The 175th Hunger Games

Backstory

"'We could do it, you know,' Gale says quietly.

'What?' I ask.

'Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it,' says Gale."

At first, I don't know how to respond. The idea sounds preposterous.

'Well, maybe not forever, but we could stay out a little bit later than usual?' I respond, sheepishly.

Gale stands up and grabs my hand, and we walk off into the woods. We walk in silence for a few yards, just trying to relax. Then we hear a noise. The sound of a hovercraft approaching.

'Katniss, hide! Quickly, come on!'

Gale and I quickly run towards some rocks that we might be able to hide behind, but it's too late. The hovercraft sends down nets to grab us and haul us into the cargo bay, like animals.

Reaping day passes. The Capitol has turned me and Gale into Avoxes. We're in custody in a room together, and they gave us a TV. The Tribute Parade is on, and I don't pay any attention to it until I hear Gale gasp from beside me. The District Twelve chariot just came into view. On that chariot, are two figures in costumes that look like they're on fire. As the camera gets closer, I recognize the female tribute. It's Prim.

We are forced to stay in the same room for the entirety of the games.  I'm sure they would have been physically torturing us if they didn't know how much pain it was causing us to watch my little sister go through the horrors of the games.  During the interviews, Prim was wearing this cute little red sundress that looked like it was a crackling fire towards the bottom, and was trying to put in a brave face but I knew better.  She was terrified.  The male tribute from District Twelve spent most of his time talking about some crush that he had back home, but I blocked out most of his speech.

When the Games started, Prim was able to grab a small bag before quickly running into the woods.  The boy from Twelve died during the bloodbath.  For the first few days, they didn't show Prim on TV at all, so I knew that she wasn't dead yet.  On the fourth day, she had a close call with the career pack, but was able to hide from them up in a tree.  There, she found Rue, the little girl from District Eleven, and made an alliance with her.  They stuck together for the next two days, somehow making it into the last seven tributes, before Cato and Clove of District Two found them.  It ended quickly.

Cato and Clove had by then killed almost everyone out of the Career pack, but the District Four girl was able to run away.  The three of them, plus the District Eleven boy and the girl from District Five, who honestly looked like a fox, were the last five left.  Thresh and District Four were both killed by mutts, and Cato killed Foxface and Clove in a battle on top of the Cornucopia.  I may have been seeing things, but Cato actually seemed sad that he had to kill his District partner.

After the games, they began our "training", which consisted of round after round of beatings, with a bit of mopping and dishwashing sprinkled in to keep us useful.  They broke us.  Then they separated us.  I was sent to work in the President's Mansion, and Gale was sent to work in the Training Center to clean the District Seven floor.  I worked for President Snow, then when he died I worked for his granddaughter, Celestia.  She had her only daughter, Camilla, the year of the 103rd Hunger Games, who was raised to become the next president.  I continued working until I died, shortly after Camilla was sworn in as President.

*47 years after Camilla becomes the President is the 175th Hunger Games.  This is where our story begins.*