DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately I do not own the hunger games however I do own all the tributes in this story. I hope you like it :)

Chapter one

Bianca's POV

I woke to my brother nudging me. I rubbed my eyes and lent up on one elbow to see better in the dim light. Adam had a serious look on his face, a rare thing for him.

"What is it?" I ask in barley a whisper, careful not to wake my sister who was curled up at my side.
"I need to talk to you..." He pauses looking over his shoulder at our mother's frail frame holding Ebony in her sleep. "Please"

I slide free of the small arms wrapped around me and follow him out of the door shrugging on my jacket. I thought we would just be going outside so we didn't wake the others but he kept walking past the last house on the street around the corner and sat on a large rock in the alley behind the hob. I sat down next to him and wrapped my jacket tighter around my body. A few moments of silence passed before my curiosity got the better of me.

"So what's up bro?" I asked as I knocked him with my side.
"I... you know I love you right?"

"I love you to mate but why did you have to drag me out here to tell me that?"

"I know I haven't been the best brother to you lately and I just need to know that you know I love you before..." his voice cracked and he broke off.

"Before what?" I prompt, Adams never this serious except on reaping day and that's still at least 2 months away.
"I'm volunteering for this year's hunger games".

My jaw dropped and a new chill ran through me, but this one had nothing to do with the sub zero temperatures of our district.

"You can't! There's only a few years left and then you're safe! You can't volunteer Adam!" I stood up and grabbed his shoulders trying to shake some sense into him.

"I have to! We are starving B and we can't afford to keep living off the rations we are getting it's just not enough. If I win then none of us will ever have to go without dinner again"

"If you win, IF! District 12 never wins the hunger games Adam NEVER! You'll DIE just like Monique did" Monique was our other sister. She had died in the games a few years ago when she was 14. I sank down to my knees in front of him suddenly unable to stand.

"Well at least then you'll have one less mouth to worry about feeding, one less stomach growling to keep you awake at night"

"No Adam, I won't let you" I get up and storm off.

I didn't go back to bed, instead I kept walking passed our house and found myself taking the familiar path to the same place I always go whenever I'm upset. The empty shed where I had stayed when I ran away from home a few years ago. I had only lasted a few days before I had gone home but still those few days had been peaceful.

When I reached the shed I grabbed one of the blankets I kept hidden in the corner and climbed onto the roof. I lay the blanket down on the tin underneath me to help retain my body heat and I stare at the sky. It's still really dark out and I can see a few stars through the clouds. I guess dawn is a few hours away but that's not really what I care about right now. How could he possible want to volunteer?

I was so preoccupied with my fearful thoughts that I didn't hear the sound of someone climbing up onto the roof. I didn't even turn my head to see who it was when another blanket was draped over the top of me. I couldn't bring myself to care. I was going to lose another sibling to the games. A tear fell from my eye onto my cheek and left a trail of fresh chill everywhere it touched my skin.

"That bad huh babe?" It was a familiar voice, one I'd recognise anywhere but I still didn't acknowledge him. The blankets shifted and I felt him slide in next to me. A large hand whipped the tear from my face and rested there for a moment before forcing my head to turn and look at him.

"Tell me" Jaimes was my best friend and he always knew when I was down even if I had my walls up he could always see through them. He was the only one. He also knew how to make me talk even when I didn't want to. I just felt safe with him, which is stupid considering the world we live in. A world where nowhere and no one is safe.

"Adams gonna volunteer at the reaping" my voice is barely a whisper but he heard me. I can see it in his soft blue eyes as his hand drops from my face.

"Well fuck me" He sits up and drags me with him. "You need this more than me"

Jaimes reaches over and hands me a bottle of white liquor. I open it a take a large gulp before passing it back. I rest my head on his shoulder and he pulls his blanket around us. We sit like this for a while without talking, passing the bottle back and forth, and watch the sunrise. We watch as people start to emerge from their houses. Usually the children would be going to the school house and the men to the mines but not today. Today men, women and children all walked together in the same direction. To the square, today the capitol would reveal the twist for this year's hunger games. This year was a quarter quell.

"Think we should head to the square?" Jaimes looks at me to read my face as I think of an answer.

"Why bother, we can hear it perfectly from up here and all you'll see is Snow pull a card from the box, besides it will be aired at least twice more tonight"

I take another swig from the bottle and realise its empty. I hold it up in front of my face to confirm it then turn back to Jaimes. He's still watching me.

"How much more of this do you have?" I ask handing him the bottle.

"That was my last bottle" he smirks, "I'll have to brew some more this week"

"Thankyou" I say and lean back down on his shoulder. "I'll trade for half the ingredients, seen as how we've drank half your stock up here anyway. You should be careful, if you get caught you could be killed or turned into an Avox"

"Are you kidding? Besides Haymitch the peacekeepers are my best customers" he laughs and I smile. Only Jaimes could make me smile when I feel like this.

The anthem plays and we fall silent. Neither of us is eligible for the reaping anymore, I'm 20 and he is 19, but Adam is and now that I know he plans to volunteer I really want to know what this year's twist will be. I can't make out the picture on the screens streaming the broadcast live to every district in Panem but we can still hear it. President Snow is giving the same old speech about how the hunger games are our punishment for the dark days and how every 25 years there will be a special game held that will have a new rule or a twist as a special kind of punishment. The rules were all written back when the games were created and are drawn 3 months before the reaping so that preparations can be made by the capitol. I find myself looking down at the empty bottle in Jaimes hand wishing it was full so I could drink some more.

"He we go" Jaimes says, drawing my attention back to Snow's voice.

"... In honour of the 75th hunger games and 3rd quarter quell" there is a brief pause as he draws a card. "To remind us that no one is safe from the cruelties of war this year's tributes shall be reaped from those who have passed the age of reaping. Ages 18 and above..." Jaimes goes stiff and I drop the bottle. It clangs against the tin of the roof and Snow's words echo in my head.

Reaped from those who have passed the age of reaping. Adam is safe

I turn to Jaimes and see my thoughts mirrored in his eyes.

But we're not.

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