Carry on My Dear

by thatsmysong

Jenna escapes her district in a desperate attempt to be in the games before it's too late. On her journey, she meets an old friend and helps him escape from the clutches of the capitol, endangering herself if they get caught.

Chapter One

Jenna was awake. She was awake, and she was running, far away from her district. She was from District 2, so naturally, she was a career. She had trained for years to be the games, but her name was never selected. Of course she tried to volunteer – every year she tried. Everyone else was to fast though, and she was smaller than most girls in her district, so they easily pushed her out of the way. But not this time – this time, she would be in the games. And she would win.

There were two problems though, 1) she had no idea how to get out of her district and into a non-career district, and 2) she couldn't be one hundred percent sure that her name wouldn't be called back in her district. Not to mention, what if someone recognized her back home, after she had already gotten in? The capital would kill her on the spot, no doubt. She's laid low her whole life, but her parents might be concerned when they discover she ran away. Jenna couldn't think of those things though. She was already too far gone to go back, and the reaping was tomorrow. This would be her only chance and she had to take it.

After a few hours of jogging, Jenna slowed to a stop and sat down in a tiny clearing in the forest she had been pushing her way through. She pulled her small over-the-shoulder leather sack over her head and pulled out a chunk of bread. Panting, Jenna stood back up and started walking forward, nervously chewing the bread. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was following her, then did it again. She was the only one out there. Except. Except a second later there was a rustling sound, and Jenna whirled around, dropped the sack on the forest floor, and unsheathed a pocketed knife all in the span of two seconds. She held the knife at arm's length and glance around, seeing no one. Jenna lowered the knife and started to turn back around when she heard the crunching of dead leaves and twigs. Footsteps, coming toward her, at a measured pace. Breathing heavily, Jenna glanced over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she demands, turning the rest of the way around and glaring at the offender.

"I would ask the same of you, Jen," a dark-haired boy with shocking blue eyes and pale skin gazed innocently back at her with an playfully accusing soft-pink smile on his face.