Hello everyone and welcome to the fourth reaping chapter! I'm super excited to share these two tributes with you guys! If you still have a slot reserved, I do ask if you could either start working on your tribute and let me know, or let me know if you're unable to submit to the slot anymore. Thanks in advance, and enjoy the chapter!

Zain Bhavini-Ekstorm, 17

District Five Male

The house was quiet when Zain woke up, which wasn't unusual. His two adoptive mothers were most likely already at their respective workplaces, Leora at some rich family's house with a seemingly innocent motive to make money as she inspected and repaired and Charna at the engineering lab where she designed various items for the use of citizens from a multitude of the Districts.

His adoptive father, Ender, was most likely asleep according to Zain's assumptions. When Zain was younger, Ender was extremely energetic, but the years had taken a toll on him. He now spent most of his time resting, not having much energy to do anything but that and the other necessities of life.

Once more, just like every year, this was the morning that Zain always regretted waking up on. The Capitol and the events associated with it were a particularly rough subject within the household, and nothing of the topic was spoken of unless it was an actual emergency that absolutely required a conversation on such subjects.

Practically rolling out of bed, Zain stood up and stared back at his reflection in the mirror on the other side of the room. His eyes were lined with shadows from his restless sleep last night, and his hair was a chaotic mess from where he had shifted while sleeping or attempting to fall asleep. The dreams that he had only made his trouble sleeping worse, and they had been occurring more often than usual, likely caused by the Reaping coming up.

He needed to get ready, he knew that, but he truly just didn't want to. What everyone boycotted the Reaping and nobody showed up? Zain wondered what would happen in that situation, but knowing the Capitol, they would likely just destroy Five and rebuild it from the dregs once all who remained pledged their loyalty once more. Maybe they wouldn't be so merciful and just executed everyone on sight and burned Five to the ground, never to be seen again like Twelve and Thirteen.

Reluctantly dragging himself to the small bathroom attached to his room, Zain begrudgingly began to ready himself for the worst day of the year. Though, just because he had to get ready didn't mean he had to put much effort into it. If the Capitol thought he would ever put his all into preparing for their stupid Reaping, then they would have to be dreaming. Even the little things like dressing up for the Reaping supported the Capitol, so Zain wasn't about to do any of that.

In fact, he had already laid out his most worn pair of pants and a crummy looking shirt that had definitely seen better days a long time ago. The only thing that he actually would spend time on was his hygiene before the day started. It was always important to clean oneself and brush one's teeth, nobody wanted to be seen as the nasty kid who didn't bathe and had no teeth.

Zain quickly scrubbed his face and body with a wet washcloth, tossing it onto the little rack next to the sink once he was finished. Now he just had to brush his teeth and contain his slightly frizzy curls into a style that didn't look too neat, but also didn't look too messy. He didn't need to look like he had put too much effort into it though, otherwise it would be against his hatred of helping the Capitol with anything, even something slight and barely noticeable. In the end, he decided to just use a comb to kind of guide each of his curls back into their little group of strands and then he called it a day once he was mostly finished.

He also felt like today was a good opportunity to wear some of his signature black eyeliner, although it was only really known to his household and those whom he interacted with in the district on the regular. It was key to have a good, steady hand whilst applying, and he was lucky to have those skills like his adoptive mother Charna.

Now it was time to procrastinate getting dressed, because once he did, he would need to head to the square for that horrid assembly of kids who hoped they could live another year if their names weren't called. Zain honestly felt bad for the younger ones, they still had at least five or six years before they could wake up on this day every year and not be so stressed about that little slip of paper that was chosen having their name on it.

Five wasn't known for having victors often, and nearly all of their victors ever had been 18, the oldest age within the eligibility range. The stats got even farther apart for the gender of said victors, with there being a very significant difference between the amount of male and female victors that Five had. At least they weren't the district with the fewest victors ever, that was a tie between Seven and Eight.

When Zain heard a knock on the door, he was surprised and frustrated at the same time. It meant that his adoptive father was awake and that he needed to actually get dressed now and face the Capitol's "fun little event" for today. As much as he didn't like it, he knew it was what had to happen and, he got up from where he was lying on the bed with a groan.

Pitifully pulling on his pants and shirt, he deliberately did so slowly, so he could spend more time where he wanted to be before he entered the gauntlet. However, no matter how slow he put his clothes on, it was soon time to walk from his room to the kitchen so he could maybe have something to eat before being told to go to the square.

As he took the few steps required to reach the kitchen from his bedroom, he mistakenly stepped on that one board that he usually avoids while taking the path. It creaked as he accidentally put his weight on it and made the sound once more as he lifted his foot up off it.

The noise was just loud enough that it alerted Ender, who was standing in the kitchen looking for a bowl, to his presence. His adoptive father offered him a sleepy looking smile as Zain walked through the kitchen doorway and then proceeded to continue making his breakfast.

Zain didn't really want anything too particularly heavy on his stomach for breakfast, knowing that it would just affect him in a negative way later at the Reaping. He had also learned that lesson the hard way after he almost threw up during the Reaping because he was anxious and had a big, hearty breakfast beforehand.

Today he was just going to have a granola bar, he decided. It was one of the more simple foods that he liked because they filled you up, yet you didn't feel overly full and nauseous. Zain grabbed one out of the box they were in that was in the cabinet next to the refrigerator and began to unwrap it. Sure, it did take some getting used to eating stuff like this at first, but Zain loved it now. His adoptive mothers might think they tasted like cardboard, but he had grown fond of the taste after eating such things for so long.

Another bonus (on a normal day, but not on Reaping day), was that it didn't take much time at all to consume. Just a quick little break to eat, then Zain could go back to whatever he wanted to do. Unfortunately, that also meant he finished his breakfast sooner than he would have liked, just making the list of things he could do while stalling shorter. He hated the idea of willingly going to such Capitol-sponsored events, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. It was either his life and his adoptive parents' lives or him wanting to be rebellious and boycott the Reaping.

"Kid, go ahead and get going so you can make it to the Reaping."

Zain closed his eyes at the statement from Ender, knowing it was true but not wanting to oblige. He pressed his lips together as he sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes to look at his adoptive father. Ender did understand what both Zain and his adoptive mothers thought about the Reaping and the Capitol in general, but he also wanted to keep breathing. He was definitely the most responsible in the household at controlling his hate and understanding when it was time to express opinions and when it was time to keep your mouth closed and eyes void of anger.

Zain slowly nodded and pushed himself up off the counter that he had leaned on whilst eating, reluctantly heading towards the door. He just needed to keep his cool and stay calm, no matter what happened. After all, he only had one year left of this torture after this one. Even if it wasn't actually that long of an event, it still felt like it took ages simply because Zain didn't want to be there on such an extreme level.

He said his quiet goodbye to Ender as he walked out of the house, his shoes tapping along the pavement as he walked to the square. Their house was maybe half a mile from the center of town, so the walk was about twenty minutes in duration, including all of the stops he had to make at the little crosswalks across the streets as vehicles whizzed by.

Upon reaching the block that the square was located within, Zain stopped to hide away all of his emotions and thoughts that were bouncing through his head. Now it was time for him to act collected and just like any other teen boy that's had to deal with this for several years. Go through the process without a fight and just get through yet another year.

It was especially now that he needed to draw attention away from him, not draw it towards him. He had already been on headlines for the chaos he had caused at a local pharmacy, although admittedly it wasn't all his fault. Well, not in the mental sense that was. It was true that he had been the one to plant the toxic medicine and cause several people to die trying to commit an act of rebellion, but the reason he did it was for statements that had been planted in his head. Idalion, his ex-partner had been the one to tell him that he needed to prove he was good enough for his adoptive parents, and to do so was by doing something so insanely rebellious against the Capitol that even he hadn't thought to doubt it until he had committed such a crime.

The action was truly a bad idea, and it was fueled by toxicity from Idalion, who in truth just wanted to get revenge on the Capitol for the death of their parents. Unfortunately, it backfired on both of them, with Zain getting caught and having to admit what he had done to both his guardians and his partner and ultimately breaking up with Idalion. He had been met with outrage instead of pride, which had confused him at first because he thought his adoptive parents would be proud of him and think he was good enough for them. What Zain hadn't thought about was his parents' first thoughts, that his actions were incredibly wrong and that he killed people trying to impress them.

It seemed that everyone knew his face now, even the man who yanked his hand towards him to prick his finger to mark his attendance. The regret of his actions was coming back in full force and there wasn't anything he could do to try and defend his actions. He was blinded by manipulation and didn't consider his actions before he went through with them, but it was still no excuse for being a murderer at seventeen if he hadn't been in the games.

There were several jeers and taunts aimed at him as he walked to his section with his head tilted down just slightly. He didn't want people to think he was a baby and couldn't handle that sort of stuff, but at the same time, he didn't want them to think he was proud of what he did either.

The time between when he got there and when the Reaping started seemed to last for hours, only becoming worse and worse as the kids standing next to him recognized him and started asking questions.

"Did you really poison those drugs and kill a bunch of people?"

"Are you going to do it again?"

"Why haven't you gotten arrested, or better, executed?"

In their defense, his side of the situation hadn't been released or asked about, so their questions were actually pretty fair compared to some that he had been asked before. Zain just preferred to ignore the people who made their inquiries about the situation to him, so this moment would be no different. He sent them looking in the other direction with a few soft mumbles and just prayed that he would at least be left alone somewhat for the rest of the empty time before the start of the Reaping.

After what felt like an eternity, the beginning of the Reaping was signaled to him by the playing of that ancient video from before the Rebellion. At least now the sound from the film was loud enough where he couldn't hear those surrounding him, drowning out any thoughts of the possibility of another curious encounter. With its familiar final flourish, the video concluded, just a bit longer feeling than last year's. It was entirely possible that he thought that simply because he wanted to get out of here as soon as physically possible.

It was halfway over, Zain thought to himself, now all he had to get through was the actual Reaping and he could go back to his room and enjoy a nice, isolated environment for the rest of the day at least.

He had always thought that the Capitol citizens just looked plain ridiculous, and there was nothing different with this escort. Her yellow wig was obviously fake and her outfit reminded Zain of a mixture of barf and pond scum. She toddled over to the bowl for the girls and selected a name rather quickly, just a bit strange considering how it was as if everyone from the Capitol wanted to draw everything out to a point where it was annoying, not dramatic.

"The female tribute for this year's Games is Taraji Copeland!"

Now, all the attention fell onto the girl that had just been named and it was a breath of fresh air for Zain, there were no eyes watching him now. She looked panicked and Zain could imagine why. The girl had been chosen for an event where only one out of twenty-four would survive, so the odds really weren't in anyone's favor. It could come down to training or it could come down to luck. Nobody really knew what to expect since they changed things every year.

As he was thinking, the escort was making her way to the boys' bowl, ready to ruin another teen's chances at living for more than a month or two after this point.

"The male tribute for this year's Games is Zain Bhavani-Ekstorm!"

He sighed exasperatedly, hating the fact that all eyes were on him once more. Zain thought the situation was ironic until he realized the real meaning of the situation that had just occurred. They hadn't forgotten about what he had done. The Capitol and Five had bided their time, waiting until he thought about being punished no more and then dropped the bomb on him. This was their way of getting back at him for his terrible crime: sending him to die.

Elias Walker, 17

District Nine Male

Elias woke up in his bed upside down, which actually wasn't unusual for him. He always got turned around somehow in the middle of the night and often woke up in positions that made him wonder how he wasn't sore every morning. Well, he had been through a lot worse than some sore muscles, so that was probably why it hadn't bothered him.

The sun was shining through the old, foggy windows in his bedroom, and he knew that it was probably a good time to go ahead and get ready for the Reaping. Perhaps if he had some extra time he could go talk with his parents or his friends before he needed to be at the Reaping.

Quality time with the ones he loved was the best time, at least in his opinion. He was very protective of his family and friends, and he loved just chatting or hanging out with them.

His routine to get ready was indeed rather simple, influenced slightly by the fact that they had little money left over after paying for necessities and the fact that he would rather spend his time interacting with people than doing a bunch of random, non-important things for himself. Elias would also rather his mom buy something for herself rather than him, she definitely deserved it more than he did.

Alara was definitely tired of Elias running off, trying to save someone from the peacekeepers as he usually did, and sometimes getting himself injured in the process. You see, he had a bit of a problem where he likes to try to defend anyone and everyone from the unjust actions of the peacekeepers, and he often has a smart mouth whilst talking about them and the Capitol as well.

It isn't as if he enjoys the pain of the punishments that he experiences for his actions, but he enjoys defending those who are in need of help and being rebellious towards the rules of the Capitol that he sees as unjust.

Elias woke himself up fully with a splash of cold water to his face, also serving a purpose as to clean himself up somewhat. The next few tasks on his agenda were equally simple, brush his teeth with some water (they had run out of toothpaste a week ago, and their paychecks don't process for another few days at the least) and get dressed in a decent pair of khakis and a shirt with no holes in it.

As soon as he had yanked on the articles of clothing that he would be wearing for the next few hours, he headed down the hall to see if they had anything left for breakfast and to greet his parents for the morning.

Elias gave his mother a quick hug as he passed by the chair she was sitting in and greeted his father with a clear, monotonous voice. His father mumbled a greeting back and his mother gave him a bright smile and got up as she rummaged through the cabinets for something that he could eat before he departed for the Reaping.

Before he could even turn and offer to help her, she had scrounged up what appeared to be a granola bar and exclaimed, "Here, hon! You can have this before you leave for your big day!"

"Thanks mom," he responded in a joyful tone, "I appreciate you being able to scrounge something up for me to eat this morning."

She smiled back at him and looked like she was positively beaming. Elias knew his mother loved to interact with him and help him, at least with everything not involved in all the politics and violence that he often got himself into.

Taking the time to sit at the little table in the kitchen, Elias took his time eating his breakfast, crumpling up the wrapper as he polished off the last bite of the bar. He stood up to throw it away, and also used it as an opportunity to look at the time.

Letting out a sigh as he realized it was about time that he needed to leave the house if he wanted to get there and beat the line, Elias hugged his mother and nodded to his father as he prepared himself for the hour that every citizen of every outlier district dreaded.

It didn't matter that it was only one day out of the year, the Reaping caused so much anxiety and sometimes even fights in the Career Districts, Elias personally hated it slightly more than the average citizen. He thought there was no just reason to continue such a bloody and brutal lesson to the Districts that had been learned many decades ago.

Elias stepped out of the door and onto the dirt and cobblestone path that ran from his neighborhood to a side road that lead into the center village, where the Reaping was always located.

The walk was a bit of a distance, about a mile until he reached the smooth paved roads of the city center. He could hear the crowd before he saw it, making him wonder exactly how early he actually was. Elias had felt like he left in time to make it to the square ahead of the rush, but it seemed like something had changed since last year.

Lord knows what had caused the bulk of the kids to be early, but Elias was just thankful that it didn't mean that he might be late if it started earlier. He had to admit, he did rush a bit through the line, just so he wouldn't be considered late and so that he could hopefully get a spot next to his friend Jackson, who was in his age group.

Elias definitely got lucky as he walked from the middle path that split the boys' and girls' sections, spotting Jackson in their age section and speed walking to come and join him. Perhaps if Elias was lucky, that luck would remain with him for the rest of the Reaping, and he would just go home like any other day.

His nerves really weren't any more calmed as only a few minutes passed until the male escort was walking strangely across the stage to tap on the microphone and introduce that boring retro film that they were forced to watch every year before two unfortunate kids were chosen to die.

Elias was pretty sure he knew all of the lines to the video they played annually, and he hadn't even actively tried to remember them. It's just what happens when you hear something over and over again for years that never changes.

One bonus of his memorization of the script was that he knew when the video was on its last lines and was about to end. However, that meant that the nerves buzzing in his head ramped up, even with his thoughts that he was unlikely to be chosen since the odds were so slim. He continued to psych himself out and try to calm himself down at the same time, and he had become so wrapped up in his thoughts that he entirely missed the Reaping of the female tribute for Nine this year.

Focusing just in time, Elias leaned forward on his toes just slightly, expecting the feeling of ultimate relief as a name that wasn't his would be yet again called out, just like every other year he had been eligible and attended the Reaping.

"The male tribute for this year's Hunger Games is Elias Walker!'

The slight sound of feedback from the microphone resounded in Elias' ears as he processed what had just been said. The shock wore off quickly as he made his way to the center aisle and up to the stage as it was replaced by anger and disgust.

Whomever had decided that this was a good punishment for the Districts that still remained after seventy nine years must have had something wrong with them. Even the thought of making children murder children was barbaric, and it proved that the society that Panem remained was controlled by a regime that wanted nothing less than more bloodshed and violence.

Indeed, they could put him in those Games, but they couldn't silence his voice and actions. Elias vowed to never comply with what those power-hungry barbarians wanted. He would find a way back to his family and friends that only satisfied him, no matter how hard it would be.

I swear, these chapters keep getting longer and longer as we go on, and I still don't know how it keeps happening. Nonetheless, thank you guys so much for reading and a special thanks to ladyqueerfoot and n3b for Zain and Elias respectively! Hopefully I shall see you guys again soon with another update!