Hey everyone! Here is the revamped version of the story. I was reading through and was spotting several grammar errors and spelling mistakes which is NOT ok. I promise that I am working on the sequel! It's really hard to find time to write, I'm working two jobs this summer, bleh. Anyway, to all of my new readers, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or the plot line or characters, they belong to Suzanne Collins. Some of the lines in the following chapter are hers as well. My characters and part of the plot line are obviously mine. Boo yea.

Read on! ~xoxx, Carolyn

My name is Hydra Inna, 18 years old, fisherman. District Four. It was only last year in the 73rd Annual Hunger Games that I watched my beautiful older brother, Arlen, die. He was only a year older than me but he was the wisest person I'd ever known. He was tall, about 6-foot-3, white blonde hair, dark golden skin and he had the deepest ocean green eyes.

They destroyed him. It had only been he and the female tribute of District One. He was so close. I had so much hope. It was in that last second, they came out of nowhere. A terrifying mix of cats and dogs with beaks of exotic birds and rows upon rows of glinting sharks teeth. We had all been mesmerized by the bright colors. Those bright colors that the Capitol was so well known for. Within moments they had my brother pinned to a tree, their beaks tore at his flesh and pecked at what lay beneath.

His screams were loud. Deafening. I wanted nothing more than to sink into the sand beneath me and die.

Then I heard his voice, strained yet still strong, calling out one name. Hydra.

It was as if his eyes had found mine through the screen, they held me in their fading depths. In that moment I understood.

Vengeance.

The one word on my mind.

Since that day, I had retreated into myself. My mother and father could coax few words from my mouth; all I ever did was work.

There was only one person who I could ever talk to about anything.

Finnick Odair.

Immediately after the games he befriended me, his understanding of the pain in my heart was the only thing that saved me from total despair. I fished with him everyday, made baskets of the palms that lined our beautiful beaches, and lounged with him in the sun in silence, listening to nothing but the breeze through the trees and the waves crashing on the shoreline.

Today was Reaping Day.

I woke up to Finnick knocking on the door to my room.

"Hydra? The reaping is in an hour, get dressed!"

I rolled over and let the sunlight pouring in through the slanted shutters warm my face. "Ok, I'll be down in a bit."

"Hurry up please?"

"Sure..."

After a warm shower I brushed my long, mid-back length golden blonde hair until it shone like summer wheat. My olive green eyes shimmered in the sunlight and looked bright against my dark skin. I was tall for most girls my age, standing at 5-foot-10.

In only a few minutes I was dressed in an aqua green dress that showed off my muscled legs, with sleeves that hugged my arms down to my wrists. I just stared into the mirror at the girl before me.

Cold and calculating.

That's what I was these days. All I ever thought about was murdering every bastard in the Capitol who aided in my brother's death.

I walked down the stairs, a silence hung over the house like the curtains and shutters in the rest of the houses around the village. My mother looked up at me, her sky blue eyes full of tears, "Are you ready?"

I shrugged, "Ready as I'll ever be I guess."

My father sat at the table with his hands wrapped around a cup of spearmint tea: his favorite. His deep brown eyes could barely find mine. All he could do was nod.

Wonderful.

Finnick came to my rescue and grabbed my hand, "Come on Hydra, we need to get you to the square."

"All right, let's go." I looked to my parents, "I'll see you both in a bit."

Silence.

I look down sadly and Finnick squeezes my hand.

Finnick and I walked down the streets, which were coated with sand and salt from years of ocean water being trailed in from the dock workers and fishermen. The air smelled of salt water and shellfish.

"You ok?"

"Yea, just painful memories, you know?"

"I do indeed. Annie won't be at the square today. She still hasn't been able to control herself."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I wish we could do more for her."

"Everyday is a step towards getting her better, I'll break through to her somehow."

I squeeze his hand for I know it to be true. He is the only person Annie trusts in the slightest, besides me that is. We're all connected by these damned games.

After a few more minutes of walking, we arrive in the square which is all ready jampacked full of people waiting for the reaping to begin. I am escorted to my age group, where only 13 of us older girls wait.

I am silent, my arms folded across my chest as the others keep away. They know I will not speak when spoken to, none of them have forgotten the horror of watching my brother die, especially Naida Ren, the love of my brother's life. Naida is beautiful, tall in stature like me with jet black hair and eyes that are a light brown, the color of sandalwood. She silently nods to me and I return the gesture.

A ghastly woman walks on stage, she could be of the sea itself. She looks at us with eyes that are bright purple and rimmed with thick turquoise lashes. Her lips are a glowing electric blue and she wears a wig that is piled high of the same color. She wears bright purple leather pants and a sea green blouse that is covered in millions of tiny sequins. Her heels are as high as the sky and gleam like the ocean foam.

Her name is Salacia. Our district escort.

"Hello, hello my lovelies!" She calls out over a microphone. Her white skin looks so delicate against the backdrop of tanned faces.

"Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be EVER in your favor!"

She is met with a cold silence.

We watch a movie about the rebellion of District 13 and why the games were established and all this other pointless babble about history.

"Now let's have fun and mix it up a bit! Gentlemen we shall draw from you first!"

She dips her glittering green nails into the giant bowl full of the names of every young man standing here. Everyone holds their breath, trying to keep from fidgeting or showing fear.

"Wiley Ur!"

The young man cannot be old enough to be participating in these gruesome games; I clench my fists as I watch him walk quietly to the steps before ascending to meet the scary woman up top. He is tiny with skin that has barely been touched by the sun, but a smatter of red freckles lace his nose. His clear blue eyes and curly red hair make him look so innocent and I can hear the gasps and murmurs running through the crowd. His face is stone, a brave soul this little boy is.

She makes her way and dips her hand into the other bowl and swishes around for a few moments, an idiotic grin spreading across her face like butter. "Oh I just get so excited!"

The silence that greets her wipes the smile from her face and she pulls the paper from the bowl.

"And for you ladies...Hydra Inna!"

The crowd is stunned speechless, another Inna called to the bloody arena. They've all seen what Arlen's death did to my parents and the friends of my family are greatly angered, I can tell by the low grumbling. "I vol-"

I hold my hand up and Naida goes silent. This is my score to settle and she knows it. I walk towards the stage as my golden hair sweeps side to side, eyes trained on what lies before me. I climb the stairs and Salacia smiles at me, "Oh how lovely you are!"

I brush her aside and go to stand next to my fellow tribute. Wiley looks up at me with his wide eyes and barely whispers it out, "But what about your parents?"

I smile at him softly and squeeze his hand, "Nothing for you to worry about."

Salacia comes in front of us and forces our clasped hands to the air, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the tributes of District Four!"

The thunderous claps that rise from the crowd and the shouting of our names echo throughout the streets.