Author's Note: Things are happening in Panem and there is no choice but to face up to it.
….
The Ninety-Sixth Annual Hunger Games: Birch Hargrave, District Seven (17)
Birch waited on the stage for the victor's crown to be placed on his head. President Elda was introduced to the audience and was met with the usual, mandatory applause. He spoke briefly to Lucretius Flickerman before picking up the crown. Birch watched as the President walked towards him in what seemed like slow motion.
Elda reached out to him with the crown even though he was still a few paces away. Suddenly, the sound of gunfire echoed across the auditorium. Birch found himself on the floor covered in blood. He had hit his head, but the blood was not his, despite still being fragile from the arena.
He was covered in the President's blood. President Elda had been shot right as he was about to place the crown on Birch's head. For the second time in a matter of weeks, Birch was lucky to be alive. The President was not so lucky.
….
Birch's arena was a prison. The Games started with each tribute breaking out of their cells before moving through the building to find the Cornucopia. Tributes were thrown over railings and hand-to-hand battles took place in the corridors as nobody could see the Cornucopia.
The volunteers still tried to make an impact even though they started in separate corners of the prison. They acted as if there was no Cornucopia and killed everyone unlucky enough to be in their way.
Birch stayed calm. He quickly found the keys to unlock his cell door and watched the other tributes race past him. The boy from Two was in the cell closest and Birch decided to stay behind him. He went to the Cornucopia once the careers had left, grabbed an axe and with shaky hands, took the axe from the body of his deceased district partner.
He had noted where the careers left, set off in their direction and remained behind them and out of sight. He quickly figured out the prison layout and knew the careers would have to keep moving if they wanted to hunt down the others. The Cornucopia was in the corner where the prison's wings met and held no real strategic advantage.
Birch was quiet and observant, and he used that to his advantage. He saw what the careers did not and found supplies for himself that could keep him on the move. Crucially he found a master set of keys that he realised would open and lock the doors to every cell, giving him control over his environment.
He could lock and barricade himself in a cell at night regardless of whether the Gamemakers had kept the doors open or shut. Birch didn't know he had found the only set of master keys. Nor did he know if the other tributes knew about his lucky find and would target him. He resolved to keep the keys hidden, nonetheless. It was his advantage, and he was not willing to lose it.
After three days of following the careers from a safe distance and judging their every move, Birch found a tribute hiding in a cell that they had missed. He knew what he had to do. He knew that the survivors of the Games didn't play it safe and only killed at the finale. That had not been allowed to happen for decades. To make it to the end in this age of the Hunger Games, Birch understood what he had to do. So, he took hold of one of his axes and got the job done before quietly moving on.
His second kill two days later was bolder. The volunteer tributes had become separated and the boy from Four was left behind. Birch crept up behind him as he was crouched down and beheaded him. He could not believe his luck or that a trained volunteer was so distracted he completely missed Birch's presence. But it had worked in his favour. He was still alive and one of the volunteers was not.
He was rewarded with a meal that was luxurious by Hunger Games standards. Johanna knew what Birch needed. He had axes and a dagger he had picked up from Four's boy, the keys and did not need anything beyond a meal and a drink.
Birch saw the faces of two more careers the following night and figured they had either turned on each other or the Gamemakers had joined in the fun. He had tried to stay further from them as there were fewer tributes left to delay the inevitable confrontation.
That did not prevent him from stealing from the remaining alliance members the next day. They left to hunt the remaining tributes and Birch decided to swap places with them. He raided what was left of the supplies and depleted their food and water stocks.
He remained close enough to hear the volunteers realise their supplies had been stolen and to start blaming each other for their misfortune. They had all chosen to leave their perch unguarded, so Birch thought they had nobody to blame but themselves. It was amusing to watch them begin to tear themselves apart and Birch knew he had played a part in weakening their alliance.
The rest of the Games passed by quickly. He swung an axe at the tribute who sneaked up on him until they were dead. He then locked himself in a cell, barricaded the door and waited until the shock subsided and Johanna managed to send in some bandages and painkillers. His wounds were superficial, and he knew the Games were coming to an end.
He decided to move around the arena at night and came across the girl from One who appeared to be sleeping deeply. He stepped towards her, and she made no move. He readied his grip on his preferred axe and when she still did not react, brought it down on her neck and the cannon fired. He was lucky and because One's girl was unlucky and a deep sleeper, she was dead. It was the way the Hunger Games worked, and Birch knew to take advantage of every opportunity afforded him.
As the light of the final morning streamed into the prison arena, Birch wanted to take matters into his own hands and end the Games as soon as he could. He sought out the boy from Two and took him by surprise. His opponent's swords made some dangerous blows and Birch was injured. But his axe was more brutal. Birch was not afraid to take control and wielded District Seven's weapon of choice without hesitation. The boy from Two was dead and only one opponent remained.
The girl from Ten was a surprise participant in the finale. She had killed Twelve's boy at the bloodbath and then managed to avoid any Gamemaker-induced misfortune by staying just close enough to other tributes to not be forced into action. She was uninjured compared to Birch, but he was battle-hardened and beyond caring about anything other than getting home. The final fight ended with Birch standing over the girl's dead body and District Seven getting their ninth victor.
….
Birch came around from the blow to his head to find Johanna at his side. Felix was waiting at the side of the stage to carry out the traditional 'handover' photographs with his successor and had almost instantly leapt to Birch's side. He had seen the terror in his eyes and was worried about what a victor so fresh from the arena would do.
Chaos surrounded him but Birch tried to focus on Johanna's words. She was frequently interrupted by Felix's shouts for help after he had manoeuvred President Elda away from Birch and was trying to find signs of life. But then help arrived and Felix was back alongside Seven's victors, helping Johanna lift Birch to a seated position once it became clear the newest victor would be ignored. All attention was finally on the President and Lucretius Flickerman trying to guide the audience towards the exits.
The workings of the Capitol became clear to Birch once he managed to stand and realised the only people who truly thought him important were the other victors. He did not expect equal treatment to the President but in the tribute hospital, just days ago, his every need was catered for. Now, nobody cared about his presence.
Johanna and Felix guided him towards Blight who had been frantically trying to access the stage to reach his victor. He was concerned about them both and managed to lead them to where several of the other victors were waiting. Birch was introduced to a mix of victors from different districts who appeared to have varying degrees of first aid and medical knowledge. He could not focus on what was happening around him and suddenly, the decision had been made that Birch was well enough to be moved and they would return to Seven's floor.
….
He knew that watching the President be shot dead and collapsing onto you was not an ideal start to life as a victor. But everyone was on edge around him, and Birch did not like it. He followed everyone back to Seven's floor and went to his room with Johanna for company. He wasn't shouting or about to fly into a rage, but everyone was acting like he was about to attack someone. He supposed other victors may have done that in lesser circumstances, but Birch did not feel as if he would lose control.
Johanna was determined to ensure he was as okay as he could be in the circumstances. But Birch could tell that there was a sense of anticipation within her that was echoed in the other victors who accompanied them. Blight and Finnick were waiting outside the door, presumably listening in to prevent any predicted attack on Johanna which Birch knew would not come. He figured out that they were two of the people who cared most about Johanna's wellbeing and that a victor's loyalty ignored district divides. They too seemed strangely energised but Birch could not make out the details of their conversation.
It was clear that Linden and Poppy were in charge. Seven's floor was their domain, and they were entirely comfortable, despite the circumstances. Six's other victors were also waiting on Seven's floor, talking in hushed tones to Fern. Birch had no idea what was being discussed and he realised that the other victors had no intention of telling him.
The night of the assassination was the longest of Birch's life and he had just spent several nights awake trapped in an arena. His conversation with Johanna was interrupted by a sharp knocking on the door and the arrival of peacekeepers. They wanted to interview Birch and take his statement about the night's events.
He had expected this so stood up and waited to be led away from his fellow victors when Johanna caused a fuss and refused to let him go alone. Birch tried to placate his mentor, but she was having none of it, telling him he did not understand the danger he could be in. He tried to argue that it was probably routine, but his words fell on deaf ears. Eventually, Linden had to negotiate with the peacekeepers and Johanna was permitted to accompany Birch and wait outside the interview room where she could observe proceedings. This seemed to satisfy Johanna to the extent that she stopped shouting and soon the peacekeepers escorted them away.
The next morning, Birch had the starring role in a television interview along with Johanna and Felix. All he wanted to do was go home. The other victors had been told to leave that morning and Birch badly wanted to be among them. But he was not alone. Linden and Lyme had managed to gain exceptions for each of the victors from their districts, citing heightened security concerns.
Birch barely remembered his answers to the questions he was asked. What was he supposed to say about what had happened? The President was shot and killed. Birch was lucky to be alive for the second time in weeks.
In what he realised was typical of Johanna, she managed to stun the interviewer into silence with her reasoning for rushing onto the stage from her seat on the sidelines.
"The President? He had fallen on Birch! That was what I was most concerned about. Birch could have been hurt!"
Birch did not know what to say. He looked behind the interviewer to where Seven and Two's victors were positioned off-camera to see how he should react, but they were either laughing or standing with their heads in their hands.
Felix managed to stumble through an answer about his grave concern for the President and the need for medical attention, but it was clear he was uncomfortable. Everyone knew he was back at Birch's side the second he could. He had never wanted this degree of attention. He had won the Games through sheer competence and had quietly got on with learning his role as a mentor. He wanted to keep his head down, but he had become known as the victor who heroically tried to assist their ill-fated President.
Birch noted that he did not seem genuinely concerned for the President's fate either. He decided that Two and Seven's victors were similar, despite the so-called rivalry the Capitol had talked about that Birch did not even know existed.
It was clear looking at the victors watching on that there was no such rivalry. Lyme and Linden were standing in a corner whispering and Birch saw them shaking hands. Blight was joking with a man introduced to Birch as Malachite about the difficulties their victors had given them. Fern and Antigone appeared completely bored by the entire affair and were talking in another corner.
They were victors. Stubborn survivors at heart and it was as he looked at them all that Birch knew he had joined their ranks. They were watching because of him and how Johanna and Felix had come to his aid without thinking, because he was one of them.
He left the Capitol having gone through far more than he had bargained for. The arena had changed him, but the assassination of the President and his second near-death experience had scarred Birch. He had been terrified the entire time in the Capitol and woke up with dreams where he was covered in the blood of the other tributes, the victors and the President over and over again. He had shown no signs of violence or anger and appeared in control, but Birch was desperate to go home.
….
Home was different now that Birch was a victor. He was used to the lumber crews, the noise of a day's work and the constant presence of peacekeepers. But he had always kept his head down to avoid attention. Now that was no longer possible. The Village was quiet, but the peacekeepers were interested in him.
Birch decided their interest was linked to the other victors and their blatant disregard for authority. They had protected him when they arrived back in Seven, refused any further interviews or statements on his behalf and insisted on Johanna accompanying him to anything the Capitol had deemed mandatory.
He realised how deep their dislike of the Capitol's authority ran as they gradually let him into their lives. Birch realised that with tensions so high, it would be impossible to hide. They carefully presented to Birch their planned rebellion as a matter of fact. Seven's victors were rebels and Birch found he didn't oppose.
They enjoyed the moment President Elda was shot. Only Birch's proximity to the incident made it less amusing than it should have been. As the assassination took place during a live broadcast during mandatory viewing, the entirety of Panem had seen it. Try as the Capitol might, they could not remove the footage from circulation and the usual broadcasts were regularly interrupted by the footage along with commentary about the Capitol's weakness, lack of leadership and encouraging the districts to fight back.
Birch learnt that these interruptions were due to the work of District Three's victors and their people. He had to watch the incident from another viewpoint. Blight launched himself over the chairs and tried to hurdle his way to the stage towards Johanna. Lyme, Brutus and Linden were also out of their seats immediately and trying to make their way to their victors on stage, but they could be seen realising they would have to walk around the auditorium's seating, their ages meaning climbing forwards was not an option. Linden joked it was not his finest hour.
But they had all acted immediately, running towards him, in the direction of the assassin whose whereabouts were unknown at the time, because he was now one of them. It did not matter that the crown had not reached his head. Birch was a victor, and, at that moment, he was the priority for so many of the others.
He looked for reactions from the audience on the footage, so he did not have to relieve what happened to him. Birch understood why the recording was being used daily but it was traumatic, and he could not escape. He would have to keep seeing it until the districts won. He would always remain on stage whilst their President was assassinated. It could be the defining moment of his life.
The only upside to the debacle was that Birch's Games had been all but forgotten. He did not have to talk about them anymore. He was introduced as Panem's and Seven's latest victor, but nobody wanted to know about the Games. They wanted to know what it was like for the President to be shot centimetres from him and fall into his arms covered in blood. Only those closest to him acknowledged what a close escape Birch had.
In every other respect, his fellow victors knew more about the assassination than he did. They knew that several attempts on Elda's life had been made and would continue to be made until he fell. They were also waiting for the day when Commander Thread tried to formally seize power and was assassinated himself. So far, there was infighting in the Capitol which was preventing any formal succession to the presidency.
Birch did not care. The Capitol had caused him immense trauma and promptly forgot about him. Thankfully, his peers did not. Johanna was committed to ensuring he was recovering, both physically and mentally, as far as possible. Nobody tried to tell him there would be no long-lasting effects, especially after his experiences post-arena.
They were honest with him. The nightmares would fade but would always remain on some level. He would probably remain in a heightened state of alertness for years to come. Nobody was surprised when his trauma manifested as claustrophobia. He had made his first kill in an arena prison cell and had spent many an hour locking himself away from the other tributes with only his thoughts for company.
But there was only a limited amount of time they could wait before he had to be introduced to their daily activities. He could not become a sitting target for peacekeepers or loyalists, blind to his peers' allegiances but guilty by association all the same. Their faith in him was also clear. He had killed six tributes, a feat most volunteers would be content with and kept his head and calm demeanour throughout. That was no easy task.
Johanna, along with Linden and Blight let him in on the years of planning and preparation for what was about to happen. They expected the chaos to continue and evolve into an all-out war and Birch had to be prepared. Seven's victors were doing their bit to bring the Capitol's control over their district crashing down and were continually working to reduce peacekeeper numbers.
They were running a competition between them to see who could kill the most peacekeepers on their hit list. District Seven was a popular destination for peacekeepers on their second rotation. They brought with them their reputation and attitudes toward the district population from their first districts. It was easy to see who would do wrong and Seven's victors worked on targeting them.
Birch was not surprised to know that Johanna was in the lead, averaging one kill from their list each week in addition to some collateral damage. Each of the victors contributed to the total but Birch could see they had different roles. Linden was a leader, not only in the Village but in the wider district too. He was second only to Seven's official rebel leader and was in charge of arming the rebel fight and their cross-district communications.
Blight had control over communications across Seven and readying messages, some of which were ferried by Johanna and Fern. He too was considered senior and despite his light-hearted façade, was taking his role seriously. Johanna and Fern could be expected to lead in the actual fighting and were enjoying their preparations.
As a younger victor, Birch would be expected to fight, and he was prepared to do so. The only problem was that he could not face using a gun. Had he just been able to go home after leaving the arena alive, there would have been no problem. But the assassination attempt had infected his mindset to a greater extent than the arena. It happened when he thought he was safe.
Fern and Johanna ensured he was trained in using a machete which Seven's victors had adopted as their secondary weapon. His mentor also focused on his skills in axe throwing as opposed to simply landing a blow, which he had relied on during his Games. But they all knew he would need to know how to use a gun without hesitation.
It would be another battle for Birch. What happened in the arena and the Capitol had poisoned his mind and he needed to find the antidote. His fellow victors were determined to help. They each made time for him, no matter how busy they were. It was clear that they had expectations of him which Birch was keen to meet, but they were willing to allow him some time whilst the Capitol continued infighting.
There would come a time when Birch would have to be ready, and he needed to get over his fears. He was a victor, and nothing was safe any longer. That was how his neighbours had lived their lives for years. Only now, when he joined their ranks, were the peacekeepers realising how dangerous they could be. They would try to destroy them in seconds if they only knew what was being planned from the Village.
But Birch would not put it past his four fellow victors to outlast a peacekeeper attack. They always had something ready to surprise him. They knew how Seven worked, how Panem operated as a nation and who the peacekeepers controlling Seven were. They had worked to understand their occupiers and arm against them, and they were ready. Birch knew he had to find his place sooner rather than later. He had only known the Capitol for a matter of months. What he had seen had done nothing to dispel his mentor's beliefs that the end was near.
After two brushes with death at the Capitol's hands, Birch realised that his survival had pulled him to the winning side. That is what victors were after all. They had survived the Hunger Games and everything else the Capitol had thrown at them and had worked to become stronger. Now, they, and their people were stronger than the Capitol and Birch knew he had to be ready. They had played the long game, with decades of work between them. He had joined at the last minute and would once again have to be prepared to do what it took to survive because that is what victors do.