The Bloodshed of Winter

I really enjoyed the bread though, it tasted good

I went to my room and grabbed the only thing I needed, my rings, two real gold ones from my mother from before she died, I slipped them on my middle fingers, just like she did.

Lazari stood in the doorway, waiting, "You might wanna bring water" I liked how she pronounced 'water', 'wah ta' "It's going to be a long flight."

"Isn't there water on the plane?", I asked.

"Well, yes, but it tastes like rubbish." that was another thing I liked about her, she called garbage, rubbish.

"Oh."I grabbed a bottle of water and followed her out of the room to the boarding area where the other 25 nominee's were waiting.

"Well, I never would've thought it would happen, but I am going to the world's coldest island, and probably won't make it out alive." Taylor said.

"You might, did you hear what your family said about you? They said how you had been a warrior since you were born, you can easily win." I reassured her.

Taylor was beautiful, tan, she had light brown hair with blonde highlights, blue eyes, and the perfect body shape. That got me thinking about how region two was poorer, yet people managed to maintain such beauty.

"Well, did you hear what they said about Ace?" Sky tried to kiss his cheek, but he pushed her away.

"Whoa there princess, I may be beautiful, but I prefer you go kiss a tree, it'd be perfect for you, it never leaves your side, and from the looks of it, your preferred type is tall, dark, and mysterious.", Ace said, he got a couple laughs.

Sky groaned, I didn't see why he didn't like her, she had those beach curls with that skin, just the right amount of tan, green eyes, and pearly white teeth.

We boarded the plane, I was next to Lazari and Ace, I was glad I brought my water because Ace kept getting one and then spitting it out as if he didn't learn it tasted bad the first time.

Underneath us, cities passed by as we headed towards Ellesmere Island, people were given their outfits, a warm jacket with jeans, me and Lazari went to put on our outfits to make sure they fit.

"Lazari?" I asked.

"Yeah?" She said.

"What if we don't survive?" I asked.

"Well, no one would miss me if I died, but if you died, Ace would be pretty upset, so would I."

"Well, I guess, what would you do if you lived?"

"I'd probably move to the states with my siblings, our cousins live there, or to Canada with you." She said.

"That would be fun." I said.

"Yeah, want to hear a story?" She asked.

"Sure." I pulled on the coat, it definitely was warm, the plane was a little cold, now it felt like it was 104, hot, but good.

"One time, after my parents left after my and my siblings' annual beating, we were getting food, I was fourteen, my brother was six, my sister was ten." She started

"Go on."

"We passed a house, inside the news said 'This year's annual bloodshed possibly the saddest one yet.', that was the year my cousin fought, he passed, placing third, we had all mourned his death and moved on."

"Oh, that's awful, what else?"

"Well, I stopped to read what it said, the victor, the one that killed my cousin was being interviewed, I could not hear what she said, but in subtitles on the bottom, it said 'Although I won, this years victor should not have been me, I may have killed him, but Austin Kent should have had this years glory, we were an alliance, we helped each other survive, one night, I realized that one of us would have to die, so, I killed him, I said: You and I will meet again, When we're least expecting it, One day in some far off place, I will recognize your face, I won't say goodbye my friend, For you and I will meet again. That was my favorite quote, Tom Petty said it, I felt his last breath puff out, and he was gone.', and Adelaide, let me tell you, I stood there, wondering, if only he lived, what would have happened." Lazari said.

"Oh my gosh, Lazari, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright."

There was a knock at the door followed by a voice with a russian accent "Anybody in there? I will not be waiting around for little girls." I opened the door, a girl I met yesterday, Irima stood there waiting. "Oh, hi."I said. Irima waved me off and pushed past me, "You know, you were in there for hour." We clearly weren't, but she seemed to exaggerate. "Well, should we leave?" Lazari asked. "No, you are not bothering me." Irima shrugged. "Yeah, we're going to leave." I decided. Irima was a brunette, with pale skin like Lazari, she had blue eyes and wore a red scarf, not like a winter one, more like one for fashion, and a beige jacket with grey pants.

We walked out of the bathroom, Ace was having a conversation with a flight attendant, he said stuff about water, either he wanted more, or he was complaining about it, probably both. "Now, your water is bad, also, can I get another bottle, oh Adi, you're back!" He smiled, the flight attendant left to get him more water, even though he already had about ten half full bottles of water. "You don't need more water Ace." Lazari said.

Ace scoffed "Maybe this bottle will be good." "Fine, tell yourself that." Lazari said.

    A person came to the front and said "Okay, lets go over the rules for the Bloodshed."

A couple of groans. "If it is necessary, you could kill someone from region two, you also may form alliances."

"What about with region one, can we make alliances with them?" Lazari asked. The guy didn't answer. "You will all wake up in a different place, far away from everyone else, you will wake up with a weapon that is chosen specifically for you, you'll have a backpack full of supplies that should last you a while, we will be landing soon, so get your outfits on." The man said "Throughout the entire Bloodshed, you will come across obstacles, good luck!"

I pulled on my jacket, Lazari's jacket was a beige-and grey long jacket that went to her knees, a belt making it look like a dress, she had a red hat, with a grey scarf, grey boots  and red mittens. I got a silver jacket and a pink hat, grey mittens, silver snow boots and a pink scarf. Ace had a grey jacket and a green hat with matching gloves, a grey scarf and beige snow boots.

    "This might be the last time we see each other." Ace said. "Yeah." Said Lazari. I hugged them both and whispered "If anything happens, tell my sister I love her." "I will." Ace promised. "If I die, tell my family I'm sorry." Ace muttered. "Yeah, and if I die, help my siblings." Lazari said. "If we all die, well, let's hope it's heroic." I said.
It was only a day, and I felt like I needed them both.
    And then we were separated, and we were sent to the field.