The 52nd Hunger Games
Chapter 1: An unexpected surprise
In District 9, 18-year-old Daniel Season was getting ready for his last reaping. Daniel was an only child, the son of two hardworking grain producers in District 9. Daniel's family wasn't very poor, which was why he didn't need to take much tesserae as many of the other poor children in District 9. Daniel did the best he could to provide for his family and the family of his girlfriend, Jessica Wheaton. Jessica was 16 years old when the reaping for the 52nd Hunger Games was about to begin. Like Daniel, Jessica was also an only child. Jessica was worried that her name would be drawn at the reaping. Just the night before the reaping, Jessica had talked to Daniel about her concerns.
"What if it's me?", Jessica asked worriedly.
"Don't worry, there are numerous girls in District 9. Even with tesserae, you've only had 20 entries drawn in the reaping bowl." Daniel wasn't worried at all. With District 9's population of 15,320 and the 4,000 girls between the ages of 12 and 18, what were the chances of Jessica being chosen? Daniel was even less worried about himself, since his name had only gone into the bowl nine times.
"But there's still a chance…"
"Jessica, you've been to four reapings. Has your name been drawn at any of those?"
"No, but…"
"Every girl in District 9 is so worried it will be them, and most of the time, it's not."
"You're sure about that?", Jessica asked.
"Positive."
Daniel kissed Jessica lightly on the forehead. Daniel had hoped to marry Jessica when they both reached the age of 20. Daniel was sure that Jessica's parents would have enjoyed the arrangement.
Daniel now stood in the marked area of District 9 with the other boys. The mayor of District 9 called out the names of District 9's three victors in a stern voice. Only one of them was currently alive. Tanya Fields, who had miraculously survived the events of the 30th Hunger Games when she was 15 years old. Tanya stood up on the stage, but there was no trace of happiness in her facial expressions.
The District 9 escort, Tinka Winters, then smiled as she said, "Ladies first!"
She walked over to the girls' reaping bowl. Please not Jessica, please not Jessica. Even though Daniel said he wasn't worried, he couldn't help but hope that the worst possible outcome would not be destiny.
"Jessica Wheaton!"
Dammit!, Daniel thought. The one thing he did not expect had happened. His girlfriend had been chosen as a tribute for the 52nd Hunger Games. She would be forced to face her inevitable death. Unless someone volunteered?, Daniel thought with desperate hope. But that of course, would not happen. Daniel could not recall District 9 ever having a single volunteer up until then. Volunteers appeared all the time in Districts 1 and 2, and sometimes in 4. In the other districts, especially in an outlying district like District 9, volunteers were almost never seen. Volunteering was like suicidal.
I could be making history here, Daniel suddenly thought to himself as Jessica approached the stage. Daniel knew what he had to do. He wouldn't let Jessica enter the games alone.
"And now for the boys", Tinka said.
Tinka then walked over to the bowl with all the names of the males between the ages of 12 to 18 in District 9. She then drew a name.
"Corn Barley!"
Daniel watched with resentment as Corn walked to the stage. Corn was 15 years old and came from a very poor family, so it wouldn't have surprised Daniel if Corn had taken a lot of extra tesserae.
"I volunteer as tribute!", Daniel shouted.
Corn watched with both shock and relief as Daniel approached the stage.
"Uh, I believe District 9 has a male volunteer! What is your name?", Tinka said, clearly surprised.
"Daniel Season", Daniel said to the cameras. Jessica looked at him with shock.
"Tributes, shake hands", said Tinka.
Daniel gripped Jessica's hand while showing her an apologetic look.
When Daniel and Jessica were waiting for the train to take them both to the capitol, their families came to say their goodbyes.
"Why did you volunteer, Daniel?", Daniel's mother asked, with tears running down her cheeks.
"I did it for Jessica, mother. I couldn't let her die or go through the game alone, not after everything we've been through together."
Daniel's father looked at Daniel with a hard look.
"Daniel, I am proud of you and I love you. I could not have asked for a better son."
Later, Jessica's mother and father walked into the room. Jessica's mother embraced Daniel and lightly kissed his cheek.
"Keep her safe, Daniel. Take care of our daughter."
"I will, Mrs. Wheaton"
Jessica's father gave Daniel a strong handshake. "I know you volunteered out of love for Jessica. I am indebted to you. I know you will watch out for her."
Later, Jessica and Daniel were both on the train heading towards the capitol.
"Why did you volunteer for Corn, Daniel? Have you forgotten about our families? Who's going to feed them?"
"Jessica, I couldn't let you face the 52nd Hunger Games alone. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you. Besides, our families will be fed by our friends back in District 9 whom we helped over the years."
"But Daniel, there will be 24 of us. Only one tribute will survive to the end. We can't both go back home."
"You will be the one to go back, Jessica. I will do everything in my power to make sure that's possible. I love you more than anything."
Later, their mentor Tanya Fields walked into the room.
"I am your mentor and District 9's only surviving victor, Tanya Fields. Tell me your skills and your strategies."
Daniel then replied, "Well, I do have some skills with a knife and spear. I also have some pretty decent strength."
"What about you, Jessica?", asked Tanya.
"Well, I know how to make snares. I also can light fires, and I could use a bow and arrow." Daniel and Jessica had trained all the time back home, in preparation for the worst-case scenario. But the chances of getting reaped back then had been so low, so it never crossed their minds that the practice and experience gained would have to actually be publicly used.
"Do you two know how I won my games?", Tanya asked.
"I saw the reruns of the 30th Hunger Games," Daniel said. "You were skilled with a knife", he remembered.
"Yes. I managed to hold out and survive until I made it to the final three. The two remaining career tributes, one from District 1 and one from District 2, came after me. Thankfully, I managed to quickly mortally wound them both with my knife before they could inflict serious wounds against me. Glisten, the winner of the 25th Hunger Games and the District 1 mentor of the District 1 tributes that died in those games, was very unhappy with how I killed that boy", Tanya said with a trace of a smile on her face.
"But enough about me!", Tanya said. "Daniel, why did you volunteer for Corn Barley?"
"I volunteered because of Jessica," Daniel said. "She is my closest friend and I love her. I couldn't let her enter the games alone."
Tanya cackled.
"Not much love in an arena with kids killing each other."
"I have a plan," Daniel said. "I want the news about our love to be a secret. I don't want the Capitol or the other tributes to know about us. I don't even want Tinka or our respective stylists and prep teams to know. Only you will know about our secret."
"Fair enough, but why?", Tanya asked.
"I don't want to attract the attention of the Careers."
"You will have to fight at least one or two of them sooner or later."
"I know, but I somehow feel the information about our love will somehow hurt us if it ever got out. Please don't say anything."
"If that's what you want", Tanya said.
Later Daniel, Jessica, Tanya, and Tinka watched the replayed footage of all the reapings. Daniel did the best he could to concentrate on the other tributes, but only a few of them he could remember.
Daniel noticed Silver Worthy, the strong 18-year-old male tribute from District 1 who immediately volunteered. Daniel also took note of Topaz Burn, the female volunteer from District 1 who must have been at least seven feet tall. Then Apollo, the male tribute from District 2. Artemis, the District 2 female. Thomas Hernandez, the District 4 male. Orca Blub, the District 4 female. Daniel was really surprised when he found out he wasn't the only non-career who volunteered. He saw that in District 5, a stocky and strong-looking 17-year-old rudely shoved the chosen tribute out of the way when he volunteered. The name of the District 5 male was Bolt Plugson. Daniel watched the District 7 male when he was reaped. Daniel detected no sadness or fear in the expression of the District 7 male.
Finally, Daniel watched the District 9 reapings. He watched with boiling anger as he saw Jessica's name being called out. Then Daniel watched Corn Barley being reaped and Daniel volunteering to take Corn's place. Daniel was too overcome with emotion to watch the reapings for Districts 10, 11, and 12.
Eventually, the train reached the Capitol. Daniel watched with both hatred and admiration at the sparkling Capitol buildings. While we work hard and starve to death, they get to live in extravagant luxury, Daniel thought to himself with disgust.
"Welcome to the Capitol!" Tinka said with pride.
"Welcome to hell", Tanya muttered under her breath, only heard by Daniel and Jessica.