"Listen, it's going to be good, okay?"

Jannik glared at Head Gamemaker Coule as they moved down the bright white hall towards the Gamemaker's room.

"The president is concerned you've lost your touch. This is a Quarter Quell, it has to be as cr—as entertaining as possible."

"Don't they always?"

They had reached a door at the end of the hall. Coule pressed a long-fingered had to a panel on the door.

"Authorized personnel identified." A robotic female voice said from the door.

It slid open.

The Gamemakers inside were hard at work, some surrounding the holographic map in the center, some working at lab tables lining the walls of the domed-roof room.

"We will need DNA from the tributes' loved ones." Jannik heard one Gamemaker say to another.

As they passed their table, the secretary gagged and covered his nose at an overpowering stench of rotting flesh.

"I think you should start by telling me what that is."

"Well, I can't spoil it all, can I?" Coule shrugged. "Let's just say it'll remind the tributes of what they have to lose if they don't play the game properly."

They had reached the hologram at the center of the room. Jannik looked at it for a long time.

"Don't you think it looks… empty?"

"The mutts haven't been added, yet." Coule pressed a button on the control panel, and red dots appeared numerously over the map. "Don't worry, the tributes won't have an easy time at all."

"They're not just supposed to have a hard time." Jannik was growing more frustrated by the second. "We need them to suffer."

"They will, they will." Coule said dismissively. He motioned for the secretary to follow.

In the corner of the room, a large tube filled with translucent blue liquid glowed faintly. The Gamemakers moved back as the men approached.

"Ah, my masterpiece." Coule said like an artist admiring his work.

"That's a mutt?"

Inside the tube a young woman floated in the fetal position, dark hair fanning out about her head. She was painstakingly beautiful, and her face looked very familiar to Jannik.

"A model paid us in millions to have her face included in the game." Coule acknowledge his questioning look.

"That's not what I was wondering." Jannik folded his arms. "What does it do?"

"The cornucopia's food supplies will be rather limited this year." Coule explained. "In the center of the arena, there is an oasis. But this mutt will guard it, and the tributes will have to make a sacrifice to enter."

"How big of a sacrifice?"

"The price will increase as the game goes on. Eventually, it will cost everything, more than anyone could imagine. Rest assured, they will suffer."

"Do you think they will be willing to pay?"

"If they do not wish to starve, then I think some will." Coule said slowly. "It would be interesting to see which ones. I make the gentlest of young people turn into monsters, in these games."

He turned and smiled at the secretary.

"It's my job."

Jannik looked back at the mutt.

"And if they try to fight their way in? Do you think this mutt will be able to stand up to the force of a handful of desperate young women?"

"First of all, they are teenaged girls, not soldiers. Second of all, do you think I would make something that couldn't?" Coule sounded insulted. "Samara, show him what the mutt can do."

"Right away, sir."

Jannik watched as the tube was suddenly full of projectiles, blades spinning and whirling in the fluid, obscuring the mutt from sight. The secretary expected to see blood clouding the image, but the blades eventually sank to the bottom, disintegrating. Jannik raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Impressive. She is invincible?"

"Not quite." Coule held up one finger. "There is a way to kill this mutt, but it is a long shot. If it does happen, then the gates to the oasis will be shut forever, and all those inside will be destroyed. Painfully."

Jannik smiled.

"There you are." He clapped the other man on the back. "What else do you have to show me?"

"Well…" Coule seemed to be considering.

Jannik looked about the room. He noticed a leather-bound, old book sitting on one of the lab tables.

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"The book."

Jannik looked back to the Gamemaker to see he suddenly looked very uncomfortable. The others were looking over their shoulders at him now.

"It's… inspiration for the arena."

"May I look?"

"No."

The secretary raised his eyebrows.

"Why not?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to give it all away."

Coule smiled again, but it did not seem to reach his eyes. Jannik started to edge towards the book.

"I'm going to look. What is it?"

"Just… stories, that's all. It's a storybook." Coule caught up with him, and then reached the book before he did, picking it up. "Old stories."

Getting more suspicious by the second, Jannik reached for the book. Coule held it out of his grip.

"Give me the book."

Coule didn't move. Jannik took a step forward, and the other moved back.

All of the Gamemakers were openly watching now. The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.

"Give me the book, or I will tell President Shorn you are hiding something."

Coule hesitated, and then handed it over.

"What is it?" Jannik opened it to a random page.

"I told you."

The secretary's eyes scanned the archaic language on the yellowed pages.

"Just how old is this?" he demanded.

"The translation is about… two hundred years old." Coule was not meeting his eye. "The stories had been passed down for—for centuries, or more, long, long before the world—"

"You mean this was written before the rise of the Capitol?" Jannik almost shouted. "These are myths! Do you have any idea how illegal it is for you to have this?"

Coule tried to grab it back. There was a brief tug-o-war, and Coule, the larger of the two men, came out victorious.

"If no one's read any of this for ages, no one will know it was my inspiration." He passed it to another Gamemaker, who disappeared quickly into a side room. "The Games will be terrific, the Capitol will be happy, the president will be happy, everyone's happy except the districts and no one needs to know a thing."

"If you think I'm not going to report this—"

"So what?" Coule snapped.

"They will kill you!"

"And then what, kill my entire team? It is too late to finish another arena that would be good enough for a Quell. They will have to use this one. And what then, will they just cut out all the references to the source material and throw the tributes out there with no mutts, nothing to make this anything more than a survival contest? This is the Hunger Games, no one wants to watch a pack of teenagers die from the elements, they want drama, they want blood!"

Jannik stared at him for a long time.

"So what are you going to do?" Coule demanded.

The secretary sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Destroy the book. I won't tell her." He looked around at the other Gamemakers. "This better turn out as well as you say."

"Oh, it will." Coule watched him hurry towards the door. "And Secretary?"

"What?"

"You know, if the president finds out of this, you will die too. You know as much as I do, now."

"I know."

(Author's Note: Thank you to anyone who has read this far! I am writing the Quell with this twist partially because I want to, partially because I have noticed other SYOTs struggle to gain male tributes. I have already decided on an arena for these Games and I will begin writing as soon as I have enough slots filled. The form will be located on my profile, please submit it through private messaging. In the interest of getting started as quickly as possible, the last eight open slots will automatically go to bloodbath tributes, whose points of view I am not going to write in. If you submit a tribute, I will very likely accept. There WILL probably still be one or two romances. I am committed to seeing this story through! Thank you again for reading, and I look forward to seeing what tributes will be participating in these Games!)

(UPDATED: Yes, due to more than one bad review, I did choose to remove the original prologue. This scene was intended to follow, but I think it fits well in its place. There are still 18 open slots and the form is on my profile, so please keep submitting!)