Greater Games [A 72nd Hunger Games Fanfic]

Chapter 4

The last day of training is interesting. I learn a lot from the survival stations, like how to start a fire without matches, what plants are edible, and how to tie knots. All very quickly, too, since I seem to have a knack for survival skills. Good.

I finish them quickly, but lunch is only 10 minutes away, so I throw spears for the remaining time. In peace. But my peace is disturbed quickly when I am distracted by the boy, from 8, that is approaching me. He pushes me slightly and says, "Give me your lane." I don't do or say anything, paralyzed from fear.

"I said-" he growls, "Give me your lane." I am rooted to the spot. I look around for help, although nobody but Shade would help me, and he's nowhere in sight. I also see that no other spear lanes are available so if I give mine up I wouldn't be able to throw spears more. I make a tiny squeak and that is all I can produce from my mouth.

The boy from 8 then slips out his knife. I'm scared out of my mind now. He must have stolen the knife from the station. Now he is using it to threaten me, and if I don't do what he wants soon, he will probably put it into action.

The next thing that happens is so fast I can't stop it. Felix had approached the boy from 8, and neither me or Boy 8 (That's the abbreviation from the boy from 8) noticed him. Felix must have been at the sword station, because he slams the butt of the sword he has into Boy 8's head. The boy falls to the ground, a large bump swelling quickly from where he was hit. He isn't knocked out but he's bleeding badly.

Felix is about to kick him in the nose when two Peacekeepers come rushing to the spot. They grab Felix's arms and literally throw him back before his foot can make contact. He lands on his back but he doesn't seem the least bit winded.

The Peacekeepers grabs his arms to restrain him and the trainer organizer lady, Adela, orders him off and repeats, well, screams, the rules to him. She takes his sword too. He gives me a look before going off with the Peacekeepers. Where, I am not sure.

I had tripped backwards over my own spear, which I had dropped during the fight, and I am on my back. Everybody is staring at me and Boy 8, who is being helped up by Adela. He cradles the large bumb on his head in his hands as he is brought to a different room, probably to treat his wound.

I am in total shock. I'm worried, too. Where did the Peacekeepers bring Felix? Not that I am worried for him. I just don't like violent things. Not that I have witnessed any violence.

Yes, you have. A flashback from a few years ago, when I was 11, comes flooding to my mind, a memory I have been trying to block out.

I watched as the boy from district 5 had his throat slit by the boy from 2 on TV. "I hate the Hunger Games!" I screamed.

"Amber!" my mother screeched. "You can't say that!"

"But mom, why does everybody die?" asked my younger sister, Fern, who was only 7. She was pale from what she has just seen on television.

"It's our nation's tradition, sweetie," answered Mom, hiding the horror of the 'tradition' in her voice. I understood this at the time, but I didn't understand why the Capitol was so harsh about it, so I would just blurt things out.

"I can't watch any more," I said angrily, and I stormed out of our tiny shack-of-a-house before my mother could say anything.

I wandered to the district fence, where I often went, listening to the hum of the electricity in it, and thinking about the land behind it. A forest with tall, skinny trees. Exactly what I would love to be in. So beautiful compared to the horrible factories in my district.

That was when I noticed it - a thin rope, a small net. A trap. On the edge of the forest. Out of the district.And this was no natural coincedence. This was man-made.