Chapter One: Day One, Part One
74th Hunger Games Arena
I don't know what I did to deserve this. I had lived a boring and miserable life. I had no friends. I had no girlfriend. I had dropped out of college. Twice. I had no job. I had gone nowhere in my old life. I was a nobody. But did that somehow mean I deserved this?
The 74th Hunger Games.
I had gone to bed in my old world only to wake up in the film universe of the Hunger Games. I did not know where I was until I found an abandoned shack with a journal on the bed beside a skeleton…
The 1st Hunger Games Victor.
For the next two months, I read the journal. I learned about the world of Panam and the twelve districts, eventually realizing I was in the forest of District 12. I learned how to hunt. I learned how to track. I learned how to set traps. I learned how to skin animals. I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow… I learned how to survive. And I had done something I had never done before in my old life… I had worked out. A lot. I had already been in decent enough shape before, and I had not been a stranger to the gym, but after two months of a consistent workout routine from my deceased mentor, the results showed. Despite being seventeen-years-old again and still tall and skinny, I wasn't skin and bones anymore.
But despite all of that, I had doubts… About whether or not I should volunteer as tribute. I could have lived in that shack for the rest of my life and let the world go the way it would with the eventual 74th Victors… But could I let all those children die? But then again, it didn't matter. Not really. Because most of them would have to anyway. But what could I even do? I hadn't known if the next Hunger Games was the 74th. And would any of them listen to what I had to say? Would any of them trust me? Could I even save any of them? And then the hardest question came.
Would I even survive?
I had spent those months going over the pros and cons of making my existence known. But it seemed whoever or whatever had brought me to this world would decide my path for me. Because in the middle of the night, a hovercraft appeared with dozens of Peacekeepers. And instead of fighting a losing battle, I had surrendered to them. After an hour of searching what became my home, they had taken me onboard the ship to the District 12 Reaping Ceremony at the Justice Building. But it had been a painfully long trip in silence while I was in handcuffs.
When we arrived, I had been unhandcuffed and placed on one side with all the boys, lined up with those who shared the same age as me. They hadn't cared whether or not I was actually from District 12. They hadn't cared whether or not I didn't give them my name. So they added a name for me.
John Doe.
But that's when everything went wrong. I had spotted a few of the main characters right away. Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawkthorne on my side with the boys and Katniss Everdeen and her sister Primrose Everdeen on the other side with the girls. Then the creepy looking lady, Effie Trinket, called out the two Tributes starting with the girls.
Primrose Everdeen.
I had expected her name to be called and Katniss to volunteer while the young girl started crying… But I didn't expect them to deny her. That had been such a shock, I had actually recoiled. Thankfully, everyone was focused on both Everdeens breaking down. But then they made their second mistake that day.
They called my name.
And when everyone's eyes went to me. My expression had been blank. Not sad. Not angry. Because I had made up my mind the second they denied Katniss and kept Primrose. When the young girl had been forced to say goodbye to her mother and older sister, her mother grabbed onto me sobbing and begged me to keep her youngest daughter safe.
To let her win.
And I swore then and there that I would.
No matter what.
The next month went by quickly. The journey to the Capital, the Tribute parade, the Training Sessions, and the Interviews. When our mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, tried to talk to me on day one, I told him to focus only on the girl. He did. And then I trained nonstop. Every free time I had. I did nothing but train. I did nothing but work out. But I noticed it all. Their eyes followed me through it all.
And I saw how all of them felt toward me. Cautious at best, feared at worst. But I did nothing to change that. I did not hide my skills. Or my intention. A few tried to speak to me at different points to see where I stood. Where I would stand. But I spoke to no one but Primrose. When I was too tired to continue or too tired to teach her what I could, we spoke. About her family. About mine. About her home. About nothing.
I tried to keep her mind off of what was coming.
But the day finally came. And now here we are. All of us around the Cornucopia. My eyes met with several others. Marvel and Glimmer from District 1. Cato and Clove from District 2. Foxface from District 5. Thresh and Rue from District 11. Even those whose names I hadn't known or bothered to know. But finally, my eyes met Primrose. I knew she was still terrified but she was fighting her nerves like we taught her. She was trying to hold herself together. And she knew what she had to do.
"3."
I didn't know what I had done to deserve this.
"2."
But I did know one thing.
"1."
I would not let her die.
This story was not entirely planned out... At all. But I kind of liked the idea I came up with. Not sure if its been done before. But this story won't follow the movies completely. Expect a very different 74th Hunger Games. And sorry for no action this chapter. This was an introduction to skip everything so we could get to what you all really came here for. Next chapter: Bloodbath, Primrose, and friend or foe?
