Under My Spell
It isn't easy to hunt at night. When the sun barley breaches the thick canopy of the forest, the moon's light counts for almost nothing. But if the animals become nocturnal, you have to do the same and that's what Katniss Everdeen learned to do. After the fall of the Capitol the districts failed to unite and citizens of Panem formed small tribes in order to survive. Resources were scarce and many lives had been lost, most citizens were the only remaining member of their families so they banned together based on skills, realizing that each district had something distinct to offer. Tribes competed for food and shelter, and by now many had learned to hunt. The animals learned quickly and now they only out at night while most people slept. It was important to be aware during the day in case another tribe attacked, and tribes had to keep moving. If you couldn't keep up they would leave you behind.
Katniss never slept. Tonight she crept along the forest floor, bow half-drawn. The air bit at her bare arms, hungry for warmth but she ignored it. A squirrel descended from the tree about ten feet in front her, Katniss sensed the movement, aimed and released. She heard the thwack of her arrow as it lodged itself into the tree, the squirrel squeaked and scurried back into the safety of the branches. Shit, Katniss thought, her instinct just failed her. She tip-toed over to the tree, just barely making out her shadow in the pale moonlight and yanked the arrow out. It had been two hours and the squirrel was the first animal she had come across. Katniss sheathed the arrow and continued forward.
During the day the forest glowed with beauty. Summer was fading into fall and the trees became a colorful portrait of red, orange, yellow and green. Katniss would often get lost staring at the colors, imagining them melting together as the districts should have after the war. Instead the Capitol burned and along with it the leaders of district 13. Before 13 even began its war against the Capitol, Capitol spies planted bombs in the deepest sectors of 13's base and just as 13 launched its final attack on the Capitol, President Snow detonated the bombs destroying all of 13 and everyone trapped inside. 13 carried out its attack on the Capitol and it was destroyed as well. In the chaos that followed more lives were lost, no one knew if Snow survived. Katniss hoped not, she stilled planned to kill him.
Katniss gilded across the forest floor, even in the dark, she knew where to step. Katniss, once the Mockingjay now a bat, sensing her surroundings with almost perfect precision. The forest always slept, no animals, no birds, not even crickets made a sound. Hearing her own breath sounded like the roar of a train in the quiet that blanketed these woods.
Another hour passed and still nothing. Once Katniss thought she heard the flutter of wings and in a moment of misplaced hope drew and shot into the sky, hitting nothing and losing an arrow in the process. I have to find something, the girl in shadows thought, we haven't eaten anything but sticks and leaves in two days. Katniss sighed, louder than she meant and that's when it happened. The snap of branch beneath a foot, a quite whisper, lumos, and then a bright light shining at the end of a stick.
Katniss, her reflexes as quick as ever, knocked and arrow and shouted, "Identity yourself!"
"Please, don't shoot," a quiet voice reached out from the darkness.
"Give me a reason why I shouldn't," Katniss approached the voice, despite the light she had trouble making out the figure with the glowing stick. He, from the sound of the voice, seemed to be covered in black from head to toe.
"I need….help." The voice croaked, "Please." And then the light went dark and Katniss heard him collapse.
She approached cautiously, her bow drawn and aimed. When she reached the cloaked figure she pushed the stick aside with her foot. Katniss thought it might be a flashlight, even if it looked like nothing more than a twig. He could still use it as a weapon. With her foot again, Katniss turned the man over. In the light she could make out a glasses on his pale face and thought he looked rather young. Deciding that he was unconscious Katniss sheathed her arrow once again and bent down to check his pulse. Still Breathing. Sighing again, Katniss lifted the man, or was he a boy, from under his armpits and propped him up against a tree. I should just leave him for the wolves to eat, Katniss thought, but she had never been good at letting someone die, unless there was a good reason for it. I'll stay with him until he wakes up, ask him who he is and where his tribe is. Maybe I can use him as leverage to negotiate for food, Katniss reasoned, if they have any.