AN: Okay, I never actually read the Hunger Games, but only the first few chapters. I am in the process of reading it, but I love how it starts. This is set a couple years before Katniss and Peeta were selected as tributes. Also, I love Starkid :3 This is a long chapter, so review away~
It was only at sun break when I had woken up. Sitting up, my spine crackled and popped from the previous night's sleep. I took in the familiar scene of what I've been calling home for the past three years, it always disappoints me. The wooden shack had barely even stood by it's own, the shutters drawn to keep the morning light out and also people's looks. A small amount of dust filled the air as it always had. Next to me was a small girl but she was a year older than me. Her face pressed against her duck feather pillow as her tangled, light brown hair was draping over her neck.
It's been years since my father had died and my mother died before I knew her, leaving me only to fend for myself, which I did for a week until she had found me in the Hob, trying to bargain for a small drop off food, just something to hold me over another day.
My father had just died from a mining accident, he was crushed in an instant when the tunnels had caved in on top of him and a handful of others. My mother on the other hand was a tribute. She died in the arena, but she was the closest champion District 9 had in three decades. She was last one killed off. She could have came back with riches of plenty for me, only being two, and her young lover. She only had me when she was sixteen and her last entry year, she had been picked as a tribute. I never knew what she looked like.
I only saw pictures of us three together, but I never had feelings for the older woman in the picture, who looked just like me as of now. We could have been identical twins, really. Her pale skin was complimented by her deep brown hair and pale blue eyes. Her jawline was completely defined as well as her cheekbones. Her lips were like two light pink rose petals. My father on the other hand was tan, had dirty blonde hair, and sea green eyes. The two were a beautiful couple, but both died too young and too in love.
Once I was an orphan, no one cared. In District 9, there was no community home as I've heard other Districts have, so homeless children were undesirables, forced to live on their own, but always kept in tab of by the PeaceKeepers.
So there I was, fighting for my life in the Hob when this girl, not much older than me, stuck out her hand to pull me up to my feet and wrapped her tattered jacket around me and led me to this broken down shack, she told me that her and her new family called it the Rocketship.
This ever so confused me. The Rocketship? I've only heard silly fairy tale stories about machinery that launched you into space, but I was only thirteen at the time. She told me in a low whisper, "It's where no where else matters, just family". I had never fully understand how that silly little sentence and a rocket ship had corresponded together, but I hadn't cared. "My name is Lauren..." I remembered her introducing herself to me as we entered my new home.
"Buffy," I heard a low whisper call out my name from the other side of Lauren, who had been breathing softly into her pillow. Lauren offered me to sleep in her bed the past years since we were the smallest how could fit on one bed and also the youngest, me being sixteen and her being seventeen now. It was Joey. He was almost eight teen now with long black hair, stubble, light brown eyes and tan skin. He was the one teaching me everything I know now- how to hunt, gather, trade, and fight. He looked at me, like every morning, a signal to go out hunting.
We'd go out around this time, as only the miners were up and forcing themselves into the caves to retrieve coal for trade of food and money that'd only last them for that day. They never paid attention to Joey and I as we walked outside, pulled on our light weight boots and headed away from our District's town, called Fillira, and out towards the forest.
Without a word, we make our way silently to the hollowed tree trunk and retrieve our bows, arrows, and poles and make our way deeper into the forest, trying not to rustle any leaves or frighten any game away. If we were lucky, we'd get meat to last us the day.
Once we were clear of the fence of Fillira, we found our place. A large tree that was like the life line to the others around it. I quickened my pace once I see it a sprinted towards the tree and leaped on it. Skillfully making my way up the tree, knowing where the notches are to grasp with my hands. Once I finally made my way up to a large think branch that could hold me, plus a partner, I gazed down at the forest floor at Joey, who surprisingly made his way up towards me with more ease than I had. I only say this because I was more like a spider monkey as he was more of a big cat. A spider monkey could climb a tree faster than a large cat, for example a cougar, but he was the exception.
I took my perch closer to the edge of the branch, carefully and making sure that I wasn't out two far, as Joey said towards the main part of the tree. I didn't stray to far from Joey, knowing that if I needed to tell him something or wanted to talk, he'd be just next to me so I wouldn't have to raise my voice. But today, there was a silence that filled the air... it wasn't a good one.
Studying Joey's face, his brow scrunched together and his lips pursed together, looking like he was in deep... deep thought. His eyes, still working their way through the forest, looking for some form of movement, was more hazy than narrowed.
I decided to break the silence. My voice was barely audible when I asked, "Joey? Was wrong?" He was shook out of concentration and looked at me.
"Reap Day is tomorrow." He flatly said, without an emotion in his voice. He didn't keep eye contact with for long. His eyes wondered back into the forest.
I kept my eyes locked on his, even though he didn't return the look. "You only have two years left, as I have three... in a few years, we'll all be too old for it... there are thousands of teens that could be picked..." I tried to reassure Joey, placing my hand on top on his as his rested on the tree branch. He pulled it away quickly. I gave him a stern look. "Joey. It'll all be fi-"
"Don't tell me it'll be fine." Joey lashed out at me, still with his voice in a whisper level, but the way he spit venom as he said this, I knew something was up. He bit his lip, trying not to show emotion. I could tell. He glanced at me, as I wasn't paying attention to the forest anymore. "I took the tesserae. So did Joe." He plainly said.
My face turned to stone as I could feel the blood rush out of my face. "How many entries?" I asked. It was my turn to talk without any emotion. Joey ignored the question. There was a long silence again. "How many entries?" I repeated myself.
"Seven. Each." Joey gulped. "Once for each person in the family." He sat frozen. He wanted to say more as his mouth started to open, but shut it.
It was so quiet between us. It felt the air between us was non-exsistent for I could even hear his heart beating. "Darren said that to never take the tes-"
"So what Darren says not to take the tesserae?" He spat again, shutting his eyes. "Do you know how hard it is for me to see you guys slowly vanish away into just skin and bones after what happened to my mom?" It was the reason Joey was living in The Rocketship. His mother had starved to death over the winter a few years back and he father was claimed unfit to raise Joey because he was an alcoholic. So Joey left the slums of District 9 to find new hope at the age of fifteen. That's when Darren took him in.
Darren was the eldest out of our group of seven, being nineteen years old. He worked as an entertainer for the 'upper class' in Fillira with his worn down guitar, he sang at pubs to draw in customers, only to be paid so little... but it was something.
We all had something to contribute to the group like Darren and his low wage job and Joey and me with our hunting and gathering. Lauren was in charge of our two chickens and goat plus the garden. She was too small to hunt or barter in the Hob. She could easily get jipped and couldn't fit for herself. Joe worked in the mines, transferring coal from the mouth of the tunnel to the trains. It was a man's job, but at eight teen, Joe was cut out for it. Brian was the healer. Even at his age of eight teen, he studied herbs and how they could them to cure sickness. He worked as a healer for the lower class in Fillira, only getting what could be traded in return. He had gotten wool, pelts, tea leaves, and other random things from his customers. And that would leave Meredith, also eight teen, who stayed at home, cleaned, cooked, preserved foods for the winter, kept the fire going, and other miscellaneous things around the house.
Even as a group of undesirables, I felt District 9 would crumble without us. We fed others by trading in the Hob and cured people.
"Joey, we could have dealt without... we always have and always will, I don't see how that was nes-"
Before I could even finish my little rant Joey's ears perked up and widened his eyes. "Sh." He simply said, notching his arrow into his bow, silently. Watching him, I did the same. I watched his eyes narrow as he drew the bow up and scanned the brushes low. Had he heard something I didn't? I glanced at him again after scanning and he nodded down to the ground with his breath turning shallower as the moments go by.
I looked down at where he nodded. I caught my breath at the sight of a large brown mammal. I had never seen one of these before. It ate off the ground with crooked horns of some type on it's head. It had hooves. What was this creature? Without hesitation after locking on to it, Joey released his bow, pegging it straight in the eye. It started to run away, but I released my bow, pegging it where the heart should be. It fell straight to the ground.
Joey's solemn attitude quickly changed into a jolly one as he started down the tree. "What is that?" I asked him, no longer whispering as I followed his lead down the trunk of the tree.
"A buck!" He exclaimed, ignoring our conversion we just had a few minutes ago. "A male deer." He jumped the rest of the way down, than I did. He caught me in his arms. It was sort of a ritual after a kill, we'd do this.
We ran our way to to the dead body. The thing was as big as me... more like big as Joey. I closely exclaimed the beast. The tan fur on it's face was now stained with blood. I reached down I stroked the fur on it's hind thigh. It was coarse and smooth at the same time. I looked at the horns and counted the tips of each gnarled point. It had to be at least eight teen. "Amazing..." I breathed out.
Joey looked proud at this dead animal in front of us. "Well, help me drag this thing!" He smiled down at me. He went to the head of the deer and grasped a horn. "Grab the other antler and lets pull this home..." He went on. I did as he said and helped him drag the deer to the edge of the fence, on the way we stopped and picked some raspberries and placed him in the back I had and placed our bow and arrows back in the tree.
"Stay here with it... I'll get Darren to come and help us the rest of the way..." Joey said climbing under the fence, leaving me at on the other side. The house wasn't that far away from the fence, so it shouldn't take them long.
After a few minutes had past, I saw Joey jogging towards the fence with Darren close behind him. Once Darren caught eye of the large game we had killed, he grinned. "That's amazing, guys! There's not many of these around this part of Panem anymore." He praised us. Joey looked at me, pride glinting in his eyes.
As if talk about the tesserae hadn't even existed, Joey went on and on to Darren how he spotted the deer, shot him directly in the eye and how I had finished the job. I kept quiet, letting Joey ramble on about the dead thing as it was dragged under the fence by my 'older brothers' and towards the house, avoiding the Peacekeepers by all means.
Once we finally got the deer back to the shack and in the back yard. "We need to tie it in the tree so we can butcher it." Darren told us pointing to the large tree near our house. "Buffy, get the rope over there..." He nudged his head towards the direction of the house. There was a rope sitting at the back step. I picked it up and gave it to Darren. Watching has he skillfully wrapped the rope in the antlers than threw the rope through a branch and hoisted the creature up so it looked like it was standing on it's hind legs.
I didn't exactly want to see the butchering part, as I never did. Something about the insides of the animal grossed me out. I was weak. I judge myself because of it. How could I have survived without The Rocketship? I would have been dead, surely. That night on the damp ground in the Hob, I was surely dead.
That evening, Joey and I went off to the hob and traded the pelt and antlers of the deer for two loaves of bread and wool. We also traded the entrails, such as the heart and liver, to Lady Vi, in trade for some stew, which would serve as our supper tonight.
I never did the trading in the Hob. Joey did all the bartering and trade. But I studied him. Closely. First he'd make small talk to his 'customers'. I couldn't tell if he was actually enjoying the conversion or trying to get on their good side for future deals, but he was good either way. Then he'd show off what he had brought to offer and started to barter.
The thing is, he'd always bring me along to help with deals. He even told me this. Most people at the Hob are hopeless romantics, even if they are nasty and cold. So, most people in District 9 at the Hob think we are a young couple. Which never bothered me, since I never saw Joey in any romantic way. He was two years older than me.
"How are you two holding up?" Lady Vi asked, taking the package of entrails from Joey's hands. She was old and fragile. Luckily for her, the Peacekeepers buy from here, keeping her well fed with money. She had enough to get her through each day without too much worry.
Joey looked down at me and I slightly nodded. "We're holding up." I felt bad lying to people just to get deals out of them. But it was for the other five. Joey and I had to feed their mouths to keep the family alive.
Lady Vi gave us a grim smile. She felt bad for us. Even though we are lying to her. She feels bad for us. I swallowed hard and looked up at Joey as he took a wooden bowl with a cover on it from Lady Vi's shaking hold. The size of the bowl was the size of large rabbit. Joey bowed slightly to the old woman. I followed lead as I did every time we barter with Lady Vi. "My the odds ever be in your favor, tomorrow, you too."
And with that, I twitched as we turned away from Vi. That brought me right back to Reap Day. That smile that Lady Vi gave us. It wasn't a reaction of feeling bad for us because of our living situation. It was because of Reap Day. She knew we were getting older, meaning more entries. Though she doesn't know Joey's act of heroism. Or that is what he thinks is heroism. No one knew. Except Joey. Joe. And myself.
My hands clutched around the two loaves of bread as we headed down the Hob's pathway. I avoided all eye contact. Something about the place scared me. The lurking people looking worn and close to dead. They were all skeletons. How could I look people in the face when I know they are on the verge of dying? I would remember their faces and forever wonder: Had they lived?
So, I kept my eyes down on the ridged cobble pathway. Down at the two pairs of feet. Joey's and mine. Focusing on our pace. Just like our lives now at The Rocketship. One step at a time.