Volunteer Games Chapter 3, a hunger games fanfic

"Volunteer Games"

Chapter Three

By Brian Grove

Brian at rescueddoggies dot com

Disclaimer – As I'm British and male, it may come as no surprise that I don't own Hunger Games.

An experienced beta would be welcome.

Previous Chapter:- Katniss sent to prison and stripped of the Presidency for trying to take action against the games. Stefani is killed. Gail spends her time trying to find proof that something isn't right about the games. Then she disappears, another volunteer for the games.

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News got around District Eleven about Gail volunteering for the Hunger Games faster than a Mockingjay could have broadcast it.

Within an hour of dad arriving home having been released from Peacemaker custody, Kalina Morrison, Apraxo, Dorada and Stefani's mom, was knocking on our door. Salique was with her, as usual. Both Chiapaska and Salique loved Kalina, but since the treatment to restore her speech, Salique had been extremely attached to her. Since Stefani had died in the games, Salique had barely left Kalina's side.

When I opened the door Salique gave me a hug, while Kalina went straight to find mom. "Katniss, is it true? That Gail volunteered for the games?"

"It's true she's in the games," mom answered bitterly. "But you know Gail. She'd never have volunteered, whatever they make her say."

"This is revenge, isn't it?" Kalina asked rhetorically. "We publicly opposed the games, now they've taken our only two children within the age range."

They went into the lounge, where dad was watching Stefani's interview. From the moment he arrived home, he had started watching the recordings which Gail had been so interested in.

Dad turned off the recording quickly. "Sorry," he said.

"That was Stefani," said Kalina, stating the obvious. "Why would you be watching that?"

Dad looked embarrassed, as though he'd been caught doing something wrong.

"After Stefani died, Gail was convinced that there was something in the interview footage that didn't feel right. She couldn't explain it, but she watched all the reapings and chariots and interviews for the last twenty-odd years. She was convinced that there was a clue in there somehow."

"A clue? To what?"

"I don't know. I don't think she did. Finally when we moved to Eleven, dad made her stop watching them all the time. He didn't want to risk upsetting you by reminding you. But each time the games were run again, she started watching those recordings again."

"Peeta, I live with reminders of Stefani every day. Every night I dream about her. At least every hour I think about her. I can't look at Apraxo or Dorada or Chiapaska or Salique without being reminded of the one who should be here but isn't."

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want to make it any harder on you."

"What was she looking for in the recordings?"

"I don't think she knew herself. She kept comparing the older recordings with the latest ones, but she never got any further than saying that it didn't 'feel' right."

"I wish you'd have got her to ask me," Kalina said.

"Why?"

"I was a sponsor for years. I used to watch those reapings, the chariots, the interviews, to catch any nuance that might tell me who stood a chance of winning. You say she was comparing the recordings for the last twenty years or so?"

"Yes."

"Then, if you don't mind, let go back and do the same."

It took us two days to watch everything up to the interviews for Stefani's games. Kalina's eyes were bright, not with tears, but something had struck her. "That doesn't make sense," she muttered.

"What doesn't?"

"Let me see the last two games first. I want to see if it's a fluke."

When we'd finally finished the recordings, she announced, "He didn't ask the right questions."

"What do you mean?" Katniss asked.

"When considering sponsoring a volunteer, except for the usual career volunteers, I needed to know what made them tick. Why did they volunteer? The answer to that usually told me more about them than anything else in the interview. You look back at all the past games, that's the key question they ask every volunteer. Even in the first few of the new games, he asked them. But in Stefani's games, he only asked that question to a few of them. And it's been the same since. Why wouldn't he ask why they volunteered?"

"To stop it seeming boring by asking them all the same question, as they are all volunteers?" Salique suggested.

"No, it's too important to the sponsors. They have to ask that, but he didn't. Why wouldn't he ask?"

It was mom who answered. "You don't ask a question if you don't want the answer. If the volunteering was as straightforward as they claimed, there'd be no reason not to ask. So if they didn't, it means something isn't right with the volunteering. Can you explain what you just told me to a judge?"

"Of course."

Mom went to her desk and called someone. "Who? Damn. It would be him. Okay, put me through, and tell him we'll switch to video."

"Madam President," the judge from District Eight answered. Although she was no longer president, the title stays with her for life. "How may I help you?"

"Your honor..."

"Before you begin, I've heard about your daughter. I find I hard to believe as well. Gail has made herself quite the nuisance in her efforts to get the games banned."

"Then can you stop them? For the last three years, Gail has been investigating, and we think we've found what she was looking for."

"Really? And what was that?"

"Proof that the volunteering isn't genuine. Can I pass you to Kalina Morrison? She used to be a sponsor. She can explain."

"Morrison? Stefani's mother?"

"Yes," Kalina said. "I was."

"I am truly sorry about your daughter. I can understand why you might want to prove that she didn't volunteer when she said that she did, but how can that help us?"

"As I've just explained to Katniss, sponsors always wanted to know about volunteers. Apart from the usual careers, volunteers were so rare they were a curiosity. The first thing we wanted to know what was made them volunteer."

"Understandably."

"That told us so much about their character and if they might be worth sponsoring. So in every games, in the interview, that's almost the first thing they'd be asked. Every time, without fail. Until Stefani's games. Then only a few of them were asked. The same has happened with the games since. They have to ask that question for the sponsors, but they aren't."

"And you think they aren't asking why because they don't want to risk the answer?"

"Yes."

"That the volunteering might not be all above board?"

"Exactly."

"I'll have to watch the tapes to see for myself, but if what you say is correct, what do you expect me to do about it?"

"Stop them At least investigate. Get someone to speak to the volunteers to find out the truth."

"Mrs. Morrison. For myself, I'm inclined to believe you, especially after young Miss Mellark is supposed to have volunteered. But my believing it isn't evidence. I can speculate just as you can. But I can't take action on what is nothing more than a feeling."

"So you're not going to do anything?" Katniss shouted angrily.

"Right now, I'm going to get the recordings so that I can study them. But I need more than speculation to issue a warrant."

"So you're going to let my daughter die, just as you let Stefani and all the others die."

"That's unfair, Madam President!"

"So is murdering children. Perhaps it's time I got my bow out again."

"I'll pretend I never heard that. Look, I'll watch every moment of these games. If I spot anything that I can use, believe me I will act. But I can't promise more than that. Goodbye, Madam President."

He cut the call. Our hopes were dashed. We thought we'd beaten them, but it wasn't enough. What could possibly happen over the next few days which could change that and give the judge grounds to act?

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It really seemed as though all the decent designers were gone. All the outfits for the chariots were tired and predictable. Gail's was almost exactly the same as Stefani's had been three years before, including the partial nudity.

But whereas Stefani would have been embarrassed by that, we knew that it wouldn't bother Gail in the slightest. Mom always said that Gail should have been Prim's daughter, she was so like her I many ways. As a toddler it was almost impossible to keep clothes on her, she loved to run around naked. I never knew Prim, but I'm told that Gail also had Prim's eye for detail, which was obvious from her investigations and campaigns against the games. It was also evident in the pictures she loved to draw. In her artistic skills, she'd taken after dad. She'd even painted a nude self portrait and couldn't understand why mom refused to hang it in the lounge.

But it was the interviews we were waiting for. Kalina was next to Katniss as they began.

Exactly as she predicted, the more obvious volunteers from the career districts were asked why they volunteered, and they gave the predictable answers, money, fame, prestige. None of the others were asked why they volunteered, including Gail.

In fact, apart from getting Gail to confirm that she had volunteered, Gail's interview was more of a chat about how she related to mom and dad. "So who do you think you take after? Peeta or Katniss?"

"Well, I think Dad, though Mom says I'm a lot like her sister Prim in many ways. Dad loves nothing more than spending a relaxing afternoon painting. He taught me to paint too."

"I've heard you've spent a lot of your training time painting instead of training. That might explain why you only achieved a score of four."

"If I'm going to die, I might as well enjoy my last days before the games. I even painted a picture of you, but it got spoiled. Would you like to see my pictures?"

"Why not?" he said kindly.

She picked up a folder and showed each picture for a few seconds. "I showed them all quickly as we don't have much time. They can pause the replay to see them properly," she explained,

"I have to say, you are quite good."

"Thank you," she replied as she put her paintings away. "I love painting, I can put everything I want to say in a picture."

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The next morning the games were to begin. But our day began much earlier with the loud roar of a hovercraft. It landed not far from our house and to our surprise, the judge from District Eight got out.

"Your honor?" I said as I opened the door.

"Are your parents up?"

"We are now," said Katniss, who just came downstairs in her dressing gown. "What's going on?"

"I'm going to the arena," he announced. I've come here as I need a second judge to authorize my action. I want you to come with me. And anyone else here who can fight."

"Great," said Katniss.

"If you come, I need you to stay with me. I'm not taking you so that you can rescue your daughter."

"Then why?"

"I'm taking you to protect me," he replied.

"You?"

"Think about it. They've tried to eliminate everybody who's stood against them. Right now, I'm the only one who can stop their game. If they get me, they've won. And they're so rich and powerful that I don't know who I can trust. So I need your word. Let me save Gail. Your job is to keep me alive so that I can."

"Okay."

"Ah here comes my pilot. He should have the signature of the District Eleven judge. Have you got it?" he called.

"Yes. Ready to go?"

"Give me a few minutes to change," Katniss said.

While we were changing a crowd had begun to form, attracted by the unfamiliar noise of the hovercraft.

"You can't all come," the judge said, "just those who can fight."

When we took off, we had four victors, that is Mom, Dad, Dorada and me, and we also took Chiapaska, who we knew was more than handy with a knife. All of us had knives, except for Dorada. We would get her a peacekeeper's rifle as it worked almost exactly the same as the weapon she'd used in her games.

"What convinced you?" Mom asked.

"I was already convinced, I just needed something more concrete to allow me to act."

"But we watched the interviews. There was nothing much different," I said.

"What did Gail say?" he asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"She said, 'I can put everything I want to say in a picture.' That's an exact quote. See these pictures? These are printouts of the pictures she showed to the camera."

"But there's no message there," I said.

"No? There's the same message in every one of them."

"I can't see it."

"Describe this picture."

"It looks like it's in a field, there's a river, and a few people playing ball."

"Good. Now describe the people."

"There's three women and a man."

"You'd never make a good witness," he smiled. "Describe them."

"There's not that much detail about them, the three women are a similar height, the man a bit taller."

"More."

"They all have dark hair, one of the women is rather fat, the others are thin. The three women are white, but the man is colored."

"Okay. Years ago, long before I became a judge, I was a Peacekeeper. If I had to describe those four people in the words we'd have used, I'd say, three white females, one black male. There is one black male in every single picture."

"Blackmail!" I said. "But how?"

"That is what we are going to the arena to find out."

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Author's notes...

Please review.

Brian

THE STORY SO FAR

Chapter 1

The volunteer games begin, but aren't popular with viewers. Changes are made, then Stefani, Dorada's sister, unexpectedly volunteers.

Chapter 2

Katniss sent to prison and stripped of the Presidency for trying to take action against the games. Stefani is killed. Gail spends her time trying to find proof that something isn't right about the games. Then she disappears, another volunteer for the games.

Chapter 3

Stefani's mother provides the clue they need, but it is the judge who deciphers the message Gail puts in her paintings.