The Sixty-Eighth Hunger Games

Chapter 15- ADDIE

I slowly wake myself up, not wanting to come back to the freezing cold water that weighs down my muscles. My eyes flutter open against my will, and I brace myself for the chilling sensation of the icy water against them, but it doesn't come, confusing me. Instead of the cold water and blue-tinted surroundings, I can see absolutely nothing at all. Wherever I am, it's definitely not drowning in a lake.

Here, it's dark, but warm, which is much better than before. My hands, slightly numb from the cold water, travel down my sides. I'm covered in soft blankets, wrapped from head to toe. My head feels heavy, and I realize it's because my body is tilted at an angle, with my feet elevated.

I don't want to move, to do anything to disturb this new warmth I have, but I force myself to sit up. I shiver and grasp the blanket around my shoulders, and it's only then that I realize I'm no longer wearing my tribute uniform. In fact, I'm wearing the blankets and that's about it. Self-conscious about the fact that I'm being projected on live television to hundreds of thousands of people at the moment, I wrap another blanket around my front. As I do so, my hand brushes my hair, and it comes away dry, leading me to realize that I've been here for quite some time. The question is, who put me here?

I intend to answer that question. "Hello?" I call out. "Hey!"

Suddenly, the wall moves. It surprises me for a moment, but then I chalk it up to the simple fact that everything in the arena looks like something from an alien sci-fi movie. I quickly stand up as I see a figure standing there. Her red hair poofs around her head, and the sun shines through it, giving her a halo effect.

It's Brie. Again.

"Hey, princess." She cocks her hip to the side. "You get your beauty sleep all right?"

All I can manage is an, "I, uh..." Her friendly banter, so different from the tough fighter I saw two nights ago, is throwing me off.

"Kidding." She's joined in the doorway by a smaller, scrawnier figure, and I recognize him as the kid from District Three. I immediately have a flashback to the same movie about wizards, since he reminds me of one of the main characters. Except, unlike the boy in the movie, this boy's glasses aren't broken, and he has a darker complexion.

Brie takes a few steps towards me, and stops when I flinch. My eyes dart around the now-lit cave, looking for my things.

"Why do you think we saved you?" Brie asks, crossing her arms and drawing my attention back to her.

"What?" I ask, my poor mind barely keeping up.

"We saved you. So why're you acting all worried?"

"This is the Hunger Games." My brain finally is able to function a bit better. "If I were you, I'd be a little more concerned if I wasn't worried."

She considers this for a moment. "Fair." She slides her back along the wall and sits down. "Your clothes are outside drying. It's been, say, maybe a full day? Since we found you."

The boy from Three looks down at his wrist, making me wonder if he's got a watch or something there. "Just about. All last night and halfway though today."

Deciding to trust these two, at least for the moment, I mimic Brie and sit against the wall. "What did I miss?"

"Not much. The girl from Six is dead." Brie says this so casually, making we realize that this is what we've come to. Casually saying things like, "Oh, yeah so-and-so tragically died last night. Anyway, how was your day?"

Brie continues her explanation. "Cannon went off right as you fell over the falls."

"So, wait," I say, trying to get this all straight. "We're at the bottom of a cliff?"