Yay last one! The long-anticipated District Ten.


Angus Pastor- District Ten male

"Grrr, I'm Dirty Dan," I growled, brandishing the stick that sort of looked like a old-timey revolver if you squinted and didn't know what a revolver looked like. "I'm gonna rustle these here pigs!"

"No, you're not!" Will yelled back, yanking his own stick pistol from the holster Mom made out of a broken leather belt. "Not while Sheriff Six-Shooter is on patrol!"

"Hold it right there," I said. I hopped the fence into the pigpen and scooped up the piglet with the brown spot on her ear, since she was ridiculously mellow. I clutched her to my chest and put the stick up to her head. "No trouble now, or the piglet gets it."

"You won't get away with this!" Sheriff Six-Shooter said. Which was true, since I never got away with it. Dirty Dan tried to rustle livestock or make trouble at saloons at least a few times a week, and Sheriff Six-Shooter always stopped him in the end.

"Oh yes I will!" I snickered. I started to sidestep, keeping the piglet between me and my adversary. My face drew back in shock when he lifted his six-shooter.

"Bang!" he yelled.

I threw my stick sideways and fell on my back, throwing my arm out in a way that gently deposited the piglet on the ground. As she placidly ran back to her companions, I thrashed and wailed.

"Aaaahh you shot my gun right out of my hand! What kind of man can shoot like that?!" I bellowed.

"Sheriff Six-Shooter!" Will yelled triumphantly. He knelt by my side to handcuff me with his pretend handcuffs and I lurched and grabbed him with a villainous second wind. We tussled on the ground until he pinned me and slapped on the handcuffs as I tried vainly to squirm away.

The dinner bell interrupted as we marched to the town jail.

"Ha ha slowpoke I'm gonna beat you!" I yelled. I sprinted ahead and looked over my shoulder at Will trying to catch up. Life was hard in Ten, but I still thought it was good. I had parents that loved me and a little brother who was a pretty cool dude. Sure it sucked sometimes having to share a room since Grandma moved in, but that's life. Maybe people in the Capitol had it better, but that didn't really bother me. In their eyes we were in poverty, but I didn't know anything different. To me this was just life, and it was enough.


Queenie Hesperaloe- District Ten female

Chimera had to be on his last legs as an escort. He was pushing sixty, and goodness knows the Capitol can't have people be seen being old. It was a shame. He always seemed like a nice guy. He was still spry, too, just... wrinkly. A sin worse than murder.

He reached into the bowl. "Natalie Salisbury!"

Never mind, prick.

"Do we have any volunteers?" Chimera asked after Angus joined me onstage. Silence greeted him. "Let's have-"

"Wait!" I yelled. I pointed out at a figure in the crowd. "There!"

Chimera looked at the flag-carrying female. I VOLUNTEER, the flag read.

"I know her. She's been mute since birth," I said.

Chimera laughed an old man laugh. "Oh ha ha, what a funny joke!" he said.

"Check the records!" I insisted. "She's in the record book!"

"What a silly girl. Okay, let's check," Chimera said generously. He beckoned the census official at the far end of the crowd. We met by the possible volunteer, who was standing at the end of a row of girls, still holding the white I VOLUNTEER sign overhead.

"What's her name?" Chimera asked, in a sort of "playing-along" voice.

"Here," I said, taking the littler sign she had ready. I handed it to the census official. He scrolled down the touchscreen with a finger. His mouth made a funny little irritated half-smile when he stopped at an entry.

"Queenie Hesperaloe, age 18," he read aloud. The picture was an exact match.

"W-what?" Chimera's tone was incredulous. "This is- how does this happen? What kind of worker..."

"Government workers, am I right?" I contributed. Lazy government workers who don't give a rip about their jobs. That and a bribe that took me six years to save up.

"Look, obviously this is some sort of prank," the census taker said. "So let's get back to-"

"Hold on," Chimera said. I saw something spring up within him. He suddenly looked much younger and stronger. I saw then he was more than a gentle old man. There was defiance and strength in him I'd never guessed. "She's in the record book." He ignored the census official's scoff and rolled eyes. "She's a citizen and she has a right to volunteer. Come along now," Chimera said to me. We went back to the stage where he left me to confer with some suited officials just offstage. I watched as two Peacekeepers assisted Queenie to her spot next to me. She offered no resistance. Indeed, she seemed utterly fearless. On the other side of me, Angus gaped at Queenie with incredulity and at me with tentative, awed admiration.

I didn't like the looks the officials were flashing at me, but Chimera won out in the end. When he sent me back offstage, I caught the conspiratorial approval in his smile. It probably wouldn't be the last I heard of this, but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.

I watched from the crowd as he announced the two Tributes of District Ten. There was no reason Queenie couldn't win, it seemed like. She was about my height, but stouter. She carried herself straight and proud. There was no arrogance in her expression but also not a trace of panic. Her muteness would only make her stealthier. And yet I knew why they'd kicked up such a fuss. Queenie was unlike any other Tribute I'd ever heard of, because she was a plant.


Angus: brown eyes, black hair, tanned skin, stands at 5'8 and has a hoof mark from a horse on his chest.

Queenie: 5'6", tufty green grass at her bottom, fluffy red fronds on top of thin grassy stalks. Grows in a red clay pot. Looks like a Texas Red Yucca plant.