Within Defiance | A Hunger Games Fanfiction

Farewell District 9

I'm frozen in shock, barely able to breathe without struggling. "Hail Darwin" Lymit repeats again, this time a little louder as she squints her eyes trying to locate the male whose just been reaped. Me.

Taking a deep breathe, I walk out into the narrow gap that run down the centre of the square separating the males from the females. I slowly make my walk towards the stage, dragging my feet as I go until I eventually arrive at the bottom of the stage steps. "Up up sweetie" Lymit calmly says as she reaches her hand out to me. With nothing else to support me from falling over the stairs and landing in a heap at the bottom, I grab her hand and pull myself onto the stage. I'm then marched over to the centre of the stage joining Jade. "Ladies and gentlemen give a round of a applause to your District 9 tributes" Lymit announces. Only a single cough echoes around the crowded town square. Within the ocean of silent people and my watery vision, I manage to focus on one person, Hunter. Everything about his expression is plain and bland, his hardened brow, his sharpened jaw and his strong glare in my direction. The only thing different is the small flickers of light reflecting off his tears.

When the crowd show no signs of excitement, me and Jade are herded into the Justice Building and down a long and gloomy back hallway, where we are directed into separate rooms. The heavy door shuts behind me, but I don't allow any tears to escape my eyes as I slump down on a worn brown sofa, one of the few objects in this cramped room.

I sit in painful silence before the door opens abruptly and Maria, whose accompanied by a pair of peacekeepers, bursts in. "Two minutes" One of the guards states coldly as they turn and leave. The second the door clicks shut, Maria and I embrace each other. We stand there in silence, neither one of us wanting to loosen our grip on each other because of the fear that we will be separated. But the truth is in less then 2 minutes we will be torn apart and then next time she will see me is during these horrific games. This thought is what powers me to push away and guide both me and Maria over to the sofa to talk over and say our goodbyes. "Do what you can for dad, little Lily and yourself of course" I state bluntly not wanting our last words together to be wasted. "What about you, in a matter of days you could be dead" She cries out.

"Maria, even though I probably won't escape whatever nightmares are being kept in this years arena, you have to focus on our family" I explain through fast paced words, trying to make every second count. "Lily will need someone to help her when dad's not around".
Maria can't even look at me as the tears continue to stream down her tired face. I'm about to comfort her when a peacekeeper bursts the door open and begins to grab her. "Get your hands off of her!" I yell as Maria sobs only grow louder. "Try to survive" She manages to get out between heavy sobs before the doors are pulled shut, separating us, ending the last ever meeting we could have with each other.
I retreat from the door and lean on one of the sofa's arms. My vision caught staring down at the scratched floor boards. The sound of the door open again snaps me out of my strange daydreaming state, causing me to break my long stare and look over at my next visitor, Hunter.

I approach him and within seconds we're in each others arms. Unlike with Maria, I don't try to sugar-coat my situation "You know the likelihood of me winning and returning back to 9 is very slim". Hunter, still with his strong arms around me only responds with "I know".
"I guess you could say the odds are not in my favour" I say bluntly with not a hint of joy in my voice for my somewhat humorous statement.
I hear Hunter take a deep breath and feel his chest rise against mine before he backs away "No I'm not excepting this!" He protests.
"Excepting what?" I ask, confused with his sudden change of mood and state. "You" He answers "The games haven't even begun and your already admitting defeat" He looks at me with his hazel eyes full of pain as he fusses with the leather cuff on his wrist.

I know what he wants to hear, but I can't lie to my closest friend. "Hunter, you and I both know that I don't stand a chance in is fight" I mutter calmly trying to show him the facts "I'm untrained in fighting and have no idea how to survive in the wild".
Hunter flares his nostrils in annoyance "Your resourceful and your good at climbing and running that counts for something".
"You haven't even seen the other tributes yet so don't call it quits just yet" He barks, pacing back and forth the room. "Hunter why are you so frustrated?" I yell at him with no idea what else to do.
Hunter turns to me before stating "I'm frustrated because you already counting yourself out, because your undermining everything I'm saying your good at, because you won't listen to my advice".
"I'm listening now" I state, grabbing onto his hand. He stares at me with obvious pain in his eyes "But I'm most frustrated of all because the person I love most of all is going into a bloody free-for-all and I can't do anything to protect him" He cries out, allowing a single tear to escape his eyes.