Katniss POV
I looked up and smiled at Max. I knew that without her and Gale, me and my family would have starved to death. The same goes for Max's, but Gale probably would find a way to survive.
I met Gale first, he caught me admiring his traps. We developed a bond forged over mutual need. However, Max wasn't as open as Gale. In many ways, she was much the same as me, toughened and not to be messed with. I approached her on her first day in the Seam, she was being bullied by a couple of the town kids, but she was holding her own, which I liked. So I went over, told the townies to stuff their heads down a coal mine and immediately befriended Max. She was terrified, but she didn't let it show. After that, we spent every day together, and a few months later, she showed me her secret. She had wings. I always thought that it was a hunchback or something. Turns out she was a long-forgotten Capitol experiment.
Max had a sister called Ella, and they were both brought here to District 12 by their mother, Dr Martinez. When my mother discovered that there was a doctor in town, she was ecstatic. For a long time, she had struggled to keep the residents of our district alive, but sometimes, it just wasn't enough. Dr Martinez brought a whole new light to my mother's medical training.
Ella and Prim were best friends the moment their eyes met. They were exactly the same. They did just about everything together. Sometimes, I joked that they might aswell be joined at the hip, which would earn me a disapproving glance from both of them. Usually simultaniously.
So in return for her showing me her wings, I taught Max how to hunt. I brought her to meet Gale and together, we made a system. Max flew overhead looking for flocks of wild turkey and the occasional deer, which she would throw a knife at, Gale checked and reset the traps and I hunted what Max found. We worked in perfect harmony and everything was good.
But then came the Hunger Games.