Hey guys, so this is a quick one-shot that I felt that I should do, it's in the universe of Suffer in Silence. It's in Seneca Crane's point of view and it's explaining why in chapter 16 (Lost and Found) Genesis wasn't killed by mutts or tributes and how Vera found her. Also, you get to find out a little more about Genesis's mother. Hope you enjoy :)
Seneca Crane
"Her," I say, pointing at the tributes on the screen. "Genesis Howard. District 7. That's who President Snow wants to be victor."
"Why?" Isaiah, the Gamemaker in charge of keeping track of the tributes, asks. "What's so special about her?"
"She's beautiful, you idiot, the President wants a new player in his game," I hiss, cuffing him on the head for his idiocy. "And don't you know who her mother is? Carabeth Valentine. Her daughter winning the Games would be gold."
"Carabeth Valentine?" Isaiah says, his eyes wide. "Is that so?"
"Yes."
The name Carabeth Valentine is considered a taboo in the Capitol. Those who dare to speak it will find themselves in trouble – unless of course they have a high-up position as Head Gamemaker, like myself.
"Well what about Jaka?" he suggests. "He's her son too."
"He's too young," I dismiss the idea. "And President Snow specifically wants Genesis. He wants a new player."
"What about Telia from 4?"
"A girl from 4 won last year," I reply, irritation beginning to colour my voice. "And besides, she has no undesirable family connections like Genesis does. Westbourne is boring compared to her."
"Alright, you're the boss," Isaiah says, going back to his work.
"Indeed I am," I say.
I watch the screen for a few minutes. Currently Genesis, the girl wanted as victor, is passed out against a log. I scoff and roll my eyes. She's upset because she killed someone. Big deal. People do it all the time in these Games.
Bored already with her sleepy behaviour, I turn and walk around the Control Room. It's day 4 of the Games, and only eleven are dead. The Capitol likes this pace though, surprisingly, so I don't feel the need to speed everything up a little.
When I get back to Isaiah I tap him on the shoulder and say, "Tell me when she wakes." He nods and I leave again.
I stand against the wall surveying my workers for a while. I think I've done a pretty good job, for my first year as Head Gamemaker. President Snow is certainly pleased with the way things are going, especially with two children of Carabeth Valentine and the children of Ebony and Ivory Phoenix all thrown in together to spice things up.
"Sir," Isaiah calls, "she's awake."
I walk over to him and lean on his chair as I look at her screen. She yawns and sits into a more erect position against the log.
"Jaka?" she says groggily, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. It's cute, how protective of her brother she is – and such good television. It'll be twice as good when he eventually dies.
"Jaka?" she repeats, and I don't resist the urge to roll my eyes this time.
"Ack!" she suddenly hisses as she tries to move and realises that she has a gaping, bloody wound in her shoulder. Let's hope her mentor is smart enough to send her something to fix that up.
Beep, beep. Beep, beep. Beep, beep.
Good, she has a smart mentor. Let's see if Genesis knows how to fix herself up.
She doesn't.
But she does a good enough job. It'll hold. But it also probably won't heal properly and by the time she's out of the arena and being fixed up in the Capitol even our most trained medical professionals won't know how to remove the scar. She'll just have one small blemish I guess, but that isn't too bad I suppose. As long as she's alive.
"Sir," Isaiah warns, "the Careers are walking towards Genesis. She won't stand a chance against them."
"Alright," I say. I hurry over to Lucia, the one in charge of mutts, and say, "quick, turn those Careers around. Keep them away from Howard."
"Sure thing, Seneca," she says, and quickly generates some bird mutts to fly towards the Careers.
I look back up at Genesis's screen. She doesn't notice a thing, but the crazy pink birds chase the Careers far away from her.
"Should we kill off one of the Careers?" Lucia asks.
I deliberate for a moment before deciding.
"Nah," I say. "Just keep them away from Genesis."
"Alright," Lucia says.
As the day wears on Genesis doesn't show much signs of moving. If she wants to get back to her alliance (which has set up camp painfully close, by the way) one of them will have to find her. But even though I can control the arena from this room, I can't control tributes' minds and decisions. I'm just going to have to wait until one of them decides to go looking for food or water or something.
An hour later, I realise I'm in luck.
"I'm going to scout around the area, see if there are any tributes nearby," the girl from 5, Vera, says to what remains of her alliance; Ariadne and Jaka. Ariadne had killed Octavian earlier on and blamed it on us, the Gamemakers. She's a crafty little devil. Annoying, but crafty. I'll keep her alive for the moment; she's good for television.
"Alright," Jaka says moodily. "Try not to get killed."
Vera nods, packs up a small bag of supplies, and then leaves the little hollowed-out tree they've made their base.
"Guide Vera towards Genesis," I say to Isaiah. He alters Vera's path a little, and a moment later she is incredulously saying Genesis's name as she finds her leaning against the log.
"Vera," Genesis croaks.
"You're alive," Vera says in relief.
"Yes," Genesis replies.
"You need water," Vera says, and takes a water bottle off her belt and unscrews the lid. She crouches down beside Genesis and holds the bottle to her lips.
"Slowly," Vera says.
"Do you need food?" Vera asks a couple of minutes later.
"Yes," Genesis says in a quiet, raspy whisper.
"Here." She hands Genesis an apple before taking it back, placing it on the ground and slicing it into pieces with her knife.
Genesis hungrily digs in.
"Eat it slower," Vera reprimands.
Once Genesis has eaten Vera speaks again.
"What happened?" she asks softly. "Jaka didn't tell us."
Instead of answering Vera's question, Genesis begins firing ones of her own at the girl from 5.
"Jaka? Is he alright? Is he alive? Who died before? What's happened?"
"Calm down," she says reassuringly. "Jaka's fine. He's alive. Distressed, but fine."
"Who died?" Genesis asks.
Vera bites her lip and looks away before saying Octavian's name softly.
"Oh," Genesis says, and they lapse into silence.
"Who killed him?" Genesis eventually asks.
"The Gamemakers," Vera says grimly. I snort derisively. Lies. We didn't kill the little nerd boy, Ariadne did. "When him and Ariadne went off to look for a water source at the same time that you and Jaka left, they found one, but apparently he fell into a mud pit and sank. Ariadne couldn't pull him out."
What a cleverly knitted story, I think. Very clever, Ariadne. Very clever.
But Vera's version of the events is not what happened at all.
They found a water source within ten minutes of searching. Octavian excitedly began filling up the water bottles but instead of helping him Ariadne leapt onto him and held her knife to his neck.
"You're not going home, Octavian Welloby," she snarled. "I am."
"HELP!" Octavian cried. "Please – someone – anyone –"
"Shut up," Ariadne said, sounding annoyed, before slitting his throat.
He slumped to the ground and the cannon boomed. Ariadne stood up, disgustedly kicking his dead body into the water.
"I guess no one's gonna be drinking outta that for a long time," Ariadne smirked before polishing the blood off her knife and walking back into the trees.
It had been clever and sneaky. Ariadne was definitely a contender to watch out for.
"Mud pit?" Genesis asks.
"All over the arena," Vera says, "wherever the grass is shorter than your knees there's the risk of a mud pit. There are heaps of them at the Cornucopia. They're like quicksand apparently; once you're in you can't get out."
"Where are they?" Genesis asks.
"Just a couple minutes from here," Vera says. "Can you walk?"
I stop paying attention after that. I'm satisfied; Genesis is safe and back with her alliance.
"Good job Isaiah," I say, clapping him on the shoulder before moving away.
These Games are shaping up to be very interesting indeed.
My first one-shot! What did you think? Remember to review! :)