Inferno: A Hunger Games Fanfic

Chapter 17

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It's impossible to sleep tonight.

Sleep is vital right now. I need as much energy as possible for the arena. Whenever I give in to sleep I put the entirety of my trust to luck. Unless I can find myself an ally. But I've never been good at friends. Blame my name.

I don't know what time it is when I realise that sleep isn't going to happen. But when I do realise, I know I can't spend my last free minutes in a small room.

Cautiously, I creep into the main room. Meir is there, staring out the window. He dosen't have to turn around.

"Couldn't sleep? "

"How did you know it was me?"

Meir points at the glass, our reflections.

"I wonder what you'll look like when you get out?"

I frown. How is he so sure I'll get out. I know he means to protect me. But what about himself?

"It was never my intention to get out of the games alive," He tells me, as if he could read my mind. " I was always going to volunteer," He hesitates, and looks at his hand, then continues, " I had a brother. A twin. Mark.We were identical in every way. Very few people could tell us apart. The only diffrence between us was, here," He points to the back of his hand, and draws a circle. "He had a faint birthmark on his hand. We did everything together. We were inseparable, until we were separated."

"We were in the woods one day, gathering herbs for a stew, when suddenly this snake slithered out the bush. We knew about snakes, and this one was fatal. I should have told Mark to run. I should have done something. But I didn't. And as the snake prepared to strike, Mark came running out," Meir pauses, and I know what the end will be by the tear running down his cheek. I'm not the only one who has lost a sibling. " He had a knife. He swung it, and killed the snake. But it was too late, the snake has bitten him He didn't have time to say goodbye, he was gone. Forever. " I slide my arms around Meir, and pull him close. He tells the last bit of the story to my shoulder.

" No one in my family could look at me after that, I reminded them to much of what that lost. So when I found out about the games, I knew I would volunteer, and try to save the other district 12 tribute, to make up for my twin," He looks at me, years impairing his vision, " But you didn't have to make it so easy,"

"It wasn' t your fault he died,"
" Everyone tells me that, but I have trouble believing it. But can you tell my family why I volunteered, when you get back?"

I look at him "Tell them yourself. Your not dying under my watch."

" Well, neither are you!" He looks a little happier, somehow.

"Then we'll both have to leave, because I'm not going with out you!" I say, but I'm joking. The Capitol won't make the same mistake twice, no matter how in love we are. But Meir dosen't think so, in fact this makes him brighten up completely.

" Yes. We'll get out of the arena, and live happily together. We can move to our own house, and live together and get married and -"

I cut I off with a kiss, our first one. It tastes of sugar, sweetness and everything good in the world. I eventually pull back.
"And what if we get seperated?"
He stares at me for a while for a few seconds before he answers.
" I will never let you go. Not for a moment longer than I have to. Not until death do us part,"

Until death do us part. The sad part is it's quite likely death will be the reason we part, and it's likely to be sooner rather than later. But Meir looks so happy, I don't want to end that, I very much doubt there will be much happiness for a long time.

"We'll need a plan," I say, and we start devising a plan for the arena.

Around an hour later, we know what to do tommorrow as well as we know our way around 12. We say goodnight, but there isn't much more to say, we will see each other before we leave for the arena.

So when I slip back into bed it's easier to sleep, because no matter what I face , I'll be facing it with Meir.

I am woken up early the next morning by a cheerful Effie.
" Wake up! It's the start of a big, big day!" I sit up and Effie passes me some simple clothes that I will wear until I get the clothes for the arena. I pull them on, wash quickly then go outside, where Effie, Aidi and out stylists are waiting. Meir comes out just after me and takes my hand. Effie bursts into tears and gives us massive hugs and wishes us luck. Then she runs off somewhere, unsucessfully trying to stifle her crying. Now it's Aidi's turn, I don't think he's really the type for hugs, but suprisingly he gives us each a quick one. His parting words to the both of us are : "When the original star-crossed lovers were about to go into the games, their mentor, the victor of the 50th hunger games, would say this one thing to them,"
" What?"
He raises an eyebrow, "Stay alive,"
We laugh a little.
" And Hazel," he turns serious, " Remember what I said before you interveiw," I nod, " but remember yourself too," With that he leaves.

"Here, we go," I say to Meir
"Remember the plan," He leans in to kiss me, and I kiss him back, " I'll see you soon, Ok," And with one last squeeze of our interlocked hands, he's gone.

A short hovercraft ride later, I'm underneath the arena, with Quinn. I are a bit on the hovercraft, and now I just keep sipping water while I get into my outfit for the games. We have trousers made of a thin dark brown material a dark green long top and a black jacket to go over the top. I also have sturdy and well fitting boots. Good for running.
"Did they show you clips of the 74th hunger games at school?" I nod, I can't speak. "It's similar clothing so expect similar conditions," Good that means there's a possibility of a forset. I spent a lot of time the woods at home so I should be fine.

A mechanical voice tells us to get in the glass tube and I respond with equally mechanical movements. The glass door closes and there id no turning back, not that it was really an option. I stand straight up, head held high, being brave. And the lift behind to move. Suddenly I am standing by myself on my podium.

60 seconds to go. I look around there are trees everywhere.
50 seconds. I have to go away from the cornicopia
40 seconds. I go through the plan. I know what to do.
30 seconds. Where is Meir? He's not far. We make eye contact. He knows where I am.
20 seconds. I hope no one goes for me first. The plan wouldn't work.
10 seconds. I look at the Cornucopia. There are no knives. Knives are my speciality, I'm practically defenceless without them. This is my punishment for rebelling. This changes everything.
But it's too late now.

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 76th Hunger Games.

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I was going to leave Meir and Hazels first kiss for a while but because I got 1k I thought you guys deserved it. I will also put some concept art for inferno into my book thymajestictree: About the Author.

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