Prologue

"It has to be tonight."

A moment of chilling silence settled on the room as the somber whisper emerged from the shadows, the speaker's brown eyes blinking sadly through the inky darkness.

"But...n-no," came the response, sounding whispery and frightened. A pair of green eyes blinked back tears, the uneasy quiet punctuated by an agonized whimper.

"Aiko," the first voice whispered firmly, "You have to do it tonight. We don't have time left to wait. We have to run."

"N-no!" the second voice exclaimed, tears streaming down the speaker's cheeks openly, "I can't! Can't she just come with us?"

"No," the initial speaker refused with a shake of his head, a soft sigh falling from his lips, "I know, Aiko. It's not an easy thing to do. You don't know how I will never forgive myself for this, but it's just too dangerous for her to come with us. She'll be safe here. No one will ever know. And I promise you, we will come back for her when things have calmed down. I promise."

There was a moment of hesitation, punctuated with another dog-like whimper. Eyes overflowing with agonized tears, Aiko averted her mournful stare to the floor, her expression one of utmost misery.

Then, a tender hand brushed her cheek, a thumb wiping away her tears. "I know, love. I wish there was another way."

Aiko hesitated, then, with a sob vibrating in her throat, she agreed, "Fine. I'll do it. To keep her safe."

"It's for the best," the first speaker sighed. He looked to her with a severe frown on his face and prompted, "The locket?"

"I'll give it to her," Aiko sniffled, pulling the dense hood of her overcoat over her head, veiling her face in shadow, "I'll give it to her when I say goodbye."

He nodded, glancing towards the door anxiously. "The sun will rise in a few hours. We're running out of time. Go."

Outside, the streets of District 5 were drenched in silvery starlight, a full moon glowering overhead. Eyes darting to and fro anxiously, Aiko bolted down the deserted street, taking note of every empty alley as if she expected someone to leap out at her at any moment.

The bundle in her arms shivered and nestled closer, listening to the frantic drumming of a panicked heartbeat.

Aiko ran until the concrete and asphalt of the city streets turned into a path of hard-baked earth, splattering her boots with reddish-brown mud. A cold, autumn wind rattled in the leafless branches of the few stark, black-barked trees that populated the ghetto, the baying of a dog resonating through the night. A few small shacks flanked the trail on either side, makeshift houses with sagging, tin roofs and rotten, wooden walls, interlaced with serpentine tangles of ivy and gnarled, black brambles laden with claw-like thorns. The barking of the dog grew louder as she neared her destination: the worn, wooden building at the very end of the road, before the path trailed off into the dying forest that separated the ghetto from the electrified fence that encircled the district.

The stairs of the front porch of the home sagged, flanked on either side by a half-dead shrub with its roots lodged lifelessly in the hard, red soil. The shutters on the dark windows rattled in the wind, mingling with the dog's persistent barking in a menacing chorus that raked Aiko's brain, tears dripping down her colorless cheeks as she looked down at the tiny bundle in her arm.

The toddler blinked back, whimpering softly through the folds of her worn blanket.

"Shhh...," Aiko cooed as she clutched the child to her chest, her own voice quivering, "Mama's got you...don't cry..."

The small child nestled into her mother's chest, causing Aiko's heart to shatter. The weight of the world crashed down on the young woman's shoulders as she carried her toddler up the stairs, the boards of the porch creaking underfoot as she crossed them. She stopped and stared, eyes quivering with tears, at the handmade, wooden sign mounted to the building's front door, engraved with neat, bold-faced letters that red, "DISTRICT 5 ORPHANAGE."

"Mama...?" the toddler whimpered softly, pulling Aiko from her daze.

It has to be done, the woman reminded herself, sinking to her knees on the orphanage's front porch, sniffling quietly as she embraced her child for the last time.

"Listen to me, Isabella," she whispered, carefully sitting the toddler down on the faded welcome mat, wrapping the blanket around the child tightly, "I know that you don't understand, but...Mama has to go away, just for a little while. Mama and Daddy have to leave, just until things are safe. But, we'll come back. I promise you...I swear on my life, we will come back..." She was sobbing openly now.

The toddler blinked uncomprehending, dark brown eyes back at her, whimpering.

Aiko slowly pulled a silver, heart-shaped locket from around her neck, its face embellished with several interlocked clock gears. She held it out for the child to see, forcing herself to smile as she carefully fastened the chain around the toddler's neck. "Here, this is for you," she whispered through her tears, "Always keep it with you. To remember us by, just until we can come back for you."

The child looked down at the locket around her neck curiously. "For...me?"

Aiko nodded. "Yes, darling. For you." She leaned down and kissed the toddler's head, slowly rising to her feet and turning to leave.

This caught the little girl's attention instantly. "Mama?" she prompted, staggering to her feet clumsily and immediately falling back down, landing on her bottom with a thump.

"Shhh...no, no...you have to stay...," Aiko whispered, "I'm so sorry, Isabella...I'm so sorry..."

With a knock on the door, Aiko smiled at her daughter and murmured a goodbye before she bolted down the stairs and around the corner. The toddler cried out, frightened, dropping her blanket to stumble towards the stairs and after her mother.

The door opened, a puddle of sickly, yellow light spilling out onto the porch. A middle-aged woman with graying, mouse brown stood in the door, her tired eyes weighed down with exhaustion as she looked around. "Hello...?"

The girl whimpered, standing on the edge of the porch with silent tears dripping down her cheeks, pointing a finger at the darkness aimlessly.

"O-oh," the woman in the door stuttered, surprised. Then, she smiled, walking over to the crying child slowly. "Hello there," she said warmly, opening her arms, "Are you...alone?"

The toddler only whimpered, stumbling in the opposite direction, grabbing her blanket and clutching it to her chest as she cried. "Mama," she stated, "Want Mama."

"I...I know, dear," the woman managed, noticing the locket around the girl's neck for the first time, "What's that around your neck?"

The child looked down at her locket, then back at the woman, and back once more. Then, with a sound like that of a kicked puppy, she staggered over to the brunette, hugging her blanket tightly. The woman welcomed her into her arms, humming to the little girl softly in a feeble attempt to comfort her.

"Can I see your necklace?" she asked, smiling when the child nodded lightly. Carefully prying the locket open, she was not surprised to see a tiny, folded slip of paper fall out. Holding the toddler with one arm, she unfolded the note with her free hand and read it silently, sighing wearily.

"Well then, Isabella," the woman stated, "Let's get you inside where it's warm, shall we?"

Cradling the toddler to her chest, the middle-aged woman turned to leave, unaware of the silhouette that watched her through the darkness, crouching in the shadow of the orphanage's sagging porch.

Aiko's eyes exploded in a flood of heartache as she watched the caretaker carry her toddler away, the door closing behind the woman and concealing her in darkness once more. She waited for a long moment, wiping the tears from her eyes, before she finally stood and, head hanging, walked off into the night.

She paused as she passed the makeshift house that stood beside the orphanage, a snarl reaching her from somewhere in the darkness. She lifted her head, blinking tears from her eyes, frowning at the chain-link pen mounted to the side of the shack.

A pair of cruel, brown eyes glared back at her, white teeth glinting in the moonlight, a chain rattling in the shadows.

Frozen, Aiko stared.

The Rottweiler stared back.

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The Hunger Games (c) Suzanne Collins - No copyright infringement intended.

Storyline, Characters, Etc. (c) Bottled-Rottweiler