Author's Note
I do not own The Hunger Games.
District Four Female, Nixxie Cascade, 16
It felt like the corridor went on forever, and Nixxie hadn't thought to start counting her steps until they reached the first turn. From there, they walked even more, took several more turns, including one that thankfully separated her from the loyalist brats, and reached a door labelled: 'Player Eleven.'
The loyalist fuckers had theorised all kinds of things about the hovercraft, but the Peacekeepers had refused to confirm any of them. Player Eleven had to be an ominous sign.
'Is this a game?' she signed.
The Peacekeepers ignored her. She'd been… begrudgingly lucky, she supposed, that one of the loyalists had known some basic sign. Probably the Peacekeepers didn't.
But did this mean she'd been reaped? Surely not. This wasn't how reapings went, and Nixxie had seen no one here except the Peacekeepers. If this was a Hunger Games thing, there would be cameras, reporters, and crowds everywhere.
But what then?
"You've been chosen to play," said one of the Peacekeepers, marching her across the room to what looked like a glass box. "Remove your clothes and enter the shower. You'll receive your next instructions from there."
Nixxie nodded, kicked off her shoes and shrugged off her jacket, then waited for him to leave.
He didn't.
She pointed at the door and tried to ask the question with her hands. He must have got the gist, because he gave her a cruel smile. "I need to supervise you entering the shower."
Nixxie closed her eyes and slowly stripped off the rest of her clothing. The shower door hissed open. She stepped inside and it hissed closed behind her.
District Ten Female, Laika Bergfalk, 18
The blast of water from the shower was cold, and came from all directions. Laika shrieked. "Can you turn the temperature up or something?"
It remained cold for a minute, and then slowly heated until it was almost unbearable.
"That's enough!" she shouted.
"Please wash yourself using the soap and shampoo provided," said a woman's voice.
"What soap..?" Laika muttered, before finding it on a shelf. She really hoped no one was watching her in here. She couldn't see any obvious cameras, but they could be the s small ones, like some of the farmhands said their family contended with at the processing plants.
Laika washed first, then dealt with her long dark hair. Once she'd rinsed herself off, the water cut out and a door hissed open at the other side of the cubicle.
"Please exit,"
Well, nowhere to go now but on, even if she did feel a bit like a bull being herded. Laika stepped out.
"Please stand on the light."
She found it underfoot and did so. A blue light swept over her.
"Medical scan complete. Please proceed."
Another door slid open opposite her. The room beyond looked innocuous enough, about the size of a horse stall with a single chair in the centre. Laika stepped through and the door closed behind her.
"Please wait for the results of your scan. This should only take a few minutes."
Laika examined the room as she waited. A cell, really.
Whatever game they'd been chosen for, it looked like they were going straight in.
District Two Male, Alexios Macedon, 18
He lounged back in the chair, his legs stretched out before him. They'd be watching from somewhere, and would appreciate the show. Besides, Aelianna wouldn't be giving them one. She was too prim and proper.
"Any update on how long this is going to take?" he shouted.
"Please wait for the results of your scan. This should only take a few minutes."
Alexios sighed and draped his arms over the back of the chair. "Fine. Whatever. Let me know when you've had enough."
It was an easy enough mask to slip into. Smile and joke, wink at the camera. Put the other players at ease.
A drawer popped open in the wall, containing five small pills and a bottle of water.
Please take your pills."
Alexios picked one up and rolled it between his fingers. "What are these?"
"Please take your pills."
He shouldn't be surprised. Alexios scooped up the pills in his hand, stuffed them in his mouth, and took a swig of water. He grimaced as he felt it all go down, and then drained the rest of the water. They'd not let him die, but who knew when he might get more?
"What now?"
A door hissed open to his right, revealing a toilet and a sink. It was followed by a hatch falling open in the wall to display a stack of clothing.
"Please prepare yourself as necessary. When you have finished, put on the uniform."
Alexios shrugged. "Sure. Sounds great."
If they were having him dress, he must be almost finished here.
District Eight Female, Meredith Singer, 18
The thought of using the toilet while someone might be watching her on a camera was uncomfortable, but she needed to take the opportunity while she had it. Meredith washed her hands and fetched the clothing from the small waiting room. It consisted of multiple pieces: panties and a bra, then a lightweight pink vest that was evidently to go under the soft pink cotton shirt. It was long-sleeved, with a tight collar, and Player Twenty Seven written across the front and back. Next there was a pair of black cotton leggings and brown socks. Finally came a set of heavy black boots, with Player Twenty Seven on the side.
Meredith pulled each item on and straightened them out with trembling hands. This all felt wrong. It wasn't fair that she was here. She'd done nothing to deserve this; she'd always served the Peacekeepers and Capitol ambassadors loyally. They didn't need to drag her into this.
A door slid open opposite the place she'd entered.
"Please step through the door," said the speaker.
Meredith braced herself against the doorframe and took a look through it. Another room, smaller than the first, with a black plush chair sitting before a screen. She entered the door, which closed behind her.
"Please sit on the chair provided."
Meredith sat, folding her hands in her lap.
"Place your hands on the armrests."
Nervously, she did so. Metal cuffs snapped into place.
"You will shortly be asked three questions. Please answer honestly and to the best of your ability. If you are seen to be lying, you will receive a punishment. Do you understand?"
Meredith swallowed. But she had a house full of children, and herself not even twenty one yet. She could handle a few questions. "Yes."
"Are you ready to begin?"
District Three Male, Andrew Preston Howard, 16
"Are you ready to begin?" asked the voice. Andrew could see the speaker, but he hadn't worked out if the woman speaking was a real person or a recording yet.
"I'm ready," he said. There wasn't much they could throw at him that he wasn't prepared for.
"State your name, age, District, and address. If desired, include your preferred pronouns."
That was more basic than he expected. Andrew stretched as much as the chair would allow. "Andrew Preston Howard, sixteen, District Three. I live at block five, street three, house thirteen. Boy pronouns," he added, since he wasn't too sure what they wanted there.
"Describe how you are currently feeling."
"Uhh… A little nervous. I don't really know why I'm here. Kinda confused I guess? I don't think I've done anything to be targeted by the peacekeepers. Unless they want me for the stuff I make." He waggled his eyebrows. "That's still all in my head, you know?"
"What involvement do you have with rebels?"
"Uhh… None? I don't think?"
He hated that he was struggling this much, but these questions were so strange. Give him coding any day, he would be an engineer, but not whatever this is.
"I don't know any rebels. Is that what all this is over? You think I'm a rebel?"
That couldn't be right. The two other kids in the hovercraft with him, Kitty and Toshiro, had both been younger than him. They couldn't be rebels.
The chair buzzed and the cuffs released. A door slid open beside the screen.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Please enter the door."
Andrew took a look at the other side. A room, barely bigger than a cupboard. Andrew stepped inside and the door closed behind him.
District Eight Female, Nadine Stitcher, 16
"What involvement do you have with rebels?"
"You think I'm a rat?" Nadine laughed. "I'm no rat."
Her cuffs lit up, and not for the first time, the sharp shock ran through her. Nadine screamed. She was helpless here, and she hated it. And while she'd mocked the two earlier questions, she'd told the truth this time!
"It's the truth! I'm no rat!" she screamed.
There were rebels all over the factories of Eight, hidden in the whispers of men and between the songs of the women.
Nadine wasn't one of them.
"I don't know what you want me to tell you! I don't know any rebels!"
The image of a brunette boy appeared on a screen set into the wall. Alongside it was a short few sentences. Tyler Bobbin. Convicted of weapons-smuggling and rebel activity. Known acquaintance of Nadine Stitcher.
The problem was that Nadine didn't know this boy.
"Who the fuck is Tyler Bobbin?"
A new image appeared, this one of her waving him from a house. Nadine wanted to throw up.
"Did he come to one of my parties? That doesn't mean I know him! Tons of people come to my parties!"
The image vanished from the screen.
"I'm no rat!" Nadine shouted again, struggling against the cuffs. They rubbed against her wrists.
Another shock jolted through her. A green light flashed on screen.
"Thank you for your cooperation." The cuffs released and another door opened beside the screen. "Please enter the door."
Nadine cursed as she stumbled to her feet. The door she'd entered through was sealed closed, which left only one way out. She stepped through the new doorway.
It led into a space no bigger than a cupboard, lit from orbs in the ceiling. A cell. Nadine despised being so trapped. A smaller compartment opened in the wall.
"We have detected you are injured. Please place your arms inside the tube."
Nadine scowled. When she was out of here and talking to a real person…
She slid her arms into the tube. Something cold and wet sprayed over then, stinging her burns. Nadine wrenched her arms back. The redness of her burns was already fading.
Another compartment opened beside the first, containing a jacket on the hanger.
"Please take the jacket."
Nadine took it. It was pink, soft cotton, with 'Player Twenty Eight printed across the back, front, and down the sleeves.
A door slid open opposite her.
"Please enter the waiting room."
District Seven Male, Falcon Farley, 18
Phoebe could never have answered those questions. They must have zapped her to shit, and she'd not have said a word. Phoebe hated speaking to people, and she'd certainly not have spoken to some computer thing.
She wasn't in the hall when Falcon entered, and he waited anxiously by the door he'd come through. Most around this hall were identical, but four were different, larger, with a small screen above them and a vivid red around the edge. Something to take note of. They must be emergency exits, or something of the kind.
He remained away from most of the other tributes, though two did catch his attention, a young boy and an older girl talking with their hands the way Phoebe did. Their signs were slightly different from hers, but Falcon could understand enough to learn the girl couldn't talk, while the boy was more like Phoebe.
They weren't their responsibility, would only slow them down when the only people that had ever cared about him and Phoebe were him and Phoebe. They didn't need anyone else.
Unless they needed to make sacrifices. In which case, if they were going to choose allies, those two might be wisest. Falcon doubted many others could talk to them.
It felt like a lifetime before she emerged through her door. Her eyes were large with pain, but her face otherwise remained blank. They'd never been good at wearing their emotions on their face.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
Phoebe shook her head, but when she lifted her hands to sign he saw the black bands marring her skin. "They wanted to make me speak."
"I know." He wrapped her in a hug. "I'm sorry. We'll be together now."
Together they were safe. Together nothing could hurt them.
Falcon pointed out the doors, and then the two other teens that had been signing. "We should talk to them. Allying together would be best for all four of us."
The two were still together, which was helpful, since it made them easier to approach. Falcon thought the girl looked angry as they approached, but he'd never been good at understanding the emotions of others.
"What you want?" she signed.
"An alliance," Falcon replied, both with his mouth and his hands. "If you're open to it."
The boy, they learned, was from Twelve, and steadfastly refused an alliance. The girl, meanwhile, was Nixxie, and she was from Four. She was angry, and bitter, and temperamental, and also immediately began talking to Phoebe when she began signing.
She never said yes to an alliance, but she didn't say no either, and that was good enough for now.
Author's Note
Tribute list!
Since this is the end of Section One, I figured I'd release the full tribute list. So without further ado!
DISTRICT ONE
Female: Daisy Jetson-Brie, 15
District One Female, Prophecy Aster, 17
District One Female, Tatiana Silver, 14
Male: Marcellus Pontmercy, 17
DISTRICT TWO
Female, Aelianna Macedon, 18
Female: Freya Slate Harmon, 15
Male: Alexios Macedon, 18
DISTRICT THREE
Female: Rhea Trissu, 13
Male: Andrew Preston Howard, 16
Male: Toshiro Micron-Bundar, 13
DISTRICT FOUR
Female: Abalone Pereira, 18
Female: Arika Tulius, 16
Female: Nixxie Cascade, 16
Male: Tristan O'Cleary, 16
Male: Zale Tulius, 18
DISTRICT FIVE
Female: Rusudan Murtov, 13
DISTRICT SIX
Female, Millicent Rivas, 14
Female: Venus Albryte, 14
Male: Atlas Anderson, 17
Male: Mercury Jezyk, 15
DISTRICT SEVEN
Female: Iris Fields, 17
Female: Phoebe Farley, 18
Female: Sage Odin, 17
Male: Falcon Farley, 18
Male: Micah Bradley, 14
Male: Terro Fields, 18
DISTRICT EIGHT
Female: Meredith Singer, 18
Female: Nadine Stitcher, 16
Male, Judas Ranaad, 18
DISTRICT NINE
Female: Amarine Feller, 14
Female: Wren Willows, 18
Male: Jarrod Palash, 16
Male: Wolf Willows, 18
DISTRICT TEN
Female: Aiolin Kalene, 12
Female: Ariel Haze, 15
Female: Laika Bergfalk, 18.
Male: Callum Tanner, 15
Male: Diego Butcher, 17
Male: Hunter Maren, 16
DISTRICT ELEVEN
Male: Atticus Rúgur, 18
Male: Bakula Kalanit, 12
Male: Dove Greenling, 14
Male: Saigon Kalanit, 18
Female: Cashew Murphy, 12
DISTRICT TWELVE
Female: Calida Blackwell, 17
Female: Sally Himmer, 16
Male, Gregory Reagis, 13
Male: Kai Branton, 13
Alliances:
District One Union: Tatiana, Daisy, Marcellus
District Two Unit: Alexios, Aelianna, Freya
Brotherly Love: Saigon, Bakula
Bullheaded: Aiolin, Ariel, Hunter, Diego, Laika
Lying their asses off: Terro, Adrianna (+honorary member Micah)
Cold as ice: Falcon, Phoebe
Let's play together!: Greg, Sally
Team Four: Zale, Tristan, Arika
SUBMITTER CHECK-IN
Who do you think might die early? (For some unhelpful help, most of the early deaths will be my tributes rather than submitted ones.)