Mini Arena 2

[etcircenses]

Tributes are woken early, and the hovercraft ride is a long one. Not the longest some have experienced, but they are clearly going far.

25 - 24 - 23

They land on the deck of the boat, and are ushered underneath, to the lower levels, quickly. Their stylists go from cabin to cabin, decking them out in over the top finery, before loading them into the pods installed into the corners of the rooms.

20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16

The platforms lift them up, and they are all ringed around a grand buffet table, loaded with a grand feast looking ready to sag down from the weight. Among the food are supplies, plenty of them, all for the taking.

11- 10 - 9 - 8

They've all been warned, don't step off your pedestal early. They have also been warned to put on a good show. That's all this is about, a good show. None of them have been told that there can be multiple winners this time around.

5 - 4

3

2

The sound of the gong plays crystal clear across the opening. The games have begun.

Comments

[youbarium]

You would think that a full-grown man could run faster than a rat. Ordinarily, you would be right. However, Carlos had the misfortune of tripping on a door frame. He had nearly made it out of the corridor, and his top half would be invisible to Ruffnut as the rats swarmed him. Actually, most of him was invisible to Ruffnut as he disappeared under the writhing mass of rodents.

He flung his arms over his face to protect his eyes, nose, and mouth, which was all he could do before tiny teeth tore through his wetsuit and into his flesh.

Ruffnut might not see this, but she would certainly hear the screams.

[ruffntumblenut]

Her laughing faded as she watched him vanish under the swarm. The smile relaxed into curiosity as her more basic and barbaric impulses took over. Without the cheese hopefully the rats wouldn't take interest in her as she foolishly stood by to see what was left of him when it was over.

The screams rang in her ears and brought back memories of people being lit on fire by dragons back home.

If nothing else, it would be an interesting show to the people in the Capitol.

[youbarium]

What was left, after a few minutes, was a bloody mangled mess of bone and tendon in the vague shape of a human body, lying on tattered strips of clothing. It was disgusting.

A blood-splattered pair of glasses clinked onto the floor as the tide of rats ebbed away, full to bursting.

So passed Carlos, regretting every test on a lab rat that he had ever done.