District 10

Furr Pollock

When I see Dakota sitting on the couch at 4 in the morning, I'm immediately concerned. I know I wasn't able to sleep, but that isn't unusual. I'm an insomniac, while Dakota usually manages to get a solid seven hours of sleep each night. When she wakes up in the middle of the night (or not able to sleep at all) it's a cause for concern.

"What's wrong?" I ask, immediately changing my course from the kitchen (where I intended to get a cup of herbal tea) to the couch. Dakota has her arms wrapped around her legs, chin resting on her knees as she watches the Hunger Games Live. She doesn't respond to me.

I quickly glance at the television (it's currently showing Glorian Stafford walking toward the Cornucopia) before sitting down next to her. Dakota's eyes flicker over to me for a moment, but other than that, she does nothing to acknowledge my presence. It's quite unlike her.

"Why are we still here, Furr?" she finally asks, sighing. I look at her, surprised.

"In the Capitol? Well, you said we should stay to support the other mentors. I wanted to go home, but -"

"Not in the Capitol. In Panem. As Victors. What are we doing?"

"We're… we're mentoring?" I respond, still confused by her questions.

"Nevermind," she sighs.

"No, tell me!"

"Well… why aren't we doing anything? What are we accomplishing? All we do is mentor tributes, then go home and wait out another year until we can mentor them again. What's the purpose?"

"We don't really have a choice," I shrug. "I'd rather be elsewhere, but what can we do? Ever since you were Reaped, we've been puppets of the Capitol, but it's not like we can sever the string. If we do, it means death. We just have to… go along with the system. We have to listen to them and live our lives the way they want, otherwise we won't have a life at all."

"But… what if the Capitol wasn't in control?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if the Capitol didn't control us because they no longer had any power? What if the puppetmaster dies?" Dakota asks, looking at me with bright eyes. I'm starting to get concerned - this type of talk can lead to danger, if anyone is listening.

"The question's irrelevant, Dakota," I say slowly. "Because the Capitol has power and no one else has enough to overthrow them."

"If enough people join together, they'll have enough power to overthrow them," Dakota reasons.

"What are you talking about?" I demand. "Dakota, this is dangerous territory. Are you trying to start a rebellion or something? Because you're just going to get yourself killed."

"I suppose not," Dakota sighs. "But at least then, I'd have a purpose."

I frown, hugging myself tightly. All of a sudden, I feel very cold. There's a squirming in my gut, as if I know something bad is going to happen. But I dismiss the notion and glue my eyes to the television, watching Axel Woodleigh wake up. He's probably the tribute I'm rooting for most at the moment - him and Hadley. Of course, I have a special spot in my heart for Tristana, since she was allied with Arabella (my tribute), but I still can't help but root for Axel.

To my surprise, I suddenly hear the ding of the elevators. I sit up, looking at the hallway. I don't know who would be entering our floor at 4 AM… perhaps Renee went for a midnight stroll and is returning now. It doesn't seem likely, but I can't think of any other possibility.

A loud crash comes from the hallway, and the first thing I think is that Renee's drunk - it actually seems extremely likely that she went out partying in the Capitol now that she no longer has any tributes to worry about. This decision settles my mind, and I settle back down into the couch. It's just Renee.

But the first person to emerge into the hallway is not Renee. It's a Peacekeeper with a gun aimed in our direction, and he's quickly flanked by two others.

"What's going on?" Dakota asks nervously, standing up, but the Peacekeepers don't hesitate before running in and grabbing her arm.

"Whoa!" I shout, jumping to my feet. They start trying to drag Dakota away, but she's not going down without a fight. She kicks and thrashes around, and breaks free of the guards for a second only to be recaptured immediately.

What's going on? My mind can barely grasp these sudden turn of events. Is this because they heard Dakota talking about rebelling? That was quick… it seems almost impossible that they'd find out this quickly, but it seems like the only solution.

"Furr!" Dakota screams as they begin pulling her toward the elevator, and it's my name that finally snaps me into action. I grab a vase of flowers sitting on the coffee table and charge at the Peacekeepers, who are almost to the hallway. Before they can block, I slam the vase into one of their heads.

Unfortunately, they're wearing helmets and don't seem to feel anything.

"Knock him out!" one of them shouts. "We need to get out of here!"

There's no time to run before one of them yanks on my elbow and pulls a syringe out of his pocket. I can barely process what's happening before they slam the needle into my arm and inject some kind of liquid into my veins.

"Dakota…" I manage to whisper before everything goes dark and I slump to the ground.

I didn't expect this to be out so quickly, but hey, I'm not complaining! Unlike many of my other Capitol chapters, I wrote this before the Games chapter, so don't be expecting Day 13 to be posted immediately following this. I still have a bunch of it to write.

If you don't remember from Dara's chapter on Day 2 (let's be honest, there's no way you do) Dakota Pollock was mentioned to be one name ahead of Dara. She's finally been captured by the Peacekeepers… which also means that Dara is next.

I tend to forget that I'm the only one with lots of knowledge about these mentors. I have backstories and personalities and plans for each one (some more than others), and many have barely been introduced. You may remember I had a story a few months back where I was planning on writing a one-shot of each Victor in my universe (from the 160th Hunger Games onward) but I never updated after the first chapter. I was curious to know if you guys would be interested in me restarting that, probably hopping around from each Hunger Games to hit the more relevant and interesting Victors (which would help my motivation). Let me know!

Don't forget to review! I always appreciate constructive criticism (or constructive compliments, for any Office fans). Even if you don't have anything to say, it's nice to write even a very short review to let me know that you guys actually read these chapters.

I also just realized I forgot to put the Day 12 poll on my profile, so it's there now! It's kind of random because I didn't have any questions about Rapids but I tried to keep it Hunger Games-related...

- Lilah