Chapter 7

Beetee's point of view:

Who to watch out for? I know Barbie, she is clever, and too smart to be fooled with tricks.

Richie Rovi from District 7 is strong, probably from swinging heavy axes at tree trunks all his life, and living in a District of dense forest he would probably have some first hand experience with useful plants.

District 11 and 9 will have knowledge of plants as well. The District 9 girl and the District 12 boy must have really impressed the Gamemakers.

But there is nothing I can do now. At this point I will need to assess my options once I'm in the arena.

The next day Nelly taught me how to present myself during the TV interview and Sora discussed with me how to portray my personality to win the crowd.

The next day was the day of the TV interviews. It was later that evening. Me and my prep team along with my stylist Myra Holmes were in the dressing room getting me ready. Myra was still naked, as per her personal preferred fashion sense, though her private parts were technically covered, she wore a strapless adhesive bra-cup over each breast, and strapless adhesive panties covering her lower region.

They dressed me in a snow-white suit with a black tie, and my hair was slicked up with styling gel and then each strand was adjusted to look attractive.

It was now time to begin the TV interviews. The District 1 girl would go first and the District 12 boy would go last, so I would be sixth in line.

We were taken out on to the stage to be seated. The stage was outdoors, set up outside the front of the Training Center. The lights started up and the announcer said,

"Ladies and gentlemen, the man who always knows what to say, CAESAR FLICKERMAAAAN!"

Caesar Flickerman came out onto the stage smiling and waving and riled up the crowd.

"Welcome!" said Caesar excitedly, "Welcome everybody, to the 35th Hunger Games! Welcome, to greatest show on Earth!"

The crowd cheered and applauded.

"Tonight, is our opportunity to get to know our 'potential winner' on a personal level." Caesar said tenderly. "Tonight...is...our time to see into the minds behind the faces of the children and grandchildren of District rebels from the Dark Days," he said with heart in his voice while very carefully choosing his words, "and compassionately allow ourselves to fall in love with the amazing person that they are on the inside."

More applause and murmurs of approval.

"Now, let us invite out onto the stage our contestants for this year's competition. From District 1, let's see if she lives up to her name, Aurora Indie."

Aurora, in the front, five chairs down from me stood up and walked onto the stage. She shook hands with Caesar and then took her place in the armchair. She was funny. She made the crowd laugh. And they adored her. She was remarkably beautiful but then most of the District 1 tributes were like that.

Rubius Morrison, was calm and friendly, but exuded confidence.

Both Xena and Buzz were arrogant, they had no fear.

"And now ladies and gentlemen," said Caesar, "from District 3 let us bring out the lovely Barbie Nettel."

Barbie, who was right beside me stood up and walked over to the armchair.

"So, Barbie," said Caesar, "what do you enjoy doing the most in your spare time?"

"I like to study all of the different kinds of ways there are to kill people." she said flatly without warning.

There was an excited look on Caesar's face and an ominous shock of surprise from the audience at that remark.

"WOOOOO!, that makes things interesting." said Caesar excitedly. "So you are a hunter, is what you're saying?"

"No," said Barbie with a maniacal look on her face, "I'm an assassin!" She then wiggled her eyebrows up and down with an evil look.

The crowd in the audience gave mixed expression of impressed awe that they did not expect from their District 3 tribute.

Barbie was dismissed from the stage.

"And now ladies and gentlemen," said Caesar, "District 3's very first volunteer, let's bring out Beetee Latier."

I stood up and I walked onto the stage. I was a little nervous as everyone looked at me while they cheered and applauded, I had already told myself before, 'I'm a celebrity to them, and they love me simply because I'm a tribute'. I walked up to Caesar, he extended his hand with a smile and I took it. I looked at him closely, he was young, only 24, little older than the rest of us, but yet he had so much influence and commanded the respect and admiration of all of these people simply because he was a young TV star, and his popularity has not diminished since the viewers had first recognized him from young age. He only got more and more interesting and his Talk Show was still a hit. I took a seat in the armchair.

"Beetee, you gave quite a surprise to all of us at the reaping; there has always been the occasional volunteer at the reaping's in the other districts, but District 3 has never had a volunteer before." said Caesar in a delighted tone. "Beetee, please, tell us, to what do we owed pleasure of having you as our guest here in the Capitol?"

What exactly was I to tell him? I thought about it for a moment. I then decided that I would settle on the truth.

"I am desperate." I told him, "I need the money for my sister. She is sick."

Everyone in the audience then expressed signs of concern and sympathy.

"And you think that the prize money can help you?" asked Caesar.

I knew that I needed to be careful with my choice of words. You never know what might provoke the wrath of President Carson.

"The details of the situation are between me and my family, but I believe that a bigger nicer home along with some better finances will be advantageous for my sister's health." I told him.

"And you are confident that you will win?" asked Caesar.

"Yes I am." I said straightforward.

"And what are your attributes that will enable you to accomplish this feat, not that we think it will be difficult for you?" asked Caesar.

"I am an engineer, a physicist, a technician, and a mechanic... basically I can scavenge for whatever materials that I can find and I can make useful tools out of them."

"Well Beetee, I think I can say that we are all pleasantly impressed. And our hearts go out to you and your family and good luck in the Games."

We both stood up and shook hands and I went back to my chair.

All of the tributes went by one by one. Most of them were quite unremarkable, their interviews were generic but it seemed that Caesar was following some kind of script.

After the District 4 tributes had taken their interviews, Annabel Ivy who was sitting right beside me leaned over and whispered into my ear.

"I just want to say about your district partner Barbie... She is scary, and creepy. Just the idea of being killed by her as opposed to all the other tributes..." She shuddered and hissed through her teeth, "makes my skin crawl!"

I guess I could understand what she meant by her point of view after what Barbie had said during her interview.

Sasha Quinn from District 6 had difficulty speaking. It seemed to be more than just a bad stutter. I think he might have actually had some kind of mental problems. But yet he scored a 6, and he seemed in good health.

McKenzie Zachary from District 9 was tall and strong for a girl, and during her interview she exuded confidence and fearlessness, which probably explains the 9 that she got.

The 12-year-old girl from District 12 Macy Keen took her turn. She was very small for her age, she looked a lot younger than 12, less than four and a half feet tall and had no muscle on her bones. Her stylist had dressed her up in a frilly little girl dress, and put glitter around her eyes. She was just like Lori, thin, boney, emaciated, and no nutrition. My heart went out to her in that instant. I almost thought that maybe I could ally myself with her and sacrifice myself to help her win. No, I corrected myself, I'm here for Lori; I pity every tribute here for having to be here, but I can't save any of them, either I win or Lori dies.

Macy Keen was friendly. She answered Caesar's questions. But she gave the impression that she had no skills of any kind, not for survival, or fighting, or anything. During training I observed that she tried to learn a lot and didn't learn much. She just had only a rudimentary knowledge of coal and it's uses by the District 12 educational curriculum. She stood no chance of winning.

Then finally there was Peter Wolofon. He was strong and confident and armed with a basic rudimentary knowledge of survival and edible plants.

The interviews ended there and Caesar Flickerman went on.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," said Caesar Flickerman, "that concludes the tributes interviews on the eve of the 35th Hunger Games. Please tune in later tonight for the recap of the interviews and then again tomorrow morning for the start of the Games at the cornucopia inside the arena. There will be outlets all over the city that you can go to to place wagers on who you think the winner will be. The winnings that you will collect from your wagers will vary depending on the statistics of each tribute. Statistics will vary depending on their training score, size, weight, skill level, physical strength, and the statistics will fluctuate during the Games depending on their performance. Hope to see you here in the studio audience while I commentate. That's all the time we have for today. Good night everybody."

We were all taken back to our rooms so we could get cleaned up for dinner. We watched the recap of the interviews and they seemed okay. It was interesting to see how we all looked from the audience's point of view.

I was about to head off to bed when Sora stopped me.

"Tomorrow morning you will be flown to the arena." she explained. "I don't know what the arena will be? No one will."

Ironic, I know what I'm up against. Though I can't say anything out loud.

"The arena could be anything, a desert, a jungle, a deserted island, who knows? The hovercraft will be windowless, so you won't be able to see anything outside until the start of the Games. On the hovercraft you will be offered food. The hovercraft will land in a giant underground hanger in the middle of the catacombs beneath the arena. Then you will be lead to the 'Launch Room' right beneath the cornucopia. There will be 24 of them, one for each tribute. Your stylist will be there to attend to your needs, and you will be offered more food. The Gamemakers will provide all of the tributes with identical outfits that will be useful for the arena. When the Gamemakers tell you, you will then be put into a giant glass tube that will elevate you up to the surface...well, you know what happens then?" she said the last part as though it was obvious.

I nodded in understanding.

"When the gong sounds, get yourself away." said Sora in a serious tone. "You're strong, but the Careers will tear you to pieces. When you have sufficiently escaped the Careers, either find or make a long sharp object that you can use as a weapon. And if you want to win, be prepared to kill, go for the throat, face, or heart, and when you come face to face with one of your fellow tributes, I don't care if it's Barbie, or little Macy Keen from District 12, 'DON'T HESITATE'!" she emphasised the last part. She paused, and then had a look on her face as though she was pleading with me. "You're going to win!" she said with absolute surety. "The first tribute that I mentor that will win. It's a mentor's pride and joy. Get a good night sleep. And good luck."

She turned and walked away to leave me to think about her instructions. I never really thought about it before now; the cost of winning is way too high! But I will pay it...for Lori!