AFTER THE HUNGER GAMES- GALE'S STORY PART ONE
**Author's note: Hi! So this is my first story attempt, and this idea has been floating round my head for some time now, so I've decided to write it down. There are also copies of this story on deviantART and Wattpad, which are also mine. (COPYRIGHTED.)No flaming, but constructive criticism is appreciated. If you don't like the idea then fine, but I personally think Gale should get more screentime/pagetime. Enjoy!
It has been a year since Katniss and Peeta have died during the rebellion. Now the Hunger Games are back, with a new rule. Everybody is forced to enter their name, regardless of their age. When Gale is picked as a tribute, he is sure that he is being sent to his death like his best friend before him, but what he finds is shocking, and he is forced to team up with mysterious, dangerous people. Will a rebellion rise again?
(c) Gale, Rory, Vick and Posy Hawethorne, Katniss and Primrose Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Effie Trinket, President Snow and Haymitch Abernathy belong to Suzanne Collins. (c) Only Evangeline Sporker belongs to me so far, but I promise I have more characters in my iventory! :)
It had been a full year since Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark had been slain by the Capitol's soldiers during the rebellion. I miss my best friend Katniss a lot, but life had gone back to normal: The poor were starving and the rich were living comfortably in the Capitol. All was as quiet, for no one now seemed at all eager to stand up to President Snow's Peacekeepers. As a punishment for the rebellion all the people had to have their names entered for the Hunger Games at least once, regardless of what their age was. (Of course if they were under 5 years old it didn't count.) And so I found myself weaving in and out of the crowd, siblings in tow nearer to the stage where (a very glum-looking) Effie Trinket stood. Her clammy hand was tightly gripping a microphone that was studded with pink rhinestones. Effie wasn't a bad person, just…rather odd. I knew that she was distraught when Snow had informed her that the girl with the Mockingjay pin, the ferocious hunter, had been slain. Haymitch was drinking (as per usual) and back in charge of training the 'lucky two kids' who were to take part in the hunger games. I paused in mid-thought when I suddenly felt a tugging at my belt.
"Primrose?" Katniss' little sister was edging closer to me, nervous and shaken. Her older sister's death had really knocked her down a few pins. She had refused to eat for several days and had lost a fair bit of weight.
"Gale…I'm scared. I'm scared I might get chosen. It was my fault. If my name hadn't come up, Katniss would have never gone…and she wouldn't be d-dead!" She was sniffling now. "But if I do, you have to promise me you won't try to take my place… okay?" Jesus…Gale, don't look into those big eyes…
"I guess… but it wasn't your fault you were picked. And at least we made a few dents in Snow's ego," I said uneasily, hoisting my youngest sister onto my shoulder. I knew that it wasn't going to be her. It was most likely me: my name had been entered 35 times this year, because my mom and I couldn't feed the family on the measly portions we got.
"Testing… Testing… Are we all here? Good," Effie Trinket was tapping her mike impatiently and ruffling her over-sized hairpiece. "As another year roars by, we are back at the amazing HUNGER GAMES! I, Effie Trinket, will be drawing the names of District 12's lucky two!"
Silence rang out through the square, as everybody from District 12 held their breaths simultaneously. She reached her hand into the large glass bowl and took out two pieces of crisp, cream-coloured paper.
"And this year's male tribute is… Gale Hawthorn!" A choked sound came out from the back of my throat. I knew there were chances, but they were pretty slim. I put my sister down and made my way to the front. Everyone's eyes were on me. My mother gasped and reached for my arm, but the Peacekeepers held her back. Prim had tears running down her face, and a pang of guilt struck me. She was going to lose yet another part of her life.
This was how I was going to die. Slain for the rich peoples' amusement. I never even got to say goodbye to Katniss, with her having died at the hands of the snobs who were going to be laughing as I got shot down by arrows or whatever. I had loved her from day one. She was brave, loyal, and an amazing hunter. Clean shots through the eye, as I recall. Till the moment I'm slain, I will never love anyone as much as I did Katniss. Catnip…I miss ya.
Effie beamed when I finally got onto the stage. "And our female tribute is… Evangeline Sporker! Let's get into the spirit of the Games!"
The crowd blinked and began murmuring to each other. If Evangeline Sporker was a tribute, then District 12 was surely doomed. Eva was the Seam's lunatic. Let's just say that she's more likely to be trying to assassinate me before the Games starts, regardless of who I am. (Or so the rumours imply.) I awaited her arrival, and gazed out towards the crowd. A small, blonde haired girl shuffled forwards. The golden strands of her hair clung together in clumps and her face was grubby and blood-streaked from the beatings she got from the civilians she had tried to approach. Evangeline couldn't be any older than Prim, and yet despite their hair and age, they couldn't be any more different.
As Eva made her way to the stage, I noticed that she was muttering and twitching slightly.
"The Games…Are just a trick…The walls…They need BLOOD…"
I shivered. The cheese had slipped off her cracker.
Effie's fake smile faded, and she stepped back slightly. "…And these are our tributes! Let us give them a nice round of applause!"
The hours flew by and I found myself sitting in a train car identical to the one Katniss sat in exactly two years ago. All was the same, except it was me who is going to be sent to my death. People flitted in and out to say goodbye, or to wish me luck. They all remembered me as 'Katniss Everdeen's little friend'. I was also known as 'The kid who brings the illegal wild game', and 'the boy who took that whipping and had to be saved by Katniss Everdeen'. I never really made a name for myself, and the only people who knew me at all were Catnip's family and mine.
The last ones to come in were my mother and my siblings, Rory, Vick and Posy. Mom said nothing and just shook her head, but my brothers rushed at me in a flurry of arms and legs. I whispered for them to look after each other as best they could, and I got up and gently pried Posy from my mom's arms. I cuddled her and gave her a small kiss on the head.
"Heh… Look after those two meatheads and mom would ya, Pose? I bet you'll be just as brave as Catnip one day." Posey gurgled a reply, a sad look in her eye.
My mother sighed and finally beckoned for all of us to come in for the last ever-family gathering. She pulled us close and tears slid down her cheeks. After a few moments, she took something out of her pocket; it was a black piece of (not too thick, not too thin) rope with what looked like an animal tooth dangling from it.
"This was your grandfather's," mom said quietly, slipping the necklace round my neck. "It's a shark tooth. A long time ago, there was an island not far from Panem called Hawaii. The people there believed that shark's teeth could protect one from poison. My great-great-great grandfather lived in Hawaii, and he devised a potion and hid it in this tooth. Use it when the time is right." I wanted to question her: To ask how to use it and when, but the Peacekeepers instead stormed in and told her her time was up. I watched as my own mother was dragged, flailing and screaming out of the car, my siblings in tow.
I muttered a melancholic farewell as the train set off, heading away from District twelve and towards the Capitol.
PART TWO, COMING SOON.