"This year the tributes will not be a boy and girl necessarily, we will pick two of you from each district. Also, a boy and girl may win together, but only if they are from the same district. There are no other new rules and any changes to these rules will not be effective this year." This speech was announced every year at the reaping. I remained silent and waited for the two names of the poor souls that would have to give their lives to the game.
"Katherine Beckett!" My eyes widened in shock my breath sped up to the same speed that my heart was frantically beating at. Heat washed over me and I knew it was from the fear that was inevitable. My name, they had just called my name, those puppets from the capitol just announced that I would be the next to parish from district twelve and they didn't even care. I took purposeful measured steps and held a poker face until I was standing next to a woman that looked like a munchkin in munchkin land from the wizard of oz. I looked at her brightly colored clothing and powdered face. She was dressed as a clown compared to my braided and pined brown hair and simple green dress. My mother left it to me after her death she always told me it would be mine one day, because the color was a perfect match for my eyes. I thought back to Ryan and Esposito two of the best people in the world. After my mother died they became like brothers to me they taught me to hunt, to shoot with a bow and arrow and to throw knives like a pro and most importantly how to survive in the woods. I couldn't leave though. My father tried so hard to stay strong for me but it just made it worse when he fell apart and I had to pick up the pieces. Drawing me out of my haze another name was called.
"Richard Rogers! Oh how lovely a boy and a girl from district twelve!" I watched as he looked up at his fate, his eyes connected with mine and I could see the love and the life in them being crushed as he to put on a poker face as well. We shook hands and as we touched I felt a spark course up the length of my arm. For a moment I felt the mask, void of emotion, slip, the girl I showed to the world was replaced with the real me. I gazed up into his eyes and fell into the watery depths of his ocean blue eyes. I trusted him from the moment I saw him. I recognized him from school, he sat in a corner everyday reading a book or writing in a note pad or observing his classmates. The impeccable trust I had for this boy stemmed from the sudden realization that he would be one of my only chances of survival in the next few weeks. I didn't dare talk though. I just accepted my fate and let myself be led to a back room where they were to let people visit me for the last time. In walked Esposito his hand was linked with my best friend Lanie's. After them came Ryan. The moment Lanie saw me she ran to me. We hugged for what seemed minutes but was really only a few seconds. I didn't let myself break down and cry at the thought of my impending death.
"Kate, you can win this, you can out run Javi and Kev and you are amazing at hunting and surviving in the woods and you're smarter than everyone else in school. You also have that hottie Rick on your side. Come home for me and then I will tell you about my budding relationship with Esposito." She whispered the last part into my ear. After they left, I was ushered into a train made of steel I looked at Rick; he finally let his face drop.
"Kate, we need a plan, first we need to get the public to like us and then we need to figure out how to survive in the hunger games." He said. I nodded entranced by the way his voice caressed each word as he said it. Suddenly the door was thrust open.
"What's this I hear about planning?" A female voice boomed.
"We need a plan otherwise we will die." I said, quite aggravated with the woman.
"Well then I am Victoria Gates call me Gates and you might as well include me in the discussion considering that I am your mentor." She looked at me with a grin.
"Feisty and pretty, we can work with that." She said looking at me as though I was an object she was trying to sell.
"Don't talk about Kate like that." Rick growled in a voice that didn't sound human. For the first time Gates' eyes flicked to Rick.
"Protective, now this I can really work with. Tell me your strengths." Gates' said as she looked us over.
"Kate is an amazing hunter give her a bow and arrow or a knife and she'll have the animal you want dead within the hour, considering she doesn't already know where one is, and she can run like no other, she has great cardio health and she is extremely smart she knows what plants will heal you and what will kill you and she is extremely strong for her size and can easily take down opponents that have a good fifty pounds on her. Oh and she knows how to survive in the woods a skill that will probably save our asses. "I turned to Rick and just stared at him, who knew he paid so much attention to me. Gates looked curiously between the two of us. It kind of made me mad, I wanted to show her that I knew about Rick too.
"Yeah, well Rick is extremely smart. He picks things up very quickly. His uncle is a butcher so he can handle knives and throw them as well as I can plus he's strong he can carry hundred pound deer and he has muscled legs that are good for running and climbing. He's really observant which will help us when fighting against other tributes and he is personable which will help us get sponsors." I told Gates never taking my eyes off of Rick. His eyebrows shot up.
"I never knew you paid so much attention to me Kate I'm flattered." He said with a smirk on his face.
"Don't be I picked the majority of that information up from the reaping and sitting next to you on the train." I defended.
"And the rest of it? How did you know that my uncle is a butcher?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said grinning.
"I most certainty would!"
"Well as you said Rick, I am a hunter, when I get a bigger animal I sell it to your uncle." I said easily falling into the simple rhythm of bickering with him.
"So you have noticed me!"
"Yes I noticed you playing darts with knives; you almost hit me in the head before you developed the skills you have now."
"So you have observed a change in my ability you must have noticed me!" I rolled my eyes.
"Yes I noticed when I didn't have to duck out of the way of knives being thrown askew anymore." Rick was about to say something when Gates coughed.
"You are in love." Both our heads whipped to her.
"What?" We exclaimed in unison.
"That is what will keep you alive. Bicker just as you did now. Stare into each other's eyes, hint at your love but don't say it outright, not yet. Build the tension, then when one of you is half dead and you need something to save yourselves admit your love for one another, add in a fiery kiss and you will have sponsors wrapped around your fingers. "I glanced at Rick as I went over it in my head. I nodded it made sense, it could work.
"Alright as long as we can stay alive, I'm game." I said. Rick looked into my eyes and then glanced at something behind my head. His eyes widened.
"We're here." He mumbled. We had arrived at the capitol.
