Lone Warrior: Chenille Anders, District 1 Female Tribute

Take a few steps back.

Run forward.

Jump!

And... miss.

Two feet. I missed the lowest branch by two feet.

"Try again!" I heard my mother's voice calling from behind me. The words didn't come out in the encouraging way that most people would say them. But I didn't care; my mom was just like that.

I didn't want to try again. I wanted to go inside, where it was warm, and dry, as in, not pouring rain.

It was still early in the morning on Reaping Day. It was hard to tell if the sun was even up yet because of the thick layers of dark clouds that coated the sky. The weather wasn't helping my mood much, either.

I got to my feet again slowly, as my mother started talking again. "This is your last chance to practice at home if you're going to volunteer this year! People will be more impressed with a younger Career victor than an older one!"

Yeah, like she would know. She was never thrown in to the arena.

But she acted like she had been, training my sister and I for the Games. She had learned a bit, but never actually volunteered. So she had settled for training us in the things that she had learned, like hand-to-hand combat with knives.

"Good, Laecia!" She called encouragement over to my younger sister, also outside training. She was already halfway up her tree.

I groaned, watching her ease with the climbing, and took a few steps back again.

"Don't do it with a running start!" Laecia called over to me. "It makes it harder!"

Since she was even higher by now, I decided to listen to her for once, and approached the tree.

I placed one hand as high as I could on the bark of the tree, which was oddly smooth now, from being washed by the rain. But slippery. Dangerous.

Okay, now the other hand. I stretched my left arm out as far as I could, literally hugging the tree, almost dangling a few inches off the ground. I pulled my legs up to balance against the trunk.

No encouragement from anyone.

I awkwardly made myself climb a little bit, only about half a foot, and then I could reach the lowest branch. My left hand just scraped against it, so I climbed slightly higher, almost falling again.

There! I could hold on to it now. My other hand seemed to carefully glide over to the branch automatically, and I pulled my legs up along the trunk and then slid over so I was sitting on it. I let out a sigh of relief, realizing that I had been subconsciously terrified. Laecia gave me a silent thumbs up as she scurried up the trunk of the tree adjacent to mine.

Mother just sighed, muttering a word under her breath that I thought was, "Finally."

The climbing got easier, as long as I kept a pace that was slightly on the slower side. As if cheering me on, the rain faded out to merely a light, summer drizzle.

Mother went inside and checked the time. "Girls!" she called up to us. "Breakfast!"

What she really meant was that it was time for us to help make breakfast.

That's when I realized that I had no idea how to get out of the tree. I eased myself on to the branch right below me, balancing just long enough to sit down on it and repeat. Finally, I got to a point where I would have to switch to the other side of the tree to keep doing this. But it was only about five feet until there was the ground, so I just let myself fall and landed smoothly on my feet. I followed mother and Laecia inside.

Breakfast was relatively simple—a basic stew with some bread. It was eaten while listening to another one of mother's pep talks about volunteering. "Don't look like a lunatic," she advised. "Like some of those other tributes."

"Make yourself look collected. And if there's more than one volunteer, don't get frustrated, just make sure that you're the one chosen."

Easier said than done, I thought.

After breakfast, we started getting ready for the Reaping. I bathed quickly and went to my room to pick out my Reaping outfit.

I selected a light pink skirt and a plain white tank top with a dark green cardigan over it. For my shoes, I pick black flats. As my district token, I wore an emerald necklace that was my mother's from when she got married.

After I was dressed, I did my hair up in an elegant knot, which is how it was usually done. It was annoying when it got in my way.

Mother announced that it was time to go to the Reaping. It was a short walk to the building where it was held, so we signed in and took our places.

Laecia went over to the twelve-year-old section in the back, and I was a little bit in front of her with my friend, Denny, in the section for fifteen-year-olds. Mother joined the crowd.

"Hey, Chenille!" Denny said.

"Hello," I replied. It sounded sort of stiff; maybe I was just nervous.

"Are you really going to volunteer this year?"

I nodded.

"That is so brave! I would never be able to do that! I would be frozen if they even just called my name—forget volunteering!"

I resisted the urge to tell her to shut up. She liked to follow me, so I really had no idea where she got her talkativeness.

The mayor took the stage shortly, and began to tell the same story that he told every year. The story of Panem. How there were disasters, and all that was left were the original thirteen districts and the Capitol. How the Dark Days started and the districts rebelled. How District Thirteen was obliterated while the rest of the districts were given the Treaty of Treason, which, in turn, gave us the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games were so simple. Each year, through the Reaping, for each district, one boy, and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen were selected. They were then thrown in to a vast outdoor arena. The only rule? The last one alive was the victor. Well, that and don't step off your metal plate before sixty seconds were up and the unspoken rule about no cannibalism.

Then he read the list of past victors, along with the announcement that Silke Lovwood and Haven Fate would be the mentors for this year. Our escort was introduced along with this. Her name was Feriah Vincent, and from what little I'd seen of the other escorts, she blended in with them well. She began to give her speech about how glad she was to be here. I bet she was. Most escorts would've killed for a position in a Career district.

Her official speech ended, but her next words grabbed my attention. "I also have a special announcement for this year!" she called in her ridiculous Capitol accent. "It's time for the reading of the card!"

What? It can't be time for the reading of the card; it's not a Quell year!

But she pulled a slim card from her pocket and began to read.

"On the four-hundred-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that false preparation was their downfall in the war, this Quarter Quell will be twenty years early, and, to be released from the arena, the final tribute must be in possession of five special objects that will be hidden throughout the arena. These objects will be made obvious once the Games begin."

Silence. Shocked silence. That was what filled the air.

A Quell? Twenty years early?

"Let's pick our tributes!"

Feriah Vincent walked over to the large glass ball that contained the girls' names and walked back over to the podium. "Kophia Lore!"

"I volunteer!" I called out, already making my way to the stage without bothering to see who Kophia was.

"Ooh, a volunteer!" Feriah almost pulled off being surprised. "And what's your name?"

"Chenille Anders," I said proudly.

There were no other volunteers. Good. No one would get in my way. Not today. Not ever.

"Time to select our boy tribute!"

"Dage Yirl!"

Someone volunteered almost as fast as I did, and introduced himself as Fabian Bloom. My first thought was that he seemed attractive enough. But, no, I couldn't let myself be distracted by anything now. I bet that some of the other girls might've been, though.

My thoughts were interrupted when the mayor took the stage again and read the Treaty of Treason, which I tuned out as best I could. I'd heard it enough times to know what it said.

He finished reading and gestured for Fabian and I to shake hands. We did, the anthem played, and we were taken to our rooms in the Justice Building.

The room was extremely elegant, the furniture made of velvet, the floor decked in rich, thick carpeting. I waited for my visitors, somewhat impatiently.

My mother and Laecia were the first to visit me.

Mother was positively beaming—you'd think that she had just won the lottery. Laecia's eyes were filled with admiration and fear at the same time. It was an honor to be related to a Career; but she wanted to be certain that her big sister was coming home, and nothing could guarantee that.

Mother gave me more advice, telling me to remember what I'd learned, and how to play everything in the Capitol. As pushy as she could be, she'd still been my... mentor, in all of this, along with being my mom.

Laecia was quiet for nearly the whole time, letting mother talk, until the end. "Please come home, Chenille," she whispered once mother was done.

"Of course," I said, trying to sound confident. But why was my voice shaking? I was stronger than that! I was a Career! I was Chenille Anders! "I'll come home," I promised. "And then it'll be your turn if you work hard enough."

This got her to smile, and mother commented, "She's learned from the best: you."

Her unexpected praise made me feel stronger. "And that's why I'll win. And come home. To both of you." I turned to Laecia. "And you will, too, one day."

"I'll be the best victor ever!" she exclaimed.

I laughed. "Yup. Because you'll have me as your mentor when I win."

Only mother noticed my slight hesitation before I said "when". When I won. Not "if". I will win. "Right," she said. "You deserve to win the most."

The Games aren't about who deserves it though, I thought.

The Peacekeepers were signaling that time was almost up much too soon for any of our likings. I gave my little sister and mother each a hug and told them that I loved them. The one thing that I didn't say was goodbye.

Denny was next.

She was ranting about how brave she thought I was, about how I would win because of it.

I finally cut her off long enough to say, "Well, it's easier to volunteer when you're prepared for it."

I knew that Denny, unlike me, hadn't been training for the Games. She'd wanted to, if for no other reason, to be like me, but her parents wouldn't let her, and she wouldn't go against them.

"Yeah," she agreed. "You made it look easy."

"It's really not as hard as you think, Denny." I knew that she wasn't the brave type.

"I think it's almost time for me to go..." I didn't think that it was, but I didn't want to argue with her, not now, when there was a chance, however slim it was, that we might not have ever seen each other again.

"All right," I sighed. "Bye, Denny."

She gave me a quick hug. "I'll see you again!" she called over her shoulder as the Peacekeepers escorted her out.

I really hoped that was true.

I wasn't expecting any more visitors, but I had one more round. The girl I volunteered for, and her parents, as well as her brother.

I saw the girl, Kophia, clearly for the first time. She wouldn't have stood a chance in the Games, even as a Career.

She must have been twelve to get called, but she looked like she was eight. She was abnormally skinny, and short. Her long brown hair hid her face, but you could still see the remains of tears in her dark blue eyes from when she thought that she was going to die.

I remembered her. Laecia had talked to her for a few minutes one day, I forget what about, and mother had dragged Laecia off, saying that she shouldn't associate with the poor people of the district like Kophia, the small girl that stood in front of me now.

"Thank you."

The first words she said. They were barely audible, and shaky. As if she was scared, she bolted out of the room.

Her parents wished me luck and thanked me again, before they too, left before the time was up. I got a slightly longer speech from her brother, whose name I learned was Darren. He must have been really close to his sister, because he told me how thankful he was that his sister had been spared for her first Reaping.

"Umm... you're welcome," I said uncertainly. He just nodded and walked out.

It wasn't long before the Peacekeepers came to get me to the train station.

Since we were a Career district, there were several cameras there for us. I smiled and waved for them, not particularly because I wanted to, but because I knew that it would get me sponsors.

Fabian did the same.

Feriah whisked us on to the train, only staying for about two seconds to tell us that dinner was in an hour before she disappeared.

I didn't mind, so I went to my quarters, which made the room I had my visitors in look like the Seam of District Twelve. I didn't feel like changing out of my Reaping outfit, so I pretty much just paced in circles and explored.

Dinner went by quickly, with courses and courses of food. I tried my best to not eat too much, not wanting to get sick right before the Games. It was hard, though; there was so much, and it was all so good.

After dinner, I pretty much went straight to bed, though I didn't sleep well. Already my mind was on the Games. So when Feriah came to get me in the morning, announcing that we were about to pull in to the Capitol station, I felt like I'd barely slept at all.

I got ready quickly, adding to my feeling that the time was passing at light speed. Too quickly. Because soon, we'd be in the arena. But I didn't mind everything passing quickly, because the Games hadn't even started yet.

And if my guesses were correct, our time in the arena would go much too slowly.