Chapter 1: The Quell Announcement
Indigo Weaver dropped into his abandoned, underground trailer and stayed absolutely still. After about three minutes, he heard footsteps approach. They paused for a moment before moving on again, mixed with some cursing.
Indigo sighed with relief, and then chuckled, amused. He drove the Peacekeepers mad whenever he stole something from the Square in District 8. It was a daily routine of swiping, with occasionally chases when he was caught happening at least once a week, twice at most. He turned to his claimed item: a banana and some cornbread for supper and began to eat. In his sixteen years of life, he had only been caught and placed in the brig 3 times by Peacekeepers. He did not intend to be caught a fourth time. And, frankly, he did not even see why it was wrong for him to steal, to be a thief. He had been an orphan for as long as he could remember. Stealing was life: if he didn't steal, he didn't eat.
As the sun began to set, Indigo could hear the Capitol anthem blaring even from here at the outskirts of town. Sighing, he flicked on the screen of the battered old television he had managed to scavenge from a dumpster in the middle of the night six years prior. Technically, he did not have to watch the mandatory Capitol viewing, as he was so removed from the district. And, usually, he did not. But, sometimes - sometimes - he did so just to amuse himself and laugh at the dumb, vain folks of the Capitol. Besides, tonight was no ordinary night. For weeks now, it had been said that Panem President Artemus Dore would be making a special announcement. Rumor had it that it had something to do with the annual Hunger Games, a sadistic competition in which 24 boys and girls from the country's 12 districts were forced into an arena to fight to the death until only one remained.
Sure enough, the Panem seal appeared on the screen, followed immediately, by President Dore at a podium. He addressed the nation:
"Greetings, Panem! This is the 25th year of the Hunger Games. When this contest was first envisioned, a special edition of the Games was planned for every quarter-century. It will be known as the Quarter Quell, and shall serve as a reminder of why the districts failed in their rebellion. I am pleased to preside over this inaugural and historic event." He gestured to a small boy who brought forward a golden box. Inside were rows and rows of envelopes, of which Dore picked one on the far left marked with a 25. Indigo's eyes narrowed. Whoever had envisioned this sick context must have planned for centuries of them. Dore opened the flap and procured a small card. Without even pausing he announced, "On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district will be made to hold an election, and vote on the tributes who will represent it. This will replace the traditional reaping process."
The program ended almost immediately following. Indigo stared at the now blank screen. No reaping this year…this was new. He had been made to attend the reapings every year, especially since he had become eligible for the Games four years earlier. Sometimes, Peacekeepers had had to catch him out on the prowl and drag him to the Square. Other times, they had coerced him to come, on the promise that they would look the other way when he stole for a certain period of time - often a week or a month at most.
Indigo did not know what this "election" would entail, but somehow he had the suspicion that it would mean nothing good.