Prologue, Part One.


July 12th, 2 ADD.


Carter Chamberlain, 17

Prisoner

District Six

Red.

It was the only thing Carter could see at the moment.

Red on the floor, the walls, even on the ceiling.

Red seeping out of the bodies laying on the floor in front of her.

Carter shut her eyes quickly.

Even as she desperately tried to squeeze her eyes shut, the same crimson color flooded her vision. The loud boom of the cannon still rattled inside her head.

"Carter? Please look at me."

She wanted it all to stop. Everything was too loud. Carter could still hear the screams, the begging, the gasp her brother made when the spear sunk into his stomach. Carter just wanted to escape, to pretend that none of this was real.

"We can't do this alone Carter. I'm sorry about Jhett but we need you right now."

Nadia's pleading finally brought her back to reality. As she finally opened her eyes, Carter was welcomed by the sight of her cellmates hunched over the bodies of the two peacekeepers that had been stationed outside of their cell.

"I - I - I'm sorry," she finally responded.

"Hush, I understand. You're still grieving. When we get out of this god forsaken place you can have all the time you need to mourn. But, right now we need you here. With us," Nadia said.

Carter finally noticed that Lincoln and Saira were armed with the two guns that the peacekeepers dropped.

"Did they sound the alarm?" she asked.

"No. Lincoln and Saira were able to take them out silently. Everything's going to plan. We'll be okay," Nadia stated confidently.

"But, what if the finale ends earlier than expected?"

"I think we'll be fine. It looks just as drawn out as last year. Take a look for yourself."

With that, Carter walked over to the the small television screen that the peacekeepers had been using to watch this year's Games. The same screen through which she watched her own brother's death.

Again, Carter quickly squeezed her eyes shut to dispel any unwelcome memories. She needed to stay here, in the real world. She couldn't afford to dwell on the past. At least, not right now.

"They've been at it for at least ten minutes already," Lincoln said with disgust.

As Carter finally looked at the television screen, she noticed that the final two tributes were fighting in one of the many war-torn trenches that made up this year's arena.

The girl on screen looked particularly savage. Her torn outfit reminded Carter of the many rebel soldiers that had fought just outside her window three years ago. The boy didn't look much better. Both were bleeding profusely and looked exhausted.

"My money's on the girl. Did you see how she killed that huge boy from eleven? Brutal," Saira exclaimed.

"Shut up!" Nadia shouted. "We need to keep moving. We got lucky that Carter was able to steal the cell keys from those two idiots when they were too busy gambling. We can't blow this opportunity."

Lincoln and Saira both looked down with guilt as Nadia shouted vehemently.

"We all know what we have to do. So let's get moving and hope that these kids buy us enough time to get out of here," Nadia said sternly.

Carter tore her gaze from the two tributes fighting on screen and looked up at her cellmates. They were all here because of the rebellion. Lincoln and Saira were captured trying to escape the district when the rebels were defeated. Nadia, the oldest out of them by at least twenty years, was a prominent leader for the rebels. Carter's father fought right beside her as they practically led the rebellion here in District Six. After he died in battle, both Carter and her brother were thrown in prison to rot.

"Alright. Now that we're refocused, we have to move. The rest of the peacekeepers are in the main lobby watching the finale."

Carter knew Nadia was right. They needed to escape while everyone was distracted.

"Let's go then," she announced as she walked over to the rest of the group.

Everyone looked Carter's way. Now that she got their attention, she knew what she had to say. Before it was too late.

"I'm not sure if this is gonna work out well for us, but I just wanted you all to know that I wouldn't have wanted to share a cell with anyone else for the past 3 years. Your constant support and kindness has meant the world to me. I - I know that it meant a lot to Jhett too."

As she tried to maintain composure, Carter noticed everyone nodded their heads in agreement. In a weird way, the four of them had become family.

"While that was really sweet," Nadia said with a smile, "None of us are dying today."

Carter couldn't help but grin after that. Nadia always had a way with words.

Seeing that the tributes on screen were now wrestling on the muddy ground, the four of them started to walk towards the the end of the hallway.

As Carter marched on, she couldn't help but take one final look back at the cell that had been her own personal hell for the past couple of years.

She thought she wouldn't ever escape, especially after Jhett was reaped for this year's Games. As he was being taken away from their cell after his name was announced on the stage outside, Carter remembers thinking that she would be next. That her name would be read out next year at District Six's reaping for the Third Annual Hunger Games.

Now, she knows that will never happen. Whether that be because she escapes today or dies in a hail of bullets within the next few minutes.

With those last few thoughts, she fixed her gaze towards the door at the end of the hallway.

Towards freedom.

As they approached the door, Carter couldn't help but think that maybe all of them could make it out of this alive.

For the first time in the past three years, Carter felt a little bit of hope.

Looking around to make sure that everyone was prepared, Carter finally turned the door handle and stepped into the next room. Ready to take on anything that stood in her way.


Hey everyone, dyloccupy here! So I've been reading (obsessing) over some of the stories on this site and I decided that I really wanted to try my hand at writing my own SYOT. I don't really consider myself that strong of a writer so if anyone has some helpful critiques I would really appreciate it! I'm really excited for what's to come and hopefully you decide to submit a tribute or two. You can find the tribute form on my profile! You might notice that it doesn't ask for much details. This is because I feel like if given a whole backstory, I might not do your characters justice. It also gives me more free reign over these characters. Due to this, I'm really just asking for the basics such as personality. Based off of the information I get for your tribute, I'll make their own backstory and stuff like that. If there's something that you really would like to be included (or not included) about your tribute, please state it in the 'other' category of the tribute form :) This might turn away some submitters but I remember that twistedservice did their tribute form kinda like this when they were accepting tributes for their most recent story (which is so amazing, I highly recommend it) and it turned out really awesome! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy what's to come!