Stars | Cato Hadley

Chapter Thirteen

Seneca Crane was especially excited for today. Today was the start of the 74th annual Hunger Games. He had one thing to do before he started the twisted sport of children killing other children. That morning the man with the oddly styled beard sat in a plain white room. A long mahogany wooden table sat in the middle of the room and was surrounded by chairs.

One by one each apprentice games maker greeted him and took a seat. Once they were all at the table Seneca started their brief meeting.

"Welcome and thank you for taking time out of your busy mornings to meet with me. I had a few things I wanted to discuss with you all before we prepared the tributes. Now, the first order of business do we have a bow and arrow ready at the Cornucopia?" A man halfway down the table shook his balding head. "Yes, sir we do." Seneca nodded before moving on.

"Do we have two whips set up twenty feet from the female District Ten tribute?" A chorus of yeses passed around the table. He scratched his beard, "Good."

"Finally," he looked at Plutarch Heavensbee, "do we have the tribute's DNA and hair samples for the finale?" The older gentlemen, who fell into the punch bowl when Katniss Everdeen shot an arrow at him, nodded.

"Are you gentlemen ready for the games? Because I think with the twist at the end that this one will be the best one yet."

Plutarch Heavensbee had a plan of his own brewing in his head. All he needed was for Seneca Crane to simply cease to exist. Now that would certainly be a shame.

Seneca grabbed a handful of raspberries that sat at the buffet of breakfast items. The berries stained his hands and lips an odd shade of pinkish-red. Many of the other men began feasting on the food before them, but Seneca had a hankering for the berries. How ironic.

...

That morning Wren woke up cold. She looked at the clock- seven in the morning. All of the tributes were up early that morning in fear of that afternoon. Wren decided to skip her shower because her prep team would wash her before Asher dressed her. She headed for the dining table. It was mostly empty this time, only cereal, oatmeal, and fruit were set out. Wren figured that they had it that way so that the tributes got used to having little food in the arena. She picked out a green apple and a granola bar.

Serena, Oliver, and Ariana soon met her for breakfast. Serena was wearing a color Wren had never seen her wear. She had on a grey dress and her hair was platinum blonde. Wren smiled as the woman patted her on the shoulder.

"You know Rena, blonde hair suits you. It really brings out your eyes," she complimented her escort. Serena's hand flew to her hair. "You really think so?" The brunette nodded. Oliver and Ariana threw in their own agreement as Evelyn and Edwin came into view. The two kids were scared out of their minds.

"Hello," Evelyn squeaked. A chorus of hellos rang out across the room. The little girl's eyes held fear. Wren's gaze matched her own and gave the girl a small smile.

"Morning everyone," Roman said as he walked out of the room with his blond hair all over the place. Oliver's eyes widened at the sight of the boy before he snickered. "What? Is it the hair?" Wren kept her eyes focused on the apple she held.

Breakfast was silent after that. No one wanted to talk about the events that would be occurring in a matter of hours. The four tributes followed their escort and mentors to the elevator as they mentally said goodbye to floor ten. Serena pressed 'G' and the elevator shot down. Wren's stomach churned. She wasn't ready, but then again, who would be?

The elevator touched the ground and the doors spread apart. Each step the group took to their prep team was each step they took to their possible deaths. Evelyn began biting her nails so hard one began to bleed; Edwin started crying and Roman's face remained expressionless. Serena turned down a long hallway and four doors revealed themselves. On either side of the doors stood each tributes prep team. Wren was pushed into door three.