Rowan Dobson from District 7
Victor of the Second Annual Hunger Games

Luxor Dodge was getting tired. His eyelids drooped down lazily as sleep overtook him like a dark, warm wave of relief. He snapped up suddenly as his heavy journal fell out of his lap, the sharp corner hitting his bare feet. He hissed in pain and retrieved the book, flipping absentmindedly through its worn pages as the hours ticked by.

A few months earlier, a therapist recommended keeping a journal as a way of keeping unwanted thoughts at bay. Soon, the heavy black diary became his only friend, his only connection to his past, and his only visible bridge to his future.

His eyes stopped on a particularly long entry, dated "11 September, 1HG".

The rain woke me up again this morning. I've been sleeping with the window open, just to feel closer to the rest of District 1. It's hard to believe I've been living in the Victor's Lane for an entire month now. If District 1 gets enough victors, they might have to expand it into an entire Victor's Village! But I have to put silly thoughts aside in order to get to sleep at night, because silly thoughts just make my mind wander. For example, I like to think about things that orderly and rational, like numbers and seconds. They never change, no matter what happens in this mysterious head of mine.

The holographic television screen flickered to life in front of him, and Luxor groaned in frustration. That's right, he remembered. It was 23 June. The reapings were today.

The footage began to play through. He watched as the terrified kids were drawn, watched as they walked hopelessly to the stage, crying out for their peers to save them. Everyone in the audience looked at their feet, he noticed. Their pity was making it hard to hide their relief.

His own District 1 provided a strong and healthy pair of tributes, Ciara and Genesis, and though neither was particularly large or muscular they looked well-enough equipped to fight. District 2 provided the strongest batch, however. It was hard not to believe they were rigged into the games, just to make sure some bloodshed played out in the arena. Jupiter and Juno were twins, menacingly large and brutishly attractive. They were sure to go far.

Luxor found the pair from District 6 to be particularly pitiful. Their faces were yellow and sunken as though from a heavy drug addiction. But it wasn't until the District 7 reaping that his interest was really piqued. The girl, Leia, was admirably stoic as she trekked to the stage. But that wasn't what caught Luxor's attention. The moment Rowan Dobson's name was called, he glanced over at the girl's section, evidently trying to find somebody. His path to the stage was crooked because he was so busy searching.

"Well, well, well," said the escort. "Nice to meet you, Rowan."

He just stared into the girl's section, his eyes wild with fear. As the escort continued to speak with him, Luxor noticed the boy's expression of fear falter. He was faking it. It was an act.

"Why so anxious?" she asked.

"…I'm looking for my girlfriend."

The instant the words left Rowan's mouth, Luxor knew his ability to play a crowd would carry him far. He could practically hear the Capitol humming with sympathy.

He couldn't bear to watch the rest of the reapings. He wanted to end them on a good note, and he had a feeling that Districts 8 through 12 would not deliver.

Luxor Dodge was getting tired. Avoxes and other workers rushed back and forth, trying to prepare the stage for the entrance of the tributes. President Cornelius had introduced a new facet to the game: interview night. To Luxor's knowledge, each tribute had a three-minute slot, during which they would be interviewed by the Master of Ceremonies, the famously charming Gaius Gree.

In the midst of the action, he suddenly felt very stupid. Luxor was supposed to be watching Ciara and Genesis from his district, but the last thing they wanted was adult supervision. In fact, he was pretty sure they were making out in one of the dressing rooms. Suddenly…

"Hello, Mr. Dodge."

It was Rowan. His voice was firm and polite. He held out a hand, and Luxor eyed it almost suspiciously before shaking it, as though worried that such things as chivalry and pleasantry no longer existed.

"Well, hello. It's Rowan, right?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yeah. I just thought I'd like to talk to you for a minute. You looked really lost."

"Well…"

"Don't worry, we're all really confused."

Luxor got the impression he was acting excessively boisterous to mask his inner fear. But he was doing a fantastic job. He could almost convince himself that the boy was having the time of his life right now, being dressed up for the slaughter.

"Aren't you… aren't you scared?"

"This interview can't kill me."

And then it was time for the interviews to begin. Ciara entered first, twirling in a light pink ballgown. The audience gobbled her up, a few of the men in the crowd leering at her. Enthusiastic, present, and drippingly seductive. That girl had the early advantage. Genesis was next, and his interview didn't go quite as well. In fact, his interview sort of blended together with Jupiter and Juno from District 2, who were pretty awkward in front of an audience. Luxor thought the boy from 5, Greyson, put on a pretty good show. He could use humor to his advantage. That was a huge benefit.

"Please put your hands together for Rowan Dobson from District 7!" Gaius shouted as Rowan sauntered into the spotlight, dressed smartly. The two shook hands and then sat down. Luxor had to admire how instantly comfortably Rowan looked in front of the audience. Every once in a while, his act faltered, and he let his voice quiver a little, but overall, he did a fantastic job.

"You know, I can tell you have a lot to bring to us," Gaius noted after a brief conversation about journaling. "But now we have to go back to the place where it all began. The reaping. Tell us about your girlfriend."

"Oh." The boy's face turned red. "Yeah, her name is… Chelsea. She's really beautiful. We've been together for a long time. I'm not just fighting for my life. I'm fighting to get back to her."

This kid was a genius.

Rowan waltzed off the stage, debonair and confident, and the moment he was out of sight of the cameras, he burst into tears.

As the girl from District 8 shakily took the stage, Luxor rushed to Rowan's side.

"I don't have a girlfriend," he said. "I'm terrified."

"That was really convincing act," said Luxor, genuinely impressed. "They love you. They're on your side. That's… that's the biggest advantage you can have. It's something those boring twins from 2 will never manage."

"I can't keep pretending forever," Rowan lamented.

"You don't have to. For the next few days, whenever you can, tell them before about Chelsea. Tell them about everything you've done together. Gush. Make them swoon. Just keep them on your side, and you're home free."

Rowan's eyes suddenly glowed with the light of hope. "You really think so?"

The moment Luxor nodded was perhaps the moment he became the first mentor.

Luxor Dodge was getting tired. Getting tired because he was lying anxiously awake, wondering how the second annual games would be similar and different to those he had survived the year prior. Would the arena be the same? What would the weapons be like?

At last, sleep took him. Luxor woke in a frenzy, feeling as though it had been dark outside five seconds prior. The peacekeeper's knock came again. "Mr. Dodge, please be present outside in thirty minutes. The games begin at six o'clock."

And thirty minutes later, he sat in a control room hundreds of feet underneath the Capitol, staring with fascination at the model of the arena that sat before him. It looked like the games team had ditched the plain white maze of rooms. These games were to be set in a plain forest, with a clearing in the center for the pedestal ring. The team of Capitolites who ran the whole business called themselves "gamemakers", with a rigid man named Marcellus Chamberlain declaring himself the "head gamemaker".

The weapons weren't just knives this year. There were swords and even axes scattered throughout.

"Why isn't there water in the supplies?" Luxor asked. "Food, medicine?"

Marcellus Chamberlain responded as quickly and as clearly as a computer. "We are very displeased with how quickly the first games ended. We endeavor to spread out the action more widely by forcing the competitors to search for food and water within the arena itself. Deaths by dehydration and infection will most probably occur because of this."

A hot bubble of rage expanded in his chest, but he suddenly forgot every word he knew. He was speechless as the gamemakers rushed to their positions, speechless as the horn rang and the tributes rushed for supplies.

Juno and Jupiter sprinted at the head of the onrush, cutting down the girl from 5 and the allied pair from 11 within the first few seconds of the games. Greyson from 5 grabbed an axe and slaughtered the girl from 12, who was trying to escape west with a long, thin sword, like a rapier.

By the time the bloodbath was over, eight tributes were dead. Juno and Jupiter began to organize the weapons, while Ciara and Genesis rushed into the thick of the forest, ravenous to thin the crowds of outliers and get the hell out of their prison. Luxor watched a little more than absentmindedly as Rowan slipped into the trees with an axe and a belt of throwing knives.

The elusive but deadly Greyson from 5 proved to be a giant threat in the coming days. He knocked out three more tribute with his axe, seeming to take on less and less of an aversive reaction with each kill. The pair from 1 passed close by Rowan, but he was snoozing in the bough of a tree and went completely unnoticed. Ciara's knives proved lethal as she helped her district partner Genesis to make two kills in the coming days.

However, it wasn't long until an invisible threat crept over the tributes like a deadly blanket: dehydration. The gamemakers had made the terrible mistake of including too few bodies of water in the arena. The small streams and lakes weren't enough to sustain the population of tributes, and they began to fall like flies as Day 3 progressed. By the end of the day, there were only eight tributes left. Even Juno and Jupiter felt the pangs of hunger and dehydration.

"You… you can help them, can't you?" Luxor stammered the next morning as he watched the poor pair from 6 crawl pathetically over the ground, too weak from hunger to walk properly. "You'll send them supplies, right?"

"Actually, Mr. Dodge, we have conceived exactly such a plan. We have given Capitol civilians the ability to sponsor their favorite tributes – that is, to pay to send them supplies."

From a marketing standpoint, it was an incredible idea. The tributes from 1 and 2 were well-stocked with food and water. But Rowan did not have any such luck. Tears ran down his face as he stumbled through the forest, his head hitting the trunks again and again as he lost full control of his body weight.

Luxor practically pressed his face against the screen. "Chelsea. Mention Chelsea. Just say Chelsea."

It was like the boy in the arena could read his mind. "I just want to see Chelsea again…" Rowan muttered.

His thirst and hunger were soon satisfied.

Luxor Dodge was getting tired. Tired of waiting for Rowan to strike down on the center of the arena, where the rest of the tributes were. Greyson from 5 was a promising competitor, having managed to ambush the pair from 1 the previous day, killing both of them from behind. Immediately afterward, Jupiter betrayed his sister Juno, stabbing her in her sleep and knifing her dead as she tried to run.

Three tributes left. Rowan, Greyson, and Jupiter. But when Rowan stumbled upon Greyson, trekking determinedly through the forest, they didn't attack one another instantly. They circled around each other for a while, holding out their weapons threateningly.

"Is this the part where we kill each other?" Rowan asked.

"You know what?" Greyson responded. "No. We've got a better shot at taking down Jupiter together. After that… I guess, after that we can fight."

The battle was long and hard. Jupiter was a fierce fighter, well-trained and well-armed. One of his blows dealt Greyson a near-fatal wound, causing him to collapse to his knees in pain. Suddenly, Rowan burst forward with an explosion of energy that took the boy from District 2 aback. He roared in pain as Rowan's knives punctured his back, and Greyson lashed out with the last ounce of energy he had left, finishing off Jupiter for good.

Rowan knelt over Greyson, watching helplessly but also thankfully as the boy from District 5 bled out. The boys said nothing. There were no words to match the situation. They just stared at one another in silence until the hovercraft descended to carry Rowan out of the arena.

Rowan Dobson of District 7 was the victor of the second annual Hunger Games. However, like Luxor before him, he was forever a changed boy. He was forever mistrustful of trees, terrified that invisible killers were hiding in the branches, waiting to pounce down and slaughter him. Later in life, he asked his wife Mable to ensure he never touched an axe, because he was terrified that a murderous urge would strike him, as he had killed several tributes using his axe in the arena.

Of course, Mr. Dobson was a fantastic actor who continued to entertain the crowds as long as he lived. He was called back year after year to speak before events, or any other time he was needed to lighten the mood a little. His stage smile and make-up covered up a shattered soul, a tattered life that would lie in shreds forevermore.

And so began victor celebrity culture. Rowan paved the path for not only the victor culture that we know today, but for the horrible ways that the more desirable victors would be exploited in the coming years.

In those early years, the monstrous entity that is the Hunger Games was still growing, slowly shaping into what it is today. Perhaps Luxor and Rowan were lucky – if anyone who survived the games can be deemed such.

List of Victors

District 1 (1 Victor): Luxor Dodge (1st)

District 2 (0 Victors):

District 3 (0 Victors):

District 4 (0 Victors):

District 5 (0 Victors):

District 6 (0 Victors):

District 7 (1 Victor): Rowan Dobson (2nd)

District 8 (0 Victors):

District 9 (0 Victors):

District 10 (0 Victors):

District 11 (0 Victors):

District 12 (0 Victors):