Deceived: The 500th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 85 - The Arena: Day 4

GAUIS JISTANCE'S P.O.V

The doors to this damned shelter haven't even opened yet. As I sit here, waiting for the concrete slab to disappear so I can leave, I decide to snack on a peach.

Peaches are divine - I don't remember the last time I had one of these. Yes, I've been dead for a while; four months I think? But still, even at home, I don't remember having these often. One time, Bramble and I made a cake, decorated with peach slices...

Bramble. He's not here, not alive like I am.

But I'm not really alive. I'm so miserable that I could kill myself right now. So why don't i? The answer is simple: if I can get home, or aid the right person in getting home, then I'll know that I've had an impact.

Or even better. To try and do what I did the first time: rebel through pacifism.

Because I'm not prepared to fight against Chester, Casio, Arlu, Skene, those people by the cornucopia. No.

As the door finally lifts, I smile, seeing the empty world before me. Wait, empty? Staring harder, I realise that most of the trees have been pulled out of the ground. This is now nothing but a wasteland.

Water floods the entire floor; it seeps into the shelter slightly. Looking up, I notice the disaster - a cyclone - floating above the shelter. Maybe I'll sit here for a little longer...

Looking around, the sky is inhabited by different disasters: smoke, windy spirals, water. No one is safe. You can see the difference in temperature when scanning the horizon - no snow biome has a sun as big as Seven.

What I've noticed is that most things start off in the winter biome, so I labelled it One. Going around, I worked out that Seven is that ridiculous heat biome that some boy named Casio told me about as he ran past me, stopping to chat for ten minutes.

District Nine are all out now, I realised. It takes me a minute to realise that people from Four exist, people from minigame four are alive. It also takes me a few moments to realise that District Three has two people left: Arlu and myself.

Wondering on through the wasteland, I hear some rustling in a bush. Not like the bush was loud; if anything, the leaves fell off as it shook, revealing two figures.

"Who's there?" I growl, gripping onto my dagger and whip. They literally had dozens of daggers and one of each preferred weapon for each of us, meaning I got my whip.

Arlu emerged from the bush, holding his sickle. "Oh my god, Gauis!" He cries out, running with the other boy to me. Part of me wonders if he's been followed, but the look on the boy's face is unmistakeable.

"You look like Auricula," I say to him over Arlu's shoulder; Arlu tenses under my grip.

The boy giggles. "That's because she's my sister." He seems happy, as of the death didn't affect him. "Call me Cosmo."

"Good to see you dude," Arlu smiles at me. "It's been a long time."

"Nah, it's been a day," I wink, developing my old humour around my old friend. "How ya been?"

We catch up; he explains the basic ins and outs of minigame four and tells me that the revivals were the last three to die after their popular refusal - based off of my attempt - was broadcast live. They died through a minigame. The minigame to end all minigames, Arlu called it.

He also tells me that Briar and Skene are the two revived from our minigame; it's gonna be nice knowing that Persei has company - he told me she was the last victor of our games. Briar, however, is still without Vanity.