A Circus of Eagles [An HG Fanfic]

Camera - Dustrio

Dustrio

This place is...gorgeous. Chilling, yes, terrifying, yes, but absolutely, totally, one hundred percent gorgeous. Not for the first time, I wish I had my camera. My proper camera, my little handheld Capitax3000 with the autosmooth and touch-point focus, not that complete dinosaur that they gave me in the Parade. They left the solar on, though, so I still managed to capture some neat video. I watched through it before they made me give it back. There's me zooming in on the bullet holes in the walls of the tunnel, then a really nice circle pan of Thalia (ruined only by the fact that she wasn't sure whether to smile or not and settled on something inbetween and therefore nothing), then me talking to Apollo. There's a hilarious close-up of his face scowling at me. Then there's the Parade itself, a tribute's-eye view of the cheering crowds and the road, and then the President's speech. The angle wasn't ideal but I made the best out of it. It's not my best work, but it has a certain unedited rawness that I really like.

If I get out of here, I'll reclaim that footage and make a documentary. Come back here to shoot, before the re-enactments move in. Documentaries have been done on tributes before, in fact, they've been overdone, but mine would be the first to feature genuine footage from the tribute's point of view. I'd have to get someone else to present it, of course. People like me were designed to stay behind the camera, out of sight. But I'd write the script. That way I could make sure that the sense of loneliness really came through as strongly as possible, the strange still hush, the chill running through my bones...

Actually, it's freezing.

I look around but as far as I can tell, there's nobody. Just the rolling fog and the stone tablets and the full moon overhead. Like I said, gorgeous. Not satisfied, I check again, in case any of the shadows have moved. They haven't. I think I'm alone.

I should be alone. The bloodbath is just one shaky-cam blur in my mind but I remember running this way precisely because there was nobody there, insomuch as I decided anything. That rush of adrenaline! That feeling of instinct taking over! Terrifying and glorious.

I ran at first, and then when I started to get tired I slowed down into a jog, but I couldn't keep that up for long either so I started just walking. My breath puffs up in front of me. I think I've been moving away for about twenty minutes, so I should be safe. I can stop to rest for a few minutes. So I duck behind one of the stones and lean against it, panting.

The cannons start to go. What sounds on screen like a huge boom is actually like more of a dull thump, but since the soundscape is otherwise quite sparse (wind whistling around the stones and rustling through the grass, my breathing, nothing else), they sound loud. Goosebumps rush up my arms. For the first time I'm aware that I'm further from another living being than I have ever been in my life.

It feels so strange to be so alone.

I stare at the moon and count the cannons. Ten. Ten dead tributes (sitting on a wall). I can't help a small giggle. Though I'd change that old children's rhyme; 'lying on the ground' would fit so much better.

So. Ten dead. Which ones do I know for sure? Ingrid. I saw her fall, a knife embedded in her neck. She'd been running at me, so that had been a bit of a relief. Someone screamed but I kept my composure and just grabbed the nearest bags and ran. I saw Kula slash Antonio. I replay that in my head, admiring how cinematic it was. It was like Kula knew I was there watching at that precise angle. Slash, grab, run. I've seen many dozen scenes like it on the holoscreen but somehow that's the best one of all. It was just after that that I felt the stinging pain on my forehead and blood started to trickle into my eye.

The boy from Graphene, because when he lurched out of nowhere and I collided with him he had an arrow in his shoulder. I remember seeing that and thinking that someone was firing arrows so I should probably start zig-zagging, making myself harder to hit. It sent my vision mental and I wasn't sure what I was seeing. Like I said, shaky-cam.