Chapter 11
The BloodbathThe bright light blinds me as my tube is raised towards the arena. We stayed overnight below it. Definitely not comforting to sleep below a place where you were likely to die imminently.
"Where are we going?", I wonder. The arena probably wouldn't be in a cold area like the past two years. Our outfits are extremely revealing.
Soon I'd have to kill someone..."Stay calm, Abu", I tell myself. "Get with Hobbes and Robin, find Zetsu and Sophia, then get out of here". Hopefully the arena is nice. Will it be?
I get my answer as my eyes adjust to the Sun's shine. The arena is, indeed, beautiful! We are in a large lake surrounded by a wetland with marshes and plains. A huge waterfall must be near us; its roar is audible from here. I see high cliffs in the distance, alongside forests. We are in a mountain valley.
In the centre of the lake is an island with materials; it is surrounded by Tashla stones for our Sun-Men-Nei religion.
This is definitely near Suxnei! The Údnei have even more Tashla and marshes than us, but they don't have plains or waterfalls. That's nice to know. My family is nearby...
I see the other twenty three contestants around me; to my left is Robin, and to my right is Faith. Hobbes is to the left of Robin. I can't see Zetsu, but I can see Sophia farther to the right.
The clock starts counting down. One minute left.
I hear birds chirping, and I can see a few goats running. Stay calm. I'm possibly going to kill people, but I have to stay calm.
It's a very calm and sunny morning, but we were about to kill...For what feels like an hour, we contestants all stand awkwardly on our podiums, ready to dive into the water.
Then it hits zero seconds, and everyone's swimming. I see Robin swim away as planned; I follow her. But where's Hobbes?! I can see Sophia being carried by someone as they swim away; poor girl, she must be so frail. I guess we aren't going to be in an alliance for now. Since I couldn't see Zetsu, he must be on the opposite side...but where is he going?
I'm a fast swimmer; I make it to shore a few seconds before Robin.
"Hobbes is on the island! He's coming back, I just saw. I know it's not like we planned. But we have to find Zetsu!", Robin says, panting. We're both tired.
In the distance, I see Zetsu running away from everyone, towards the forests in the east. Jayma and Volt are together and appear to be chasing after him, but then they turn left; good. Zetsu isn't being trailed.
"We have no chance of allying with Zetsu right now...", I say sadly, pointing out to Robin that almost all of the action is towards the direction he ran. We are alone beside a marsh, waiting for Hobbes.
We see Hobbes arrive about twenty seconds later, with a bow, three spears, and a basket of food.
"Alright, people are on me, we're out of here!", Hobbes yells, grabbing our arms and sprinting away with us. I look back and see Roshani on our trail, but he gives up after someone shoots an arrow at him.
This is surreal! It's like it's not even happening...but it is, and just a few feet away from us, Joe pulls a spear from his shoulder and throws it at Faiz's chest.
The first casualty of the 74th Hunger Games is Faiz. His corpse bleeds profusely-
Why am I looking at him? What am I doing?
Hobbes lets go of us, but we three continue sprinting. Sprinting like we're in a dream. I hear Joe crying as we run away from him, and I think that Robin and Hobbes are wailing too. But as usual, I can't bring myself to feel anything on the outside...
Ianiant screams in pain as he trips over an electric wire.
"Who did that?! Come out, coward, and face me!", he yells. Behind him, Kowhai, wearing a clay mask, screams a battle cry as she runs up to Ianiant, ready to stab him. She carries a bow, but being so close to Ianiant, does not plan on using it.
Kowhai ensures that her victims don't fight back."This is it?", Ianiant thinks gloomily, struggling to move his legs. Kowhai was a young girl, but she outsmarted him. Ianiant feels terrible. He isn't ready to go yet.
And luckily for him, Usopp is right there, throwing a stone club at Kowhai's head, throwing her back into the water. She struggles to bring her head up. Both of them feel sorry for her, but these are the Hunger Games. And they call for drastic measures
Ianiant throws a spear at Kowhai, but misses. His second attempt is successful.
Ianiant and Usopp have killed Kowhai. Twenty two people remain in the 74th Hunger Games.
"...she shouldn't have electrified me", Ianiant says, in a futile attempt to justify Kowhai's death. He and Usopp had killed someone who had a bright future ahead of them.
"It's terrible, man, I get you, but we have to go. Look behind you!", Usopp yells as he grabs Ianiant and they run away together. Ianiant does look behind him and he sees a massive fist fight between Isabelle, Kanga, Cosmo, Faith, and Kenny.
"Yeah...", Ianiant says worryingly. "Let's get out of here".
Together they run towards the forests, locked into a guilty conscience.
