Chapter Text
“And the male tribute for District 2 is a volunteer, Zanka Nijiku”
Zanka woke up gasping and trembling, covered in sweat from his nightmare.
It was the seventh time he’d had this exact same dream. He’s always had it on the same day. But this time he felt slightly different, relieved a little. He knew this was the last time. It was his last year as a candidate for a tribute in the Games.
—
The Sphere held the Hunger Games for the 49th time this year. Every year they selected one girl and one boy between ages twelve to eighteen from the twelve Ground’s districts for participating in vicious tournaments. It was a bloody tradition thanks to which the government kept control of the previously rebellious inhabitants. The empire of the Ground consisted of its ruling capital, the Sphere, and twelve Districts that submitted their power to the Sphere after a failed rebellion fifty years ago.
The Hunger Games was a powerful tool. A reminder. A warning. A necessary sacrifice. There was only one winner in the Games for each year. Defeat meant death.
Zanka was born into a powerful and wealthy family: the Nijikus of the 2nd District. His home was known for its military power. They were responsible for providing a strong army of soldiers for the Sphere who were called Peacekeepers, the Ground’s police force.
The 2nd was also a top district when it came to the games. They had the most winners. Most of the well-off children were sent into an academy that raised the future victors. They called it the Hell Guard Academy. The graduates from the Academy would volunteer to participate in the games. The volunteers were called Careers. The Careers were also common in other powerful districts, such as the 1st, the 5th and sometimes the 7th district. It was very rare to have any volunteers in games from other places. Those from the 2nd who didn’t end up participating in games benefited in the army with the set of additional, useful skills. Despite living in an obedient district, a nice career in the military provided comfortable living.
Zanka’s older siblings, Kyouka and Goka, both willingly took part in games when they were seventeen. They won in their respective years and brought honor to Nijikus family and their District. Zanka was also expected to volunteer at seventeen and win. There was no other path for him.
So it came as a big shock and surprise to everyone when he ran away from home a week before his first Reapings at twelve.
Fleeing his home seemed like the only reasonable option he had. He didn’t want to take part in the games. He didn’t want to kill anyone. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to become another ruthless member of his family.
So one day instead of going home after his lessons, he went to the forest, which was a natural border for the district, and took off. The forest was a dangerous place, he used to hear stories about people walking in there and never coming back.
Even so he preferred to vanish there for eternity rather than have anything to do with the Hunger Games. Although he didn’t even wander in the wilderness for too long before he stumbled upon a young tattooed man with a little girl.
—
Now at seventeen, Zanka was happily living with a different family. A family built of people that were kind to him and wished him every year he wouldn’t get reaped for the games instead of hearing from everyone that one day he will bring honor to everyone when he volunteers.
The man he had met in the forest was named Enjin. He was a smuggler from the 12th District and that day he was traversing the forest the day Zanka decided to flee. Enjin offered the troubled boy to come home with him and his adoptive daughter, Riyo, who had accompanied him that day. Anything was better than home. So Zanka agreed.
The man took him back to his home in the 12th District and introduced him to his partner Gris and the rest of the children the two adults had taken under their wings. Despite the 12th District having the nasty reputation of dealing with the waste from the whole country, Zanka never before in his life felt more at home than with them.
—
Today was his last Reapings. Next year he will be over the age limit, he will be free. He just wished destiny would stay kind to his sibling.
Zanka wasn’t the only found stray in that family.
Riyo, one year younger than him at sixteen, was also born outside the 12th district. Zanka didn’t know her story, she had never wanted to share it with him. That was okay. Whatever happened to her in the past didn’t matter anymore. Their home was a safe space. She was protected and loved here. Zanka only knew she and Enjin had known each other for a long time.
Shikage was the same age as Zanka and was the only child from the 12th district. He was a sickly boy, mainly having problems with his respiratory system. He couldn’t work. Medicine and food were expensive. His biological family made a decision to throw him out of the house. No surprise, Enjin and Gris took him in.
Rudo, a fifteen year old albino kid who was discarded from the Sphere. Enjin appeared at their doorsteps just a few months ago with him, not saying why Rudo was with him. The young boy also held his secret to himself. Despite not living with them for too long and not revealing why he was thrown out, he was already loved by everyone in the household. It was hard to imagine him not being with them.
And lastly but not least, Follo. He was nineteen, so he was safe from the Games. He was already working full time with trash, like most of the adults from 12th. He was from the 11th district. Just like Zanka, he also ran away from home. It happened two years ago, after his closest friends both died in the games in the same year. It was Gris that found Follo wandering alone by the trash piles and took him home.
Zanka’s whole family shared their living space with the family of Enjin’s closest friend, Bro Santa. The 12th District was poor and people died frequently. Air pollution from working in trash piles was the most common cause of death. Nuclear families or just unrelated people living in the same house weren’t anything out of the ordinary.
Bro was thirty-five, he worked in the same place as Gris in the waste sorting facility. His wife passed away four years ago. Polluted air took her away. Her younger sister, twenty-one year old Tomme, lived with them. Bro had two children of his own, fourteen year old Guita and twelve year old Dear.
This year was Zanka’s last year in the reaping, but was the first year for Dear. This year it was possible for all of them, besides Tomme and Follo, to be reaped. Enjin always used to say they were going to be fine. To trust his intuition. He promised them they would all be okay.
—
The morning wasn’t anything different than usual. Enjin didn’t want his children to treat the Games as something special so he asked them to act as they usually did. It would be just a normal day for them. Except dressing up more formally and taking part in The Reapings at noon, everything else happened in the same way.
As Zanka got up, he felt the small feeling of happiness starting to blossom in his heart. His last reapings. He simply didn’t believe he could be picked. He was certain of it. There was no way.
He gathered his things and quickly got ready in the bathroom. When he approached the kitchen, he saw Shikage, Riyo, Rudo and Guita spying by the door. He was about to ask what they were doing out there but a sudden crash of a broken plate stopped him.
“Oh, okay, now you’re mister fucking mature and you’re throwing the dishes! Congratulations Gris, you’re contributing to your own fucking work by creating more trash!”
“Eat shit, Enjin! Get lost!”
“Well this is my house, I paid for everything in it, including that fucking broken plate. And guess what! I also paid for this one!”
Another sound of smashed glass broke through the air.
“Enjin!”
Another one.
“Enjin, stop! Get out of here!
“Oh?! Get out of here?! First you ask me where I am the whole fucking time and now I need to get out?!
“Enjin, please-” Gris pleaded in a small voice, completely defeated. “ …It’s for the kids. Please, let them eat breakfast. Forget about me and what I said. You know what day it is. Let them eat breakfast.”
Complete silence filled the air. For a minute nothing had happened. Then came a sound of loud footsteps and a slam of kitchen backdoors.
It wasn’t the first time Zanka saw Enjin and Gris arguing. But it was the first time he saw them arguing in the middle of the day and in the middle of the house.
Usually they would be fighting with hushed voices late at night. It happened every time Enjin came back home way too late. Zanka discovered their strained relationship by accident. One night he was sneaking out to get some beer with Follo and his friends when both of them witnessed the fight. Zanka wished they never did.
Enjin and Gris always presented themselves to the children with a strong and loving relationship. They provided safe space, they were kind, they were good providers. Zanka didn’t know what possible past traumas or events determined for both of them to choose the lifestyle they had while being so young. Gris was thirty and Enjin was only twenty-eight. Yet they didn’t hesitate to create a home for lost teenagers and devote their life for the hopeless children.
“Okay, what the hell was that?” Rudo’s whisper who broke the silence. Riyo and Shikage exchanged sad and knowing looks. Guita mumbled something about checking on her dad and brother and ran off from the hallway.
Zanka sighed and ruffled Rudo’s hair.
“Hey, let’s prepare something to eat for everybody and focus on getting ready for later? And we can discuss everything during dinner time. How does it sound, little brat?” Rudo whined on hating this nickname but complied with Zanka’s request.
The kids waited for Gris to clean up in the kitchen, they didn’t want him to know they witnessed the fight. Although, they were pretty sure he knew they knew. This house sometimes operated on little secrets but for the sake of everyone’s peace all of them pretended it was fine.
Nobody saw what price they all would have to pay for them.
—
Most of the district’s residents have gathered in the Main Square by noon. The sky was cloudy, the sun barely visible through polluted haze. Parents and children. Families and orphans. Only those severely traumatized by the Games were absent. The guards allowed that.
What was unusual this year was that Enjin was still nowhere to be seen. His absence took the biggest toll on Gris, who never wanted to show for his kids how nervous he was during every Reapings, but today it was impossible for him to hide all of the stress accumulated from the morning’s incident. Bro sensed the tension so he decided to be the one responsible for lifting the mood this year. He was assuring everyone it was going to be fine. Usually that was Enjin’s role.
—
Besides one man’s absence, everything else happened as usual.
The greetings. The hymn. The propaganda video.
The mention of rebellion. Of the defeat. Of the murdered children of the 12th district in the Hunger Games. Of the only one victor from the 12th District. Of the reminder that all external children between aged 12 to 18 had to take part in the Reaping in 12th.
And as always, they were reminded that the odds might be in their favour.
Just like every year, the announcer read out the card with a male tribute’s name first. At that moment the crowd went dead silent. No one dared to move. Even the wind stopped blowing and the birds went quiet.
Zanka’s eyes widened in shock, after hearing who had been reaped.
‘No. No, no. Not him.’
Then there was a small movement in the group of the youngest boys.
‘No. Not my family. This is wrong–’
Dear’s face was emotionless at first. He straightened his posture and started slowly walking in the direction of the stage. He tried the best he could to stay calm but everyone could see him starting to shake more and more. After five steps he stumbled over a small rock and fell to the ground with a cry, losing all the confidence he seemed to have gathered a few seconds ago. No one moved to help him, no one made a single sound.
Zanka looked around. Riyo’s face was stoic, he couldn't guess what she was thinking. Guita was trembling and she was holding her face in her hands, blocking herself from everything that was going on around her.
In front of him Rudo was clenching his gloved fist and violently shaking from rage. Zanka heard a quiet sniffle on his right. It was Shikage, he started quietly crying while trying to hide even deeper under his hood than usual.
Zanka turned his gaze to the spectator's section. He recognized the look on Bro’s face. It was the same one he had during his wife’s funeral. From his two sides, Tomme and Gris put their hands on his shoulders. It was a gesture of comfort but it was powerless. Useless. Both Tomme and Gris didn't look any better. Follo stood there for a while, shock painting his face, before he turned around and bolted. There was still no sight of Enjin in the crowd.
Zanka looked once again in Dear’s direction, but instead of a scared twelve year old boy, he saw a happy eight year old version of him. He saw an image of all his family celebrating Zanka’s 13th birthday. It was the first time he’s ever had a birthday party. He never knew before that birthdays could be celebrated.
Memories flooded his vision.
He saw a picture of him and the neighbor's cat that Guita drew him to cheer him up after he’d sprained his ankle. He saw disastrous scrambled eggs from Rudo’s first attempt at making food. He saw Riyo drawing moustaches on drunk passed-out Follo and Tomme after Gris brought back home a permanent marker. He saw Shikage playing ball with Dear on days he felt strong enough to leave the house. He saw Bro attempting to fix Enjin’s car that Zanka crashed after learning how to drive. He saw Enjin bringing home books just for him that were a luxury in the 12th. He saw Gris teaching him how to make herbal tea. He saw his fathers rocking him back to sleep after another nightmare and promising him he would be alright. He saw smiles, laughs, love and home. He felt gratitude, he felt love, he felt everything that was out of his reach when he was growing up in the wealthy and prestigious 2nd District.
He blinked those images away and he saw a trembling Dear walking in the direction of the stage. In the corner of his vision, Zanka saw Bro who looked like was about to pass out.
Before Zanka could process what else was happening around him, loud and confident words slipped from his mouth.
“I volunteer as a tribute.”