Chapter 1: The Morning Before

The light mist coming up from the ground smelled of earth and decaying leaves. It cuts up the light from the rising sun like bright shards of glass as the rays creep up my body, warming me against the chill that still clings to the morning air. I close my eyes and listen to the sound of the birds sing their songs high above in the trees, feel the soft grass tickle my neck and arms as I lay in what is my favorite spot at the edge of the forest behind my home.

This is peace.

This is home.

This could be my last time here.

My name is Hatch; a 17 year old boy from District 7. I've lived here my whole life. We are all lumberjacks. I've been trained on how to cut down trees since I could hold a hatchet, which I'm named after. My family does surprisingly well because we all work together and help each other out. I am the 4th child. My oldest two siblings are married and each has one child. We live in a small family compound surrounded by trees. It is usually just us. We only see other people when they come to pick up the lumber we cut and when we have to go into town, and that's the way we like it.

So why could this be my last day in this wonderful spot? It is Reaping Day. And Reaping Day always results in the horrific death of 23 children. But this year will be different. It will be worse. Much worse.

It is the 175th Annual Hunger Games and the 7th Quarter Quell. The Quarter Quell is a special Games especially after what happened at the 3rd Quarter Quell and the 2nd rebellion. The victors that escaped those games were punished by being put in the 76th Hunger Games, but instead of given a chance to fight they were tied to posts throughout the arena. The 24 tributes were then told that if they were to come across one of the six fallen Victors they were required to kill them on site or they would be killed and the fallen Victor let loose to participate in the Games in their place. Needless to say, none of the fallen Victors got the chance to participate.

As a matter of fact, all but one died before any tribute could find them. Two drowned after a flashflood, another died from smoke due to a forest fire nearby while a third was electrocuted to death because his restraints were made of metal and there was a thunder storm where the lightning struck his post. He was put at the top of the only mountain in the arena. The most brutal death of all was the girl's named Katniss. She was found by an army of ant mutts who slowly ate her alive. Rumor was that the ants were specifically put in the arena for her. They were supposedly genetically altered so that they could only pick up her scent, but it didn't stop them from killing three other tributes who had the misfortune of running into them.

The only one that was killed by a tribute was killed only because that tribute had won the games before that fallen Victor was found so the Capitol brought the tribute to them and said they must kill the fallen Victor to truly earn the title as the 76th Games Victor. It took him less than 10 seconds. Her name was Enobaria and despite her claimed loyalty to the Capitol President Snow wanted a clean slate of Victors. She was the last Victor before the 2nd rebellion to die and the Victor of the 76th Hunger Games became the only living Victor. His name was Bronze and he was ironically from District 2; the same District Enobaria was from.

After those Games the Capitol decided to make some changes to the Games. After they had beaten the rebels again they had also conquered District 13. They also decided that since there were some in the Capitol that were sympathetic to the rebels' cause they would now have the capitol vote to have a boy and girl tribute that could be chosen from any district to represent the Capitol. This brought the total number of tributes in the Games to 28 every year.

In order for the Capitol to be able to vote for a tribute they needed to be able to see their choices. So the Capitol built training centers in all the districts. Any child between the ages of 12 to 18 could now be trained to be killing machines for the Games if they wanted. The Capitol provided the trainers, which was supposed to give all the districts a fair chance. It was not compulsory to attend the training centers, but since it was not required the Capitol repealed the rule that an individual could volunteer. This way it couldn't come to the point that only volunteers would go to the Games which would mean that the districts could start selecting only the best to be trained and then the other children wouldn't have to worry about being reaped. They said this would make the odds fair for both trained and untrained children, but in reality this was the Capitol's way of adding more oppression to the districts; have trained children who stand a chance, but then have a small untrained child be reaped. The irony was not missed by those in the districts.

It was also no surprise that even though the Capitol claimed all training centers would have equal training most of the funding for the centers were sent to Districts 1, 2, and 4. Districts 12 and 13 obviously got the least funding because they were seen as being the instigators of the 2nd rebellion.

Additional changes included the public being able to watch the training sessions of the tributes before they went into the arena except for their private session, and the skill score system was changed from a scale of 0-12 to 0-13.

Then there was the 4th, 5th, and 6th Quarter Quell. In the 4th Quarter Quell each district was required to have volunteers. If there weren't any then two boys and two girls would be reaped, the people of the district would vote for which two they wanted, and the remaining two would be publicly executed on the spot. This happened in Districts 5, 10, 12, and 13. The 5th Quarter Quell twisted the rules in that the pool of tributes could only come from the group of 12 year old children; to show that even the smallest are subject to the power of the Capitol. For the 6th Quarter Quell all tributes were chosen from a pool of children that were descendents of all Victors from the very beginning and the present District leaders in office; to show that they do not gain special treatment due to their ancestors' status.

The 7th Quarter Quell would top them all, though.

I think back to the night the President addressed Panem and read off the card for the 7th Quarter Quell. Every word he spoke was branded into my brain that night.

"To show the people of Panem that neither the strong nor the weak can evade the power of the Capitol, and to show that only through unity can we survive, each district will offer up their most recent boy and girl Victors whom will also choose a boy and girl Tribute from ages 12-18 to accompany them into the arena. There may be two Victors; one Victor and one Tribute."

56 people, 24 Victors and 24 Tributes, would be entering into the arena this year, and only 2 would come out alive.

So the districts would not only lose their most recent Victor but that Victor would be burdened with choosing which child would most likely be going to their death. There were only 60 living Victors. By the end of the games there would be 38 if 2 came out of these Games.

I roll to my side and curl into a fetal position. The butterflies in my stomach are twirling so violently now that I feel like I'm going to be sick. I'm 17 years old. I only have two Reapings left and then I'll be in the clear. Everyone in my family has been lucky enough to avoid the Games so far.

But I don't know if I'll have the same luck. Unlike my siblings I have a natural talent. When I was 12 I decided to join the training center. I was scared stiff of getting reaped and I wanted to give myself any chance I could to survive if I did. Because of my experience cutting down trees I naturally had an advantage over the other 12 year olds. I was a natural. I excelled at all of the training exercises and by my second year at the training center the trainers considered me to be among the top 5 best students.

That year I was put in the group that the Capitol would asses and vote on for who would represent them in the arena. I obviously was not voted for, but one of my trainers privately told me that many told him that I was in the top three pick for boys that year. She said that I was guaranteed to be picked if not next year then the year after.

Her intentions for telling me this was to inspire me to work harder. It had the opposite effect. I have a nervous breakdown that night and withdrew from the training center the next day. Needless to say there were many disappointed and angry people both in the training center and the Capitol. Nevertheless, I and my family were left unscathed and left to live our lives in peace. We were expecting peace keepers on our doorstep any day for the month after I withdrew.

But I secretly never stopped training. I took all the knowledge I'd gained in the training center and continued my training in the forest. My family would keep a look out for anyone coming and if someone did they would blow the family horn to warn me and I would stop and go back to work.

I do this because even though I left the training center there was still a chance I could be reaped, so I keep training in case that day ever comes. I know my way around an axe, sword, throwing knives, and machete better than anyone. I'm also better than most with a bow and arrow and spear. I was called a prodigy in the training center; a guaranteed member of the career pack if I ever entered the Games.

But I would never join the career pack. Ever. I would rather go it alone in the Games than join with them. I'm not a born killer.

A gentle breeze blows through the little grove catching my bangs and bringing the wonderful smells of the forest to my nose. The sun continues to rise high in the sky and burn away the morning mist. I keep my eyes closed and soak in this moment. This moment could last forever and I would never get bored.

That's when I hear the whistle.

I try to block the blare as it attempts penetrates my skull. A moment later I hear the soft crunching of dead leaves coming nearer.

"Hatch. It's time," my father says softly.

I roll over and slowly stand up. As I come toward my father he takes my hand and we walk back to the house together to join the rest of the family. This year it will be me and my 3 younger siblings; 2 sisters and a brother. It is his first Reaping. If we are lucky we will all be back here in a few hours going back to our regular daily activities. I hope with all my heart that we will be.