The Hunger Games (Part 1-The Tributes)

1

CHAPTER 1

When I wake up, the other side of still worn but not so beaten-down. hunched shoulders, swollen knuckles, their broken nails, the lines of their

sleep in. If you can. woods here.

allowed.

where would we be? In the woods waits the only person

occasions. pull it out.

“District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety,” I mutter.

“Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it,” says Gale. one another this way. by, blank and unreachable, while her children turned to skin

irritated. other out. celebrate. And a lot of people do, out of relief that their

that operates in an abandoned warehouse that once held only one who can consistently be counted on to buy wild afford to be a little choosier.

I say, and the door closes.

Each tessera is worth a meager year’s supply of grain and oil for one person.

the district. each. back.

she says. I let her towel-dry it and

I notice her blouse has pulled out of blouse back in place. her head.

The reaping is a good opportunity for the Capitol to keep tabs on the population as well.

each other and then look with concern the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called

rebellion. and their district will be showered with

tries to pull the attention back to the on a bit about what an honor it is to

“Ladies first!” and crosses to the glass ball with the girls’ names.

the entire nation.

this is fair. And then I see her, the

in decades and the protocol has step forward to take his or her place.

trails off, unsure herself. sister, as he presented her, the oldest

her tenuous hair situation, she plants one hand on her head Mellark.

That’s the spirit of the Games!” She’s pleased to finally have a district with a little action going on in it. “What’s your name?”

with sobs. Where are you? I would answer. often, huddled under the blankets on purpose, only to then collapse back I knew was that I had lost not only a on their faces, the hopelessness that curled their shoulders forward. I the layer of coal dust that settled secret.

in the Meadow, you hear the wails fools no one. wanted those clothes.

The boy took one look back to the bakery as if checking that the coast was clear, then, his attention back on the pig, he threw a loaf of bread in my direction.

it spotlessly, heartlessly bare.

hands reached to tear off a chunk, but tea. I scraped off the black stuff and sliced the bread. We ate an entire

crawled into bed, and fell into a We ate slices of bread for breakfast and

boy in the hall, his cheek had swelled up and his eye had blackened.

plays.

CHAPTER 3

today.

to his son.

boulders and sand and scruffy bushes. I particularly hated

“Then make one,” says Gale. “Even a weak bow is better than no bow at all.”

says Gale. different at all. her until there were only a handful of contestants left. It

The bird is connected to the ring only by its wing tips. I suddenly recognize it. A mockingjay.

than a day. unless we boil it. pants.

to centers to be recorded. It took and the birds were abandoned to die off in the wild. species that could replicate both bird had lost the ability to enunciate words My father was particularly fond of birds in the area would fall silent and the trees.

put on a few pounds. properly, so yes, I can handle a fork

to keep the food down. I can see brown skin and eyes, but other than

You can’t miss the desperation in my voice as I shove Prim behind me.

a lot to learn about presentation. A lot you, lines up your sponsors, and

Peeta’s name is drawn, and he quietly takes his place.

CHAPTER 4

to his feet. notices.

Unfortunately, the packet of open in a patch of dandelions by

when I saw the dandelion and I hand and headed to the Meadow and yes, it was dotted with the the rest of the bakery bread.

added other entries to the book.

kill a rabbit. sooty reek ofour district.

shot it. I also sold at the back doors of in a pond when I noticed the plants

white petals. I knelt down in the water, and I pulled up handfuls of the roots.

katniss roots until we were all, for the it would all balance out. but unsure of what would happen at

Blossoms with three white petals. I knelt down in the water, my fingers digging into the soft mud, and I pulled up handfuls of the roots.

sits in ice to keep it chilled. seen. her up.

he turns back to reach for the spirits, be put in the hands of your stylists.

“Did I actually get a pair of fighters this year?”

of hues that tower into the air, the shiny cars that roll down the wide

yellows painful to the eyes, like the when the train pulls into the station,

CHAPTER 5

Why do these people speak in such barely open when they talk? Why dirt but at east three layers of skin, applies a fresh coat of purple lipstick

whose entire body has been dyed idiots. And yet, in an odd way, I know

whole life.

indecent. think.

“I asked for District Twelve,” he says without further explanation. “Why don’t you put on your robe and we’ll have a chat.”

chariot rolls into the streets. there. My hair has been brushed out positions, the drape of our capes, other.

a chariot pulled by snow-white horses. says, and before we can react he sets

see before we enter the city. for balance, he is so steady, solid as

“I want the audience to recognize you when you’re in the arena”

For the first time, I feel a flicker of hope rising up in me. Surely, there must be one sponsor willing to take me on!

to kill each other.

is traditional to cut away to the faces

I can see on the screen that we are

around, I notice a lot of the other canister. deadly he is.

of crystal so that you can watch the

because at least she can be counted on to corral us around to places

destroyed. care.

on that blow-dry your body. Instead

Although lacking in many departments, Effie Trinket has a certain determination I have to admire.

Besides, dinner isn’t really about food, it’s about planning out our strategies, and Cinna and Portia have already proven how valuable they are.

of peas, rare roast beef sliced as thin as paper, noodles in a hawks.

The dark red hair, the striking features, the porcelain white skin.

hear their cars, an occasional shout, supposed to be up here now, so late

back. us. Later, we wondered if we could bay. We knew the pair was in trouble watched. and carried her up, fast, so fast like

Someone who might be able to help me figure out her story.

after the birdcall, but before the responded. and his kindness. A friend would do rebel.

he says. and your sister. I think he wishes he discussed, around the dinner table, down the hall.

“He knew your mother when they were kids,” says Peeta.

nod, and heads out the door. the person who was your last hope. I die.

You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope.

CHAPTER 7

arbitrarily punch buttons on the control board and end up the train. chicken and horse.

Peeta rolls his eyes at Haymitch. “She has no idea. The effect she can have.”

two dressed alike.

rain. the other take credit for their abilities. track of the boy with the bread.

on hand if we want to practice with a partner.

bones, their skin, the hollow look in

I say.

to train tributes before they reach the

concentrate on this one skill for an

Then we move on to camouflage.

deny her this. I wonder how he knows this, since I and I sweep the edible plants test sessions.

back. consider the rest of us beneath notice. Most of the other tributes sit alone, like our breadbasket and points out how basket.

orders.

stature. Up close she looks about ten. brown skin and stands tilted up on her not to think of a bird. says softly. wet.

“It’s lovely. If only you could frost someone to death,” I say.

CHAPTER 8

they care?

“I shot an arrow at them. Not exactly at them. In their direction. It’s like Peeta said, I was shooting and they were ignoring me” has been done.

At dawn, I lie in bed for a while,

ran into Gale in the woods. It was would still be afoot when the snow

into the air out of the reach of other another oldest child with no father. I

weapons, our secret places that were And then one day, without either of us

“Just remember, stealing’s punishable by death.”

said.

do you sidestep that?

careful about the buttons I hit, and head down to the

the content session should be an

All I can think is how unjust the whole thing is, the Hunger Games. say.

full red lips, lashes that throw off bits

say. I say.

I can feel the silken inside as they least two inches lower than the pair bits of blue that accent the tips of the as radiant as the sun.

“What about me? Could you think of me as a friend?” asks Cinna.

their attention.

than forty years, bounces onto the tiny electric bulbs that twinkle like see an elderly person you want to success. and his eyelids and lips are coated in for her. by the way he reacts. with sullen and hostile and it would be

outstretched hand, and he has the his off on his suit. audience in horror, hand on his stopped. What did you think of that

“You mean after I got over my fear of being burned alive?” I ask.

head. can relate to.

Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out. “Because . . . because . . . she came here with me.”