Tribute to Liliana Lumen

Task Four: Simulation

The sun's rays reach the corners of the alley as I my eyes flutter open. Bright light blinds me as I cover my eyes, shielding them. I slowly gain full conscious and push myself off the ground. Numbness runs through my left calf and I look down expecting to see a gross mess of flesh and dried, crusty blood. But instead a neatly wrapped cloth bandage covers the wound. I'm not dead...

I stand fully up and wince at the slight pain in my calf. Slowly, I pick up my dagger and limp out of the alley, following the stores back to our camp- the Cornucopia.

As I return I see Avery, holding her axe. The boys must have gone out hunting or something of that sort. I smile as I approach, but soon realize her eyes are bloodshot from crying. Her saddened smile makes me frown. Something terrible must have happened to make her upset.

When she sees me limping back she immediately stands up, letting her mighty weapon drop in the grass. She smiles a bit more and comes up to me.

"Liliana... You're alive. We all thought you were dead... Like..." Her voice faded.

"Like what?" I ask.

"Uh-um..." She stammers, then stars over. "Um... Aidan, he died..."

"What!?" I ask in shock. It's impossible. He can't be.

"I'm really sorry. He died killing the last dog. And he told me to give this to you." She slips a ring out of her left inside pocket, Aidan's ring, and places it in my hand.

I examine it. Rowan and Aidan's initials are engraved into it. It was given to Aidan from Rowan, and then... Passed on to me. I held it close to my heart and slipped it on the middle finger of my right hand. It was too loose, so I reached in my pocket, pulling out Rowan's box; I place the ring in the center of the nest of flowers and close it.

Avery looked at me once more. She hugged me tight. "Aidan wants you to take it along home when you become the victor of this year's Hunger Games."

Then she looks down at my leg, wrapped in a white cloth. "So... What happened to you?"

"Mutts..." I reply wishing not to talk about it.

Avery just nodded and returned back to sitting guard. I followed her, grabbing another clean dagger from where we laid out our supplies as I sit down on my ruffled up sleeping bag, tucking the small box back into the left inside pocket of my jacket. For just a moment I close my eyes, and then limp over to Avery with a sheathed hunting knife tucked into my pocket.

As I move towards my ally I hear a voice in my head. To the pools. It reverberates through my head and I stop in my tracks, making eye contact with Avery. She must have heard it too because she stands and starts gathering her items. I follow. But the voice comes again. Leave them. And I obey, putting my dagger with the stuff.

Suddenly, my eyes feel droopy and I close them, crumpling to the ground.

I blink awake to see Keon, we gather across from each other around a large pool of water. He stands about half a foot taller than I do. His hands are empty and he appears to be healed of their cuts and bruises from last night. I look down at my leg and see that the scratch marks are completely gone but the injured area is still sore.

Glancing around, I search for any signs of other tributes. Where is Avery? She was with me before... Suddenly, a holographic figure of Gazette appears hovering over the water.

She smiles and exclaims in a fake voice, "Welcome fellow tributes! At random, we have put you into pairings. Each of you are currently locked in a smaller simulation arena. No real harm will be caused in this but one of you must die. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

The hologram dissolves into the air and a set of weapons materialize at the bottom of the pool- a crossbow set with 24 arrows and half a dozen daggers. Keon looks me in the eye and dives into the pool. I stand firmly to the ground. What is this? A little voice in the back of my head replies, The Capitol wants BLOOD, so we must give it to them. Now fight.

I turn on my heel with fear as Keon swims upward with the crossbow and arrows. Never would I be able to swim down there and grab my weapons in one breath- I would certainly drown- and that would leave me weaponless for this entire fight. As his head pops up out of the water, I start to run. I run into the woods of this new arena, weaving my way through the tall trees, towering over me.

My instinct was to run faster and faster but I knew I would run out of breath like that, so I stopped behind a tree. Then out of nowhere an arrow hits the tree I stand behind. Fear pulses through my body and my hand subconsciously reaches to my jacket pocket and I pull out the hunting knife that I accidentally left in my pocket. I sigh with partial relief and unsheathe the weapon.

Peering around the tree, I see Keon approaching, an arrow nocked into his crossbow and tucked into his pocket is... is a set of my daggers. He sees my head peeking out from behind the tree and draws back the arrow, shooting near my head, I quickly bring my head behind the tree once more as the arrow whizzes by the tree and lodges it's self in the trunk of the tree in front of me.

I look around the tree again to see Keon holding a dagger like a throwing knife; he throws it at my feet, making me unsure if he was taunting me that he had retrieved my weapon or trying to hurt me. His bow was on the ground and he was temporarily weaponless, except for the other five daggers that he had still tucked into his pocket, but I'm not sure how handy those will be to him. So, I swiftly pull the dagger out of the ground and race up to Keon as he reaches down for the bow, I drag the dagger across his arm and pull out the remaining weapons from his pocket, since they are unsheathed they rip open the fabric of his jacket.

He yelps and whirls around, slapping my hand down with his, causing me to drop the weapons, they clatter onto each other and I glare at Keon. He returns the glare with a hard stare and I weave under his arm to his back, stabbing my unsheathed hunting knife in the small of his back. As soon as the cold blade touches his skin he yelps and turns to me, feeling for the wound. His hand returns with a blood covered finger and his expression turns cold as he rips a dagger from the ground. Once more I turn and run, I sprint through the trees, tearing through the branches and leaves.

I scream out for help as Keon chases me, knowing that no one will come help me. But I still hope as the arrows whir beside me. The arrows keep coming and I move side to side to keep them from hitting.

Suddenly my foot gets caught on a root and I collapse on the ground. Then I feel it, a sharp pain piercing my back between my shoulder bones. It's a perfect shot, right in the middle. I slowly pull the arrow out of my back, it's only gone a little way in but it still hurts. The gamemakers claimed no harm, but they didn't mention no pain. Weakly, I push myself off the ground, hiding my knife behind my back. As Keon approaches, I keep a harsh expression on my face. He doesn't have any more arrows and I sigh with relief.

Keon holds out his hands, no without any protection except his own bare fists, and I launch myself at him. He has made me angered, I am not sure why, but my shy self is lost in the midst of the action.

I hold out the knife and watch, confused, as Keon's face changes from fear to confidence. He pushes my arm aside and I fall over, crashing to the ground on my weak ankle, I hear a quiet crack and pain shooting up my leg. Suddenly my previous fear washes over me. Huddling down, I think that I just want the pain to be gone. And I want Keon to be dead.

At the least expected moment I stand up, my ankle rolling back a bit. I clutch the knife beside me and pretend that Keon is Judas, the one I wish to get revenge on. With great amounts of force and adrenaline, I push the knife deep into his back and he screams. A moment later, Keon is on his knees, blood coming out of his mouth. I turn away and start walking back to the pool when I hear a cannon. It makes me whirl around and I see Keon's dead body lying on the ground in a pool of crimson liquid.

Guilt.

It's all I feel as I bend down onto my hands and knees, "I'm so sorry... Iris..."

I broke a promise... The day she died, I made a promise not to become a murderer like the girl who murdered my sister.

But now, I'm becoming more and more like the bloodthirsty Careers of the arena.