The First Quarter Quell: A 'The Hunger Games' Spin-Off

The Transfer

    Mentors are supposed to help their tributes have a better chance of surviving in the arena and they're the most recent victor from their district. In our case, that would be District 8. I'm pretty certain that Hannah won her game not long ago. She looks pretty young to me, so I ask for clarification.
    "What game did you win? How old were you?" I ask, not realizing Sam had already asked her a question, and she was in the middle of answering it. "Sorry," I say to Sam, not fully meaning it.
    "No, it's okay. If Sam doesn't mind, I'll answer your question first since it's short and easy. Sam?"
    "Uh, yeah, that's okay," Sam responds, thinking about it before speaking. With her acceptance, Hannah turns to face me, ready to answer my questions.
    "I won the 21st annual when I was sixteen, so, very close to your age, Sam, is that correct?" With those words, Sam jolts her head up with eyes now filled with hope. The same ones that were filled with fear and hatred just a few hours ago.
    "Yeah, I'm seventeen as of February," she replies. Hannah nods, looking at Sam and then me, not only acknowledging her but also implying that we should both ask more questions.

    For the next few hours, we sit in the lounge car and discuss plans, possible outcomes of the game, what to do and what not to do, et cetera, but neither Sam nor I have asked what the twist is yet. I think it's mostly because we don't want it to be true. That's my reason, at least.
    Sam finally builds up the courage and demands a proper response. "What's the twist? The one for their special 'Quarter Quell' thing. I think it's only fair that we finally get an answer. I mean, why weren't just told at the reaping?" Hannah looks up at the ceiling before answering, closing her eyes, and exhaling deeply.
    "Everyone in the Capitol loves watching the viewers go crazy over the suspense of things. Anything." Hannah stops for a second, sighing and shaking her head. To me, this reveals that she hates the Capitol. I don't know how she could though, they had to have given her and her family everything after she won. They always say the same thing before the reaping; that the victor is bathed in riches and fortune. "Anyone who truly enjoys watching the games is sick and twisted. And I don't mean anyone in the district, I mean people in the Capitol. They get to live their lives freely with no harm done to them, and they're treated like actual human beings. All because of the president and her decisions and beliefs," she finishes.
    Sam doesn't take more than a second to repeat the question she asked. She wants a real answer, and I can't blame her, I want one too. "Could you please just tell us the twist? I'm sorry, but I think it's far more important than how well the people in the Capitol are being treated. We need to know this." I begin to think Sam might have a real chance at winning the games. She's incredibly headstrong and stubborn, which I think is partially beneficial to winning. It kind of scares me if I'm being honest and I wouldn't want her as an enemy.
    Hannah knits her brows before speaking. "The twist is... complicated. Since it's the very first Quarter Quell, the president and the Head Gamemaker want it to be special. I guess Lavinia wants us to see how rivalries destroy us and how they destroyed us decades ago during the war. Because apparently, we haven't gotten the message already through the regular games," she giggles fakely. "They decided to put you, the tributes, in pairs with people from districts that haven't gotten along in the past. You'll still be in the usual boy-girl pairings, but you won't be teamed with the person from your district, and you aren't supposed to be allied with them during the game either. Which means you two cannot work together in the games, at all. They never specified punishments if you were to, but they never said there weren't any. This doesn't mean you have to attack each other if you run into one another, but I'd advise you to be careful."
    I turn to look at Sam. She's already looking at me, though. The only emotion on her face now is confusion. I shift my attention back to Hannah. "What? That doesn't even make sense. That would make the districts more likely to fight themselves. Say a tribute from District 9 chooses to kill the other tribute from District 9. That couldn't be good for their district. People could get mad, and there could be an outrage. They're turning built-in alliances against each other and forcing us to make allies with districts that could possibly hate us. Why? It doesn't make sense, it sounds like a flaw in their system," I speak up.
    "Yeah, you're kidding, right?" Sam asks Hannah, rhetorically. "That's what they want, though, huh? They want us to fight each other so they can prove that alliances don't last forever."
    Hannah stays silent for a moment, listening and thinking about every word that's coming out of our mouths. "Yes, Sam." She stands up and walks out of the car without saying anything else. She won the games only a few years ago and probably has a lot of built-up trauma. I wonder how that could affect someone: killing innocent children in a life-or-death scenario and then coming back the very next year as a mentor, watching your tributes in the same position you were in. Watching them get killed in that arena year after year with no victor; no one to replace you and take over your spot.
    "I think we learned enough," Sam exaggerates, interrupting my thought process.
    "We should be there soon, right? To the Capitol," I ask, unsure.
    "Yeah, we should be. I'm going to rest for a bit before we do, long day." I give her a smirk as she heads to the door, but I think we both know it's not a real one.