The New Games: A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 25: Questions

Chapter 25

The next morning I wake up and I eat breakfast, but this time Ariel isn't here. Cronin isn't either but it's not unusual for him to not eat breakfast.

I don't really pay much attention to it though until a few hours later. I need to find Cronin, we need to train. The other tributes have most likely started training already and I now have a disadvantage.

I look in his room again but all that's there is empty liquor bottles and previous Hunger Games tapes, the 39th Hunger Games is playing on the television now. I figure Cronin isn't going to be back for a while so I have nothing else to do until then. I'm about to go out of the room when a canon catches my attention. It's from the television.

The canon fires, meaning that a tribute has died. The arena is one that is very common, a forest and an open plain for he cornucopia. There is a lake, river, and some small streams going through the arena. It's been about a week and there are six tributes left, three are allies the rest are on their own. The gamemakers must love this game, the tributes deal with mutts, insane weather, and traps. By the end of the second week three tributes are killed, not by other tributes but by the gamemakers control, and the allied team is only one person now. Everyone is on their own.

Three people left. A male from district 7, male from 4, and a female from 5. They're spread out in the arena and the gamemakers are trying to get them together. The tributes receive a day of rest, with no crazy weather, mutts, or traps from the gamemakers. The next day there is an announcement. There is a 'feast'. The tribute from 5 is already at the cornucopia, where the feast is going to be held. She grabs her items as soon as they enter the arena. The other tributes are no where to be seen.

Later that day the male tributes from 7 and 4 find each other. They don't even think twice, they both want to win. As soon as they see each other they're fighting. Each of them have a weapon, the boy from 7 has an axe, common weapon for anyone from district 7, and the boy from 4 has knives. He throws the knife and it hits the other boy's shoulder, he yells then runs after him with the axe, hitting him in the leg. He screams out in pain and punches the boy from 7 in the face, making him stumble backwards.

The fight goes on for a while, leaving both of them a bloody mess. The boy from 4 fights with a limp now and the boy from 7 is barley able to stand. The boy from 7 falls to the ground and the boy from 4 walks over and is about to kill him with a knife, when all of a sudden the boy from 7 lifts up the axe and hits him in the stomach. The boy from 4 yells in pain, bending over. The boy from 7 gets up and hits him with the axe. He falls over and a cannon sounds.

Now it's only the boy from 7 and the girl from 5. She's still near the cornucopia. The boy looks unable to fight, let alone move, while the girl looks almost like she just entered the arena, with only a few cuts, bruises, and some dirt.

They eventually find each other, but they don't fight right away. They just stand and look at each other, almost in shock. The girl looks sad, her eyes water, but she brushes it away quickly. They never fight. The girl runs off into the forest. The boy doesn't run after her, he just stays there. Then a cannon sounds and the arena is completely silent.

The boy's expression doesn't change very much. It's just a sad, depressed looking expression. He drops his weapon. The trumpets sound, signaling that he won the games. His name is announced and a hovercraft comes and picks him up and takes him to the Capitol.

"They were siblings, you know." a voice says behind me.

I turn around to see Cronin. He looks tired.

"What?" I say.

"The girl and boy." He says walking forward. "You know, the ones you just saw." He says motioning to the TV.

I look back at the TV then back at him. "How? They were from different districts."

"Long story short, they had to separate for certain reasons. The girl went with the mom to district 5 and the boy with the dad to district 7." He looks down for a little bit. "Not many people know that. The boy, he committed suicide later after he won."

"Why?" I asked.

"The Capitol found out that they were siblings and that their family separated, which, you know, is illegal to move to a different district without Capitol permission." He says. "The Capitol killed his parents as punishment. So he had nothing to live for."

I didn't say anything.

"The Capitol played the killing off as an accident of course." Cronin adds.

"He had no one left." I say.

"Yeah, there weren't any other secret separations for a while after that." He says.

"Security went up?" I ask.

"Yes, the districts were given more peacekeepers after that." he says.

"Where were you?" I ask.

"What?" he says sitting down.

"This morning, where were you?" I ask.

"Nowhere." he says.

"No, seriously." I say.

"There's no reason for you to know." he says. "And why were you in here?"

"What?" I ask

"In here. Why were you in my room?" he says.

"I was looking for you." I say. "and I saw the...a" I point to the TV.

"You have no business being in here." he says looking at me then looking around the room. "You're lucky I'm in an okay mood."

"Are we going to start training anytime soon?" I say. "Or am I just going into the arena empty-handed?"

"Well technically you are going in empty-handed like everyone else. Because bringing in a weapon is an unfair advantage," he says. "but we will start training and you'll have the same chance as any other tribute."

"Good." I say.

I wonder if the other tributes have actually started training like they're supposed to. Or if they're like me and haven't even seen the training room yet.

To be honest, I'm scared to death of the week to come.