A/N

I literally keep starting a story and ending it.

So now I'll start one.

Enjoy!

Summary

What if Gale and Katniss left District 12 instead of going to the Reaping?

With nothing but Gale, andher knowledge of hunting, will the pair be able to survive? Or will the harsh surrounding of Panem get to them? GalexKatniss. Two-Shot . Pre- Hunger Games, set in Chapter one.

Disclaimer: The Hunger Games is not mine. Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorn, Prim Everdeen, and all the other characters belong solely to the author, Suzanne Collins. (However, if this book were mine, I'd give Gale and Katniss more screen time ;D)

Chapter One: We're going.

The sky was blue, and the weather, sunny. A perfect day for hunting. The game would be easy to catch, and the Hob would be bustling with people when I returned. As I walked toward the fence, enclosing the Seam within its barriers, I noticed my friend, Gale Hawthorn. Gale. I thought, but then pushed it aside. Gale had been my best friend ever since the mining accident that killed both of our fathers, almost five years ago. Ever since that moment, we had been inseperable, always hunting for food together, or just plain hanging out.

"Hey Catnip!" Gale smiled, playfully hitting my shoulder. I smiled back. Catnip has been a nickname ever since we met. When I told him my name at first, he swore I said Catnip, when I really said Katniss. For someone to think of cats whenever they heard my name was beyond me.

"Wanna come with me?" I asked, knowing the answer before he even spoke.

"Catnip, you know me so well!" He grinned, helping me through the hole in the fence, and grabbing my hidden bow and arrow.

"So what do you wanna do? We can hunt game, fish, or look for berries."

"Let's hunt first, then fish. If we start now, chances are there'll be more game, and we could get a killing at the Hob. You know how they love meat. Then we could save the rest for ourselves and our familes." Gale smiled and nodded, knowing how protective of my sister I was.

I hadn't told anyone this, but after my father died, my mother had literally died inside. She wouldn't care for Prim and me at all, only crying and making herself sick. Prim and I cried too. We had lost our father, and began to loose our mother. I was espically worried and upset about Prim. Imagine, to be seven years old, with no parents! I took immediate power over the household. I told Prim also to keep her mouth shut about all of this. If the Peacekeepers heard about it, we'd be sent to one of the Community Homes, which from seeing few that lived there, I knew it wasn't right at all for me and Prim. Things went along well, untill the money the Capitol gave us for his death, ran out. We were running out of food, eating only some old mint cloves in boiling water.

One day, I went out in search of food, finding only nothing. I decided to go and look around the shops' garbage cans, desparate to feed my family. I stopped at the bakery, hoping to find some bread, or another delicasy, but the garbage was empty. Even if something was inside the can, I wouldn't have been able to get it, because the baker's wife, threatened to call the Peacekeepers on me. Leaving the bakery, and sitting near a fence, I almost starved to death in the pouring rain, when I was handed two loaves of slightly burnt bread, by the baker's son, Peeta Melark. Ever since then, I've had a distant realationship with that boy, but thats another story.

"Katniss! Are you coming or what?" Gale asked ashe approached our favorite hunting spot, as well as a place only he and I knew about. It was a hill, covered in deep thickets of bushes, practically hidden from District 12. We always caught our game there.

"So the Reaping's today." Gale started, narrowing his eyes, as if he saw some something to shoot. He then turned away from the game, and foucused on me.

"You nervous?" He said, grinning.

I hit his arm, smiling as well.

"Of course I'm nervous, but I can't see why you're not. Your name's entered forty-two times!" I shouted, but keeping m voice soft enough to keep game near.

"Well in that case, Happy Reaping day!" Gale exclaimed, expecting me to finish. We said the next line together.

"And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

We almost fell down, laughing. The quote was from Effie Trinket, the District 12 escort for Tributes going to the Games. How that woman could stay so happy, was completely beyond me. I shuddered at the thought of being her, despite not having to compete in the Games, and never missing a meal.

"I don't even want to go. The Games are a complete waste of time, if you ask me." Gale said, as I shot a squirell.

"Exactly! And its worse with the Tessera!" Gale and I despised everything about the Hunger Games. Espically the Tessera rule.

Tessera is basically this: If you live in a poor District, you can sign up for tessere, which is a year supply of grain and oil, for every person you sign up for. But heres the catch, when you sign up for the tessera, you have your name placed in the Reaping the number of times required, as well as the number of family members getting tessera. Because our family's were poor, we had to take it every year. It didn't help as much, but we all made by on it.

"There isn't a way to get out of this, isn't there?" I said, placing another arrow, and shooting another squirell. Gale suddenly stopped.

"What? Is something wrong?" I asked, suddenly I stopped myself.

Gale had an idea.

"What if, we didn't go to the Reaping?" Gale said slowly.

"Gale! Do you want to die young? The Peacekeepers would know something's up if we didn't go! Its so-..."

"Catnip, I meant we don't have to go back to the Seam. Think about it. Panem is only here, in North America. Wasn't there six other continents? Continets filled with noone at all, but big empty houses? And possibly food?" Gale knew he could get me with that one.

"But what about Prim? What about our familes?"

"We can bring Prim if you want."

I nodded, slowly understanding his idea. From what we learnedin school, before there was Panem, and the Capitol, and the Districts, there were other places. Gale was right. The Capitol wouldn't look for us, if we were farther away from them. We could live out life, not having to worry about anything except each other.

"I'll get Prim ready." I said as we left the woods.

"I'll catch some more game, and trade it at the Hob. Meet back here before the Reaping, ok? And don't tell anyone about this. Got it?"

I nodded as he reentered the woods, and I went back to my house to collect Prim.

Lets hope this works.

A/N

Yay for The Hunger Games! Its a really awesome book, and I reccomend that reading the book, before reading this will help. I LOVE this series! Anyway, posts won't be that often because I'm still reading the first one, but when I get a better idea of the characters, I'll post more.

R&R! :D