Gizmo Meloy, District 3

"I heard them calling in the distance

So I packed my things and ran

Far away from all the trouble

I had caused with my two hands."

Of Monsters and Men, Mountain Sound

Gizmo Meloy loved the Hunger Games.

He was four when Ajax Markinno made it out of the Arena first. He was six when Leif Darrell axed seven people to death. He was ten when Lorelei Jewel's merciless brutality ended ten people. And he was fifteen when Bentley Ford survived the first ever all-natural Arena with only one kill to his name, a boy that Gizmo saw at school from time to time. Gizmo didn't know much about Ezra Stevens, but something about him intrigued Gizmo. It kept him hanging on the edge of his seat as Ezra killed tribute after tribute.

When Ezra died, the first thing Gizmo felt was anger. How dare that kid from Six take away Three's rightful victory! Ezra was the strongest tribute there, much better than Bentley. In a regular Games, Ezra would have won, no question.

Then he realized what Ezra's last words were.

"Tell my daughter I love her," he'd said.

Gizmo was, for lack of a better word, rattled by his words. Finding out that Ezra, who'd done nothing wrong, had a daughter at home, a girl who would grow up without a father, just made him angry. The Capitol had ruined that girl's future. How could they?

Gizmo knew there were rebels in Three. After all, the public executions once a week or so on the grounds of treason were pretty hard to miss. The only problem was finding them. One couldn't exactly walk around the district asking to meet one, but Gizmo knew where to look. He wasn't the only person pissed off about Ezra's death.

It was during lunch one day at school when he finally saw his opportunity. Rumor on the street was that the principal was a rebel. He saw the man duck out of the room while Gizmo ate, and, seizing his chance, Gizmo jumped up to follow.

He followed the man down a flight of stairs to the basement of the building, where he saw a door quickly close. Taking a deep breath, Gizmo followed.

The room wasn't exactly what Gizmo had expected. A bare room with flickering lights and full of shady people in suits was more like it, but this was just another classroom with several teachers waiting inside. Everyone turned to stare at him as he stood in the doorway.

The principal spoke first.

"You're not supposed to be in here, son," he said. Gizmo shook his head, finally finding his voice.

"You're rebels, aren't you?" he asked.

"And what would you do if we were?" another teacher, a tall woman with hair in a tight bun, asked.

"I'd ask to join up."

Silence followed his words. The tall teacher was first to react.

"Those are hard words. Don't throw them around like common slang."

"I'm serious. I want to destroy the Capitol."

A couple of teachers laughed, though the tall teacher wasn't one of them. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but we can't allow you to join. You're just too young."

Gizmo nodded. "I understand." He turned to walk out of the room, dejected. It just wasn't fair. He was supposed to stop the Capitol! The unjust oppressors that stood in the way of us and freedom!

Granted, organized crime wasn't the only form of rebellion he could find. Unorganized crime was just as effective, if not as widely publicized.

Shopkeepers for years would be mystified at how their storefronts were so easily vandalized. No matter what locks they put on their doors, nothing seemed to stop what people simply referred to as 'Ezra's Avenger'.

And avenge him Gizmo did. 'Justice for Ezra,' 'Stop the massacres,' and 'Down with the Capitol,' were spray-painted on store walls and the sides of cars. Nothing stopped him from graffiting the entire district.

Except getting reaped.

The blow came quite hard. He wasn't surprised to hear that the peacekeepers knew he was the mysterious vandalizer, but it still was less than ideal. But hey, Gizmo thought. I've made it this far. I'm not going to stop now.

First of all, I want to apologize for making you all wait so long for the next chapter. In all honesty, I've had a lot going on with life, plus school just started so it's been quite a while since I've been able to write. I managed to finish this one a few days ago but I can't publish on my school's WiFi because fanfiction is blocked. Updates will definitely be less frequent in the future but I hope to be able to continue this fic. I'd say weekends at the best, holidays maybe. We'll see.

Gizmo himself was a hard victor to write, simply because his character seemed almost complete after Bentley's chapter. I decided to show his own little origin story pre-Games and surprise! He was rigged in. No shock, right? I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out, though.

Next up is a victor who got a brief mention in 40th Hunger Games. I didn't like what I did with her then, though, so I'll be changing it quite a bit.