Nevada Mulone
District One
Victor of the 10th Annual Hunger Games

"The Games are coming up again, and I'd like it if we brought another one home this year," I purred, glancing over at our newest victor. Jayce Bellamond; beautiful, confident, deadly. Everything I'd look for in a man; it was a shame he was only 19.

"I think we all want that," Jeffra snarked, flipping her bright blonde hair behind her shoulder.

"Come on Jeffra, we've only just got here," Cruz said, leaning over and brushing the girls arm. That pretty much sums up District One's victors. Me, the eldest and best looking who does her best to keep her herd together. Then there's Jayce; the newbie, only joining us last year but I could already see he'd fit right in, and he'd give me someone to talk to when Jeffra and Cruz had their moments. Speaking of moments, there was Jeffra; the over confident bitch, but the girl was clever and a strong asset to the team. Finally, we had Cruz, the most humble of us all, but even still his ego was nearly the size of the district. We were an interesting mix, but we worked well enough, being just behind District Two and Four for number of victors.

"Have the volunteers been decided yet?" Jayce wondered aloud.

"No, I'll be going in tomorrow to evaluate the top candidates, and then I will reach my decision."

"And which one of us will you be taking with you this year?" Jeffra asked, fake excitement lacing her voice.

Every year I'd go down to the training academy, and watch as the top five boys and top five girls did all they could to impress me, and then I would select the best two, and they would be our volunteers. Of course, this was too big of a decision to do alone, even for me, so I'd bring along one of my fellow victors to help out. Normally I would bring Jeffra. Even though we rarely got along, she was good at reading people and proved to be useful when selecting tributes, but this year I thought I'd mix it up.

"Jayce," I said, smiling at the youngest of us. Jayce was young, but plenty capable. He'd proven that when he broke the record for most kills in a single Games. The kid had slain seven other tributes, an impressive count, beating all of those District Two idiots. My only regret in life was choosing the girl over him last year, and letting Jeffra bring home a victor.

"Very well then, is that all for this meeting?" I nodded, watching as Cruz stood up and offered his hand to Jeffra.

"We will meet tomorrow night again, after me and Jayce select the tributes. My house again, same time." Jeffra took Cruz's hand, allowing him to pull her up before pushing herself in front of him and retreating to the door, leaving behind a very sad looking Cruz.

"I don't know why you still fawn over her," I said, standing up myself.

"You wouldn't understand, you don't care about anything," Cruz whispered, before he too retreated to the door and slipped into the night. Of course his comment didn't bother me, because he's right, I really don't care about anything. Anything other than bringing home victors, and even that's for my own gain, not for the tributes sakes.

"Well, we'll be leaving here by eight tomorrow morning, I suggest you get some sleep," I said, turning to face Jayce, but before I knew what was happening I felt hands on my waist and a pressure on my lips. Squealing in surprise, I knee Jayce right in the stomach, causing him to topple over.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. Jayce was good looking, and everything I wanted in a guy, but he was 19 for Panem's sake, and it's not like I had any extra time to care for someone.

"I don't know," he said, looking up from his hands and knees, his face bright red. The kid had killed seven other kids no problem, but being rejected has got him all worked up?

"I'm flattered, I truly am. But you're 19, get a grip!"

"It was just- I don't know!" He stuttered, attempting to stand up.

"Get a hold of yourself. You're a victor, and a District One victor at that! We don't have any room for weaknesses."

"Wow, Cruz was right, you don't feel anything." I watched as he stumbled past and, just like the other two, slipped through my front door and disappeared into the night.

'I feel', I told myself. Of course I felt. I felt when that District Seven boy threw his ax at my thigh. I felt when that girl from District Ten pushed me down that hole. I felt pain, everyone did. I really had no idea what they were talking about. Oh well, maybe they had all tried some new drug together and these were the affects. No point getting myself worked up. I needed to focus on the Games. I needed to bring home another victor. It was my job, and my life.

Collecting all the left over dishes from the night, I placed them in the sink before making my way upstairs and into my bed. It had been a long day, and tomorrow was only going to be longer.

I tried to sleep, I really did, but it felt like hours had gone bye, but every time I closed my eyes all I could see was Jayce on his hands and knees, bright red faced, staring up at me. It was his fault. I'm a 43 year old woman for Panem's sake. I did what anyone would do, I think. I guess I could have handled it better, possibly let him down easier?

What is this? Me, Nevada Mulone, lying in bed unable to sleep because of what? I kicked some boy who tried to kiss me? I've done that plenty of times in my life! But still, Jayce's flustered faces wouldn't leave my mind.

What is this? Regret? Guilt? Not possible. I didn't care about Jayce, or anyone for that matter, but why else would I be feeling this way?

'Screw it', I thought, slipping out of bed and opening the drawer that sat in the corner of the room. Pulling the bottle out, I poured some liquid into a small glass. I tossed it back, feeling the burn of the vodka as it made its way down my throat. I shut the drawer, and crawled back into bed, feeling my eyelids already becoming heavy. I didn't care about anything, I really didn't. I just needed a little hell to remind myself of that.

The last thing that went though my head before I fell asleep was me, standing on the victors stage with my tribute as this years victor was announced. I'd bring another victor home. I would, and nothing would stop me.

A/N: Welcome to the 35th Annual Hunger Games! This is a collaborative SYOT story between myself and Call Me Fin, Fin for short. This part of the prologue was written by Fin, and the second part of the prologue will be written by me and include the official tribute list for this story.

All of the information, including the form and how many submissions we have to a certain space are available to everyone on my profile.

It is not a first come first serve SYOT. We will be waiting until April 27th to decide which 24 tributes will be taking part in this story. If we don't have enough by that time, we will push the deadline back so be sure to check my profile for regular updates on this SYOT.

We do have a Mentor's Blog up already, so if you'd like to see the victors we have created please click on the link on my profile. A blog for this story will be up when we have all of the tributes.

Fin and I would greatly appreciate your submissions and if you do review we would appreciate that as well. Can't wait to see your submissions!

-Ace and Fin