Six of Crows characters in the Hunger Games

Short Story Competition!!!

I do not know how well I've done yet, but I'm putting it up here as I mentioned it earlier. Thank you, @kazual_heart_brekker for commenting.

The sirens keep screeching. Now, they're all that can be relied on. At first, when it was just a warning, they only sounded for a few hours: in the mornings and evenings. Nowadays, though, they're constant. The lights have gone, too. They can't take us if they can't see us. That's what the government says, anyway. We were in the kitchen when war was declared. Mum and I. We were told to stay in, but we needed food, so she went out anyway. And didn't come back. I waited a day. Until it was obvious she was gone. I was too scared to stay, with the memories that haunted me in that house. So, I ran. I thought I might be able to sneak out; I can pass for someone much younger, and they might take pity on me.

But then I saw a boy, only seven, be taken. He lived on the streets - I passed him on my way to school. Before she was taken, I told Mum about him; she started giving me food for him. A sandwich, maybe, or some fruit. But now he's gone. Mum's gone. I'm left as a ghost disguised as a girl. An empty shell, where there was once laughter. Maybe– Footsteps interrupt my train of thought. They're coming to take me. Panic bubbles up, suffocating and terrifying. I freeze. I can't move, not as the torch light moves closer, not as my heart speeds to an impossible pace. I can do nothing as a man grabs me; hauls me into a pod. This can't be happening. I lash out, finally able to move, but the man chokes me, black spots dancing before my eyes. I'm strangely calm; it's as if my life has been inevitably leading up to this moment. My last thought, perhaps ever, is, "At least I won't have to figure out what to do next."

...

It is worth it. To live through hell today for a perfect tomorrow. We needed a solution, here it is. It's their fault, anyhow. We have told them, time and again, that they need to find a way to solve the over-population issue in their countries. That they need to cut down on the waste they produce. We gave them years, and nothing happened. We took matters into our own hands. They must remember that we all live on the Earth, and they need to stop worrying about poverty. If the world dies, poverty will be the least of our issues. They argue that we have caused the tourism industry to fail, so they don't have the money, but if they had solved the problems, their countries would still be nice enough to visit. They say we can't make decisions like this without them, but we've given them chances. They did nothing, so it's our responsibility to act.

Lookingout of the window, it's as if it isn't happening. Like those people down there,preoccupied with their daily lives aren't thinking of the people out theresorting the world out. Good. There is no reason to worry them. After all, we are doing the right thing. Aren't we?