District 4 Male

Samuel leans against the wall of the narrow elevator as it ascends through the underground. He can feel the glass vibrate against his shoulder blades. He watches his reflection, a skinny, wild-eyed stranger staring back at him. Black pants, black boots, and no shirt, just a male tribute in the Hunger Games. He never thought he would end up here one day. Nobody does. Like everyone, he had always assumed it would happen to someone else.

He reflects on the final moments of his old life. Four days ago was national reaping day. There were no classes. Instead, he and the other kids took one of several buses to the district capital. His classmate Rebecca cried on the trip and their teacher asked him to console her.

"What if one of us gets picked?" she asked repeatedly. They weren't exactly boyfriend and girlfriend, but they went to the same after-school activities and invited each other to their birthday parties. Maybe she saw him as something.

"Yeah, sure. You'll get picked AND your brother, and your parents will die from grief, and your cat too, and the universe will explode! Come on. It's not gonna happen. It's far too unlikely." He gave her a pat on the back, but that was it. In hindsight, he wishes he had at least given her a hug.

She sniffled. "B-but you don't know that. Your name's in there too."

"Yes but..." he tried to explain. "Look, the odds are 1 in 8,000 for either of us. That's zero point zero one two percent. You know how low that is?"

She nodded but didn't look up. Then they got off the bus and the boys and girls got separated. He didn't see her again after that.

The moment his name was pulled is burned into his memory. The way the announcer reached into the glass bowl and slowly stirred with her finger before pulling out the slip of paper. The way he felt a sudden wave of nausea deep in his stomach before she even said it.

"Samuel Baker."

How all the boys around him groaned in relief. The way his friends looked at him as he slowly walked up to the stage. He still wonders what Rebecca thought at that exact moment. Where are she and his friends now? Sitting at home in front of their TVs, watching the live feed?

He feels a lump in his throat. They're still going to be alive two weeks from now, he thinks. Everyone is. I'm not.

Daylight streams in from above and he emerges from the ground. The boy gasps when he sees the cornucopia. Maybe because it looks bigger when you're actually down here? It's the last place in the world a kid would want to be right now. The countdown has already started. Thirty seconds. He wonders what would happen if he just stood here and waited. How many of the others would he outlast before someone came back to finish him off?

The final second ticks away. He bursts into a run. He's on autopilot. He makes it all the way to the outer wall of the cornucopia and grabs a bag with both hands.

He turns to flee. Suddenly he spots a girl to his left sprinting right at him out of nowhere. He sidesteps but she collides with him at full speed. He hits the grass hard. Her knife pierces his shoulder. Pain and adrenaline kick in.

He scrambles to get up but the girl is relentless. Her knife glints, then sinks into his belly, once, twice, three times. Every strike hits. Pain explodes where she stabs him. He tries to push her off him. She stabs him a fourth time, then gets up and runs. It's over in seconds.

The boy presses his forearms against the wounds and tears his mouth open in a silent scream. Blood bubbles out between his arms. He writhes on the ground but no matter how he twists and turns the pain from the stab wounds all over his upper body only gets worse, the one in his shoulder serving as a throbbing counterpoint.

FUCK! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I go for the cornucopia?

He tries to crawl away with the bag but his body seizes up and he has to roll in on himself again. Fuck! He takes a breath. I'm out of it already, he thinks. She manhandled me so hard.

He begins to feel cold sweat. He wonders what his friends must be thinking seeing him like this. Did they get a close-up shot? Would Rebecca be uncomfortable with him losing to a girl?

He hears hollering and opens his eyes. The career tributes have spotted him and are coming nearer. He coughs and rolls over.

"Well well well!" says the bigger of the two boys. "Who are you?"

Samuel looks up at them. He knows the only reason they don't kill him right away is because he's already been cleaned out. "Samuel," he presses out.

"I meant what district, idiot!" The second boy interrupts. "Shut up. Hey. Who killed you?"

"I-I don't know."

"Are you stupid?" The first boy leans down. "What do you mean you don't know? Was it a boy or a girl?"

"Girl. Julia, I think."

This amuses them. He was beaten by a girl? They make crying faces. "Did you see which direction she went?" one of the girls asks, prompting corroborating exclamations from the other careers who were about to ask the same thing.

He points to the trees into which she disappeared, then presses his arm back against his belly. The boy from district 1 looks in the direction and nods. "Alright." Then he steps away and offers his sword to his district partner. "You should have the kill."

She scoffs. "Why? Because I'm at zero?"

"No... because a girl should finish what a girl started!"

"Pah! Gimme that." She takes the sword and walks over to Samuel. Seeing her standing over him, about to give him a coup de grace, sends confusing feelings through him. She's so confident and beautiful with her long, blond hair and her round breasts underneath her rashguard. Her blue eyes are staring into his, looking over his wounds. He feels his pants getting tighter.

"Do you know my name?"

He nods. "Lucilia."

She smiles and nods. "From?"

"District 1?"

"That's right!"

She plunges her sword into him.

An alert box pops up on television screens throughout North America: District 4 male placed 15th - Time survived 00:00:02:13.