Chapter 1

I walked into the bright sunny meadow. The sun was shining at an angle to the point where it was right in my eyes. Putting on my sunglasses, I noticed the glint of an object at the opposite side of the meadow. One I had not noticed when first walking in.

Stepping closer, I realized it was a girl with olive skin, gray eyes, and dark brown hair. In her hands was a silver bow and on her back was a silver sheath of arrows. She seemed to be stroking a rabbit that seemed a bit spooked.

"Hello?" I whispered ever so quietly. "What are you doing here?"

She didn't seem to know I had been there until now. "Hmm? Oh, my name is... Why, why do you want to know?"

"Because I've been coming here for years and I just wondered. Geez. Why are you so tense?" I placed my hand on my hip and tried to look irritated.

The girl looked, stood, and held out her hand. "You're right, I shouldn't have reacted that way, and my name is Katniss Everdeen. Yours?"

"Keke Simmons." I shook her hand then looked around the meadow.

A slight ruffle over to my right sent me into alert mode. I threw the backpack I was wearing onto the ground and whipped out my bow and an arrow so fast Katniss backed up a little.

"Whoa, you've got one too! That's cool. Oh, and by the way, I'm sure it's nothing." She put her hand on my shoulder and tried to soothe me. Nothing at this point could soothe me now. I was poised for an attack. Brown hair braided up, nothing could deter me. Who-or what, could be in those bushes?

All of a sudden six figures stepped out of the brush with big windbreakers on. Odd for sixty degree weather. What ever floats their boats, right? These people were really tall, especially the two oldest boys, it looked like. The tallest girl, who had blonde hair, and brown eyes stepped forward.

"What are your names?" She asked. Odd way to word that question I thought.

Katniss spoke up first using her last name so it wouldn't endanger her as much as her full name would. "Everdeen, who are you?"

"Max Ride. What about you archer?" I realized she was talking to me considering I hadn't lowered my bow since they started talking. Now that I thought about it, my arm was getting soar.

"Simmons, and what kind of name is Max? Are you sure you're a girl even?" The smallest girl in their pack stifled a giggle but Max shot her a menacing look.

"Short for Maximum. No more questions about me. This is Nick." She pointed to the tall one with black hair and black eyes. Creepy. "Jeff." She pointed to the one with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes that seemed to be staring off into space. "Brittney." The one with brownish skin and brown hair. "Precious." The little blonde chick with blue eyes. "Zephyr and Total." Zephyr must have been the boy one with blonde hair and blue eyes. That means total was obviously the dog. Weirdoes.

"Where did you guys come from? There's nothing in that direction for miles." Katniss spoke up and nodded in their direction, hand still on my shoulder.

They looked among them selves and nodded. "Umm... We have a campsite down the hill, came hiking." Max spoke up. It was clear she was the leader of the little group.

"Are you sure?" Katniss again, "There's no campsites down that hill. Just a cliff with a creek below it. I think you guys are hiding something. Keep your bow up Keke, we might have a situation."

"Sure, the moment they stepped through the woods I became weary of them." I took a step towards them making them back up a little.

"Alright, alright! We'll tell you, but it's a long story." Max began. Nick seemed to be shooting an angry look and I found that a bit funny, but didn't let my guard down. "We are ninety-eight percent human and two percent avian- as in bird. We flew here."

I let my hand that was holding the arrow in place slacken and it zipped over their heads and stuck itself in the trees behind them. All of a sudden, a shriek came from the woods and Katniss and I raced towards the noise. Could I have hit someone that I didn't know was standing there? Oh god! I thought.

But it wasn't a person who I had hit, when I saw who it was, relief flooded through me. I practically jumped into their arms. "Rose! Lissa!"