Chapter 1
I begin my new life lying on my back, surrounded by a hot sun beaming down on my face. The very first thing I see are the peculiar faces of the people surrounding me. I don't recognize any of them, but the confusion etched on their faces is almost unmistakable.
Helping hands don't stop swarming me until I finally stand up and brush the dirt off my pants. There are quiet whispers coming from all around me, and I feel a little self-conscious.
"Step back, would ya? You're stressing the poor guy out." A deep voice snaps through the whispers, and everyone goes silent. I notice his voice has a slight accent to it, I recognize it to be a British accent. Something I didn't hear often. I try to shift my focus on the strangers, take in their appearances. I know I must look out of it, by the way the group is staring at me. A tall kid with blond hair stepped toward me. The same boy who had shushed the crowd moments before. He has a slight frown on his face.
"Where am I?" I ask. This was the only sentence I could think to make up.
"Nowhere good," the boy says. "Just keep yourself nice and calm, and I'll explain everything."
I nod, my eyes locked on the boy standing before me. "I'm Caleb. I'm the leader of this... group.” The boy finally says.
"Where am I? How'd-" but Caleb's hand shot up before I could finish. "Nobody knows. You'd be better off not wasting your energy on asking questions." I try to think back to before all of this. All I remember was being in a lab room filled with scientists running around. Then I got injected with some kind of serum, and ended up here.
"You're in a valley. Secluded from the rest of the world. We have everything we need to survive. Food, water." Caleb's voice cuts through my thoughts, and I look back up at him. I can tell by his expression that there's something else he isn't telling me. "And?"
"Once a month, we have something called 'the games'. The creators come down and go through the choosing. They choose two people to fight to the death." My breath gets caught in my throat at the statement. How could someone be so ruthless to put a bunch of kids through that? Suddenly, Caleb calls over a girl with the name Mari. She comes running over to him. "Mari here will give you the tour." He finishes off, and Mari grabs his hand. She seems a lot younger than me. Maybe around fourteen.
"That's the homestead, where we sleep," she points at a medium sized building towering above us. It seems well built and secure, but there are vines beginning to grow, reaching up to the roof. Without warning, she began walking away again. "This is the river. It's where we get all of our water from," She points at a small river winding down the middle of the valley. "On the other side is where we have the choosing ceremony."
I notice a few logs that they walk over to get to the other side, I assume. She then brings me to another building. It looks almost the same as the homestead, except it's smaller in both length and width. "This is the dining hall. It's where we eat our food. And over there are the bathrooms." She points to another small building not very far from the dining hall. "And that concludes the tour." I begin walking away but she grabs my arm. "There's a few rules I need to tell you before you go." Rules. Of course theres rules. How could I think there wouldn’t be? I think. "First, jobs. You can either be a chopper, gardener, builder, or plunger. Caleb will explain them in more detail to you later." She pauses before continuing. "Now the rules. Number one, you aren't allowed to have any religion besides for Christianity. And you must be like the rest of us." The sudden urgency in Mari's voice was almost unmistakable. As if she was trying to send me an indirect message. "Number two, you must not attack anyone unless during the games." There was a long pause before she spoke again. "And finally, you must do your part. No slacking or being lazy." I nod. Taking in the newfound information.
"What happens if I break one of the rules?" I ask. "Caleb with think of some sort of punishment for you." Mari replies, almost too calmly. "Now, you're free to do whatever you want. As long as you stick by the rules." She offers him a small smile before walking away, leaving him alone with nothing but the soft sound of the river beside him.
