I wrote this short story as a birthday present for my little sister. I went hunting a while ago, and thought it would be exciting to have Katniss bring everyone hunting with her.
Cow Tag
"Peeta," I say, searching for him in the dark. "Wake up."
"No," he says.
"Peeta, if you want to go with me, you need to wake up." I say.
"I don't want to," he whines.
"Okay, I'll be back in a few hours," I tell him.
"Back from where?" he asks.
"Hunting," I remind him.
"Now?" he asks. "It's like three in the morning,"
"It's five." I say. "And maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you hadn't stayed up all night at the campfire."
"Blame Finnick," says Peeta. "He forced me to stay with him."
"Oh, I'm sure he did," I say with a laugh. "See you later," I get out of bed.
"Wait, I'll go." he says.
"Then get up." I say.
Peeta and I have been married for almost a year now. We started dating in high school, and I didn't think we would be together this long, but I can't imagine life without him now. Finnick and Annie are our best friends. They are the ones who introduced me to Peeta. They've been married for two years and have a one year old son, named Dillan.
When I told everyone I got an elk tag, Finnick begged me to let them come along, because he wanted to start teaching Dillan survival strategies.
I was born in Arizona, but in middle school, my family moved to California, and I met Finnick and Annie. I still keep in touch with my Arizona friend, Gale. Gale wanted to come hunting, but his wife, Madge is going to have a baby soon.
Once Peeta and I are both dressed, I go to Finnick and Annie's trailer and knock on the door.
"Yes?" Finnick calls in a feminine voice.
"Are you ready?" I ask. Finnick opens the door and lets us in. I find Annie running around the trailer shoving things into her bag.
"Sorry," says Annie. "I just need to pack some of Dillan's things."
"That's okay." I say picking up Dillan. "We have some time." I poke Dillan's nose.
"It's okay if you have to leave now. We could go tonight." says Annie. "I don't want to hold you back."
"We have some time." I say. "Unless you don't want to go, that's fine too."
"Just keep packing, Annie." says Finnick.
Annie raises her eyebrows at him. "You know what? Why don't you help me." she says.
"Because I don't want to help," says Finnick.
"Help me now!" she says. Finnick sighs and starts helping her.
Soon, we're in my truck, looking for a good place to stop, it's still dark.
"So did you get a cow tag, or a bull tag?" Finnick asks.
"Cow tag," I say. "Archery."
"Cool." says Finnick. "Do you know how to shoot a gun?"
"Yes." I say. "But I prefer Archery."
"Oh." says Finnick.
I start taping my foot, getting excited. "I hope I get one." I say.
"I hope you get one, too." says Peeta.
"Stop here," I say, and Peeta pulls over. The sun is starting to rise when we get out of the truck. I try bugling and listen for any elk to answer back. I smile when I hear a bull calling in the distance. "You need to be as quiet as you can," I whisper.
"What if Dillan gets upset?" Annie asks.
"You'll have to try to keep him quiet," I say, and start walking in the direction of the bull. When we get closer, I bugle again. The bull calls back. We move closer. I stop when I see him, and look around. He's alone.
"Shoot it," Finnick whispers.
"I can't." I whisper back.
"Why not?" whispers Finnick sounding annoyed.
"It's a boy," I say. "And I have a cow tag."
"I say you shoot it anyway," says Finnick after a minute.
I roll my eyes. "Look Dillan," I say pointing out the elk to him. I watch his eyes widen. I call to the elk, and watch it call back. "Let's move on,"
We hunt for a few more hours, but don't find anything. I'm not too upset because I can hunt again later today, and if I don't find anything after that, I can go again tomorrow. We find the truck and drive back to camp. Peeta makes everyone breakfast in our trailer. Annie puts Dillan down for a nap, and lays down in her hamic.
"Katniss," Annie calls. "Do you want to sit in the other hamic?"
"No thank you," I call back to her.
"Why not?" she asks.
"Bad childhood experience," I say.
"What?" Annie says sitting up.
"I fell asleep in a hamic, my cousin tied me up in the hamic, and when I woke up, he forced me to eat some bugs." I say, shrugging my shoulders.
"Seriously?" Annie asks. "That won't happen here."
"I don't trust Finnick," I say.
"You don't trust me!" says Finnick, popping out from a bush.
"No!" I say. "Especially not now that you were hiding in a bush listening to our conversation."
"Fine," says Finnick, putting his hand on his hip. "But if you don't trust me, I'm going to do something bad to you."
"Something bad?" I ask. "I'd like to see you try."
"Fine." says Finnick. "I didn't want it to be like this, but you leave me no choice." Finnick stands up and walks into his trailer.
"You should be worried," Annie tells me.
"I am." I admit to her.
After lunch, we walk Peeta's dog Coco, who is the laziest dog I've ever met, and keeps stopping to lay down.
"We should head back," I say.
"Coco needs to burn her calories," says Peeta.
"You're practically dragging her," I say.
"She's just tired," says Peeta. "Poor baby probably couldn't sleep with you're two cats meowing all night,"
"Don't blame Blizzard!" I say. "She's just a kitten. And I'm only watching Buttercup while Prim is away at collage, he's not mine."
"I think you like Buttercup," says Peeta.
"I do not!" I say. "If it were up to me, Buttercup would be at home. Prim told me I couldn't leave him,"
Peeta smiles. "Come on Coco, let's go back!" Coco looks at him, and puts her head back on the floor. "Come on, Coco," Peeta calls, tugging on her leash. She doesn't get up. "I'll give you a cookie,"
"You're bribing the dog with food," I say.
"Come on Coco," Peeta says in a stern voice. Coco rolls onto her back. "Fine, you leave me no choice." Peeta picks her up and we walk back to camp.
"How was your walk?" Annie asks.
"Fine," I say, opening the trailer to get Blizzard. I set her on the ground, and grab Buttercup, setting him on the ground. I shut the door, and for some reason, Coco, who is now on the ground starts barking at me. I let out an annoyed breath, pick up Blizzard and sit down.
"Hey," Peeta says trying to get Coco to calm down. "It's just Katniss," At my name, Coco starts barking louder. When Peeta finaly gets Coco to shut up, I fall asleep.
When I wake up, I realize I'm tied up, hanging upside down from one of the hamics.
"FINNICK!" I shout.
"Shh," says Finnick from behind me. "Everyone else is taking a nap."
"Untie me," I say.
"Not until you say you trust me," says Finnick.
"Why would I trust you now?" I ask.
"Because if you don't trust me, you're going to eat some bugs."
"You wouldn't." I say.
"Oh," says Finnick pulling some bugs out of his pocket. "I would."
"Don't you dare," I say. Finnick walks closer to me. "I'll kill you Odair."
"You can't now that you're all tied up." says Finnick.
"I'll get out eventua-" I start to say, when Finnick shoves the bugs in my mouth. I scream as loud as I can while Finnick falls the the ground laughing, and Peeta and Annie run out of their trailers.
"Finnick!" Annie shouts.
Finnick sits up. "Yes Annie?"
"What are you doing?" Annie asks.
I try to spit the bugs out. Peeta runs to my side and starts to untie me. Once I'm down I spit the rest of the bugs out, and then I start gagging.
"What was that?" Peeta asks Finnick.
"It was just a joke." says Finnick.
"You hung my wife upside down from a tree, and shoved bugs in her mouth!" says Peeta.
"I'm sorry." says Finnick.
"Peeta, we probably need to go soon." I say.
"Okay," says Peeta.
"Are we still welcome?" Annie asks.
"Yeah." I say. "I forgive you Finnick." Even though I don't forgive him. But I don't want to hurt Annie's feelings.
We hunt but don't find anything. So we go back to camp, and go straight to bed. Peeta wraps his arms around me. "I'm so mad at Finnick," he says.
"Peeta, it's okay." I say.
"No it's not!" he says. "I don't even know if I want to hang out with him anymore."
"Peeta, Finnick was just trying to be funny. He knows what he did was wrong, and I really do think he's sorry." I say. "And Annie would be really upset if we stopped hanging out with her husband."
"I still-" Peeta starts.
"Peeta, please try to be nice," I say. "For me."
"Okay," says Peeta. And we both fall asleep not long after.
I wake Peeta up in the morning, and we both get dressed. When we go outside, we find Finnick, Annie, and Dillan waiting by the truck. "Can we still go?" asks Finnick. "I'm sorry about what I did yesterday, Katniss."
"It's okay Finnick," I say. "And yeah, you guys can still come with us."
We get in the truck and drive through the dark. We get out of the truck a little bit after the sun rises.
As we walk through the trees, I start to get the feeling that today's the day that I'll shoot my elk. I smile and bugle to see if there are any elk in the area. A few seconds later, a bull bugles back. I start to walk slowly in that direction.
I look through my binoculars in the direction the bugle came from. There's a large herd of elk. Now all I need is a clear shot. I turn to face everyone, put my finger to my mouth, and start to move closer to the elk, when I get my first clear shot at a cow, I nock my arrow, aim, and shoot. The cow runs out of my sight.
I frown, we start hunting it down. After a long time, we find it dead. We take care of it and bring it back to the truck.
Hours later, everyone is exhausted so we sit down by the campfire and relax. Hunting is a lot of work. But I don't think I'll ever stop doing it. Because the thrill I get when I'm doing what I love is priceless. And I know that if my Daddy was still here... he would be so proud of me.