District 9 Tributes:

Fenella Reed (16)

Patrick 'Paddy' Ackerman (13)

(Night before the reapings)

"Hurry up Paddy!"

The small boy with the freckled face worked furiously at the lock, moving the hair pin around it deftly.

"C'mon mate, someone's bound to walk by soon!" his friend Donnie whispered loudly at him.

"Almost there… got it!" Paddy stood up with triumph all over his face.

He carefully opened the door quietly as him and Donnie entered the back door of the butcher's. It was the best butcher's in town, and was like paradise for two malnourished boys like Paddy and Donnie.

"Ok quick, grab everything you can!" Donnie said as the pair began stuffing all the meat that they could into their sacks.

Paddy Ackerman was a small boy, even for his age. He was small due to being malnourished, and had fiery red hair and freckles. Paddy's parents had died two years ago, and he had wandered the streets on his own for several weeks, surviving off whatever scraps of food he could scrounge.

But then, he had met Donnie. An older boy who was now seventeen, he had taken Paddy into his home after seeing him rummaging around in a bin one day. Donnie had promised Paddy a place to sleep and food, as long as he helped him out on a few 'jobs'.

It was from that point onwards that Donnie had taught Paddy how to be an excellent thief. Breaking into shops and houses, pickpocketing, you name it, Donnie was an expert on it and had taught Paddy everything he knew. The two boys were never violent though. Donnie disagreed with violence on every front.

Paddy licked his lips as he shoved several packs of sausages into his sack. This line of work did certainly have its benefits, and he couldn't wait to get this food cooked.

Then suddenly, they heard footsteps, and low voices. Donnie froze and pressed a finger to his lips, motioning Paddy to follow his lead. Donnie walked over to one of the windows at the front of the store, and peeked out, where he saw exactly what he didn't want to see.

Peacekeepers. About five of them were getting out of cars, and pointing at the butcher's.

Someone obviously told them! Donnie thought furiously.

He turned to Paddy. "C'mon kid, we're getting out of here! Peacekeepers!"

Paddy quickly finished filling his sack, and together the two of them moved quietly towards the back door, desperately trying not to make a sound. As they reached outside and moved away from the butcher's, Paddy gave Donnie a quick thumbs-up. Everything was going to be alright.

"HEY!"

Paddy and Donnie spun their heads around in alarm. They saw a burly peacekeeper, shining his torch at them, he was clearly fuming.

"Hold it right there you scum!" the peacekeeper shouted.

Paddy and Donnie did the exact opposite, turning on their heels and sprinting as fast as they could away from the peacekeeper. He yelled after them, but they hardly heard it as they ran away.

They kept on running through the urban maze that was District 9, passing by all the enormous factories used for grain processing. Thinking that they had escaped, they allowed themselves to slow down.

But then they saw the peacekeepers again. They were not giving up this chase, and even had a couple of dogs with them, who were barking aggressively.

"Ok kid, we've gotta split up! I'll go towards the factory area to the west, and you run towards the district centre. We'll reconvene later at the house, got that?" Donnie asked.

Paddy nodded as the two split up. Two peacekeepers came after him, but Paddy noticed that the two with the dogs had gone after Donnie. His heart sank, but he had to keep running. There was no time to think about anyone else right now.

"In the name of President Neal, I order you to stop!" one of the peacekeepers yelled as they continued their pursuit of Paddy.

He was faster though, and his small size meant he was more nimble and agile. Once he had got a good distance ahead of the peacekeepers, he ducked down into a small side alleyway, and smiled as he saw the peacekeepers continue running down the street.

He waited there for a good twenty minutes, before finally deciding it was time to go home. Once he made it there, he saw that there was no sign of Donnie.

I'm sure he'll be back soon. He thought to himself as he sat down at the table.

But the hours passed, and still he didn't return. Paddy's worry increased, and he couldn't sleep. What if Donnie had been caught?

He ended up spending a very lonely night in the house.

(Seven years ago)

Nine year old Fenella Reed was walking home from taking her little five year old sister Skye out in the District centre. They had had a great evening, as there had been a carnival in town due to the victory tour of the latest Hunger Games, with lots of games and food and fun. Fun was something that District 9 most definitely needed.

"I loved tonight Feni!" Skye squealed, still over-excited by the evening's events. "The rides were amazing!"

Fenella smiled. "I'm glad we went Skye. Now how about we…" But she stopped as they reached their home.

Several peacekeepers were mingling around the front of their house, looking very serious. Fenella felt fear rising within her, as she picked up Skye and ran over to one of the peacekeepers.

"Stay back kid!" The peacekeeper said, putting a hand up to stop her. "This is serious business."

"Please, this is my home! What happened?" Fenella begged.

The peacekeepers in District 9 could be slightly more sympathetic than other districts. He sighed, as he knelt down and put a hand on Fenella's shoulder.

"Listen kid, I don't know how to tell you this, but…" He began.

But it was at that point that their parents bodies were brought out on stretchers, and Fenella didn't need to hear anymore.

(Present day)

Fenella would never be able to get that memory out of her head.

As she worked in the grain fields of District 9 with her scythe, she thought back to her parents. She missed them so much.

When they had died, her and Skye had been sent to the district orphanage. Life was hard in the orphanage of a poor district, and as a result of this Fenella had learnt to keep herself to herself, not making any friends. The only person she cared about was Skye, who she fiercely protected and looked after in the orphanage.

As Fenella continued working, a new boy called Elwood who had recently started working in the same field as her was walking towards her. He was fascinated by the girl with cold, calculating, green eyes, with pale skin and long blonde hair that she kept in messy fishtail braids. Elwood really wanted to find out more about the girl who kept herself so closed up.

"Hey." he said as he approached her.

Fenella gave him a curt nod in response.

"So… what's your name?" Elwood asked.

"Fenella."

There was a pause as Fenella continued working. Elwood then spoke again. "So… aren't you gonna ask me my name?"

"Do I look like I care about your name?" Fenella replied, without even looking at Elwood.

Elwood was surprised by this response, but brushed it off and persisted. He loved a challenge.

"So Fenella… how about you and me hang out sometime?" Elwood said with a grin.

Fenella turned around. "Look yeah, I'm not interested, so back off."

Elwood continued grinning, as he said "Aw c'mon, I'm sure we'd have a good time…"

He was cut off by Fenella punching him across the face. Elwood fell to the ground, completely taken by surprise.

"I did warn you." Fenella said, and walked away as Elwood lay on the ground, whimpering.

What a wimp. Fenella thought as she headed towards the district centre. Her morning shift at the grain fields was over, and it was almost time for the reapings.

Fenella did not fear the Hunger Games herself so much, but feared for her sister. Because of Fenella protecting her during her life, Skye was not quite as tough as Fenella, and would be a bloodbath tribute for sure.

Mind you, that'd be no different to most of the other District 9 tributes. Fenella thought darkly to herself. District 9 held the rather awful record of having the highest amount of bloodbath deaths in the history of the Hunger Games. It was no wonder that they'd only ever had two victors.

She took her place amongst the other sixteen year olds, wishing that they'd hurry up and get it over and done with. Fenella always found that the whole procedure, with its speeches and all that rubbish, dragged on longer than it should.

"And now for the female tribute…" the escort announced. Fenella waited with baited breath.

Please don't let it be Skye, please.

"The female tribute for District 9 this year is Fenella Reed!"

Paddy watched as a girl from the sixteen year old section with the most composed face he had ever seen from a District 9 tribute walk up onto the stage.

I'd never be able to be that composed. Paddy thought to himself. He was already feeling paranoid today, what with Donnie not returning and a couple of peacekeepers giving him suspicious looks as he had walked around the district centre.

"The male tribute this year is… Patrick Ackerman!"

Paddy froze with horror as he realised he'd been reaped. As he walked up the stage slowly, his whole body shaking, he noticed one of the peacekeepers grinning broadly at him. Paddy recognised him as one of the ones that had chased him last night, and what he was communicating to Paddy through his facial expression was all too easy to read.

You're going to die.