Chapter 6

    As I walked into my room, I was in awe! It was a huge room done in a jungle green, had dark hardwood floors and was laden with white expensive furniture. The bed was beautiful, a king-size mattress with snow like covers, pillows, and drapes flowing down from the top of the only window that took up an entire wall. I wondered how I would be able sleep in this room without feeling guilty about possibly getting a spec of dirt on the brilliant white. I walked over to the dresser which had a lamp sitting on it made of pure glass. I pulled out a black jump suit and a red undershirt. As I left the room Veronica was waiting, wearing an outfit identical to mine.
    “Great minds think alike, right?” she joked. I laughed and we began to make our way down the huge hall to the elevator.
    “What booths do you think we should check out first?” I asked, unsure what booths were even avaliable.
    “Well, we should probably hold back Archery for a few days so that no one sees us as a threat, just tinker with the bows and play around. What we need the most will be first-aid because we’ve never had to do so much as fix up a scraped knee.” I agreed. Ever since a politician somewhere in the Capital had brought up the fact that people could act like they’re sick as an escape from the Capital’s strict regimen we’ve had free health care, which meant mandatory bi-daily check-ups.
    We finally reached the elevator and began our way down to the training center. As we plummeted down I noticed how high up we were, and wondered how the sector 50 tributes didn’t puke from their views. We had almost reached the bottom floor.
    “How should we act?” Veronica asked slightly nervous.
    “Not cocky, but not afraid either. Show that we would be good allies.” And with that the doors opened to the large room that was the training center. It was packed full of booths and people. We began to walk around, taking in our surroundings. I bumped into a fairly large girl with blond hair. I looked at her to find her brown eyes glaring at me.
    “Watch where you freak’n going!” she spat before a voice identical to her own started laughing beside her. I looked at the oddly similar voice to see an exact copy of my aggressor. Twins I thought slyly.
    “Yeah, watch where your going!” she mirrored before they both laughed and walked away.
    “How are twins here?” Veronica asked confused.
    “Well, they are probably from different sectors and when one found out the other was chosen as a candidate, they volunteered.” I stated.
    “Hmm... I guess that ma-” she caught off pointing in the direction to my right. I looked and saw something that made me freeze. All I saw were hands, one male the other female, making out our words but with slightly different symbols. My mind instinctively translated the fluid movements.
    Okay, ...need to ... allies, the movements I recognized spoke in my head.
    Right, ... archery ... best option, then they made their way over to the archery lanes.
    “I think we need to follow them, they would probably be good allies since they already know some form of sign language.” I said but Veronica wasn’t paying attention.
    “Callen! I know her! I know her! At the archery tournament, we shared targets. She’s like us, she believes like we do!” she excitedly babbled.
    So they are on the same mission as us, eh?
    “Her name’s Reken. She got 8th place, one place behind me. And she’s gonna want that bow just as much as me” she smiled at the thought of competition before approaching the couple. On our way over Reken spotted us.
    “VERONICA!!!” she squealed in disbelief before jumping into her arms.
    “Hey!” Veronica said happily hugging her.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked in disbelief.
    “Let’s just say that we got on Aubrey’s bad side” she said looking back at me with a wink.
    “Callen?!?” the voice of the guy Reken was with stammered. I looked up in shock.
    “Mike!” I returned excited, taking his hand and pulling him into a hug too.
    “What’s up?” he asked jokingly, just as I remembered him. We had met at the region science competition. I ranked 2nd, but he got 1st by a landslide. And like Reken, Mike wanted the same things in government to happen as me and Veronica.
    “Nothing but all of this,” I said looking around, then it was my turn to ask “What are you doing here?”
    “Well, when she,” he said looking back Reken who was still talking to Veronica, “was chosen, I had to step up and volunteer. I honestly would NOT be able to go on without her.”
    “Oh,” I simply replied.
    “We’ve decided there is a contest to be had.” Veronica stated, sounding official.
    “Since all of us are experienced in archery, we’re going to see who will go for the bow during screenings.” Reken said in a small voice, unlike the loud excited one she had earlier.
    “Okay,” me and Mike simotaniously answered. I grabbed a blue bow off the rack that felt comfortable. Me and Mike shared a target while Veronica and Reken shared the one beside us.
    “Ready?” Veronica asked, mentally preparing herself before a competition.
    “Yes,” Reken simply replied
    “Yup!” Mike excitedly replied.
    “Uh-hu” I said with a smile while nodding my head.
    “Okay,” Veronica started, “last person who doesn’t miss the bulls-eye gets to go for the bow. Runner up goes for the pistol.” We all nodded in agreement.
    “Good. Let’s start the practice round.” I picked an arrow out of the quiver on my back and loaded my bow. I lifted it at the target, pre-aiming. I pulled the string back and relaxed the muscles in my back and put the tip of the arrow slightly down and right of the bulls-eye, then I released. I hit the red ring, two rings left and down of the bulls-eye.
    Next time I need to aim higher and more to the right. I thought, already planning where to put the arrow next time. Veronica and Reken had both shot perfect  bulls-eyes. I looked back after Mike shot and he shot in the ring beside of mine. He had a frown on his face and was doing some type of equation on his hand in pen.
    “Okay, now the real thing starts” Veronica said with a smile.
    We all reloaded our bows and shot again. Everyone got bulls-eyes. Again, bulls-eyes. Then again, bulls-eyes. At this point people began gathering around.
    Uh-oh, I thought between shots, so much for a low profile. Bulls-eyes. Everyone was staring at us. Then Mike shot the ring outside of th bulls-eye and a scowl came a cross his face then he went to sit down. Bulls-eyes. Bulls-eyes. Bulls-eyes. The crowd was so huge I couldn’t help but to think that every tribute was gathered around watching us and that’s what made me miss. I hit the same spot Mike did, so I went and joined him on a bench.
Bulls-eyes. Bulls-eyes. Bulls-eyes. Bulls-eyes. All I could think of was how if either of them missed the world may just stop revolving because it would be against nature it’s self.
    “This is getting us nowhere.” Reken simply stated.
    “Yeah, you’re right. How about this?” Veronica started, “We go to clean targets, and whoever shoots more perfectly in the middle wins.”
    “Okay, but we need a non-biased judge.” Reken said.
    “I will” a voice steeping out from the crowd said. He had brown hair, grayish blue eyes and looked like he was made of all muscle but he was a little shorter than me. So Reken and Veronica went to different targets and loaded their bows. As they aimed the tension began to build to such intensity I had to look away. As I stared at the white tiled floor I heard the familiar plop of arrows piercing the targets.
    “She’s the winner” the voice said. I lifted my head to see him pointing at Veronica. Reken had a smile on her face and leaned over to hug Veronica.
    “Great job!” she said happily.
    “Thanks,” Veronica said happy with her win. The crowd then left without a word, probably thinking about what they’ll be facing in the arena. The guy that had judged looked at us, smiled, then left with a girl that had flaming red hair.
    “Let’s go to the shooting range so Reken can practice with the pistol.” Mike said. So we headed over and it was instantly evident Reken didn’t need any practice.
    “Pull” Reken said flatly with the pistol in her hand. Mike pulled the lever that shot out five clay birds. Reken shot the pistol with expertise, quickly taking out the clay disks that didn’t stand a chance.
******************************************************************************
    It seemed the time had jumped a few days when screenings began; the event I had been dreading from the beginning. I discovered that had I a knack for wielding a dagger and performing First-Aid, especially when it came to herbs. I began to notice Mike was extremely gifted when handling chemicals and inventing things with very little materials. Every sector had a different time for screening. Ours was fairly early in the morning while Reken and Mike’s was in the afternoon. Veronica and I both walked into the training area which was strangely empty of people except for the panel of judges.
    “What is your weapon of choice to be considered and what is you second choice of weapon.” One stated more than questioned us.
    “I would like to go for the bow, and have a javelin for my second.” Veronica solidly replied. The judges wrote something down then looked at me.
    “Umm... uh, I guess I would like to go for the dagger b-but I don’t really have preference for a second weapon.” I stammered. They simply looked at me like I was the biggest idiot to fall onto the planet.
    “Okay, you may now start.” one spoke bored. Me and Veronica looked at each other and nodded. We had discussed what we were going to do and Mike and Reken decided to do something similar. Usually the tributes went their separate ways and tried to show off, but we had different plans. She proceeded over to the archery range and took a quiver and bow, where she began to dull the arrows so they wouldn’t kill me if they hit but would still hurt if they did. I headed over to the herb section and grabbed some fake display hemlock out of a glass shelf that read poisonous section and stuffed it into my pocket then headed over to the first-aid section and grabbed a dark brown backpack with some random supplies but it would serve my plan. Then I finally headed over to the hand-to-hand combat section and found a wooden practice dagger that would work perfectly, so I put it in my pocket beside of the hemlock. Most of the judges were intrigued by now. I then walked to the end of the long room opposite of the side Veronica was on.
    “Are you ready?” I shouted. She already had her first arrow loaded.
    “You know I am” she shouted back.
    “All right, here I come!” I finished darting quickly left, aiming to get behind behind a booth before the second arrow fired, aware of the first arrow sailing in my direction. I then took the pack off my back and continued my run left, and just as I predicted, an arrow was flying strait at me. I put the bag in front of me and let the arrow go right into it before diving inside the booth.
    Wow, that arrow still looks pretty sharp... the pack will only be able to take two more arrows I thought crouching. I decided to change my path from left to straight and jumped right out the booth window. Another arrow flew into the pack. Then finally the last arrow hit and I slung it in Veronica’s direction. She had to duck in order to avoid being hit in the face, but that didn’t stop her from loading another arrow while doing so. She sent the other arrow at me and I did a roll to the right this time and slid for another booth. I pulled out the dagger and examined it.
    This will take perfect timing. I thought examining the wooden tool. I was maybe twenty feet from Veronica. I sighed and started around the booth. Then I took off toward Veronica again. The arrow was coming right at me.
    Okay, and... NOW! I took the dagger and swatted the arrow inches away from my face, sending it spinning to the ground. This shocked Veronica, but she threw down her bow knowing it’s uselessness at this range and grabbed an arrow before beginning to run at me. We were face to face now. She pulled the arrow back to stab me so I took this precious time to pull out the hemlock and hold in my free hand before blocking the arrow with the flat of my dagger. Then I spun with the dagger outwards, but she ducked then hit the dagger’s handle with her palm sending it through the air away from me.  I spun, again, but this time around her and used the trick Alex taught me by wrapping my right arm around her neck and putting the fake hemlock, making sure the roots went down first, into her mouth. But she whipped her arrow around  to my own neck putting us in a stalemate, both of would be dead if this were a real situation.
    I let go of Veronica and we smiled at each other before looking to the judges who we’re trying to hide their awe, but weren’t doing too well.
    “Thank you. We’ll consider your request. You may leave now” One who was actually succeeding in concealing his emotions spoke. Me and Veronica left together and found Reken and Mike waiting outside the door.
    “How did you do?” they asked in unison.
    “We did great!” Veronica replied.
    “I bet you surprised them”“ Mike laughed.
    “You can bet we did” I returned. We all just broke out into laughter.
******************************************************************************
    Mike and Reken did just as well, if not better in their showdown. The only difference was that Reken beat Mike by holding the gun to his head. And like that, it was time for the match to begin. We were all under the arena, wondering what the environment above us held.
    “Okay. While we’re waiting the thirty second countdown, I’ll figure out what direction we should head and sign it to who ever is closest, then that person will mirror it to the next person and so forth.” I spoke in a hushed voice so no one could hear us. Every match began with a thirty second period where no one was able to move so people could get a quick look at the surroundings and make a plan.
    “Agreed” they all said. Then a voice overhead said all candidates needed to go to their designated plate and retrieve their weapons. We all looked at each other one last time before heading to the plates with our names. The plates were all blocked off by walls preventing us from seeing anyones location.
    I found mine quickly and stepped into the small room. There, on the pedestal, was a mesmerizing dagger that had a dragon handle with purple eyes. The blade looked sharp enough to cut metal as if it were steamed vegetables. But there was something else, a large, purple, back pack. The pedestal began to rise so I quickly opened it to see it’s contents before the dark ride up through the ground began. The only thing I had a chance to see before going up was a canteen prefilled with water.
    I re-closed the bag, picked up the dagger, putting it in it’s sheath, and hooked it onto my cargo shorts. I was throwing the pack over my shoulder when the light hit my eyes. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust, but when they did, I was in shock. It was a heavily wooded area, with mountains and hills everywhere, but there were houses. Old houses.
    This must be a neighborhood (eastern and probably in the Appalachian mountains by the look of it) from when the United States existed! All the tributes were placed in a circle around a statue of president Aubry. We were in a field-like area behind a huge, three story, still good looking house. I turned to look in front of the house where the remains of a paved road, cracked and full of potholes, was. There was another house by the road that was much smaller. Then behind it and to the right I could barely make out a farm due to the hill that was next to us. Then there was another field/valley directly behind the small house with another house, larger than the one we were already by. Then I looked beside of the house. There where railroad tracks next to a strange building that had a wooden cross on top of it. Then following my counterclockwise spin I saw a dirt path behind the statue, leading up a hill into woods. Then I finally looked up and to my right to find a house up on a fairly small hill but would still take at least thirty seconds to climb, but there was an even, paved driveway from the road. And that’s when I realized we were cornered into this field, we either had to go into the woods, over the tracks, or into the open road, but I had a different idea.
    I looked to my right and saw Veronica was right beside me. I then signed; We need to go to the road, and up the driveway behind us then go through the woods beside of it. When I finished I noticed she had a face of despair. I quickly looked around to see what caused her face and saw Reken right beside her with the same look. Then I knew what it was and felt my face go into the exact same expression. Mike was on the other side of the statue with no way to know what way we were going. And then the games were on. Everyone scrambling in different directions. I ran towards them.
    “Go the way I told you to, find a house and stay in it. I’m going to find Mike.” They nodded and went to the road while I ran into the crowd of people.

Reviews

[EarthlyAneko]

more

[The Cute 1]

that is so good