Thomas Slater

District 3


I should be sleeping.

It's 11 pm and by now I should be snoozing now, preparing for the next training day. I need the energy to make the most out of training. Despite how pessimistic some might be, these three days are crucial. Even if you can't master a weapon, you can at least make your self familiar with survival strategy that might be the difference between life and death.

Despite that, I still can't sleep.

I never expected to be sleeping like a baby in the capitol. The stress would be just too much. But I was able to fall asleep rather quickly yesterday. So why is tonight different?

I glare at the ceiling. My eyes have already gotten used to the darkness so I can clearly see my room. It's such a difference from the rooms back in District 3 that it's not even funny. I once remember when it was winter and the heating system stopped working in all but one apartment in our block. Thankfully the ones who had the working heating were nice enough to let people in so they could sleep there.

The peacekeepers didn't fix the problem until a week had passed.

It really showed how much they cared about us.

Sometimes I wonder if they left the heating broken on purpose, just to show how superior they were. It wouldn't surprise me.

I'm not going to lie, I got a bit angry when I saw the luxury the capitolites lived in when we arrived. But I quickly decided that it wouldn't help me if I kept being grumpy during my entire time in the capitol and I should be enjoying it instead.

Dare I say that during the downtime between training and sleep has been actually fun. The food is good and there are some really good movies here, as long as you know how to avoid all the obnoxious capitol propaganda. I just wish Lana could enjoy it with me.

Lana. Why is Lana here? She should be home and I should be the one reaped. She should be sitting in front of the television rooting for me. I should be the one talking about her in the interview and how much I miss her. Whenever everything seemed hopeless in the arena, I would look back to our time together and why I had to keep fighting. So that we would be safe.

So why of all people did Lana had to be reaped?

Sweet Lana. Sometimes annoying Lana. The Lana who doesn't deserve anything that has happened to her. The Lana that was always there for me, even when no one else was. If it wasn't for her, I'm not sure I would be standing here today.

It's usually good during the days. When I can enjoy things with my friends and life starts feeling happier. But the thoughts start creeping up at nighttime. When I'm all alone with just myself, I start questioning why I'm still here.

My mother is dead. Dead, with not even a chance to say goodbye to me. My dad became closed off after her death and hasn't been much of a father since then. I almost became the same. Her death hit hard on the entire family. She was always the one reminding us how life could be fun and you can forget how we are treated in the Districts.

And when I was deep in my grief, I was suddenly all alone. I saw my friends go on with their life as normal like I didn't exist. That's when I realized how little I meant to them. Just another face in the crowd, someone they can throw away as soon as they start to shut down. What was the worst was that when I finally recovered, they treated me like nothing ever happened. They didn't even mention my mother and started complaining about why I was so down all the time.

Nights like this when I think back on those times I wonder what I have left to live for. The only things that lightened up the horrible conditions in District 3 were my friends and family. Now I barely have left of either of them.

I help people because I want too and it's every human's duty. There's nothing extraordinary or some crusade for justice. Why can't everyone be like that?

Whenever I have these thoughts I always come back to Lana. She has always been there for me and pulled me out when I was in a dark place. She brings out so much color in my life with her unique personality, even if she can be a bit judgemental. If I had to choose between her life and mine, I would choose her in a heartbeat.

After all, how much else do I have to live for? If she died I wouldn't take suicide of course, but I certainly wouldn't fight death once it came for me.

I decide that laying in bed and having existential thoughts aren't going to help me sleep, so I quickly turn over my blanket and leave my bed. I don't change my pajamas, because it's comfy.

I realize I'm hungry, so I steer my course towards the living room/kitchen. I notice that it's lightened up, which is odd. I'm sure I turned off the lights before I went to sleep. I'm surprised when I see my mentor, Witt Fallet, sitting on the couch at this hour reading a book.

"Hey!" I say with a higher voice than normal to get his attention.

Now in hindsight, I realize that surprising a victor is maybe not the best idea. Witt immediately drops his book and tenses up in seconds. He jumps up from his seat grabbing the nearest table lamp, turning around to throw it at me. I hold up my hands to show I'm not a threat.

He stops just at the right time for me to not get a lamp thrown into my face, but his face grimaces in annoyance. "Don't do that again."

"Don't worry, I won't." I go the dispenser in the wall where you get all your snacks from. It's a quadratic hole in the wall and if you touch a button next to it a large holo menu comes up. I'm debating either picking a sandwich or strawberry ice cream as my late-night snack. A sandwich would, of course, be the better choice since it has a lot of nutrients and would give me the energy I need tomorrow. It's also more filling, so I would sleep better. On the other hand, ice cream does taste better…

I walk over to Witt with my bowl of strawberry ice cream and take the seat beside him.

"I'm assuming you can't sleep either?" he says without taking his eyes off the book.

"Mmmh." The ice cream melts in my mouth and I'm still not used to eating such cold food. When I ate ice cream for the first time I took a whole spoon of it despite my escorts warnings and got quite the cold shock.

Witt sighs and pushes up his glasses, his eyes still glued to the book. "Well, it's nothing unusual anyway. A lot of tributes can't sleep. But it's better to do this at least rather than to worry while in your bed. I can speak from experience."

"Good then," I reply.

We're silent for a few minutes, before remembering I still have an ice cream to eat.

"I'm bored," I finally say. "I was going to put on a movie, but in case it bothers you..."

"Nope." Witt puts down his book. "My book was boring anyway."

I needed something to cheer me up, so I decided to search for a comedy. Witt doesn't complain, so I continue to scroll through the streaming service.

I settle for what appears a comedy about a failing group of gamemakers. It's funny for about 15 minutes until we realize that the movie is also going to include the games and tributes. That was a bit too far for us. In hindsight, I'm not completely sure what we expected.

We decide to not watch any movies that have some parts of it in the districts and the games, which removes about 50% of our choices. Despite that, we finally find a movie about a few capitol billionaires who are all chasing the same girl. We laugh a lot at that one, probably more than the creators intended since the billionaires attempt to woo the girl is so extravagant compared to us in the districts. Even if it ends on the eve of the 100th hunger games, the ending is emotional and we both agreed that it was good, at least for capitol standard.

After the movie, I feel energized. The entire situation feels surreal, that I'm watching a comedy just a few days before I'm going into a death game. Everything starts to feel dizzy and I already know the comedy was a mistake. It was far from what I needed now.

"Hey, could I ask you a potential offensive question?" I finally say after a few minutes of silence.

"Sure," he replies like I just asked him about the weather.

"Can I watch your games?"

This question takes him some time to answer. "Why?"

"I need-" I begin, searching for the right words. "I need a reality check, I think."

Witt raises an eyebrow. "Sure then."

"You don't need to watch it if you don't want too-"

Witt holds up his hand to stop me. "I can watch it. I need to be reminded too every once in a while."

I nod and switch over to the hunger games specialized streaming service. I put on the 80th games, the one that Witt won. The tributes are rather standard with no particular standouts. 15-year-old Witt looks surprisingly strong compared to him today. The pre-games pass in a flash, the only thing of notice is that the girl from 1 announces in the interviews that she is leaving the careers.

The tributes are met by a large volcanic area, surrounded by rocky terrain and lava pools. Witt immediately rushes towards the cornucopia as soon as the gong rings and grabs a spear at the same time as one of the careers. I half-expect the District 2 boy to impale Witt, but both of the boys nod at each other and split up to cover more ground.

"You joined the careers?" I hold my breath as he flicks a spear towards the District 12 boy impaling his throat.

"Yes," Witt replies quietly.

The girl from 1 kills Witt's district partner but gets double teamed by District 4, and the bloodbath ends with 9 deaths. Days pass and it becomes quickly obvious that tributes are falling like flies. The girl from 8 rolls into a pool of lava in her sleep and vulture mutts attacks any tributes coming close to their nest. The largest outlier alliance in the games have a big argument and ends up killing each other, with the only survivor being the District 12 girl.

The career hunting with Witt apparently decides he's the weak link in the pack and attacks him, but he's able to escape. The career split is soon after, killing both of the pair from 2. Not much else interesting happens until the finale, other than Witt not hesitating to kill the injured District 12 girl. But instead of leaving the body alone he asks the sponsors for a few plastic bags. He gets them and fills them with the girl's blood, before securing it with a rope around his body like armor. I glance at my mentor, who seems completely unmoved by his actions on the screen.

The finale arrives and unsurprisingly a volcano eruption brings the finalists together. With both of the District 4 tributes alive, they team up on Witt, wanting to make sure one from their district won. A throwing knife hits Witt and blood flushes out. He falls down to the ground and moans in pain.

Convinced that he's dying, the career boy doesn't hesitate to try to backstab his partner. After a long battle, the girl wins, even if badly injured. She looks up in the sky confused as the boy's cannon sounds, not understanding why there isn't a hovercraft to pick her up. Suddenly Witt jumps up from the ground, completely uninjured. towards her. A punctured blood bag falls out of his jacket and the District 4 girl doesn't even stand a chance. Before she can react Witt has grabbed her head and slammed it into a nearby lava river, melting her face.

I don't pay attention to his coronation which happens shortly after since I already start feeling dizzy. The district 4 girl's melted face was forever engraved in my memory together with all the other death. I had seen the hunger games before of course since it was mandatory viewing, but in some way, this felt more real.

Maybe because the boy I'm watching on the screen is the same one sitting right beside me. Maybe because it's slowly sinking in to me that this might be me in a few weeks. Me getting my throat slit up so my blood gushes out. Me having my head cleanly cut off or burned in a pool of lava to the point of becoming unrecognizable. What scares me the most is that I might be doing this.

"I feeling sick," I say, holding my stomach as I feel bile fighting itself up. Witt immediately turns off the tv and guides me to the bathroom like has done this lots of times already. I vomit in the toilet as my dinner and ice cream come up. When I'm finally done I feel exhausted.

"How late is it?" I ask.

"1:am, I believe," Witt answers.

All the blood and all the torn flesh when the vultures ate the tributes alive. How much I try, the images can't escape my mind. The girl's melted face keeps popping up in my mind. I can't do this. I don't want to die, but I don't want to kill. I don't want to be like Witt.

"How?" I finally stutter out.

"Hmm?"

"How could you just kill so easily, while still being so stoic?"

Witt looks up and closes his eyes. "At the time I just thought of things logically. If I had to make it out of the arena they had to die. It was a simple as that. Sorry, but I don't have a better explanation."

"Do you feel guilty?"

"Yes," he replies, his voice shaking slightly. "Every day."


Forren Mitch

District 12


The training days have so far been successful.

I have been able to narrow down to five names on who should kill me.

Two more days. Two more days and I'm free from this life. Free from all the suffering and pain I had to endure. Sure, they can't hurt me here far away from Twelve. But the memories will always be enough, enough for me to understand that I'm just not meant for living.

No one will miss me anyway. My parents will probably miss me the least. They're probably enjoying the silence now that I'm gone. None of the other kids in the district believe I'm worth the time. I'm the one that should be avoided.

Maybe it's for the best. Not that I deserve to have friends anyway. I never tried, so who am I to expect people to approach me? It's not like I'm the most approachable guy either, so it should be my job to try to befriend them. But I never tried. I never even tried to talk to people or even approach them. I was afraid they would hurt me, just like everyone else. Now I'm not sure if I was right or just paranoid.

Enough with the self-pitying here at least. I was reaped and I shouldn't focus on the past. The past is the past and the future is the future. Even if I can't change the past, I can decide the future.

I will decide who will kill me.

With the little freedom, I have left I will decide who will kill me. A normal tribute has a hard time deciding their fate since they all want to win. But I can just run up to the one I want with I knife in hand and tell them to kill me. If they hesitated I would simply grab whatever weapon they were holding and bury it in my stomach.

Then I finally have peace. Just to be able to forget everything that has happened. And knowing I didn't die in vain, erased from history. I want to be killed by a victor.

It doesn't matter how they think of me if they will pity me or just see me as just another faceless tribute. What matters is that they remember me. I don't want to be another face in the sky. I want to matter. Sadly, this is the only way I know.

Training matters very little to me. I don't need survival skills or knowing how to use a weapon. Why does it matter? I'll be dead in three days anyway. It's not like I will make it very far. But I followed my mentor's advice and tried to have some fun at least. Learning to swim was fun. I sat in the hunting simulator just taking in the nature around me until the trainer told me that if I wouldn't use the station I needed to leave.

Most of the time, I spent sleeping and observing the other tributes. A victor couldn't simply be decided with a first look. I needed to analyze all the potential candidates to see who was the most likely. The top of the obstacle course was a good observing spot. There weren't too many people disturbing me and I could see over the whole area.

I turn my head towards the ceiling and close my eyes, trying to organize my thoughts. I have only turned on a small table light hoping that no one will notice that I'm still awake and start investigating. I haven't told anyone my plan yet and I plan to keep it that way. I don't want them wasting all their time trying to convince me to not kill myself. I have already made my decision and they should focus on Kris. She may actually have a chance.

I stare down at the paper sheet in front of me on the table, with 24 names on it. Most of them are crossed out, people I consider hopeless. Around them, there are loads of notes from my thoughts that I will use when I make my decision.

I crossed off everyone below 15. No one screams victor to me and it's no secret that age plays a large part in your chances. Then I crossed the obvious dead tributes, like Klaus and Mabel. Now, I have a couple victor candidates left to single out.

First off is the careers. They are all victor material, but I crossed off Remus rather quickly. I recognize the look in his eyes. It would have been better if he just stayed home. Otherwise, after some thought, I cross Alexi. He doesn't seem like he's ready for the games at all. That leaves Blush, Emerald and Olivia left, which I'm happy with.

The next name that I remove is Thomas. While he looks strong, he seems to be way too attached to his sister. That can't end well. Same thing with Wilson. It took some time to figure it out but apparently Wilson and Winchester know each other. It will only make it worse when one of them eventually dies.

While Quintin is strong physically, his attitude has gotten him a lot of enemies. So his chances are pretty low. Speaking of making enemies, I quickly cross Casey's name. She has made herself a target for the careers and doesn't seem to back down. Career leaving the careers never ends well. By allying with her and volunteering, I pass the same judgment on Suri.

That leaves me with five names. Blush, Emerald, Olivia, Noelle, and Anthony. I start thinking about who to cross off next when I suddenly hear footsteps down the corridor.

Who the heck is up at this hour? Except for me, I mean.

I feel the panic starting to boil up inside of me. My eyes fly across the room trying to find somewhere I can hide my notes before they arrive. I look down on the table noticing a drawer under it. Quickly I put my papers into the box before I straighten myself and try to look normal.

I stare into the wall and hold a tense posture as Kris enters the room. She still has her training clothes on from earlier today and she raises an eyebrow at me.

"You're still awake?" she asks.

"Yeah, I-" I start. "I couldn't sleep. You know, the games and all," I say, finding the excuse completely plausible in the context of the situation.

Kris nods. "I understand. But why are you so tense?"

I react by tensing up even more, before silently cursing myself and I force myself to relax. "Stress. In three days we are about the get shipped to an arena in which we will fight to the death. It feels… unreal."

Unreal. Unreal how close I am to the final release. To my death.

"Okay then," Kris says. "I get it. But being scared won't do you any good."

"Aren't you scared?" I ask, not in a hostile way but because I'm genuinely curious. Kris always seems so collected and calm. "I mean, you're twelve too. And are also awake."

She scoffs. "Of course I'm scared. Anyone who isn't is either a career or stupid. I just didn't find the point in dwelling in it. And the reason I'm awake is that I slept well last night, so I still have some energy and I don't want to waste time I can use strategizing."

I'm once again impressed by her, something that has been far from the first time. She seems to think through basically everything she does and notices always things that others would miss. She is good socially and seems to even have a talent for the knife. She's everything I'm not.

"Have you been able to get any allies yet?" she asks while walking towards the dispenser, her face turned away from me.

"No. Have you?" Stupid question stupid question I saw her with Dania for these entire two days. Aren't you supposed to have collected all sorts of information on the tributes and that's the only thing you have done these past days? You can't even kill yourself correctly, Forren.

Kris raises her eyebrow while clicking on the "tea" symbol with her other hand. "Yeah, with Dania. I tried to snag an alliance with Olivia but the careers were faster. She was the only strong one that I had a chance with. But Dania will do."

Why can't I be more like Kris? She's strong, intelligent and likable, basically everything I'm not. She's twelve but is still stronger than most of the older tributes. After she told me on the train about her past she has had far from an easy life. Despite that, she seems happy. Kris is basically a better version of me.

"By the way, what was that you hide in the drawer when I entered the room," she suddenly says with a neutral expression still on her face.

I tense up, quite surprised that she noticed that. I thought I hid it well before she came into the room, but apparently not. Maybe because of my posture or something.

"Did you see what it was?" I ask cautiously.

Kris shakes her head. "Nope. Just that you had hidden something."

"It's-" I begin. "It's something private, m'kay?"

"Sure then," Kris replies and walks over to our table with her tea. "Keep your secrets then."

I feel a sweat drip down my forehead, but I quickly swat it away. Why should I worry? It's not like the end of the world if they know. All it will do is make their job just a bit harder and that's their choice too. If they just ignore me everything would be solved. But I know my escort, my mentors and Kris. They're too kind to let something like that happen.

Kris takes her seat next to me with her tea and sips it a bit, before recoiling from the heat.

"It's really laughable how unfair the games are," she suddenly says. "I mean, I can understand sending adults to a game. They have at least had a life. Maybe that's the point, but it still doesn't make sense. Killing children will only fuel anger, anger that comes back to bite them in the ass. Trust my words."

"Quiet Kris!" I say with a shaky voice, nervously tapping my fingers against the table. "Do you want to be executed? You can't just go around and say rebel thoughts! They are probably listening to our conversation right now!"

Kris scoffs. "I'm not dumb. I fully aware of that but I hope no one is as stupid as to believe I will actually act on it in the arena. I like living thank you very much." She takes another sip. "But that's not my point. It maybe would be more okay if they just sent 18-year-olds, because then everyone is mostly even. But twelve-year-olds? No offense, but the odds aren't in our favor. Like, we still have so much to live for. A lot of our lives that just goes down in the drain."

I nod along with her, not really having anything to add. I'm just happy it's distracting her from the notes.

"Why don't you take a cup of tea? It's good for sleeping and soothing your mind," she suddenly says. I nod and start walking towards the dispenser as Kris continues to ramble.

"I do know that the districts far from the happiest place on earth, but there are still happy moments. Those moments that make life still worth living. And they're just ripped out of our hands. Don't you think so Forren? Also, what are these notes?"

It takes me a few seconds for it to sink in before I freeze. Notes? I was already uncomfortable with all of her talk about having all of our life to live, but things didn't feel right.

I quickly turn around to see Kris holding my notes above an open drawer. "No!" I almost shriek. Almost instantly I sprint to the table, but Kris releases them and looks at me with pity.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you are singling out a victor."

"It's purely strategical-"

"No, it's not. These notes next to the names, it's how easy some people are to reach in the bloodbath and how willing they are to kill. Together with your attitude these last past days the pieces have finally fallen in place. You're trying to kill yourself. Why? Why do you think life isn't worth living?"

I blush, but I feel the tears starting to come down my eyes. "There is just too much. Too much pain to forget. I just want some peace, okay?"

"But you can at least try! What if you win? Victors can start anew again. Twelve-year-old victors have won before-"

"You don't understand! Twelve years! That's twelve years I will never get back and everything they are is being filled by pain! I can't. I just can't."

A panicked expression starts to form on Kris's face. "Please, at least let me try to help! Maybe I can understand on some level-"

"No! You can't understand! No one can understand! I'm all alone and that's what I deserve to be! Please. Please just leave me alone. I have already made my decision."

I rush out of my room with Kris shouting my name behind me, tears streaming down my face. No one can understand. I don't want anyone to understand.

If I realize life is still left living it will only make my death harder.


Alliances:

Somewhat functional careers: Blush(D1F), Remus(D1M), Emerald(D4F), Alexi(D4M), Olivia(D7F)

WWW: Winchester(D5F), Willow(D11F), Wilson(D11M)

Deadweight and Thomas: Lana(D3F), Thomas(D3M), Keaton(D6M)

Everything is fine, nothing is wrong here: Dania(D9F), Kris(D12F)

Someone I can trust: Roark(D2M), Ever(D8M)

Viva la Revolution: Casey(D2F), Suri(D6F)


Well then. The second night. I just wanted to finish this chapter tonight, so I skipped the subplot chapter. Expect it to be a separate short chapter soon. Other than that, I don't have much to say other than this chapter was extremely depressing to write lol.

Technically the next chapter is a subplot chapter, but after that is Training Day Three with Mabel, Ever and Anthony!