Chapter 1 – Journey to the Capitol
Disclaimer: I own nothing except any OC's you see.
I decided to write this story because I felt that Fanfiction was lacking this type of character because I haven't found one so far through what I've read. The story Like Father Like Daughter touches on what I want to explore and is very good. However much different from what I intend to write.
This is my first Fanfic but unlike some first fic's mine will have actual grammar :O I know, I know you think I'm lying but we'll just have to see.
"The female tribute for the 73rd Hunger games is… Selene Riley," proclaimed Jasmine Gold, the District 5 escort with a slight giggle and her capitol accent. I froze everything was planned out, why me? I was one year away, I was going to start helping people like my father did. I've been studying how to be a doctor my whole life. As these thoughts rushed through my head I started walking slowly to the stage as the crowd parted for me to come through.
As I walked up the stairs she saw Jasmine's make up plastered face smiling down at me in sheer glee. "Congratulations Selene, I'm sure you'll make your friends, family and district proud," said Jasmine in her usual cheery voice. Our fat mayor was there as swell along with as the two victors which district 5 held. My district is not one that is well known for winning the games and we only have two victors who are currently alive. Nothing compared to districts like 2 who have more than a dozen victors alive. Their names were Franklin and Rosalina. I've never really been bothered by watching the games. There has never been any real reason for me to watch them. I know the rules and I know how it usually goes, career tributes form a group, hunt down the other tributes at night, rest in the day and turn on each other after the other tributes are all dead. The games are very generic with the exception of a few when a member of another district wins or the change in the environment that happens each year.
As I reached the top of the stage she blinked. That woman what right does she have to make unfounded assumptions about my life.
"Now that we have our female tribute it's time for the male," said Jasmine. As bowl was gathered I took a moment to look at the district from where I was standing on the platform. The other members of the district looked up at my face with expression of pity on their. These were the type of people that I scorned, so normal. They judge those who do not fit into their little boxes that they make the world out to be. I am not normal, the lens through which I looked in order to see the world was a remorseless one. I have only ever my father for as long as long as I could remember and I didn't need anyone else. He was the head doctor of the Hospital in District five and Selene's only person until last year when he suffered a heart attack.
I lost her mother at a young age and I would never settle for being taken care of by a baby sitter once I was able to voice my thoughts. Thus I always accompanied father to the hospital and whilst there I would read. Being a hospital the only books they had were medical but that didn't deter me as I thew myself into them for companionship. I read those books from the age of six up to the age of eighteen. Most would say that this wasn't what a young girl was meant to be doing but I have never regretted it. The books would give me everything from a thing to do in my free time to a source of income in my future.
Due to my reading I never made friends, I had only her father and medical books and that was enough.
"Here we go," said Jasmine as she reached into the bowl. "District five's male tribute is…Joshua Gruber." The crowd parted for a twelve year old boy to come through. He started crying and the peacekeepers were forced to escort him up to the stage. All of District five looked on, and did nothing. They were angry yes, but there was nothing they could do except volunteer. Which none of them would consider doing, they had a plan…everyone has a plan. I always planned on becoming a full time Doctor and surgeon once my next birthday came around.
The blood involved in surgery was not odd to me. Many want to become a surgeon but could not stand the blood or the death. This was the environment I grew up in and I learned to not hold any remorse for the dead. If I didn't know the person then why should I care?
Flashback – 8 years ago.
"This is where you need to make the incision Selene," said my father to me at ten years old marking a point the dead body with a pen. "The most important things for a surgeon is a detailed understanding of the human body."
"I understand daddy, this will help me when I grow up," I said as I then proceeded to make the cut with a scalpel and slice open the flesh that would lead to the heart.
"In order to reach the heart what do we do now Selene?"
"Since the ribs are in the way we need to either use a bone saw or a hammer and chisel to break the bones."
"Exactly, since you're only ten and not strong enough to do either by yourself you can hold the chisel whilst I hit with the hammer," said my father whilst he picked up both pieces of equipment and handed one to me. "Hold it steady now, you don't want to get hit."
We proceeded to systematically remove the bones in order to access the heart. "You can extract the heart yourself."
I cut out the heart and showed it to father who had a pleased smile on his face as he launched into an in depth explanation of the heart, its functions and how it connects with the rest of the body.
The boy Joshua Gruber was going to die and I held no plans for even trying to help him, he would be of no use in these games and I didn't know him or anyone he knew. His was not a death that was to be mourned. From his clothing he looked like he was from an average income family as most of those in District 5 are. We are the district that supplies the capitol with its power and in the first half of the districts. I on the other hand was amongst the rich of 5. Nothing compared to the wealth of those in the capitol but my father was head Doctor which was a highly valued job which paid accordingly. I myself did not bother to dress up for the capitol. I wore a simple combination of shoes, trousers and a shirt. I was rarely seen in the district and could use poverty as an excuse if anyone were to ever question my clothing.
The mayor then went on to read the Treaty of Treason as he does each year. I don't know if President Snow gets some kind of glee from this every year. It and the games are symbols of how oppressed those in our districts are. If I look at it from his perspective I guess I could understand why it must be done. He wants us to know that there is no hope, if there is hope then the people might rebel or act out against the capitol and rebel. Hope would be the last thing which the president would want the citizens of the districts to ever have. Hopeless and obedient was preferred, those who revel in it like District 2 was ideal to the Snow
After he finished with the reading of the treaty he signalled for us to shake hands. I stuck my hand out first because the boy was far too scared to do it by himself. He probably didn't even hear the treaty being read and did not know what to do.
He noticed my hand being presented to him and looked to my face before returning the hand shake. His big eyes looked up at mine in a hopeful manner. He actually had to audacity to think that I was going to team up with and help him in the games. What he foolish boy he will learn soon enough.
With that we turn back to the crowd and I put a glowing smile on my face and blow a kiss to the citizens of the capitol. There was no reason to fit in with what my district thought normal but I need the capitol to see me as an option for a victor. If Snow wants you to lose, you will lose. Sponsors were also incredibly useful and had made or broken the game for many tributes in the past. I was determined to put on a show for the capitol so that they like me. My goal was not to come across as a powerful player but rather one that could be accepted by the capitol and loved by them.
There was a thin line between that and a threat to the careers. Hopefully they do not see me as a real threat and simply someone who wants to get sponsors in order to survive against them. Their confidence in their own strength and my weakness will be their downfall. It will blind them to the truth and I will use that against them.
"May the odds be ever in your favour," says Jasmine excitedly as she looked on. I wasn't able to see the look on the mayor's face because he was one of the few in the district who knew of me because he insisted on only going to my father for his medical needs. Naturally he knew me as his doctors completely anti-social daughter and seeing this from me was bound to be shocking.
I think back on all the times that I spent studying my medicine. In the games I have a definite edge on the competition. I know how their bodies will respond to any type of stimulus that I may choose to use on them. There are so many possibilities for death and learning how to prevent it has only showed me how many more there are than I could have ever thought.
These games were going to be different. Everyone will have an opinion on me but no one will have the slightest inkling of what I am capable of. I will break the other tributes, these games will bend to my will and my rules not those of the capitol where the expected succeed. The capitol was in for the shock of their lives because they have never met a tribute like myself. Johanna Mason's game was probably the only one where I watched the whole game after I overheard what happened. She manipulated them all into thinking she was weak, when she was just waiting for an opportunity to present itself. It is something which I might have considered had it not already been used by her.
The anthem starts to play and I find myself thinking on what might have been. Life was simple, I had a pattern, it may have been different from the normal pattern but it was one nonetheless. I didn't have anyone I cared about and so if something ever went wrong then the capitol could threaten no one in order to get to me. It was a simple life but now it was going to get far more interesting.
As the anthem ends I was taken into the justice building along with the boy Joshua who looks as if he started crying again. The I am a weak tribute tactic would work brilliantly for him if only it weren't true.
Inside the justice building the room is decorated in a rich District 5 style. It's interesting to note that it is not decorated in the way the capitol is decorated. It seems District 5 has some pride in itself in order for them be to decorating their own rooms. The colours are very light in order to represent the electricity which we produce. Luckily I think to myself, if someone from the capitol were to decorate it would be much worse than it already is. Filled with all sorts of colours all over the place trying to match some sort of ridiculous style that the designer read of somewhere in a magazine.
I prefer black, with black it is easy to slink into a shadow and remain unnoticed. I prefer that over engaging in a conversation every time. Fools trying to talk to me, understand or be a friend. They are all unnecessary and annoying most of the time.
There is an hour allotted to friends or family to come and visit the tributes. I doubt there will be anyone that will visit me. My family members are all dead and I have no friends. I also most certainly do not have a boyfriend, though that is most certainly not for my looks. I have long silky pure black hair with bright blue eyes and a slender figure. In the last year since my father's death there was an incident with someone who was interested in me.
6 Months ago
"Hey there pretty girl. What are you doing out this late," said some man leaning next to the wall around the corner from my house. He looked like a low-class labourer from one of the power plants.
I didn't even bother to look at the simple minded fool as he spoke. It was near midnight and I was on the way back from the hospital where I had been dissecting bodies. I preferred to use my own equipment and thus some were in my bag whilst the most common tool the scalpel rested in my front pocket where I could access it easily for my work. Each human body was different such as each human was and I had spent a lot of late nights working to understand each and every type since I was 10 and tonight was no different except for this man.
As I was about to walk past him he leaped forward and grabbed my left shoulder. "You better not ignore me bitch. Tonight I'm going to make good use of your body," he said with a perverted smile on his disgusting face. Immediately comprehending his thoughts my right hand whipped into my breast pocket to grab the scalpel and I then slashed it across his throat severing his trachea.
As the blood started to pour out of his throat I immediately cut his sleeve of his shirt and then wrapped it around his neck in order to stop the blood from spilling too much. This man just had to prove himself to be a very large annoyance.
Using some of the equipment in the hospital such as a bone saw required strength and knowing that I maintained that I needed to stay in physically fit at all times.
This body would definitely need to be disposed of as too many questions would be asked if it was found lying in the street.
I hefted his body up onto my shoulders and lurched underneath the weight. He may have been very skinny from not having a lot of money and shorted than average but he was still a grown man who was probably ten kilograms heavier than I was.
Luckily my house was not far and I was able to get him there fast enough before I could drop him. As I entered the house I dropped him in the foyer not being able to carry him farther. I went up to the lab that my father used for experimentation before I took over. Due to my nature I usually bought things in large supply so that I need to go out rarely.
I found what I was looking for in a large plastic contained that could function at a bath and three bottles of sodium hydroxide. Taking these items to the foyer I dragged the man into the plastic container. He was able to fit when I put him sideways and bent his legs to fit into it. Once properly positioned I went to fill a bucket with water and brought it back. I opened to first bottle and poured it all over him and then poured the water over him. As the two mixed and reacted I watched idly as it started to dissolve the wannabe rapist. I then emptied both bottles of sodium hydroxide and fetched more buckets of water.
Storing the empty bottles and bucket I went to throw away my clothes store all of my belongings and take a shower. After that I went to bed thinking that today was rather tiresome and knowing that when I woke up his body would already be dissolved by the chemical reaction and I would just need to empty the container and store it as well. As thunder sounded in the distance a smile lit up my face remembering that some blood could have accidently leaked onto the sidewalk from his neck but now the rain would wash that away. After today I then settled into a well-deserved sleep with no remorse sleep with no remorse for the body being dissolved in my house. Dead bodies were not abnormalities to me and he was certainly better off as one.
Thinking of this incident it made me wonder how they train the careers to be able to kill readily. Do they have some career battle to the death to see who gets chosen to volunteer as tribute? Questions for my mentor perhaps. The rest of my time was spent contemplating on how to kill other tributes. Any tribute who was worth teaming up with would never trust me just as I would be ready to stick a knife in their back when I deem it necessary. It would be better to stay alone rather than team it and it would also reduce the food consumption which would mean a lot, if only one of us was able to get any food.
Killing the careers was going to be difficult. Attacking them in any straight forward manner would lead to my death but I need to constantly know where they are so that I can plan accordingly. That means staying in close proximity to them which was a great risk. However one needs to take risks if they ever want to make it out of the Hunger Games alive.
As the time runs out the Peacekeepers open the door and one grunts "Awfully popular aren't you?"
"Why thank you," I shoot right back at him with a serene smile. He frowns for a moment before shaking his head and then proceeding to the train.
Once on the platform I see Joshua in his usual state. Which means tears streaming out of his eyes probably from saying good bye to his mother whom he probably spent most of the last hour clinging to.
The train station is filled with reporters taking pictures and recording us on camera's so that they can show it stream it straight to the capitol to be viewed by its file citizens. Seeming them I turn in their direction and wave in their direction. Trying to appear excited rather than my normal emotionless self.
We were then required to stand in the opening of the train door for some time so that they can take their pointless pictures. Anyone who is interested in the games will not collect the photos of us in front of the entrance to the train. No, they will gather the scenes of killing and other critical moments such as the opening ceremony or victory interviews. Moments such as stepping onto the train are forgotten in comparison to those. Yet the citizens of the capitol are so heavily excited by this that they take as many pictures as possible so that they can revel in the lead up to the deaths of 23 children. This is why Snow is so remarkable, he has made his own citizens enjoy the oppression of others. Such mass indoctrination is a very difficult thing to achieve and I am impressed by how well he has trained his citizens to enjoy the games.
The train is quite impressive, District 6 really has outdone itself with this train as you can barely feel the movement on it. However the decorations on the train are very, very capitol if that can even be used to describe them. Such disgusting colours all over the place in ridiculous combinations.
Jasmine shows us to our rooms which also contain bathrooms equipped with showers and clothes for us to change into. When I looked at them I instantly made up my mind about not wearing them today at least. I will avoid their disgusting style for as long as possible. Thinking of the shower I feel the need to cleanse myself of the filth that came with being in this type of train and appealing to the citizens of the capitol. Dealing with them is easy but rather annoying at times.
After showering I simply rested not having much to think of for the moment since planning for the games depended upon the environment. It is useless to make a game plan when that can all be thrown out the window if the arena is not what was expected. When it comes to weapons there's only really one option for me if I want to use it effectively and that would be a knife or an axe. I would swing a sword or a mace much too slow due to my limited strength. A spear would require too much skill than can be acquired in three days in order to throw it effectively. The same goes for a trident or a bow and arrow. A knife or an axe can be used short range easily enough since neither weigh too much and they could both be thrown which would take a lot of practice. However I doubt that I will ever need to throw either weapon since I am planning on close range kills for when I take down other tributes. Those instructors will prove vital to my survival if I was confronted by another tribute. Hopefully the time never comes when I meet another tribute face to face in the games except for the bloodbath but plans do not always go as we intend them.
Jasmine come to collect me around 6 pm for dinner and by that time she had already collected Joshua whose tears seem to have finally dried up and he is staring around the train in amazement taking in all of the decorations. Jasmine seems pleased by his attitude and how he views to capitol. The expression on my face is rather blank in contrast to his.
As we arrive Rosalina and Franklin are already seated and they are waiting for us. "Welcome, please sit down," says Franklin with a comforting smile, which Joshua returns. As we sit down for dinner we each introduce ourselves to one another and I comply for politeness sake.
"We have decided that one of us will the paired with one of you so that it makes things easier on us and we don't seem like we're spending too much effort on one of our tributes," says Rosalina "We thought it best if the bring work together and the boys work together as well."
"I have no problem with that," I said. Franklin was a rather unimpressive victor who won mostly through luck because the others died because of mutts sent in by the capitol. He never actually had to kill anyone whereas Rosalina had to battle it out with the District 1 female tribute for victory where she succeeded in killing her. She's definitely the better mentor to have rather than Franklin but I was not going to say that out loud since the two seem to be quite close.
"Ok," says Joshua seeming to accept it.
"We'll begin out planning separately right after we watch the replays of the reapings," said Franklin.
For dinner I ate no more than necessary. The food in the capitol is a bit of a contrast to their decorating as it is quite good. It seems as if their tongues work much better than their eyes. Dinner was a slow thing with little conversation other than Jasmine chatting almost to herself about the wonderful things of the capitol.
We then moved to another compartment to watch reaping and most of the tributes are as expected. This year Districts 1, 2 and 4 all produced seemingly strong careers. District 4 does not always have career tributes like 1 and 2 but unfortunately for me it seems like the career pack this year will be at full strength with the tributes from 2 leading the way. The boy from District 7 has more muscles than most careers, he's probably a lumberjack. Most of the other tributes can be called normal. The District 12 tributes are both clearly poverty stricken and I wonder how the escort from the capitol is going to cope with their behaviour.
District 11 provides two tributes that seem to be in their mid-teens. District 10 has a 13 year old girl whose elder brother volunteered to accompany her. Presumably he will attempt to get them both to the end after which he will sacrifice himself for her survival, not in these games. The tributes from 9 both seem to be around 17 years old and due to their sunburn probably worked out in the fields all day sewing or something else faming related. Neither seem to be particularly strong. The District 8 tributes are almost as sad as the District 12 tributes, one being around 14 and the other 18 with very little muscle on both. District 8 is highly oppressed and the tributes never have any experience in nature due to it the industrial nature of their district.
The boy from District 7 is notable because of his large muscle mass that is on par with the biggest being the male from District 2. The girl on the other hand seems to come from a privileged family and it's doubtful that she will even survive the bloodbath from the look on her face. The tributes from 6 both seem quite dull with their crying routine which is starting to bore me by now. The two District 3 tributes are highly scrawny and I doubt they will get anywhere unless the careers take them under their wing and find some sort of use for them.
So that Districts 1, 2, 4, 7 and 10 are the interesting ones that I will be dealing with in these games.
"Let's move onto separate rooms for our discussions," said Rosalina after which I rose to accompany her.
The room we settled into seemed to be one of the ready for us with two chairs and drinks provided by Avoxes on the coffee tables.
"So tell me Selene. How do you feel about being chosen as a tribute for the Hunger Games?"
"Annoyed," I said feeling that I should be mostly honest with her.
"Is that all? Most in your place would be scared to death, I know I was. What is it that your parents do? You seem to be quite well off judging from your clothing?"
"My father was Head Doctor at the hospital before he died, my mother is also dead," I said neutrally.
"Well that certainly explains your looks," she said with reference to my clothing and clean appearance. "I think you've already established a strategy of appearing confident for the games but wherein lie your skills?"
I regard her for a moment. How tedious must it be doing this same routine every year but simply with a different set of kids. Franklin won the games before Rosalina and no one from our district has won in the twenty years since then. That is forty tributes that she has seen die whilst in her care, not exactly a confidence inspiring number but she still manages to do it.
"My skills lie in medicine and anything that affects the human body, not much more than that," I said. For anyone who hasn't studied medicine it probably wouldn't mean much other than that I would be able to keep myself alive longer if I was ever injured in the games and not thinking of how it can be used as a weapon.
"A good defensive skillset then, no weapons at all I presume?"
"That would be correct, I will attempt to learn the knife and axe," that makes sense they're easy enough to understand.
"Those are suitable and I'm sure you'll do fine with them. Are you going to attempt team up with anyone perhaps the boy from 7?"
"No," I said simply seeing no reason to explain myself to her.
"Why? Think of all the advantages being in a group could bring?"
"I'd rather not discuss it but for every advantage there is, there are at least two disadvantages," I stated calmly.
"All right then, you seem to have everything planned out for now. We'll talk in game tactics when we're at the capitol. Please come and talk to me when you have any questions. Do you have any right now?" she asked in resignation seemingly accepting that there was very little that she was going to be able to convince me of at the moment.
"No, I'm fine when will we reach the capitol?" I asked. District 5 not very far from the capitol so I presumed we were almost there.
"We are quite close at the moment. Tonight we sleep in our rooms in the training centre but tomorrow is the opening ceremony and preparation for that. One thing you should remember is to just go along with whatever the stylists do to you. It's not as if your prep team has much to do with your body but it's just a presumptive warning, they can be quite brutal."
"Thank you," I said with a fake smile. I'm not quite sure what to think of Rosalina other than that she is a very sad individual who seems to be quite set on trying to get me to survive. All victors are interesting people to whom I wouldn't mean being polite to in order to learn something from them. The experience gathered from someone who won the games is much different from anything found in a book or on TV but she is by no means someone that I care about. Thus she is deserving of the same amount of cordiality that I will give will give to an important peacekeeper as she is someone whom it benefits me to stay on the goods side of.
As we pull into the station about half an hour later I'm faced with an onslaught of the strangest dressed people I have ever seen. Outrageous colours and some of them had their skin tone changed. I knew how to do this having studied medicine but I never really understood where that fashion trend could have ever come from. Their hairstyles also strange and in the most ridiculous patterns was very odd to me. Seems like so much effort went in to that so that they could impress other citizens of the capitol by looking stranger than they did.
As I the citizens noticed us I started waving and smiling at the crowd to their everlasting joy. Since they recognized Joshua and me from the reapings. These are my targets, if I am interesting to them and capitol friendly enough for Snow the games will do nothing that works against me until I do something to upset them.
These games are mine, I am the hunter and all the other tributes are my prey. They just don't know it yet.
Well I hope everyone enjoyed that, our main character is definitely not a conformist. The reason for her lack of emotions towards anyone she isn't close to in because of two reasons. Firstly is because she was brought up alongside blood and death in the hospital and her father was heavily involved in the ER ward and she witnessed a lot of people dying and has a resistance to it. She has also been cutting open human corpses since she was 10. She has 0 problems with dead people. Secondly is because she was born that way. She isn't a sociopath that will go and kill small animals but she really just doesn't care much and this was compounded onto by her upbringing. It takes a lot for her to like someone but once she does she would be prepared to go to the ends of the earth for that person. Hence why she never gives her father a name. It hurts her far too much to think of his sudden death. She also probably wouldn't have killed and disposed of the rapist so efficiently if he hadn't died yet.
I hope that explains a few things about Selene's behaviour if you have any question be sure to ask them in the review section
It's definitely different than anything I've read yet. If anyone has read something similar to this please review and I will check it out so that I don't write the same thing.
If anyone has ideas for a pairing leave that in the review section. The only person whom I can currently see Selene with is Johanna but if someone thinks that hey have a better suggestion I might consider it.
Thanks for reading
I'm out