Rebel Rousing #11: The Chamber Games (Vol. II)

[Johnny Rebel]

Rebel Rousing #11:
The Chamber Games (Vol. 2)

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Charles Darwin

I flipped Atken’s microphone in my hands, trading it from my right hand to my left, but refusing to feel sorry for myself. They forced me in to this monstrosity, and I’m going to come out victorious, one way or another.

I suspect it’s been hours since I pulled the plug on Atken, but there wasn’t any way of knowing with the way the Game Makers would control the weather and the sky. They controlled everything inside the arena; the only thing we had jurisdiction over was whether or not we died.

I had a specific order in mind on which of the tributes I’d hunt. Atken was perhaps the most dangerous because he got to decide the order in which we were released from our initial pods; but Keaton Saint was up next.

If Atken was dangerous, Saint was the favorite.

He had a lot going for him. He was the first tribute allowed to represent another district while still being a part of that district. We didn’t really understand what was happening because it all went down so fast; all the sudden, he was in the game, and my odds of surviving became slimmer.

I remember first hearing the name Keaton Saint from my alliance with Lester Only; a former Games winner from my home district. Saint was one of the many who had lost a battle with the legendary tribute but also one of the few to strike revenge on him. I’ve had my own run-ins with Only but I’ve always fought on his side…never having the take on the champion.

Keaton’s whole life had been crashing down and suddenly his entrance in to the Games seemed appropriate. What did he have to lose? He’d throw his name in the hat and if he won, he’d begin to slowly rebuild the image that had come crashing down, and if he lost, he would be free from the heartache that weighed him down heavily.

The last time I saw him, he was following the river, and was probably on the heels of Callahan.

I decided that I’d try and track him; but I was surprised when I heard the rustling of footsteps, the snow crunching underneath every step. It was nearly impossible to track others only by their footsteps. As soon as you pick up your foot, the powdery substance from the sky filled the gap, and nobody would have a clue to your whereabouts. However, you weren’t safe from the noise, as the snow falling down from the sky muffled the natural sounds from the earth. If someone was close by, you didn’t stand a chance.

I had to come up with a plan somehow, but I didn’t have much at my disposal. My pack contained a few uncooked beans, a strip of dried turkey, and small canteen of water; I had Atken’s token, a microphone from his district, but it wouldn’t be any use to me. I didn’t have a weapon and I was going to have to get creative if I wanted to best Keaton Saint.

I started to survey my surroundings and racked my brain for any kind of information that would help me gain an advantage over Keaton. Surely, the temperature had dropped since the beginning of the games, and it showed as I could see my breath lunging out of my mouth, and slowly drifting away. Saint was in the process of building some sort of igloo, with the purpose of staying arm, and was just about finished. I knew if I could hold out until he was finished, I could use the element of surprise to eliminate him from the Games.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished, he slithered in, closing in the pathway as he became further entrapped in to the dwelling. His goal was clear: he wasn’t leaving until the Games were finished and he would be declared the winner. He would wait out the rest of us in the warmth of his igloo, and I’m assuming he thought we’d all freeze to death trying to hunt one another.

I began to shimmy up the tree, trying to get a better look at the top of the igloo, and finally found my perch. Usually, I’d be worried about the excess snow floating down and giving away my location but the snow was falling so hard from the sky, it hardly made a difference what I did. Saint’s dwelling was well put together and I was afraid that I had missed out on my opportunity to attack now that he was in the safety of the ice blocks.

“You idiot!” I exclaimed. “What am I supposed to do now?”

The thought came to me immediately: we’re in the Chamber. Surely, there are weapons hiding everywhere, and the only thing I’d have to do is find one. “They’d have to hide something up in these trees, wouldn’t they?” I said to no one in particular.

The wind blew and the sound of a few slowly developing icicles clanging against one another set off a light bulb inside my head. I reached over, careful to not cause the branch supporting me to snap, and plucked off one of the crystals from the end of the tree. Usually, the warm of my hand would cause the spike to drip a little, but there was little warmth in the Chamber.

I whipped the icicle down towards the ground and it began to change shape, jutting out, and becoming a lengthy spear with a trident on the end. “Never a surprise here in the Arena…everything is a weapon!”

After all, the Capitol and president Reginald Schmidt encouraged violence at every turn. There wasn’t a point to the Chamber Games but to declare the most deserving champion. It’s almost as if we had reverted back to the Gladiator days and we were simply on display for the world to see.

I slid down from the tree, careful to not alarm Keaton to my being close, and positioned myself behind where the entrance to the igloo used to be. I’d have multiple opportunities because it would take minutes for him to break free but I didn’t want to give him a head start, and honestly, despite the brutality of the event, I wanted the act to be as quick as possible. I reached the spear over my head and was prepared to drive the spike through what I presumed to be the chest of Keaton Saint.

However, I caught something out of the corner of my eye, and braced myself for impact.

The buzzing of an arrow came slicing inches from my head and I ducked down on to the ground. “That was close!” I said audibly, and certainly loud enough for Saint to know that something was wrong. I thought I was alone in tracking Saint but apparently, we had company. “Callahan,” I screamed.

No response.

What was I thinking? He wouldn’t show his face and acknowledge that he was the one providing the attack. The last time I saw Callahan, he was campaigning, and spending his time trying to convince Anthony Bailey to join us team and work together inside the Chamber. It’s funny how things change…now Bailey is following Sally around like a lost puppy and Callahan was fighting for his life.

I didn’t have time to sit around and reflect as another arrow comes whizzing past my head again, this time actually clipping my ear; I can feel blood raining down on my shoulder.

Callahan wouldn’t miss a third time…he was usually dead-to-rights with any weapon. There wouldn’t be a third strike as Callahan comes flying over the hill and lands on top of me, pinning me down, and raining down a series of rights and lefts that miss their mark as I do everything I can to avoid the hammers.

I fling him off me, and reach for the icicle that I had fashioned in to a weapon, but Callahan stomps on my arm. I pick his ankle, and send him spinning to the ground and gave me enough time to grab my only form of defense, but Callahan again has the advantage and grabs it from my grip, and immediately begins swinging in my direction. I’m dipping, diving, and dodging out of the way with everything inside of me and eventually I’m pressed up against the igloo that Saint had concocted and all of the sudden I’m keenly aware of Keaton squatting inches from me, only a smattering of packed snow standing in between us.

Callahan comes charging, leaping in the air, and preparing to drive the icicle spike through my heart. I manage to barely get out of the way, as Callahan’s force causes him to continue through the snow, and the pure snow is engulfed by a red substance, certainly the blood of Keaton Saint. Callahan drops the weapon, and covers his head with his forearms, trying to block out the thought that he just killed another man.

“Typical politician,” I said, “Always willing to send others in to meet their demise, but they fall apart the minute they have to do something on their own, they fall apart.”

While Callahan is distracted with the thought of murder, I kick him in the small of his back, and while he’s face down, I pluck the icicle out of the igloo and drive it in to the back of his neck. The cannons ring out twice signifying the death of two tributes, and pictures of Saint and Callahan fill the sky.

“Two to go,” I said.

-
-
-

“Saint is a coward,” I mumble. “Come out and fight!”

I figured he’d be the most dangerous of the lot, but he refused to fight when the time demanded. He was nothing more than a coward and died a coward’s death. My instincts were correct, as they often are, that he didn’t deserve his spot in the games. He wasn’t prepared and he suffered the ultimate price for jumping in somewhere he didn’t belong.

And what about Callahan? He always talked a big game but now I’ve seen it first hand…he can’t back it up. I remember his eyes as he delivered the final blow that eliminated Saint from the games and I know I’ve overestimated his chances of winning the game. He is a fraud and isn’t worth the paper his checks were written on. I’m embarrassed that I gave him even the slightest bit of credit at the beginning of the Games.

Between watching Atken’s stupidity, Saint’s refusal to fight, and Callahan’s inability to accept responsibility for his own actions; I’m starting to believe that I’m the only one that’s trying to win this thing.

However, there are two left, and I’m confident that Bailey will jump on his sword, literally, at the snapping of Sally’s fingers.

If I want to win…I’ve got to kill Sally Talfourd.

I knew the games were coming to an end quickly because there were only three of us left and I wasn’t interested in loitering around. I emptied my back of any remaining food and anything else that would have slowed me down in my pursuit of the final two. I crack a smile as I dig through the remains of the previous tributes that have been dealt the ultimate blow by my hands, both directly or indirectly.

I began walking towards the center of the arena, prepared to drop my pack and fight. “I’m ready to end this,” I mentioned out loud to myself. “Two-on-one, three-on-one, it doesn’t matter.”

I stop dead in my tracks as I hear music coming from something and in the middle of the arena where we began our journey what seemed like months ago. I charge through the brush as I find Bailey and Sally, having the audacity to flaunt themselves in the open, and participating in some kind of dance. “Unbelievable,” I thought to myself. I’ve seen things…things that I can’t ever erase; and these fools are parading around in the middle of nowhere like there isn’t anything in the world going on.

My apprehension to being inside the chamber immediately disappeared and turned in to anger. I couldn’t wait to gut these two like fish and be declared the winner. I dropped my back and charged in with nothing but my bare hands. Bailey caught me out of the corner of his eye and the terror in his eyes and sidesteps out of my way, allowing me to tackle Sally. The two us tussle down a small hill, the cold of the snow freezing my uncovered skin, and neither one of us gaining the advantage. However, within a matter of seconds, Bailey is standing over me and threatening to kill.

It’s funny how his bravado begins to show when he’s not a threat.

I dive out of the way, avoiding the mace that Bailey wields with great power, and it drops within seconds of Sally’s face. Talfourd lives up to her magician mantra, disappearing instantaneously, finally reappearing and swinging from a tree. She dives at me, but I’ve become adept at being evasive, and she misses, landing on top of Bailey; a position that he no doubt enjoys.

“Useless!” She barks out at him. “You can’t even break my fall correctly!”

She whacks him across the face, and for the first time, I see a chink in their armor. Bailey is lovesick, useless in a fight, and seeing that he’s upset Sally, lies there with the will to live leaving his eyes. I take the opportunity, figuring that it’s a matter of time before he changes his mind, and grabs him by the back of the head, and spikes his head down on the ground several times until the floor is colored in crimson.

You’d think that seeing Bailey’s demise would cause her to tear up but her sadistic smile creeps in. “Creepy,” I said under my breath. She tried to run away, being the coward that she was, but I was right on her heels. She rated a twelve on the tribute rating scale, no doubt due to her ability to scale heights within seconds. I couldn’t keep up at this pace and the only thing I could hope was that maybe she’d trip and fall and I’d be able to put this mace through her skull.

My pleas didn’t go unanswered and she slipped on the branch, succumbing to the ice covered limbs. She must have fallen twenty feet to the ground and was unable to move momentarily, practically paralyzed as breath refused to return to her lungs.

“Your biggest mistake,” I leaned in over her, “You were always too arrogant. You never gave anybody else credit, and today is the day I put an end to it!”

I swung my mace overhead, and dropped it down over his face, the cameras cutting away as the cannon fires one final time. An announcer comes over the speakers as an airplane comes swooping in, dropping down a ladder to pick me up from the arena.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he says, “Your winner of the 2012 Chamber Games…Johnny Rebel!”

Fireworks bombard the sky in the arena as the sounds of the capitol erupt in applause. The bright lights enshrine the words, “SIMPLY F’N PUT!” as the scene fades with Rebel clutching the rope-ladder and slowly disappears off in the distance.