Chapter 1: katniss
The fence enclosing district 12 is never live with electricity. No-one in history has defied the capitol by attempting escape and besides, where would they go? Life in 12 is awful, everyone is malnourished, but it's the only life they know. No-one can be sure what the other 11 districts are like, or how to get there. The only people ever to see the other districts are victors, and we don't have many of those so the stories are scarce. But reaping day is the one day each year where every parent wishes they could send their children away from the 'safety' of district 12 because whatever lies beyond the border cannot be any worse than the arena.
Today is reaping day yet the fence is still silent as I slide underneath it to meet gale. We trespass into the woods whenever we can, reaping day or not, people will still trade for whatever we catch. Gale perches on the log where I hide my bow and sheath of arrows. Beside him on the log is a loaf of bread and the smell tells me its fresh.
"Hey catnip, ready for the big day?" I don't understand how gale can turn the hunger games into a joke. I worry about how many times my name is entered this year but I know that gale will have his name in even more. Despite my fear I manage a smile and reply "may the odds be ever in your favour.."
As we move further into the woods to find some decent prey, gale falls silent and I know that he is worried about the reaping. The funny thing is, Gale is probably the only person in 12 who might have a chance of winning. He's strong, knows how to handle a weapon, and his looks would earn plenty of sponsors. I dread to think how bad I'd be in there, or poor little Prim. I've tried not to think about it, but Prim turned 12 last month so today her name will be in the pot for the first time. Only once though, the odds are in her favour.
Our haul includes a few squirrel and a couple of birds. On a normal day we'd catch more, but neither of our hearts are really in it. We won't get a decent trade on reaping day anyway, too many peacekeepers about and people are willing to pay less. We decide to take a break as we sit down to enjoy the bread that gale bought. Its only then that I remember the goats cheese that prim left out for me. We sit in a glade and we much quietly on the bread and cheese. Gale catches me gazing and the large expanse of forest and his words match my thoughts. "We could do it, take off and live in the woods. They'd never catch us and we'd be free."
I'm tempted, as I always am on reaping day. But I couldn't leave prim behind. Both her and mother rely on me, rely on my hunting. With just the goat and my mother's healing, they'd starve within a few months. Then prim would have to sign up for tesserae. The thought of her getting reaped breaks my heart.
Gale continues "I'm serious. We could leave, right now. We've got our weapons. We'd never be short of food." I know he's right, we'd find plenty of food. Probably eat better than most people in district 2 even! " But I don't know where we'd go. And once we left there'd be no coming back."
I sit and consider what my dad would have done before the accident. All of a sudden, I have an urge to do it. Gale's right, we could easily make a life for ourselves in the woods. But we'd have to take our families. Prim would be easily persuaded, and mother wouldn't want to lose us. Gale's family would be harder, with very young siblings. It would slow us down, but we'd manage. We could teach Rory and Prim how to hunt.
Gale has suggested this before; he's always had a rebellious streak inside him. When we hunt he always blurts out his real thoughts about the Capitol. Neither of us would dream of speaking words like that inside the district boundaries. Even out here I'm scared to badmouth the Capitol, even though secretly I want to scream to the heavens how much I hate them and what they do to us. Taking children from each district, trapping them in an arena and forcing them to fight each other until only one survives.
This will be the 5th year I will have to stand in the square, awaiting my fate. If my name is read out this afternoon, this hunting session with Gale will have been my last. The thought of escaping the reaping forever stirs up the fire lf rebellion in me.
"Lets do it." I blurt out. "but we'll have to go back and get the others. Prim would never forgive me if we left without her."
Gale smiles, glad that I'm on board with this plan. It's completely mental but it somehow seems like the right thing to do.
As we stand up to race back to the fence we hear a sound that makes my stomach drop. The blast of a horn from the mines signifies that it's one o'clock. The reaping starts in an hour. Gale looks as me as we both realise our grave mistake. The city will already be crawling with peacekeepers, there's no way we'll make it under the fence unseen. And the punishment for that will be worse than the reaping.
"We'll have to run on our own Catnip" says Gale. The thought of leaving prim to face her first reaping alone is unthinkable but I know he's right. Our own stupidity means we have left ourselves no option but to take off into the woods.
Gale takes my hand and leads me into the dense cover of the trees, I assume the only direction he's following is to take us as far away from the district as possible. As far away from home. As far away from Prim.
"Good luck Prim" I whisper. And for the first time in my life I am relying on the odds being in her favour.