❝ it is sometimes an
appropriate response to
reality to go insane ❞
──⭒─⭑─⭒──
In which an innocent girl finds herself
trapped in an arena with monsters and
her only hope is to claw her way out.
──...
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𝕴'm woken the next morning by Varya. It's quiet, both of us in near silence as she helps into some basic clothes and then leads me to the roof. A hovercraft appears from seemingly no where, dropping a ladder down for me to cling to as I'm pulled up into the belly of the airplane.
I'm frozen, most likely because they're worried I'll purposefully kill myself before I even reach the arena, and a doctor in a white coat approaches me with a syringe. My breathing starts to pick up.
"This is just a tracker, Mitzi. The stiller you are, the more effectively I can place it." I whimper at the sharp stab of the needle, which inserts the metal tracking device deep beneath my skin, but somehow stay still. Varya appears moments later as the feeling in my body returns, and I rub my arm as she leads me to a table full of food.
"You have to eat."
"I think I'll be sick." I mutter as I look out the window, past the view of the city and to the wilderness beyond. I wish I was there, or back home in the cow shed, feeling fresh air with little fear that I might end up dying at a child's hand.
"You'll regret it if you don't." Varya is unfortunately right, and I take some bites of bread and drink some water in the half an hour ride. The windows blackout soon after, cutting off my view of freedom, as the hovercraft lands. My stylist leads me back down to the ladder, which takes us to an underground tube in the catacombs beneath the arena where soldiers are waiting.
They lead me to the Stockyard, otherwise known as the Launch Room. I'm about to go into an arena and die. I'm never going to see my family again, or Rue, or anyone. Some Career is going to slaughter me and that will be the end of me, another name of tributes lost in the Hunger Games.
Varya urges me to shower and clean my teeth, which I do. How I am able to keep any of the food down is a minor miracle. She tries to soothe my nerves as she braids my hair back tightly, before helping me dress.
The clothes are not that dissimilar to what I would wear at home. A loose shirt, dark trousers (good for camouflage Varya notes), a belt, a thin jacket that seems to be waterproof and shoes that seem to be designed for my feet. It's better than I could have ever dreamt of, and the comfort of the clothes calms me slightly.
If I close my eyes, it feels like I'm home.
"Finally, district token." Varya produces a chain with my mother's wedding ring on it, doing it up around my neck. "You're all set. Have a little jog, a stretch, try and see if it's all comfortable and your shoes feel good."
I do as she says, hopping up and down and stretching on the spot as I nod. "It feels good."
"Brilliant. Then there's nothing more we can do." Varya smiles gently. "Have some water, but not too much."
I nod, before being thankful that it was not my time of the month whilst I was in the arena. That could have led to disaster.
Varya sits beside me, rubbing up and down my back as my leg jogs up and down on it's own accord. We sit together until a female voice sounds over the tannoy system, announcing that it's time to prepare for launch.
My legs barely work as I stand on the circular metal plate, knees giving out as I try not to be sick.
"You're going to do well. Find water, run, stay with Thresh." Varya smiles once more, pressing her hand to my cheek. "Just know, out of all the tributes I've seen over the years, you were undoubtedly my favourite."
"I was?" I sounded like a child.
"The best I've ever seen." Varya mutters, before kissing both my cheeks and stepping away as the glass cylinder is lowered around me. She smiles, winking and tilting her chin up as I try to do the same.
First things first, all I had to do was get away from the bloodbath.
The cylinder rises, shrouding me in darkness for close to fifteen seconds before I emerge into dazzling sunlight. Wind ruffles through my hair, wrapping me in the scent of pine trees. It's quiet for a moment before the sound of Claudius Templesmith echoes around me.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games begin!"
With that announcement, we're given sixty seconds. Sixty seconds to stand on the metal circles lest we want to be blown up by landmines. Sixty seconds to evaluate what we should do, where we should run and where the most brutal of the tributes are.
The ground around us is hard packed dirt. I can't see anything across from me, behind me is a lake and then pine woods. I'm not stupid enough to go for the bloodbath, maybe a outer lying backpack, so my best choice is to turn, run and then find Thresh.
I look at the number on the countdown, realising that it's hitting fifteen. Dropping down, I prepare to run as I try to catch eyes with Thresh, but I can't see him. The sun is glaring too much.
There's a pause as everything went quiet, like the world was waiting with bated breath, before the gong sounds and suddenly I'm sprinting. I lunge for the first backpack I see, grabbing it onto my back and then turning to run away, picking up little things as I go. The forest is the first thing I see, so I sprint for it. My legs burn, aching and I turn to look over my shoulder as I get to the tree line.
I know I should run, but I have to find Thresh.
A dozen or so tributes are hacking away at each other, throwing a range of weapons at each other as they wrestle for things. Vaguely, I look through the crowd before I see someone.
Thresh!
A smile appears on my lips as he catches my eyes, running towards the dip behind him. I nod, before sprinting around the edge of the forest as I struggle to catch up with him. I go around the back of the Cornucopia, keeping away from it as best as I can as Thresh waits for me at the edge of the dip.
"Mitzi, let's go!" He's shouting, nodding and looking behind me and I turn to see what he's watching. Cato is a little further away from me, a sword in one hand and a spear in the other. He catches my eyes and I curse. I knew that he would kill me, I just knew! The teenager drops the sword, before bringing the spear to his cheek and throwing it.
I trip, falling to the floor as the spear goes sailing past me, landing a few metres to my right. Cato never misses, never. I've seen him in training and even with a spear, which isn't his favourite weapon, and he never misses. I look at it, and then back to Cato.
He's backing away, picking his sword up with a bizarre look on his face. As he catches my eyes, he nods before turning to run. I let out a surprised laugh, not sure what to make of that, before going to grab the spear and running for Thresh.
Hiya,
So, what do we think of what Cato's doing? I'm super excited for this part of the book, cause we're getting into the actual games now and this has some of my favvourite scenes.
