District Eight

Malik Broker's POV

The boy below me stopped moving.

Finally, I thought he'd never stop fighting.

I dropped the trash can lid I had been hitting him with to the ground before I grabbed his ankles and dragged his body over to a pile of scrap machine parts and covered him with said items.

He was still alive, so I only buried him enough that he wasn't going to be discovered by the cleaner of the factory, or by some random pass byer, or some kid looking to make something from scraps. I left enough room for him to get some air before leaving him behind and going back to the shit hole I called home.

Damn. I didn't get anything useful, the only thing I found was a single coin, and I got attacked by that kid over it.

I hope that I don't get attacked on my back home, one fight was enough for me, I'm too hurt and out of energy to fight another person, especially of that person is determined to steal my coin and is armed with a lead pipe.

My back and right arm hurt like hell because of him and his weapon. Only by using the trash can lid as a shield and a weapon was I able to defeat him.

I was hurt, but at least I was one coin richer then I was when I woke up.

A single coin, maybe it can buy me and Phoebe some stale bread from the bakery. Most likely not though, they'd probably more likely give me half a single, stable bread stick with the money I had.

Hopefully Phoebe found something useful, something that I could sell in the back alleys for a coin or two. Worst comes to worst, I'll beat someone for their money, or break into their house and steal items of value. I didn't want the attention it would draw, but I wanted to live, and if I needed some attention to do that, so be it.

"Malik!" A girl's voice called out.

I turned around to see a very familiar girl.

The girl ran up to me and smiled cheerfully. "How's it going Malik?"

You should know, not good. "Same as usual?" She asked.

I said nothing, but I gave her a little nod, just so that she wouldn't start making us stuff up and start saying how she thought I was doing. Which was mostly false. "Sorry to hear that."

We walked a little ways down the street, just entering the good part of the poor part of the district when Anna spoke up again. "Hey, you know, instead of wondering around the District aimlessly,"

Who ever said I was wondering around aimlessly? "How about I take you and your, uh," She paused for only the briefest second. "Sister out for breakfast. My treat, since it is reaping day and it's your sister's second year going in. Plus, you look like you need something to cheer you up and stuff."

I tapped her on the back to show her that I'd like that.

Anna wasn't a bad person, she was nice and everything, but I often wondered why she'd want to be around me. She was a rich girl, the daughter of a rich clothing manufacture who had everything. She also had boys running after her, either for her money, good looks, or both. Meanwhile, there was me, poor and starving with only the dirty and torn clothes on my back. I was so poor that I used used machine oil to make my hair spiky, if only to try and show people not to mess with me. After all, the tough looking kids seem to be the ones that slick their hair with oil.

I suspected that Anna's friends were the reason she was hanging around me. They were getting a cheap laugh out of this and had told Anna to do hang out with me for more laughter. They thought that I was stupid, but I was on to them, even if I wouldn't prove it. I just knew. "Great." Anna said happily as she smiled at me. "Go get your sister and we'll meet again at the bakery in the executive area."

I kept on walking, but Anna seemed to know my routine, so she turned around and walked away.

Anna's friends might be getting a cheap laugh out of their friend hanging out with me, but I didn't care, Anna had her uses, and if anything, she was good company.

Vida Rosalyn Harkle's POV

"Again Mr and ," I said to my one and only friend's parents as Breanne and I walked out of the house. "Thanks for letting me stay over on such short notice. I know that it's irritating for someone to show up at the last minute without any warning or anything, but I didn't really have any other choice, except maybe sleeping outside, which I didn't really want to do, but I could understand if you didn't want me here, but still, thanks for letting me stay here."

"No problem." thankfully said for some reason. "Just don't get into any trouble with Breanne around."

"I won't." I told him. "I wouldn't want Breanne getting into trouble because of me, unless it was for a good reason."

"Just stay safe." simply said before he closed the door behind us.

"Your dad's awfully nice, considering that I knocked on your door in the middle of the nice and asked if I could stay with you at the last minute."

"Yeah." Breanne quietly said.

"I know, it was a pain for him and your mom, but I'll make it up to them." I then thought for a little bit before adding. "Hopefully." I didn't really know how to thank them. Maybe I'll buy them some food, some of that strawberry jam that people seem to go crazy for.

"Okay." Breanne quietly said again.

"I hope you don't mind, but need to back to my home and pick something up, not to mention, to see if my parents are alright. I mean, they're good and all, but...Yeah. Sometimes they can be a little bad at times." Breanne remained silent.

As we walked back to my house, I wondered what the secret quarter quell was going to be. Maybe it was nothing and they were just keeping it a secret to make us scared, when in reality, it was just a normal Hunger Game. Just a scare tactic. Or maybe there really was a twist in the games and it was kept a secret for good reason.

I talked to Breanne about it, and she just listened, occasionally putting in her own little opinion. Breanne was a good listener, I liked that about her, I could talk to her about anything. And if she could only brave up a little more, I'd listen to her as well.

"And that's why everyone is shitting their pants over this quell." I told my friend before I heard a deep, male voice growl at me.

"Where the hell were you last night?"

I turned to look at my dad, and saw that he had a look that told me that he wasn't pleased with my actions last night.

"I went to Breanne's house." I told him. And before he could answer, I told him why. "Because you and mom were arguing with each other and I didn't want to be around it."

"You know better then to walk out of this house in the middle of the night." My dad snapped at me, like he never even heard what I just said. "It's not safe out there at that time of night."

"Yeah yeah, I've heard it a million times dad," Literally, I've heard it since I could walk, and maybe some before. "I can take care of myself you know."

"You think that you can take on some junkie asshole with a knife?" My father challenged. "You think that you can handle an adult? Or a gang? Or just some desperate person who's so high out of their mind that they can't tell if they've been shot or not?"

"Oh good, your here." I heard my mother say from a far distance away. Her voice sounded quiet, so I ignored her and focused on dad, whatever mom needed could wait.

"The bullies at school hate me, but they also fear me," I told my dad. And it was true, there were bullies at my school, and like most of the local thugs and previous bullies that I encountered before, most of them just talked and acted tough. And while there were some tough ones, they never expected anyone to actually fight them. I regret to say that I didn't win all my fights with thugs and bullies, but they left me alone once they found out that I wasn't an easy target, especially the bullies at school, I made them look like fools when I challenged them. Win or lose, their egos got knocked down at least a little. They hated me, but they feared me. "I think I can handle a couple of so called toughs."

"Vida." I heard my mom say again.

"Not all of them are bullies you short sighted girl."

"Short sighted?" I shouted to my dad as I took a step towards him in anger. "Short sighted! I knew to get out of there once I heard you and mom arguing!"

"Vida! Lyle!" Mom shouted, but I ignored her calls and focused on the battle in front of me. Dad thought that I was short sighted, but I dealt with problems myself, and from what I've seen, they produced excellent results that kept me safer then the alternate. I knew how to solve problems, he just didn't understand.

"Do you even know what we were talking about last night?" My father challenged.

I paused for a second. Truth be told, I didn't really know what they were arguing about, but that didn't matter, they were arguing, and that was all that mattered.

"You were arguing, that's all I need to know." I told him.

"Your anger issues." My dad told me. "We were talking about your anger issues. We know about all those fights you've been in and we've seen how easily your provoked. We know why your hated in the district and we've going to put a stop to that."

Before I could even think of a retort, dad turned me around and pushed me towards mom. "And your mother has a surprise for you, go with her and see what she's got for you."

"Oh I see." I said smiling wickedly towards him as I walked towards mom. "You don't have what it takes to beat me. You can't finish what you've started. I've won this argument and you don't have any ammunition left."

"Vida." My mom said gently to me. "Don't irritate you father, I want this argument to just end so that we can continue on with our lives."

"Mom, I need to win this argument." I explained to her. "You wouldn't understand."

Before dad could say anything, mom called out.

"Fine. You win. Can we just move on?"

"No!" My father and I shouted at the same time.

Malik Broker's POV

After that meal that Anna provided for me and Phoebe at the rich area of the district, we headed over to the square for the reapings.

I was glad for that. I looked too out of place in that area. Phoebe and I both, with our old and worn down, torn and stained clothes, unclean hair while chomping down the food that Anna was providing for us like wild animals. We got more then a couple looks from people with the same status as Anna. They looked at Phoebe and I like we were trash, and truth be told, we looked like it compared to even just standing beside Anna with her top tailored sky blue dress, fake silver bracelets and high quality shoes. Just think about us in the rich part of town around more Annas.

"I'm glad that you and your sister enjoyed yourselves." Anna happily told us as we walked to the square. Groups of kids had already started to gather. The rich, the poor, and everyone in between were gathering at the square, so unlike the bakery, we weren't given third glances. "How'd you like it?"

To show her how much I appreciated her giving Phoebe and I enough food to live another three days, I gave her the coin I had worked for three hours to find. But when I tried to give it to her, she placed her hand in front of my face, telling me to stop. I did. "You don't have to give me anything." She told me, still keeping her hand in front of my face. "I'm just glad that you enjoyed it. That's all I need to know."

Thanks Anna.

I heard some girls call Anna's name before she turned around, waved to them, then turned back to me. "I'll see you later." She said to me. I nodded once before she turned around and ran towards her friends.

This day was a good day, even though it was reaping day and that two kids were going to go to the Capital to prepare for the Hunger Games, this was a good day for me and Phoebe at least. A full stomach and another year of not getting chosen. While I sort of feel sorry for the kids that are going into the games, I'm glad that it isn't me or Phoebe.

I signed in before I got pointed towards a cage marked: 17. I looked at the cage in wonder and tried to think of why we'd need to be put in a cage. I had an even worse feeling about the black box above the cages.

The cage wasn't like prison bars, it was a solid box. We couldn't get out of them if we were ants.

I saw Phoebe look at the black boxes in fright as she refused to go inside the cage marked: 13, but she got pushed in by a couple of peacekeepers.

Age groups, they were separating us by age groups, like they normally did on reaping day, but why were they doing this?

More people walked into their cages until there were no teenagers left to heard in.

"Morning District Eight!" Our escort shouted cheerfully into the microphone. "Today, we have a very special kind of reapings." Like we didn't notice already. "Because of the tenth quarter quell and Panem's population souring population, we've come up with a way to kill two birds with one stone!"

Lucky us. The Hunger Games arena was now going to have more kids in there this year. Damn, that means that Phoebe and I both have greater chances of getting in this year. "Let's start with boys this time. Why not give three changes this year."

Oh joy. Not.

The escort pulled out a piece of paper from the boy's reaping bowl, which was surprisingly empty compared to former years, before unfolding it and looking at the name. "Twelve."

Twelve? Who has a name like that?

It was then that I heard the sound of screeching metal behind me. I turned around, along with every other head in the cage I was in, to see that the bottom of the black box above the twelve year olds was open.

At first, I thought water was pouring out of the black box, only to see that the twelve year olds boys inside were screaming and melting. Their skin burning, sizzling, corroding, before it happened to the layers of skin underneath them, before their bones dissolved in the clear liquid.

Acid.

Why the hell were they doing this? Was this what they were talking about with Panem's souring population? "Any volunteers?" Our escort asked. She was as calm as could be, like our lives meant nothing to us. But then again, our lives never meant anything to them, they watched the Hunger Games for the entertainment value, and as such, we were nothing more then a product to them.

Thinking of how she picked a piece of paper with an age number on it and easily murdered a group of twelve year olds with no mercy made me think of Phoebe's group.

"I volunteer!" I shouted. Or, at least it sounded like I shouted.

A peacekeeper came to my cage, opened the door, and let me out before closing the cage door behind me and escorted me to the stage.

"What's your name?" The escort asked. I didn't want to tell her my name, so I showed her my middle finger. All she did was laugh. "We'll find your name out wither you tell us or not."

Fine, whatever. The only reason I'm here is so that if you pick the number thirteen, I can stop you from reading it one way or another.

I watched her pick a piece of paper from the girl's reaping bowl before she returned to the microphone. I saw the number through the piece of paper, and it wasn't thirteen. "Sixteen." She announced, before I heard a girl's voice shout out, before the screams of dozens more females started to scream out in pain.

Vida Rosalyn Harkle's POV

"No! No! No! NO!" I shouted as I pounded my fist on the clear cage walls as I watched the see through liquid turn everyone inside the sixteen year old section into nothing.

Even among the all people inside, I only had eyes on one girl inside. Breanne.

I watched my friend scream out in pain as she held her face with as the skin of her hands melted away.

The reapings, the Hunger Games, they were part of my everyday life and I learned to accept them into my life. But this was unacceptable! Breanne wasn't given a chance to save herself, she was chosen and executed at the whim of a piece of paper. But unlike those who got chosen in the normal reapings, she didn't even get a chance to save herself. She couldn't fight back, she couldn't do anything. She was innocent!

"Any volunteers?" Our escort said, not giving a care that she had killed my only friend, along with other kids who were equally murdered in such a cruel way.

I felt the heat rising in my body as I thought of what I should do.

Suddenly, the dark grey dress that my mom forced me to wear, even after I argued with her that I shouldn't, she someone managed to get me into it before telling me to brush my wavy brown, almost black hair for once. I kept on insisting that my standard ponytail was alright, but she kept on insisting that I look nice. It wasn't until dad started to talk to her that she finally caved in.

Suddenly, this stupid dress, the stupid argument with my mom, didn't seem very important. Not compared to what just happened to the one and only friend that I had.

"I volunteer!" I shouted. "I volunteer! Let me out of this cage so I can do what needs to be done!"

A peacekeeper unlocked the cage door before I started running up to stage. Towards our fucking escort who held on to that fucking grin of her's, like she was glad that she gave those kids a death sentence and was able to carry it out.

"Oh thank God, a lively one for once. I always hatted those sulking kids who-"

"You fucking bitch!" I shouted as I tackled her to the ground.

She offered no resistance. She was weak. Like me, she had a thin body, but unlike me, she didn't have any muscle to aid her when someone attacked her.

I slammed her body onto the ground before I got on top of her chest, placed my knees on her arms, and stated to beat the tar out of her. "You heartless fucking bitch!" I shouted at her as I pounded her face with my fists as hard as I could. "Your going to wish that you had a sad sulking kid when I'm done turning your head into jam!"

Suddenly, I felt my body start to violently twitch on it's own. My body moved on it's own, causing me to fall off the escort as my body spazzed out on me.

I looked up to my district partner, the other boy that volunteered. The boy who's hair was styled with homemade gel, but wasn't a tough guy wannabe. He hardly talked, but he didn't need to talk. Like me, he talked with actions, and it wasn't to impress people either. He kept to his business. Thin yet strong, I once saw him fight one of the bullies around the middle class district, and win.

Those dark brown eyes looked down at me, like I was nothing to him as well. It irritated me. He was just as heartless as the Capital. "Fuck. You. Too." I told him.

My body unexpectedly, violently, made me roll away from him. I then saw a peacekeeper holding a taser in his hand. He was the one who had shocked me. "Fuck. You. Too."

A/N: I now know why people want to stop writing the reapings, and I'm only a third of the way done.

Anyway, I'm more satisfied with this chapter then I was with the D1 reapings.