All Hunger Games characters belong to Suzanne Collins and Lionsgate. Original characters belong to me. The story takes place two years before the 74th Hunger Games.

Chapter 1

District 12

District 12 awoke to a glorious dawn with the sky painted gold and pink. Along the dirt road, miners headed off to work at the mines and children walked themselves to the school house.

"Berenice!" a woman's voice echoed through a one-story shack.

Berenice Willowgood arose from the bed that she shared with her older sister, Kallea. "Oh, I am going to kill you Kal," Berenice said to herself and hurried to get dress.

Berenice was seventeen years old with blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and tan-colored skin. She lived in a one-story shack with her mother, sister, and younger brother, Phillip.

Her mother was the clothes provider of the district, she would be at her old sewing machine all day, repairing or making clothes. Kallea worked as a secretary at the Hall of Justice of District 12. Phillip was fourteen and went to school like Berenice and he liked her better as he considered Kallea to be very strict.

Her father died in an explosion in the mine two years ago, along with sixteen other miners. Among the other victims was Mr. Everdeen, the father of Katniss Everdeen, Berenice's best friend.

Berenice got dressed in pants, a black shirt, and boots. She grabbed her lunch sack and a piece of sliced bread and hurried out the door to school.

()()()()()()()()

The Capitol

In the president's mansion, there was no joy or any sound of happiness. Coriolanus Snow pranced about in his state room, with his granddaughter, Celestia watching him. It was awfully quiet in the next room.

Snow's daughter Abigail was due to give birth to another baby and Snow wanted it to be a boy. He wanted to pass the family lineage with a grandson and he hoped that the boy would eventually become president.

"Mother will be alright, will she?" Celestia asked.

Snow did not what to say and he replies, "I don't know my darling, I don't know." He then holds her in his arms and gently rubs her back.

Then, someone opened the door and a man wearing black scrubs came in. "President Snow," he said and Snow stood up. "I regret to inform you this, but your daughter and grandson are dead."

Celestia unleashed a horrid scream that echoed throughout the mansion and began to sob. Snow grabbed his granddaughter in a tight embrace and both of them began to cry together.

Then, Snow looked at the doctor who attended his daughter and calls out, "Arrest him and his staff!" The Peacekeepers who were assigned in the mansion, grabbed the doctor and his staff.

"You're a rebel, I know you are! You killed my grandson! Take them to prison!" President Snow ordered and the Peacekeepers took the doctor away.

The doctor did not utter a word or did not show remorse and Snow knew his accusation was right. Snow trusted the doctor as he was the best in the Capitol, but he never thought the doctor was a rebel.

Celestia and Snow resumed their mourning over the loss of Abigail and the grandson and brother who did not have a chance to live. Snow realized that he had to be careful as he could not trust anyone anymore.

()()()()()()()()()

District 12

Berenice finally caught up with the fifteen year-old Katniss, who was ready to go out the fence. "You're suppose to be in school," Katniss reminded her friend. Ever since both of their fathers died, Katniss was mostly in charge of her family and Berenice was looked out for by her sister, Kallea.

"I don't mind being late, besides Kal needs some explaining to do," Berenice said and adds, "Kat, do you get that feeling that something extraordinary is going to happen soon?"

"Not for me, what do you think is going to happen?" Katniss asked.

"I don't know, I just have that feeling," Berenice replied and adds, "I'll let you go, I'll give you some of my strawberries if you find a nice, fat pheasant for me."

"I'll try, no promises though," Katniss said and crossed between the section of fence that was not on.

Berenice hurried off to her school; she went to a special school that was said to extend the district children's intelligence, but in reality, they were trained to part take in the Hunger Games.

The children were trained to act like spies and find information that would be crucial to a rebellion. However, there was no hope for a rebellion as no one dared to start one. There was fear that the Capitol would strike before the districts could rise up.

There was a catch, the children who were trained must be picked in the Reaping, they can't volunteer, and they must survive the Games. So far, none of the children of District 12 survived the games.

Berenice hoped that something else will happen, other than being picked for the Games, perhaps a chance to meet the president. That was her hope to achieve, meet the president and then kill him, but only when the time was right.

She finally came to the building that served as her school and she knew it was going to be a long day.

From the author: What do you think? I've decided to take a chance in doing a story for my favorite book series. I just hope I get a lot of readers for this.