This is about the first Hunger Games from Magali's POV! Please review and tell me what you think. It's my first story! Enjoy!
When I wake up, there is something different about it. About the air. It's still. Almost like its resting after wasting all its energy. Then I remember. Yesterday District 13 was destroyed. And with it went the whole uprising. Almost everybody in Panem had been fighting the greedy and controlling Capitol, including my family and friends. We were part of the rebellion and it had actually looked like we were winning. The jabber jays, a muttation created to repeat rebel conversations, had been turned against the Capitol, and we were encroaching on enemy territory.
I guess it wasn't enough, because District 13 is in ruins, crushed like a grape. And the rest of Panem isn't in great shape either, excluding the Capitol of course. The citizens of the Capitol probably think of us as animals, not appreciating what the Capitol had done for us. "We saved them from total destruction, and how do they repay us?!" That was probably what they were saying right now. Of course, they are somewhat correct. After the sea covered much of the land, we had little food or anything for that matter. The system worked, but it was definitely time for a change. It had been a while since then and we needed better treatment. True, District 4, which is where I live, was pretty well off, but I had heard of other districts where people starve to death daily. That didn't seem very fun.
I roll out of my "bed." I say "bed" because it's pretty much a pile of dried up seaweed and dirt covered with cloth from a sail. The rebels camp is hidden in a small cave in a cliff at the edge of a little inlet. My feet hit the ground and send up a little cloud of dust. I cough loudly which frightens some bats that live in a little corner of the cavern. There squeaks are really annoying for someone who just woke up, so I curse a couple of times and rub my eyes.
Pretty much the whole camp is sitting on the little beach out front skipping rocks. One guy named Urso (which literally means bear) is picking up boulders and tossing them into the sea.
"I'll give you some seaweed if you can skip one," I tell him sarcastically.
"I'm running a little low," he replies without looking at me. It's a joke of course. We eat seaweed for breakfast, lunch and dinner; sleep on it; and tie our boats to it.
Everyone looks burnt out, like they gave up on life. Might as well have. Now we'll be some kind of joke for future generations in the Capitol.
"Magali, can you go get your weapons? We don't want the peacekeepers to see them when we get back to town." My father is trying to catch little minnows with his bare hands. He seems pretty distracted so he hasn't caught any. He can usually catch the smallest ones one handed.
I walk over to my supplies and and finger the sharp metal of my sword. I barely ever used it, but when I did, it saved my life. I can't say I was any good at it, but I definitely wasn't hopeless. My trident, crossbow, spear, and mace seem to be saying, "Please don't leave us! We protected you!" The spear was my strongest weapon. I could throw it forwards, backwards, or even use it like a knife in close fighting. I could pin a hummingbird by its wing. I pick up as many of them as I can and dump them in the ocean. The salty spray makes me wonder if we could have done more. But we couldn't. We would just end up like District 13. I look down and see my prized possessions smashed by the rocks. I tear up a bit. But wipe my eyes and go get the rest of the weapons. When we've destroyed everything, we pile into little rowboats and make the journey back to the district.
District 4 is unique in that the fence doesn't go all the way around the district. It has to include the ocean because our trade is fishing and providing sea water for the zoos in the Capitol. I used to feel like I lived in a zoo. Back in the days before the rebellion. I was 11 years old when it started. Now I'm 17. I had my birthday the day a tracker jacker nest fell on my little brother, Fitch. I hate to remember his bloated body oozing pus. His little, twitching face... It's too painful. But there used to just be buoys out in the boundries of where the fishing boats were allowed to go. Nobody ever thought of leaving until the rebellion.
I see some houses on the horizon and know we're getting close. I get that really incredibly annoying feeling in my stomach that you get when you're not sure what its going to be like when you get to where your going, but your kind of happy everything's going to be the same. I curse and resort to dipping my hand in the water and making little wakes. And I mean really little wakes. These rowboats are so incredibly slow, unlike the real mechanical boats District 3 sent us. But of course, those boats got blown up when we lost the war. The salty air calms me a bit. I've always been at ease around the ocean. I was born on a boat and I love the way the water the rocks you like a little baby in a cradle.
After a couple more years, no I'm just kidding, months. Ok, it was only about an hour, we come to a huge 10 ft tall fence with barbed wire on the top. In the middle of the ocean! Urso dives down and says it goes all the way to the bottom, or as far as he can see. So much for being unique. It looks pretty safe, except for the barbed wire, so we decide to climb it and just swim the rest of the way. Its the best we've got. There's about 50 of us, and we all manage to climb it while avoiding the barbed wire. One person gets a couple scratches on their arms, but nothing major. Its about a mile to land, and for the third time today, I curse.
OK, so I know it didn't include the hunger games, but I thought it was a good place to stop. The reaping will be in the next chapter. Please tell me what you think!