Author's Note: A sign that things are changing in Panem as tensions spill into the Games.

….

The Ninety-Fourth Annual Hunger Games: Sandy Berwin, District Nine (18)

They were escorted to the tribute train under a heavy peacekeeper guard. Just weeks ago, a massive riot in District Eight overwhelmed peacekeepers until the Capitol Guard were deployed to put them down. It was violent and deadly, but it had worked. The peacekeepers had been split across two locations and their resources stretched too thin. The Capitol was truly exposed. They were running out of peacekeepers and the parents of the young recruits from the Capitol and the volunteer districts had taken to the streets because their children had been slaughtered days after arrival at their first rotation.

Now the Capitol was afraid of the sound of its footsteps and the tension across the districts was stifling. Sandy found her actions curtailed. Her group had temporarily disbanded as they could not meet without attracting suspicion and her every move was followed each time she left her village.

Now, to make things worse, she had been reaped. Her district partner was from an adjacent rebel cell, and it was obvious the Capitol had found out.

Ryan dared not make eye contact with her. He knew his allegiances could have been revealed too. He knew Sandy from his foray into rebellion. She overheard his conversation with Maizey, arguing about mentoring. He wanted to mentor her. He felt a responsibility towards her. But Maizey said no. It would be a risk. She wanted a victor and a girl willing to put up a fight was her best chance in years. She was the senior victor and pulled rank. When Ryan tried to speak to her alone on the train as Barric and Maizey stood up to leave the cart, Barric realised and kicked Ryan sharply on his leg to stop him.

Sandy was intrigued. Barric and Maizey knew Ryan was a rebel, but they had not tried to stop him. Now they were terrified he had been caught and they would be guilty by association. It was the Capitol after all.

But Sandy was mostly concerned about her predicament. What had happened at the Reaping became clear as the tributes faced each other in the training gym. They were all older. That in itself was not usual, but nobody looked scared of a fight. There were the usual volunteers who had replaced the six reaped teenagers. But Sandy recalled the footage and realised no shocked twelve-year-olds were being retrieved from the stage this year, only tough-looking eighteen-year-olds who were replaced by a trained equivalent.

They were all rebels or at least people with rebel connections. Sandy knew that was true for her and her district partner. It was not difficult to decipher that Eight and Eleven's tributes were rebels too, given the news from their districts. Seven's pair looked particularly angry and as they took each other in, everyone knew this would be a year where the tributes would be willing to fight without question.

The Capitol wanted to see how far they would be pushed, and what lengths they would go before the violence started. But rebels or not, it was any other Hunger Games and there would always be tributes prepared to fight. There was no other choice. You would not leave the arena alive if you were not prepared to fight.

Sandy and her district partner had promised that unless they were in the final two, an unlikely fate for District Nine that only Barric had endured, they would not kill each other. They were not about to ally either because they were pragmatic. Only one of them would go home and they were not about to work together and fall victim to the same Gamemaker trap or attack by the volunteers. Nine would get one of its rebels back.

As the Games started, the tributes were lifted into the arena where they stood in a semi-circle at the bottom of a flight of stairs. The Cornucopia was nowhere in sight. The stairs were tall, steep, made of stone and appeared to lead to a platform. Just above them and set back from the top of the steps, were arches but nobody knew what they were or if they led to anything. The gong sounded and the tributes raced to find out.

The tributes all raced towards the steps and started to climb, hoping they could run effectively despite the incline. Sandy was relieved to be at the end of the semi-circle as the tributes towards the centre fought each other as they grappled to the top, pulling each other down. The boy from Two managed to kill one of the smallest tributes by throwing them towards the ground at the bottom where they stood moments before.

Still, they could not see the Cornucopia, even as they reached the top of the stairs. Most of the tributes continued running and dashed straight into the building ahead of them. They ran through the arches and inside where eventually, they did find the hoard of weapons and supplies.

After the final tribute made it inside, the doors slammed shut. Sandy and the other tributes around her jumped in surprise. They were trapped.

Like most of the other tributes, Sandy ran towards the pile of supplies. Everything was piled in a pyramid of sorts and the tributes had to climb to reach what they wanted. Sandy was able to use a nearby pedestal to launch herself towards the supplies, take one of the swords and leap back to the ground towards the nearest tribute who she sliced and stabbed until they died. She saw that her district partner was alive, caught his eye, and silently wished him luck before running away.

The arena was a temple, full of gold with small side rooms and chambers where tributes could easily be backed into a corner. The floors were marble and slippery, and every noise echoed around the entire structure. It would be difficult to move around unnoticed.

Sandy weaved in and around the statues as she tried to find a hiding place away from the Cornucopia. She ran around the outermost wall of the temple, past the Cornucopia and what appeared to be a shrine with a table set for offerings to whatever being the building was supposed to honour.

Panem tightly regulated religious and spiritual expression so Sandy had no idea what prompted this arena but that did not matter. What was important was that she got out alive. She continued running, making her way up a set of stairs. But she heard footsteps approaching and managed to hide in the shadows of a passage leading off the staircase. It sounded like more than one tribute and Sandy had no intention of being outnumbered in a fight on day one. If she had been sure only one tribute was nearby, she might have started the fight but there was no point in taking a risk so early on.

The passage led to nowhere so Sandy had to continue travelling up the staircase, hoping she would not find the other tributes who raced past. She reached the top, took the path which led to the right and realised she was on a balcony, above the main atrium where what was left of the Cornucopia stood. She was exposed so she kept low as she scurried in and around various other pedestals and statues before finding a small room where she could hide but run in either direction if she needed to escape.

She had a view of the Cornucopia if she could move quietly and keep herself hidden. Sandy could see that the volunteers had camped out in front of the pyramid, making the entire atrium from the entrance to their camp inaccessible to anyone else. All six volunteers had made it through the bloodbath alive and only seven cannons sounded. But seventeen tributes remained, and they were all trapped inside the same structure and so far, Sandy had not seen any escape.

As she was not disturbed as the night went on, Sandy tried to sleep. She didn't know whether she managed to drift off for more than a few moments at a time as she did not want to be caught completely off guard. The Capitol would pick those moments to interfere for maximum entertainment after all.

She stirred as light entered the temple from the ceiling and she could see the Cornucopia without too much difficulty again. One of the volunteers was awake but everyone else appeared to be sleeping. Sandy took the opportunity to move, knowing that she could not stay in one place for too long.

After she had settled in a new hiding place on the opposite side to where she spent the first night, Sandy received a sponsorship gift containing a small pouch of water. She drank half before putting the pouch in one of the pockets of her trousers and realising that any other tribute who was awake could have seen the parachute.

It was obvious she needed to move again and was proven right almost instantly as she could hear one of the volunteers shouting about the parachute. Sandy wondered what Maizey had been thinking sending in the gift when her position was so readily exposed. She now had to get herself out of the situation she was in.

She stayed low behind the balcony and waited until she saw the direction the volunteers left in. She judged which stairs they would head for before running in the opposite direction.

Sandy realised that in their excitement, all six volunteers had set off in her former direction. There would be nobody guarding the Cornucopia. There was a risk other tributes might notice but with one kill to her name, Sandy felt like she had a better chance against someone else who might have the same idea.

So, she crept down the stairs and weaved through the pedestals before hiding in the shadows of one of the statues surrounding the ransacked pyramid of goods. She looked around the structure, deciding what she should target before homing in on some packs of dried food she could store in another pocket, a small knife and a bottle of water. That would solve her most immediate problems so she moved into position and hurried to pick up what she could.

A crashing sound from nearby forced Sandy to scramble back as she realised somebody else had the same idea. She hid behind the statue again before realising it was her district partner. She leant around the statue and accidentally met his eyes. The boy gestured to her and raised his hands. Their promise to each other still stood. So, Sandy carried on picking up what she wanted before realising that her district partner was looking at her with a finger raised to his lips again. Obviously, they had company.

A cannon sounded and the volunteers could be heard shouting about their latest kill from the balcony and Sandy was relieved she had escaped. But she knew she was in imminent danger. Her district partner had heard something.

Suddenly, the pair from Eleven charged towards the remaining supplies and Sandy leapt towards a second sword, a confrontation was inevitable. She joined her district partner and the four tributes scrambled towards each other, favoured weapons outstretched.

It was loud, their fight echoing around the temple, reverberating from the walls and bouncing between the statues and plinths. Sword met sword and knife clashed against knife, interrupted by the sounds of shouting and frustration from the four tributes. Sandy supported her district partner, and he backed her up too when the boy from Eleven charged at her. They fought back and turned on him, but the girl took the chance to slash her knife at Sandy's wrist and Nine's girl realised she was bleeding.

In anger, Nine's boy lashed out at the girl, and she stumbled back into the supplies. The pair from Nine finished her off before turning on the boy from Eleven who panicked that he was outnumbered. Two cannons fired and the pair from Nine realised the volunteer pack was watching them. Sandy realised that four volunteers were on the balcony, meaning that two of them were on their way. She scrambled to pick up her weapons and was lucky to find a small roll of bandages hidden amongst empty crates. She picked them up, shook her district partner's hand and they parted ways.

Sandy stayed close to the Cornucopia until she picked up the footsteps of the approaching volunteers before taking off in the opposite direction. By that point, the remaining volunteers had left their previous post too, so she carefully returned to her previous hiding spot. Once in relative safety, she wrapped her wrist and drank the remainder of the pouch Maizey had sent her.

The adrenaline of the fight kept Sandy awake long into the second night. Four more tributes had died and thirteen remained. She eventually fell into a fitful sleep and woke up with light streaming in via the roof once more.

She had been involved in what had to have been the highlight of the second day so Sandy hoped she would be left alone. The second day of the Games was normally a lull but with a further four deaths, Sandy was hoping that she could stay hidden.

Her wrist hurt but she could not risk Maizey sending in another parachute and having to flee once more. Sandy remained still and quiet, ate some of the dried food she collected and drank a few sips of the water she had picked up as she escaped the Cornucopia.

A few hours later, the tributes were startled by a banging sound that seemed to come from around the temple. Sandy crawled towards the balcony and tried to peek over the barrier without being seen but nothing looked any different. She moved back to her hiding place, and it was then she noticed a breeze that she had not felt before.

Sandy looked around her and noticed that the side room she was closest to now led outside. The once-closed door was now fully open. She checked the adjacent chamber, and its door was missing too. The noise that reverberated around the arena must have been the Gamemakers forcing a change within the arena.

Tentatively, she moved closer to the door, checked either side of the route outside, realised it was clear and sat in the sunlight for a few moments, hoping for a brief respite from the tensions inside the temple. To her surprise, a parachute descended, and Sandy was gifted more food and painkillers. She washed both down with more water before scrambling back inside in case any other tribute noticed the parachute.

She realised that would be the safe route for sponsor deliveries. A parachute inside the temple would alert everyone to a tribute's location as Sandy and Maizey had found out. But if a tribute spent a few moments outside, they could receive their gift without immediately revealing their location to everyone else.

There was no further action inside the arena until the morning of the fourth day when another cannon fired out of nowhere. That afternoon, part of the temple collapsed in on itself and a further cannon sounded. Sandy had no idea another tribute had been barely ten metres from her the entire time. She was lucky that the collapse did not affect her, but she changed her hiding place all the same. That evening, one of the cannons was revealed to be for her district partner and Sandy was immediately saddened. She did not know which cannon was his or what had happened to him, but she felt sorry that his life had ended and that Nine had lost a valuable young rebel.

Sandy was forced into fighting the girl from Six the following afternoon. The girl encroached on her hiding place and Sandy knew what she had to do. Out of desperation, she threw the injured girl over the balcony and winced as her body crashed to the floor and the cannon rang out across the arena.

Realising she had given away her hiding place once more, Sandy moved again, travelling via a break outside where she was gifted a salve for her wrist which she realised began to heal the wound. Since Maizey had only managed painkillers before, Sandy figured out that she must have impressed the sponsors enough to warrant a more expensive gift, so she thought she was doing something right. She had directly killed three tributes and played a significant part in the death of a fourth so the Capitol would be watching her. She had to continue in the same vein if she wanted to come home.

On the sixth day, the entire top floor of the temple collapsed in on itself and Sandy managed to escape with only minor cuts and bruises. Two more cannons fired, and Sandy realised she was in the final eight tributes and her family and friends at home would be interviewed.

The thought of the Capitol prying into her home life worried her. She did not know who would be interviewed and whether that meant the Capitol had full knowledge of her network. But she would only realise if she left the arena alive so she decided it would be a worry for another day. She was still inside the arena and had more pressing concerns.

She managed to find a spot where she could observe the volunteers from a distance. She realised that four of them were left and one was badly injured. The pair from Two and the boy from One kept talking about Four's boy behind his back and Sandy knew it would not be long before the inevitable happened. Later that day, she watched Two's boy turn on his ally and put him out of his misery. Seven tributes remained.

She woke the next morning to plinths and columns spontaneously falling and crashing to the ground. Statues started collapsing next and Sandy knew she would have to move to avoid being crushed. Another cannon had fired, and she realised that the end of the Games would soon approach.

The tributes from Two turned on One's boy that afternoon and Sandy had front row seats. After his body had been retrieved, the pair went out on what they called their final hunt before the finale. Sandy waited until they had left and took her chances once more to pick at what was left at the Cornucopia. She returned unscathed with another water bottle and some dried fruit which she ate at once. She would save the rest of the water for the following morning when she knew the Games would end.

Light streamed through the temple once more and Sandy thought she would try her luck in waiting outside for a few moments. It was the right thing to do as she was gifted a vicious-looking serrated scythe which seemed to fit her hand perfectly. She raised her right hand holding the scythe aloft, inhaled deeply and knew she could come home.

She finished her remaining water and the final pack of dried fruit and waited. Hours seemed to pass, and Sandy began to worry if she had mistimed the finale. The pair from Two were play-fighting at the Cornucopia so she could not return, and she did not want to leave her hiding place.

Night fell and Sandy was confused, until torches she never realised existed suddenly lit up in flames. The rest of the arena fell into complete darkness. This was it.

Sandy felt the temperature inside the temple increase as she realised the doors had sealed once more and the final five tributes were entirely trapped again. She had never truly noticed the gargoyles and mythical creatures adorning the temple walls until they started to breathe fire. It was a steady flow at first which Sandy could ignore. The only real effect was the arena becoming increasingly hot.

But it was not long before they were emitting fireballs and flames which she had to actively avoid. Adornments and the arena's decorative features began to catch fire too and a cannon sounded. The remaining statues and plinths began to fall and the entrance where the tributes first entered the temple collapsed in on itself. Sandy resorted to running across the arena to avoid being engulfed in flames. She had a narrow escape as one of the columns almost hit her and she began to feel exhausted by her constant evasive attempts.

Smoke filled her lungs and she started to feel herself weakening. Her arms and legs hurt, and she had been grazed with the fire and had to put out small burns to her clothing. Her hair had been singed and all around her, she could smell burning.

The fire crackled so loud she could barely make out the sound of two further cannons, but Sandy realised the end must be within her grasp. She was forced into a tiny part of the temple. The flames completely overcome the rest of the structure.

She fought her way to the shrine and stood on the table to escape the fires that had started to dance around the floor. Sandy looked up to find Two's girl climbing the pyramid of the Cornucopia, desperately clinging on and trying to avoid the fire that crept up where the supplies once stood.

Suddenly, the table started rising and Sandy could see the full extent of the flames dancing across the temple. Fireballs came her way and she had to dodge them before looking out to the spectacle the Gamemakers had created. The fire was everywhere; by now circling the shrine. Sandy was sure it was only the girl from Two and the fire itself which stood in her way.

As the table clicked into place, Two's girl launched herself from the top of the Cornucopia and almost landed on Sandy. Nine's girl pushed her away with all her strength and jumped forward as Two's girl was knocked off balance. But her opponent was strong and gathered herself before Sandy could push her into the flames.

Still, Sandy continued and managed to strike the girl's shoulder with her new scythe before dodging the retaliatory blow. She edged forward, dodged another blow and struck again, this time hitting her opponent's sword. Two's girl fought with a knife in her other hand, but Sandy managed to knock that away, damaging the hand in the process.

Two's girl became angry and charged. Sandy almost lost her footing before regaining her balance. She drove her scythe forward, hitting her opponent's side. She stumbled before hitting back once more, slicing at Sandy's thigh.

They continued fighting blow for blow, by now both heavily bleeding, sweating from the heat of the fire and watching as parts of their clothes began to burn. Their battle drew on as both girls tired. Sandy knew she had to end it quickly if she wanted to go home. Two's girl had trained for endurance and attrition, and she had not.

It was all or nothing, now or never, so with a scream, Sandy hurled towards and sliced at Two's girl's chest. In losing her balance, Two's sword managed to strike Sandy's arm badly, but the girl fell over. Sandy took her chance and brought her scythe down over the girl's neck and chest again and the final cannon sounded. The fires stopped, Sandy sunk to her knees, raised her right arm still holding the scythe and let out a scream. It was over and she was going home.

The days in the Capitol were a blur and Sandy knew she was missing out on things she wanted to take in. Unsurprisingly, the Games had not converted her into a Capitol loyalist, and she was filled with hatred over what had happened to her, and the twenty-three others sent to the arena. The rebel strategist within her wanted to pick apart every interaction and find the Capitol's weaknesses but she was too dazed. She supposed this was what they wanted to happen.

She met with President Elda who told her that they expected her to live quietly and peacefully in Nine's Victors' Village and Sandy agreed. There was an undertone to the President's words which suggested he knew what Sandy had been doing prior to the Games. But Maizey told her he would put it down to teenage angst and that he would not expect that to continue now Sandy was rich and famous. He assumed it was mild discontent and that Sandy and her allies at home posed no real threat. Of course, Nine's victors knew that was wrong, but they would let the President believe that.

Unfortunately, Commander Thread did not believe them. Sandy was hauled into a meeting with the Defence Secretary, and she could see the fear in Maizey's eyes as she was collected. Her mentor tried to follow but she was held back and Barric and Ryan had to calm her. Sandy met Ryan's eyes as she left, and they understood each other. She would not give anything away.

Commander Thread told Sandy in no uncertain terms that he knew what she had been organising. He knew which of her friends had been involved, which peacekeeper barracks they were targeting and where they had stored their weapons. He assured her that those weapons had been removed and Sandy had no reason to doubt him. He knew everything and knew what a threat they could pose. Somehow the President had the wool pooled over his eyes, but Commander Thread did not. He was the threat to the rebellion and Sandy knew they would have to act.

She carried on normally, pretending it was just scare tactics after she returned. The victors had dinner together and discussed the victory ceremony, the interview and their triumphant return home.

Later that evening, Ryan knocked on her door to check she was okay before they went to bed. She beckoned him closer and whispered details of her conversation with Thread. His face sank. Sandy had been trying to piece everything together but there was nothing Thread said to her that indicated he knew that Ryan had been supporting the group. Ryan did not believe that and began to panic but Sandy figured that as he had been left alive, Thread did not see him as an immediate threat. He could be waiting for Ryan to fall into a trap so they knew they would have to be careful when they returned. But as there would be so much media attention on the Village, it would be difficult to be an active rebel for a while.

She told him that Thread was the threat, that the President appeared appeased and easily swayed. Whoever was leading them needed to know this. Ryan gave her paper to write a note and told her he would get it to where it needed to be.

Sandy's message was simple:

"Thread knows about me. He knows more than he let on. The President is weak."

Ryan followed through on his promise and Sandy managed to figure out who their leader was when another note was passed into her hands.

"You're a clever girl. Keep it that way. We'll need you. Stay alive."

The note was signed with the symbol of a trident and Sandy had to laugh to herself. The famous Capitol darling, Finnick Odair was at the heart of destroying his fan base. She knew then that revenge would be sweet. Rebellion was personal for all the victors involved.

Sandy returned home quiet, but her fire was still alive. She would play the game for now and pick her moment to jump back into action. She returned holding onto the scythe that had got her through the finale. Her fellow victors flinched when she gave it pride of place in her house, but Sandy did not care. It fit her hand perfectly, as if it was made for her and she knew it would be useful later. Ryan secretly told her it was a clever move and sometimes he could appreciate tactics that seemed to come straight from District Two's playbook. That told Sandy that at least some of Two's victors were involved in rebellion and that maybe, their revolution was more widespread than she had anticipated.

For now, they had other problems. The Village was being watched, the Victory Tour would approach quickly, and Sandy and Ryan suspected an informant in their group. Thread knew everything about a select number of them. There was a chance he did not know about Ryan and Ryan had not been introduced to the entire cell. They would have to work to discover the informant's identity, but it would give them a new task whilst they could not openly plan a revolt.

Sandy's anger would simmer for a while until she found an outlet for her pent-up frustrations. She tried to enjoy the new comforts of her life but could not get used to the quiet of the Village. The Capitol had turned her life upside down. She would never forgive them, but she knew to hold out until they were ready. There would come a time when the Capitol would slip up, Ryan told her that was inevitable. Given the pressure they were under, Sandy figured it might not be long.

She let Ryan tell her about his travels across the villages of Nine and they tried to put together a map, complete with a strategy for unifying their people. Even though their direct efforts had to subside, both victors found solace in having a new mission that one day they would be able to take forward. They would just have to wait until their time came again.