Chapter 1
Life on the Atoll is predictable in its drudgery. But Katniss has to be thankful that she and her sister are alive to live a life, even a boring one.
Atoll 12 is one of the few manmade islands left in existence on the Earth, which has been submerged entirely in water after the melting of the polar ice caps. Katniss works as a barkeep here, providing for and raising her little sister, Prim.
One morning, a handsome stranger with hair the color of corn and eyes as blue as a summer sky captains his tamarin into Atoll 12's port. From down the length of the bar, Katniss watches as the stranger makes trades with collected items. One in particular catches her eye: an entire jar of dirt! Real dirt! The Atoll is abuzz. The stranger isn't particularly talkative when Katniss pours him a drink, but he does oblige when she boldly asks him his name: Peeta.
As Peeta prepares to leave, he refuses an offer to copulate with some of Atoll 12's women. The few surviving humans left on Earth has caused inbreeding among the populace. When Peeta refuses, he is restrained. Thom, one of the pirates who makes port here, starts upon seeing something behind Peeta's ear:
"MUTANT!" That is what a man who has grown gills like a fish is called. And as Katniss has heard many times from Atoll 12's elders, mutants are not to be trusted.
They imprison Peeta in a cage suspended high above the docks. His tamarin is detained and ransacked. That night, in the little dockside hut she shares with her sister and Haymitch, their benefactor and the atoll's eccentric inventor, Katniss watches Peeta from her bedroom window.
Her attention is only diverted by Prim, coloring as always. She's always been an odd one, her baby sister - doodling things that no one has even seen and only heard stories about. These etchings are mysterious - as mysterious as the brands upon the skin of her back. Katniss isn't sure whether the marks on Prim's back are tattoos or a birthmark, but they've always been there. Some in Atoll 12 have whispered that Prim's markings are a map that leads to Dryland - a island made of actual earth that survived the floods. Some think it's a myth. In spite of her practical nature, however, Katniss believes. Though she doubts her little sister could possibly be the one to lead them there. Nevertheless, she accepted Haymitch's offer to transport them off the Atoll; he fears how the Elders have been whispering about Prim. Katniss' duty as a sister, coupled with a simmering wanderlust, compels her to agree: they can't stay here. Haymitch has assured her his new flying machine is ready for take-off; they'll depart first thing in the morning.
The next morning, Finnick, one of the Elders, sentences Peeta to be recycled in their organic sludge pit. Peeta's cage is lowered towards the vat of toxic waste, but before it can be submerged, Smokers from beyond the horizon attack.
The people of Atoll 12 bravely defend their home. Haymitch readies his dirigible to flee with the Everdeen girls, but the contraption takes off too soon, and they are left behind.
In the confusion, Katniss sees that Peeta's cage has been dislodged and is now lying on its side in the sludge, sinking slowly. Desperate, she runs to it and clambers onto the bars, staring down this handsome stranger through the slats:
"If I let you out of here, you're taking us with you!"
Peeta has little choice. "Sure."
Katniss frees him, and Peeta makes for his tamarin while Prim and Katniss force open the Atoll's gate. Leaping aboard Peeta's vessel, they run the Smoker blockade and set sail into open water.
