A/N: Thanks to richards25, scherre, Burningbrightforyou and dreamzspark for reviewing!
I don't know where this chapter came from, as it doesn't really suit the song, but I think it's decent enough :)
Here's another familiar face, I hope you enjoy the chapter :)
"You won't fool the children of the revolution."
- Marc Bolan, 1972.
The 32nd Annual Hunger Games
Seeder King (17), District 11 Female
T-Rex - Children of the Revolution (1972)
I'm amazed the Capitol let them get away with it. But they have.
When some smart-arse District 2 victor thought it was a good idea to try to train up his District's children to help them survive the arena, I felt sure that the Peacekeepers would arrest him. But they didn't. He got away with it because the Capitol thought that a couple of trained tributes would spice up the Games for the audience. Then the victors of District 4 joined in on the act, as did the newly-crowned victor from District 1.
And so the Career Alliance was formed.
In the twenty-five years since District 1's tributes joined the alliance, the Careers have won the Hunger Games sixteen times. Sixteen. When another district (I believe it was District 7) tried to train their own Careers, the Capitol came down on them hard. Apparently only Districts 1, 2 and 4 can train tributes.
The frustrating thing isn't that only tributes from those three district can train tributes. The frustrating thing is that the districts of the Career alliance were decided by who had won the first five or six Games. And those first few Games had been won mainly by dumb luck; back in the days before Careers, there was always a relatively even playing field. But now the Careers win almost every year. The tributes of the other districts aren't expected to win, and they rarely ever do. My district is always at a disadvantage before our tributes even set foot in the arena.
I would have thought that the Districts would unite against the Capitol to resist the districts' treatment. In reality, the opposite has occurred. The Capitol has managed to turn the districts against each other through the Hunger Games. Even though I know that I shouldn't have, I have an irrational hatred of Augustus Holt, the aged Hunger Games veteran from District 2 who created the Career Alliance nearly thirty years ago. He's mentoring again this year, and it doesn't surprise me that along with myself, the boy from District 2 has reached the final ten. Of course, the other five Careers are still alive, too. Nearly every year, all six Careers survive the early stages of the Games. It's no wonder that the Career districts have a cumulative total of twenty victors from thirty-two Games. Barely anyone makes it home from the outer districts.
In fact, two districts are still victorless after thirty-two years of torture. District 3 and my own district, District 11. Since the tributes of District 1 joined the Career Alliance, fifty young men and women of District 11 have died in the Hunger Games. Yes, we have been close some years, but we've never managed to get any of our children home alive from the Capitol. I'd like to think that if it wasn't for the Careers, we'd have two or three victors by now. But the Careers are here, and it looks as though they are here to stay. But even if no Careers volunteer ever again (which won't happen), it won't help me at all. I'm stuck in an arena with six of them.
But still, I cling on to the hope that maybe, just maybe, this year will be the year of District 11.
Luckily for Seeder, she never had to fight the Career pack. In an arena where the season changed every two days, the second winter brought a fierce snowstorm that wiped out the Careers' supplies. Without supplies the Careers chose to fight each other rather than starve, and so five of their number were culled in an hour. The sixth Career, the girl from District Four, died of her wounds the following day.
With the demise of the Careers, the numbers in the arena dropped from eight to two. It was two days later when Seeder defeated the boy from District 5 using a blowgun, poisonous darts and a little common sense to claim victory in the 32nd Annual Hunger Games.
A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed :)
P.S. To any District 3 fans out there: I'm aware that District 3 is still victorless, but don't worry; Beetee's Games are coming up soon :)
