Chapter 5

    “Callen, Veronica!”, A too-happy voice chirped from a door behind me, “Diner is ready!” I opened my eyes and looked back only to see Frankie’s silhouette quickly make it’s way back into the kitchen on the other end of the hallway. I looked to my left to see Veronica yawning, who had obviously fell asleep too.
     “Come on,” I said to Veronica, offering my hand to help her up. She took it and smiled. We then began our way down the hallway, to the kitchen. the room we entered was a calming rose, unlike the outside which was full-out neon pink. There was an extravagant feast laid out before us on a huge table. The foods ranged from different lasagnas to some type of roasted bird I didn’t know the name of to assorted fruits of every type imaginable. At one side of the table was Frankie and Alex.
    “Why don’t you sit down?” Alex asked in a commanding yet soft tone. Me and Veronica complied. The chairs were made of pure oak, a very rare species nowadays.  Frankie was looking at me a strange way.
    “It’s sad you’re about to die,” he said with a pout, “you’re really cute!” I didn’t know how to react other than stare.
    “Thank you!” Veronica giddily cooed, assuming the gesture was directed at her.
    “Umm...,” he staled, “uh... your welcome?” I simply shook my head then took a bite of the burning hot bird that now sat on my plate.
    “I can tell you both are experienced in combat” Alex stated out of the blue.
    “Veronica may be, but I’m not” I simply replied. I knew Veronica had placed 7th in the national archery competition. She had a huge ceremony in the capital, her family even got to attend. I may have placed 108th in all of Snickery in free-style marshal arts which is outstanding, but I had a feeling that real combat made decisions much more rash than fighting with rules and regulations.
    “By the look of you two, and by the quickness your mind had with that speech, you definitely have potential.” he finished before taking a large bite out of a round, yellow fruit.
    “So what are our training plans?” Veronica asked excitedly. She was the only person I could think of that would get excited over a training regimen.
    “For you to make allies”, he said much to Veronica’s dismay.
    “B-but how are we going to even stand a chance if our mentor, who’s been through all of this already, won’t even help us get in shape to fight?!?”
    “Well, Miss. Hammond, it seems to me you already have the capability to do that yourself. And no one knows your limits as well as you do. Just don’t push your self to the point of exhaustion during the training period and pick up some new skills at training booths. The rest is up to you.” he finished while looking down at his plate, toying with a piece of lasagna. Veronica looked at him slightly agitated by what he said.
    I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect in the training center. I knew we would be thrown into a giant building to sharpen our survival skills for a few days then we would be put out into some unknown location and be forced to kill each other. But I didn’t know what types of booths they had set up or how long we would be training each day.    
    Veronica then simply stated, “Well, I have already got a training plan set up for us in my mind.” And like that there was no more conversation, but I couldn’t help to notice that Alex looked sad. After dinner me and Veronica returned to our recliners.
    “So, what’s you’re plan?” I asked Veronica curious.
    “Well,” she began, “We’re both good at archery, but since only one of us can have a bow, I think it would be best if I had it. Let’s face it, I have better aim.” she joked.
    “But what will I use?” I pouted.
    “You don’t need any Capital-given tool you have natural wits for survival. But I’m sure they’ll give you something.” she stated matter-of-factly. Ever since someone a few matches back took every single weapon hidden in the arena and burned them to ashes except for a rifle he kept for himself, then made things boring by killing everyone in the first day, the judges now screen each person to decide what weapon they use best. And once your dead, if someone tries to take it... they’ll be blown apart by explosives implanted in each one.
    After that we made our way into our bedrooms to prepare for the next day.******************************************************************************
    “Callen?” Veronica asked from the door of my room. My eyes fluttered open from a strangely peaceful sleep.
    “Yeah?” I asked sitting up.
    “We’re getting ready to land and we have a hour and a half before meeting with president Aubrey. Frankie told me to get you up then for you to wake Alex while I shower” she said sleepily, (obviously deprived of the restful night I received) before continuing down the hallway to the bathrooms.
    I pushed the large comforter off of my self and made my way to Alex’s room. I knocked on the wide metal door but there was no answer, so I let my self in. I found Alex dead asleep with a picture in his hand.
    I wonder who it is? I thought. I quietly crept up to the bed but before I got close enough to look at the picture I made sure Alex was still unconscious before peeking. I saw his face had dried tear streaks all around his cheeks. His eyebrows twitched the slightest bit but I decided the risk was still worth it. I slowly stepped over and made out a boy around my age, maybe a year older, that looked exactly like Alex; he had the dark hair and green eyes.
    Is this his son? I thought. But before I could come to a conclusion I found Alex up on his feet, his arm making it’s way around my neck attempting to put me in a choke hold. I let him put his arm fully around my neck. My left arm was wedged in between us but I managed to worm it out and reach behind us and grabbed a lock of his short hair then pulled back, making his head point up. I considered taking my right arm and punching him in the throat but I didn’t want to hurt him and I was still in his strong grasp, so I just swung a foot behind his feet and knocked them out from under him then we hit the floor with a thud.
    “What do you want?” he grunted still choking me while I was still on top of him.
    “I was told to wake you up but you wouldn’t answer the door”, was my raspy reply.
    “Oh... well, it looks like I was right about you having a chance of surviving” he laughed. I just smiled and helped him up, still wondering who the boy had been.
    I quickly showered and put on the black suit I had been instructed to wear, it looked similar to Veronica’s dress; plain, black, and simple. We then rode an extravagant bus to the training center. As we got on, me and Veronica made our way to the back of the bus.
    “Veronica, this morning when I woke Alex up I saw something... strange”
     “What did you see?” She asked curious.
    “I saw a picture. He was holding it when I woke him up, before e nearly deprived me of the right to ever breath again. Besides that, it was of a boy our age and it looked exactly like him, and I think it was his son.” I finished.
    “Wow... you had an eventful morning.” she laughed.  
    Once we got there, I couldn’t believe how huge the building was. I saw all the tributes in the same attire as us making their way up to huge pedestals that looked like classical Greek columns. All of them had two thrones, one for each sector,  where all one-hundred of us will be introduced by none other than president Aubrey.
    We got out of or bus and made our way to the pedestals in front of the building. We went to the one that said Sector 16 on a banner hanging over the edge in large print, where we were to sit. When we reached the top of the pedestal we sat in the chairs and began to wait for the ceremony.
    A huge crowd was growing rapidly at gates in front of us to watch the opening ceremony. I began to look at the contestants around us. There where some fairly big guys, mostly from the first ten sectors, and I wondered how far they would make it before... well... you know. Then I saw him. It was the boy in Alex’s photo, and it  all began to make sense.
    Alex’s son would be our opponent and he probably felt guilty about mentoring his son’s possible murderers, and I didn’t blame him. I then looked over to Veronica who had looked in the direction I was looking. She then quickly fingered out, Is that him him? she signed in our secret language. Before I could throw a thumbs up, Aubrey was magically on the highest pillar in the middle of all of them, symbolizing the capital.
    “Hello to all, this is officially the 149th Glory Match!” he shouted proudly. The crowd erupted into shouts of excitement and joy,
    “I will now carry out my last duty as leader by introducing you the tributes of this years match!” We all stood up at this moment and bowed. The crowd one again burst into shouts that finally made me acknowledge the fear I had kept bottled up ever since the day I left home. My heart began to pump faster than my head could keep up with, blood rushing in my ears.
    No! I mentally screamed,  you will NOT cave in here! I thought while regaining my posture. Aubrey then decided to give his closing sentiment.
     “I have a feeling this years games will be very interesting!” the crowed reached the highest emotional tensity I had ever felt. We then began to walk into the building, sector by sector, until we were all downstairs in the training center. The tributes didn’t speak a word, and then finally, Aubrey came in.
    “Hello, and welcome to your home for next week. We would like for you to go to you’re rooms and get dressed for training. And before I leave,” he then looked dead at me and Veronica, “you were all chosen for a reason.” he finished with the evilest grin I had ever seen anyone wear upon their face, then proceeded to walk away.

Author's Note

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Reviews

[EarthlyAneko]

because you keep asking for reviews, and i am following this, i thought i would be kind and give you one. this reminds me of the hunger games. but, i like this. a lot. in fact, i had a book idea, and, untill i read this, i wasnt motivated enough to write it. this is very good, and i extremely look forward to reading more.