Disclaimers Apply of course. I do not own Hunger Games. I do, however, own these games and all ideas in the story.
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Darkness surrounds the night all over Panem. Throughout the districts, children that once feared for their lives, now run around with freedom; no longer dreading the unnerving age of 12. The memories of the games that once ran their lives are now a distant memory, but the pain is still there. For many, its seen in their parents, grandparents, even the neighbors whom are barely old enough to even know about the games that occurred.
The fights and war ridden damage still lurks in the richest of districts and the poorest as well. It shows in the agriculture and trees. The miners have been put out of work, except for digging out their homes and what's left of their tunnels. District seven was hit hard as well, leaving acres and acres of trees broken down and leaving them to forge and rebuild slowly. The career districts have taken advantage of their misfortune. Their machinery has long since been broken, but the capitol has a certain fancy for broken items now. Such items, like gems, citizens and anything found that can be made into something new or dangerous, are in high demand.
Each district survived the rebellion, except for thirteen, which was destroyed for good. A fourteenth district was later founded and deemed to be uninhabitable due to extreme cold, located north of Panem. Unbeknown to the citizens of Panem, a 15th district has been discovered off the coast of the capitol. Its small city holds the most dangerous of people, including one man that stands at the end of a hallway of a polished and waxed floor atop a sixteenth story building.
Minutes away and unable to see the powerful man in Panem standing at the end of the hallway, Iris Orm walked through the empty stone hallway. The click of his shoes against the marble tiles was the only noise to comfort his worried soul. He never liked making this trip. He didn't like walking down this treacherous path with the former president, and he especially hated it now. As he walked through the hallway, he noticed, lined on each side of the wall, was a picture of all the former presidents.
As his journey through the hallway continued, the pictures grew more and more similar. All the pictures had something in common; white hair, a long nose, piercing green eyes and a look that would haunt any child. But the person that Iris was waiting for at the end of the hallway fit none of those characteristics.
Not for President Cuof.
Iris was now the head Game Maker. He had known that his responsibilities included regular meetings with the current President. Iris had only been the Head Game Maker for a month and seeing as how the previous head Game Maker accidentally fell and landed on a bullet, burying it into the back of his head, the job fell to him. Iris almost chuckled on the ridiculousness of the story that flooded every news story in the capitol, but people in capitol believed everything that was told to them. But Iris had been in the system. He knew how things worked. He had seen it all first hand, and he knew that if something went wrong and it defied or made the Capitol out to be the "enemy" than the blood was on the head of the Game Makers hands, and soon after it would be all over their kitchen floor as well. Iris wasn't bothered by the system, in fact, he couldn't think of anything better. It seems that anyone would be nervous talking to President Cuof for the first time, even Iris.
As he neared the door, a sudden chill went up his spine. He stood hesitant staring at the woods varnished finish and took a breath before raising his hand to the door and he knocked.
"Mr. President?" Asked Iris.
"Come in, Iris. We have much to talk about." A deep yet unwavering voice appeared on the other side of the door.
As Iris pushed open the door, he didn't find the usual office that a president held. Instead, he found the mounted heads of a hundred or more animals all through out the office. Some of the animals Iris couldn't even recognize, but they looked fierce. Each had a look in their eyes. As Iris stared into a few of the beheaded animals, it was as though he was seeing what they saw before the lights left their eyes.
"Iris? Don't stand there all day. Get in here." Iris quickly adverted his eyes to what he saw in each of the animals eyes. Cuof.
Cuof was sitting on an old wooden chair and was cleaning an antique looking gun. Iris noticed he had the barrel of the gun pulled back, and was cleaning it out with a long willowy brush. Cuof never looked up to meet his gaze as he slowly took his time to finish what he had started. The room was quiet for several minutes. The sudden voice of the man in front of him almost shook the man waiting.
"I've read you're file Iris." Said Cuof, glancing away from his gun at last. Iris gulped. He wasn't sure why that was so foreboding. Aside from a few small things, Iris's record was squeaky clean. The reason it was so terrifying was the way Cuof had presented it. Cuof didn't match his room at all. He was a man in his thirties, but looked much younger. He had jet black hair that was neatly combed back, and he wore a suit that Iris could not detect what designer had made it. It was probably old, because Cuof liked anything that was older. He liked old suits, he liked old music, and he especially liked old guns. Although he appeared young, everyone could tell that he was wise beyond his years. His bright blue eyes seemed handsome at first but anyone that stared into them any longer soon feared for their life.
"Look around you, Iris." Said Cuof.
"Yes sir. It is an impressive collection. Did you shoot them all yourself?" Asked Iris.
"Of course. I tracked them, hunted them, fought and then killed them." Replied Cuof, "but I didn't ask you to look around just so you can kiss my ass and tell me what a good hunter I am."
Cuof snapped the barrel back on his gun and setting it down, glaring at the young Game Maker.
"So why did you ask me?" Asked Iris, getting concerned.
"When you stare at my walls, what do you see? You see the beheaded enemies of mine. You see their lifeless mug hanging on my wall as a testament to their defeat." Cuof got quiet for a moment. "We've had a lot of trouble lately. Their have been revolts, and rebellions. The Districts all lost their minds. Although we may have ended the Districts little war dance, it cost my predecessor his life." Cuof ranted.
Iris said nothing. He stood, basking in the silence in the room that suddenly gave him a chill down his back and he knew from that moment on that silence really is louder than anything in the world.
"Do you know why he died? Do you Iris? It's because he doesn't know how to kill an animal. I know how to kill an animal. Do you want to know how?" Demanded Cuof.
Iris nodded, getting very scared.
"You kill the Damn head!" Shouted Cuof pointing at the wall. Iris leapt back out in fear of the booming echo Cuof created.
"Wha- what do you mean, sir?" Iris stuttered. Cuof sighed, "When you go for the kill, you go for the head. I learned that early on. You kill the head, you kill the body. Got it?"
Iris gulped but didn't reply quick enough.
"GOT IT?" President Cuof repeated.
"I do think I see, sir. But how would you go about doing this?"Cuof sat back down in his chair. "We have the names of a majority of the people responsible for the rebellions. They don't know we do; but we do. I want you to send some Capitol United soldiers down there," President Cuof's voice suddenly got cheerful in a manner that was unusual for a man of his stature and with a haunting smile continued, "and kill them all."
Iris gulped again, the Capitol United, or CU was a group that was known for their formidable cruelty and undying love for the Capitol. He hated dealing with them, just like everyone else.
"But that's not all," Said Cuof, fixing his hair, "That's only injuring the head, that doesn't scare them enough. Those misbegotten cretins will just become martyrs to the rodents of the Districts. As my second order, I want the kids of everyone involved to be chosen for the Reaping this week."
"But sir," Stuttered Iris, "The Reaping is done at random, there is no way of knowing." Cuof stood up again and walked right to up to Iris closing the distance between the two until he was just a few inches away from Iris.
"I'm sure you can figure something out." He said, and gave a light, friendly slap to Iris's face. As Iris went to leave the office, Cuof pointed to him.
"Kill the head, kill the body. Tick Tock, Iris. We haven't got forever." Cuof snickered at himself. "Actually, we will have forever. As soon as those insolent districts learn that I am the creator or destroyer of this new world."
Iris nodded and got out of the room as quickly as he could. He stepped out, shutting the door, and he took a sigh of relief. No, he didn't like dealing with Cuof at all. Before turning around, Iris jumped suddenly when a crashing noise echoed throughout the hall startled him. A framed picture of the last president lay on the floor, broken in two pieces at the feet of a young boy. Iris stared at the boy for a few moments before the door that was just shut, came ripping open.
"What the Hell? Who…" President Cuof growled. The boy lay on the floor for only a moment before he noticed the gun in the presidents hand start to raise upward and aim to him. The boy's mouth moved as if to say something, but no sound came out at all.
Iris mouthed out the word Avox.
"Sir, what are you doing?" Iris stammered out as the boy scrambled to get up and slipped on the broken glass of the frame cutting his foot.
"Killing the head…" Cuof took one step in front of Iris before taking a shot at the boy, missing him on purpose. "It's been a long time since I've been on a hunt."
The boy, who looked almost as scrawny as he was short, took to his feet quickly as he limped on his hurt foot. President Cuof grabbed at Iris's shirt collar and looked him straight in the eyes.
"This is how you take control, my good man."
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End… of…. Chapter…. 1! That didn't take so long, did it? Every story has motivation, and my motivation was for all the people in Panem that didn't have a chance. I hold out my hand to you in respect! I also, owe a ton to Mike007777 for his encouragement. Because of him, that turned us into co-writers for this story.
Hey! I hope you guys enjoyed our story so far, and you enjoy the rest of the chapters as well! -Michael (or in other words mike007777)