Hi people! This is, in fact, my first fanfiction, so please be nice and I hope you like it! :)
Disclaimers: I don't own anything but Eli and Alex, everything else belongs to Veronica Roth and Suzanne Collins!
"Run, Alex!" Elliott commanded over his shoulder. "Just until sunset, I promise!" We had snuck away from District 4 just after the Careers who were going to be sent to the Hunger Games had been chosen amongst the many trainees that had been prepared for this moment for… well, almost their whole lives, Eli and I included. Both of us had made sure that we weren't good enough to be chosen by the instructors, so we wouldn't have to participate in the Hunger Games.
My best friend, Elliott and I had been planning to get out for a few years now. We became friends when we met in the training centre, where we were going to be trained as potential Careers. Our parents had volunteered us and I was drawn to Elliot as he was to me.
We discovered what we had in common a few years later. We both wanted out.
We didn't want to be Tributes.
We didn't want to be Careers.
We didn't fit in.
And eventually, we knew the Capitol would notice. So, we chose the only other available option. We ran. Days, weeks, maybe even months had passed by since we left our District. We headed north, because from the geography classes at school, the northern region of Panem was practically deserted. It was perfect.
"Wait, wait." Eli said in a quieter voice, sticking his arm in my path to stop me from running on ahead of him. "I can see something, straight ahead." He pointed over a small hill that we had yet to traverse. I stood up on my tiptoes; Elliott was way taller than me.
"Weapons out, Lexie. We don't know who they are." He whispered down to me. I nodded, pulling out by longest knife from its sheath on the side of my calf. Eli had his knuckledusters; he preferred hand-to-hand, but he was also pretty good with the sabre that he carried across his back.
Carefully, we crept up and over the little hill that we took cover behind earlier. There were people patrolling a… fence? No district that I'd ever heard of did that. The men guarding it couldn't have been more than their late twenties and they were wearing all black, carrying guns.
In our time training to become Careers, we were never allowed to use guns, much less lay a hand on one. Only Peacekeepers were allowed to use them and everyone else, no matter what district you were in, was taught from a very young age to be cautious around guns, and to never, under any circumstances, anger a Peacekeeper.
In other words, we were all taught that guns are scary.
We stayed hidden just a hundred or so metres from the fence, him behind a tree and me behind a rather large bush, just observing the guards and the fence.
"Are we just going to sit here all day?" I whisper-shouted. "I bet they'd let us in, sure they might ask some questions, but I think we'll be safe here!" "No way, Alex! We are not getting caught!" Elliott hissed back. "It can't be worse than the Capitol, right?" I protested. "Hell yeah, it can!" He replied angrily.
In a spilt second, I may or may not have made the most stupid, reckless, life-changing decision in my… well, life. I sprang up from my hiding place and ran over to the fence people, despite Elliott's whispered protests for me to get back to my bush.
Immediately after I had intentionally made rustling noises from standing up from the bush, the two fence-guard-people had turned their guns on me with threatening scowls on their faces. I schooled my facial expression into the one of a poor, lost, little girl in the middle of the forest.
Yes, don't worry; I left my knife back by the bush with Eli. I'm not entirely stupid… I still got my throwing knives in my belt though.
"C-can you help me?" I made myself stammer a bit to add to the lost-girl façade. "P-please?" I could practically feel Elliott rolling his eyes back behind the tree at my act, which he knew was completely faked.
Careers aren't helpless little girls. Or boys, for that matter.
The two fence guards lowered their guns, albeit suspiciously. "Who are you, and where are you from?" The taller one asked me, a bit of a commanding air about him. He still had a hand on his gun, and admittedly, it was freaking me out a little bit.
"My name is Alexandria, and I'm from somewhere south of here. Now who are you?" I asked, immediately dropping the act once I was certain that they weren't going to kill me right this second, but knowing I probably wasn't in the position to make such demands. Sure, I could fight; and fight well, but I knew I was going to eventually be overpowered by two guys with much more muscle mass than me.
"I'm Zeke," the taller one said. "Will." The other said shortly. He looked a bit wary of me, but said, "Come in, its probably safer in here than out there."
I beamed at him, "Thank you!" And then went back into the bushes to pull Elliott out from behind his tree. Luckily, he had already put away his knuckledusters and my knife into the duffel bag that we took turns carrying (it was pretty heavy!), so Zeke and Will wouldn't have more reasons to distrust us.
"And who's this?" The tall one, Zeke, inquired. "He's my friend, and he helped me get through the forest." I said, pulling my much bigger best friend along behind me, smiling largely at the two guards and then at Eli.
They both stared distrustfully at him, but grudgingly let my best friend of seven years past the fence with me.
Zeke and Will led us in, telling another woman and man to guard the entrance while they took us up to… wherever they were taking us. They walked briskly in front of Elliott and I, talking in low voices to each other, probably about what they were going to do with the two of us. All I could do was cross my fingers and hope to whatever higher being there was out there that everything would turn out okay.
Review and favorite, please! Constructive criticism is welcome, I'd love the opportunity to be a better writer :)