The Loric Games

Chapter 21: Let The Games Begin

Christina's (Number Ten) POV

I wake up the next morning, a bit sick and with a throbbing headache. I spent half the night trying to get back inside Ella's head with no such success. I tried to sleep for at least a little while, but the future I saw in Ella's vision kept popping up and the fact that I've only told John about what I saw, made it harder for my mind to shut down. When I did get to sleep, it wasn't for very long. I see the sunrise in my room. It's so beautiful that I know I'm going to miss it when we end up in the arena. If we are in fact going into battle after we escape the Games, this might be the last essence of beauty I'll see in a long time.

I get up and dress myself. My stylist comes in and guides me outside to where a hovercraft appears and drops a rope ladder. I grab a hold of it and I feel myself freeze into place with some kind of current. It's the weirdest sensation, makes me feel helpless and unable to do anything. The second the current stops I let go and shake the sensation out of my body 

Once I'm aboard, a woman in a lab coat comes up to me with some kind of  syringe device. 

"What is that?" I ask.

"Your tracker, the stiller you are , the faster it's over." the woman responds.

She takes my forearm and attempts to place it. At first nothing happens and she frowns.  She does a second attempt and still nothing. She forces the needle harder against me skin. By the fourth attempt, she's trying to stab me in the arm. She looks up at me and I can't help, but smile.

"Having trouble?" I grin eagerly.

She frowns, but I can see she's trying desperately to hold her composure. She's freaked out and I know there's no way they can introduce the tracker into my arm. 

She sighs in frustration and switches arms, nothing happens. She stabs so hard the next time she lifts the needle up, it's completely bent out of shape.

She looks up at me in horror.

"What kind of unholy thing are you?" she whispers in a panic.

"Something you don't want to mess with." I warn her.

I know she has to get a tracker in me somehow. She disappears down the hall of the hovercraft and doesn't re-appear for a few minutes. When she comes back, she has some kind of  long string in her hand. She grabs my arm again and I watch in horror as the string like thing, slithers up my lower arm and wraps itself onto my upper arm like a snake, just above the elbow. It hardens in place and I know that there is no getting rid of it. It feels like it's trying to embed itself into my skin, but I know it won't make it too far. It also feels really sticky, and  I know that there is tracker within its thick folds. I guess that's more than one way to track a tribute.

Once I'm traceable, I'm allowed to go and eat with my stylist. I say nothing to her at all, knowing that we both hate each other. I eat what I can hold, knowing it is all about survival. I drink plenty of fluids to keep myself hydrated. I can feel slight fear and anticipation of what's coming. This will be when we take a stand against Ra!

My stylist and I exit the hovercraft after about a half an hour ride in the hover craft. We go deep into the ground in what's known as the catacombs, the basement areas where we'll be launched into the Games. I clean myself up in private and my stylist hands me the package of clothing that we all wear in the arena. I suit myself up easily. The thing is light and very functional. Brown pants, green shirt, brown belt, flexible and sturdy boots and a black jacket. As long as I can fight in it, I'm good.

"Good luck" my stylist mutters and then leaves me alone.

 I look at myself in the mirror, I look ready to do battle.  I clench my fists and then pull my hair up into my signature ponytail. 

Suddenly the door re-opens.

"Almost forgot." my stylist says. She tosses something to me and then leaves, this time for good.

"Thank you." I yell out after her.

I look at what she tossed to me.

My pendant!!

How the hell did she get a hold  of it? I must have left it on my nightstand. Each tribute is allowed to have some kind of token as long as it is not used as a weapon. I pull it up, never to leave my neck again. The Loralite seems to glow with anticipation, beating against my excited heart. I know that these pendants hold more than what they seem, I've heard the voice of the Elders inside before, I know we'll find out the secret soon

 I sit and eat a little bit more so I'm ready to run. A mechanical voice comes over the speaker and announces that I need to get ready for launching. 

I step on the metal plate and a glass cylinder closes around me. I can feel myself going up towards the arena. For the few seconds I'm in darkness, I try to meditate. In that brief few seconds I see a vision.

My stomach twists hard. I'm in a room filled with smoke an I can hear a battle going on. I turn in confusion and I see Sam and Mark shooting their guns into the smoke. They are both dirty and have some cuts on them. They look like they've been through hell.

"We have to find Sarah!!" Mark yells over the chaos.

I can hear the ground rumbling under their feet, which means One is at work. I suddenly see red hair come out from some of the smoke. It's Two, she has a gash along her forehead and one of the lenses in her glasses is gone. She carries a gun with her and long steak knife protrudes from her belt.

"Come one hurry!!" she yells over the noise. "They're after Ella!"

THEY!! I know who they are. Ra said something in the vision about Ella being his heir and he picks now to try and grab her, when we're unable to do anything, being launched into the games. I see Two, Sam and Mark rush out and down the hall. Somehow I follow them into the smoldering wreckage. I hear screams coming from the next room. I get inside which I now recognize as Blake's and my room. I see the bed strewn upwards to shield from the blaster fire. I see Sarah trying to hold onto a still unconscious Ella and Blake returning blaster fire with the Mogs.  Two, Sam, and Mark are trapped in the door by the cannon fire, unable to give assistance to the others. Sam and Mark start shooting at the Mogs outside, trying to reach Blake, Sarah and Ella. but I see that one Mog makes it through on all fours crawling behind the bed used as cover. He stabs Sarah in the shoulder and slashes Blake across the leg causing both of them to stop and allowing him to drag Ella away from them. He throws something that explodes into a cloud of smoke, preventing Sam, Two or Mark from stopping them. The firing suddenly stops and I can see the shadowy figures are retreating to their awaiting ship.

I feel so helpless now and I blink hard again as my eyes make contact with bright sunlight. The wind hits my face and I allow my eyes to adjust. 

I feel so weak and helpless. My legs feel like jelly and my stomach becomes hollow realizing what I just saw is happening right now. The others are under attack, Blake and Sarah are wounded and Ella's been captured! I want to cry so badly, but I have to stay strong for as long as possible. 

I hear the voice of Claudius Templesmith boom over a speaker.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the seventy-fourth annual Hunger Games begin!"