the medication that he'd needed. It had been his family who had always looked out for them.

Sarah had pretended that Granddad had dementia when he'd forgotten the rules that stated nobody could be out past curfew. Jazmine had covered for Huey several times, always claiming that he was at the funeral of a different relative, which wasn't hard to believe.

Even Riley had stepped up.

He took school a lot more seriously. He'd never come home with anything less than straight A's after the raids. He practiced taekwondo with his brother often and seemed very determined to learn how to defend himself if the time came. He'd even made sure to research plants that kept Granddad's blood pressure well-regulated in the event that something happened to Tom or Huey.

But to his surprise, the change that he'd always hoped to see in Jazmine had become one of the things that had disappointed him the most.

Her light grew dimmer and dimmer. The naivety was still there, but you could see it leaving each day. In the first year, she'd hoped that things would turn around. They all had. But the thing with Jazmine was that she could brighten almost anyone's day with just a smile. It was hard seeing that unbridled joy drift away. It faded from her eyes until her eyes were dimmer than they'd ever been before.

And now, that light in her eyes was completely gone.

She was so distant, so different from the little girl he'd met all those years ago, that it was hard to look at her without getting depressed.

"They took everything that day." She whispered, shaking her head. "Even me."

"You're still you." Huey stared at the trees, at the lush, green grass outside of their window. So different from the barren landscape outside of the small hunting reserve in Woodcrest. "You're still Jazmine to me."

"Well I'm not me to me." She held her arms steady. "Being here, popping off on people, threatening to kill people my age. It goes against everything I believe in."

"By any means necessary." Huey quoted, staring out of the window. "We're doing what we have to."

"We don't have to." Jazmine shook her head. "We're executing each other by choice. Choosing to kill each other because we say it's for the greater good. We all know that it isn't." She finally turned her head to look at him. "Who's to say Wuncler won't kill everybody we love anyway?"

When he didn't say anything, she filled in the silence.

"Face it, Huey. We're just as bad as everybody else is. They dangled our family's safety over our heads, and we took the bait." She sniffled, her eyes beginning to water. "How can we call ourselves anything but monsters for that? How can we say that we're not just as bad as everybody else?"

He hated that he couldn't tell her she was wrong this time.

He let the question hang into the air.

He didn't have an answer.

They had one last meeting with the sponsors today. It was their last chance to make an impression on the people who would provide aid if they needed it. They could send them medication, tools for survival, even food if they wanted.

It wasn't exactly as if he or Jazmine believed this final meeting before the games would go well. Because it was obvious to them that it wouldn't.

Especially in a room full of wealthy white men who were hellbent on appearing disinterested in anything that had to do with them.

"Can we offer you anything?" The man in the center's voice was full of condescension. "Water, vodka, maybe a little moonshine? We have some gin in the back if you'd like some of that."

"Water is fine, thank you." Jazmine cut in before Huey could even bother. Bushido sat on the couch behind the sponsors and took another swig of water from a tall glass. His lips rested on the golden rim so that he could discreetly glare at them and warn them both to behave. "Thank you again for inviting us for a final sitdown."

"Of course, dear." Another sponsor spoke without even looking at her. He glanced at his nails and blew them before checking the time on his diamond encrusted gold watch. The man's eyes drifted over something in the distance. "What is your name again?"

Even Jazmine was struggling to keep her temper down. She spoke slowly, trying not glance over at Huey. "Jazmine Dubois and Huey Freeman, sir. The most recent Maryland elects."

"Ah, Maryland." He narrowed his eyes at her. "You are the daughter of that pro bono attorney, soliciting those villainous traitors for fame."

"Guilty." Jazmine winced. "But I believe that my fellow elect and I-"

"The melodramatic terrorist who nearly murdered the grandfather of our great president." Another sponsor spoke up, a bored expression on his face. "Please spare us the details regarding your violent boyfriend's criminal activities, thank you."

"But-"

"You know, Mrs. Dubois." A man got up to snatch the water bottle that she hadn't even bothered to drink from. "It is almost as if you intended to upset us with that little declaration of love in front of God and the entire nation."

"I lo-"

"You don't love him." Another one got up. It was almost eerie how similar they looked. How all of these white men clearly represented the ideal society in the eyes of Ed Wuncler. "Just admit that it was all a sham, and all will be forgiven."

"It wasn't." Huey stepped forward and pulled Jazmine against him before she could say anything else. He wasn't even struggling to pretend at this point. He'd learned to become a convincing actor when it came to the fake boyfriend thing. Especially when it helped him to agitate the wealthiest men alive. "Everything we said last night was true. We're in love, and we don't need your permission."

"Perhaps you don't." The sponsor flicked an olive into a garbage can beside his foot. "But you do need our funding. Think about all the people that beg for our help. What makes you think that you're so above answering a simple question? Don't care to grovel?"

"What makes you so sure that the tables won't turn on you next?" Jazmine stepped up, still holding Huey's hand. "I was just living a cushy life four years ago with my parents. Woodcrest was the wealthiest community in the United States at one point. Who's to say that you won't be next?"

"I wouldn't make the silly choices that the men in your life have." The man laughed as if what Jazmine had suggested was impossible. "Don't be so asinine. You all have practically forced the president into this ordeal. You have made your beds. We're simply trying to make them more comfortable. If you would just cooperate-"

"How?" Jazmine raised a brow. "By treating only the 1% with the respect, decency, and equality all human beings deserve?" She stepped closer and glared. "Or by using that cooperation to justify the murder of an eight-year-old child, who has done absolutely nothing to anyone?"

The room grew quiet. Bushido sat straight up. Huey smirked.

"We don't need to grovel for the hush money you're obviously disinterested in giving us." Jazmine looked at all of them in disgust. "I'd rather die than take anything from the likes of you, and the same goes for my boyfriend. You're all sick, evil, cowardly, sadists."

"You're making a mistake." One of them lifted a hand as she started for the door; the warning in his voice was clear. "Once you walk out of here, there's no going back."

Jazmine didn't bother turning around. She crossed the threshold and left Huey behind. It seemed that she was stronger than any of them had bargained for.

And for that, Huey was grateful. She'd impressed him yet again.

The men were shocked. They had obviously never been spoken to like that a day in their lives.

Then, that look formed in their eyes. The gaze that he'd seen in Ed Wuncler III's eyes that day at the garden party, in Ruckus' during the raids, in every man who realized that another wouldn't follow the status quo that they had benefited from; in the moment where an opponent went from foe to threat.

Jazmine had just cemented herself as the next up and coming rebel to watch. Right alongside him, her pretend boyfriend for the next two weeks.

He'd been too damn proud of her to stop her. Too in awe of how badass she'd become over the years. Too ashamed to admit that she'd been stronger than he'd ever believed. Too prideful to admit that there was another reason why he was so protective over her.

She'd be fine no matter what happened. He was sure of it.

So sure, that he'd bet his life on it.

Bushido hadn't even bothered talking to them. He was so angry with them that he'd just told them to get ready for the arena in the morning.

He pulled an arm around Jazmine on the couch, knowing that she needed his reassurance even without her even having to ask.

"I'm proud of you." He told her, meeting her gaze when her eyes trailed up to his, wide with shock. "You did the right thing and stood up for yourself. Good job, Dubois."

"I hate the way they talked to us." Her words came out in a such a ferocious huff that he leaned back and widened his eyes. "The things that they said about you, acting like it was impossible that someone could love you because they see you as less than human. It's disgusting."

"You go harder for me than you do for yourself." Huey snorted before turning to her, gazing into her eyes and leaning toward her, her lips, just inches away. He told himself that he was pretending. After all, Bushido had told them to kiss at random, even indoors, but this felt different in a way that he suddenly wanted to explore. "Any reason for that?"

She met his gaze and stared up at him, surprised by his proximity; she pushed him backwards, but he leaned forward again. She moved back. "Huey, wait. I think you're just in the-"

Before she could finish, two people in all black smacked down the door while several guards with golden 'W' pins on their chests held Bushido back. More guards rushed in from his bedroom and theirs. He tried to hold onto Jazmine, but they were too fast and too strong.

He leapt up onto the bed, delivering a roundhouse kick that brought five guards down to the ground. Jazmine fought beside him, springing past the angry assailants like an acrobat, blocking each blow with her arms and legs and then hitting several pressure points until they all fell to the ground around her.

They moved as a unit, their backs to one another as they moved closer to Bushido. For a moment, it had almost seemed as if it were over. Until Huey suddenly felt the heat of Jazmine's back leave his own.

Several more guards were rushing in now. He was rushing towards her, sending his fists flying, his feet hammering a few guards nearest him until they fell one after the other while they pulled her into the bedroom and locked the door.

He immediately kicked it down, satisfied when it flew off the hinges. He rushed over to Jazmine, who was wincing as they slammed her against the wall, held her eyes open, and pinned her down, pulling on her face until she was forced to gaze in his direction.

The pain came before he could deliver another blow. There were two people attacking him. The strength that they possessed was unheard of. One of them, the woman, had nails that gashed him open, pulling his skin with every strike until he groaned out in pain.

Someone came behind him and kicked him onto his stomach. They lifted his fro and bashed his head into the floor and them tossed him into the living room, stomping him, beating him with some sort of metal baton while he crawled wherever he could, trying to find something, anything to defend himself with.

"You think it's okay to disrespect our president?" One of the guards said. "You want to start a new rebellion?" He kicked Huey in the face and pressed his foot down until his nose was gushing, the sting of it so painful that he struggled to get up from the ground. "You think these people care about whether or not your black ass is gonna live or die? Big Nigga has something for that ass!"

Jazmine was screaming out in the back as several guards attacked her. They were punching her, yanking her hair around, burning her….

"Jaz…" He couldn't get to her no matter how hard he tried to move. She was letting out huge shrieks before stopping occasionally to grit her teeth. He'd been so busy trying to make a move on her that he'd let his guard down. And now, they were paying for it. "Hold…on."

"You ain't going nowhere!" Someone kicked him directly in his abdomen and then delivered another swift blow to his throat, knocking the wind out of him. "Crazy Bitch said shut up, little nigga!" He rolled over and hissed. He was able to get a glimpse of what led beyond the open door to their building .

There was an entire military presence, thousands of soldiers waiting outside the door for them to make one wrong move. "If either of you two even think about starting a rebellion, or telling anyone what happened here, you'll be dead before you say anything else."

The man laughed before kicking him square in the center of his pants. Huey groaned out, wincing again. "Remember how that feels the next time you try to cop a feel with your little girlfriend." The man whistled at the guards, smirking at them both before pressing his palms together as if he were praying. "May the odds be ever in God's favor."

"And May God Bless Wuncler!" The guards cried out as they marched out of the door. "God Bless America! Death to Democracy! Yes to Autocracy! Time to Send a Message! We're Done with the Hypocrisy!"

Jazmine gasped and ran to his side, catching her breath as she examined him. Her head was bleeding. She had a black eye, several gashes on her arms and legs. Her entire right shoulder was dislocated. Her ankle was sprained, and there was a W branded onto her wrist. Huey was floating in and out of consciousness.

"Huey, stay awake!" She commanded, crying out to the limping man in the back, who was rummaging through his drawers. "Bushido!"

"It's Shido!" The man snarled, grabbing some sort of crème for her to rub on him. It seemed to help. "Just relax and rub this on him. He'll come to in a few hours. And you too. If you plan on making it to the top two in the games, you'd better make sure you slather yourself in this stuff."

She paused. "What did you just say?" She started rubbing the cream on her dislocated shoulder, letting out small grunts of pain.

He put a gentle hand on Jazmine's good shoulder. "The fact that they came for the both of you like that means that they know what I've known early on. You two are something special. You're both forces to be reckoned with, in and out of these fucked up games."

"Bushido, you…" Jazmine's voice was surprised. "You think I'm going to make it to the top two?"

"Maybe." Bushido said, making his voice sound skeptical. But Huey knew better, even in the midst of him blacking out. Their mentor believed that Jazmine could go all the way. And somehow, knowing that made their entire journey together seem worth it. "Now get in bed and get some rest. I'll stand right here. You all need to be ready to enter the arena in the morning."

He could feel Jazmine eyeing him reluctantly, even with his eyes closed. She only felt safe around him, and they all knew it.

"He'll be fine, Jazmine." The man said softly. His soft spot for her was finally showing. He reached out and hugged her. "You'll be fine. I won't let anyone hurt you two again."

He heard Jazmine slowly walk out of the room and get into bed. Bushido picked him up and said something to him in a low voice.

"I got her, son." He told her. "Let go and rest. You'll be up before you know it. Go on and relax, now."

Huey didn't know if it was the drugs or the fact that he missed his family more than he'd ever admit. But the comforting cadence in Bushido's voice reminded him of his grandfather in that moment.

And that was enough to finally lull him into unconsciousness.

He wasn't exactly sure when he'd come to, but he could hear Jazmine's light breathing near him, letting him know that he hadn't succumbed to his injuries from earlier.

"Remember what I told you, Huey." Huey turned over to look at Bushido, who was talking to him in a low, quiet tone. "If it comes down to it, do what you have to do to survive and play up the romance every chance you get. That's not up for debate."

Huey didn't say anything for a moment, and then he looked over at Bushido.

"I don't plan on hurting her." He said blankly. "I refuse to."

"You already have." Bushido glared at him. "The minute you snatched away from her for the sake of that Arielle girl, you did hurt her. And on public television no less. Besides, just from observing you two, I doubt very seriously that you haven't hurt her for the greater good before. I could be wrong." The man smirked. "We both know that I'm not, though. Don't we?"

Huey was quiet.

"If you're so hell bent on her being alive instead of you, then you need to understand this early." The man leaned back in his chair, his eyes still on the door. "There is nothing that you can do that will save her from pain. Even if the both of you miraculously live through this, she'll have scars for the rest of her life. We all will."

Huey stared at him for a moment. "Is that how your son was? When he came back?"

"Yeah." Bushido nodded. "It's like coming back from war. The nightmares. The paranoia. That fear in his eyes every time he knew that things were going wrong." He looked down at the armchair. "He didn't feel safe anymore. He went from this confident, arrogant kid to this terrified victim. He was devastated when he realized that the government would gun for all of us no matter what he said or did."

"Do you feel like you failed him?" Huey took the chance to slightly glance over at Jazmine, watching her twitch in her sleep. "Like you should've done more to save them both?" He paused, thinking that maybe he'd overstepped. This was the man's son. The one that he'd lost after losing his eldest daughter in a tragic way.

"Yeah." Bushido's tone was soft, sad. "Every single day, I think that. Especially when I think about Kashida." He lifted up and allowed his gaze to fall onto Jazmine, moving her hair out of her face. "She was just like her. Sweet, caring, compassionate, stubborn."

He shook his head and laughed, a moment of pure bliss revealing itself in his smile.

" Snuck out to enter the games after I tried to skip town with her in tow. I knew that she wouldn't make it." He looked out of the window, his head down. "But she never really had a chance to play. That kid gunned them all down. He ambushed them."

Huey's eyes stayed on Bushido. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." His eyes seemed to narrow for a moment as he looked over at the sun, slowly rising in the east. "They probably had the better outcome. They died without all of the mess that would have come if they'd lived through such a sick process. She died without that blood on her hands."

When Huey didn't say anything, Bushido continued.

"When things like this go down in history, everybody thinks that they'd do everything it takes for their loved ones to live. Hell, I was one of the ones who tried." He sighed staring at Jazmine and Huey on the bed. "But honestly, wanting someone to come back just so that you don't have to miss them? I'm not so sure if it's as honorable as we make it out to be." He leaned against the wall. "If the world were as caring as it claimed to be, the games would have been dismantled. And the fact that they aren't makes me believe that we're alright with it continuing so long as everybody isn't hurt in the process."

"Makes sense. We're a cause that nobody wants to die for." Huey sat up and yawned. "Everybody thinks we deserve it. If they hate an eight-year-old like Makayla, then there's no hope for the games to be dismantled. Not for us. Not after us."

He got up to stare at whatever Bushido was staring at, watching as several guards carried barricades to the stadium. The man turned to him as they both faced the window, watching silently.

"Remember when I told you that these games would be different?" Bushido glanced over at a man holding elaborate decorations for the VIP sections. "That there was a plan for the both of you two?"

Huey crossed his arms and stared at the arena. "Well, obviously. There was an entire militia outside ready to murder us if someone made the call."

"Boy…" Bushido tensed up before glaring out of the window again. "Listen up. This arena will be different for you all. It's probably set up with booby traps for the both of you. So the more you feel drawn to something, the more it aligns with your core? Stay away from it. Run from it. It's not good for you. Trust me."

"Traps." Huey mused before staring over at Jazmine, who was starting to toss and turn. "How far do you think they'd go just to kill us? Especially when there are plenty of elects who could?"

"Ask George." Bushido said gruffly before heading back over to sit in front of the door. "Just keep your eyes on Jazmine until the very end. You'll know what to do when the opportunity strikes." He gazed over at Huey, who was still looking out of the window, at the chaos around the arena. It was only two o'clock in the morning. "Don't worry about them. Lay down. Let your body rest. You need to be as alert as possible in the morning."

For once, Huey didn't argue. He laid down and closed his eyes.

"Happy 16th Birthday, boy." Bushido sighed after a moment. "I'm rooting for you. Both of you."

If only that were enough.

Author's Note:

Warning:
There will be death in every other single chapter from here on out.

If you don't want to read that, then feel free to stop reading at this point. I won't hold that against you.

I know that this story is heavier than most, so I appreciate those of you who have been reading.

Thank you CuriousMind58 for consistently reviewing! I appreciate you reading my writing. I appreciate ALL of you for doing it. Thank you so much.

I use Copilot Microsoft for the cover art. It allows you to make pretty convincing art with a decent amount of prodding. It is AI. But it's free.

Also, I will be dropping another chapter shortly after this one.

Until Next Time,

MissAceThankYou