Massive Movie Mash-up

8. The Recruit

Rosemary is focused on one thing and one thing only. How do I hit that target with my arrow? She has strung her bow and has it aimed for the black plastic dummy set up about ten yards from her. She is calmly breathing in and out and peering along her arrow to the bull’s-eye on the dummy. She releases, but misses.

On any given day, she would have been disappointed, but not today, not here. It is the first day of training for dr. Marcus Geelong’s Hunger Games and Rosemary and the other tributes are imprisoned on a Star Destroyer. Said Star Destroyer is hovering above Pontiasin and is presumably being piloted by Geelong himself.

Seeing as Rosemary doesn’t want him to know about her martial arts, she is just messing around at the archery station and not really trying to stand out. Besides, archery has never been her forte. Thomas, on the other hand, could instantly hit a quail in flight without damaging the meat too much.

At the moment, he is trying to parkour his way across moving platforms. The platforms should form a path if crossed at exactly the right moment, but they switch places so quickly that it is hard to catch one and jump to the next. Thomas has already attempted to parkour them four times this morning. Just then, he misplaces his steps and falls to the floor as a platform shifts to the left. Correction: he has attempted it five times this morning.

Yesterday after the chariot ride, The Red Queen led Rosemary and Nicolas to their chambers on the spaceship. Once there, they were forced to hand their costumes back in. Nicolas had worn his ducal dress uniform and Rosemary a gown and the Engagement Tiara of Queen Salween III. She found some comfort in the idea that she had been able to wear the Tiara before she died, even though she wasn’t engaged.

Soon after, Mr. Edwards entered their quarters, which confirmed Rosemary’s assumption that he was their mentor for the Games. He grabbed himself a chair and sat down in front of the two royals.

“Are you alright, Your Majesties?” he asked them.

“Our home was obliterated, our parents were captured, our planet was taken over by cyborgs, we were forced into a Hunger Games and pretty much all of Andros-9 either hates us or is too afraid to do anything. Aside from that, I’m fine. How are you?” Nicolas asked quizzically.

Edwards swallowed hard and stared at the ground. “I deeply regret that this happened to you, Your Majesties, but it could be worse.”

“Worse?” Rosemary guffawed. “How could it possibly be worse? We were royalty and now we are nothing but lambs for the slaughter.”

“You could have all been killed at your garden party, or executed by a fire platoon on global television…”

“Yes, and now we get to be executed by 20 teenagers on global television. Major improvement,” Nicolas nodded sarcastically.

“At least now you can fight back. Don’t you realise this is the perfect opportunity to show Andros-9 not to fear dr. Geelong?”

Rosemary remembered how she grinned during the Tribute Parade just to spite Geelong. In a way, she had also shown her people that fear would get them nowhere.

“Perhaps, but how will that help us when our fellow tributes want to eviscerate us?” she asked.

“Simple, make them not want to eviscerate you,” Nicolas snorted, but Edwards continued, “Instead of viewing them as enemies, you should consider them as allies in a fight against dr. Geelong and his film characters.”

“Just like Vicky wants us to,” Rosemary grumbled.

Reluctantly, she informed Victoria and Thomas of Edwards’ plan. She also advised her siblings to keep a low profile, so Geelong and his henchmen wouldn’t suspect anything. Victoria was ecstatic and immediately ran to Jack, her district partner. Rosemary would rather her sister didn’t cling so much to the young lumberjack, but any ally would do at this point.