Victors' Purge

Michele Onassis

Food was ready at the Districts 10 victors village, where the Ramon family took advantage of the days of school Bianca, her daughter, had due to the celebration of the Quarter Quell to spend as much quality time together, especially since Michele's mentees, Jackson and Tiffany, died not long ago and she therefore was able to return to her home earlier from the Capitol, mentors this year were not as crucial as other years, with many of the tributes not having mentors at all. But Michele's close relationship to Tiffany and the fact that she was the chosen one between her, Jocasta and herself, made it almost impossible to allow the two victors by themselves throughout their week in the Capitol. In normal circumstances Michele wouldn't have let the games to play in the only screen that they own in their home within the district but these games were different, this quell was taking the life of few of the people that actually understood her in a level that no one else did, not even her own husband who she loved dearly. Victors, even those who dislike each other, have an undescriptive bond of pain, loss and sacrifice. They all had sacrificed something, their naivety, their innocence, their purity. Michele was one of the victors that understood this the most, especially throughout her years of mentoring children that for the most part died in the games, and the ones who didn't, like Tiffany and Jackson, died in the current games. Victors suffered the fury of President Snow against Katniss Everdeen by sending them back into the arena they were promised to never return, then again the Capitol's promises were worth less than horseshit. Michele shook her head to focus on the food in front of them as her husband turned the TV off for the sake of his wife. A small prayer was made before eating as a tradition in the Ramon's family more than anything. Despite her overall positivism and lighthearted persona, her faith in God was left behind in the arena. She remembered how her family used to go to one of the small gatherings of one of her childhood friends' house, Amanda, where they used to have group prayers and read pages of an old book from before the dark days. It would come to her knowledge in later years of mentoring and mingling with other victors that District 10 was the only district that despite the Capitol's discouragement of religion, still had a large underground religious population. Her faith was another thing that the Hunger Games took from her without permission, one too many.

As she was taking the first bite of her empanada, a typical pastry made in District 10, the landline phone started ringing in the living room. She thought that it may be the district's designer from the Capitol, wondering where she was after disappearing so abruptly after Jackson's death, and decided to call them back later on. She ate her first mouthful portion when the phone rang again, almost projecting the urgency of whoever was calling through the sound of the ring. Michele finally decided to clean her lips with the cloth that was laying in her thighs and stood up to approach the sound as fast as she could. Just in the last second before the ring was about to give in, the victor picks up the phone. Alejandro's voice was on the other line, however a less cynical and drunken version of his was retelling the events that transpired in the last fifteen minutes that their television was off, leaving a pale and perplexed woman on the other side of the line. Since they weren't in their victor's village home but the one they bought not too long ago in the heart of District 10, Alejandro wasn't able to reach them. District 13? Break the victors out? She would've been lying if she said that no rumors about the defunct district backing the rebellion were not going around people's mouths but she didn't want to allow herself to have hope, for herself, for her family. After what the Capitol did with Alejandro's children she had witnessed enough to learn how to avoid being detected under the poisoned radar of Snow, which included not allying herself with the Mockingay and the rebellious mouths despite wanting to believe this with her whole heart. Things would've been different if she didn't have a daughter to take care of and for better or worse, she was her priority.

The main door was knocked vigorously by an unknown person as Michele heard screams on the other side of the line, both from Alejandro's wife and kids, ending with the sound of gunshot at the same time as her door was knocked. Her husband quickly made Michele and Bianca hide as he grabbed a bat from the wardrobe and opened the door ready to fight but to his confusion, he found Jocasta with a shotgun and a cowboy hat as she walked on her cane. Normally she was not trusted due to her moments of insanity but she seemed the most lucid ever as she approached Michele and took her from her shoulders, making direct eye contact with the younger one.

— Take the indispensable, one bag each and run, I'll distract them. —

Jocasta walked around the house, looking out the windows as Michele's husband listened without hesitating, contrary to his wife who was still processing what was happening.

— What about Alejandro?

The old woman's face tensed a little before sighting and shaking her head in refusal, who knew about the fate of Alejandro Farnham as she managed to escape the victors' village on her horse and killed the peacekeepers that arrived to assassinate all the victors present with her shotgun. With the help of the neighbours nearby, the Ramons managed to sneak out from house to house as Jocasta waited outside of the house on top of her horse, with the objective to divert the attention to herself and not the lack of Michele in the house. After almost a dozen backyards that they trespassed, they finally arrived at one of her closest friends' house who was already alerted about the peacekeepers purging all the victors and their associates. With the help of her husband, the two families managed to hide in the sewers to leave District 10 and be able to reach the old zone called 'Dallas'. When the plan was announced Michele thought it was crazy and they were going to get caught but Ariana, her best friend, reassured her that they had been planning this escape for years and that Jocasta was aware of this but didn't let any of the other victors know because she knew, someone had to sacrifice themselves allow others to escape. 

It was in that moment while she was the last person that had to enter the sewers, she realised what Jocasta was doing in order to save her and her family from Snow's fury. At the same time, on the other corner of District 10 Jocasta was riding her house around the streets as she was chased by peacekeepers, taking them in a 'wild goose hunt' around the district in an effort to distract them from finding Michele and the others. As she loaded her shotgun, she turned around and was shot once straight in the head by one of the peacekeepers in the vehicle behind the horse, who continued galloping with the corpse of the victor around the streets of District 10.