Chapter Text
48th Hunger Games - Bennet Drake - District 12
When his name is called during the reaping, Bennet simply sighs as the rest of the boys let out their breaths. He has no family and is near 17 so he knows no one will take his place. He walks slowly to the stage, a clear contrast to the female tribute, who cries when pried away from her family.
He thinks it’s very ironical that this is the first time on his life the odds seem to be on his favor.
He is an orphan from the poorest district with nothing to lose. His mother, if the people who raised him are to be trusted, was an alcoholic whore, his father unknown. So far, his life has been a convoluted mess of foster homes, street fights and digging graves at the local graveyard.
At least dying in the games will be faster.
Bennet is clearly unimpressed by the luxury of the Capitol. His stylist annoys him to death with her insistence of him being shirtless and covered in stupid black ink designs that take hours to make (even though he is clearly found of the lion headed woman on his forearm… she tells him it’s some ancient goddess. He doesn’t care).
On his first day at the training center, he feels that his luck begins to change.
The career boys decided to pick a fight with the kids from the “lesser” districts. When Maurice Linklater, the kid from 10, has his nose broken by the boy from two only because he was “staring”, a fire awakes inside him.
A new reaping almost has to take place amongst the boys from 1, given that the Capitol doctors nearly refused to send the boy to the games.
His interview is utterly dull. He was never a man of many words.
His private training session is a completely different matter.
A peacekeeper has to forcibly remove him from the punching bag he managed to make to shreds.He scores a 10 and knows it’s almost like he has a target drawn on his back.
The arena is a large wooded area. A creek sings somewhere in the distance.
It would be beautiful if he wasn’t there to die.
He runs from the bloodbath and takes a knife the girl from one carved on the back of the boy from 6. It will help him survive by finding food on the forest - not much different from what he did back on 12 when it was that or going to bed hungry - and hides at night.
He makes it out of the bloodbath. Then there are only 12 of them left. Then six. Then four - thanks to him. Then two.
It’s between him and the boy from 2. Jedediah Shine, he later learned. They have no weapons left, just brawls and fists.
Shine seems to be waiting for revenge. He beats him within an inch of his life and is nearly the victor. But the odds were in Bennet’s favor and his arrogant rival decided to brag too near of a cliff.
All it takes is a small push for District 12 to get its first victor.
It doesn’t feel like winning. At all.