"No! NOOO!" A small voice cried out in the early morning. A teenage hedgehog held his younger brother in his arms, soothing the lingering nightmare away.
"Shh, Tails, it's okay. I've got you. Go back to sleep, little one." Sonic said gently. He pulled the thin covers over the yellow fox's small frame, tucking him back into bed.
Sonic stood up quietly, and headed over to the bench by the front door. He pulled on a long pair of dark brown leather boots, a jacket, and dark gloves. His emerald green eyes scanned the small home before him. His mother was on the far side of the large bed, Tails still snugly in the spot where Sonic had left him. The 16-year old didn't want to leave, but someone had to go out and get food. Sonic picked up a basket to take with him, and a cheese Tails had made for him with goat milk from the table, and gently shut the door on the way out.
The morning air was cold, but Sonic was more than used to it. He'd had to hunt and gather food for his family for a long while now. Sonic walked along an old, dried up brook, which led straight to the very edge of District 12, the end of Sonic's district. He couldn't remember the last time the brook had held water. It had been bone dry for years. The brook eventually brought him to the massive fence that separated District 12 from the wilderness. It was supposed to be electrified, but Sonic knew for a fact that it was only electrified for a few hours each night. He slipped through a gap in the fence easily, and jogged into the forest on the opposite side. The smell of the woods was comforting to Sonic, and he loved the earthy smell of it. He ran up to one of many hollowed out logs, and pulled out a bow and quiver of arrows, wrapped in protective skins.
Sonic shoved the skins back into the log, and swung the quiver over his back. He ran quickly through the forest to his favorite spot, and swung himself up into a tree to wait out game. He kept still, doing his best to avoid making any sound that would scare off birds. There was a faint breeze that ruffled his quills, and it felt pleasant. Sonic could smell smoke wafting from District 12, even though he had to be at least a mile away. A chirp forced Sonic to turn back quickly, his head snapping towards the sound. On a branch maybe thirty yards away, there was a dove, fat from seeds and berries scavenged from the forest floor. It was perfect, and Sonic knew he would be able to sell it for a decent price down in the Seam. He pulled an arrow from his quiver, and strung it to the bow in a fluid motion. Slowly, Sonic lifted the bow, aiming straight for the dove's eye. The bird flitted a little on the branch, and Sonic dared not breath in for fear it would hear him. He released the arrow, which shot straight into the bird's eye, killing it instantly. The dove fell straight from the branch into the hands of another below.
"Nice shot, Sonic," A red echidna of seventeen commented. He grinned as his friend dropped down to the forest floor from his place in the tree.
"Thanks, Knuckles." Sonic said as he took the dove from his friend. Knuckles extracted the arrow, and handed it to Sonic. The two of them hiked off into the woods together to fish.
"Do you think ten fish is enough?" Knuckles asked as he looked into his pail.
"I'm sure it is. Five for you, five for me. I'm going to sell mine and trade the dove to the baker."
"I took him some meat this morning, too. I got this from him," Knuckles said as he pulled out a small loaf of bread. He broke it in half and handed one half to Sonic, who then divided the goat cheese Tails had given him. The two sat and ate in silence for a while as they watched the sun come up.
"We could run away, you know. I'm sure you and I would be okay out in the wilderness," Knuckles said as he leaned back against a tree.
"I'm sure we could, but we have our families to think of. I have Tails, and you have your sisters," Sonic returned.
"You're right. I'm not sure if Tikal and Shade would make it without me," Knuckles said. "Although, we could always take them with us. We could go today, even."
"They're still too young, though. And if we left today, we'd get caught no matter what. You know what today is. There'll be more guards and swatbots than ever."
"Right. Today's the reaping for the Chaos Games." Sonic said, his voice low.
"AND MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR!" Knuckles roared out in the Capitol accent. Sonic fell over from laughing, clutching desperately at his sides to hold in his laughter.
"Okay, well, we better go back then," Sonic said, still chuckling. He wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes. "I'll meet you in the district square then, yeah?"
"Yep. See you then, blue!"
With a final shared chuckle, the two parted ways. Sonic plucked some berries and piled them into the basket on his way back. He deposited his bow and arrows back into their log. He quickly ran back into District 12, and set off to sell what he'd caught.
First, he stopped by the mayor's house, going by the back door. The mayor had a strong preference for wild berries, and would always give a few dollars for some. Sometimes he would even be generous with Sonic, and throw in an extra dollar or some change. This time, however, it was the mayor's daughter, Mina Mongoose, who answered at the back door.
"Hi, Sonic," she said shyly. Mina always wore pretty dresses to school, but today she looked stunning in a longer dress with a shiny belt, and high-heeled shoes. She had a pretty gold pin on her lapel, and her curly hair was swirled into a bun, leaving a few strands to frame her face. She took half of his berries from him, and paid him with the usual cash, along with about fifty cents extra.
"Happy Chaos Games, Sonic," Mina said in her gentle soft voice. She closed the door with a smile, and despite the fact that Sonic hated the Chaos Games, he couldn't help but smile back.
Sonic then headed towards the trading area, where he traded off four of his fish and the dove, in exchange receiving two loaves of bread, a few tinder boxes, and some greens. He then headed home, where his mother Bernadette was helping Tails pull on his nice shoes.
"Sonic, you get into the bath. I'll get lunch ready for us." She said.
Sonic complied, pulling everything off and dropping himself into the hot tub of water behind the curtain in the corner of the large room. He scrubbed himself thoroughly, removing all of the dirt and grime and sweat that clung to him. Bernadette had also put mint leaves into the water, leaving him smelling nice as well. Sonic dried himself off and drained the tub for his mother. He looked over to the bed, where his mother had laid out crisp, white gloves for him. White gloves were almost never worn unless for a special occasion. She had also laid out matching white socks, and shiny red shoes with a white straps and gold buckles. The shows looked practically new, and Sonic really liked wearing them. However, they were for special occasions only, and the only special occasions in District 12 were weddings and reaping day.
Sonic pulled them on and shook out his quills. "Oh, you look so handsome," Bernadette nearly cried as she inspected her son. Sonic lover her, but he had never quite forgiven her for becoming an absent parent when his father had died. It hadn't been long after they had adopted Tails that Sonic's father, Jules, was killed in a mine blast.
"You look good," Tails said as he tugged on Sonic's hand. "Come on, let's eat!"
The three of them ate strawberries and half a loaf of bread for their lunch. The fish and other half of the loaf would be for their dinner that night.
Sonic's mother led them outside, and the three of them headed for the square. Everyone was required to attend the reaping, unless they were on their deathbeds. Rows upon rows of people were lined up for the reaping, and Sonic had to temporarily separate from his family. Sonic ended up standing next to Knuckles, and the two of them ended up exchanging a friendly fist bump. They watched as the mayor came up on stage and introduced Vector the Crocodile, the only person from District 12 to have ever survived the Chaos Games. He wandered up drunkenly, and then collapsed onstage and had to be taken away on a stretcher. Knuckles let out a snort of laughter, and Sonic grinned. The mayor then introduced Rouge the Bat, a young woman with large assets and massive amounts of makeup plastered onto her face.
"It's time to select our tributes!" She drawled into the microphone. She walked over to a large glass bowl containing all of the names, and dipped in a glove -covered hand. She pulled it out daintily, and strode back over to the microphone, her heels clacking on the stage.
"Miles Prower!" She called. Sonic froze, and Knuckles spluttered next to him. Miles was Tail's real name. Sonic watched in horror as Tails slowly walked up to the stage, fear forcing him to tremble like a little earthquake.
The next thing Sonic knew, he was running after his little brother, nearly screaming. "I VOLUNTEER!"