Chapter 8: Shocker Crimson

A/N: So we have District Five! This is a story about how the Games can completely change a person, because Shocker's life went completely downhill after leaving the arena. As usual pls review and share your thoughts and ideas! Cheers and enjoy :)

Katniss stared at the boy, gripping the microphone stand tightly, his lips quavering, tears flowing down his cheeks. This same boy had volunteered and killed 13 tributes. They were worlds apart from each other. "What happened, Shocker?" she wondered aloud.

Shocker Crimson

District 5

Aged 18

13 Kills

Shocker was the worst. He loved it that way. He didn't care about all the times he got detention, all the times the peacekeepers beat him up, all the times he was spat on the streets. He just wanted to have some fun. Growing up in the Community Home, he never quite got around to learning how to treat others nicely. The older kids had, once upon a time, beaten him up at night. But by the time he turned thirteen, he'd muscled up, and they were in the fright of their life when he hung them by their underwear on the tallest tree, the one just outside the Justice Building. As for the other kids in the Community Home, they weren't spared either. He swung a young girl named Socket by her ponytail out the window. He chained a pair of twins named Shock and Brock onto the ceiling fan. He locked a boy named Michael in a foul, dirty bathroom for two days. And at all times, he made sure to train his knife-throwing skills. You should've seen the look on Madam Abercrombie's face when he threw knives at her, pinning her blouse to the wall, but not drawing any blood. He was the most hated person in District Five. The peacekeepers initially tried to punish him, but then decided to stop. What is, they could get him to enforce their laws? They chuckled at the thought, and so from then on, Shocker went round as a sort of vigilante for the Capitol, punishing rebels and criminals. Sometimes, he was given a sword and given the task of executioner. He didn't mind that one bit. But something was missing. The money. He wanted the money. The amount the peacekeepers were paying him simply wouldn't do. He wanted more. And what was the quickest cash grab, you might ask? Why, the Hunger Games, of course! Which was why, when the eighth Reaping came around, he'd volunteered as a tribute, eager to win and cash in on the profits. Little did he know, he would've been better off without that cash...

Captain Cornelius was baffled by him. He'd known Shocker, after all he did work as his personal vigilante, but he hadn't expected him to volunteer for a death match. Still, he thought to himself, Shocker has a good chance of winning. I may not have to be a mentor anymore next year. After seven failed years and fourteen dead tributes, he'd grown desperate for a victor, just so he wouldn't have to send home two coffins to an already miserable district. And he was getting way too attached to some of these tributes. He shook his head. "Shocker has to be the one. He's not very popular in Five, but at least the Capitol might like him."

Cornelius told Shocker to train like he'd never trained before. "But focus on survival skills too," he warned. Last year's female tribute had died of dehydration, and the male had eaten a poisoned fruit growing on a tree in the ranch. He didn't want a repeat of that this year. Shocker listened aptly. "Sure, and am I allowed to join the Careers?" Cornelius blinked. He hadn't thought of that. Mostly because it was highly unlikely they'd want an outlier in the pack. Ever since District One started building small versions of the Career Academies in Two, they hadn't been very welcoming to outsiders. But it would be a good sign of intent. It could win him sponsors.

"I mean, if they allow it, then go for it," Cornelius told Shocker warily. Shocker grinned. He knew exactly what to do.

The Careers were sniggering as they watched Radish from 11 stumble around with a sword. "I bet that clumsy moron's going to fall off his pedestal!" Clarinet from One sneered, causing Radish to burst into tears and flee the scene. The Careers had a good laugh, but when Shocker stepped up for his turn, they narrowed their eyes, wanting to get a good look at this uncanny boy from Five. Shocker hid a smile. He'd been trained by Commander Polly back home in District Five. Even the trainer seemed surprised as he whirled around with his sword, before backflipping into the air and getting a good chokehold on him. Clarinet raised an amused eyebrow, which didn't go unnoticed by Shocker, who grinned at her.

"Like what you're seeing?"

Clarinet nodded. "Impressive, Five. Is that all you can do?"

Shocker scoffed. "I'm even better with knives and maces. Wanna see?"

Once the day was over, the Careers had welcomed him into their alliance. Shocker, however, had a plan. He wasn't going to stick around in this alliance for long. In fact, the minute he stepped foot into the arena, he wanted to get rid of all of the Careers.

During the private sessions, he made sure to snarl and growl after every slash of his sword or throw of his knife. He wanted to go full on Career mode. The Gamemakers seemed pretty impressed. Later that night, he grinned when his score came out. 10. Captain Cornelius seemed stunned. "That-That's brilliant!" he gasped. Then Chelsea's score came out. 3. Shocker couldn't resist laughing and taunting the little girl, who tried to dash into her room, but was held back by Shocker, who promptly made sure she was fully traumatized.

When he first entered the arena, he couldn't help but notice just how smelly it was. It was even worse than the bathroom he'd locked Michael in. There was hardly any light. Water droplets echoed in the distance. He soon realised, he'd ended up in the Capitol sewage system. No matter. He was going to win anyway. The tunnels were pitch black, so the Gamemakers had provided flashlights in the Cornucopia. Unfortunately for the other tributes, they were right in the center of the Cornucopia, along with all the food and supplies. The only things close to the pedestals were knives and swords. Shocker grinned. Time to get his crown.

When the gong rang, he raced for the two swords nearest to him. He picked them up, and started slashing like crazy. He swung it round wildly, almost like a deranged human mutt, not caring who he hit. One by one, the tributes, including the Careers, crumpled to the ground. He spotted Chelsea grabbing a flashlight, and charged right at her. She screamed, "I'm your district partner!" But Shocker didn't care. She was cannon fodder. He grabbed her shirt, and slammed her against the Cornucopia. Cackling wildly, he began stabbing her in random places, blood spewing out and staining his entire body. Then, she bled out at last. Shocker roared with glee. He heard scuffling, and spun around. The girl from Seven was trying to make a run for it. He gave a loud battle cry and burst forward. She ran towards an intersection in the tunnels, screaming for help. Shocker wasn't too far behind, but he was slowly tiring. Then, all of a sudden, before either of them could react, a surge of colossal lizard mutts charged out of nowhere, tearing apart the small girl limb from limb. She howled in pain, and Shocker was forced to watch arguably one of the most brutal deaths in Hunger Games history. He could only gasp as the mutts tortured the girl for hours, before finally, landing the killing blow. Boom. They didn't seem to notice or care about him, and slunk back into the shadows. Shocker stared at her mangled corpse, horrified. He turned to head back to the Cornucopia, only to see that it was stained red with blood, and littered with sixteen other mangled corpses, twelve of which he had been responsible for. "No, no," he groaned softly. He stared at his hands, his arms, his legs, every square inch dripping red. Suddenly, the child in Shocker ignited again, and he sank to the ground. "What have I done…"

In the Mentoring Room, Captain Cornelius was horrified. Shocker was having a huge mental breakdown, his agonized screams echoing throughout the entire arena. His only hope of a victor, diminished all of a sudden. He had to admit, what he'd done gave Cornelius quite a sick feeling in his gut, but looking at him now, stumbling around, wailing and clawing at his hair, it wasn't much better. Sapphire had been dragged out crying by the Peacekeepers, no doubt for their 'sessions'. He thought she'd looked pitiful, but Shocker was hands down in a much worse state. Seeing those mutts tear apart Lizzie from Seven, it hadn't been nice. Cornelius slunk into his seat, all of a sudden, forming a newfound hate for the Capitol's stupid antics. They'd ruined Shocker. They'd ruined District Five. And Cornelius was no longer going to help their hideous cause.

By the third day, there hadn't been much action, except for the girl from Nine being ripped apart by lizard mutts. The Capitol was starting to get bored. Cornelius stared intently at the screen. Shocker was still dazed, waving his sword around as he fumbled his way through the tunnels.

"ATTENTION TRIBUTES," Bartomeus' voice echoed through the arena.

Cornelius sat up. This was new.

"YOU HAVE EXACTLY TWENTY-FOUR HOURS TO SLAY A LIZARD MUTT. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN YOUR TRACKERS DETONATING. GOOD LUCK, AND MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOUR."

Cornelius gulped. Shocker was in no condition to fight the mutts. He was trembling like a leaf after the announcement.

"Come on, Shocker, you can do it," he urged.

Shocker stumbled his way to a half-submerged tunnel. There was a ton of human waste, but Shocker had been completely numbed to it by now. Besides, there was a sleeping lizard mutt in the middle of the tunnel, so he didn't mind. He crept closer, shuddering as he went. His last encounter with these mutts was awful, and he'd heard the loud, painful screams of the girl from Nine echoing across the tunnels. He waded closer, and stabbed the creature with his sword. It flinched for a split second, then began deteriorating rapidly. Shocker took that as a sign to get away. He'd achieved his task, but the other tributes weren't so lucky. The boy from Nine and the girl from Eleven had been eaten by the mutts, and the injured boy from Eleven and the sleeping boy Ten hadn't managed to find the mutts. The explosion was loud, it nearly burst Shocker's eardrums. But he'd done it. He'd made it to the final two, up against the girl from Ten, who'd hit her head against a rock and was quickly bleeding out.

He was going home.

The Gamemakers sent some rather nasty bats to chase Shocker into the girl's tunnel. She lay unconscious, blood dripping from the side of her head. Shocker grimaced. He didn't want to do it, but seeing her like that, it would count as a mercy kill, right? "I'm sorry," he shouted as he lowered the sword into her heart. Boom! The trumpets sounded. But Shocker was so dizzy, he stumbled about, slipping on a puddle, and crashing on top of a live wire.

For two days, Captain Cornelius couldn't sleep. He waited in the medical bay anxiously, as the doctors furiously tried to save Shocker. Marina and Ringo came by occasionally to give him food. The other victors were nice to him, they'd seen his drive to bring one home, not just to get the job done with, but rather to bring joy to the district. It's just a shame that one was Shocker. The most hated person in Five. But it was better than nothing, right?

Shocker survived, thankfully. But he was in a different state. He couldn't speak without stammering, and he would let loose a scream every hour or so. He spent the rest of his time before returning to Five on the roof, crying and screaming apologies. Captain Cornelius spent all his time with Shocker, trying to calm him down.

"I-I'm s-sorry!" Shocker shouted. "S-sorry f-f-or b-being s-such a-a-a- "He couldn't even finish his apology. He just descended to tears. Cornelius put an arm around him.

"Hey, kid. It's alright. You're safe now. That's all that matters."

"N-n-n-no!" Shocker cried out. "I-I k-killed e-every o-one! Ch-Chelsea, s-she's d-d-dead! B-because o-o-of m-m-me! E-everyone h-h-hates m-me!"

"No, we don't." Marina and Ringo walked up to the pair. "We don't hate you Shocker. You're one of us."

Shocker glanced up at her, not daring to meet her eyes. "I-I'm n-not! Y-You're n-n-nice a-and I-I'm a-a k-killer!"

Ringo shook his head. "Doesn't matter, kid. You're still a part of the gang. Axel killed twelve lads and lasses, remember? But we ain't gonna treat either of you different just 'cause your kill count's huge."

Shocker wiped his eyes. "R-r-really?"

Marina smiled. Her smile was warm. She was the sanest victor, and the friendliest. Being the first one out kind of made her the mother of the victor family, helping others get back their wits. "Yeah."

Shocker gave her a hug. She hugged him back. It was a warm feeling, something he'd never felt in his life.

Peeta trudged back, rolling his eyes and muttering something about Haymitch's drinking problems. He caught Katniss staring at Shocker. "Yeah, that's a sad one, I know."

Katniss frowned "But still…"

"Best not to dwell on it."
Katniss agreed. She couldn't bear to look at Shocker's depressed face anymore. Peeta flipped the page. "Onyx Hibonite. The Career who backstabbed his allies."

VICTORS

District 1-Sapphire Huntington(4)

District 2-Ragnar Sveinsson(5), Reyna Boudicca(6)

District 4-Marina Bluebell(1)

District 5-Shocker Crimson(8)

District 7-Hassan Greenwood(2)

District 10-Ringo Alvarez(7)

District 12-Axel Millar(3)

A/N: So, yeah. That's Shocker for you. His story's a shocker, right? (insert groans) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Pls review and tell me your thoughts as well as any new ideas! The next one's a Career, Onyx Hibonite, and here's a spoiler: There's going to be rats, tornadoes, and the first Feast! Stay tuned!