The Famine Games

Chapter 1

Grace had read about The Hunger Games when she was young. Heck, she even dressed up as Katniss for spirit week at school. But, never in her life had she imagined that they were real. And they were even worse in real life.

They were The Famine Games.

Now Grace had thought this was a joke. In fact, everyone else did. But on July 10th, 2017, a bomb hit the Human Rights Museum, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Grace's hometown. The bomb came from Donald Trump, President of the United States, after Canada had invaded America and taken down the wall bordering Mexico and the U.S. Canada believed that the Mexicans shouldn't be discriminated, and that they should have an equal chance to a better lifestyle.

After that bomb came one more, another, and another, until the entire world teamed up against the United States. Unfortunately, they all lost. They lost so much, so many. So Canada and the United States decided to have a compromise to end the war. If the United States agreed to fix all of the damage that was caused during the bombings, then Canada would send 24 tributes into an arena to fight for their lives every year. To kill or be killed. The idea had come from The Hunger Games. Sadly, the name was copyrighted, so they changed it to The Famine Games. And they were just as bad, if not worse.

The tributes were to be chosen from one capital city of Canada each year. This year, they were to be from Winnipeg. The rules of The Famine Games were exactly the same as in the book. 24 tributes were to enter, 12 girls and 12 boys. Anyone ages 11-17 could be reaped from the glass bowl. 1 victor was to win.

So, on July 10th, 2020, exactly 3 years since the bomb had exploded, the tributes names were drawn in Winnipeg. Erica Pflug was the one to draw for names. Unlike in the story, she didn't wear ridiculous hair pieces and bright clothing. She was wearing a black pencil skirt, and a grey top, with black tights and black flats. Her blonde hair had been tied back into a ponytail, and her face was a combination of frightened and sympathetic. She knew all of the candidates, as she taught most of them. And now she was to choose who had to go and kill other people to live.

"I will choose the 12 girls now" she said, her voice quivering. Gently, she placed her hand and picked up 12 ballots.

Grace shut her eyes tight, and held her best friends Lauren, Sparshita, and Lucy's hands. She was terrified, the thought of fighting against any of her friends crushed her.

"Lauren McIlroy, Ananya Sharma, Taruna Daya, Lucy Li, Sparshita Mishra, Jennifer Simcoe, Isabella Pewarchuk, Sabrina Brown, Grace Perrault, Mirella DeNardi, Amy Kong and Grace Harding."

With every name came a cry of sadness, and gasp of relief. Grace and her friends stepped onto the stage, and she spotted her little brother crying into the shoulder of her mother. Her mother just looked shocked, and Grace completely understood. It's not like your child gets chosen for the Famine Games every day.

Before Ms. Pflug could proceed, 2 voices rang out.

"I volunteer as tribute!" both of the voices screamed. 

They belonged to Blair and Liam, who've had a lifelong rivalry over who gets Grace.

"Go back guys, I'd rather fight for myself than have you idiots fight for me," she answered, unimpressed. 

With sunken shoulders, they returned to their seats.

"I will now choose the 12 male tributes."

"Xander Hudyma Yu, Vishwa Srinivasan, Eagle Wei, Liam Tran, Blair Hamilton, James Heimbecker, Yusuf Yildir, Evan Eng, Sahil Mittal, Andrew Tischenko, Aidin Keshavarsi, and Noah Cunningham."

Unlike when the girls were picked, the 12 tributes looked confident and not worried at all. 

They didn't know what was coming for them.

Once the reaping was over, the 24  tributes gathered in one room to meet each other. Not that they were strangers; they were classmates. It was a coincidence that they were all chosen. An unusual one. Grace was curious; was this a plan? To pit people that knew each other against each other? She knew this definitely was staged. The problem is, by who?