death

✵

All it took was one second. One mere second. Then her cannon went off.

She was gone.

Dead.

And it was my fault.

...

"Aurora!"

Flashbacks of the game play in Adeline's head. She remembered the blank look on her sisters face. The smirk on the monster who killed her. The pained cries coming from her mother.

This was her hell.

...

Adeline slowly falls to the ground as her back slides against the wall. Her sobs could be heard from miles away. She wanted so badly to wake from this nightmare.

But it wasn't a nightmare.

It wasn't a dream.

This was real.

Her family was dead.

...

3rd Person's POV

~ 24 hours earlier ~

Adeline grunts in frustration as her hands clench onto a branch. She looked up to see one of her hands had blood slowly trickling down her arm. Adeline could feel small thorns imbedded in her palm from where she had placed her hand on the branch.

"How's it hanging?"

Adeline snorts out a low laugh as she peeks through the hair that had fallen over her face. She smiles at Nikolai as he hangs upside down on an opposite tree.

"Show off..."

Nikolai smirks and swings himself up to hold onto the tree trunk, "I'm bored."

Feeling a chill on her neck, Adeline looks around and notices a change in the temperature and environment. She feels wind pick up and curses.

Adeline huffs as she begins to swing slowly back and forth, trying to allow her foot to catch onto the branch she had been holding onto.

Nikolai had not noticed anything yet seeing as he was messing around carving his name into the opposite tree.

A harsh wind begins to blow making his knife fly out his hand. He grunts as his body is thrown across the branch and he is hung once again by his legs.

Adeline nearby locks her legs around the tree trunk and hugs her arms around it as she hide her face from the harsh winds.

Nikolai tries to sit up and reach his fingers towards the trunk but he can't as his legs begin to slip off the branch. He yells out in frustration as he falls through the air.

THUMP

His body hits the turf making him sigh in relief. The wind immediately stops and all the lights in the room turn on.

Adeline smiles and unwraps herself from the tree slowly. She hangs for a second before dropping down to the turf on her feet. Massaging her bloody cut hand, Adeline walks over to Nikolai who was cracking his neck on the ground

She holds her uninjured hand out to him. He instantly grabs it and she helps him stand.

"Nice job... You're like a little koala bear."

Adeline shakes her head with red blushing cheeks, "Yeah yeah..."

The doors open to the arena like room. The room had just been set up as if the two classmates were outside in a forest. But now the room was bare and empty minus two fake trees.

Nelle walks into the room and looks at the two then the trees, " If you didn't notice... these were two different trees. You both had the chance to choose which one you wanted to climb. Although Adeline had an easier time climbing her tree, it had thorns all over the small branches. Nikolai, you chose the more skin tree which resulted in more time spent climbing because you couldn't get a firm grip on it. However you could have won. But you died. Why?"

Nikolai stands at attention and looks down at the short yet scary trainer.

"I got distracted ma'am."

Nelle nods, "You got distracted. You got prideful. You let your ego kick in... carving your name into a tree may be fun... but evidently it could've been the last thing you would've done."

Nikolai nods, "Understood ma'am."

"Now you Evermore..."

Adeline stands with her hands locked behind her back as she stares at the instructor blankly.

"I could immediately see the change in your attitude as soon as you felt the wind shift. You pay attention to the environment, you make your choices wisely, and you endure the pain... remember that, because that just might keep you alive."

Adeline nods, "Yes ma'am."

Nelle holds out her arm to the door signaling to the two that their time was done.

"Oh and Adeline..."

Adeline pauses and looks over shoulder, "Yes?"

"How's your hand?"

Adeline had forgotten she was injured. The bleeding had slowed down and she could see the small cuts that had been made by the thorns.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, ma'am."

"Good. Make sure to go see the nurse after the lesson, dear."

Adeline nods and continues out the room. As she steps through the threshold, she is awarded an applause from her classmates.

She shakes her head while looking down nervously, "That's not necessary."

Nikolai throws his arm over her shoulder with a grin, "Why of course it is... you won."

"This was just an exercise, Nik."

"Adeline, this is life..."

Adeline frowns and thinks about what he had just said. It was true. They may have been alive right now, but if they were actually in the games...

Shaking her head, she comes back to and follows Nikolai through the students. Nikolai sits down next to Rye as she smirks.

"Good job Evermore... didn't think you had it in you."

"Thanks I guess."

"Hardsand and Salizan... it is time."

Adeline stands watching Rye and another classmate walk through the doors. Nelle stands at the two way glass and pushed a button on the desk full of equipment.

Instead of a sunny day that Nikolai and Adeline had, the room was dark as night. A small gleam from a fake moon had given some kind of light to the the two classmates.

Adeline noticed that it was as if the room had spun around. The tree she picked was now on the right. She watches as Rye stumbled through the fake tall grass and contemplated the trees in front of her. Rye had chosen the same one Nikolai had which was now on the left.

Adeline watches Nelle lean forward and push down a lever. Her eyes go back to Rye as the girl who was now halfway up the tree suddenly yells out in pain and begins to slide back down. The other classmate quickly climbs his tree and sits on a firm branch with no problems.

The thorns had been switched. Nikolai's easy tree was no longer so easy. Rye knew that tree would be that way. That's why she chose it. An easy win. But the games were unpredictable. And she wasn't prepared.

Rye grunts in frustration as she looks at her sliced hands. Her hands tremble as she tries to pull herself up the trunk. She yells out angrily as she slides all the way back down and hits the ground.

Nelle turns back on the lights and the night sky disappears as well as the tall grass. She walks inside and waits for the two classmates to make their way over to her.

"Merlin you were a slower in the grass which could have resulted in death due to a gamemakers mutt. However you climbed your tree with ease and managed to wait out your opponent."

Merlin nods with a blank face.

Nelle turns to Rye and sighs, "Hardsand... there is no easy way out. Tell me, why did you choose that tree?"

Rye breathes in deeply as she tries to simmer down her anger, "I thought I could climb it."

Nelle shakes her head, "You believed it to be the same tree that Mr Gage just climbed... did you not?"

Rye sighs then nods.

"Do not make decisions, based off of someone else's experience. Find your own way. Figure out the arena through your eyes only... that is all. Go to the nurse."

Rye stomps out and past the class. She doesn't even speak as she bumps past Adeline. Nikolai quickly grips onto her waist making sure she didn't fall.

"Well someone isn't too happy."

Nikolai snorts, "Is she ever? She's more prideful than I am. I would be weary of her, Evermore. She has a temper. And no heart."

Adeline looks down at her hand and stares at the caked up blood that has finally stopped. Her hand stung but she had a couple cuts. Because of Rye's lack of perception of the arena from her own eyes, she had sliced one of her hands open and had a few cuts on the other.

Adeline endured.

She fought through the pain.

Maybe she would be okay.

...

"Good job on your first small arena game."

Adeline's eyebrows furrow in confusion as she looks at Ryker, "How did you know about that?"

"I hear things. Through the vines."

Adeline giggles shaking her head, "Right... how did you really know?"

Ryker smiles bumping her with his shoulder, "A little birdie told me."

"Nelle?"

Ryker nods, "She has to report to the mentors after every lesson. She had a lot of faith in you. Sees a lot of potential."

Adeline shakes her head with a frown, "I don't know about that."

"You're a fighter, Adeline."

"No that's not it..."

"Then what is it?"

"I just don't want to die."

Ryker halts in his steps and peeks down at her bandaged hand. He sighs and pulls her into a hug. Adeline instantly wraps her arms around Ryker as he hugs her tight. She felt tears form in her eyes, but she tried not to let them fall.

"You're going to live a long life, Adeline... I promise you."

...

Adeline's stomach was in knots as she sat in the couch beside Ryker and her mother. She hasn't felt this nervous in a while.

Aurora had received a sponsor gift after her incident. Finnick had helped her cover her cuts in healing cream. The next morning, her cuts were healed. Small scars still were visible but Aurora was okay. That was all Adeline cared about.

Now today, here she sat watching Finnick and Adella come up with a plan to trap other tributes.

"I don't think I can do this anymore..." Aurora says as she wipes a tear from her cheek.

Ryker sits up elbows on his knees as he pleads hoping that his voice would somehow get to Aurora. Somehow telepathically he could send her his reassurance. She had to fight.

Adeline looks away from Ryker who was tapping his foot nervously. She watches as Finnick goes to reach for Aurora's arm but she pulls back and backs away from him slowly.

"Aurora-"

"No... I-I can't do this Finnick. It's too much. They... they're just kids."

Adella scoffs rolling her eyes while sharpening her knife, "We're just kids."

Adeline watches the two girls argue as Finnick tried to calm them both down. Suddenly all three of them froze... and then chaos.

They had been ambushed... just as they did to others.

Adeline's hearing goes muffled and almost muted as a ringing goes off. She sits staring ahead at the screen as she watches her sister limp to help save the girl that she had just been in an argument with.

Adeline watches Finnick fight off two male tributes while Aurora fought another. He was too distracted making sure that she was okay and got cut.

One second.

One second was all it took for Aurora to die.

One second was all it took for Finnick to let out a pained cry.

One second was all it took for Aurora to look away from the girl from District 1.

One second was all it took for the girl from District 2 to murder Adeline's sister.

And one second was all it took for Marina to fall to her knees holding her chest.

What did we think of this chapter?

Are we liking the background information about the training academy? I know there's really nothing on it at all, so I thought it would be cool to make up a few things. I always have wondered what kind of things the careers learned.

Who is your favorite character?

How are we feeling about these characters?

Nikolai

Rye

Nelle

Ryker

Finnick

Aurora

Adeline

Future predictions?

Any special requests...

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PART 2

"You don't want to be like us... believe me."

"I killed to survive... not for fun..."