Raised for the Slaughter: Clove's Story

Chapter 2

After what seems like an eternity of waiting in line, I finally reach one of the check-in tables.

“Hand, please,” the woman says flatly.

I reach out my right hand and she grabs my index finger forcefully, takes out an instrument that looks somewhat like a pencil, and uses the instrument’s electric current to shock me, causing a small amount of blood to protrude from my finger. I wince when she shocks me, but really, it doesn’t hurt too much. She takes my bloody finger and puts it on a box on a piece of paper. She takes out a scanner and uses it to scan the sample of blood. The instrument loads for a couple seconds, then beeps twice and the screen on top of the scanner reads ‘Sevina, Clove. Age: 16.’

“Go ahead,” she sighs.

I walk forward silently, slowing down when I walk past the tables. I stand there and wait for Violet. A peacekeeper gives me a stern look, but I know he’s harmless. I’ve seen him around ever since he came from the Capitol to go to the ‘secret’ Peacekeeper Training Academy. He just recently graduated and got his badge six months ago. I think I’ve heard the others call him Drake.

“Done,” Violet says as she comes up behind me.

“Ok,” I say a bit hesitantly, “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she replies with a trace of courage.

We again join hands and walk over to the sixteen year old age group. Once we’ve found a spot, I let my gaze drift. As a look over towards the seventeen year old group, I catch a pair of eyes on me. I do a double take and see those eyes belong to Cato. He quickly looks away. He’s standing towards the front, looking a little nervous. He runs his hair through his blonde hair as he talks to another boy in his group. I look away and look towards the mountains. The sound of the bell from the clock at the Justice building letting us know it’s two o’ clock makes us all jump. The crowd falls silent. A line of people file onto the stage. First is Mayor Husby, or I know him better as Violet’s dad. But he looks different to me when he does his mayor duties. All of District 2’s victors follow. They are very numerous, being that 2 is a career district. They all take a seat. After they’re all seated, a woman in a bright yellow, poofy, ridiculous looking dress hair walks onto the stage. Her blood red hair is in tight, uniform curls with a big purple butterfly on the top of her head. You can hear her matching purple heels going up the stairs and onto the stage. It’s our escort, Poppy Lovett. This is her third year being 2’s escort and you can tell she’s just thrilled to be assigned to such a prosperous district. She reaches the microphone, taps on it twice, and clears her throat.

“Welcome, everyone, to the reaping of the 74th Annual Hunger Games,” she says in her bright Capitol accent with a huge smile forming on her face.

I wonder if it’s a fake smile, because her enthusiasm sure sounds forced. But I think that’s just the way people in the Capitol talk.

“And now, the Treaty of Treason will be read by the wonderful Mayor Husby,” she says, stepping away from the microphone, allowing Mayor Husby to take control.

Before he starts, he looks at Violet with a worried look. I feel her stiffen next to me. Then he begins. My concentration drifts away and I look at the big mountain in the middle of the district, not too far off from the square. The mountain is used as a military base for the Capitol. I start to think of all the weapons in there. All the weapons that I would just love to get my hands on. Sure, the weapons in the school gym used for training that are made by Cato’s father, Mr. Larek, are perfectly sufficient. In fact he made all my knives. But the weapons in that mountain, the ones made by professionals from 2, must be near perfection. The ones in our training gym couldn’t even compare. Poppy Lovett’s sing-song voice snaps me out of my day dream.