Heart of Darkness: the Forty-Fourth Hunger Games

Chapter 3

Shinju is... special, to say the least, so discretion is advised.

Jack Balt- 17

There were a lot of ways to win the Games. Last year Blake won in the most common way: she was the strongest of the trained Tributes. She used a mix of strong allies, trickery, and just plain fighting skills in order to get out of the Arena. That was always going to be the most popular way, and we in Three didn't have much chance of that.

Other than training from birth, the most common way to win the Games was a combination of luck and basic ability. Most of the other Victors were in the right place at the right time and had the right skills for that moment. Most Tributes tried to play up the "intelligent" angle, whether or not they were. In that area, we had a monopoly.

Not that we actually were the smartest. People just immediately assumed we were. They saw us get Reaped and straight away they thought we'd go into the Arena and make a nuclear bomb out of a couple of sticks. One would think they'd start to second-guess themselves when year after year passed and there were still only three Victors from Three. All of them did win by being smart, but three Victors out of eighty-eight Tributes was not statistically significant. But then, the dead Tributes didn't count as people in the eyes of most of the audience.

Three was the "smart" District. Sure, a lot of us were smart, but we had just as many dumb bunnies as anywhere else. We didn't sit around all day discussing theoretical physics and teleporting things with our oversized brains. It wasn't some paradise here held together by genius inventions and pure brainpower. Most of us worked just as hard in jobs just as drudgerous as any other District. I, for example, worked in the cobalt mines. Most mines were in Two or Twelve, but only Three used cobalt in any volume. If we were really a valuable District, the Capitol would have sent that to us. We got it on our own, since the Capitol only cared about what we could make.

I was smart enough, but I didn't want that to be what made me stand out. I tried anything else I could think of- anything that would set me apart. I tried athletics, which was so underdeveloped in Three that I gave up. I tried art, which didn't work out very well. About the only thing I hadn't tried was comedy, because that was outside my ability. At least I had more muscles than the stereotypical Three nerd. Chunks of cobalt ore were heavy.

When the escort called my name, it proved we weren't anything special. They said we were smart, but we weren't smart enough to get out of being Reaped. They said we knew how to get out of anything. They couldn't have been more wrong. Every year, two of us got Reaped, and every year but three, both of us died.

Shinju Mashushita- 18

Vampires never die. They could keep killing people as long as they wanted. It wasn't fair so many people got to be alive when mine died and left me in loveless, dark orphanage. It wasn't fair that I wasn't smart like everyone else and that I got picked on and teased by everyone else. I wanted to make them pay, but it took me years to figure out how.

I finally found my answer in a dusty old book hidden in a box of District castoffs generously given to the orphanage when the library didn't want them any more. I saw a picture of a pale monster that looked so much like me. She was biting someone and there was blood everywhere. That was the moment I found what I always wanted to be.

The next night, I tasted blood for the first time. I'd cut my lip before in my life, but this was the first real time. I found the thinnest patch of skin on my arm and pressed my teeth into it until they broke through and a tiny bit of blood seeped into my mouth. I let it sit on my tongue and I savored the taste, trying to remember everything I could about it. It was strong and thick and tasted coppery, like a battery. It was warm and it felt full of life. It was my life, but I wanted someone else's. I wanted thus forever.

The book wasn't clear on how to become a vampire. There were all sorts of different vampires and each seemed to have gotten there a different way. Some came from ancient legends and might have been called demons where they came from. Others had some sort of plague, and I was less interested in those. They weren't as special. Others were cursed or committed some horrible sin. That was the one that caught my eye. Curses and demons were just stories, but sins I could do. I wondered how many it would take. Whatever the number, I would get there.

I started small with the others. A few weeks later, one of the other girls found a dead rat and dangled it in front of my face while I was in bed. I acted like I was just surprised when I lashed out and scratched her arm. They told the headmistress and I was sent to the detention room as punishment. As soon as I was alone, I licked the blood out from under my nails. The other girl tasted different than me. I wondered if we all tasted different.

It was night when I made my first kill. I'd been planning it for months. It had to be at night, because that was when vampires always killed. I wasn't one yet, but I wanted to be ready when I changed. I knew one of the other girls snuck out at night to be with one of the boys from the males' orphanage. I followed her out into the dark alleys that led to the other building and stuck a knife from the kitchen into the back of her head. It wasn't as quick as I was hoping for, but I didn't have to worry. People screamed in the night sometimes in alleys.

She lay dying as I licked her blood off my hands. I was glad I was quick enough to get it while she was still alive. I could taste the life in the blood. I'd hoped I might change right away, but it didn't happen. Other than my heart, my body was still warm. I'd have to kill more. Someday it would be enough.

Both Jack and Shinju have Asian features. Jack is more muscular and they're about the same height. Shinju is way creepier looking. From the description, I'd hazard a guess she looks like Sadako from The Ring.

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So far, I have a page for Victors plus a page for Orchard and for Paul. I'm working on more now. I think everyone can add, since it's public, so everyone can go ahead and make pages for their characters or whatever else they want to.