Brooke Langston, a determined and resourceful young woman, volunteers as tribute to spare a sickly little girl who holds a special place in her heart. Little does she anticipate that her closest friend, Ray Adhira, would also be chosen, forcing them...
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The training room was below ground level. Brooke and Ray stood side by side in the elevator as Maddox stood off to the side, making noises of annoyance as he fiddled around on some shiny electric pad that contained their schedule.
It took only a few seconds for the elevator to come to a halt and jolt to a stop on the very lowest level of the building.
The doors opened into a large gymnasium clad in a black floor, ceiling and walls. Dim lighting lit up the tense atmosphere. Multiple other elevators lined the same wall as the one Brooke and Ray stepped out of. The room was rectangular, seemingly different stations were situated all around, some were closed in, like the ax throwing or the fighting ring, others were open like a station that looked to be dedicated to survival in nature, with ropes, snares, and camouflage. Brooke even noticed a small pool of water, potentially for people wishing to learn how to swim or hold their breath.
Above on the ceiling there was a whole entire jungle gym, climbing ropes, and pull up bars, ladders, and makeshift hammocks.
Quickly Brooke also noticed a small gathering in the center of the room, and picked out the group of people as the other tributes. Other elevator doors opened as more tributes followed them to the group.
Maddox hung back, bid them goodbye until the afternoon, and rode the elevator back up to the main level.
As Brooke and Ray joined the other tributes, who were bristiling and moving restlessly, looking around with cold or hostile eyes, some nervous, Ray leaned into her shoulder, whispering in her ear, "Don't these just look like a fun bunch?"
"You could say that," Brooke whispered back. Her own gaze was challenging as she raked her eyes across the competition. Already the new forming group of careers stood with their heads held high, arms crossed a good meter away from the other meager tributes.
Brooke refused to look away first as she looked at Jade, and Gem, Axton, and Velvet each in turn. Axton stood with his heavy jaw clenched, he was easily the tallest tribute in the room. His buzz cut platinum blonde hair made him look like some type of body building soldier. He only briefly looked over at them before his stupid expression turned to the row of double sided axes waiting to be wielded at one station, a look of pure excitement shone in his eyes at the prospect.
Gem from One rolled her eyes at Brooke as she curled a strand of her wiry auburn hair around a finger and pursed her lips, giving the room a daft look, although her long fingernails gave her a sense of savagery.
Jade from Two stood with her well muscled arms crossed, her shoulders pulled back and the same sneer on her face. She was tall and she looked past Brooke to Ray with a gaze that just screamed bloodthirsty. Her spiky black pixie style haircut did not help with the strong point to her face and her cold blue eyes.
When Brooke's eyes met Velvet's she struggled not to look away. His broad shoulders were deeply tanned, making his brown-auburn hair really look like a deep velvet color. He was handsome, but it was ruined by his eyes which held an absolutely unmatched narcissistic spark. Just the way he was looking at her, his mouth twitching and his eyes looking her up and down made her pulse quicken uncomfortably in her throat. She reached for Ray's wrist, but in her mind pictured Finnick's hand.
