Massive Movie Mash-up

7. In Pursuit of Honor

The global anthem starts to play on the streets of Pontiasin. Hundreds of high-tech speakers blast the anthem’s familiar tunes through the capital warning the citizens. Either they go home and watch the Live broadcast, or they gather along the route of the Tribute Parade to cheer for their tributes.

Well, not for their tributes, but the tributes that aren’t of royal blood. If they support the Ellesmere siblings, they get a one-way ticket to the gallows. As much as they wish to cheer for their monarchs, they remember that their support already sentenced 20 innocent children to this Hunger Games.

The glass doors of the hovercar dealership in Pontiasin’s financial district open. The first chariot, gold-plated and inlaid with emeralds, rolls out. Its two white horses trot as they pull it easily. However, the crowd along the route stays quiet because District One’s tributes are Rosemary and Nicolas Ellesmere.

With her unshackled hand, Rosemary waves to the citizens in an attempt to get some cheers, but they are dead silent. Terrified glances are all she gets. Nicolas beside her doesn’t even try. He immediately realised that supporting them meant immanent death.

“Rose, don’t bother! If they even smile at us, they could get flogged, or whatever,” Nicolas says. Rosemary is appalled by his comment, but then it dawns on her and she lowers her arm.

“Nick, I have heard that dr. Geelong rules as a dictator and killed all remaining politicians of the Global Parliament,” she informs him.

“Even…?”

“Jones escaped,” she answers expecting this question. “The Androsians don’t stand a chance against Geelong and his army of film villains.”

“Neither do we.”

Nicolas stares ahead of himself while their chariot rides on. Rosemary, on the other hand, peers behind her for Victoria and Thomas. They receive a mild applause because they are joined by a normal tribute. Victoria’s costume is an Androsian willow. With its long, curved, purple branches, it looks awfully hefty on her, which is quite different from her usual, frivolous dresses and gowns.

Victoria’s district partner is a tall, hunky lumberjack. He is only 17 years old, but he could pass for 25. He stands next to Victoria practically naked as he is almost entirely body-painted. The paint perfectly resembles the bark of an oak. Aside from the paint, he is wearing an oak wreath, a real trunk with roots around his waist and crotch, and leaves around his wrists.

Thomas’ chariot follows behind Victoria’s. His is made from aluminium and has some cheesy futuristic, bendy shape. Thomas is dressed as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. The fact that he stands motionless on the chariot adds to his costume. His female companion, on the other hand, is dressed as a sexy, metallic warrior, which is perverse since she is only 14.

Rosemary can’t see much further behind them, but she doesn’t care anymore. The humiliation of the lonesome Reaping, the other tributes’ angry glares and the absent cheers are dragging her into a bitter downward spiral. What does it matter? In less than two weeks, we will all be dead, except for one lone Victor, she thinks.

Their two white horses pull Rosemary and Nicolas from the capital’s financial district to the Boulevard (Pontiasin’s equivalent of the Mall in London or the Champs-Élysées in Paris). Rosemary can smell the fresh pears from the pear trees lining the Boulevard as their chariot rolls past them.

When she was younger, her mother used to take her to the pear trees as soon as they bore fruits. They would each pluck one and eat it together on one of the benches beneath the trees. In those moments, Rosemary didn’t feel the burden of being the oldest sister or the Princess of Andros-9. She was just a little girl eating a pear with her mother.