"Volunteer Games"

Chapter One

By Brian Grove

Brian at rescueddoggies dot com

Disclaimer – As I'm British and male, it may come as no surprise that I don't own Hunger Games.

While this does follow on from Vengeance Games, Games Return and Genocide Games, you do not need to have read those stories to understand it.

An experienced beta would be welcome.

Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games

Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games

When Mom became President again, one of the first things she did was to see that the powers of the government were much reduced. This was Peeta's suggestion originally, but had the active support of Katniss. Never again would a President be able to interfere in family life. The decision of what would happen in a child's life would return to his or her parents, where it properly belonged.

The district could only intervene if the child made a complaint of abuse. In the case of a child incapable of making a complaint due to age or some other reason, if a complaint was received from someone else, the district had the right to send a doctor to examine the child to see if there was abuse. But even these limited powers were given to the Districts, or the Capitol's own local government, not to the President or Panem's national government.

When Mom signed that statute into law, ensuring that no President could ever again take children from their families to be murdered, she had no way of knowing that she had just paved the way for the games to return.

After the Genocide Games were over, the land for the arenas was bought up by Porton de Leones Corporation, the entertainment group who owned the television station which had had the rights to film and transmit the games. They destroyed most of them, but used the various things they had cannibalized from the other arenas to make Beetee's final arena even more impressive. The demand to take part in the games they ran was staggering. No shortage of paying volunteers now they knew that they wouldn't actually die or be injured. They even televised some of them.

But the television audience wanted blood, real games, with real deaths. There were whole industries who had depended on the games, for making mutts, the television company itself, as it had been it's biggest show by far, the betting industry, and the illegal training centers in the career districts. That's not even counting the spin-offs, the fashion industry, the tacky souvenirs. Here in the Capitol it was still possible to buy models of Rue, complete with net and spear. Push the spear into the model in the right place and fake blood would come out. Extra sachets of fake blood cost extra. Bring the model's hand to her lips and it made a four note whistle.

Amazing to me was the number of career families in Districts One, Two and Four, who openly campaigned for the "real" games to be run again. They said their children had been trained for the games and felt cheated of their chance to shine. Why would these families want to sacrifice their children? I couldn't understand it.

Nevertheless, seven years after the Genocide games, the first "real" Hunger Games were run. With her reduced Presidential powers, Mom had no way to stop them. Although they were children, children had a right to volunteer from the age of twelve.

Mom, Dorada, Pippa and I had campaigned against them, but the appetite for blood and blood-bought riches was too much. There were only seven tributes, two each from One and Two, one from Four, and, surprisingly, one each from Seven and Ten, a total of three girls and four boys. All were aged sixteen or over. All they'd had to do to volunteer was go to the office set up by Porton de Leones in each District ten days before the games. Providing nobody of the same sex had beaten them to it, they were in and rushed straight off to the training center.

The first game was short and it was bloody. In the bloodbath the girl from Seven literally put out the eyes of the boy from Ten, but was then attacked by the girl from Two. While they were fighting, the now-blind boy from Ten ran away. He didn't get far from the arena, but crouched down under a bush to hide or to die.

The others fought it out. Four died in the bloodbath, leaving the partners from District One, both of whom used knives as their preferred weapon. The following day, having not found the boy from Ten, they fought. The boy stabbed the girl to death, but she left him bleeding badly. So badly that he died a few hours later.

Having a blind victor definitely put a damper on the post-game interview and didn't do much for the "Victory Tour" either. But he'd achieved what he'd gone into the game for, in a bitter irony, it was to get enough money for an operation to save his mother's sight.

The second game had even fewer tributes, only five. Like the first, they were short and bloody and, judging by the reaction of the television audiences, boring. Dad, Mom and I were pleased that it looked like the games were going to fizzle out of their own accord.

Then Porton de Leones announced a change. From now a stipend would be paid to the families of the losing tributes, each year, for ten years, easily enough for them to live on.

"It's like the Teserae all over again," Mom said furiously. "The poorest and most desperate will volunteer for the sake of their families."

Once again, Mom and Peeta, Pippa, Chiapaska and Salique, Una and her family, Dorada and her family, and I all campaigned against the games. But our campaign was soon to be discredited.

Mom had been right, apart from the usual tributes from the career districts, most of the other sixteen tributes were obviously from poorer parts of their respective districts.

Except for one. In that third year, the Capitol had a eighteen year-old girl as a volunteer. She was from the richer part of the Capitol. She was Dorada's younger sister, Stefani.

Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games

Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games - Volunteer Games

Author's notes...

I know this is short, but please review to let me know if you think this is worth continuing.

Why has Stefani volunteered? Can she survive?

Brian

THE STORY SO FAR

Chapter 1

The volunteer games begin, but aren't popular with viewers. Changes are made, then Stefani, Dorada's sister, unexpectedly volunteers.