Berries of Revenge - A Hunger Games FanFiction (Wattys2014)

1. President Snow

"President Snow would like to see you now." A solider delivered the message to a group of children, men and women. They all took deep breaths and made their way down the hallway.

They pushed open the doors and found themselves in a giant room. Their immediate thought was of the pungent smell of a mix of blood and roses. Some of the older members of the group gagged on the smell.

The entire wall at the back of the room was filled with a window. You could see for miles, although the view wasn't very pleasant. It was just miles and miles of ruins and dirt, caused by an uprising that was led by Katniss Everdeen.

In the centre of the room there was a mahogany table. It was the only piece of furniture in the whole room which most of the kids, who had been brought up in poor families, thought was a waste.

At the table sat a man with a white, thick bead and wispy white hair. His eyes look almost snake- like, as were most of his facial features. Pinned to his jacket was a white rose, his trademark.

The group make their way nervously towards the table. As they did Snow smiled savagely, making some of the younger kids falter in their steps.

"It's good to see you alive and well again." President Snow said once the group was in front of the table. He surveyed them, calculating which would be the most useful to him for his revenge mission.

"Especially you Rue, Mags, Finnick, Cinna and of course Primrose." He locked eyes with each person as he said their name. He's eyes lingered on Prim's longer than the others, which made her nervous.

"I thought Katniss would have killed you by now?" Cinna was the first to voice the question the whole group was thinking, as always.

"Ah, if I tell you now that takes away all my fun. But I will tell you about my death. When Katniss decided to kill President Coin instead of me, there was quite a scuffle. So I was able to escape unnoticed and come here." explained Snow. Cinna snarled but did not say anything else. Snow smiled mockingly and continued toying with them.

"You all were doomed to a fate of death, were you not?" There was murmured agreement from the group. "So how do you think you are all here right now?" He raised a mocking eyebrow.

Within the group there were some confused faces and quizzical comments. The only one who actually said anything directly to Snow was Prim. "I think that you had something, possibly everything, to do with it."

Snow smiled "Very intuitive Primrose, much like your sister." There was a dark tone in his voice when he said 'sister'. Prim felt a rush of happiness go through her at the thought of her being compared to her sister. She loved her sister and would do anything to be as brave as her.

"When most of you died in the Hunger Games I had you brought back to me so I could use you somehow. At the beginning of the 74th Hunger Games I didn't know what Katniss Everdeen was going to go but I knew it would be something, just by the way she performed in her evaluation."

He remembered the evaluation vividly. She was showing the Gamemakers her skill of archery. She missed the first time because she was nervous. All of the Gamemakers then ceased to watch because they thought it would be a waste of time. Out of frustration Katniss sent an arrow through an apple that was near the Gamemakers, which startled them.

Of course, President Snow wasn't there, it would be too risky, but he had been sent a tape of all the proceedings to watch in the safety of his office. He disapproved of the score that they gave Katniss because he thought that it would make her think she could do anything. He was correct.

"Toward the end of the games, when Foxface was killed by the berries," Foxface squirmed uncomfortably, "I was getting worried that Katniss was going to defy the capital, so I began to research the berries. I found that if I made a liquid with the right chemical in it, and put it into the berries, it would react with the chemical inside the berries, and it would make the berries have the power to bring the dead back to life."

There was a surprised and rather impressed murmur from the group. Wiress seemed especially enthralled, with what he had explained about the berries. It is extremely hard to make something have the power to bring the dead back to life, thought Wiress, but somehow he's done it.

"I used the berries on all 22 of the dead tributes to bring them back and make an army out of them." There were shocked faces on almost all of the group's faces, except for Finnick and Cinna who had a disgusted look in their eyes. They didn't say anything just in case if they did, they would be tortured.

Snow continued "There was a small side-effect, actually two side-effects. One, you all came back stronger than you were before," the careers in the pack all smiled widely. Some even flexed their muscles, trying to be intimating, "and two, that you lost most of your common sense when it comes to telling what is right and what is wrong."

Within the crowd there were a few confused faces, most though had dark, angry looks in their eyes. Rue and Thresh looked absolutely appalled at what he had told them. Foxface looked happy and angry at the same time, happy that she was stronger, angry that she would have lost her common sense. The careers all just looked confused, some still flexing muscles.

"I did the same thing to all of the tributes from the 75th Hunger games too." Snow was smiling mercilessly. Mags and Wirees just stood there in disbelief. Wiress had lost most of her craziness thanks to the berries, but her already altered judgement was now even worse than before.

"What about us?" chanted Cinna, Finnick and Primrose in unison.

President Snow smiled, "You three were special cases. Cinna, I saved you from your attackers, you were dead but I used the same berries on you as I did for the tributes. Finnick, you were slightly more difficult. I had to re-attach some of your body parts then use an enhanced version of the berries, that took even longer to perfect than the other berries, just to bring you back to the living. You unfortunately still have you free will so you are going to be my biggest challenge."

Finnick's eyes gleamed. I still have my free will. I might be able to bring this down from the inside.

"And Primrose Everdeen," Snow was smiling spitefully at her, "You were even more difficult. Because President Coin along with Gale Hawthrone and Beetee Latier were the ones who actually caused your death, they designed the bombs, it took me a great deal of time to even find your dead body." Prim shuddered. She didn't want to hear the gory details, yet she wanted to know what had happened.

"Once your body had been found it was brought to me. I used the enhanced version of the berries on you because of the burns from the bomb. You, like Finnick, still have your judgement. But you are going to be the most useful person for the mission I am giving all of you." Primrose dreaded what he was going to use her for, but at least she might be able to destroy this mission from the inside with Finnick.

The careers were squirming excitedly at the thought of a mission. They loved hurting or maiming people. "Your mission," Snow paused with suspense, "is to destroy Katniss Everdeen and her family."

A cheer erupted from the careers. They hooted and yelled with glee. Primrose stood frozen to the spot, He wants me to destroy my own sister?

And so begins Berries of Revenge... I really hope everyone enjoys this story! It means the world to me, this story and you guys taking the time to read it! Really it does!