Vanquish

Preface

Preface

I wake with a start in an unfamiliar place. Tall pine and spruce and redwood trees tower over me as I lie in a bed of fallen leaves that covers the hard-packed dirt. A forest. The earsplitting echo of a gun firing resonates through the air and silences the sounds of the animals and the chirps of birds. No, it's not a gun. The sound is far away and too loud and low to be a gun. The blast echoes several times before I am able to identify the sound. It's the boom of a cannon. I count the number of shots until I reach eleven. I wonder absently who's firing the cannon and why eleven times. Sunlight slants through the trees at an angle that suggests late afternoon or early evening. I sit up slowly and am surprised to find that my arms and legs are not bound. I notice the marks on my wrists and gingerly stroke the angry red burns that brand my flesh. The scars are painful reminders of the days I spent chained up in the Capitol prison. The Capitol.

Suddenly, I jump straight up and sprint off in a random direction before they can capture me again. I'm free. The Capitol has released me, and I'm not going to waste this chance to escape. I just need to get back to District 13 quickly and bring them the intelligence I collected in the Capitol. I'm not even sure where I am, but as long as I am free of the Capitol, it doesn't matter. Part of me knows this may be a trap designed to lure me into a false sense of security but the return of my abilities assures that I won't get hurt, that I can't get hurt. Still, it doesn't make sense that they would simply let me go.  

My name is Kevin Vanquish. I am a citizen of District 13, the district that the Capitol supposedly destroyed. District 13, forced to move underground and play dead, still thrives and waits for the opportunity to strike the Capitol and overthrow President Snow. I am the best extractor of all the soldiers in our small army, stealing classified information and freeing captive rebels from right under the Capitol's nose. Most damaging of all, my mother is Dr. Ava Levin, the chief scientist in charge of the Capitol's failed scientific venture, Project Vanquish.

I tear through the piney woods at speeds no ordinary person could dream of matching until the ground slopes up out of the valley. Without hesitating, I spring upwards through the trees and fly until the woods lie one hundred feet below me. As I soar through the air, I look down at the ground and see a dry, empty plain and a deep blue lake that border the sparse forest where I woke up. Near the lake is a big golden structure like a horn that looks slightly familiar. I'm still gazing at the golden horn when I fly right into a force field. The electric shock jolts my entire body and burns through my veins like a terrible fire that can't be extinguished. The force of the invisible barrier thrusts me away, and I'm blown straight backwards, spiraling and tumbling until I crash into the hard, unmerciful ground. I fall on my back, and my head slams against the earth with a loud crack. The impact of the crash creates a deafening boom that reverberates through the area and knocks the air from my lungs.

For a few minutes, I just lie there on the ground, too drained to move. After a while, I stand up slowly, bracing a nearby tree for support, and try to catch my breath. I fell near the edge of the woods, and I look out across the open stretch of ground I saw from the sky. The lake is right across from me. I glance around the area until I spot the golden horn close to the lake. Now that I'm closer I know why the horn seemed so familiar. It's the Cornucopia. I've seen it on television every year for as long as I can remember. Horror fills my entire being as I finally realize where I am.

I'm in the Hunger Games.