Prologue Two
A Cannon in the Wind;
The 5th Hunger Games
Antonius Lavel, Head Gamemaker
After this year, over one-hundred innocent children will have been killed by Panem's newest drug, by Panem's newest evil.
One-hundred.
Innocent children.
Dead.
And I'm the main one to blame.
I didn't think it'd continue for this long, or even that I'd care so much. I accepted the job because my family needed the extra money—and, just like everyone else, I wanted revenge against the districts that "brought plague upon our land."
But revenge isn't sweet. And the only plague that's cursing Panem is the Hunger Games.
During the very first Hunger Games, I worked my ass off, completely invested in the idea of punishing the districts for killing countless Capitol citizens. I wanted them to suffer; I wanted them to cry; I wanted them to bleed.
I was so, so stupid.
The arena was a war-zone. Ironic, right? They brought war to us, they ruined this land—that's what President Kronin told me, and I believed every bit of it. So, as revenge, I'd let them have war against themselves.
They'd know the pain we felt, I convinced myself. They'll fight to the death, until only one tribute remains. That tribute will be the Capitol's example to never, ever fight us again. This idea seemed golden to me, so I used it, embraced it completely. It wasn't supposed to be fun; it was a job, a duty that needed to be fulfilled.
There were no deaths during the bloodbath, but I was alright with that. The tributes all went their separate ways, planning to survive this "stupid game" without giving us the satisfaction of watching them kill each other.
It was easy to set the muttations on them. Crows and vultures that tore out the tributes' eyes, hounds that ate the tributes alive, even rotting corpses that came back to life and strangled the tributes to death. It was horrific—and with every boom of the cannon, with every scream of a dying child, I realized something.
This was wrong.
The districts could've been punished in different ways. More humane ways. Hell, if we treated them right in the first place, maybe they wouldn't have rebelled in the first place?
But nobody but me thought of this. The Capitol citizens watched little kids die in sick entertainment, while the district citizens watched their children die in horror. And the one responsible? It was me.
It was me.
When the finale came around, the tributes were almost begging for it to end. And in response, the cheery, almost taunting voice of Aeliana Devrine came on.
"Congratulations, remaining tributes, on making it this far," she said, giggling childishly. "If you want to go back home as the Victor of the 1st Hunger Games, then head back to the Cornucopia and fight for your life!"
The tributes did as instructed...and instantly, they began brutally chopping each other to pieces. It was horrifying to watch teenagers charge at each other with so much hate, with so much animosity, with so much fear. And it was all my fault.
It was my fault, not theirs.
I broke them.
The Games ended when Jewell Galamory from District 1 threw a knife at the boy from District 7, ending his life. Immediately I could hear the deafening cheers of the Capitol, cheering the girl for murdering a young boy, cheering the girl for tainting her hands crimson.
I felt nauseated at the amount of disgust I had—for them, for me.
I wanted to stop right then, but President Kronin made it pretty clear that if I bored or disappointed him, I'd have my head on a golden platter. He's become addicted to these Games, just like the rest of those fools. So year after year, I worked tirelessly, killing kids and even forcing them to kill each other.
Sometimes, I wished I was one of the tributes. Being gutted like a fish certainly felt better than doing the gutting, I realized.
This year, I'm going to kill again. This year, I'm going to make innocent children cry, suffer, die.
A tornado of emotions swell inside of me—and one day, I'm going to get blown away, without any way of returning.
Just like this year's tributes. In a gust of wind, they'll blow.
And then they'll die.
Before you see the tributes, I want everyone to know that this was HARD. Okay? Okay. This was a really hard choice, and if your tribute isn't accepted, I'm sorry. Truly, I am. There was a lot of competition, and these tributes right here should be the best of the best. I'll be messaging everyone that wasn't accepted shortly.
If your tribute, however, IS accepted...THEN CONGRATULATIONS! ^_^ I'll be messaging everyone that was accepted very soon. Once again, congratulations! :D
The blog for this story is on my profile. Or, if you want, just copy and paste this link (without the spaces).
acannoninthewind. blogspot. com
Tribute List
District One
Male: Vesper Quinn, 18
Female: Adeline Callard, 18
District Two
Male: Kostos Sylett, 18
Female: Echo Woods, 17
District Three
Male: Tet Kender, 13
Female: Iris Logan, 12
District Four
Male: Caio Artelle, 17
Female: Ula Dylan, 18
District Five
Male: Michael Riverbee, 13
Female: Alexandra Fearn, 14
District Six
Male: Breno Harmont, 17
Female: Ceres Cantrell, 13
District Seven
Male: Daniel Church, 17
Female: Calla Mallow, 17
District Eight
Male: Zander Engres, 17
Female: Kaya Vause, 16
District Nine
Male: Terrance Vallier, 16
Female: Toren Ingalls, 15
District Ten
Male: Ricky Laris, 18
Female: London Tienna, 18
District Eleven
Male: Koda Samuels, 12
Female: Meeko Brighton, 14
District Twelve
Male: Eion Daltier, 18
Female: Isabel Abriani, 18
Once again, I apologize if your tribute is not accepted. Please don't hold it against me. But hey, now you already have a tribute to send to another SYOT! :D