The Reluctant Gamer
Author's Note: This is
a one-shot in the series of Hunger Games but mine is more like anti-Hunger Games.
Contests rules:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried to keep up
with him but he was more agile and stronger than me. He is of a different
district and yet he saved me from the warrior from District 4. His name was
Brian, from District 2, and the mallet he wields was from his sponsor. The sponsors
are allowed to gift us with weapons that carried their branding.
I was from
District 1 and had lived a good life there till then. I was selected to be my District
Representative. The sponsor in my District
gave me a steel rod of about my arm's length but I felt hopeless with it. I
tried to use it as a fighting stick and ended up with cuts on my wrists fighting
the opponent from another District. She was armed with a series of hand-sized
fish hooks which she used with proficiency to hurt me. It was Brian who came up
from behind the lady and clobbered her down with his mallet. I thought I will be
dead next but he extended his hand to me to joined him. It was unusual in this
game but it was not the first time I get invitations from boys.
I am not your
typical warrior but a typical teenager who wanted to have fun before I turned an
adult. I did not train to be in the game but attended as an assistant for my friend
then. That was then when Kim, my nemesis at the training academy suggested that
I joined in and managed to convince the coach of my abilities. So I was roped
in and before I could even master my basic training, I was the punching bag for
the so-called seniors. The bitch trapped me in to be here so they could
humiliate me. Just like she manipulated the selection and I came to be
selected. But she was not selected as someone was chosen in her place to go
with me. That replacement of her's never made it to the level as I did then but
died soon although he has trained for four years. When anyone of the contestants’
died, the viewer's rating will go up. They will place odds on the next victim
to die, and it was me. I was surprised that that was what the viewer wanted to
see; defeated and not so much as a winner.
So if anyone was
asking, I may be lucky so far as no one ever thought I will make it this far in
the games. I have my odds increased but I was still in the game. Unlike the
others who were in the same round as myself, I was hardly trained; the others have
been trained for years. All I remember of the training was the instructor's
words: 'keep your feet ready, heartbeat steady'. I did just that so far and now
it got me this far but I wasnot safe as yet.
"Tsana, we
need to rest. I don't know where the other one is but I am too tired to find or
fight him. Please be seated here." The chamber we are in was a metallic
walled area with only a single doorway. The chamber was also cleared of any
furnishing that we could use, so we end up resting on the floor. It was the
first time, I looked at Brian. He was your typical athlete jock with a penchant
for surviving this game. He was wearing a dark blue suit that clings onto his
body like a second skin which is rather appealing. But what he held in his hand
may make me shudder knowing that this jock is a game's participant.
"Why did you
help me? You could have eliminated me then. Unless you had other goals which you
may want to share with." When I was speaking, I had moved the steel rod in
case I need to use it. I could have used the hooks I took from the previous
fight but I decided to keep it at my belt waist. I am not the favorite of the
sponsor so gifts would be a rarity in my case.
"My strategy
calls for two players to eliminate the others. When mine from my District died;
I almost lost my place here hence I find you as the best replacement. I had been
monitoring you for a while before I came out to help you. Trust me, if we work
together; we can win this game. Divided we would lose it all." He held the
mallet ready to strike if I give any wrong indication. He has recently acquired
a new gift; his sponsors were very generous. He wore it proudly on his back the
small shield that will give him some protection from flank attack.
I nodded at his
statement and he relaxed his hold on the mallet.
"Thank you.
Do you know that it was only yesterday we were children of our mother and
father? We were given love and care as befitting any child. I even learn our basic
writings but when I reached the age of selection, it was all began to change. I
was taught that dreaming dreams with happy endings were the way to wake up but
now I woke up to best my peers so I can be better than them. It’s not a dream
anymore but a series of nightmares. So much responsibility for one so young, We
are different, are we not? The pride of the District but are we that or reject of
our society to satisfy their desire for escape fantasy."
He was the one
talking while I listened. Am I seeing a participant questioning his role hereafter
undergoing so many of the levels? Would he let go that moment of glory for his
true conscience as befitting a lad his age? I would as I was not selected for
the games but a misplaced candidate stepped into a cruel world.
But we were
interrupted by the stone thrown into the chamber. The third surviving
participant has found us.
"He found us.
Be ready, I am going to call him in. We would fight it here." I stood up and
held onto my steel rod like a baseball bat. I took to the left side of the room
and Brian took the right side. "Come on in."
The third survival
walked in; she was armed with a bow with an arrow pulled taut while she walked
in. Like us, she was dressed in a suit but she had on a green one with a quiver
filled with arrows on her back. I knew her for she was the favorite of the
sponsors. They have shown their preference very well. She got the choice of
weapons.
"A reunion. I
liked it. Shall we now decide who leaves with the golden slipper?" So my
mother was right when I fell off the cliff and broke my arm. She said this when
I was admitted for training; 'every lesson comes with a scar if you are
careless or impulsive'. She meant well for I learned that well during my
training. Neither of them noticed that I removed the fish hooks from my belt
waist while loosening the catch holding it together. It is my ace in the sleeve.
Brian moved first
by swinging his body towards the new guest, and the bow lady unleashed her
arrow. But Brian was quick to react as he turned his shield on his back to
deflect the arrow and swing the mallet at her. The blow broke the bow lady's right
elbow but Brian was vicious as he laid the next blow on the injured lady's head.
It is ugly but she was out for good. So much for the sponsor's best as the
saying goes, they've surrounded you with great gifts but if you slip a step, they
would laugh you out of the games.
Brian's back was
to me and I took the opportunity to swing the steel rod hard on the back of his
head. I must have cracked his skull as blood was seen pouring out. He staggered
and I raised the steel rod one more time and this time it's deadly when the rod
went into his back. I won the game as I was the only survivor. I stepped back
to see the results and all in my stomach came out from my mouth.
It was disgusting
these games. We are the results of it and we lose our lives for it too.
At the ceremony, I
stood on the rostrum to give my speech.
"I have lost
not one friend but twenty-three of them as we all shared one friendship by
being participants in these games. But I asked you; are you pleased? If so,
take one of these and pricked them on your tongue." I threw the fish hooks
at them.
"Be like us';
baits in the games. Baits that would satisfy your hunger for this sick game.
Me, I am going home to satisfy my hunger with real food. Goodbye in your next
game."
No comments:
Post a Comment