Name: Sawyer Friel
District: District Seven
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Kills: 3
I woke up and groaned, it was reaping day. Today I had to be in the Reaping Square with a chance of being reaped and becoming a tribute in the Hunger Games. I had five slips of paper with my name on them in the bowl. Of course, there were people with more, but not many. Only the people who were seventeen and eighteen had more slips of paper then me. I rolled over and pushed myself up. I brushed the dust of my clothes and walked back towards District Sevens Capitol City, Bozeman. I was one of the many homeless orphans in District Seven. My parents had died before the Dark Days, so I was left in an orphanage. This orphanage had been destroyed by a bombing raid during the Dark Days. I was the only survivor. The only reason I was lucky enough to survive was because I was in the basement, trying to free the Peacekeeper Captain that had been kidnapped. While I had never, and would never, be loyal to the Capitol, the Captain had always been kind to me and my family, for my older sister was married to his brother. Both of them had died at the same time as my parents.
The bombs fell, and we were both buried in dust and rubble. Thankfully, we both survived, and he took me to the Justice Building to be looked after. After the Dark Days ended, I was dumped back outside, and had to live on the streets. I tried to find that same Peacekeeper Captain, but I learned from a different, and current one that he had been sent to the Capitol for medical care after an attack by rebels. So, then I was on the streets. Last night, I had headed out of the town to get clean water from a lovely little lake in the local woods. I then slept next to it.
walked through the woods back to the town. There was no edible fruit on any of the trees, and I could see no berries at all. I was resigned to the fact I would have to steal, beg or go hungry today. I hopped the fence at the edge of the woods and entered the city. I walked slowly to the bakery, and carefully crept around the back of the building. I quietly lifted the lid on the dumpster out the back and looked inside. It was empty. I spent the next hour slowly going around, looking in dumpsters. They were all empty. The tavern, the butcher and the greengrocers all had nothing in them. Then, by a massive stroke of luck, I saw the small fishing store throwing away some apples that had not been sold and were starting to go rotten.
I hid in the shadows while the women threw the apples into the bin, and headed back inside, calling to her daughter as she did so. I snuck towards the bin, hearing her daughter, Sucra, reply. I carefully opened the bin lid and reached my hand in to take the apples. I jumped when I heard a shout coming from the shop. I looked and saw the girl in the upstairs window looking at me and screaming. I quickly turned and sprinted onto the main street of the city, and walked as quickly as I could without arousing suspicion away from the building.
I headed towards the reaping square, deciding I may as well get there nice and early, as there were Peacekeepers there, who may drop some food as they have more then enough, so bloody fair right? I am starving, while they have more than enough. I wondered around the reaping square. They were finishing setting up the decorations as everyone needed to be there in two hours. I was lucky enough to be able to scavenge a small piece of cheese, a single grape and one slice of bread. Not a bad breakfast. After being there for half an hour, I felt someone tap on my shoulder.
I quietly swore, before turning around, expecting to see a Peacekeeper who would shout at me for stealing food. Instead, I saw the girl from the fishing shop, Sucra, I told myself.
"Yes, can I help you?" I asked.
"I saw you earlier," she replied, staring at me, "You were stealing from our bin."
"Well, yes, that is what you have to do when you are a starving, homeless orphan. I was hoping to get those apples your mum threw away, but your shout meant that either your parents, or Peacekeepers would soon be there, and stealing is a punishable offence with up to ten years in jail. Oddly enough, I didn't want that," I retorted, not caring I was being rude. After all, she robbed me of some apples.
"You're starving? Then come with me and I will give you something to eat," Sucra was saying.
"I'm fine," I said. "I don't need anything. Thank you anyway."
"I turned and walked away. I took a deep breath, and looked back over my shoulder. Sucra was staring at me, with a bit of a hurt look on her face. I shook my head and carried on walking. I walked over to a dark street, and lent against a wall. I closed my eyes, and my thoughts went back to Leah. Leah was a fellow orphan, who I met on the streets five years ago. We had instantly hit it off with each other, and quickly developed a bond. She was two years older than me, but didn't put herself in charge. We worked together to steal a lot of food and supplies from people, and eventually a fell in love with her. She was my first crush. Then, she was reaped for the fourth annual Hunger Games. When I went to see her in the goodbye rooms, she told me that she would be back, and that I could come live with her in the Victors' Village. However, she died in the Bloodbath. I still remember watching her fall to the ground, with a hole through her from the One boys' sword. I still missed her. She had been the only company I had apart from hunger.
I stayed in that alley for a while, until lunch. I went back to sneaking around and looting bins for food. Thankfully, I managed to find some slightly mouldy cheese, a half-eaten sausage and three grapes. While it wasn't much, I was used to eating this little, so it didn't bother me at all. After lunch, I headed to the square to sign in for the Reaping. I was signed in, and headed to the section with all the other sixteen-year-old males. I didn't know anyone around me, but I wasn't a surprise to me. I knew next to no one in my District. I looked up at the stage as the escort, Neam Steellock, walked onto the stage. He was dressed in a neon pink pinstripe suit, and a giant neon yellow wig.
"Welcome District Seven, to the reaping of the Sixth Annual Hunger Games!" He called. He was met with silence. "Well, that was pathetic. Let's try again. Hello District Seven!" A small, and obviously fake, cheer came from the crowd. Thankfully, the escort was too dim-witted to realise how none of us were excited for this.
"First, we have a message, all the way from the Capitol," he said. A video started playing on the big screens, same as the past few years, where the voice of President Ravinstill talked about how good the Capitol is and how the Districts deserve to be punished like this. I honestly ignored it. As much as I wanted to appear to care about their rules, I was too busy hating the Capitol in my head. They had killed everyone I love, and had left me homeless and starving. I was jerked back to reality as Neam pranced over to the female reaping bowl, and picked up a slip of paper.
"The female tribute from District Seven will be…Seren Berridge!" he called. A very well-muscled girl came out of the eighteen-year-old section. She strode to the stage, full of confidence, I smiled. She would make a great tribute, and hopefully become our first Victor. Neam pranced over to the male reaping bowl now, and reached in. He pulled out a slip, and went back to microphone.
"The male tribute from District Seven is…Sawyer Friel!" He shouted. A froze. Surely not. I only had five slips of paper in the bowl, out of thousands. I slowly started to walk towards the stage, trying not to shake and instead show confidence. From the screens, I could see that I wasn't really confident, but at least I was doing better than Chevy from Six last year. I mounted the stage, and smiled at the crowd. I answered his questions without really paying much attention to them, and then shook hands with Seren, and walked into the Justice Building.
I sat down in the goodbye room, not expecting anyone to show up, as Leah was dead, and no one else cared about me. I lent back against the back of the sofa, and closed my eyes. I aimed to have a nice nap, before boarding the train. I was resting for a few minutes, when the door opened and, to my shock, Sucra came in.
"Hello?" I said, a little confused, "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to offer you good luck, and a bit of advice." She replied.
I raised an eyebrow, "What kind of advice could you give me? I have been living on the streets for many years. I know a lot of useful things."
She stared at me for a second, then stated, rather bluntly "You know a lot about surviving, but your interactions with other people, not so much."
"How would you know? We have only had one conversation," I asked.
She smirked. "You are not as sneaky as you believe. I have been watching you for a while."
"Your sixteen. How the fuck have you been watching me? You have other things to do." I asked.
Sucra laughed this time. "I have friends all around. I am one of the most popular people in the District. My friends have been helping me with keeping an eye on you, because you are the kind of person we need." She said.
"Need for what?" I retorted.
"Win. Then you shall see. Goodbye for now Sawyer. We will meet again soon." She said, before getting up and leaving.
I stared at the door after she left. "What the fuck did she mean. I am the kind of person they need. For what? Who are they? Why me? How do they need a homeless orphan? Is it because I have nothing, thereby nothing to lose? That could be it, but why not tell me now, so I know what I need to do in the Hunger Games? It is not like I have the skills to win, especially with One, Two and Four having strong tributes." I was ranting. I heard more footsteps outside the door and quickly shut up. I had a feeling I knew what Sucra meant, as she had never particularly his how little she liked the Hunger Games the last few years. The door opened, and two Peacekeepers were there. "Up!" one of them barked. I stood up from the sofa, and followed them to the train.
When I got on the train, I was stunned. This was beautiful. The forest of Seven with there blue lake had one type of beauty, yet I could appreciate how buildings and vehicles had a separate beauty in and of themselves. The train interior had wonderful wooden counters, that stretched the length of the carriage. The table in the centre was longer than most houses in the District. There was a second counter right next to me, that had a wide range of food and drinks on it from fruit to meat to bread and other things I had never even heard of before, yet alone seen. There was a soft and dark brown carpet on the floor, looking like the colour of mahogany wood. The train was a bright and nice and warm.
Me and Seren sat down, and looked around for our mentor. Neam walked in, still wearing his ridiculous costume. "Your Peacekeeper mentor will be here in a moment. Try and neaten yourselves up. You're going to the Capitol! You are tributes! This is the greatest honour you probably will ever have, unless one of you two become a Victor." I bit my lip, trying not to snap at Neam. He was really beginning to piss me off. I could see Seren was about to say something, so I kicked her under the table and shook my head when she glared at me. Seren rolled her eyes in response, before getting up and getting a glass of water./p
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 11.2px;"The train started to move, not that I would have noticed if I wasn't looking out the window. It was truly amazing, we must have been going at over one-hundred mile per hour, and we were only moving for a few seconds. The train made no discernible noise inside, and it did not feel like we were moving that fast. I could hardly feel a thing! It was amazing.
The door at the other end of the carriage opened, and a Peacekeeper came in, "My name is Grunn. I am going to be your mentor for this year. I will expect you to listen to me, and do what I say. If you follow the advice I give you, you may be able to win. Now, attack me." Callix said gruffly.
Me and Seren looked at each other. "ATTACK ME!" Callix shouted. Seren ran forwards, and brought her fist up. Callix easily caught it, and tripped Seren up. I didn't see anymore, as I had dropped behind the counter to sneak towards them, but from the sounds I could hear, they were fighting hard. I waited a few moments, listening for the right opportunity to jump over the counter. When I saw Seren hit the ground beneath the counter, I jumped over it, right at Grunn. I managed to get a few good hits on him, before he punched me in the stomach, sending me reeling back. He then grabbed my arm and leg, picked me up, and threw me the length of the carriage onto the sofa at the other end. The breathe was knocked out of me, and I slumped to the ground.
"Pathetic. You are both pathetic. I should not be able to beat you both. Seren, you need to focus on blocking attacks. While you could hit quite well, you let me hit you every time. If you can block some hits, you may have a chance."
He turned to look at me. "Sawyer, you can sneak well, I will give you that. However, you need to learn how to attack properly. Your punch was sloppy, and was easy to block. In addition, you need to put on some weight, so you are a bit heavier. That means you are harder to throw around."
He picked me up, and sat me and Seren down on the sofa. "Now then, let's get some food, and then we are going to watch each of the previous five Games, and I want you to tell me how each District Seven tribute died, and the decisions each Victor made that resulted in their win."
I walked into the training centre, ready for my first day of training. I needed to train well. All twenty-four of us gathered around the head trainer, who I didn't bother learning the name of. "Now then you lot, these next three days are very important to your survival. In three weeks, all but one of you will be dead. Whether you are dead on the first day, or become the Victor is influenced by how much you pay attention during training. There are two simple rules to follow when you are here. One, no fighting with the other tributes. Wait to do that in the arena. Two, you must do something. You cannot do nothing while here. Off you go."
All of us headed to different parts of the room. The pairs from Districts One, Two and Four, along with the Ten girl and Twelve boy headed to the weapons. I walked over to the water purification station, as that was one of the few survivalist things I did not know. As I learnt how to ensure water was safe to drink, I watched the other tributes. The Careers, as they were called last year, seem to be made up of seven tributes this year. The pair from One, Two, Four and the Ten girl were all members. The boy from Twelve was doing quite poorly at the weapon station. The One boy was using a sword, as was the pair from Two. The One girl was using throwing knives. The Four boy was using spears and the girl was using knives. The Ten girl was using a machete.
I shook my head, and concentrated back on my water. After mastering that skill, I brushed up on my fire starting and poisonous plant identification. After that, it was lunch time. I went into the lunchroom. The Careers all sat together. I saw Seren sit down with the pair from Eleven and the Twelve girl. Not that I cared. Only one of us could win. I was not going to be in an alliance as I did not want to get attached to anyone. Once we had finished lunch, we all headed back to the training room. This time, I went to the rope course, and climbed up it. After I got to the top, I sat there for a moment looking over everyone as no one wanted to get up after me.
From the top of the ropes, I saw the twelve-year-old girl from Three run away from the Careers as they bullied her. "Aww, look at her. I can't wait to cut you open girl," laughed the boy from Two, who seemed to be the leader. I badly wanted to say something, but refrained my self from doing so. I did not want to make them want to kill me anymore than they already did. However, Seren and her alliance had no such fears.
"Well done guys," she called sarcastically. "You need to gang up seven to one on a twelve-year-old to feel like you have a chance against her. Amazing. I am so scared." She finished by smirking, while trembling in fake fear.
The boy from One made towards her, with his fist raised, but the Peacekeepers in the room stopped him quickly. Seren just laughs, and the Eleven girl giggles. "Can't wait to see you in the Arena darling," she calls to the One boy as he is dragged off to a separate room to wait for a half hour. For the rest of the day, the Career alliance flows Seren and her friends around the room. I meanwhile take the opportunity to go to the weapons station and try a variety of weapons. I learn that I am naturally gifted with skills in the hatchet. The moment I had wrapped my fingers around it, it had felt like an extension of my arm.
The next day went quite the same, but the Careers seem to have moved on from trying to scare Seren and her friends to using the weapons again. I was not going to lie; they were a little scary with how well the seven of them used their weapons. Each one of them looked as if they were going to win. All of them had that confidence. It made me less proud of myself then I had been yesterday when I used the weapons. During this second day of training, I watch all the other tributes. There were three alliances. The Careers, Seren and her buddies and the pair from Five. Meanwhile, the rest of us were solo. The Three girl was hiding in the camouflage station, crying. The Three boy was trying to learn edible plants and animals. The Five pair were fighting each other with weapons, the boy using a staff and the girl using a knife. The Six boy was in the fire-starting station, while his District partner was setting snares. Seren and her friends were in separate survival stations. The nine girl was practising with a knife, while the Nine boy was on the ropes climbing course. The boy from Ten was at the fishing station. The Eleven girl was tying knots, while the boy was using throwing daggers. The Twelve girl was on the monkey bars, and the boy was at the medical station. I was at the hatchet station most of the day. I was slowly getting better, but still nowhere near as good as the Careers.
"Sawyer Friel!" I walked out onto the stage, waving at the crowd. My suit was wonderful. It was a dark brown, with green tinges, making it look as if I was wearing branches all over my body. The green connecting the brown looked like vines, and the crown of leaves topped it off marvellously. "Hello Sawyer. Welcome to the Capitol. How are you feeling?" asked Septimus Pittville, the Gamesmaster.
"I'm not bad Septimus, could do with a little more sleep, but otherwise good." I replied, causing the Capitol audience to laugh.
"Good. Well, you can get a good night's rest tonight, ready for tomorrow OK. Now then, we have to talk about your training score. A eight! That is very impressive." He said. "You must tell us, what did you do? Even Jewel and Sparkle from One only got nines. You have the second highest score this year."
"I afraid I cannot tell you that. Secret. I shall keep you all in suspense," I laughed.
A chorus of boos came from the audience. "I am sorry guys, but I don't want my fellow tributes to know my skills. Better to surprise them and you when I am in the arena. I can however, assure you that I good with at least one weapon, so you will see me fight if I manage to get a weapon I like."
"So, young Sawyer, is there a special girl or boy at home? A good-looking man like you must have people lining up to date you."
"Unfortunately, no. I have very little confidence when it comes to talking with people I like that way. There was one girl, a few years ago, but she died in the Fourth Hunger Games."
"Oh well, that's life. Now then -" I didn't register the rest, and just kind of coasted through the rest of the interview, until I got up at the end of my time and left. I was angry. "That's life,"? I say I lost the person I cared about and you say that's life. No, it is not life. You, the Capitol did this. You made the Hunger Games. If they didn't exist, then Leah would not have died. I hated the Capitol right now. I was going to win, to show them they can not control me, and so the I can avenge Leah. I knew that the one pair, Hero and Shine were the younger siblings of Goldson Ashton, who killed Leah. I vowed the kill them both.
When I first saw the arena, I was filled with hope. I would be good here. The Arena was a redwood forest. The giant trees stretched towards the sky all around me. I could hear birds and other animals all around. I was between Flower from Nine and Blossom from Eleven. About ten feet in front of me, there was an axe lying against a backpack. I settled on that as the countdown came to an end.
I launched myself off my plate just after the word one was said, giving me a half second advantage against everyone else. I sprinted towards the axe. I managed to pick it up, before throwing the back over my back. I heard the first screams of pain as the Careers started killing people. I turned and started running away. As I got just past the ring of pedestals, a knife flew over my shoulder. I spun around, just in time to knock a second knife out of the air. Shine was looking at me, holding another two knives. I charged forward, gripping my axe. I ducked below the third knife, and she did not manage to throw the fourth knife, before my axe hit her in the head. Blood exploded out of her head, and her body collapsed to the ground. I picked up the remaining knife, a tucked it into my boot, before running away again. I ran into the trees, not knowing what would happen to me. Over the next day, I realised one thing; there were no water anywhere in the Arena.
POV: Orchid Fieldgreen, Victor of the Fourth Annual Hunger Games, 17
District Eleven resident and mentor.
Me and Illinois headed up to the roof of the Tribute Centre, hoping to find Sawyer then. He had come out of the arena a few days ago, dangerously dehydrated. He had been lucky, having some water in his pack, and having sponsors from killing the One girl, but that only lasted him till the fifth day. On day eight, there were only three people left in the arena. Him, Nero from One and Seren from his own District. Sawyer had been stumbling through the arena, struggling to breathe. Eventually, he bumped into Seren, who he quickly killed, not realising who it was. About an hour later, he killed Hero with the last of his strength, before collapsing himself. According to his Peacekeeper mentor, Sawyer had been on deaths door. If it had been maybe half an hour more, there would be no Victor. The doors opened, and we saw Sawyer, holding a bottle of water, staring out at the city. We walked up to him, and stood either side of him. I had come up here the first few nights after my victory, so did Coalette last year. Illinois had told me he, Angelina and Lupus all did to. All six of us were similar.
"Hey Sawyer. How are you doing?" asked Illinois.
"How do you think," he replied. "I killed my own District partner. I didn't mean to. I know Angelina and Coalette both did, but Angelina wanted to, and Coalette was betrayed. I did it by accident. She was innocent. There was no reason to kill her. I am not like those two, they wanted to kill the District partners, and don't regret it."
"You really think that?" I asked. "Coalette hates having killed Basil. She was high on adrenaline, and wasn't paying much attention. She meant to let him live. She donates money to his family whenever they need it. Angelina, I will grant you. She just wanted to get home, and trained for it. But she is still quite a nice person."
Sawyer gave us a disbelieving look. "I am serious. Come with us. There is a party for Victors at a nightclub not far from here."
"I'm sixteen. I can't drink." Sawyer said.
Illinois laughed. "Sawyer, the Capitol is different. Plus, you're a Victor. They want to give you everything. After all, it shows their kindness, letting the Victor have a life free of worry." I could tell that Illinois didn't really believe that, but I didn't say anything about it, instead I just pointed out I was seventeen, and was fifteen when I won, and still got drunk that night. Sawyer smirked at that. "OK, lets go. I need more water." I smiled at Sawyer, and grabbed his hand. I silently knew that Sawyer was likely to be traumatised for life. I doubted he would ever be too far from some fluid ever. I just hoped that he would not be too scared.
List of Victors
District 1 (1): Angelina Moonbeam (2)
District 2 (1): Lupus Cato (3)
District 3 (0):
District 4 (0):
District 5 (0):
District 6 (1): Illinois Katrick (1)
District 7 (1): Sawyer Friel (6)
District 8 (0):
District 9 (0):
District 10 (0):
District 11 (1): Orchid Fieldgreen (4)
District 12 (1): Coalette Snowdrop (5)