The Hunger Games of Bengui

Chapter 27

"Oh thank god, your awake."

Brooklyn kicked my leg as I started blinking around. Looking down, I saw that I was sitting on a bench with shackles attached to my arms and legs.

"Where are we?" I mumbled.

"I don't know, no one has entered yet," Kristen said.

I looked down the row of seats and noticed that everyone was awake but Kyle. I was wedged between Brooklyn and Sammie at the end, Kristen on Brooklyn's right. There was a long table a few feet in front of us, and there were bleacher like benches in the center of the room on each side of the desk sitting in the middle. There was a stamp on the desk, the stamp of Bengui. It had lizards crawling over fiery sticks. The Capitol flag hung in the back of the room, obscured by the shadows. I shook back and forth in my shackles, but these ones were too tight. I was scared for my life.

"Ok, they're awake," a voice buzzed on the intercom as Kyle snorted. Lily elbowed him in the cheek and his eyes flew open.

Moments later, the door flew open as Jack was wheeled in on a chair, also in shackles. His neck was free of the cloth, and what was left was a row of red bite marks. His right arm was masked with tape, and his face still had the scar marks. A tall man in a suit wheeled him in next to Mike and then proceeded to the bleachers. A line up of more men in suits strutted in after him, followed by President Becks and Faun behind him, carrying a large folder and remote. We all stayed silent.

"Welcome to the meeting," President Becks smiled as he took his seat behind the desk, Faun standing by his side. We all remained silent as he started coughing. "Right, I suppose you've met Faun already."

"Fucking bitch," Lily muttered under her breath, low enough for us to hear but not the Capitol people.

"What are we doing here, and why the hell are we locked up," I spit, shaking my fists as the shackles clanged.

"Well, I suppose you guys would like to see what happened at the end wouldn't you? And the shackles are just for our own safety, there are some...feisty fellows on the bench today," Becks replied, staring at the twins as they glared back.

"I'll get the video running." Faun pressed on her remote as the lights above us shut off, leaving us in the dark. She pressed on another button as the giant screen behind Beck's desk slowly panned down from the ceiling. Faun took a seat next to one of the men in the bleachers and started to play the video.

First it started off with Sammie and Zoe, both in different parts of the forest. Zoe was in the top of a tree, eating some berries as she was rummaging through her backpack. Sammie was by the river, splashing her legs. Then the scene cut to our group as we ran through the forest, Mike screaming directions to us. It cut to Jack, being dragged off by a Lady Bug between its teeth. Just as the Lady Bug bared its teeth, the screen cut back to our group as we made our way through the sand, throwing our rocks once we got to the water.

From a third person's point of view, the explosions were absolutely mind boggling. The camera panned over the entire arena as explosions took place, knocking down everything and creating those craters in the metal under face. It was difficult re-watching the part where we got thrown around like dolls on the beach, blood seeming to rain from the sky. I saw Zoe get crushed under a mass of trees as the cannon fired. We were barely able to hear it, it was muted from the eruptions. We saw Jack lying on the ground next to a fallen tree, the noose still around his ankles. Sammie winced when the camera panned over her limp body as she lay on the ground covered with blood and dirt. Our group came back to view as we lay on the sand. I barely spotted Brooklyn and I lying next to each other as the entire beach blew up, sand covering the camera as the finale cannon blew.

The screen went dark again as President Becks started to cough. Faun turned the lights back on and the screen started panning back up to the ceiling.

"Any questions?" Becks asked. Kristen raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Why is our hair lighter?" She asked him, gesturing to her sister and I.

"The chemicals from the salt and rocks have somehow bleached your hair," he explained as he took a sip from his mug.

"If only we could poison him," I leaned in to Brooklyn as he chuckled.

"But then how come the boys' hair haven't been 'bleached'?" Kristen asked again.

"Listen missy, we're not scientists here so shut up!" One of the men in the bleachers said as Kristen started growling, trying to shake free of her shackles.

"Chill," Kyle whispered, placing his hand on her lap as she slumped back in her seat undefeated.

This is absolute bullshit. I know what we did was wrong, the blowing up the arena bit at least, but we're supposed to go back home to our districts like any other victor. We're supposed to live in the infamous Victor's Village and continue on with our lives. But no, we're sitting here in the Capitol chained up. My eyes darted to the right as I rammed myself into Sammie next to me.

"Wait...what's he doing!" I shrieked, pointing at Jack on the other side of the bench.

"His mouth is foaming!" Kristen shrieked, slamming into Brooklyn as she tried to get away from him.

"OH MY GOD!" Mike screamed, shoving Lily over next to him as we all almost fell off the other end of the bench.

"UNBUCKLE US!" Sammie yelled at the men. President Becks stood up and eyed Jack down carefully as he motioned for two men to go get him.

The men rushed up to Jack, wheeling him away. His eyes were red and his neck looked like it was scorching hot, foam running down the side of his chin onto his shirt.

"Looks like we'll have to kill him..." Faun whispered to Becks.

"WHAT NO!" Kristen shrieked, thrashing in her chains again.

"No, he's of valuable possession, we'll need him for a bit longer," Becks whispered back at Faun as she nodded. She walked up to us as she started unbuckling the straps.

"Fucking hell," Sammie hissed. "Should've just thrown myself under another tree or something."

"Don't say that," I growled.

"What's wrong with Jack?" Brooklyn asked as Faun started unbuckling him.

"Mutt rabies. They're ten times worse than regular rabies--"

"Because of the injected venom," Becks cut in. "Your little friend will have to be hospitalized for the doctors to suck it out."

"Unless you want us to kill him," Faun added.

"No," I harshly replied.

Faun eyed us left and right on the bench as she looked back at Becks who nodded back and gestured at three men to get up. The first one pushed Faun to the side while she was hovering over Sammie, and grabbed Brooklyn and I with each hand and dragged us out of the room. The other grabbed onto Kyle and Kristen, and the last grabbed onto Lily and Mike. Sammie slowly stood up as Faun walked behind her, pushing her to our direction. Becks stumbled through the doors after us, leading the way in front. We walked down the hallway as we turned the corner to a white door. Faun stepped in front and slid the key in, cracking the door open as she pushed Sammie in, a scream echoing through the room. The men pushed Mike, Lily, Kyle, and Kristen in as they backed up for Brooklyn and I. Faun put a hand on my shoulder as she stared me right in the eyes.

"Be good or you won't get dinner," she said with a smug smile as the man pushed Brooklyn and I into the dark room, the door shutting behind us as we heard the knob lock, heels clucking away on the smooth floor.