Starve On Pixels

Chapter 4: Hacking the System

Sunny's POV

"Look!" I jutted my finger at the magazine repeatedly. "I need to eat this!"

"But Mademoiselle, we cannot cater to just your tastes!" The chef protested.

"Argh!" I screamed in exasperation.

The chef had probably never seen a diet magazine in his life; he had a slightly protruding potbelly and a greasy mustache to prove that he had been snacking on WAY too many oily foods for his own good. The Capitol had stocked the kitchen with the most high fat foods they could find- it was disgusting.

I stormed into the community dining room, which was slowly emptying out, "You are all revolting pigs!"

Emily X looked startled, "Uhh..."

"What are you staring at? HUH?"

"Um... Nothing?" she replied meekly.

A projection of Celestia Snow appeared on a far wall, "Everyone, please listen up!" The dining hall instantly quieted.

"I just wanted to wish you luck on your training sessions!" Celestia chirped, "You get a week to train in the custom gym before you present for the judges to get scored. We have an extra fun Hunger Games planned this year! I hope you're excited!"

I couldn't believe that she interrupted everyone just for that- seriously? All the tributes were herded towards the training gyms to find out our special "talent." I wanted to get there so that I could observe everyone's weaknesses- especially that Natalie girl- she seemed mighty suspicious.

"Wanna train together Sunny?" Emily X asked as she matched my pace.

"No," I replied sharply, as I walked a little faster.

"Oh." Her shoulders slumped as she fell behind.

I immediately sprinted towards the bars. They had always been a childhood favourite; my parents would even watch a whole MINUTE of my gymnastics tournaments sometimes.

I jumped nimbly onto the bar before falling backwards into a graceful flip. Once I had gained enough momentum from doing multiple flips, I let go of the bar to catch the ropes suspended from the ceiling. Applause filled the room- I looked down to see the lesser beings congratulating me, just as they should be.

Vivian swung herself up on the rock climbing wall, "Hey, Sunny."

I feigned disinterest, but I actually wanted an alliance with District 2 really badly, "Yeah?"

"I was moderately impressed..." Vivian continued as if I hadn't said anything, "I was wondering if you'd like to join me and Vanessa."

"Sounds great!" I tried to control my enthusiasm.

"Cool," Vivian shimmied down the ropes after gesturing for me to follow her.

I felt a slight throbbing in my head when I dropped the last five feet; however, I pushed through the pain. I couldn't look like a weakling in front of Vivian. She was going over to the knife throwing station. She grabbed a butcher's knife and hit beside the bull's eye. Mine landed smack dab in the centre of the target- even though it was one of my worst weapons, I still aced it.

"I'll be back," I said. I didn't really need practice here. Vivian nodded before turning her attention back to the knives.

I decided to join Natalie in a combat simulation. She was slashing at a simulated opponent while she kicked another one behind her. Her technique was a bit sloppy, but I could tell she'd been practicing. The simulation ended when one of her attackers pinned her to the ground.

Natalie punched the wall, "Only level 9, darn it!"

"Let me show you how it's done," I strutted into the chamber and grabbed the knife off the wall.

A dozen attackers came at me at once. I cut them all into ribbons. The attackers multiplied and became stronger with each level I cleared; by the time I was defeated at level 19, I was sweaty and on the verge of collapse.

Natalie looked appreciative, "Pretty good."

"What do you mean 'pretty good'!? You didn't even make it to level 10!" I was deeply offended.

"I just wanted to bait you into showing me your skill level," Natalie grinned, "I suppose it's only fair I show you what I can do."

She stepped back in. Natalie battled thousands of virtual opponents until she was at level 33.

"What?" I knew I was gaping, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

"That's how it's done." She hadn't even broken a sweat. I went over to the punching bags and pretended they all had Natalie's face on them.

Natalie's POV

It had been such a shame that Sunny was here all week- I couldn't practice anything I was bad at in the super high tech gym. I had gotten Nicole to hack the system to make it look like I was better at the simulations than I actually was. Diana, Molly, Nicole, and Valerie had become my close friends over the last week.

My roommate, Helen, was muttering about poisoning the water supply in her sleep when I woke up at 8:30 am (which was extremely late) to persistent knocking.

"Wake up Lazybones!" That sounded like Nicole, "Molly, Diana, you go wake up Valerie!"

"I'm coming! Shh! You'll wake Helen up," I hissed.

"Meet you in the training room," Nicole whispered back.

I changed into shorts and a t-shirt before heading out of my dorm. Nicole was already hacking into all the software to prepare for her evaluation today- her special talent definitely lay in technology.

"Hey, Natalie!" Nicole was grinning creepily, "Are we messing with Sunny today?"

"Nah, I've got to practice today," I sauntered over to the simulated treadmill.

My legs were a blur beneath me as I sped over grass and up steep hills. The treadmill simulation was one of the coolest pieces of equipment. You could select your terrain or location that you wanted to run in and POOF! Over the last week I had become one of the fastest runners (besides Sunny), and I couldn't imagine being out of breath from being chased by the overweight black market vendors.

Sunny strutted in wearing runners with thick heels.

I called out to her, "Hey, Sunny!"

Since I had beaten her on the first day she had chosen to give me the cold shoulder. She launched herself into a full gymnastics routine without giving me a second glance- I don't know why she liked gymnastics so much.

I had decided to do the combat simulation for my evaluation. All those years training on my brother had really paid off, even when Nicole didn't hack the system. As much as it pained me to admit it, I was beginning to miss my family; I would turn around, expecting to hear Cam's sarcastic comment, only to hear silence. To take my mind off Cam, I went in search of Valerie- she was always good company and also a talented combat fighter.

Molly and Diana were at the camouflaging station, "Do you know where Valerie is?"

They exchanged a glance before Diana spoke, "She already went to her evaluation, but she was looking for you earlier too."

Curse my late morning, I didn't even wish her luck, "Thanks."

Later on, I found Valerie slouched against a wall in the training area.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't think I did well," Valerie sighed, "All the judges were too busy eating breakfast to notice me."

My stomach grumbled on cue, "I'm sure you did okay."

"They just waved me away like a dog," Valerie sounded defeated, "They didn't even bother to look up from their plates."

I knew what I had to do- even if it landed me an awful score.