The Hunger Games

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"Oh, like you don't sell to Peacekeepers?" Katniss asked Gale, challenging him. Aspen came up behind them, her sword secured in her belt.

"Who's selling to Peacekeepers?" She asked. Gale and Katniss turned to look see her. Gale looked at the ground for a second, letting out a sigh.

"Katniss, apparently. You can't do that. Not today." He said, only for Katniss to let out an irritated sigh.

"It was the first deer I've seen in a year. Now I have nothing." Katniss defended. Aspen shrugged.

"There's plenty of deer in the District 3 woods." She said, subtly. Both Gale and Katniss looked at her.

"That's not an option, Pen. You know it's too risky." Katniss told her. Gale gave the girl a sympathetic look.

Aspen has been sneaking over to the woods by District 12 to hunt with Katniss and Gale for a few years now. She used to live in District 12, but her dad died by being selected to participate in the sixty third Hunger Games when Aspen was little. Because of this, her and her mother, who she never got along with, were reassigned to District 3.

When Aspen still lived in District 12, she was best friends with Katniss and Gale. The three friends made sure to keep their friendship alive, even when Aspen moved away.

Gale threw a rock into a tree, making birds and a squirrel hobble out of it. Katniss aimed her arrow up at the birds and caught one. Meanwhile, Aspen pulled out her sword and managed to catch the squirrel, stabbing its body.

Just like being good at a bow and arrow was Katniss's thing, being good with a sword was Aspen's thing.

Katniss laughed, which made Aspen laugh, which made Gale laugh. Then, they felt a strange wind coming front the sky. Aspen turned and Gale put his hand on her lower back, covering his face in an attempt to shield the wind and get a better view.

It was an aircraft from the Capitol.

Katniss ran over to hide under a tree, where they couldn't see her. Gale took Aspen and guided her under the same tree, the three of them huddling together until the aircraft passed. Gale's hands didn't leave Aspen's shoulders for a second.

The trio made their way to find somewhere to rest before they made their ways home. Plus, Katniss and Gale, especially Gale, wanted more time to be with Aspen until she had to go back to District 3.

"What if they did? Just one year. What if everyone just stopped watching?" Gale asked. Aspen grimaced.

"Then you'd be asking for a miracle." She said, admiring the meadow in front of her.

"What if they did? What if we did?" Gale said. He put his hand on Aspen's thigh firmly, her sitting close next to him and Katniss next to her.

When she looked at him, she saw hope in his eyes. Aspen used to have that same hope, but that all went away when her father died.

"It won't happen." Katniss said. Katniss was becoming sick of Gale's rambling. He was one of her best friends besides Aspen, but she hated how he went on like this. It happened often. She didn't like envisioning such a great fortune because she knew it would never happen.

"You root for your favorites, you cry when they get killed. It's sick!" He said. Aspen and Katniss exchanged glances, knowing Gale's rambling was just teasing them.

"Yeah." Both the girls managed to say.

"If no one watches, then they won't have a game. It's as simple as that." The hopeful boy said.

Katniss couldn't hold it in any longer, and she let out a small smile.

"What?" He asked her.

"Nothing!" She said.