Through the Struggle (Through the Eyes Sequel)

Chapter 5

I haven't spoken to Hummer since training yesterday. Dinner was awkward when he tried to apologize, but I didn't let him. I could practically hear the hurt in his voice. It hurt me. It really did. I tried to find him this morning, but Omar said he went down early to prepare for the private session.

Once I get off the elevator, I swing the waiting room door open and find Hummer sitting with the rest of our alliance. I walk over and sit closely to him, trying to make this apology short and quiet, without letting the rest of the group know about our drama.

"The day before the games is not a good day to fight. We need each other and the rest of the group does too." I whisper into his ear. He looks at me and nods. He's a lot different from Asher. Asher would have been even more mad because I rejected his apology then make my own. The two guys I thought were the same turned out to be very different.

"Aliyah Figg." The lady over the speaker calls. The girl from one stands and walks into the gym. I rub my legs and and look to my alliance. The only nervous looking one is Hummer, and that's because he doesn't know what to expect.

"You'll do fine." I whisper to him and he smiles slightly.

A few minutes pass and the boy from One is called in. I stretch out my arms and get ready to put all of my talent into this. I need to get a good score today. If I'm one of the higher scorers, the people who are targeting me might reconsider what they're going against. But even if I don't score well, I still have my alliance to back me up. Every single person in this alliance is capable of being one of the high scorers. I wouldn't be surprised if we all took up the top spots.

"Ariston Mallow." The speaker calls and everyone's eyes turn towards me. I stand and walk to the doors.

"Ariston," Hummer says behind me and I turn, my hand on the door. "Good luck."

I nod and swing the door open. I step in and see the gym remodeled completely differently. The girl and boy from One are still standing there, talking quietly. When they see me, they stop whispering and stand quietly, like their waiting for something.

"What's going on?" I ask, looking up to the Gamemakers sitting in the loft.

"Ariston," One of them says. He's not the same guy from last year. I wonder what happened to him..."We're going to be doing things a bit differently, since it is the Quarter Quell. All tributes will come in thinking they're having a normal evaluation, but actually we'll be holding a tournament. All tributes will fight one another, until two remain. The last winner will receive the highest score." He finishes and tells me to wait with the kids from One. They give me dirty looks and i wait impatiently for Hummer to come in. Once he does, they explain the same thing.

Half an hour later, all the tributes are gathered together and wait. Our alliance stands together, but we don't speak. We're all too scared that we're going to have to fight one another. We all know that we will, but we just try to avoid it for now.

"Alright everyone, gather around!" The same man calls and we all turn to face him. "Over here you see a padded platform. You will all fight everyone here. The last person to beat everyone will have the highest score, and the points depend on how many people you beat. To win, your opponent has to either fall off the platform, or give up. First up, Amma, District Seven and Aliyah, District One."

Amma smirks and steps up on the platform. Aliyah cracks her knuckles as they get on opposite sides of the platform.

"Begin!" The man yells and Aliyah instantly charges at Amma. Amma side steps and pushes the girl off the platform. The girl's body hits the ground and a whistle blows.

"Winner: Amma!" We all clap as Amma steps down and Kyan high-fives her. She takes her place next to me and smiles.

"Piece of cake." She says and I laugh.