A Snake's Game

Day 4 - Broken Souls PART 1

Umm so I really didn't think about this until I wrote it but now I kinda realize the continuity error I have...So here's what we gon' do, I'm going to keep Frostee's age at 13 but (this is the change peoples) I'm going to up Sissy's age from whatever her age is in the series (I think 9???) to 12...so she can participate in the series. Also, they aren't siblings here which makes it easier for me to write... Alrighty now that that is said, let's get on with it!

If there was one thing Frostee hated more than anything, it was the Hunger Games. How it made him feel weak and useless.

Most people in his district thought he had no chance of survival. He was young, small, scrawny, unsuited for combat, timid, and socially inept. Forget the games, he hardly has a chance in his hometown.

So he proved them wrong.

He taught himself how to fix and build machines, which he kept close and secret. God knows what'll happen if anyone catches wind of his creations, whether they'll be stolen and sold to the highest bidder or if he'll be taken and sold to the capitol.

It turns out that it makes no difference.

*****

"Frostee Benson!"

As Peacekeepers take him to the stage, all eyes are on him, wide with shock.

He has been chosen as the District 3 Tribute.

He has been chosen to die in an arena full of kids who are just like him.

Everything happens so quickly. He hardly engages in conversation with his trainer, a kind-hearted older man named Ricky who had suffered spinal damage during his participation in the Games. The interviews, makeovers, even Dann, a girl he had never heard of before, who was picked to die alongside him, scarcely register with him.

He recalls breaking down later, in his extravagant new room. He curled up on the bed and cried, blaming everything that brought him here.

*****

Cisco Renaldo from District 7 is a volunteer.

It was all over the news—no one ever willingly entered the Games (unless you're a Career, bred for the purpose), and Frostee is intrigued. He looked further into it; he'd volunteered for his friend, Mark Payne. No one had taken the place of the girl who came with him, a girl nicknamed Pizzarave.

Was he brave or stupid? Noble or arrogant? 

(Suicidal or rebellious?)

Frostee met him for the first time in the training hall, and he's just as cool in person. He's strong and can compete against any of the careers with a win on his side and his grin in answer to the glares and murmurs of other Tributes. The girl - Pizzarave - rolled her eyes and shoved him on the shoulder as she grabbed a spear.

Maybe he would have a chance if he built up the courage to talk to him as an ally.

That never happened though.

*****

"These are cool."

Frostee, startled, whirled around to see a small girl standing behind him, looking over his shoulder. She stood over his workbench, ogling at the gadgets and trinkets lining the polished surface with genuine interest.

And then she turned to Frostee and smiled— "These what you're gonna use in the arena?"

Frostee willed his mouth and brain to work and nodded. "Y-Yeah. I mean, what's the point of having all these parts if no one's gonna use them, right?"