Chapter 2

Gale POV

I walked out of the trees and toward my house. Today was reaping day, although it was my last year I was worried. My name was entered forty-two times in the reaping bowl. When my shift at the lumber station wasn't enough to feed my family, I had to look for other options. Options such as taking tesserae, or illegal hunting. Being from District 7, I was well accustomed to knives and especially axes. I walked home with my axe over my back. The door was open so I saw Rory getting ready, attempting to straighten out his hair.

"Gale! Hurry, your clothes are laid out on your bed," My mother said and pushed me off in the direction of my room. I went and put on the clothes laid for me. It was simple, a white shirt with black pants. It's all we could have afforded.

"Hurry up Gale! Were going to be late!"

"Okay Rory, I'm almost done!" I yelled back. I went outside and saw Rory waiting for me.

"Let's go," I said. I was instructed to go stand with the eighteen's. Rory went over to the fifteen's and we waited. Mayor Undersee came and gave his speech. I looked around for the one person I occasionally talk to: Madge Undersee. I spotted her flowing, blonde hair standing next to the seventeen's. How I wish I were the mayors child. It wasn't fair, some people, such as Madge, get things handed to them while others, such as myself, have to strive just to get food on the table. However, that didn't stop me from becoming friends with Madge.

I looked at the stage and saw the mayor go and sit down with our latest victors: Johanna Mason and Blight. Johanna looked like she couldn't care less about the reaping. The district escort walked over to the bowls. She is starting with males this year, since she started with females last year. She dipped her hand into the bowl slowly. Her hand fished around in the bowl before her fingers picked up a name.

Please, don't let it be me, I thought to myself.

"Our male tribute for the 74th Hunger Games will be Gale Hawthorne," She said, with a bright smile that the situation really didn't call for.

Oh, well, shit. It was me.

I masked all emotions from my face and walked up to the stage. My hands were fisted up and in my pockets. I stared at the floor the whole time until I heard somebody say "Madge Undersee". I looked up to see Madge walk toward the stage. She was the female tribute? Until now, I never even knew that she was in the reaping bowl. And even if she was, she probably only had one slip. How could she have gotten picked?

"Shake hands with each other," The escort said. I kept my hands in my pocket and glared at her. We were ushered into the justice building. The peacekeeper took us to our rooms. The door opened and my family walked in. I saw Rory and Vick stride in quickly, trying to cover up how they were feeling. Rory's face was hard; he was trying to be strong, unlike the rest of my family, who were crying. Posy came and attached herself to my leg. My mother and Vick came in, embraced me in a hug. Rory just stood there.

"Listen, we don't have much time. Rory, the axe is in the closet. You have to start working, I'm so sorry," I said quickly.

"No Gale, we're the ones who are sorry" My mother said. The peacekeeper then came in which meant that my family had to leave. I heard many "I love you"'s before the door slammed. I didn't have any more visitors but I wasn't surprised. I wasn't exactly what you considered friendly. The peacekeeper then escorted Madge and I to the train that would take us to the capitol. We silently sat on the couch in the train and waited for something to happen.

Something interesting most definitely happened.

Johanna Mason walked in, naked. My eyes popped out of my head when I saw this. It was not something I expected. Blight must have noticed my reaction because he started laughing.

"Could you put clothes on?" Madge asked in a quiet voice. Johanna laughed at this before taking a robe and putting it on.

"Okay, give us advice about how to win," I asked eagerly.

"Whoa there, don't get ahead of yourself," Johanna said. The escort then came in with a DVD.

"Time to watch the other Districts reapings!" She said in her stupid Capitol accent. We got up and sat in the couches in front of the TV. She placed the DVD in the TV and it came up. The career districts are all volunteers. I made a list of all possible enemies and allies, just in case I needed one. The first threats I saw were from District 1 and 2. Marvel and Glimper? I think; District 1 always has weird names. District 1 looked like threats. I then saw District 2. A large man hurdled to the stage, he was at least 200 pounds, but not of fat, of muscles. He was going to be a definite threat. Then the girl volunteer stood up. Even though the girl was tiny, she looked sadistic. Then came my own reaping. I didn't want to watch it after living it so I casted my yes downward the whole time. All the other districts were normal to me, until District 11. A large, dark man was called. He made his way to the stage just like I had, no emotion. Then a small girl was called. Nobody volunteered for her. I put her on my mental list of possible allies. The last district was District 12. I hadn't expected anything special. They would probably be some starved children, just like me. How wrong I had been. The girl was called. At first she didn't move, but then the District 12 escort asked for her to come forward. I saw a small girl, with two blonde braids, the same size as District 11's girl's tribute. She hesitantly walked over to the stage. I heard somebody yell a name, which I'm assuming was her own. A girl pushed her way through the crowd. She raised her hand before saying:

"I volunteer as tribute!" A volunteer? From District 12? I looked at the girl that volunteered. It was obvious that the only reason she was volunteering was to save the girl, her cousin maybe? The smaller girl began yelling and crying as the older one walked to the stage.

"What's you name?" The District 12 escort asked.

"Katniss Everdeen" She said. Her face was emotionless, even more than me. She looked straight into the camera, her eyes filled with fire as she spoke.

"I'd bet my buttons that was your sister, didn't want her to steal all the glory?" Katniss stared at the escort before looking down. Then a similar situation occurred. A small, lanky boy was called but before he could make his way all the way up to the stage, a blonde boy came and volunteered. He made his way to the stage and the two tributes looked at each other, did they know each other? He opened his arms out for a hug, which probably would have been a really nice touch. Except that's not what the girl did. She started hitting him over and over.

"You idiot! You weren't supposed to do this! What if you get hurt in the games? How about our families? You put yourself in danger!" She knew him, and by what she was yelling, they were close. She was a fighter, I could tell. That could help us, or go against us. I decided I had enough so I got up and walked around.

"What an interesting change of events," Madge said and I agreed. These hunger games were going to be far from normal.