The new hunger games: the 1st games.

I'm not someone to complain. I follow orders, do what's needed, work hard and live with what I've got. It's got me this far. But I'm not sure how much further it can get me.
I am Rebecca Stanshard. Bear, to my friends. Not that I have many of them. Unpopular? No. Not really. It's just that here, no one has much time for friends. In district 11 we work away day after day, night after night, with hardly a break. Nothing changed when the capitol fell. Nothing much has changed now that it has risen and taken control again. Apart from one thing. The hunger games have returned.
Worse than ever. A 'special' games every five years. Even more dramatic events in the arena. Harsher climates than ever before. Or at least that's what they say. We are yet to see just how bad it will be. Today, the games begin once more...
The heat of the sun beats down on our faces. We are squashed together in the town square, waiting with baited breath. The announcer steps onto the stage. I don't know how name. I've had no time to find out any information about the new games. Too busy. He drones on as we pant in the boiling summer heat. None of us are really listening, we all just want to get back to work. We're losing wages listening to this trash. "The male competitor for district 11 in the first new hunger games will be..." I pay no attention. I barely know any of the other kids in the district. As I said, we're all too busy for friendly chats in the streets. Of course, there's my brother, Jasper. But just how likely is it that he, or all the boys here, will be picked? I let my mind wander, barely noticing when the girl next to me elbows me in the chest. " Oi! " I say. I turn to her, and she looks worried. "He's yer brother, 'ent he?" She whispers in a high pitched voice, and dread fills my chest. I look up to the stage and there he is, climbing up to his doom. My twin brother, my only friend, the only person I have ever truly cared about. And unlike that Katniss, from the other hunger games, who stepped up in place of her sister, there is nothing I can do about it.
My heart is pounding and my breath has stuck in my throat. I watch him, he turns to me and we each know what the other is thinking. Our bond is so strong, but soon it will be broken. "And the female competitor will be..." Again, I pay no attention, focusing on my brother. But this time I hear it. I cannot miss it.
"Rebecca Stanshard!"
I barely know what I am doing as I make my way through the crowd. Even though they barely know me, the look of pity in the other kids' eyes is unmistakable. I reach the stage and climb up. I stand beside my brother and know that at least one of us will die. Most likely both. And again, there is nothing I can do about it.
Darkness. My head is filled with the darkness of fear and distress. So thick that it seeps into my eyes and ears and blocks my senses so that I see nothing, hear nothing. In a way it is comforting, I could let it take over, fall into it and never surface from its depths. Be away from the pain of everything that is going on. But I can hear his voice, open my eyes and see his baby blue ones and know that I must stay with him. I must endure the torture of the life that I call mine.
I open my eyes, slowly and painfully. We are in a room. Spacious and almost empty. It's not in district 11. Any rooms back there would be filled with things that needed somewhere to go. It wouldn't be plain like this. He is sitting on my bed. I can vaguely remember travelling here after the announcement, and lying down and closing my eyes and seeing only darkness, sweet darkness... I feel my eyes closing and i snap them back open. I know I cannot give in to temptation. Jasper gazes down at me, big blue eyes wide with worry. "Bear..." He whispers and I can tell how frightened he is. Perched on the edge of the bed, muscles tensed, eyes slightly watering. We can read the signs of each other's bodies. We understand each other. And I understand that right now, what my twin needs most of all is to be comforted. I heave myself up and pull him into a hug. He doesn't resist, just buried his head in my shoulder. I feel his short, mousy blonde hair brush against mine. We look so alike, and I find myself thinking... What if, in some way, we could use that to our advantage in the arena? Of course that's what I'm thinking. I silently scold myself. I'm always concentrating on surviving. But maybe, now, that'll come in useful. After all, that's what the games are all about.
The next few days pass quickly. People say time flies when you're having fun. Well, it also flies when you're counting up the days till certain doom. Training is a good opportunity to learn new skills and practise old ones. On the first day I tried to have a go at everything. It didn't exactly work. Of course, clever Jasper had the idea of me learning weapons while he learned survival skills, which is going pretty well so far. I just hope in the arena we'll be able to combine our skills and survive. I try not to think about the fact that one of us has to die. Even if we're both the last ones standing... There can only be one winner of these games.
My chest is tight and my throat is dry. Today is the day. I am waiting for my stylist, in the fancy, clean, sparkling world of Capitol fanciness. Soon, I will be in the wild, struggling for survival. A young woman enters the room. Her lips are rose red and her shoulder long hair is a brilliant twilight blue. A diamond stud sits on her nose and blush covers her pale ivory cheeks. She smiles at me and her purple eyes twinkle. I smile back shakily.
Over the next hour, she ties my hair into two golden plaits, paints my lips dark scarlet, and brushes black powder on my eyelids. I am fitted with a tight silver suit and turned to a mirror. Stunned. I hardly look like myself anymore, more like a fierce warrior maiden, with long, dark lashes, tightly tied back braids, and a metallic suit of armour. I stare in wonder at my reflection for a moment before they call me. As if in a dream, I walk to the tube. I step into it. I am sucked away, and the next thing I know, I am in a clearing. The new hunger games are about to begin.
I look around as quickly as I can, desperately trying to take in my surroundings and decide on a plan before we are all thrown into the arena.
My instinct is to run straight to Jasper, but to my unmasked horror he is on the opposite side of the cornucopia. 
I know that I can't risk running to him, but what else can I do?
Suddenly, the tubes disappear and we are out. 
I'm not thinking straight, I'm panicking, but the lust for survival kicks in and I bound towards a bulky blue backpack. I haul it over my shoulders and grab a metal waterbottle and a pouch of knives, then run as fast as I can from the centre of the clearing. 
The cornucopia is in the centre of a circle of short grass. Long, wild grassy meadows surround it, buzzing and humming with insects. 
Knowing the capitol, probably hybridised, disease spreading, knife tailed insects.
I take a deep breath and dart out into the long, lush grass, then duck down low and crawl around the edge of the short grass circle until I am behind my brother.
Jasper has picked up a bundle of something wrapped in soft blankets and is just picking up a pack of food when I spot another girl approaching him from another part of the long grass.
My heartbeat quickens and my breathing intensifies as the girl carefully, quietly creeps closer.
I'll write more when I get time.
Category:Literature
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fennecthesandwing21‘s Things
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Semi-cannon
Category:Fanfictions (Unfinished)