The Celebrity Hunger Games

Chapter 42: The Games

All of the tributes had a day to get ready for the Games. For most of them, this involved speaking with their mentors, getting any last information they could, and sleeping while they still had the chance. The next day, the Games would begin, and all hell would break loose. The career tributes, Nathan Sykes, Taylor Lautner and Selena Gomez slept soundly. Nathan and Taylor dreaming of winning the Games. Because they were career tributes, and allies, they figured they had it in the bag. Selena Gomez dreamt of her mother. Whether she won or not, she knew that she would never be able to forgive her.

The other tributes didn't manage to sleep as soundly. Some, like Carrie Fletcher let their urge to win keep them awake. She stared at the celling, dreaming of ways that she could beat the other tributes. She wondered who she would align herself with. The career tributes seemed ruthless, but at the same time, she also wanted the audience to see a more gentle side of her. She wanted them to believe in her and to sponsor her. That was her only chance.

Rochelle Humes, Ariana Grande, Tom Fletcher, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Keegan, Conor Maynard, Aston Merrygold, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Danny Jones, Louis Tomlinson and Victoria Justice thought of their families. Each of them had their own reasons for missing them. The ones who volunteered spent the night feeling guilty. They had put themselves in this position and their families have had to suffer as a result. The ones who were picked, however, cursed their bad luck. Out of the thousands of names on the slips, why did it have to be them? Why did they have to be the ones facing death? It wasn't fair, life wasn't fair. And yet, from tomorrow, most of them wouldn't have a life anymore.

Jay McGuiness, Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepson and Perrie Edwards thought about the people that had left them, the ones that had died. The ones that had forced them to be ready for this way earlier than they should have been. The people that left them were the people that made them want to fight. They had to win, they had no choice, because of the people that were on their side, backing them from beyond the grave. They had no choice but to win. And they all knew how they would make it happen.

Niall Horan and Miley Cyrus, and Josh Cuthbert and Demi Lovato spent the night talking. Niall and Miley were scared. They were the oldest official couple competing and they both knew that it would be impossible for both of them to win. So one of them had to die. For their last night of safety, they had to be together. Together in every way. Of course they were going to allie together, it was just the two of them after all. But they wanted to protect each other. They wanted to make sure they their partner had the best chance of winning. Josh and Demi, on the other hand, were the only people not thinking about the Games. They were the newest couple, so new that they were barely a couple yet. But they were happy being together, forgetting about what was going to happen. They had agreed to stick together, to protect the other from everything. They hadn't physically said it, but unspoken bonds are the greatest kind.

The next morning, each tribute receives a tracker. It is injected into the inside of their forearm and used so that the Gamesmakers would always know where they were. So that the audience would always know where they were. Then breakfast was prepared. Tributes of the same District ate together, just in case this was the last time that they would ever be together in this way. And for some of them, the last time that they would see their fellow tribute alive. Then the tributes are separated and taken to 'The Launch Room', their own separate chambers for preparation. Here, they shower and change into their clothes. The clothes are the same for every tribute. They each get a pair of trousers, a blouse a hooded jacket and boots, specifically made for walking long distances. The jacket is thin, but designed to reflect body heat. This kept the tributes from dying of pneumonia, there weren't many warm nights in the arena.

Then they had to wait. Wait for the call that told them that it was time. That told them that it was their turn to head for the arena, to enter the Games. Some waiting decided to eat as much as they could. Who knew when they would get the chance to eat again? However, others could barely hold anything down as it was, and they didn't need persistent stomach aches as they tried to kill their opponents.

Then the time comes. They all walk to stand on the plates. The metal plates on the ground that indicate where they will be placed before the Games begin. Every mentor is frozen with nerves. Even if their tribute is a career tribute, nobody knew what was going to happen when the Games began.

They all seem confused, nothing is happening. Then, as their anxiety hits an all-time high, a glass cylinder lowers around them, breaking them away from the world around them. Even the career tributes are scared by this point. They were ready for this, of course they were, but the feeling of it actually happening was enough to make them wish that they had never volunteered in the first place.

They are all violently plunged into darkness for what feels like hours. None of them are ready for what is about to happen. The career tributes close their eyes, prepared for the sunlight to hit them once they are opened to the arena. The rest of the tributes aren't that prepared, and are momentarily blinded by the darkness-to-light contrast. Once they gather themselves, they remember where they are, and what they'll be forced to do.

The next sound they hear are the voices of Jessie J and Danny O'donoghue, speaking in unison.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Hunger Games... Begin!"