I wrote this for a book report. Enjoy!
Book Report
"Plutarch, have you sorted out who's out on each spoke?"
"Sorry, Fulvia, but I'm still considering who's on what spoke."
"Well, I think you have to hurry up. Because, Plutarch, you have a phone call. And it's from a very important person."
Plutarch quickly scribbled down Woof's name next to Katniss', and ran for the phone. On the other end was a certain "Mr. Boggs."
"Oh, hi, Mr. B!" exclaimed Plutarch. "What's up? Dinner at the diner?"
Mr. Boggs was more somber. "No, Plutarch. I am about to tell you that we have a larger hovercraft. It fits roughly forty people. As President C. wants as many victors as possible, she has provided this hovercraft so you can get all twenty-four victors out. She insists that you get the tributes from Twelve, the girls from One and Two, the boy from Four, the girl from Seven, and possibly the boy from One. C. would especially want the first six."
Slowly, Plutarch ran the names of the tributes through his head. Katniss, Peeta, Cashmere, Enobaria, Finnick, Johanna, and Gloss. The first six would be some of the most popular victors in all of Panem. "All right, so when is this flying cake coming in?"
"What flying cake?" asked Boggs.
"You know. When should I prepare?"
"Oh, that. Tomorrow, I'd say. We're sending it over now. You can obliterate the arena, and just before everything ignites in the defunct arena, you can remove the two dozen tributes."
"Okay, Mr. Boggs. I won't let you down. Haymitch has already rounded up the potatoes from 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 11."
At that moment, Plutarch hung up because Fulvia was talking all about how the fireworks were so ugly.
Slowly, Plutarch traced down the tributes. Cashmere of One and Enobaria of Two were both in some ice cream store. They were wonders, all right. Enobaria killed Cashmere's friend, Cashmere killed Enobaria's tribute, and as far as the world was concerned, they were best friends. Finnick was out with some Capitol person. Johanna was…Eating. Katniss and Peeta were carrying on their usually romance. And Gloss…He was probably grieving for Glimmer, a dead female tribute. Plutarch heard that after the past year's games, Gloss cried every night for Glimmer, and Enobaria dressed in mourning for Clove since the tribute's death.
Exploding Arena
"Blight! What the h*** is going on?"
"Johanna, I don't know. The arena is just getting blown apart. I can't tell-Gah! Knife! I surrender! Okay, not really-Sorry, Cornucopia! Forgive me! This deed will be in my mind for the rest of my life."
"Blight! Are you going to shut up and join our discussion, or are you going to spend the rest of your life apologizing to a gold cone?" Cecelia grabbed Blight by his belt, and dragged him over to the rest of the group, which was gathered in a circle around the Cornucopia, overflowing with weapons.
"Look! The sky is exploding! Do you think they're dropping food?" asked Enobaria.
Everyone looked, but they decided that they were dropping fireworks, not food.
Beetee, District 3 male, shook his head disappointedly. "I think they're destroying the arena. No one else except the Gamemakers could get through such a force field." He gave a despondent sigh. "I thought they were going to be more honorable than that."
"So we could spend the next moments of our life killing the person of our choice?" asked Enobaria and Chaff all at once. Enobaria had a knife, and Chaff had a spear, while their pupils were intently on each other.
"No, don't!" Cecelia jumped up and pulled the two apart, getting a cut on her arm. "There has to be an explanation. Maybe they're getting us out. And if they do…" The District 8 tribute took a deep breath. "Well, we all have someone to go back to at home, right? Someone we can't disappoint."
About half of the tributes agreed, no 75%, okay, 90%. Katniss put down a bow she had found. "So, is there a truce…" Her voice faded away. There were about 4 people that she had no intention of teaming up with. "…in this ar-Ah!"
The rest turned to see what happened, and saw that a hovercraft had picked her up. The claw wasn't done, though. Next, it grabbed Peeta. It was evident that something was keeping them on the claw.
One by one, the metal claw of doom picked up the tributes from 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, Cashmere, Enobaria, Johanna, and the rest of the bunch. Soon, there were just Gloss and Blight left. Let's sum it up like this: Blight was taking advantage of the time to make amends to the Cornucopia, and Gloss was screaming profanity at the hovercraft. Cashmere screamed back at him, "Get on!"
The person in charge of the hovercraft, Plutarch Heavensbee, groped the arena wildly, or until it exploded. On aboard, the tributes were knocked unconscious. Don't ask.
"Done knockin' yourself out?" sneered Haymitch Abernathy, District 12 mentor to Katniss. "Drop the syringe."
Katniss seemed unwillingly until she realized that Plutarch, Haymitch, AND 19 tributes were seated around a table with a non-poisonous meal. Or at least it looked like non-toxic. We didn't do autopsy.
"It's all right," piped in Seeder. "We're all alive, aren't we? Or until the sky falls."
Katniss finally gave in when she saw Peeta at the table. She dropped the syringe and snuggled next to him. Plutarch scooped a bowl of broth for her and handed her a roll, the standard for each tribute. However, no one except Woof had touched his/her/its stuff. Enobaria was dunking her roll into the broth continually, over and over, until it overflowed unto the table.
"I'm trying to get it to soften," she explained. (Insert theme.)
Haymitch ignored her, and said, "Everybody, I'm going to explain this whole thing. But I want no interruptions until the Q&A session."
"And please," said Plutarch, "refrain from showing any anger you might feel."
The story: District 13 was alive. They provided the hovercraft that picked up the tributes. That was a part of a plan they had for a rebellion against the Capitol. This part of the plan, Rescuing Random Tributes, was where Katniss and Peeta and any other victors were going to be rescued by the rebels. Katniss and Peeta were especially crucial, since Katniss was the one who made this whole rebellion possible: she was the Mockingjay. The one that survived all the Capitol's plans in spite of persecution. Many victors made up their mind on preserving her.
The tributes waited to see if Haymitch was done. Ten seconds after he paused, they started talking. The people from 3, 4, 6, 7 minus Blight, 8, and 11 were simply talking about plan changes and all. However the people from 2, 5, 9, 10, and Katniss were steaming. You could have sworn you saw a trail of smoke.
"You could have told us," commented the guy from District 5, Lorenzo. "We hate the Capitol, too."
"Affirmative," inserted Rutherford, a cattle jerk from District 10. "The Capitol has no appreciation for cattle guards."
"All right, I'll keep that in mind." Haymitch took a swig from his bottle.
Plutarch cleared his throat. "So, I should get you an idea of life in Thirteen. It's very rigid, since supplies are in short…Supply. Each person gets no more, no less. Second, No holidays or any of that. Third, no alcohol whatso-"
"What?" Haymitch, Chaff, Lorenzo, and more select people jumped. "The world's ending!"
Plutarch sighed, and dialed on a phone. "May I speak to top-security guards? Thank you. Please lock up all alcoholic liquids and beverages. Thank you. It's nice to know that there is a 24/7 guard on top of all of that."
Just then, Cashmere and Finnick stumbled out. They were among the most attractive victors (if not the most attractive victors), but they weren't groomed at all. Hair: messed up, nightgown: barely on, etc.
Haymitch explained everything again, but at the part about the hovercraft, Katniss ripped up his eye. As you can infer, it was happy, like Hammurabi's. :)
Days later, the tributes arrived in Thirteen. It was an underground society, and along with the original natives, there was…
"What's District 12 doing here?" asked Katniss.
Her "cousin", Gale, ran up to her. "You remember what happened to the Hob?"
Katniss nodded.
"The whole district's like that now."
It took a whole legion of people to keep her in control. And then she pulled herself together again, if only for a few moments.
"It's nothing compared to those two," muttered Mags. She pointed towards Finnick and Cashmere. "I told that boy he shouldn't be loving that Annie girl." The old lady alert was beeping bright red.
In Thirteen, everyone had a use. The victors who were drug addicts or drunkards were going through treatment to make them sober again, while anyone who could work was polished up and made into workers and soldiers. A few people were pending for execution. There was also that minority that was totally out of their mind, like Cashmere and Finnick. Katniss had recovered a while before them after her "miscarriage" was taken care of.
The president, Alma Coin, showed no delight at having all the victors out openly.
So there was Katniss, sitting at that table with the rest of Command. She had a piece of paper and a pencil and was writing down a list of conditions. Buttercup. Hunting. Gale. All the victor's immunity. Announced in public. I KILL SNOW.
"What's on your list, Katniss?" asked Coin. "Read it."
When Katniss said, "Our family gets to keep our cat," half the people go crazy.
Let's proceed. You can see the controversy the whole list caused, especially the part of all the victors' immunity. Coin refused right off the bat.
"You'll hold yourself and your government responsible for their safety, or you'll find yourself another Mockingjay!" exploded Katniss.
Coin was silent for a while, weighing Katniss' possible worth and her possible problems. "All right, but you better perform."
"I'll perform when you make the announcement."
An assembly was called.
"Thanks!"
"I knew she was better than that, Rutherford!"
"Hey, do you know why the six is afraid the seven? Because-"
"If you don't shut up, Lorenzo, five's gonna be scared of seven."
"Is alcohol allowed then?"
"Yay!"
These were all comments from the victors once they found out about their newly gained immunity. Only Finnick and Cashmere were disturbed.
"That means she won't hurt Annie?"
"Who's Annie?" asked Katniss.
"Annie Cresta, the girl who won about six years ago," explained Peeta. "She's the one that Mags volunteered for. Her mind's not quite right."
Katniss nodded.
"And about Gloss…He's included too?" Cashmere's voice was a tremble, not the cool song it was supposed to be.
All of a sudden, Katniss noticed the flaws in her list to Coin. Hurriedly, she ran up to the president. Fortunately, the assembly didn't start yet, so Katniss could still talk.
"I need you to add Annie Cresta and Gloss from District 1 onto the immunity list," said Katniss. "And…Also Blight from District 7."
"Who's Annie Cresta?" asked the president. "I know the last two, but not the first."
"She's Finnick Odair's friend."
"The insane girl?"
"Yes."
Coin added them on.
To Eight!
The victors separated into their own compartments officially. They were mixed and matched, in order to preserve "biodiversity", to put it, but at dinner, they all crowded together in one big crowd. It was probably because they knew each other's troubles and trials better than anyone else anywhere within the 9000-mile radius.
With them was their family, but there was only Katniss' mother and sister and friends. Prim was very nervous among all those victors, but after a while, she warmed up to Seeder and Mags and Cecelia. In the meantime, Gale almost picked a fight with Enobaria, but that was taken care of when someone shoved in Chaff.
One day, Katniss got a message at dinner. "You're going into Eight."
Cecelia jumped up immediately. "Can I come?" You would have thought of a limited edition Cecelia Ingalls jack-in-the-box.
The messenger, Boggs, thought for a moment. "Why?"
"My children. My husband. They're still in there, and I" Cecelia took a breath "I want to see home again. Please, sir. I swear I won't do anything rash."
"I'll tell Coin."
"Thank you!"
After that, the meal wasn't so appetizing anymore as the victors thought of their family and friends. Lorenzo tried to make it better with jokes.
"Okay, I got a really good one. In Heaven, the District 3 people are the engineers-"
"Is this racist?" asked Enobaria.
"Uh, yes?"
"Then shut up. Or you can say good-bye to your vocal cords."
On that happy note, the victors continued eating.
To be continued…
In heaven, the D3 people are engineers, the D1 people are lovers, the D12 people are the police, okay it's out of order...Plz review! Anonymous reviews on.