New Era: A Hunger Games Story

Chapter One

The lumber yards of District 7 never stopped working. Lumberjacks and haulage workers trudged from place to place, covered in sawdust and cursing worse than the sailors of District 4. Men built very much like the trees they felled swung axes as if they were born holding them, and Cordy Williams was proud to call these dirty, smelly yards home.

She was tall and stocky, with short brown hair and piercing gunmetal blue eyes. Like the men, she wore a mid-sleeved grey shirt with rips in the elbows, and black leggings that clung to her long legs and attracted the sawdust. She too swung an axe, and spent her days rubbing shoulders with men twice her age and older, all envious of her skill with the axe she had held since childhood.

Her father had worked on that very yard years before she was born but had been injured in an accident that made it impossible for him to work. Now, thanks to his friends on the yard, he was a Supervisor, spending the blistering sunlit days leaning on a crutch watching his daughter work to support her family. He had never been prouder of her than the day she took his axe and swung it. She was a natural, and she fit right in with the men.

                                                                                           ---

Cordy wiped the sweat from her forehead as her working day drew to a close. She sheathed her axe on her hip and ran back to the house to change out of her disgusting work clothes, and caught her mother sat at the kitchen table again, reading an old book. The title was emblazoned on a red front cover and read 'Katniss Everdeen: From Mockingjay to Mother'.

"Mum?" She asked, "Why are you reading that again?"

"It's nice to read about a successful young woman." She replied coldly.

Hurt, Cordy said nothing. Instead, she left the kitchen and headed to her bedroom, shutting the door with a soft click behind her. Her bedroom was, in her opinion, perfect. Unlike her best friend Katie's room in District 2, there were no posters on the walls of famous people. Her walls were covered mostly by shelves and books, with only a single space left beside the window for a calendar and an assortment of family photographs. She opened her wardrobe and took out a black hooded jumper and a pair of blue jeans and was changed and ready to leave when her father entered the room. 

She resembled her father in so many ways. They shared their complexion; tanned due to days in the sun, their eyes and even their posture. She was his little girl, the apple of his eye, and seeing the way his wife treated her at times appalled him.

"You heading out to see Katie?" He asked.

"No," She replied, "I'm going to Joel's."

"Why's that?"

"Apparently he's got some big news he wants to tell me."

"Ah, I see."

He lowered himself onto her bed and she sat beside him. Despite being eighteen, sometimes a hug from her father was all she needed to feel warm again. He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head, and she smiled, feeling his heartbeat against her own. She wanted the touch to last forever but knew that Joel would worry if she was late, so she gently detached herself from her father's grip and fixed her ruffled hair in the mirror hung inside her wardrobe. 

"You look more like your mother every day." Her father said.

"I wish I was a boy." Cordy blurted out.

"Why?"

"Maybe then Mum would be proud of something, anything, I did."

"She is proud of you."

"Then why doesn't she think I'm successful?"

He sighed, and she turned to face him.

"She's worried about your future, that's all." He said.

"She doesn't care!" Cordy said, almost losing her temper.

"She does, it's just she was raised in a different time. We both were."

Calming down, Cordy sat back down beside him and leaned forward, hand clasped together thoughtfully.

"Dad," She asked, "tell me about the old days again."

                                                                                          ---

Meanwhile, in a beautiful house in the Capitol, President Jordan Foster was pacing in his study. Paperwork was scattered across his desk and he was clutching a single sheet in a white-knuckled hand. He read and re-read the information before him, his thoughts threatening to explode out of his head.

A knock at the door interrupted him. He stopped pacing and sat down before calling to the guest to enter. A team of suited men and women entered and sat down around a long table, with him at the head. Once they were all settled, the meeting began.

"Good day." The President said.

"Sir," Said a woman with green hair, "we need to discuss tomorrow's broadcast."

"Yes," added a blue-haired man, "we wanted you to rehearse your speech."

"Not before we try on your new suit!" A yellow-haired woman cried.

Gradually, the men and women overtook one another, their shrill voices growing in volume. The President leaned back in his chair, watching the meeting descend into chaos, and the idea was cemented into his mind in an instant. He banged his fist on the table and all conversation ceased. Slowly he stood up, hands clasped firmly behind his back, and began to walk around the table slowly, analysing the reactions of every person in the room before speaking him in a soft yet commanding voice.

"Five years," He began, "five years I've been in power. I lowered the borders between districts. I helped the lesser districts out of poverty and starvation. I opened countless multi-district schools and for the first time in almost 50 years district children are being accepted into our schools."

"Yes sir," the yellow-haired woman said, "you've done remarkable things for Panem!"

The President stared at her, and she was silenced, shrinking back into her seat like a scolded dog. He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Since the borders were lowered, crime has been on the rise. Victors, now elderly, are being murdered. There is still segregation and victimisation occurring in the supposedly 'free' districts. These are the same conditions that appeared before the Rebellion. So tomorrow, during my speech, I will make an announcement that the people of Panem will never forget. Long gone are the days of carelessness and foolhardiness. I will restore order."

He finished talking and pointed a long finger at five people sat around the table. Silent horror filled the room as they realised what he was talking about.

"You five, stay. The rest of you are dismissed."

The other officials quickly scurried from the room, shutting the door behind them. The President sat down at the head of the table and smiled.

"Let us begin the preparations."