Red. What a beautiful colour.
The colour of roses.
The colour of blood.
The colour of rubies.
The colour of fire.
The colour of pain. Danger. War.
These thoughts consumed me as I stared down at my hand, watching as a dot of blood sprouted from my cut and began to roll down the palm of my hand. It left a red stain in its wake, eery against my pale skin. I lean down towards my cut and begin to lick at it, staring uncomprehendingly ahead of me. I could taste the metal in my mouth, the sweet taste of my own blood.
'30 seconds until launch' the robotic, female voice announced loudly over the speaker. Gripping the shard of glass I was holding tighter in my fist, feeling the rough edges digging into my soft skin, I stiffly walked over to the glass tube. The piece of glass slid from my hand, falling to the ground and shattering. Fresh blood dripped down onto it, and my vision blurred freakishly. I clasped my other hand over my cut as I stepped onto the pedestal, my movements almost robotic, as I waited for the launch.
I could almost taste the flesh of the other tributes. I could almost smell the wonderful scent of fresh blood, could almost see it spill to the ground from an open wound, turning the green grass to crimson. I could almost hear the sobbing of children begging for their lives, their screams as the fatal hit was delivered.
My thoughts were interrupted as the pedestal suddenly sprung to life, lurching upwards and slowly raising me towards the roof at the top of the tube. I wiggled in anticipation. Suddenly, a blinding light shone into the tube, making me squint. The pedestal raised me up to the arena and suddenly stopped, and I quickly looked around at my surroundings.
I was standing on a tiny island, only large enough to compensate for my pedestal. Extending from my little island were two rope bridges. One led to a large island that was almost completely forest, and the other led to the cornucopia. I looked around at the arena, my jaw dropped open as I surveyed the islands, attached to each other by rope bridges. There were islands above me, below me, to my left, to my right, everywhere. That's when I realised it.
Below the islands, there was nothing but blue skies and clouds. If you fell off your island you were dead.
I readied myself to run to the cornucopia, my eyes focused. I had the advantage - I was directly facing the cornucopia opening.
'Ladies and Gentlemen, let the games... begin!'
Then the gong sounded, and I sprinted forward onto the rope bridge. I ran into the mouth of the cornucopia, and grabbed a large backpack, along with a large assortment of daggers and throwing knives. I shoved one throwing knife and one dagger into knife scabbards that hung from my belt, shoved the rest into my backpack, then bolted from the cornucopia. I pulled out my dagger and charged for the closest tribute - Chrystal.
She looked prepared as I approached and retaliated quickly, kicking me hard in the stomach and making me fly back a few metres. I gasped as I hit the ground, and pain sprung up in my right hip. I looked up at Chrystal and hissed loudly, my lips curled back in a snarl. Chrystal looked startled, and I took the opportunity to leap to my feet and run towards her, arms outstretched. I latched onto her arm and, without warning, sunk my teeth into her flesh.
Chrystal's scream tore through the air like a bolt of lightning. She yanked her arm away, leaving a trail of blood running down her forearm.
"What the hell?" she screamed. "You freak!"
I lunged for her again, dagger in hand, and stabbed her through the thigh. Chrystal was sobbing now, her cries loud and filled with pain. I tackled her to the ground and sat on top of her, smirking away.
"What first?" I said slowly. My head cocked to the side, a sickly smile spreading across my face. "You no need eyes... yes?"
"NO! NO! I need my eyes!" Chrystal said in a panic. "Don't stab my eyes."
I stared down at her, observing her face as if it were a block of wood and I was deciding which pattern to carve on it. I met her gaze, my face emotionless.
"No."
Without another word, I brought my dagger up with a vicious battle cry, and plunged it into Chrystal's eye. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as blood spilled onto the grass around us. Sickly crimson blood splattered onto my face, and I smiled. I licked at the blood on my hand, then immediately began to claw at Chrystal's face. More blood sprung up from the scratches.
Suddenly, I heard pounding footsteps running up from behind me. My lip curled in a snarl and I whirled around, drawing my throwing knife and hurling it at my attacker.
Sparrow cried out as the knife hit her in her chest. It hadn't hit her heart, but I already knew she was a goner. She fell to the ground, eyes wide with desperation, and clawed at the grass, her fingers digging into the soft dirt. After a few seconds, she went still.
I turned back to Chrystal, and pulled my dagger out of her eye. More blood spattered around us. Chrystal was gasping for life, her breaths short and jagged as she sucked in air. I jammed my dagger into her stomach, inciting more screams of pain, and began to move it in a circular motion, as if I were stirring soup. Chrystal made a noise I couldn't even define as blood gurgled out of her mouth. After a few moments, her eyes glazed over, and I knew she was dead. I ripped my dagger from her body and quickly stood up, licking my blood covered hands as I did so.
I heard a loud battle cry from behind me, and footsteps pounded towards me. My head immediately, cocked to the side, and a smile found its way across my face. Just seconds before the person reached me, I whirled around, holding my dagger in front of me. Chase saw the dagger and his mouth opened in a silent scream, but it was too late. He didn't slow down in time, and he ran right into my knife. He jerked violently, blood staining his shirt and running down my arm, and he stared down at the dagger, almost in disbelief.
I bared my teeth at him, showing off the blood dripping from my teeth.
"You pick wrong person to mess with" I snarled. I shoved the dagger further into his stomach, inciting a howl of pain from Chase. I ripped out the knife, them, to Chase's horror, I plunged my hand into the crevice it had created.
Chase screamed a bloodcurdling scream - a scream so loud it could awaken the dead. I relished in feeling the blood cascade down my arm, hearing Chase's tortured screams. I shoved my hand further into the wound, and my hands closed around something, probably an organ. Without hesitation, I heaved my hand out of his body, yanking out the organ with it. A horribly ripping sound rung around the arena, mingling with Chase's scream of pain. Chase hacked up a mouthful of blood, but I didn't even notice. I just smirked, watching as he collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach with an expression of pain on his face. Soon enough, he went still.
I need to go.
I quickly gathered up my weapons, retrieving my throwing knife from Sparrow's corpse, and ran for the rope bridge connected to my pedestal, heading for the large island leading away from my pedestal. The bridge wobbled underneath my feet, and I cursed as the bridge swayed in the breeze.
Suddenly, the bridge jerked violently. I screamed and fell to the ground. I looked over to see Esperanza, smirking away as she hacked at the rope holding my bridge up. I shook my head desperately and sprinted for my pedestal. Just before I reached safety, Esperanza chopped through the ropes, and the bridge disappeared beneath me, falling into nothingness. I screamed as I hung onto the pedestal with my fingertips, breathing deeply with the effort to stay up. I heard Esperanza's laugh from behind me, and a snarl found its way across my face. I'm going to kill her. I'm going to tear her limb from limb. I'm going to watch her bleed and die.
But soon, the reality of the situation sunk in. I was hanging from an island in the sky, suspended in a state of limbo. I tried to haul myself up and, after a moment, I managed to get up, my feet scrambling on the soil as I did so. I stood up and turned to face the bloodbath, watching the deaths unfold. Callisto charged after Cotton, her expression murderous, and as she reached him she brought her warhammer down hard on his head. Blood splattered on the golden walls of the cornucopia and across Callisto's face, and she smirked. I grinned as I saw India tackle Esperanza to the ground and begin to stab her viciously in the gut. Esperanza's cries could probably be heard all the way over in District 12.
Cloud was halfway across his bridge, heading for one of the islands, but Titan suddenly leapt onto the bridge with him and began to stab at him. Cloud tried to fight him off and, although it was quite an even battle, Cloud accidently stepped backwards and stumbled, and that one wrong move was enough for Titan to haul him over the edge of the bridge and send him hurtling to his death.
I turned on my heel and ran over the rope bridge towards the large island, my bag jostling on my shoulder. I reached the island and huffed out a loud breath. I turned towards the Cornucopia. Blood was splattered all over the ground. The careers were huddled in the centre, oblivious to the amount of bodies littering the ground. I walked into the forest, looking around at the trees. They were all oaks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Six deaths.
"Where's Sparrow?" I heard a voice sound a few metres away. I froze, my eyes wide, my feet frozen in mid step, as I heard Elaine's voice cut through the silence like a knife.
"I'm not sure. I think she was killed." A voice I recognized as Cherry sounded through the air. I crept closer and peered through the leaves. Cherry and Elaine sat in a small clearing, going through their packs and talking. I smirked. Fresh meat.
"I think I saw a berry bush back there." Cherry said, standing up and brushing dirt off of her clothes. She picked up her pack, slung it over her shoulder, then walked through the trees. I cursed and crouched down, trying to stay out of sight. Fortunately, Cherry wasn't looking my way, if she was she would have spotted me for sure. I began to chew my thumb, waiting for her to disappear from sight. After a few moments, I burst from the bushes, drawing my throwing knife, and hurtling it straight for Elaine. Elaine jumped back with a scream, missing a fatal hit by millimetres. The knife stuck itself inside a tree trunk with a resounding thunk. Elaine stared at me, her eyes wide in horror. I drew my dagger and ran for her, my face twisted in a snarl. Elaine drew a small knife she had won at the cornucopia and slashed at my arm. I cried out as it created a gash along my arm, and a wave of rage filled me. I surged forward, my arm outstretched. Elaine tried to back away, but before she could move, I skewered her through the stomach with my dagger.
BOOM!
"ELAINE!" I heard a scream from behind me. I turned around and saw Cherry, her mouth wide open and trembling in horror. I pulled my dagger from Elaine's stomach, and she crumpled to the ground like a ragdoll. Cherry's face crumpled like a paper bag, her eyes watery. I licked the blood from my fingers and took a step towards Cherry, a disturbing grin on my face. Then, I uttered a single word.
"Run."
Cherry didn't need to be told twice. After one final horrified look at Elaine's corpse, she stumbled backwards and then turned on her heel, bolting towards a nearby rope bridge.
I giggled to myself, then began to chew the skin on my arm, knawing on the soft flesh. I looked up at the sky as the anthem began to play.
The first face to appear was Chrystal from District 6. I smiled as I recalled her death. The next was Chase from the same District. He was so much fun to torture. I still had his blood caked on my arms.
The next face was Sparrow, followed by her district partner Cotton. Next was Cloud, from District 9. The next face was Esperanza from District 10. I was glad she was dead. I almost died because of her. The final face was Elaine. I smirked as I looked down at my hands. Her blood was still covering it.
After going around the island and chopping all of the ropes connecting to it, to isolate myself from the other tributes, I set up camp. I lay in my sleeping bag, looking up at the sky.
Then my eyes shut, and I drifted off to sleep.