Min Yan’s POV:
I hold my breath, staying as still as I can and making no noise – making sure I don’t scare of my prey. I grip my long silvery sword with both hands and take a deep breath. As I do, I notice the ears of the small brown rabbit in front of me twitch back slightly.
Before it has a chance to scatter out of sight, I lunge forwards and in one swift motion I behead the small woodland critter. My little sister would never forgive me if she knew what I did to help us get by, but of course, she never has to know.
I pick up the corpse of the rabbit and toss it into my sack – already overflowing with the lifeless bodies of rabbits, squirrels and for the first time in months, a fox. I then clean the small splatters of blood from the sword and place it back in its sheath.
‘’ This should be enough.’’ I mutter to myself as I turn around and head back the way I came from – back towards District Seven.
I move swiftly yet silently through the towering trees surrounding District Seven, keeping an eye out for the Peacekeepers that are surely patrolling the woods to make sure nobody tries to escape the Reapings. It was an enormous risk to come out here but it was necessary – otherwise I’d have had no money to pay for food for the rest of the week.
I come to the clump of old rotting trees that have a thick layer of moist green moss growing in a sheet over them and stow away my sheathed sword safely under it – completely out of view.
After I hide my weapon away, I approach the electric fence that surrounds District Seven. However I hear the gates begin to crank open so I dive for shelter in a clump of grass as tail as my waist. I watch as a group of about fifteen Peacekeepers exit through the entrance gate and disappear into the woods. I wait for ten minutes, allowing enough time for the Peacekeepers to get deep into the forest before I risk moving again.
I sprint along the edge of the tree line, moving through the trees that run parallel to the District Seven border and come the a large tree I am very familiar with. I wait a second, making sure nobody is near the fence within the District and then I scale the tree in a matter of seconds – and then I move stealthily across the thickest branch which stretches across the fence and into District Seven.
Again I wait to make sure the ghost is clear and then I drop from the branch into a clump of bushes which cushion my fall. I then move as quickly as I can through alleys and reach the front door to my house. It opens as I reach it and I see the face of my father looking at me.
‘’ God I was worried. What took you so long?’’ He questions.
‘’ The woods were crawling with Peacekeepers looking for runaways. I had to go further out to avoid them.’’ I explain and his worry vanishes as I place my bag of the mornings catch out onto the table.
‘’ Wow. I’m impressed Minnie.’’ He smiles. ‘’ But you better hide all that before your sister gets up, she’ll throw a fit if she sees those rabbits.’’
‘’ I know, I know.’’ I say. ‘’ But the butchers boy will be here soon enough.’’
As if on cue, there is a knock on the door.
‘’ Coming!’’ I call.
‘’ What are you doing?’’ Asks my father as I begin routing through the bag.
‘’ I want to keep some for us, I caught a lot of squirrels this morning so I will put by two of them.’’ I explain and wrap two of the bloody corpses up in brown paper and place them in the press.
The door knocks again, less patiently this time.
‘’ Oh for heaven sakes, I’m coming!’’ I repeat angrily and make my way towards the door.
As I open the door, the pudgy, black-haired butchers boy steps into my house. He is red faced as if he has just ran a mile although judging by the look of him, it doesn’t look like it would take much exercise to do this to him.
‘’ What’s wrong with you?’’ I ask.
‘’ Peacekeepers. Everywhere. Didn’t want to get caught.’’ He explains through heavy panting.
‘’ Wimp.’’ I mutter.
‘’ Min.’’ Scolds my father.
‘’ I want double what you normally give me.’’ I demand. ‘’ I caught more than twice as much as I normally do plus a fox.’’
‘’ I’m afraid that’s not possible, I don’t have much money on me.’’ He explains.
‘’ Don’t try that bullshit with me, I see you waddling over to the bakery every day after you finish with us to scoff down buttery scones and cakes and plenty of other delicacies nobody else in the District can ever hope to afford.’’ I snap.
‘’ Min!’’ Repeats my father in shock.
‘’ Dad.’’ I reply, then turn back to the butchers boy. ‘’ Do we have a deal?’’
‘’ Fine.’’ He mutters and forks over the cash, I hand him the bag of dead animals and he leaves without another word.
‘’ Min. There’s no need to be so harsh with him.’’ Chides my father again.
‘’ Dad, if I don’t act tough, nobody will respect me and we’ll starve. You have to make sacrifices for family. However tough they may be.’’ I explain and he nods understandingly.
‘’ Just ease off a little bit. That poor boy gets enough abuse in school from what Kimiko tells me.’’ Says my father. ‘’ Speaking of Kimiko, you should probably go wake her, I will skin those squirrels.’’
‘’ Alright.’’
I move through the main hall of our house – which is quite large. Due to the abundance of wood in District Seven, our houses are quite big, bungalows – but big nonetheless. I step quietly into Kimiko’s room – which she once shared with me before I had to share a room with my father to help care for him – and take a seat on the end of her bed.
‘’ Kimmy. Time to get up.’’ I say quietly into her ear.
She stirs in her sleep and turns over onto her stomach. I get off the bed and draw the curtains. She covers her eyes with her arms and hisses as though the light is burning her skin.
‘’ Just get up. Dad needs some help in the kitchen.’’ I instruct and she sits up in her bed – she never argues when I bring our father into it.
I sit on the bed for a second thinking about the day ahead. As long as nobody I know is Reaped, then all will be well. The last thing I need is to lose someone else. First my mother to cancer, then my brother to the Games five years ago.
My mind wanders back to the arena, watching with my father and petrified sister as my brother was forced to enter. Watch as he almost lost his life at the cornucopia retrieving a rucksack and throwing knives he barely knew how to use. Then seeing him form an alliance with people that didn’t look so friendly. He made it to the end of day two, but was brutally slaughtered by a career.
From that day on, my father took it upon himself to teach me everything he knew about sword fighting. It was going pretty well and I learned quite a lot in four years, at least until the accident. My father was working in the forest, him and the rest of the lumberjacks were chopping down trees to get wood for the Capitol.
Some rookie on his first day screwed up and chopped a tree down on the wrong side. The towering oak collapsed down onto a group of men – including my father – killing two and seriously injuring the rest, leaving my father in a wheelchair.
‘’ Please mum, don’t let anyone else join you and Hiroki up there. Protect me and the people I love.’’ I whisper into my hands and exit the room, heading back into the kitchen.
Cricket Wakely’s POV:
I make my way through the street with my mother and father walking beside me. My father has his arm around my mother’s shoulder and she has one hand resting just above his hip. Her other hand is clasping my shaking one as we draw closer and closer to the square.
‘’ It won’t be me will it? Tell me it won’t.’’ I beg.
‘’ Come on Cricket, you’re thirteen. Do the math, your name is only in their twice. You won’t be picked.’’ Assures my mother kindly but my father scoffs.
‘’ Don’t lie to him Fidelma; we can’t convince him he is safe because he isn’t. Don’t let him believe he is.’’ Scolds my father.
We continue in silence and I picture what would happen if I was picked. I wouldn’t win. Never. That’s unquestionable. The true question is, when and how would I die. I’d expect to last the first day at least, I could run and hide and hope that somehow this tactic works for me. But when I’m eventually found, it would be by a career, and I would die a painful and merciless death.
When we enter the town square, it is black with people – most of whom are looking quite scared, surprise surprise! My parents take their position at the back with all the others no longer eligible for Reaping and I move to my section near the front of the crowd just in front of the stage.
As I enter, the Mayor, our District’s escort and other town officials stride onto the stage happily. The town officials take their seats on the stage, however the Mayor makes his way directly to the podium facing the crowd – a red flag with the black Capitol seal hanging from it.
‘’ Greeting citizens of District Seven! The time has come to select our tributes who shall represent our wonderful District in the Fifth Quarter Quell!’’ He yells happily. ‘’ Before we begin, I have a documentary on Panem and the Hunger Games to show you.
The whole crowd sits through the film silently as an unfamiliar voice narrates the history of our country as short Capitol-produced video clips play on the screen. It talks of the rebellion, the destruction of District Thirteen and the birth of the Hunger Games. It then continues to describe the rules and traditions of the Hunger Games, the Quarter Quells and of course, the Ultimate Games. When it finally ends, I almost hear a sigh of relief from the crowd.
‘’ I will know invite our lovely escort up to the podium to draw out the names of our two tributes!’’
‘’ Hello District Seven and welcome to the Reaping for the Fifth Quarter Quell!’’ She roars excitedly, as usual, the only cheering are the town staff and the peacekeepers.
She has lime green hair and her face is caked in makeup of a similar shade, giving her a reptilian appearance. Her dress is alligator skin and it glistens in the sunlight.
‘’ I am very pleased to announce that it’s that time of the year again and the time has come to select our two courageous tributes to represent District Seven in the Hunger Games, a pageant of bravery, skill and courage.’’ She continues. ‘’ I will begin with the ladies.’’
I ignore what she is saying and glare at the large Reaping bowl full to the brim with slips of paper – each containing the names of boys eligible for Reaping. Luckily for me, my name is only in there twice, some others have their names in the bowl over twenty times, because they claimed tesserae from the Capitol. However I still can’t help but feel petrified and paranoid.
‘’ The girl representing District Seven in the one hundred and twenty fifth Hunger Games is Min Yan!’’ Roars the escort, and I watch as a girl exits one of the sections at the very back of the square.
The girl moves quickly but quietly up to the stage and our green haired escort smiles broadly at her.
‘’ Hello Min! Tell me, what age are you?’’
‘’ I’m eighteen.’’ She responds immediately, sounding confident.
‘’ Interesting, you are among the three oldest tributes so far, only two other eighteen year olds, both from District One of course. Please Min, tell me, if you could describe yourself in one word and one word alone, what would it be?’’
‘’ I am afraid I can’t describe myself using just one word, because for my whole life, I have always used two.’’ Replies Min.
‘’ And what are those words?’’ Questions the escort.
‘’ They are actually the words of my name. I am beautiful and clever. The other tributes better watch out for me!’’ Continues Min.
‘’ Ooh! How exciting! Go over and take a seat there Min, I’ll move onto the boys.’’ Instructs our escort as she approaches the male Reaping bowl.
I close my eyes and join my hands. ‘’ Please not me, please not me, please not me.’’
I open my noise as our escort clears her throat. I glance up at her, she is holding a name in her hand.
‘’ Cricket Wakely!’’ She yells happily.
For a few seconds there is silence, then I feel my heart come up into my throat with fear.
‘’ No!’’ Screams a female voice from the crowd and I see a woman running up the aisle towards my section – my mother.
‘’ Stop!’’ Screams my father and the Peacekeepers in sync however my mother keeps running.
‘’ No! Cricket! Come to mommy!’’ She yells as if I am still four years old, perhaps in her eyes I always will be.
‘’ Fidelma no! They’ll-‘’ Begins my father, but before he can finish his sentence, there is a gunshot which is followed by a spray of red blood from my mother’s throat.
As her body registers what has just happened, her eyes bulge and she falls fowards.
‘’ Mom!’’ I scream and exit the section, however a Peacekeeper grabs me by my non-existent biceps and drags me back.
‘’ Not so fast little man.’’
‘’ Mom!’’ I scream.
‘’ Fidelma!’’ Roars my father.
The Peacekeepers try to form a wall to stop my father from getting through, however he dives through the air and spear tackles one of them to the floor. Both men fall to the ground, however before my father can even lift his head the Peacekeepers still standing open fire on him and he goes as still as my mother.
‘’ No!’’ I roar, tears pouring from my face by the bucketload. ‘’ Dad! Mom! No!’’
‘’ Looks like we’ll have to draw the Reapings to a close.’’ Suggests our escort into the microphone.
Everyone is silent except for my screams and the Peacekeepers running towards my direction.
‘’ Go! The Reapings have concluded. Leave!’’ Orders our escort, a lot less patiently.
I continue screaming as I am dragged onto the stage and into the Justice building with Min Yan.