A/N: I took liberties with what we know about District 11. Seeder and Chaff are not victors and Merle replaces Chaff as Haymitch's drinking buddy without a hand.

Glenn

District 11 has one victor: Daryl Dixon won the 52nd annual Hunger Games at the age of 12. Only one other 12 year old has ever won. A Career boy from District 2 took the crown in the 29th Games. But he was almost 13 at the time, well-nourished and big for his age, whereas Daryl was undersized and had turned 12 a month before entering the arena. No one knows exactly how he won. Well, they watched of course but they don't know the story behind it.

Districts with no previous winners can select someone to accompany their tributes, or the Capitol will provide a mentor. Before Daryl became mentor, 11 always sent someone. The children were going to all but certain slaughter but at least they wouldn't spend their final week with a stranger from the hated Capitol.

When Daryl was reaped his brother Merle tried to volunteer but at 19 was ineligible. So Merle went with Daryl and the official escort. The brothers returned together - Merle minus his right hand - and they've never spoken of it since, not even Merle when he's drunk. It's still a mystery why a small, simplified crossbow was parachuted to Daryl. It wasn't much better than a slingshot but Daryl made good use of it.

I was two when it happened. I watched the recording when I was 12, just before my first reaping. I've watched it three times since then, seeing and feeling different things with each viewing. A girl with a blood disease volunteered as the female tribute that year. Her name was Gwen and her interview with Caesar Flickerman was heartbreaking as she admitted that she volunteered because she was dying anyway.

That minute after launch when the tributes can't leave their platforms yet, you can see Daryl's eyes darting around, taking everything in. He jumps off his platform, snags the closest bag and heads for Gwen who is already making for the woods. She doesn't look well but adrenaline is probably helping her move fairly fast for the moment.

Daryl didn't score much in the bag, as expected so far from the cornucopia. There's a fish hook, three matches and a protein bar. Hours later they find a stream, strip a vine as a fishing line and dig worms for bait. It's early enough that a fire won't be seen so they choose wood that won't make much smoke and cook the fish. They move camp before settling in for the night.

They're attacked early the next morning but there are only two and they take them out. Daryl bashes in the head of a 15 year old boy with a rock from the stream. Gwen beats a girl with a tree branch but she's already weak and knows she used the last of her strength. She looks at Daryl and says, "Next time" and shakes her head. Berries and cold fish for breakfast and they're on the move again, looking for a place to hide.

Later that day they come across a girl by herself. She says they should stay together for awhile and Daryl and Gwen agree. Awhile turns out to be the middle of the night when the girl makes the mistake of killing Gwen first with a knife she had kept hidden. Daryl gets the knife away and kills her with it and then he's on his own until the parachute arrives and evens the odds. Daryl goes hunting, or it might more properly be said that he goes on a rampage. Watching him, you think he would have been able to kill them all without a weapon, that the little crossbow just gave him the confidence to get started.

The Dixon boys moved into the Victors' Village which had stood empty for more than five decades. The houses have always been kept up by the Capitol, not because it was expected that they would be used but as a taunt to the entire district. Daryl became mentor to the tributes who followed him. He and the escort travel to the Capitol with them and each year Daryl returns grim-faced and alone. Merle stays in District 11, having been permanently banned from the Capitol. He has a drinking buddy in neighboring District 12, the victor of the second quarter quell, who Merle met in the Capitol. Travel between districts is forbidden for most citizens but victors have privileges so two or three times a year Haymitch Abernathy arrives by train to get drunk with Merle.

Daryl

Daryl always joined his brother and Haymitch for a drink but the two older men tended to gravitate to the subject of sex and their discussion of potential partners was always about females. Daryl wasn't interested so he left them to it.

Not that Daryl was uninterested in sex. He wasn't a virgin but he was 28 now and far from experienced. Just enough to know he preferred men to women. It wasn't easy to have a relationship, especially when you were SSO – same sex oriented. His income kept him and Merle comfortable but his status set him apart. People weren't unfriendly but there was a distance between the Victors' Village and the rest of the town that was greater than the mile that separated them.

Besides his brother, Daryl's closest companions were the mayor, Rick Grimes, and the local baker, Dale Horvath. The poorer outlying districts were very similar except for their contribution to Panem. Areas not needed for that contribution were fenced off to control the population. There was a town with a locally elected mayor and a few basic businesses like a pub and a bakery. There might be a doctor, or the closest thing to a doctor that the district could claim. Often this was just someone more skilled than average with first aid, minor illnesses and setting bones. District 11 was lucky to have a trained veterinarian, Hershel Greene, who cared for animal and human patients alike.

A few months earlier a bobcat had attacked Dale before being put down. Hershel fixed Dale's slashed abdomen but he needed help for awhile so a young Asian man named Glenn was assigned. Daryl had seen the kid occasionally over the years. He remembered when the boy's parents died of a virulent influenza a decade earlier. Dozens of people had died because the Capitol delayed medicine. It turned Hershel's hair white before his time to lose so many good people for no good reason.

Two months after Dale's attack he was healed but by then he depended on Glenn and wanted him to stay on. Every able-bodied adult and child had a job in the fields, orchards or gardens. Only the elderly and infirm were excused and they had duties in the town instead. You worked until you died. That was the deal. But Dale was old enough that it was time to train someone to take over. Normally this would be someone who was getting too old for field work but Dale made his case for Glenn and, surprisingly, his request was granted by the Peacekeepers.

The Peacekeepers weren't known for congeniality but they were posted in a district far from the luxuries of the Capitol. They got better food than the locals and a few choice goods from the Capitol but it was a monthly supply train and in between, a good bakery and a decent pub were the most they could hope for. If Glenn had been a strapping man perfect for field work, they would have refused but he wasn't very big or strong and no one else was enfeebled at the moment so they made an exception. Glenn was 17 and had been working the gardens since he was a child. He would continue to help at peak harvest times and everyone liked Glenn anyway so there was minimal resentment of his good fortune.

Truthfully, the boy might be a born baker. He had unearthed an ancient book of recipes, Down Home Cooking – Favorites with a Southern Flair, and had been trying them out with great success. Dale's bread was the result of years of practice, not a natural gift that Glenn seemed to possess. Glenn had added soft rolls and pastry to the menu as well as a round flat crust spread with tomato paste, sprinkled with chopped vegetables and topped with cheese. He called it pizza. Everybody else called it good enough to forget there was no meat included. Although occasionally there was meat, thanks to Daryl who poached regularly and never got caught. Being a victor wouldn't save him if the Peacekeepers apprehended him in the act. They'd come across him with birds and squirrels and rabbits but always within the fence line.

Most trees were part of the orchards but there were some small wooded areas where the ground wasn't suitable for planting. Daryl claimed that was where the birds and squirrels came from, and the rabbits from the gardens. The Peacekeepers didn't believe him. They thought he must be getting out but they didn't know where or how. The fence was electrified and in good repair. Inspectors from the Capitol checked it annually and the Peacekeepers themselves did so after weather that might have caused damage. Branches overhanging the fence had been cut off or the trees cut down. It aggravated the Peacekeepers that Daryl eluded them but on the other hand, he always came back and he shared his haul with the town which meant the Peacekeepers benefited as well. They weren't about to alert the Capitol and be punished for their failure to resolve the problem.

Daryl helped at peak harvest, too, even though as a victor he was exempt. He didn't want special favors. Merle was limited by his missing hand so Daryl pitched in for him as well.

Daryl worked in the fields and Glenn in the gardens so the two hadn't met until one day at the bakery. Glenn had grown into a handsome young man with dark eyes and hair that flopped over his forehead. He was friendly, not reserved as most people were with Daryl. Daryl wasn't much of a talker and was surprised thinking back after each visit how much he had contributed to the conversation. It was two months before he admitted to himself that he was going not for fresh bread but to see Glenn. He was so unnerved by his interest in the younger man that he made Merle do the shopping from then on.

A few weeks later Merle arrived home and tossed a bakery bag on the table. "That kid turned 18. He's legal. Get your own damn bread from now on."

Daryl met Merle's eyes. "You knew?"

"Only from the first time I set eyes on him. I know your tastes. And you wanna taste Glenn."

"He's too young for me."

"He don't think so. Always asks after you."

Daryl looked down to hide the hope and satisfaction he was sure would show. "What does he say?"

"Lemme see, what'd he say first time I went in? Course he knew who I was. Called me Mr. Dixon. When I was leaving he says 'I hope Daryl is well. I mean Mr. Dixon. I mean your brother, the other Mr. Dixon.' And then he turned red as a beet."

Daryl flushed. Merle laughed. "You got somethin' in common, you're both blushers."

There was a knock at the door. They didn't get many visitors. The mayor dropped in occasionally but Rick usually saw one of them in town and mentioned he would be stopping by.

"You expecting somebody?" Daryl asked.

"That'll be Glenn," Merle said casually.

"What! You invited him here?"

"We gotta eat so I ordered a pizza. Glenn said he'd deliver it so I wouldn't have to wait. Get the door. And pay him."

Daryl was nervous as he went to the door.