The Hunger Games - Through the Fire and Flames - Book 1

Chapter 13

The ride seemed to go by fairly quickly and before I knew it I was being dressed by my team of stylists for the arena. My hair was braided in a simple plait down my back and I had on a dark suit that Cinna mentioned my mother wore during her time. Apparently he reconstructed it during his free time. After I was finished Cinna waved away the rest of his crew and sat down with me to wait. During this time he pinned my mothers mockingjay pin on my suit.

"I did the same thing for your mother during her first reaping." He told me.

My mother and Cinna had an odd relationship and I was curious as how Cinna saw her. I asked him and he willingly spilled all.

"I always saw your mother like the daughter I never had. I was protective of her from the moment I met her." he told me. "The day you walked into my remake room I felt like a grandfather." He didn't say much after that but I felt a warm fuzziness flow through me and hugged him. Slowly he returned the hug.

"So you never had kids?" I asked him after a few moments.

"I do now, one girl her name is Katniss she lives with her mother in District 1 while I am here for work."

"That's wonderful how old is she?"

"She turned thirteen today." I frowned almost immeadiately. "I'm greatful for the girl named Essence. She volunteered and spared my daughters life, it was my daughters name who originally came from the reaping." His voice was strained.

Cinna quickly composed himself and rose to his feet before moving to the tube. I guess it was time. He gestured towards and circular silver plate on the ground and I moved to stand on it. Quickly the tube lowered around me and I could have sworn I saw a tear trickle from Cinna's eyes. I rose my hand and placed it on the clear tube that encased me and smiled feebly as Cinna rose his to match mine. Suddenly I began rising and surfaced in the area.

I took a quick look around and saw we were surrounded by greenery, there was giant trees all around us. I held up my hand and gave the signal only my crew knew meant head to the north. They all nodded and we waited. Slowly the time trickled by and then the final ten seconds were being spoken by a robotic sounding voice.

One of the tributes from district 11 accidentally lost her balance and stepped off her plate resulting in being blown to pieces. I forced myself to focus and then I heard the final number. I launched myself from my plate and ran forward to the cornucopia that held the means to my survival. I made it there and grabbed the first bag my hand came to. Beside it was a bundle of weapons that I hosited over my shoulder and quickly ran towards the north.

I made it to the lining of the trees and took post waiting for my crew. Atleast 4 blasts were heard before my team made it to my side. I was missing two of my crew meaning two rivals were dead.

"Colt and Naomi are gone they got into a brawl with two others and took each other out." My brother told me.

He can talk, he is by my side, he seems rational enough to survive, thats good. I smiled at his presence and then turned quickly to launch a spear at a male who I recognized from District 5. He fell instantly to the ground at my feet. A blast was heard that I half ignored when I saw a small knife in his lifeless hand that had blood on it. Then I felt the sharp burn in my side and realized I had been grazed. It wasn't too bad but it would need to be kept clean if I didn't want to get sick. I grabbed a handful of moss from a tree to my left and cut a long strip from the extra fabric of my shirt and wrapped it up.

"We need to get deeper into the forest if we are to be safe. There are atleast 7 more we need to get rid of and they all have excellent skills." Essence said. She kept her eyes on her brother as she spoke. He nodded.