"Who ever thought a Capitol girl would fall for a District girl, huh?"
"Not me"
When Reef Murphy was reaped to represent her District in the 10th annual Hunger Games she expected to die protecting her young district partner.
She didn't expect to...
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THE PEACEKEEPERS WERE a lot gentler than they normally are with the Tributes, maybe they didn't see the point in being rough with people who would be dead in a few hours, perhaps they were instructed to be kind. Reef didn't know for sure but she wouldn't take it for granted.
Reef and Mizzen walked side by side, the younger of the two trying to copy the conference and courage of the older girl but failing badly as the fear was evident in his baby brown eyes, as they stepped up to the truck, worry began to flood both their bodies because the minute they stepped inside their fates would be fully sealed.
No going back.
Mizzen placed his hand in Reef's and they both took a deep breath before stepping inside, they sat on one of the benches and continued to hold one another for dear life.
She felt the young teen shake with nervousness next to her, it radiated from him in a never-ending stream of sadness washed over Reef as she knew there was only so much she could do to help him.
The doors are slammed behind them, and the sound echos across the truck Reef looks around, and everyone has the same nervous looks on their faces like the reality of the situation has finally dawned on them all in this moment only one of them was going to get to go home and it was up to them to decide each other's fate.
The only sound inside the truck in the coughing from Dill the small girl had only gotten sicker as time went on, the bombing of the arena couldn't have helped her in the slightest with all that smoke and soot only making her illness worse. Reef was close to her so she reached over and gently patted her back in an attempt to help her, she'd seen the nurses of Four do this before.
After a couple of minutes, the coughing stopped and Dill gave Reef a warm smile which she happily returned. Mizzen, Dill, and even Wovey should not be here they're too young for the barbaricness of these Games but there was nothing Reef could do now.
It was all up to the gods now.
AFTER WHAT FELT LIKE a decade for the Tributes the truck finally stopped they all gave each other final looks because in just a few minutes they'd be trying to kill each other, the doors to the truck slowly opened and the Peacekeepers began escorting Tributes out one by one, when it was Reef's turns Mizzen hand gripped to hers for dear life and had to ripped from her by an annoyed peacekeeper.
Reef was once again lined up behind Circ from Three, Reef wasn't as nervous as she thought she'd be with Persephone on the outside trying to help her and her small group seemingly by her side she was feeling confident about getting Mizzen home, that's all she truly wanted was for Mizzen to live.
Soon enough the doors opened and one by one the Tributes were escorted inside with Teslee from Three being the first one in, a peacekeeper walked behind the tall girl with their rifle aimed at her back, and the same was done with Circ as he was taken in after.
Soon it was Reef's turn.
The girl from Four took a deep breath and allowed her mind to be calm to survive the bloodbath and get Mizzen to safety she would need to stay calm and level-headed, her feet moved slowly as she walked towards the arena entrance she could feel the Peackeepers's gun being dangerously close to her back.
Reef was escorted to a designated red spot on the floor, there was one for all the tributes. Reef stood in the very center of her designated spot, she felt the Peacekeeper's gun be lowered and heard him take a step back.
"Stay on your spot or you will be shot"A voice calls out from nowhere, Reef had no intentions of getting herself killed before the games have even begun so she made her movements minimal.
She began looking around and spotted him standing on a red circle on the opposite side of the arena, the pair from Four made eye contact and a sense of peace fell over both of them, knowing how close they were to one another made the next stage easier.
Reef began to look around and attempt to survey the arena, a pile of weapons lay in the center of the tribute's circle, and two shiny tridents lay against some fallen rocks, the weapons called out to her having some form of weapon would help her immensely but was it worth risking Mizzen's life to obtain.
She put those thoughts to the back of her mind as she continued to look around, the rest of the arena looks vastly different from the last time Reef was in this hell hole of a building. Rubble covered most of the ground and some of the walls had been blown apart by the bombs, this would make it easier for the tributes to escape into the stands that surrounded the arena. Something that caught his attention was a brand new opening that led down into the tunnels.
As Wovey from Eight was placed next to her the smaller girl smiling at her, Reef continued to survey she then spotted something she was sure didn't belong there, two metal steel poles rose from the ground in the middle area of the arena, a beam lay horizontally across and connected the two poles.
Something seemed to be hanging from the beam at first Reef couldn't make out what it was, it looked like a person they swayed gently in the wind their wrists bound to the beam by ropes and the person looked like they had been severely beaten and slowly it all began to click.
It was Marcus.
The boy from Two had never truly escaped and must have been captured and tortured not long before the games were about to begin and was strung up on the beam as a warning to everyone else as to what would happen if you tried to escape your fate.
A pang of pain hit the girl's chest she didn't know Marcus all too well but she knew nobody deserved a fate like this.
"The Tenth annual Hunger Games will begin in Sixty seconds"An automated voice calls out, Reef's attention then refocuses on the task at hand protecting Mizzen he was what was important.
The automated voice began to slowly count down, Reef and Mizzen made eye contact again and Reef mouthed she was coming to him, the boy responded with a smile.
"5...4..."The voice counted down and Reef was fully focused Mizzen was the main priority so protecting him came above all.
"3...2..."Reef narrowed her eyes in concentration Mizzen was going home even if it took her last breath to achieve.
