Contest: The 140th Annual Hunger Games

Host: THGF1234

The rumbling was deafening. Smoke clogged the air and forced the oxygen from my lungs. The earth shook and cracked beneath my feet. Fire flickered in my peripheral and trees crashed to the dry ground all around us.

Mirabella's hand was clasped tightly in mine as we stumbled toward the south mountains. But no matter how fast we ran, the trip before us seemed unbearably impossible.

A loud crack resonates throughout my skull and a huge, towering tree lurches toward the ground directly in front of me. I jerk backward, catching Mia as she stumbles into me.

"Ah!" She shrieks, gripping my arm with white knuckled fingers as she legs fall out from under her. Hair stuck to her forehead and her eyes were losing their shine.

"Come on!" I snap, searching desperately for a way through the fire. Mia nods, attempting to put weight on her foot.

"Uh!" She cries, collapsing forward to hold her leg with one hand. I reach for her instinctively, my heart tumbling anxiously through my chest. "I can't! Just go!" Mia yells, shooing me with her hand. My heart stutters in my chest and the world tilts violently on it's side.

"No!" I growl, wrapping my arms under her body and hoisting her up into my arms. She jerks, fighting and hammering her fists against my arms.

"No! My leg is broken! I can't walk and you can't carry me! We'll both die! Leave me!" She snaps, a stream of tears threatening her eyes. I clench my teeth and shake my head, charing into a cloud of smoke.

"Never." I whisper just loud enough for her to hear. Mia flashes me a weary look and gives a heavy sigh of relief.

I stumble through the arena feeling my lungs burn and my feet ache. My muscles cry out with the effort of holding onto to Mia. Weariness begins to plague my movements and I find myself tripping over sticks and rocks.

"You're going to die!" Mia shouts over the crackling fire, her eyes pleading with me.

"I'm not leaving you!" She huffs angrily and flips herself out of my grasp, landing on the ground in a heap.

"Yes, you are. Go!" She snaps, pointing to the south section of the arena where a mountain side stood wide open, waiting for me. Us.

"No, I'm not!" Mia punches her fist into the broken ground and stabs her finger towards the mountains.

"Hell Nick, get out of here!" She screeches, I bite my lip and take a step toward her. I wouldn't leave my sister behind.

The ground rumbles and the arena quakes. A large crack splits down the forest floor. Mia yelps and tumbles over the edge, I lurch forward and grasp ahold of her fingers desperately.

"Nick!" Mia shouts, scraping her nails along my skin.

"I got you!" I yell back, voice stained. Clenching my teeth, I dig my knees into the earth and use my free arm to pull upward, but I quickly tire and fall against the ground with a yelp of frustration.

"You can't do it." Mia mutters, her eyes filling with watery tears. A soft simple smile touches her lips and her grip loosens.

"No! No, don't you dare!" I order, gripping her arm with every ounce of energy in me.

"I love you Nick." She responds, I shake my head and again try to pull her up onto solid ground.

"No, no, no." I mumble to myself, fighting off the tears that threaten my eyes.

"Nicholas!" Mirabella calls, grabbing my full attention. Her eyes, so sad and full of life, drip with salty tears. "Win this damn game." Her fingers slip through my hands like water and I watch with transfixed terror as she falls away into darkness. A cannon booms and my heart clenches.

"No!" I shout helplessly, beating my fists against the ground in rage. Mia was dead and there was nothing I could do about it. She was gone and she would never come back. I'd lost my twin, the only person in the world I feared I couldn't live without.

A loud crack resonates across the ground on my left and I look over to see a huge tree getting ready to fall. It was on fire and it was aiming for me.

For one moment, I don't move. I simply watch that tree with fury and relief fighting a rather tiresome game inside me. I wanted to die, yet another part pf me left a desperate urge to live. For Mia. To win. And as the tree came down, I realized I wanted to live.

Without a second thought, I throw myself to the side. I roll and tumble against the dead ground, scraping various body parts along broken sticks. Scrambling to my feet, I begin a fervent jog through the forest and into the South. The mountain side is very close and I run toward it with all the energy of electric bolt.