His heart's beating hard and he'd almost swear he could hear the blood rushing through his veins. He knows the costume is just fabric but it's like it's weighing him down all the same as if it were actual armor. Don't step off the pedestal-- why? What happens? Tim finds himself wincing at the thought-- it actually hurt to think about the next couple hours. His eyes are surveying the land. Modified environment. Cameras must be everywhere. They're all dressed like clowns, even if he has to admit his style is much better than some. --oh. There's Steph. There's... other people he knows. His peripheral vision catches the clock counting down.
11. 10. 9.
It's actually ticking really slowly. He's wincing again at a ghost pain the next second.
4. 3.
Okay, so the clock's counting quick. More time, more time, they need more--
1.
It's a frenzy. Some people rush forward, others back to hide. There are goods up ahead-- tickets to survival? Maybe. Yes. His legs are carrying him forward before he knows it. Then his mind catches up and it's an obvious mistake. Tim stops on a dime, feeling already winded by the sprint, and he takes a half of a second to turn tail and flee the other way. A concentrated group of panicked people eager to get their hands on weapons or the like is just asking for a blood bath. No, no, no, how stupid! How could he almost get himself caught up in that? He needs to avoid others. Because it's obvious in some of the company's eyes-- not everyone is against killing.
Try as he might, colors and panic (sure, he can admit it. he's just been tossed into a death match) make him stumble early but he regains his footing. His lungs are on fire. That he's been poisoned doesn't cross his mind-- only traitors to this government get that treatment, right? It's not until he takes a micro second to slow down and check for some cut on his arm (it's burning really bad) that he realizes not all is as it seems. He'd been blind to other Tributes before but now... some people are just dropping like flies. That that will be him in the next minutes is a fact Tim finds hard to swallow, or ignore.
Poisoned!
18. 17.
His heart's beating hard and he'd almost swear he could hear the blood rushing through his veins. He knows the costume is just fabric but it's like it's weighing him down all the same as if it were actual armor. Don't step off the pedestal-- why? What happens? Tim finds himself wincing at the thought-- it actually hurt to think about the next couple hours. His eyes are surveying the land. Modified environment. Cameras must be everywhere. They're all dressed like clowns, even if he has to admit his style is much better than some. --oh. There's Steph. There's... other people he knows. His peripheral vision catches the clock counting down.
11. 10. 9.
It's actually ticking really slowly. He's wincing again at a ghost pain the next second.
4. 3.
Okay, so the clock's counting quick. More time, more time, they need more--
1.
It's a frenzy. Some people rush forward, others back to hide. There are goods up ahead-- tickets to survival? Maybe. Yes. His legs are carrying him forward before he knows it. Then his mind catches up and it's an obvious mistake. Tim stops on a dime, feeling already winded by the sprint, and he takes a half of a second to turn tail and flee the other way. A concentrated group of panicked people eager to get their hands on weapons or the like is just asking for a blood bath. No, no, no, how stupid! How could he almost get himself caught up in that? He needs to avoid others. Because it's obvious in some of the company's eyes-- not everyone is against killing.
Try as he might, colors and panic (sure, he can admit it. he's just been tossed into a death match) make him stumble early but he regains his footing. His lungs are on fire. That he's been poisoned doesn't cross his mind-- only traitors to this government get that treatment, right? It's not until he takes a micro second to slow down and check for some cut on his arm (it's burning really bad) that he realizes not all is as it seems. He'd been blind to other Tributes before but now... some people are just dropping like flies. That that will be him in the next minutes is a fact Tim finds hard to swallow, or ignore.