Hunger Games
"Primrose Everdeen" Effie spoke the name as my heart started to speed up. "I volunteer" I screamed, with fury in my voice. I tried to push my way up to the stage, but I was grabbed by a Peacekeeper. I struggled to get away but he was too strong, and I was too weak. The Peacekeeper took me away from the Reaping, his hand tight around my wrist. He led me down an alley, and pushed me up against the wall, and punched me. I blacked out.
I woke up to my eye swollen shut and my head throbbing. I laid there wondering what had happened, I could not remember a thing. I heard my moms voice and felt something cold being pressed against my eye. I opened my non swollen eye, and saw that my mother and Gale were standing above with looks of concern on their faces. I try to speak but nothing comes out, I feel vulnerable.
I come to a brief consciousness, then fall back into a deep sleep.
I wake up a few hours later, and I come to the realization that both my sister Prim and my lover Peeta are in danger. I must do something before it's too late; Prim doesn't have a chance at surviving. I try to stand up but I end up on the ground, so Gale helps me back up onto my bed.
"What were you thinking? Volunteering like that? You could have been killed!" Gale said to me.
"Gale, what was I supposed to do? Prim doesn't have a chance in there, and Peeta hardly does either." I tell Gale.
"There is nothing we can do about it, it's extremely hard to get in to the arena, but it's not impossible," says Gale.
"But we have to try" I say.
I get up and walk to the entrance of my house, where I pull on my hunting boots. I'm strong enough to hunt again, and I don't have a choice. I have to feed my mother, or who will? I step outside and I shut the door behind me. I walk to the fence, which does not have an electric charge, as usual. I climb through the gap in the wire fence, and step into the security of the woods. I walk to the log where I hide my bow and arrows, the leaves crunch beneath my feet. I grab my bow and walk silently through the forest. I check the traps that Gale and I set the day before the reaping. I find two rabbits and a squirrel. It's not much, but it will last us a few days. I grab the meat and I walk back to the fence and sneak through the opening. I walk to the market, with the rabbits and the squirrel in my hand. I enter the market, its a completely different environment. My ears are hit immediately with the sounds of people talking and laughing. I spot Greasy Sae and walk over to her. She makes me an offer on the two rabbits but I keep the squirrel. She offers me a cup of soup that I take gladly. The soup is warm and it tastes wonderful.
I finish the soup and head home, the squirrel in my hand. When I reach my house, my mother and Gale are crowded around the only television we own, a small one in our living room. On the television they are showing the contestants for this years games. As soon as I see district eleven's contestants, I look away. I can't stand to see my sister and Peta. I run outside and slam the door behind me, tears stream down my face. I am halfway down the street when I hear Gale's voice behind me.
"Katniss stop!" he shouts. My legs gave out and I fall to the ground, crying. I sit there as tears run down my face. Gale approaches me and gives me his hand and I stand up. "We have to go find them" I say. To my surprise Gale agrees.
The next day I wake up at the crack of dawn and quickly grab some clothes and throw them into a bag. Then, I run downstairs and give my mother a big hug and a kiss goodbye. I will not see her until I return and I'm not completely sure I will. She hands me a small bag of food for the road. I say goodbye and run out the door towards Gale's house. When I reach his house he is sitting on his front porch with a small backpack on his back.
"You ready Katnip?" he said. "Yes" I respond quickly. We head towards the woods, our bags in our hands. Gale and I sneak through the gap in the "electric" fence, which is not running. I walk to the log, where I stash my bow and arrows, and Gale and I continue on. When we reach the hill, we sit and rest for a moment, to catch our breath. Then, we continue on through the woods until we reach our traps, which contain several rabbits, squirrels and other various rodents. Gale and I grabour meatand walk through the woods silently, until we come across some pheasant, up in the tree. I pull my bow back silently, and release an arrow. The pheasant drops to the ground, dead. We grab the pheasant and we are on our way.
The sky starts to darken as Gale and I walk along the empty road. But then all of the sudden I hear a stampede of footsteps behind me. I turn and look back to see that the footsteps belong to a large group of Peacekeepers. I turn to look for Gale but he is already speeding ahead. He turns back and motions for me to run. I start running, with every ounce of my strength put into my stride. When I catch up with Gale, he whispers to me what it is we must do. He says that we must run into the woods and try and lose them there. I feel like we have been running for hours, every bone and muscle in my body aches with pain, it's almost unbearable. A few minutes later Gale and I jump behind a near by log and hope that the peacekeepers will not find us. Luckily they run right past us. We decided that we should probably rest here for the night. I lay down on a small patch of grass, close my eyes drifting slowly off to sleep.
I wake up to the dimming light of the moon and the soft "hoo" of an owl. I sit up and turn to where Gale was laying on the other side of the log but I see nothing. I start to panic, my head swirling with possibilities of where he was and what was happening to him. I quickly stand up and run back to the road where we once traveled. When I arrive, I see Gale laying on the road motionless. I run to his side and cradle his head in my hands screaming at him to wake up. I check his pulse to see if he is still alive. Luckily I get a faint thump. I lay my head on his chest and wait silently for him to wake up.
After a few minutes he starts to groan. I swing my head up and whisper his name again and again until he finally responds. "Katnip?" he says in a low voice.
"Yes!" I scream. "I'm here, and everything is going to be okay!"
He manages to limp back to where we once slept. I lay his head down on the damp forest floor and then whisper quietly "What happened? What did they do to you?" he tries to speak but all that I can hear is grumbling. I grab the water out of my bag and pour some into his mouth. He is weak.
The next day I wake up early in the morning and make a small fire to cook our meat on. I want Gale to wake up and feel no pain. Even though I know that it will not happen, I still hope. The meat is done and Gale starts to wake up. I watch him use all of his strength to sit up. Once he is securely up against a tree he says "morning Katnip". He says it like there is nothing wrong, like its just a normal day, like he did not almost get killed by peacekeeper last night. The way he says it makes me feel safe and happy. "Morning Gale" I say back to him.
I take a large portion of the meat and put it on a small napkin and hand it to Gale. It takes him about a minute for him to finish it. "How do you feel?" I ask. "Better." he says.
The next day Gale is strong enough to walk. We decide that we should keep moving toward the arena. We pack up our things and head out. About five miles away we spot the capital. "how do we get in?" I say "simple" Gale says. "We sneak thought the guards" he says. "easy!" I say trying to reassure myself that I can do this. "for Prim" I whisper. We reach the gate where there are two guards standing in front of it. I hear the sound of a car approaching, heading in the direction of the Capital. When the car reaches the gate, Gale I discreetly slip on to the back of the car, we hang on to the back of it. We ride right in, without a second glance from the Peacekeepers. The gates shut behind us with brisk motion, and we're in. We have made it this far, and there's no reason to stop now. Gale and I silently hop off of the back of the car, and continue on foot.
We continue walking, and soon we notice that we have a follower. Gale and I start to pick up speed. I glance over my shoulder at whom it may be that is following us. The person who is following us is a Peacekeeper, and they have picked up their speed as well. Gale and I start to run. and so does the peacekeeper. I look back and notice that there is more than one and they are armed and ready. They start to shoot at us. And one of them hits Gale in the back of the neck and he falls to the ground. I know that I'm running towards Gale, but everything else is a blur. When I reach his crumpled body, I feel for some sort of sign, maybe a pulse, to show that he is alive. The tears come uncontrollably, streaming down my face in small rivers when I come to the realization that Gale's pulse is non existent. I lay down next to Gale, and ponder about what I should do. Finally my breaths become even and I doze off into a light sleep.
When I awaken, the first thing I see are the silhouettes of two Peacekeepers standing directly above me, the starry sky backlighting their figures. One presses the cold barrel of a gun to my temple, and my last thought before the trigger is pulled is of Prim. Then there is a loud bang and everything is still.