The 50th Hunger Games (ON HOLD)

Chapter 6

A/N: The next chapter in this fic. It's also the firs Games chapter! :D From now on there is probably going to be very limited dialouge between characters so I'm sorry if you like lots of dialouge! :)

Copyright: I do not own the Hunger Games or any of the amazing characters! :)

Last night I managed to get home and get to my room before my father spotted me. Which for me is a great stroke of luck; at least for the next few weeks he is going to be busy with the Games. And today is the day it starts, the whole Capitol seems to be out in the streets, celebrating the start of the Games and living so close to the training center I heard everything as I tried to get to sleep. But even if last night had not consisted of screaming, cheering and laughing I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway. Today my dear Haymitch would enter and unknown arena where he must fight to the death with all those other kids. Most are bigger and more muscular then he is and could easily break his neck with a twist of their arm. But let’s not think about that I tell myself, he promised to win… he will win!

The rest of the day I mope around the house in silence, ignore everything and everyone including my weeping mother, which is usual on the opening of the Games. My sister is bounding around the house ecstatic as usual; she is singing the Panem anthem to herself and even repeating over and over “Let the 50th Hunger Games begin”.  The time rolls around quickly to the start of the games. 2pm like the Reapings only this is more celebrated. I have a hint of an idea about what the arena will be this year, I didn’t tell Haymitch because I had already revealed to much about the force field but I saw my father sketching a beautiful meadow.  And it is exactly that.

As we watch the TV we see a glimpse of all 48 tributes faces as they rise from the tubes leading them to the arena. Most tributes are shocked with mouths open is gigantic O shapes and eyes wide. Haymitch and Maysliee both look overly happy; their surprise lasts about half the time of the other tributes. I am a bit stunned myself, the arena is a huge meadow with patches of beautiful rainbow flowers all around the area, and the cornucopia resides in the middle of the meadow. The meadow stretches for kilometers in every direction, in one direction holds a large wood land and in another snowcapped mountains.  The sky is a beautiful azure blue with fluffy white clouds which, amazingly, almost look like huge marshmallows. Bright colourful song birds fly over heard whistling tunes and singing happily unaware of what is going to happen beneath them in 20 seconds. The camera scans the faces of all the tributes again in the last 15 seconds. Most still look completely dazed and shocked, some are even sniffing the air, and then the odd one or two people, like Haymitch who have their eye on one thing. The cornucopia.  The voice of many screaming Capitol people count down the last 10 seconds and the gong sounds sending a whirl wind of havoc through the arena. Haymitch is already at the cornucopia armed with his choice of weaponry, a large backpack and his very own vast amount of supplies. He heads towards the woods before most of the other tributes have even set foot off their plates. I can’t help but feel confident that Haymitch will stand a chance. As he said in his interview with dear old Caesar “They’ll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual” and he is very right about that.

But, as always the first few hours of the Games are the most entertaining. A huge girl from District 2 carries a whole set of knives, being the second to arrive at the cornucopia and throws them at many of the other tributes that are making their way towards the cornucopia. She hits most of her targets square on with a few exceptions of the fast children that dodge her throws. Alone she kills off a good five tributes, most from the poorer districts. Another career a boy from 1 kills another 3 with his weapon of choice the sword, and even using his bare hands to break their necks.

 From the bloodbath it cuts to tributes running from the cornucopia area, Haymitch is heading deep into the woods, ahead of majority of the tributes. Maysliee Donner the girl from 12 does the same, they both seem pretty comfortable in their surroundings.  Some other tributes head towards the mountains.

Over the whole day 18 tributes are killed in total. All the canons sound one after the other about 8 hours after the Games started.

As night approaches the camera cuts to several different tributes setting up camp, the careers are in a huge pack with tents and sleeping bags wrapped around them, one person sits guard for certain amounts of time. The whole of district 10 have allied and are sharing one sleeping bag between them in a small cave like area in the mountain range. Haymitch is alone hidden beneath a mass of bushes in the woods, smart enough to retrieve a sleeping bag ot two he lies sleeping with a knife in his hand ready for attack. And because of his rest he misses the Panem seal shining in the sky and the list of dead tributes. Eliminated from the Games are a girl from district 1, another two girls from 3, a boy from 4, a boy and two girls from 5, a girl from 6, two girls from 7, a girl from 8, a boy from 9, impressively all of 10 are still in, a boy and girl from 11 and another boy girl duo from 12. The Panem seal shows once more and the sky darkens again.

I quickly shut the TV off, there will be a break as the tributes do nothing and I take this time to go and do some of my own stuff. Well at least try to, I am to numb with fear of what this year’s Games will bring, I can only begin to imagine what sort of creatures lie in those woods or what horrifying twist awaits those who headed to the mountain ranges. I shake the thoughts out of my head, it’s best not to think about and just wait and see what happens. No matter what Haymitch will outsmart all the Game Maker moves or the tributes; he is too smart to fall for any of the tricks they are sure to pull on him. I am certain of that. I smile to myself and get ready for bed. As I hop into bed I have to shut out my mother’s loud weeping in the room across the hall from mine. Each year it is like this, her crying, my sister being overly excited and not caring about our mothers worry, and me being indifferent about the whole thing. But I will change that and walk quietly to my mother and father’s room, knowing my father won’t be home tonight is reassuring as I snuggle into my mother’s bed, wrapping my small arms around her.

“It’s okay mother!” I say soothingly to her.

“Oh, Effie, how do you stand it?” she sobs sinking into my embrace.

“I don’t mother, I don’t” I say and that is our last spoken words before we both drift into a restless sleep filled with nightmares. Only mine are of what could happen my mothers are of what has happened.