The Game Plan (a Hunger Games Fanfic)

Chapter 8.

I woke from the brightness of the sun. I opened my eyes and sat up. Aylor must have carried me home or something because I was in bed. I looked around the room before getting in the shower. I washed my hair and scrubbed my body. I didn't have any clue how long I was gonna be in the arena, so I did an extra scrub. I got out, dried myself off with a towel, put my clothes on that were set out (a black shirt, grey pants with lots of pockets, black leather boots), and pulled my hair into a neat, tight fishtail braid. Then, I went downstairs into the kitchen.

"Ali." I heard my brothers voice. I turned around and gave him a big hug. He grabbed me and put his chin on my shoulder. He was only a few inches taller than I was.

"Aylor. I'm scared." He grabbed my shoulders.

"Ali. I'm scared, too. But as long as we stick together, we'll be okay." I hugged him again. Sunny came in, grabbed us, and led us to the helicarrier.

When we got inside, there were already people sitting in the shiny metallic chairs. I sat beside Ethan. He looked calm, but he was paler than I had ever seen him.

He turned and looked at me. "Allies?" He asked.

"You, me, girl from your District, my brother, both from 12, and girl from 11." He nodded.

"Is that all?" he asked. I nodded

"Unless you have anyone else?" he shook his head right as a woman appeared in front of me. She grabbed my arm and injected a needle into it. It only hurt for a second because of what she was injecting. I closed my eyes during the process.

"What is this?" I asked with my eyes still closed. I opened my eyes when the woman let go of my arm.

"It's your tracker. So the Game Makers know where to find you." she said. My eyes got wide when she said that. Then, she moved onto Ethan. He kept his eyes open the whole time.

When I got to my Launch Station, Cedric was waiting for me. I ran to him and hugged him.

"It's okay, Ali. Whatever you do, don't go to the Cornucopia. There's always a bloodbath and I don't want you to risk yourself for a weapon." He said, stroking my hair. I nodded. But no one was gonna stop me from going to the Cornucopia. I only just then realized how tall he was. Almost three feet taller than me. I looked up at him and smiled. Then, he dug in his pocket and pulled out a chain. Not just any chain. My silver chain with my locket hooked onto it. He unlatched it and re-buckled it around my neck. He put his finger up to his lips.

"Thank you." I whispered.

"20 seconds." A woman's voice said. I looked up at Cedric, getting more scared every second. He grabbed me into one last hug and let go.

"It's okay." He whispered as I turned to walk to the tube. I looked back at him and smiled. I got inside the tube right as it started to close. Cedric smiled at me. I gave him a weak smile as my tube started going up.

Sorry for the short chapter... I wanted the arena to be a surprise and not in the same chapter... 😂