Flash Back Games (Closed)

Run.

That’s what she was trying to do. Her feet pounding on the ground, her eyes trained ahead. She had to...

Run.

The sunlight was hidden in the darkness she was in, but freedom was closer than she expected.

Run.

The silhouettes reflected all around, and the door was right in her grasp. Just a few more steps. The open door, freedom, was so close.

Run. Run. Run.

“Why are you running?” A voice asked, and she shook her head, forcing herself to go faster.

Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.

“I can’t stay.” She said, gaze locked ahead.

“Why?” The voice asked again.

She stopped, glancing at the figure behind her, a menacing smirk, always watching, always near.

“You know exactly why.” She said, yelling out as the doors closed around her, encasing her in complete darkness once more.

And just like that, it was ripped away once more.

—

“Run?” Amadrya questioned, standing to the side as Everest read the paper Holly had handed him.

Her eyes fell to the ground, before flickering back outdoors. She was frozen, and stared out at the opening to the arena like it was a dream.

A dream come true no less.

Yet it turned to terror just as fast, realization dawning, a glitch in the arena wouldn’t last long. They had to take the chance now, no matter what gifted it. And obviously, some of the sponsors, stylists and mentors were in on it.

Everest beat her to the words, “Run!” He simply yelled, and like bugs, they scattered to grab their most precious items in case they needed them.

Holly felt at her neck, realizing she had her amulet still with a sigh of relief. Then she scampered forward, she was still fast, and the chance? It wouldn’t last forever. They could escape, and live out their lives. They could never return home, most likely.

Her mind was running very quickly, and the group already exited the building, all running to the bottom floor.

Her mind halted and reeled as her body did. The rain still was pouring, but they would worry about that when they got there.

Freedom costs them a price.

She glanced at the others, unlike her, they would have families waiting for them, families that might pay if they took this chance. The guilt was already building, but she shook it off. Whoever sent the message must have ensured the safety of their families before acting.

She had to, quite literally, run on the hope that they did.

Especially for Burton, she hoped. His sisters deserved to have their brother back.

She found herself smiling softly as she raced behind him, her friend. One she didn’t have feelings for.

That’s a lie.

Yet when the group came to a halt, she found herself annoyed.

Were they scared of the rain?

“Oh-“ she suddenly said, spotting the haunted look in the eyes of a tribute who was seeking refuge in the bottom level of the building. “That explains a lot.” She then tagged on.

Burton shot her a glare, and she promptly ignored it, that is, in favor of running ahead and pushing out the door, “Now is really not the time to be shocked, we gotta go!” She yelled out to those behind her.

Amadrya and Everest at least got the message, nodding and running past, though Amadrya was a bit more happy now, the boy was from her District. Halina was still pouting over her almost betrayal and probably guilt, and Burton was coaxing the boy into following. Ari did so, nodding to the others and running as well.

Holly winced as she ran into the rain, but was surprised to find that it was now clear, and didn’t burn any longer. She expected pain, but none hit her.

“That’s a relief,” she whispered out, before running ahead weaving a way for the group to safely get to the exit that lay for them and others.

She thought it was safe, anyways, but her gaze flickered up to the area where the blinding flash had occurred, and she could see little sparks flying, the electronics of the arena were fried.

She wondered how long that would remain.

Her guess was not very long at all.

And by safe, she meant she had to skid to a halt as a spark, probably meant to be like lightning earlier, rammed right into a nearby building, sending shatters of glass and crumbles of rumble flying over the group like a cloud of dust.

Do not be fooled, the mixture did contain dust.

She noticed the flashes kept appearing all throughout the sky, buildings set on fire, rubble crashing down.

“We have to hurry!” Halina oh so helpfully put in.

“Really?” Holly questioned incredulously, “What in the world gave you that idea?” She added sarcastically.

Halina shut up, and Holly continued on her way, dodging as much glass and dust as she could. Suffice to say, it was extremely hard to see.

She could barely hear above the crashing sounds and sound of flames flickering, but she heard a cannon, and that was definitely a telltale sound.

It felt like her heart dropped, and she turned, expecting to see a body fall to the ground, dead and gone. She was happy to see that, while she expected it, that wasn’t the case. Everyone was accounted for, including Macaria and Alessandro.

Wait, Including?

“Get away from them!” She found herself shouting, grabbing a knife that Amadrya had loaned to her when the others first joined the group. She walked closer, brandishing it, she was skilled with some types of blades. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill if she needed to.

She just really, really didn’t want to.

“Drop it, Alandria, we aren’t here for a fight, we saw it too.” Macaria snapped, discarding any fight by running ahead with Alessandro, towards the exit.

—

“What it the world was that?” Alessandro questioned, sending the girl out of her shock.

“That’s...” she breathed in for a moment, sucking in the air to refuel her oxygen, she felt lightheaded. “That’s the sky.”

“-Okay?” He had responded, and Macaria wanted to slap him in that moment. She was tempted to.

“No, that’s the real sky!” She exclaimed, “We can get out of here, both of us!”

He froze, staring up, he seemed happy and discouraged all at the same time. To be honest, so was she. She wanted to win, make her District proud. But at the same time, she got closer to Alessandro, she didn’t know how or why it was open, or what it would result it. But if she and Alessandro could live?

She wouldn’t have to kill him. He wouldn’t have to kill her.

“Let’s go.” Alessandro finally said in resolve. She nodded in response, and smiled.

They could both live.

—

Holly stared at their retreating figures, hidden by the clouds of smoke. She was frozen still, partly out of fear, and some part of it shocked.

Just days ago, they had tried to kill her.

She only moved when her group was getting ahead of her, disappearing into the fog as well. Though Burton had stopped, staying in view for her.

She shook her head, nodded, affirming her thoughts and casting them away, and ran after the others. They wouldn’t have time to stay and wait for the chance to go away.

Even if they tried to kill, they all had a common goal now.

So she ran again, and sighed in relief when he did too. She was now at the back of the pack, and once she passed the thick fog of dust, she spotted the 7 figures before her approaching the broken down force field. It was so close now.

Very close indeed, and she skidded to a halt as she stared in wonder.

Before she screamed as something fell from the sky, more precisely, one of the skyscrapers, one that was nearby, and rolled out of the way. The debris fell right where she was moments before, and when she swung her gaze up, she noticed that the forcefield was reappearing, and closing rapidly.

Some had stopped to assure her safety, and she’s pointed at the exit, “Wow it looked like we have forever!” She snapped, before forcing herself up, sore or not, and running as fast as she could, “Move it!”

They got the message turning and staring at the forcefield before moving like she had.

Macaria and Alessandro got out first, and Holly stopped when two cannons rang out, staring ahead. She expected one of her friends to be dead. Yet three more cannons followed as Amadrya, Ari and Everest crossed the forcefield.

She realized then that no one actually died, but outside of the arena, they appeared as dead.

To make them harder to find?

It was genius.

Burton and Halina came out next, and the force field was closer to closing.

“Holly!” Everest yelled out, she would be surprised by his care in her survival, but she was a bit busy at the time. “Run!”

What did he think she was doing?

She would have snapped at him, but deciding running wasn’t good enough because she wouldn’t make it in time, she lunged at the exit.

She registered she made it, just barely, right as her cannon fired, the force field closed, but she was more alarmed by the fact that everything was going in circles.

That is to say, she was rolling from her landing multiple times before she finally stopped. She laid curled up for a moment, catching her breath.

“Are you alright?” One of the figures towering above her asked. She couldn’t distinguish who by looks, but she would say it was Amadrya by the sound of the voice.

She was a bit dazed, and let off a long breath, “My world is spinning.” She simply responded with that.

“Earth does that,” She could tell that was Burton, no one else would be saying that right now except for him or herself.

“Shut up Burt.” She hissed out.

Everest held a hand out to her she took it, stood up, and brushed off. Mumbling out a quiet thanks, and looking around. Macaria and Alessandro were waiting in a nearby tree line, she was surprised they were waiting but, then again, they would do better as one big group.

They were free.

Movement caught her attention in the corner of her eyes, and she shifted her gaze to the arena, now closed again. She was shocked to see some tributes standing in the dust, brokenly staring at the closed forcefield, but she was even more startled as the buildings began to fall, and fire started spreading faster and faster.

She watched in shock as the tributes were sunk under the buildings, cannons singing in the air like some sickening tune.

“Everyone’s dead.” Amadrya said, gaping.

Holly only blinked, a frown settling on her face as she turned, “Freedom costs a price.”

—

Ari felt extreme guilt, staring back at the arena as everything collapsed and burned. The words the girl said next, about the cost of freedom, caused him to shiver slightly.

It struck him too that Robin was so close to escape, that she could have lived.

That is, if her hadn’t left her. It was technically unfair to blame himself, he couldn’t have known what would happen, and he didn’t even know for sure if she was looking for him.

Her last words, her saying his name in panic, is what made him feel even worse. It kept playing in his head.

Yet the others had already run ahead, and he needed to as well.

That he did.

—

“We need to get moving,” is what Everest had said, and Holly nodded in reply. She had already turned away, and was walking closer to Amadrya and Macaria as it was. Some others, like Ari, had remained closer to the arena, and Amadrya offered condolences to those left behind.

But Everest was right, the time to mourn would come later. They had to go quickly, before they were found.

When the others began to run again, so did she, stepping right next to Macaria and Alessandro, offering them a quick look before walking ahead. She couldn’t care less to offer them anything more than a acknowledgement. They put her through a lot of pain, and she couldn’t spare them a care in the world.

They walked for a while once they were hidden by the forest that laid near the arena, they were walking away, in no certain direction. But the people who freed them must know where they would be going, the exit was in one place.

She noticed with a haunting thought that the Capitol too would be searching for them around there.

They had to hurry.

She noticed maybe they should have done that from the beggining. So she started running herself, and the others took it as a clue.

—

Amadrya was running behind the others, minutes had passed, her breaths came out quick and jagged. The amount of running they had done in the short time was slowing down her body as it was with the others.

So she stopped to catch her breath, they were rather well off in terms of being hidden. The foliage, the trees, it reminded her of home.

Home. District 7.

She wondered if she would ever see her home again.

Would she?

She spotted a small clearing and pond up ahead, dehydration had set in, water was harder to find in the type of arena they were in. There were sources, but even with them, dehydration was hard to avoid.

“Water, Up ahead!” She told the others, and they nodded, heading towards it.

—

Holly followed the others, skeptical of the pond in the clearing. It was, by lack of better words, a clearing, Which, given there current status, wasn’t exactly a good thing.

But it would be quick. Just a small drink, and then they would leave.

Her footsteps were light, wary, as she approached the water, before kneeling, cupping the water in her hands and taking a few small sips.

It seemed so calm, tranquil, and she breathed in a sigh of relief.

—

Alessandro found himself waiting at the base of the treeline, he wasn’t that thirsty, and it seemed Macaria wasn’t either.

They both seemed stained from the things they had saw, Sapphire and Corvina’s dead bodies.

“Freedom,” he tasted the word, and Macaria nodded next to him.

That was when he noticed the movement overhead, and grabbed Macaria’s hand, running back into the forest, opposite off where they came from.

—

Movement caught Holly’s eyes from above them though. And her face fell. The trees rustled like some wind was blowing by, but she knew it wasn’t. That was a hovercraft, and while the others saw it and ran back to the clearing, that was, for the most part, Halina sat staring at her reflection at the water’s edge.

She didn’t think, she just ran.

“Halina, Move!”

—

When the group found water, Halina sat at it’s edge, cupping her hands in it and taking a small drink. The ripples caught her eyes, from where her hands hit it, and guilt hammered in her chest as she was met with her reflection.

She tried betraying people, who, if it wasn’t for them, she would be dead. She owed them her life, and she tried to kill them.

She was glad she didn’t, if she did, the message would have never made sense, and she would be the only one alive out of them. Even if she escaped, she would most likely be caught if she was on her own.

”Halina, Move!”

Her gaze snapped up, met with wide green eyes nearby, running towards her, and her gaze flickered upwards on instinct, she scrambled up, and started running for the treeline once more. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but she wasn’t keen on finding out.

—

Holly came to a halt, when Halina ran off, she was happy, the hovercraft seemed to move, invisible to the eye.

Holly dove in the water, she didn’t know if the claw was nearby or not, and she figured water was safer then land, especially given that it was closer than the tree-line.

She found herself opening her eyes under the water, staring up at the blurry scene, yet the hovercraft didn’t seem to be over her.

She deemed that safe enough to move, and hurried to swim back up. The peaceful aura of the water could not keep her trapped.

When she sucked in some air, forcing herself back onto land, she immediately spotted the now visible hovercraft.

It wasn’t over her at all. But she knew it had someone trapped.

She took the chance to run to cover.

—

Everest found everything peaceful at the water’s edge. Quenching his thirst, sitting by Amadrya.

The yell broke it, and his gaze shifted to Holly as she’s dove in the water, and Halina as she ran for cover.

He had no idea what was going on, but he stood on his own feet and forced Amadrya up as well.

They were about to run for cover when he spotted it, the Hovercraft the others ran from.

He felt something hit his skin, sending a small amount of pain and numbness running down his neck before he fell unconscious.

—

Holly made her way back to the tree-line. She wanted to check to make sure they had everyone, but they didn’t have the time. They had to run.

The only person she even saw was Burton, and His form dissapeared behind the treeline.

She heard some voices nearby, and spotted just outside the treeline, some of the others, and some opened up tunnel.

Freedom.

—

Burton felt his feet carrying him. He ran after the others he saw ahead, he couldn’t tell who exactly though.

His heart was beating quickly as he spotted something just beyond the treeline, what looked like the opening to a tunnel, and some of the stylists, Alistar and Diana by the looks of it? Others were there, he noticed, and with a few final strides he broke through the forest and hopped down into the little hole that seemed to be the escape now, it was like a cave, but he knew there had to be a tunnel within.

When he dropped down, he wondered about what life would be like from then on.

They could live.

—

Holly smiled, Burton was safe, she knew it.

Just a few more feet!

Run.

She didn’t feel much through her adrenaline, but she knew it was close.

Run.

She took a few more steps, a smile overtaking her face, it was so close!

She felt the wind though, it wasn’t real wind either, and she could hear it too.

Run!

Something hit the back of her neck, right near her shoulder, and a numbing feeling overtook her body.

She hit the ground, her ankle twisting and causing her to fall, she immediately found her hand reaching out towards the treeline, just meters away, but it blurred all the same.

Her hand hit the ground and everything went dark.

—

She woke up in darkness, a shivering, cold darkness. Curled in a ball, instead of being soaked through still, she seemed dry.

Dry, but cold.

And her body was sore, and she had a splitting headache.

She uncurled herself, squinting at her surroundings, trying to adjust to the lack of light. She snaked her hand out blindly, but when they hit something, she retreated them just as fast.

Her vision cleared a little, her eyes skimming the cold metal bars she had just touched. A cell?

Why was she in a cell?

She was supposed to be free!

“Where-“ her voice sounded odd, groggily and dry, and she coughed some. “Where am I?”

“Holly?”

That came from the cell over, and her eyes widened as she turned her head, akin to an owl. The dark hair, the eyes, the voice...

“Everest?” That was a new voice.

“Amadrya?” Everest questioned, and Holly found dread pooling in her stomach.

“How kind!” A voice greeted, and Holly felt her stomach drop even more. President Louden. “Now, if we are done with greetings, I believe we should get to business.”

Silence. Amadrya and Everest seemed to be in the two cells to her left, no one was in her right.

Her gaze slid back to the figure cloaked in darkness, standing before her cell.

“Panem is in outrage!” He then began, keeping his voice smooth despite his frustration and annoyance, “To show them that it will never be repeated, we are going to make an example-“

“Killing us wasn’t enough?” Holly found herself snapping.

He went silent, before hissing out a reply, “I suggest you shut up, enjoy your time of peace as it lasts, because soon, you’ll be wishing you were dead.”

His footsteps faded, and she found herself catatonic. One thought circulating in her mind.

Freedom.

But freedom comes at a cost.