Deceived: The 500th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 69 - The Arena: Day 1

OSTRO GREENLAW'S P.O.V

Never have I been so nervous.

I let the glass panel slide in front of my face. My world is covered in a layer of chilly mist produced from my shallow breath. I don't remember a time where I've been unable to breathe.

My stylist didn't like me in the slightest. I'm too short, too weak to be made presentable. The goodbye means nothing to either of us, just like the hello didn't.

I wonder how the game will turn out. The bloodbath, my allies and our opponents... Something will go wrong. Something always does. Aloe will make sure of it. She already plans to kill Felix.

That's if Felix doesn't kill her first.

The glass is going down? No, I'm going up. The small pedestal doesn't look like it's moving, but in reality, I'm soaring up into the arena. Soaring up to my death.

Exhaling causes more steam to form on the glass. Taintless until I touch it. I'm not sure what I should do. I'm torn; I want to die but I want to live. This is so difficult.

Why? Why are we forced to pay for the mistakes made half a millennium ago? There needs to be a new form of entertainment in the Capitol.

What if the Careers all just dropped dead? I'm pretty sure now they're here, living the real world of a tribute, they feel a little different to how they did when they sat at home watching the brawls on television.

Sunlight, or some form of light, seems to shine into the opening, lightening up the hole I stand in. I'm elevated into the arena to find destroyed buildings all around me. It could be beautiful if the place wasn't demolished.

I look for my allies. Aloe stands on the very edge on the line of pedestals; her face has no colour and her fists are clenched. Denim stands near the middle of the group, already raring to leap from the pedestal to get his weapons.

Sebalek stands to my left, biting his nails. The light pink shirts we've been issued with seems to cling to Sebalek's back; sweat already forms.

I wipe my brow. Jesus, it's hot here. My mind wonders, thinking about how the Capitol get to control everything here, even the uncontrollable in normal Panem. The weather, the time of day...

Then there's the tributes themselves. Their minds, their bodies, their entire lives! If they really want to, they can take our lives in seconds. The tracker is more powerful than it looks.

I look for Felix. My mind is unable to decide whether to spare him his life and betray Aloe, or should I drive a dagger into his heart? If he has a heart.

I find his two to my right; he is blocked by Rhymer. Rhymer doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would kill unless provoked. Like most of us. Well, if we can get the very few maniacs out of the way, we could try and overthrow the gamemakers.

Overthrow Jarrett and Kip? No. Overthrow the president. The president who looks as dainty as the flower he was named after, yet he is super deadly, vicious, sly.

Felix glares at me, wiping his palms on his brown combats. These outfits would be abominable on the Capitol markets.

What am I thinking? The clock decreases every second and I'm thinking about Capitol fashion? I may as well jump of the podium...

BOOM!

Tori screamed as a mine goes off, encasing her in muddy smoke. Tule stands there, hysterically laughing as he throws another stone from his hand. Bombs go off everywhere, causing Tori and Kern, who stands to her right, to choke and splutter as the oxygen decreases faster than the time.