Lucas Sinclair: The Hunger Games

CHAPTER ONE - JUST THIS ONCE

CHAPTER ONE

JUST THIS ONCE

TRIGGER WARNING

The timer goes off.

It begins.

As soon as it starts... Lucas feels dread and fear all over his body.

But he knows he can't stay.

If he doesn't wanna be one of the first, if not THE very first one to die... he needs to run.

Especially since... Lucas is from District 12.

Making him a top target.

In almost every Hunger Games Lucas grew up being forced to watch... the District 12 tributes, people he almost always knew... they'd almost always die first. Why? Because the other districts knew they'd be easy targets. This was the 75th Hunger Games.

There had never been a District 12 winner. Not once.

The closest someone made it was 5th. People in District 12 actually started to hope at the time,

"Maybe one of ours will win, maybe one of ours will come home..."

But instead, the Capital sent dogs throughout the area, and that was it.

"At least we didn't have to see another one of ours taken out by one of the District 1 careers," is what they'd say.

As soon as Lucas' name was called on Reaping Day... it already felt like a knife to the belly, an arrow to the heart.

It didn't help when he heard the screams and cries of agony from his mother,

"MY BABY!!!"

As they took him away.

On Day 1... they already interviewed some of the tributes. The first being the two career tributes from District 1, because of course.

The District 1 male career was a buffed up blonde Caucasian 18 year old named Jason Carver.

Jason had been preparing his whole life for the games.

The reason he didn't volunteer is because he wanted to wait until he was 18 so he could be the strongest, but said he would still gladly go if his name was called.

For the first time in The Hunger Games history, for District 1's male, there was no reaping.

Jason's wealthy father and his connections led to Jason being automatically picked for the games now that he was 18.

When they interviewed Jason, he looked right at the camera, and said...

"I saw those District 12 tributes... Yeah... I'm going for them as soon as the games start."

He asked the interviewer what their names were again, and he told him... Max Mayfield and Lucas Sinclair.

Jason smiled, looked right at the camera and said,

"You see these eyes, Max Mayfield and Lucas Sinclair? These are the eyes that are going to bring you death."

When Lucas saw that on the TV... he couldn't help but realize it was probably the truth. Even so, he had some small hope,

I could win! I'm strong. I can fight. Maybe I could win...

Lucas was actually known for being the toughest teen boy in the entire district.

When he was a little kid, some kids in District 12 tried to bully him and his former friend Patrick.

Lucas made sure to make that stop. And he did. NOBODY went through Lucas.

Patrick was Lucas' FORMER friend... because he was the District 12 tribute from last year. Lucas ran to his room and cried after Patrick was called.

Patrick was Lucas' only friend, and he realized, not only was he going to lose his friend... he was gonna have to see him die.

And he did.

Patrick actually did make it to 14th, which is higher than most District 12 tributes, before the District 1 male tribute found Patrick and snapped his neck.

Lucas knew Patrick all his life.

They were like brothers.

And Lucas saw some big, rich District 1 career snap his neck.

Lucas ran to his mother and sobbed onto her shoulder after seeing this. He couldn't sleep or eat for days. He had nightmares. What added insult to injury, what made things worse, was that the same District 1 tribute that killed Patrick... WON. He came home. Patrick didn't. And when he was interviewed after about what his favorite part of the games were, he said,

"Snapping the neck of that District 12 kid."

And now, a year later, here Lucas is. Now, HE is the District 12 tribute.

As it begins, Lucas thinks to himself,

No matter what happens.... I won't go down without a fight. For Patrick. If I'm gonna die, I'll die fighting.

As soon as the timer goes off, Lucas starts sprinting as fast as he can into the woods past the cornucopia.

And then, all of a sudden, he's tackled to the ground.

Someone is holding him down on the ground, and quickly punches Lucas right in the right eye. HARD. It almost feels like he already has a black eye.

Then, this person puts his hands on Lucas' neck, and starts squeezing.

Lucas looks up, and sees it's Jason Carver, the District 1 tribute who said he was gonna go for him and the District 12 female tribute, Max Mayfield, first.

Jason quickly takes his giant hands and squeezes them on Lucas' neck as hard as he can. Jason looks down at Lucas and sneers,

"Told you I'd be the one to send you into death, twelve."

Lucas can already not breathe. He already feels like he can feel himself entering death. So many thoughts enter his head,

I'm not ready.

I don't wanna die.

Why is this happening to me?

As Lucas' vision actually starts to blur out, and it seems like he truly can feel the life exiting his body, three words enter his mind,

I'm sorry, mama...

And then, two hands grab Jason's head.

They snap Jason's neck.

Jason instantly dies the second his neck breaks.

His lifeless body flops down to the ground onto Lucas.

Lucas' vision returns to him, but he can barely breathe. His chest is tight and he starts violently coughing.

Whoever killed Jason grabs his corpse and drags him off Lucas.

He looks up at whoever just saved his life.

It's Max Mayfield. The other District 12 tribute. She looks down at him and says,

"Just this once, Lucas. I wasn't about to let another District 12 tribute be the first to go from some District 1 career motherfucker. Now the get the fuck out of here before someone else gets you."

Despite being barely able to breathe or see the intense pain in his chest, Lucas quickly gets up and runs as fast as he can into the woods. As he makes his way into the forest, the trees surrounding him, he thinks to himself,

Looks like I'm not dying just yet...