Left Alone{Gale Hawthorne Fanfiction} ➵ ➵ ➵

Chapter #2-In The Woods

It is unnaturally quiet today. On other days, District 12 is in full speed with miners on their way to work and The Hob full with traders, buyers, and sellers but today, it's like a desert. The atmosphere was tense, like everyone was holding their breaths. I can't blame that. Today is Reaping. Every parent locks their doors and shuts their windows, praying that their child will be spared of their life. Praying that that one slip in a bowl of thousands, will not be chosen.

I wipe my hand on my forehead getting rid of the beads of sweat running down my forehead and cough when a cloud of coal dust fills the air. Dust from coal is everywhere in 12. I'm surprised pollution isn't the main cause of death around here.

As I get closer to the boundary of 12, I approach the fence. Although the fence is supposed to be electrified 24 hours a day, most of the time there isn't any electricity at all because of 12's poor resources. Since it has been out of service for quite awhile and no one seems to maintain it, people can thus easily sneak under it.

I listen for the hum of the fence. Nothing. I slide under the fence that has been loose for years, for ever since I started hunting. That is how I got into the woods in the first place.

I jogged down to the spot where Katniss keeps her bow. I lifted up the log and....It was gone! I took a deep breath and started to worry.

She's never been up this early to hunt!, I thought warily.

CRUNCH! I turned around like a bullet, and right there in front of my face, was the sharp tip of an arrow.