Hunger Games 1

Chapter 15: Eleven Points (1)
I strode towards the elevator with big strides, carrying the bow and arrow and quiver on both sides of my shoulders while walking. I pushed away Avax who was guarding the elevator, and hit the button on the [-]th floor with my fist. The elevator door slowly closed , I went up quickly with the elevator.I want to hurry back to my room before the tears come out of my eyes.I heard someone calling me in the reception room, but I didn't answer, went across the hall, rushed back to the room, locked the door, threw myself on the bed, tears streaming down my face.

Something has happened and I've ruined everything!If I had a chance, it was knocked away by the arrow I shot at the tournament organizers.What will they do with me now?arrest?execute?Cut off my tongue, let me become Avax, and serve other "tributes" of Panem Kingdom in the future?How could I shoot an arrow at them, what was I thinking?Of course, I didn't want to shoot them, I wanted to shoot the apple, and they ignored me, which made me very angry.I didn't mean to kill them. If I did, they'd be dead by now.

Well, after all, what does it matter?It's unlikely I'll win anyway.How do they treat me and who cares?What really terrified me was what they would do to Mom and Prim, how much would my family suffer because of my impulsiveness?Are they going to take their meager possessions and put Mom in prison and Prim in orphanage?They're not going to kill them, are they?why not?What do they care about?
I should have stayed at the training ground and apologized.Or just smile and say it's just a joke, maybe they'll give me a high hand.Instead, I walked out of the gym with my head held high in arrogance.

Haymitch and Effie were knocking on the door, and I yelled at them to go away, and they finally did.I cried for at least an hour, then curled up in bed, stroking the silk sheets, watching the sun slowly set over the Capitol, the fairy-tale kingdom made of sugar.

At first, I thought the guards would come and take me away, but as time passed, it seemed like they would not come.I calmed down, they still need female "tributes" from District [-], don't they?If the tournament organizers want to punish me, they can openly release hungry animals in the arena to bite me.By then, they will certainly not give me a bow and arrow to defend myself.

But before I even entered the arena, the organizers of the competition must give me a very low score, and the results will be announced tonight, so that no one with a sound mind will help me.Today's training is not open to the public. After the training, the competition organizer will announce the results of each player, and the audience will use this as a starting point to place bets throughout the subsequent competition.The scores they give range from one point to twelve points, with one point being an irretrievably low score, and twelve points being a high score, indicating that the player has considerable potential.However, the results themselves do not indicate who will win in the competition, only the potential of the players in training.In the arena, the performance of players varies greatly, and high-scoring players often have a sharp drop in performance from the beginning of the game.A few years ago, a winning contestant scored only three points in the first judging.Of course, the level of scores will also have a great impact on players in terms of sponsorship.Although my archery skills are still not satisfactory, at the beginning I still expected to get six or seven points, and now my score must be the lowest among the 24 people.If no one is sponsoring me in a race, my chances of surviving are pretty much zero.

Effie knocked on the door and told me to go to dinner, and I decided to go.The results will be announced on TV tonight, and I can't hide these things even if I want to.I went into the bathroom and washed my face, but it was still red and stained with tears.Everyone was waiting at the table, including Cinna and Portia.Somehow, I wish they hadn't come, didn't want to disappoint them.The success they had so easily achieved in the opening ceremony seemed to be ruined by me without even thinking about it.While eating, I sipped the fish soup with a spoon, not daring to look up at anyone.The fish soup was so salty it felt like tears.

The adults were chatting about the weather forecast, and my eyes met Peeta, who raised his eyebrows, meaning, "What's wrong?" I just shook my head slightly.As the waiter brought out the main course, Haymitch said, "Well, that's enough talking, you guys haven't had a bad day, have you?"

Peeta took a step forward and said, "I don't know how I did today. When I stood in front of them, they didn't even bother to look at me, as if they were singing some kind of toast song. I threw a few heavy objects, and then they Let me go."

I feel a little better hearing that, and Peeta isn't attacking the tournament organizers, but at least he's angry too.

"What about you, honey?" Haymitch said.

I was rather annoyed at Haymitch calling me "honey," and I said gruffly, "I shot 'em."

Everyone stopped eating. "You what?" The fear in Effie's voice confirmed my suspicions.

"I fired an arrow at them, not at them, exactly, in their direction, and like Peeta said, they ignored me, so I just... An arrow shot from an apple in the roast pig's mouth!" I defended myself.

"What did they say?" Cinna said cautiously.

"I didn't say anything, oh, I don't know, I just walked out of the training ground," I said.

"Didn't wait for the announcement to end?" Effie asked hurriedly.

"I declare it over myself," I said.Then I remembered how I had promised Prim that I would try to win the race, and I felt a heavy weight on my shoulders.

"Well, that's the way it is," Haymitch said, buttering the egg roll.

"Do you think they're going to arrest me?" I asked.

"I don't think so, it's tricky to make another change at this stage," Haymitch said.

"What about my family?" I said, "Will they punish my family?"

"I don't think so, it doesn't make a lot of sense, then the public wants to know what you did wrong and they have to expose what happened at the training ground. But because it's confidential, they can't let the public know, So they don't do that, it's a waste of effort to do that," Haymitch said, "they're more likely to come out and make things difficult for you in the arena."

"Well, that's what they're going to do to us anyway," Peeta said.

"Exactly," Haymitch said.I didn't expect them to say that, and it gave me back a little confidence.Haymitch picked up a piece of pork and dipped it in the red wine. Effie frowned slightly when she saw it.Haymitch tore open another chunk of flesh, giggling suddenly. "What did they look like?"

I felt the corners of my mouth curl up, "Shocked, scared. Well, they're ridiculous".The situation at that time appeared before my eyes. "There was a guy who fell backwards on a wooden ball."

Haymitch laughed wildly when he heard that, and we all laughed too, except for Effie, who couldn't help but say, "Well, they deserve it. It's their job to watch you show off your skills, you from District [-] It can't be an excuse for them to ignore you." Then she quickly glanced around, as if she had said something wild and unruly. "I'm sorry, but that's what I thought." She seemed to be talking to herself.

"My grades must be low," I said.

"Only the high score is noticeable, and no one pays attention to the low score or the middle score. Because they know that maybe the player keeps a hand and deliberately gets a low score. This strategy has also been used." Portia said.

"I'm probably only four, and I hope people think of me that way," Peeta said. "I just pick up the ball and throw it a few yards, and if anyone is worse than me, he's at the bottom. "

I smiled at him and suddenly felt hungry.I cut off a piece of pork, buried it in mashed potatoes, and munched.It was so delicious.My family is safe, and as long as they're okay, it's fine.

After dinner, we went to the reception room to watch the test results.Photos of "tributes" appeared on the TV, and their achievements were displayed below.Professional players naturally get a high score of eight to ten points, and most other players get five points. Strangely, little Lulu gets seven points.I don't know what skills she showed in front of the contest organizers, but she must have done well for her small size.

(End of this chapter)