Chapter 8

Third person point of view:

President Carson stood in his room within the President's Mansion. He was watching the replay of the tributes interviews. The look on his face to an outside observer would have been interest and curiosity, but that was contrary to what was actually going on inside of his mind...he hated them. To him the tributes were disgusting, they were rebels who want to stir up trouble. He wanted them to suffer.

At the end of the war he was not President. At the time he was the Head Peacekeeper of the Capitol, and he had fought against the rebels on the front line. His deeds in battle, in what Capitol history deems as, he was a hero to the people, a soldier, and he was sane during times of war, but at the end of the war he became paranoid. The 12 districts of Panem offered labor and resources to provide the Capitol with a 'free enterprise system'. He loved the people of the Capitol. They were the very people who's freedom he had fought for. And they in turn loved him. Though he had plotted and schemed his way into power in the short time after the Hunger Games had began he became President, but unfortunately he was not involved in the creation of the Hunger Games, his predecessor and his associates created the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games were intended to be a punishment that the people of the districts had to endure, but he was not satisfied, the children dread going to the reapings until they're 19 where they're then in the clear, and then they dread their children going to the reapings. 23 children die each year in the arena with the hope that they can go home and live in a big mansion with a lifetime supply of money; the idea sickened him, and how is that a punishment? But then of course it was in black and white in the Treaty of Treason. The Treaty of Treason said that the winner of the Hunger Games would be bathed in riches as a symbol of the Capitol's generosity and forgiveness. But his psychotic insane mind told him, 'why should the Capitol be generous and forgiving to the rebels?' He was still infuriated at the very idea that they chose to rebel during the Dark Days to begin with, and it infuriated him even more that the Capitol was being targeted with nuclear weapons by District 13 at that very moment around-the-clock, and he has to leave District 13 alone or else they will open fire. He wondered if there was some way to retake District 13? He couldn't think of anything, and the idea of it drove him mad.

There was a knock at his door and then a moment later his polite and humble servant stepped into the room, kept his head bowed, and his eyes on the President's feet.

"Mr. President, I apologize for the interruption, but your chief adviser is here." said the servant.

"Send him in." said President Carson.

In came a finely dressed man with a goatee, long black hair slicked back, and a white rose in his lapel on the front of the suit.

"Coriolanus," said President Carson happily. "It is good to see you my friend."

"It is good to see you to Abraham." said Coriolanus.

Coriolanus Snow was President Carson's most trusted adviser and President Carson's very best friend.

Coriolanus Snow was a political genius, and over the years had helped President Carson bring in many new legal and political reforms that had caused the Capitol to prosper even more.

Snow turned his attention to the television screen which he realized President Carson was watching the replay of the interviews continue to go on.

"Pathetic aren't they Coriolanus?" said President Carson.

"I agree." said Snow.

"The moment that they become a victors they become an abomination to everything that the suffering of the districts is supposed to stand for." he said in irritation.

"I assume that you have some kind of plan on this account?" said Snow.

"Yes, we must eliminate the Hunger Games and make the people of the districts suffer even more. Because they deserve it."

Coriolanus Snow did not agree with this, he knew that the President was out of his mind and such action was only going to cause the people of the districts to get angry and possibly risk their lives on another rebellion which could destroy the country. Coriolanus Snow feared this war more than anything, he knew that the districts had to be kept in line for the sake of the high lifestyle and peace that the people of the Capitol live in. He could tell that the President was not seeing reason and his psychotic hatred of the people of the districts was going to destroy them all. Snow knew that the President had to be removed from office.

"I don't mean to sound negative Abraham," said Snow, "but there is nothing that we can do about it. The Hunger Games were created by your predecessor. He and the high-ranking officials of the Capitol at the time wrote the Treaty of Treason. The Treaty of treason is legal, binding, and completely unbreakable."

"Then we shall need to get rid of the Treaty of Treason." said President Carson with a devious gleam in his eye as though to state the obvious solution.

"We can't just get rid of the Treaty of Treason." said Snow cautioning his President.

"We can," reassured President Carson, "if the Districts rebel first, and we act in self defense. The Treaty of Treason will then go null and void, and then when we restore order we can get rid of the Hunger Games and instil a punishment on the Districts that would make them really suffer."

"But for right now the people of the districts are behaving in-line because they fear us. As long as they are behaving in-line then they are not going to rebel which is the whole point of the current system."

"That is not good enough." said President Carson in his crazy and insane state. "Who says that we need the people of the districts to rebel on their own?"

"What do you mean?" asked Snow.

"We could orchestrate the Districts rebellion ourselves. Everyone will think that the Districts rebellion was real and then when we restore order we would have the pretense of legal grounds to completely rewrite the Treaty of Treason to the way we want it with a new harsher punishment that is even worse than the Hunger Games, and because the Districts had rebelled we make it look like it is reasonable on our part."

In that moment, Snow knew that his President and friend had lost his mind. If the Districts rebelled at all, ever again, it would drive the Capitol's free-enterprise system into chaos. This was not the first time that the President had behaved irrationally like this, and it had been growing steadily worse over time, Coriolanus Snow then made a decision then and there that President Carson must be removed from office before he could put this insane plan into action. Snow would need to be subtle about this though, he had a plan, he would poison the President at a party and he would cleverly deflect the suspicion from himself. He had done it many times before. In the meantime though he would have to pretend to go along with his President's crazy plan to deflect any suspicion that the President might have with him at that moment.

"If you will allow me to draw up such a plan then I think I can make it work our advantage." said Snow encouragingly.

President Carson smiled at Snow's words.

"I knew that I could count on you." said President Carson, pleased.

The next morning

Beetee's point of view:

Sora and Myra interrupted my sleep by coming into my room and shaking my shoulder.

"Beetee, it's time." said Sora as I got out of bed.

Myra was wearing a revealing two piece leotard, which was conservative by her clothing standard.

"Get dressed in something generic." said Myra. "You will be given, by the Gamemakers, clothes advantageous for the arena when we get to the arena. And no breakfast right now. You will be given food both on the hovercraft and at the catacombs of the arena."

I felt nervous and dizzy at the idea of what was about to happen. I quickly got dressed while they waited outside the door. I came outside the door and they led me to the elevators and up to the roof where a hovercraft was waiting.

I was about to walk towards the hovercraft when Sora took my shoulder.

"Remember everything I told you?" asked Sora with a serious voice.

I have a photographic memory, I can recite everything she said word for word.

"Get away from the bloodbath, find water, find shelter, find a long sharp weapon, go for the throat, don't hesitate." I said very fast in one breath, keeping to just the essentials.

She nodded in approval, and put her hands on my shoulders.

"You are ready!" she said matter of factly with determination. "I'll try and get you sponsors, but other than that, once you're in the arena you're on your own."

She scrutinized me for a few more seconds with a look on her face as though trying to choose the right words.

"You're the best tribute I ever mentored." she told me with emotion and then shook my hand. "Until we meet again."

I noticed her careful choice of words; She didn't wish me good luck, she didn't hope for the best - but rather she spoke in words that she was sure of my definite return. She believes in me, and has a lot of confidence in me.

We parted ways. An armed Peacekeeper led me and Myra over to the hovercraft. When we got on board a man in a white lab-coat injected my arm with a syringe with a long thick injection needle.

"You're tracker." he said matter of factly.

I knew what it was, I saw the schematics for the trackers in the lab at the factory back home in District 3. Remarkable devices, really. They are a short range GPS transmitter that monitors the body's vital-signs and are powered by drawing electricity directly from the human body.

I ate a hot meal, and then waited.

2 hours later we arrived at our destination. We exited the hovercraft. I realize that we were in a giant underground hanger in what must be the catacombs beneath the arena. We walked through several crisscrossing hallways until we arrived at a room which was what must be the launch-room. I showered and then Myra dressed me in the clothing that the Gamemakers had set out for me. I was offered some more food.

"Beetee," said Myra, "I just want to say good luck." she seemed neither confident of me or doubtfull of me, but just a neutral attitude on the matter.

"Thank you." I said in appreciation of the sentiment.

Once the Games start I would know what to do. Now I was just eager to begin. There was an alert from speakers in the room saying that it was 30 seconds to launch. Myra then directed me into the large glass tube in the corner of the room. I bravely walked into it. I had butterflies in my stomach. 'This is it,' I told myself, 'it all comes down to this.' The attractive woman in the two-piece leotard with cosmetic fish scales up and down her body nodded in encouragement and then I began to ascend up the tube.

I was in darkness for a few moments when the tube then arrived at the surface. It was daylight though it was overcast but not raining. The weather was warm for summer but not too hot. I looked around I saw all 23 of my fellow tributes around me in a circle surrounding the Cornucopia with a big pile of goodies of useful items at the mouth.

Then the voice of Caesar Flickerman boomed out of the sky from giant hidden speakers, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! LET THE 35TH HUNGER GAMES BEGIN! AND MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR!"

I then spotted a tool belt about 30 yards ahead of me near the mouth of the Cornucopia. The tool belt was full of a large variety of tools that would be useful for me. It's about another 40 seconds until the gong will sound. I look around and take in my surroundings. I see broken buildings everywhere, some of them look nearly intact but quite shabby, while others have big chunks of concrete and metal beams sticking out of the edges of big broken holes with broken windows, and rubble. If I can get my hands on the tool-belt and then escape the bloodbath, I can look through the building for some useful junk. I saw a few other items around me. I saw a clear transparent plastic bag with two apples off to the side. Right in front of me between the tool-belt and me was a backpack that could hold anything. There were a selection of weapons near the mouth of the Cornucopia, a sword or a spear would work for Sora's instructions. What am I doing? I should be thinking of running away from the fight, but I was going to chance it.

I did a quick calculation of where each of my individual opponents were standing and calculated where to go after I grab the tool-belt.

15 seconds...I positioned myself to run!

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... the gong sounded.