Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
District Ten Male, Calum Tanner, 15
All Calum could see as he sat in the hold of the hovercraft was that image of the little blonde girl being blown to pieces as she held her friend to protect them both from the horrors of the rebels.
There were five others in the hold with him: two boys that could be his age and three girls, a small brunette, an older one, and the dark haired creature he'd met on the track only a few days ago. Callum didn't recognise any of the others, but he didn't care. For all he knew, they were rebel scum. They could just as well have helped kill the family he'd never known.
"I'm Aiolin," said the smaller girl suddenly. They all turned to her.
"What's that?" asked the older girl.
"I'm Aiolin Kalene. What are your names?"
"Laika."
"Hunter."
"Diego."
"Ariel."
Callum said nothing. These were the children of his District, but he couldn't feel anything for them. They had probably cheered as his distant family died.
Diego pointed at Aiolin. "Any relation to the boy that murdered his father?"
"That's a filthy lie," she said.
"That's not what the fields say."
Callum frowned at the girl. She was tiny and delicate looking, probably no older than twelve, but her brother's violent ways must have rubbed off on her.
"The fields may say many things, but only some are the truth," said Ariel.
"Are you calling me a liar?" asked Diego.
"My father was gored by a bull," said Aiolin.
"Ach, that's a shame." Laika shook her head. "But you can't mess with bulls."
Hunter nudged her and muttered something to her. She frowned and gestured at the girl. "She's just some little girl!"
"Yes, and in the Hunger Games, we can't be burdened with her!"
That did give Callum pause. "The Hunger Games?"
"The peacekeepers. They said we've been chosen for a game, as retribution for the Simulation Hacking."
Fucking finally. Callum wasn't sure this was the way he would have taken vengeance, but it worked.
"Alright." Aiolin had gone pale. "Alright then. Look. I'm not gonna ask you to trust me." She looked around each of them. "But there are six of us. If we are going into the Hunger Games, that should give us an advantage if we stick together. What do you think?"
"Absolutely fucking not," Callum spat.
"It would give all of us better chances–"
"Fuck off."
She must have accepted that, because she looked to the others.
"I can… see it as reasonable," said Diego.
"I don't trust her," grumbled Hunter.
"But she has a point. I say we go with it," said Laika.
She and the three older teens dove into some talk of arena strategy. Ariel stayed quiet. Callum only shook his head and looked again at the younger girl. Aiolin. Probably a monster.
He'd go for her first.
District Six Female, Venus Albryte, 14
The hovercraft was one of the most recent ones, Model X2I, with the upgraded turbo engines and mounted guns. Not that they should need mounted guns right now. Venus didn't think they should need anything right now. None of the Peacekeepers would tell her anything about where they were going.
There were three other passengers aboard, a girl around her own age that kept spitting insults at the peacekeepers, and two boys, one with dark eyes and the other tall and lanky with a crazy amount of piercings and tattoos across his hands. They weren't allowed from their seats to socialise, so all Venus could do was play with her rubik's cube.
"You gotta keep clicking that thing?" grunted the tattooed boy. He was the one that had been drugged when they boarded the hovercraft, but was very much awake now.
Venus shrugged. "I'm bored."
"I'm bored, and I ain't sat here going click-click-click!"
From the warehouse zone. Probably the poorest area, by his clothes and the smell of him. And by the annoyance in his voice, he might well snatch her rubik's cube and toss it aside if she kept playing.
"It is annoying," said the other girl.
The smaller boy looked between them all. "Can't we all just get along?"
"Not if she's gonna keep clicking that thing!"
Venus sighed and tucked the cube into her pocket.
She needed to keep it, once they arrived wherever it was they were being taken. It could be some kind of advantage. It had a weight to it, she could use it to trick a sensor, and it had spiky edges, she could slam it into a person's eye.
How to keep it though.
In her clothes, she might be able to keep it in one of her inner shirt's pockets. She'd be wearing two more layers over the top, they might not notice it.
But if they made her change, which they might, they were being treated like prisoners…
Venus drummed her foot against the floor.
There must be a way to keep it.
District Seven Male, Terro Fields, 18
The inside of the hovercraft was sleek and shining, all metal, with long benches down each side. There were six of them in the hold: himself, Two, Micah, a pair with the same brunette hair and cold eyes, and a small girl with a mop of brunette hair. And then the Peacekeepers.
Terro turned on Two. She was frowning, her leg bouncing up and down.
"What did you do that for?" he hissed.
"Do what?"
"Tell them you're Iris!"
She glanced around the hold, glancing at the other teens and peacekeepers. "Not so loud!"
"Loud?! I can be louder than that!" he shouted.
"Yes, and what do you think they'll do to us when they find out I'm not Iris?" she hissed.
Terro sighed. He didn't really care for Two, but he would prefer not to take a bullet through the skull.
"Could you just answer the question?" he muttered.
"I didn't know this was going to happen," she replied. No more, but it was enough. She'd thought she could talk her Peacekeeper father out of whatever he intended to do to Terro and Iris and keep them protected. A sweet thought, if it had come from anyone else.
Two turned to the other three teenagers with them. One was a small, thin girl of a height with Two, while the other two had matching dark hair and eyes, along with orange jumpsuits. Prisoners. Was that where they were headed? Some Capitol prison?
"I'm Iris Fields," Two said, with a sweet smile in Terro's direction. "This is my brother, Terro. Who are you?"
"I'm Micah," said Micah.
"Sage," whispered the small girl.
"Falcon," muttered the other boy. The girl said nothing. He took her hand. "This is my sister, Phoebe."
Siblings. And they'd wanted to take Iris, not Two. But Micah and Sage didn't have siblings with them.
"Do you know where we're going?" asked Two.
Phoebe did something with her hands. Sage gave her an interested look, though didn't say anything.
Falcon shook his head. "The warden only said we'd been chosen for something. Wouldn't tell us anything else."
"Chosen for something," Two muttered, drumming her foot against the floor.
"Have you heard anything?" Terro asked.
She shook her head. "Though father's been working longer hours than usual…" Her eyes widened, the colour draining from her face. "I wonder if he put your names down."
District Twelve Male, Gregory Reagis, 13
The only explanation Greg could think of was that he'd pranked or upset the wrong person. Why else would he be dragged from the goat pen and thrown into a van? From there, he'd been bundled into this hovercraft, and no one was answering any of his questions.
"Where are we going?" he asked for the hundredth time.
"You've been chosen to play a game," came the reply.
"Can I say no?" Greg asked.
"No."
Kai Branton, who he recognised as being that boy who never spoke to anyone in his class, shook his head.
"Why us?" asked Greg.
"Your names were chosen."
"But why?"
"The selection was random."
Kai narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."
Greg thought it might be the first time he'd ever heard the other boy speak.
"The selection was random. If it was by choice, we'd have chosen someone… less irritating."
Kai smiled.
The Seam girl was quiet, while the blonde girl, who Greg didn't recognise, only looked confused. "I didn't want to play a game."
"It's not optional," said the Peacekeeper.
"Can we play the game together?" asked Greg.
"That is your choice to make."
Greg looked at Kai. "Do you want to play this thing together?"
Kai shook his head.
"I just saw you speak! Why don't you?"
Kai smiled and shook his head.
"I'll play with you," said the girl. She was a Merchant, tiny and pale, with yellow-blonde hair. Greg recognised her vaguely; her parents were important in some way.
"That's great! What's your name?"
"Sally."
"I'm Greg. That's Kai; don't mind him. He's weird."
"I think he's nice," said the girl.
Kai nodded at her. Greg rolled his eyes. "Well, we'll work together without him anyway."
District Four Male, Zale Tulius, 18
It felt like the hovercraft had been flying for hours, but Zale doubted it was quite that long, more likely it had been about an hour. Maybe less.
But less than an hour stuck with his sister in a confined space might as well be an eternity.
"The Capitol must want us for something," said Arika, looking about herself with a bright kind of interest. "And this is the hold, but this is one of the new hovercrafts. See the specifications?" She pointed at something above the door. "Whatever we've been chosen for, someone important ordered it."
Tristan, who had been strapped and restrained in the seat opposite them, bounced his leg against the metal floor. "Why would some Capitolite want the three of us?"
"Strong Careers from Four? Maybe they want to use us somehow," said Arika.
"Why wouldn't they just talk to us in the District? Why take us away by hovercraft?"
There were two other girls in the hold along with them. One was Abalone Pereira, who trained at the Academy but otherwise rarely spoke to any of the other trainees. The other looked around Arika's age. Zale didn't recognise her from the Academy; she was tan and lean, with golden hair and dark blue eyes. She did something with her hands.
Arika frowned and fumbled with her own hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."
The girl repeated the actions, slower this time.
"Oh! I'm Arika. This is my brother, Zale." Arika stumbled through making hand gestures of her own. "That's Tristan. He's… well, not a friend, but he trains with us at the Academy. And that's Abalone. Don't worry, she always looks that grumpy."
Abalone scowled at her. Arika gave her a bright grin. Zale shoved her shoulder. "Stop it."
Arika rolled her eyes. The other girl, the one he didn't know, smiled and shook her head, signing something with her hands. She pointed to her ears and gave them a thumbs up, then repeated the gesture at her mouth with a thumbs down.
"What's she say?" asked Tristan.
"Her name is Nixxie. She's not deaf, which is good, because I'm terrible at sign language, but she is mute, which is bad, because I'm terrible at sign language," explained Arika.
Zale hadn't known his sister spoke sign language at all. "Right."
Nixxie signed something else.
"I don't know. Did they say anything more to you?"
Nixxie shook her head.
"She's just like us then." Arika glanced at Zale. "Don't worry, Nixxie. You can stick with us. We're top of our classes in the academy. Well, not Tristan. But he's okay."
"Thanks," muttered Tristan, but he was smiling.
"I'm not joining an alliance," said Abalone.
"What?"
"I'm not joining…" She waved her hand at them. "Whatever this is. I don't do alliances."
Arika wrinkled her nose. "Well, be like that then."
"It doesn't matter," said Tristan, turning back to Nixxie. "Don't worry. We'll take care of you."
Nixxie scowled and shook her head, her hands moving frantically.
Arika turned red.
"What now?"
"She says she hates the Academy. She won't stay with us if we're the only four people being taken wherever we're going."
"Did she do the graffiti?" asked Tristan.
"Her sisters, she says." Arika watched Nixxie's hands. "Oh, and she hopes the Peacekeepers shoot us."
"Pleasant girl," muttered Zale. But at least that gave him one less ally to worry about.
District Eight Male, Judas Ranaad, 18
There were three of them aboard the hovercraft: himself and a pair of girls. And the peacekeepers of course, but he wasn't counting those.
"Excuse me?" asked one of the girls, a plain looking brunette in a blue dress and apron. "Where are we being taken?"
"To the arena," came the reply.
Arena. That was a new mention, and, by the way several of the other peacekeepers were turning to look at the one that spoke, not one hw should have said.
"Have we been reaped then?" asked the girl. She was quick on the uptake.
"You've been chosen."
The peacekeepers would say no more after that, so the girl turned to him and the other girl. "I'm Meredith."
"Nadine," replied the other girl.
"Judas," he muttered.
"Well, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but it's nice to meet you." Meredith frowned at the peacekeepers. "I'm not sure if we've been reaped or something else – there's two of us girls – but until we know what's going on, what do you think of staying together?"
Nadine shrugged. "I'm in."
Judas considered it a little longer. The two of them could be a liability, but on the other hand, staying with them gave him something to use as a shield if needed, and extra numbers in a fight. If it came to that.
"Agreed," Judas said.
She seemed like a sweet girl. She'd be easy enough to stab in the back.
Author's Note
Tribute list!
DISTRICT ONE
Female: Daisy Jetson-Brie, 15
District One Female, Prophecy Aster, 17
District One Female, Tatiana Silver, 14
DISTRICT TWO
Female, Aelianna Macedon, 18
Female: Freya Slate Harmon, 15
Male: Alexios Macedon, 18
DISTRICT THREE
Female: Rhea Trissu, 13
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
DISTRICT SEVEN
Female: Adrianna Orita, 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: 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, 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