The YouTube Hunger Games

Chapter 26 - A Midnight Snack

Day 7 9:00pm

Tyler Oakley

Kpopp - Kelly Reynolds

Smosh - Ian Hecox

Pewdiepie - Felix Kjellburg

Shane Dawson - Shane Yaw

itsGrace - Grace Helbig

The Syndicate Project - Tom Cassell

Jenna Marbles - Jenna Mourey

Minx - Michelle

Ian's point of view

"Any time you're feeling low put on your headphones" blares through the sky as the nightly announcements begin. The ritual begins with the sounds of some kind of sickly sweet and boppy music about boosting self-esteem or some shit and then a holographic image of the all too familiar Sancia DuPont pops into the sky showing her Instagram and twitter handles. As far as I'm aware of, there has no deaths today and complimentary to my beliefs, they skip the part of the ceremony where they show the faces of the fallen tributed and head straight to the part where they show who remains: Me, Pewds, Minx, Tom, Jenna, Kelly, Shane, Tyler and Grace. The sky shoes a series of miscellaneous stats such as "Highest Kill Streak" and "Number of deaths today". After the song comes to an awaited end, the ceremony wraps up with the picture of Sancia and her social media handles once again. I wonder how many people are following her now. The hologram fizzles out of the sky and everything is silent as usual.

'Another uneventful day has come and gone,' Pewds begins just as he does after every announcement. It always brings to think of how much time is being wasted in here. I could be out there, making videos just as I've always done, except, it won't be the same as it used to be. It will never be the same without Anthony. He was the stronger one in the team. He was always busy with managing things, trying to psych everyone up on set; I don't even know how he found the time for a girlfriend. I was never as good as he was. I'd always try to organise things but I'd get stressed out and he'd take over but now he's gone, what do I have to live for? Nothing. 'Hey Ian, when do you think we should split up?'

'Huh?' I stare at him trying to understand what he's saying. Then it hits me. 'Is never a good answer?'

'I know, I don't want to split either. It's just that... If we somehow make it to the end together, one of us is going to have to die and I'd rather avoid that at all costs,' Pewds explains. 'Look over there.'

He points a finger into the sky as the sound of a gentle tinkle can be heard over the gentle rocking of the water over the sand. A barely visible red light is glowing over a familiar structure. We're receiving another monkey. The light slowly approaches the ground until it lands atop a wiry bush. Without a moment's thought we're up and at it. I tear open the little piece of paper and read it aloud to Pewds.

"To Ian: Good Luck! From Fixinq_Life, FutureMrsChaos / Lasercorn,  and @Ariblahblahblah"

'Who do you think those people are anyway?' I ask Pewds, still clutching the piece of paper. 'I mean, they're some pretty interesting twitter names I must say but do you think they watch this stuff on Facebook and they donate this stuff to us? Or is it just people who run the games?'

'Who cares? Just open the fucking box,' he shouts. I comply. I turn the cog on the top of the capsule and split it in half. What happens now is certainly not what I expected. Although, considering we got a monkey last time in one of these things I guess I should be that surprised. The capsule separates and out spills a wave of what I assume to be rice. It wasn't until I could feel it moving and twisting all over my hands that I realised it was alive.