We all lay on the ground, exhausted from last night’s event. Adam was gone but that was no big loss. He was getting on my nerves anyways. What scared me was that I could still here my sister’s voice screaming for my name – calling for help. I shivered slightly at the thought. The Capitol would pay. The sun was well above the Colosseum, but we were too tired to hunt. I guess I should round them up and make them work – I’d rather have tired allies, that way they would be easier to get rid of. I took a drink and snacked on some unknown food – that tasted terrible – and stood up. Smoke.
“Does anyone smell smoke?” Ula asked, some people muttered agreements. I huge gust of wind blew and that was all we could smell.
The smoke filled the air. I walked around the Cornucopia and found a huge fire raging towards us. It couldn’t be natural – the Gamemakers wanted us to go somewhere. It was coming from the West side of the arena and coming up the North and South sounds. That only meant one thing: it was herding us to the East, where the Colosseum was. In the time it took me to think up of this, the fire was less than 100 meters from us. I jogged around the Cornucopia to find everyone getting their weapons,
“Tyber!” Phae cried, she had some weird claw gloves on, “I thought you died,”
You wish! I so badly wanted to hit her. If I was dead she would be jumping up and down with joy, same for me if she died – she was definitely the threat in this.
“We’re heading to the Colosseum!” I shouted, the fire was loud and crackling. I grabbed my sword, bag and spear and started running. It was hard running when you were already half asleep but I could feel the adrenaline running through my body. I glanced behind my shoulder to see the fire we slowly gaining on us. The Colosseum shouldn’t be a long run, but it would still be tiring. Thankfully Career training has made me fit. I pushed my legs harder and ran faster. But I still had one thing on my mind: Why do they want us all at the Colosseum? It was a place where people fought, I wondered what they had in mind.
**
We were underneath the battle grounds. I could hear people cheering but ignored them the best I could. Under the Colosseum, they have secret compartments where they used to put the lions and battlers for the fights – that was where we were. All the tributes had come – and me, being the male from District 1 meant I had to fight first. The put me in a costume that was chainmail armor but no helmet, I still looked like a total idiot. At least I had a sword.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Ruby’s high-pitched voice echoed under the battle stage. The cheering now stopped. I was guessing people from the Capitol were here to watch. “Please welcome our first round fighters: Tyberius Mitango and Jonah Ryelin!” the cheering started again and I felt like I was coming up into the Hunger Games all over again. I was pushed up and I quickly took in the view. Capitol people lined the balconies and in the center of one end – directly in front of me – sat the President and Antonio Silver himself. The almighty Gamemaker! Almighty Gamemaker my ass, that sounds better. And next to Antonio sat his two daughters: Juliette and Faye. Apparently he was in a little trouble with his position – Juliette was in the running. I smirked at the thought of his beheading. Good riddance! I directed my gaze to scrawny kid in front of me. He seemed calm and collected but I could take care of him, he looked about 16 but had no muscle compared to me. He had armor like mine on and a similar sword.
“Let the first Gladiator fight begin!” Ruby shouted and hit the gong next to her.
I decided to let Jonah attack first. We circled each other slowly. He didn’t look like he was going to attack. I sighed. Who cares? I lunged forward aiming for his legs – that weren’t protected well – but he flicked my sword away with ease. I was surprised by the strength. Suddenly pillars rose up from the ground and obstacles began flying around the place. So this is the twist, I knew this was too easy. I ducked as a mace swept over my head and took cover behind a pillar. Flames whooshed from tiny holes in the pillars. I took a breathe and ran. I jumped over the first flame and slid under the second before stopping behind a pillar. I was two away from Jonah now. A knife whizzed by – just in front of my face and I ducked for the next one. I rolled out and dodge flying knives and axes before I flung my sword at Jonah. I snatched an axe from mid-air – momentarily spraining my wrist from the force – and swung at him wildly.
“Woo! Go Tyber!” Phae’s scream was much louder than any of the cheering. I stopped for a moment. At least she cared about me – or her fake side did. But I stopped for too long. A huge ball whacked me in the stomach and knocked me into a pillar. The pillar crashed down just as I rolled out of the way. I groaned. How could I kill him with deadly objects flying all over the place? They weren’t making this easy. But I was getting angry now. I stood up – ignoring the pain in my gut – and picked up the axe I had earlier. I spun it round and round – knocking any objects coming at me to the ground. I walked quickly then burst into a run. I leapt through the flames – I think I may have burnt some leg hairs – and smashed Jonah’s sword. The look on his face was priceless. He scuttled away under some flames and I ducked behind his pillar. I look to Antonio. He was grinning at his work. I moved my gaze to Faye and gave her a wink, I could see Juliette’s scowl from here. I smiled before going back to the task. Killing Jonah. I slid my axe away and somersaulted to pick up and knife that was lodged into a pillar. I yanked it out – which was harder than I thought because I had to jump away as another metal ball came at me. I ran to Jonah. As I got to him, he spun around with his fist and landed on my already-sore stomach. I groaned and flicked my knife at him as I fell. I heard a satisfying yell of pain and got up. I punched him in the nose first. His blood splattered over me. I punched him in the temple and he fell to the ground, his eyes unfocused for a moment but he still tried to crawl away. I brought him to his knees and grabbed his head with my hands and twisted quickly and hard. I heard the snap as his body went limp and I dropped him to the ground. The Capitol cheered my name. I may as well keep up with the act. I lifted my hands in the air and smiled.
“And that makes Tyber our winner! Congratulations and may the odds be ever in your favour!” Ruby’s voice echoed through the Colosseum. I gave Antonio a small smirk. Almost as if to say, ‘You’re next,’ to him and with that I went back under.
**
I bandaged my injuries up myself. I sat under the Colosseum by myself. I was feeling guilty about the killing now. What if he had family? I couldn’t imagine leaving Jewel on her own. But maybe I was getting too soft. My parents would rather me die trying than win without killing anyone. It’s a complicated world.
“Phae’s fighting now,” Eden’s voice was something I wasn’t used to. We weren’t actually meant to see each other; we had our own separate places. But we could easily sneak around. He didn’t usually talk but I knew I could trust him somehow.
I wanted to say ‘Thanks, I’ll be up soon’ but it wouldn’t help me. Instead I said,
“Whatever, I might come up later,” But I wanted to watch Phae’s fight. So as soon as Eden left, I rushed up to a viewing area alone. Phae and Rex were already rising from the ground. I obviously missed Ruby’s announcement – which is no big deal, really. She’s annoying anyways. Back to the fight: Rex was well-built and much larger than Phae. I had no doubt that she could handle herself, but it was a worry. I don’t know why I was worrying. She’s a cunning little weasel in the Games. Tyber! Just watch the fight and learn how she fights. I was distracted for some stupid reason. The gong rang out and Rex just ran at her. Phae side-stepped with ease but got knocked back and Rex spun around unexpectedly. Now the obstacles came. But this time, it was a little different. The pillars shot up but now – instead of weapons being flung around – mutts burst up in tiny puffs every time you stood somewhere wrong. I see the movements on her lips and knew she was swearing. She slashed at the mutts with her sword, and I noticed she had one of her gloves on with retractable claws. I was worried that she’d get eaten by mutts for a moment but she batted them away easily. She was running away from Rex – which I thought was a bit odd because she was definitely the best girl in the Career Academy in 1. But she wasn’t running fast. She was killing as many mutts as possible while keep an average speed. Rex caught up, then she made her move. She sprinted and jumped off a mutt then flipped off the wall and clawed Rex’s face. My mouth dropped open. How the hell did she do that? Rex stumbled back, luckily Phae had a mutt gnawing at her leg, otherwise he would have been dead. Rex kicked his leg and tripped Phae over. I found myself barracking for Phae, I didn’t exactly know why. I just didn’t want her to die – which I couldn’t care less about….. Her sword clattered to the ground but she jumped up and tackled Rex as he was trying to get up. Rex’s face was coated with blood and shortly, his body would be too. Phae clawed him as she was thrown to the ground but she got back up and punched him straight in his chest. She twisted her arm to make the claws do some damage inside him and then slashed open his stomach. His intestines, stomach, liver and other numerous organs spilled to the ground next to her. For a moment she seemed fascinated by the organs but she shook her head and gave a curtsey to the crowd. She blew kisses and waved to everyone as the crowd cheered and Ruby did the announcements. I made my way down to the holding rooms, making sure I wasn’t seen. Phae’s door was open and she was already out of her armor and roughly bandaging some of her cuts from the mutts.
“Need some help?” I asked,
“With what?” she giggled dumbly,
“Don’t muck around Phae. There’s no one here – no need for your stupid act,” I said, taking a seat next to her, I began to bandage her arm that had a long cut running from her elbow to her wrist. She sighed.
“You can’t talk. Even though you did it back in 1, you act all the time.” Phae – the real Phae – said.
“True,” I shrugged, then added, “You fought well.”
“You too.” She replied and gave me a genuine smile. I heard someone walk in just as I finished bandaging her arm,
“Eww! Eden! Tyber cootified me again. You have to make him stop.” Phae ran and hid behind Eden. I sighed to myself. At least I talked to her – I just wanted to have a normal conversation. That doesn’t mean I like her though – she’s still a piece of wood to me….. I got up and walked out of the room. And so, the Hunger Games went on.