The Hunger Games - The Modern Version

Rose Gardens and Reapings

Bleville, the Head Gamemaker sits anxiously on the ornate stone bench in the President's personal rose garden. Being a regular Gamemaker for the past three years, he witnessed the appointments, and then deaths of the ex-Head Gamemakers who angered President Snow. Seneca Crane was executed with poisoned berries, but Plutarch Heavensbee ironically starved to death in an old abandoned arena after not finding any food among the wilting plants. He never liked any of them, so he didn't really care, but Bleville Towers is determined not to follow the same path.

He discreetly wipes the sweat from his forehead. Cameras are definetly around here and recording him. Bleville spots a young rose bud in a nearby bush, just within arms reach. He reaches out to it, and begins stroking the tender petals. Behind him, the dictator of Panem appears. " Beautiful, isn't it?" he asks in that famous, but hated, and even more feared voice. With a start, Bleville's fingers jerk and scrape across a thorn. Bleville pulls his hand back and wipes it on his handkerchief.

" It, is indeed, President Snow" Bleville says with a forced smile. The President sits down beside him, not close enough to cause too much discomfort, but at a distance that could easily turn anxious and dangerous for Bleville. He takes out a pair of dainty looking scissors and reaches out to the bud.

" I've had an idea for this year's Games" says Snow.

" What is it you suggest?" asks Bleville politely. More like demands, he silently adds.

" I've had an idea this morning as I watched most of the District 13 children get executed. The remaining 10 or so will be turned into avoxes" say Snow as he positions the scissors around the neck of the bud. " Those children had no say in the rebellion, had never once had their names in the reaping, and were not even part of the districts. Yet most of them ended up dead" he says as he clips the rose of the word dead.

" Why do we keep taking children from the districts and making those ungrateful brats the victors?" asks the President. The snarl on brats made Bleville feel even more anxious. " Why not take children from the outside?"

Bleville has no proper reply to this. From the outside?

" But sir," he starts. " Our hovercraft searches have been unsuccesful. No living adults, let alone children, have been sighted. There are no signs of life, and all the cities must have burned to dust centuries ago"

" I do not mean from the outside in our time" says the President, sounding somewhat annoyed. " Tell me Bleville, how is the Time Exploration project coming along?"

The Time Exploration project aimed to induce drugs into an individual, and then transport them back in time, to maybe explore the fall of North America, as it was called, and maybe even kill Katniss Everdeen before she could incite the rebellion. It was only succesful to an extent.

" We cannot yet transport the subject (mostly Capitol volunteers at this stage) to just a few years ago, but we can transport them to the 21st century and before" Bleville answers like a good student.

" Get the children from there then. Somewhere outside North America maybe. Make sure there are two boys and two girls" commands the President.

" Yes, sir"

" And, Towers?"

" Yes?"

" Make sure the Games are a success, or start planning your funeral"

London, 21st Century, Hilly Fields Park

Alison is hiding behind a tree watching this guy walk his monkey (yes, this is London, some people own monkeys). Some call it stalking, but she prefers the word admiring. His name is Jordan Learner. He was always learning new ways to be cute. At least that's what Alison said. He went to our school, but he mostly ignored Alison. I look down the tree.

"Dude, oh my gosh, look at him stroke his monkey's back!" Alison said up into the tree.

"Dude...look at him...he's so much hotter than Peeta or Gale..." Alison said dreamily as she leaned against the tree.

"Dude, stop lying...and is your pretend boyfriend having public sex with that monkey or something? He's getting really deep in the fur" I call down below.

"Dude, I wanna go talk to him. I'll run down in the bushes and start jogging on the path like I'm working out or something" She said.

"Dude, you're gonna pass out running too long. You're fat man" I call down. "I AM NOT!" She says defiantly. Then to prove it, she goes jumping in the bushes, keeping her eyes open for insects of any kind, except butterflies, butterflies are fine. She crawl the 200 metres and then wriggles out.

When she's like in his hearing range she makes these exaggerated panting sounds, like after you eat too much food and you're just gasping for any oxygen to get past all the fries. Jordan still has his back to her and keeps petting the monkey, oblivious to her. So she starts jogging slower and 'accidentally' unties her shoelace. " DAMN! MY SHOELACE IS UNTIED!" She say a little too loudly.

Jordan turns around with Ginger gawking at her. "Aw, cute monkey!" She says. "You're...Jordan right?"

"Yeah, Alison, I know Ginger is cute and smart. You know what isn't cute or smart? Spying on me when I walk my monkey" Jordan says with a look of boredom on his face.

She walks towards me . " Dude screw him" I say. " Wow you saw everything?" She asks, peering up the tree.

"Dude Jordan's a jerk. Screw him" I repeats as I hop down and we start walking to the park exit.

"Dude, guess what, there have been people in Peacekeeper uniforms spotted around here. The London fans posted it on Facebook just now" I say.

"Awesome! Where?!"

"Around the city actually! They're like, everywhere!"

"I hope we see some!"

Almost instantly, our wish is granted. Four people in Peacekeeper uniforms block the exit to the park. There's just the six of us, which is weird. "Awesome cosplay" I say to them. "It's not cosplay. Come with us, there's a little something for all the potential tributes in the center of the park" one says.

"No, we're actu-"

"Come with us. Don't make us use these. They aren't toy guns"

"I am a black belt. I can knock that crap of plastic away-"

BAM! Oh man, they're real...

They grab our arms and walk along with two of them leading and two of them behind us, a little too close to us. "Hey!" Alison shouts. I try to kick one of them, but it just hits their armor and hurts my foot. "OW!"

Two park groundskeepers spot us and come running to help us. "Hey! Leave those kids alone! We'll call the-"

BAM! BAM!

The groundskeepers fall dead with holes blown in them. Me and Tristine scream at the sight of it. They just shot a guy in LONDON. How did they even get guns?! You can't buy guns in London like you can in the States! Two peacekeepers aim at us. "Don't make us kill you too" one says.

The rest of the walk is quiet. After around 10 minutes, we arrive at a group of about hundered and twenty or so scared kids standing infront of a temporary stage. Two glass balls stand on either side. The Reaping.

How is this even happening? The Hunger Games is a book! And yet we're at a real reaping...

"Write your names here" one says and hands us two pieces of paper each, ignoring the scared kids who stand with armed Peacekeepers surrounding them. We write our names and have to pin one to our shirt and the other is taken to the girls' glass ball. Of course. They don't want anyone writing fake names on the slips.

More kids arrive in twos or threes with at least two Peacekeepers for each child. I notice only teenagers are present here, no young children or 19 year olds are present. Just like the Reaping.

Suddenly a woman in a gold and blue suit steps onto the stage. Her makeup is done like Lady Gaga and she's skinnier than me. She smiles cheerily and says:

"Welcome to the Reaping for the 76th Annual Hunger Games! May the Odds be Ever in Your Favour!"