The MCYT Hunger Games

Chapter 4

PoV: Grian

'You're JOKING.' I turn on Cub as we enter our apartment again. 'You- how could you ally with him?!'

'Chaos.' He says back.

'That- idiot- he's going to get you killed. You know that.'

'Yeah... probably.'

'Probably?! He's DANGEROUS.'

'He's my ally!'

'He's District 12! So far the only thing he's done is set everything on fire!' I insist. I don't even know why I care about the stupid ally my fellow district member found. 'At least ally with the other District 12 person... they actually seem nice.'

'Then you can ally with him.'

The calmness of Cub's attitude only makes me angrier.

'Look. We're from the same district. We should be on the same team here!'

'Why? If you don't like my ally find another. Ally with Etho and win.'

'If I ally with Etho he's going to kill me easily when it's just us... I need someone who's just a bit worse than...' Suddenly I realise the plan. 'Oh... that's even worse...'

'What?'

'You're only allying with him so you can kill him at the end when everyone else is dead, aren't you.'

'Why would I do something like that? He's my friend.'

'First ally now friend... I'm going to bed.' Too angry to keep talking and end up breaking something, I storm from the room, slamming the door behind me. I lie down without even changing and fall quickly asleep.

The training week passes, and I finally make allies.

When BigB comes up and asks me to ally with him on day 4, I have to agree. Watching him, he seems friendly, funny, and has enough talent to stand him us good stead. But I'm not the only one. At the same time, after close observation all week, Etho offers to ally with Joel, his fellow District 6. There's also Ren and Martyn, the Careers - False, Jevin, Lizzie and Doc, and Zedaph joins Tango, Jimmy and Impulse's alliance. I see Bdubs ask Etho every day to ally with him, and it's only on day 5 that he agrees.

I keep an eye on Cub and Scar too. They don't cause any more chaos, and instead Scar's very good at learning from his ally, and actually gathers decent proficiency in most things. I try to do the same, always distracted by watching everyone else instead. Instead there's another thing to worry about: private sessions with the Gamemakers - the ones in charge. Our scores will affect too much. It needs to be high... too low and you'll be targetted for weakness.

District 1 is first, as always, and as I head down the training area ready, I hear commotion. Yelling, fighting... I break into a run, spotting what's going on.

It's Cub and Scar, standing by a training area with a couple Peacekeepers arguing. Scar's been hurt, bleeding, but covers the injury with something from the survival area on helpful plants. Cub's on his feet, training sword in hand.

'It was an accident...' He swears. 'We didn't mean to do anything.' I listen as I spot BigB, talking with the District 10 tribute I think is called Pearl, and walk over.

'What happened?'

He signals to the survival area, which is little but a smouldering mess now.

'District 12 tried some more flaming arrows but... it failed.' Pearl explains. 'The Peacekeepers shot when he tried to argue and... Cub got defensive.'

'Put down your sword and go for private training.' The peacekeeper's voice comes out robotic. For a moment I think they're talking to me, before Cub stalks away.

Cub's PoV

If I hated the games when I was reaped, I despise them now.

It's impossible to keep calm as I enter the room. My plan already in mind, I walk straight to the selection of weapons and take out a crossbow. It takes a second to prepare, dropping it as I find gunpowder, paper, and a couple small materials snuck in from home. I use some kind of sap glue thing to stick it together, fitting it into the crossbow.

I turn to face the gamemakers again, anger filling me.

'If I had time I'd make more.' I say. 'But this is for Scar.'

I shoot it at them.

The firework explodes on impact. Everything explodes into a ball of colour. Harmless (mostly) but enough of a shock.

'You can't stop me.' I smile at the sound of glass breaking, watching as the gamemakers return to their smouldering chairs. 'You can't do anything to stop me.'

Peacemakers enter. I aim the crossbow at them.

'Try anything as I shoot.' But they see it's unloaded, continuing, dragging me away.

'WE WILL HAVE FREEDOM!' I yell. 'WE WILL HAVE JUSTICE!'

It's the last thing I do as one hits me and I fall unconscious.

Scar's PoV:

I wait ages for my private training. I knew I was going to be last, but it's still too long. My arm hurts the whole time from being shot, and my options of what to do fade as I try everything, and fail. Everything hurts.

Cub doesn't return. I wait, watching as one by one the others enter, and come back out. My panic grows with my pain. Grian stares at me, and as I walk over for my own turn whispers.

'I told you.'

I glare at him as I enter the room.

They're half-distracted as I try to find something I can still handle. Soot covers a lot of the room, carnage I assume is from Cub. If they killed him... at least he went out with a bang.

And then I realise what I can do.

My mind set, I grab flint and steel, then everything flammable I can find... it takes a while to lay it out in a way that will actually work, before I set it alight.

They look over, and I smile as they read what I wrote.

DON'T MESS WITH THE CONVEX

'The Convex?'

'Yeah, me and Cub's team name.' I explain to Wilbur later on as we wait for the scores. According to him, they'll be listed in order. Apparently BigB stayed safe with archery and swordplay. It's hard to tell who of me or him Wilbur's less impressed with.

'He's alive, by the way. Peacekeepers got too excited dealing with him... he shot a firework at the Gamemakers.'

'Good. They deserve it.'

'They also have cameras.' Wilbur shoots back. 'So be careful.'

'They know we hate them.' I continue waiting. 'I don't care.'

The scores start to come up.

'Our first tribute, Cubfan has... wow... 12 points!'

My mouth falls open. I barely take in the other scores. Etho only got 9. The only other high score is False with 10. I wait for my own name to come up. Maybe they were impressed with the accuracy... or resourcefulness.

'And finally... Scar Goodtimes, with... another full 12 points!'

'Oh my goodness...'

'Well done!' BigB smiles. He only got a 6. Wilbur isn't speaking. 'They must've liked your attempt.'

'I'm better than Etho... oh my goodness...'

'This isn't good.' Wilbur tries to tell me. I frown.

'They've given me an ego boost.'

'And you know what else they've done?' Wilbur shoots back. 'They made you a target.'