Note: Sorry to those of you who have, hopefully, been reading this for the long wait.
District 7 reapings
Adrianna Lancing 35 victor of the 82nd hunger games
Adrianna reached the stage before anyone else.
Not even Carius, the old district 7 escort.
It gave her time to prepare.
Adrianna was district 7's second, and last victor.
She had won 19 years ago this year, as a 16 year old.
The other victor well, she didn't want to think about him.
Her mentor, Harris Goldberg.
A career in an outer district, as she thought of him.
He had won the 78th hunger games, as an 18 year old.
He had killed 15 tributes.
15 kids.
He had volunteered for his games, and thoroughly enjoyed it every step of the way.
Enjoyed the killing.
He enjoyed killing all three of his district partners.
Both of the girls were 12 years old.
He was sick, and yet she owed him her life, he had chosen her, over the other three tributes, to bring home from the games.
And he had succeeded. But, choosing her over the other three tributes wasn't hard, as none of them were over 14, and all had died by the time day 1 was over.
None of them from his Academy, for after he won his games he opened a center, smaller than the ones in 1, 2 and 4, maybe only having ten students a year. But he taught them skills with axes and spears, the two weapons he had used in his games, and he taught them bloodthirstiness.
Her games had passed slowly though, with only eight tributes dying the first day, and none the next two, The careers that year had been small, maybe 5 tributes.
By the end of the first week, half of the tributes were still alive.
And thats when the gamemakers intervened.
A tornado, and earthquake, a volcano, all over the span of three days, took out 12 tributes.
12 left.
And thats when Adrianna first killed, throwing a knife into the back of the large boy from 6.
The next day, she killed again, this time a hatchet to the neck of a girl from 8.
Three days later, there were 7 tributes left.
Her, three careers, a boy from 8, a boy from 9 and a girl from 10.
One of the careers died in an avalanche that collapsed the system of caves in which they were hiding, destroying all of their supplies.
The next day a girl from 1 died from eating poisonous fruit.
And Adrianna took out the third career, a boy from 4, by throwing a knife into his back and running before he even realized she was there. 5 minutes later he was dead.
The next three days had passed slowly, and then the feast was called.
Adrianna still had nightmares about it.
How the girl from 10 broke Adrianna's leg, stabbed her in the stomach, and cut of two off her fingers in there fight.
Fingers, she thought as she flexed her hand, that she hadn't let the capitol replace.
The girl from 10 was about to kill Adrianna when the boy from 8 threw a spear into her back.
3 left, the boy from 8 had then killed the boy from 9, and had thought Adrianna's cannon had already fired.
But it hadn't.
Adrianna managed to throw a knife into the already injured boy from 8. He collapsed, and they both lay there, hoping to outlast the other. And Adrianna outlasted him.
And won.
She was shaken out of her games as Harris walked onto the stage, heavily favoring his left leg. The only injury he had suffered in his games was an arrow to the right leg in the final battle, it had severed a tendon and he had never really recovered.
He limped forward and sat down heavily in his seat.
He didnt even look her way, he knew she resented him, resented him for what he had done in his games, and for the district.
Harris was a patriot. And his power in district 7 had steadily grown until he was basically in charge of the peacekeeper force in 7.
Adrianna was a rebel. she resented the capital, things they had done to her, and her fellow victors.
Things she couldn't speak of. And making her kill was only the first on the list.
Again she forced herself out of her thoughts as the mayor sat down. Speech finished.
A speech she had memorized word for word.
Carius, the escort, stood up and without fanfare, stroud over to the girl's bowl.
He swirled his hand through the bowl several times, then pulled out a name.
"Emily Power."
A small mousy looking 12 year old stepped forward, legs shaking, several of her friends cried out in horror, but she just shook her head at them, making her way to the stage as fast as her shaking legs could carry her. So not fast at all.
Once she reached the stage Carius moved over to the boys bowl, he quickly withdrew a name and announced "Christopher Gome"
Another 12 year old, Christopher was quite smaller than Emily, but before he took a step towards the stage, A voice rang out "I volunteer."
The voice was deep and gravelly.
And then a monster of a boy stepped out of the 18 year old section.
He had to be 6'6, thickly built, in fact, everything about him was thick, as short thick neck, thick legs, a pair of muscular thick arms.
"I volunteer" He announced again.
Christopher was so surprised he fell right down and fainted, and the boy slowly made his way towards the stage, taking his time.
He was even bigger up close, thought Adrianna, taller than Harris himself, who was the largest man Adrianna had ever met.
"Your name son?" Carius asked in his quiet voice.
"Yukon Rean." He announced loudly.
Carius stared at him for a minute or two, and then moved back towards the girls bowl.
"Laren Morgan."
A girl of about average height emerged from the 17 year old section, blonde hair, blue eyes, she was pretty, that was for sure, and her face registered surprize, for a moment or two, but then it was quickly replaced by a look of snarky laziness, she wore a blood red dress, which Adrianna found fitting for the occasion, the girl casually meandered her way to the stage, and climbed up it, before taking her place in between tiny Emily, and huge Yukon.
She faced the crowd proudly, smiling slightly.
Carius moved back towards the boys bowl, for the last name.
"William Griffin."
A boy of average height emerged from the 16 year old section, he was incredibly handsome, Adrianna could see that from there, with stormy gray eyes, a tan complexion, short messy black hair.
He had a mischievous smirk plastered on his face, like he had expected this, and enjoyed it.
Adrianna was glad he felt this way, because it was probably the last time he would feel like it for the rest of his life, whether he won the games or not.
He climbed the stage, all of the tributes shook hands, and this is when little Emily made a run for it, sprinting towards the crowd, before she had even taken 10 steps she was caught, and none to carefully carried towards the justice building.
The rest of the tributes followed.
Adrianna and Harris were left alone on the stage, and for the first time that day, Arianna met his gaze.
"The older boy" she asked "Is he trained?"
"Both of the older ones actually" said Harris "Laren and Yukon, Yukon's the best tribute i've ever trained, and Laren isn't too bad herself, though she didnt plan on going in this year."
"I'm staying away from them then" said Adrianna "I'll take William and the younger girl, you can have your precious careers."
And she stalked off, without waiting for Harris to follow.
Yukon Rean 18 district 7
It had finally happened, Yukon thought, just as Harris had said, the rush he had gotten from volunteering was unreal. And this was only the beginning.
His parents walked in, They had not only supported his training, but encouraged it.
"Son" his dad said "You take care of yourself, you hear? you come back to us."
his mother nodded her head.
Yukon grunted in agreement, and then just stood there, watching them.
After a while, his dad got up and left, his mom made a move to hug him, but then thought better of it, letting her arms drop to her sides, she shook her head, and left.
And Yukon was alone. Like he wanted to be. He had never needed friends, or family, they were just obstacles in the way of training. And he had trained, almost everyday of his life, since he was 13, he had already broken the 6'0 mark then, and continued growing, adding muscle, until he was the tallest person he knew.
Taller even the Harris, the best victor they had ever had.
Adrianna, Yukon didn't think much of her, she had won by accident, a mistake.
His victory would not be a mistake.
And he wanted everybody to know that.
Laren Morgan 17 district 7
It had finally happened, what her parents, her trainer, her uncle, had been grooming her for 4 years to do.
To go into the games.
To win the money that would take them out of poverty and catapult them into one of the nicest houses in all of district 7.
But it hadn't happened as she had expected.
She had been reaped a year early.
Her parents, her uncle, and two of her cousins came into the room.
The only family she had.
The rest of her father's family had steadily moved away from their capital-loving brother, and his younger brother.
She had never met her grandparents. The only two cousins she had ever met were the ones standing before her.
Both of them, Jackson and Genevieve, ran up and hugged her. They were stick thin, sickly looking, simply from the lack of food. They lived in the poorest part of district 7, there was rarely enough food to go around.
Jackson was 14, Genevieve was 12.
She hugged them both, saying they knew she would come back.
Her mother hugged her next, then her uncle, then finally her father.
"You know what it takes" He said "What's one more year?"
she nodded her head, but couldn't help the tears filling her eyes.
"But what if I don't?" she started asking "What if I don't come back?"
"No, no, no" her uncle said "You can't afford to think like that honey, be strong for us."
And she would be strong, for her chance, a chance at a better future. And a better future for her poor thin cousins.
She would be strong
And she wanted everybody to know it.
William Griffin 16 district 7
"No"
"No" Said his mother as soon as she walked in the room "No, it cant be"
"But it is" He had replied "And you have to accept it and move past it."
His father nodded, along with his sister.
"You have a chance William" said his father "A Fighting chance, a better chance the most people from other districts, just stay away from Yukon, and the remainder of the career pack, because I assume he will be in it."
William nodded
"And you can attract sponsors" said his sister "We all know you have the looks for it."
William nodded, smilingly, thinking of all the times his sister had called him ugly.
A lot more then when she had called him handsome.
But it was true, he did know how to play to crowd, to win sponsors, and all this was, was, in the eyes of the capitol, a big game.
And he was going to play. And he knew everybody would know that.
Emily Power 12 district 7
"No" She said to herself "No, no, no, no, no, no."
Yet if you said it, it didn't mean it would be true.
And so she sat there in silence. Silence as her family, her parents paraded through.
Silence was her biggest weapon. She stayed out of peoples way, she stayed silent, and they didn't bother her.
But that wouldn't help her in the games, she wouldn't be able to stay out of everybody's way. Staying silent wouldn't prevent them from killing her.
But she was only 12. How could anybody kill a 12 year old?
She knew, at the bloodbath, maybe the next few days, people would pass her up for older, stronger opponents.
If she even managed to live that long.
And everybody knew she wouldnt.