Culling

Part I • Chapter IV

I could have kissed her.

Crossing her arms, she leaned back, closed her eyes and sighed. "We were supposed to leave a bit earlier, but you being selected as a tribute caused quite the stir. No one knew what to make of it, and we needed to have some questions answered before we left. One of the main concerns was if you could actually be a tribute."

Khloe looked back at me, her arms still crossed. "As you know, it is unprecedented that a woman be selected. After of the ceremony and the shock wore off, there were a few people who actually volunteered to take your place. Apparently chivalry does still exist and all that. However, the rules state that once the reaping has ended that the tributes are finalized that you are contractually obligated to take part of the games."

It was too much. I sighed and put my face in my hands. "How did I end up as a candidate anyway?"

There was an awkward silence and I raised my head enough to look at her.

Khloe looked uncomfortable and cringed.

"Just tell me, my day can't possibly get any worse." I said, knowing it was probably something awful and not just a clerical error.

"As you are aware, you need to be sixteen to be selected. At that time, you have sixteen tickets put into the lottery. The number of tickets in the process match your age by year. However, if an upcoming game falls in a year when the tribute would be sixteen before the games start then they could potentially also rack up more tickets during that year. This is generally by a method of punishment or from a parent or guardian selling their name for the tickets. As a female, you never had tickets put in under your name for your age, but..."

Khloe shifted uncomfortably, but to her credit she looked directly at me without an ounce of pity.

I knew where this was headed, everything made more sense now. Mother being worse off than before, her infrequent periods of lucidity, and even her lack of surprise that I was a candidate.

"It seems as though your mother had been entering you since your last birthday. No one at the office actually paid attention to the name she submitted for the tickets, so it was completely overlooked." She frowned. "We checked into the legality, but technically the rules do not state that the Culling is a male only event. Officials have decided that there is nothing we can do except to proceed as normally as possible."

I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face on them.

So I was screwed then?

I thought of the woman I had thought was my mother. How could someone do something like that? This wasn't just a lack of maternal instincts at play, it was inhuman.

Khloe must have realized that I didn't want to know anymore, and that I wasn't in the mood to talk, so she just patted my shoulder comfortingly. We both sat in silence the rest of the trip, both lost in our own thoughts.