Safe and Sound

Chapter 1

May's POV

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping loudly. Ugh another day of crap. I guess you're wondering why I'm so depressed about all this. Well, let me tell you what happened.

~~5 Years Ago~~

There were bombs everywhere. The Capitol was here, destroying everything. I live in Wolverhampton, England, but nobody really calls it that anymore...

My name is May Hunter. I am 16, the Capitol took over our city and in the process I lost my best friend, Rose Beck. She was a messenger and she went off to deliver a message to Bradford, England, but she never came back. We mourned for a bit, but we all had to focus on what was happening at hand; the Capitol. We had to become apart of what they call Panem. There are districts in Panem and Wolverhampton is District 15. I have heard that Mulligar, Ireland is 13 and Bradford, England is 16. That's all I really know.

~~Back to the present~~

We all are having troubles with our daily lives. Everyone is starving, so someone has to hunt and get game for us. I'm no good at hunting. I'm not sure if I'm good at anything really. I have a younger sister that needs to be taken care of, a mother and a father. My father knows how to hunt. That's what gets us by and the rest of the district too. He trades and gets money and more food for his game. My mother cooks and my little sister, April Hunter is very handy with a knife. If you got into a fight with her, you wouldn't last 30 seconds if she had her knife!

I got up and got dressed because I never had anything good to do on non-school days. I was taking a stroll through our forest and sat down by a pond that my father and I found a while back. I looked at the peaceful water and just listened to the birds chirp. I leaned up against a big tree and started thinking.

"What if I get picked in the reaping?" I thought. What would everyone think?

"What if April got picked?" I thought some more. Oh that would be terrible. I mean, she can fend for herself and everything, but she wouldn't stand a chance against the bigger kids who have way more skills than she learned on her own.

Tomorrow was the reaping and you couldn't say I wasn't scared to death if what might happen. I was scared every year like this. It happened every single year. It sucked.

I heard a rusting in the bushes and twigs snapping. I shot up and ran behind a bush. I peeked my head up to find a stranger waltzing about. He looked confused. I stood up from the bushes and went over to the stranger.

"You look lost, need some help?" I inquired, tapping his shoulder, making him jump. "Sorry! Didn't mean to frighten you! I'm May Hunter, what's your name?" I said. The boy smiled. He had a nice smile. He had a little bit of brown hair on top of his head. It was shaped into a quiff. He had chocolate brown eyes which just made me melt. He was tall, built, fair skinned, and his face was adorable.

"It's quite alright. I'm Liam Payne. Nice to meet you," he explained, putting his hand out, ushering me to shake it and so I did. I smiled at him. His eyes were getting to me. Man, he's a very handsome lad. How could someone be that handsome? Who knows.

"Well Liam Payne, why are you out here alone in the forest?" I asked, sitting down on a tree stump and he sat on one in front of me. It was a simple question. I was just curious.

"Just to get a clear mind is all. I needed to think," he stated. That was the reason I was out here. I too needed to think. I needed to think about April and me.

"Same here, the reaping is freaking everyone out, huh?" I laughed, so did he. His laugh was perfect too. This was too good to be true. He nodded, agreeing with what I was saying. It was true. Everyone was always shaken up about this every year. I couldn't blame them. I mean, having to take blood every year, wait for a name to get drawn with that chance that the name might be you. It was frightening. "It's really hard having a younger sister and worrying about if she'll get picked or not. And yourself too. It's really scary," I confessed to him. He just gave off this aura that you could tell him anything and he wouldn't mind at all.

"Yeah. Same here. I have three sisters. Two who are already past eighteen an one who is 15," he stated as well. I felt sorry for him. He had to go through this a lot. Without even realizing what I was doing, I put my hand on his shoulder, reassuring him. He looked up at me with those chocolate orbs.

"We can get through this. We have been for the past five years, so why stop believing now? We should keep our chin up and even if we get picked, we still stay strong," I declared. I knew that there was a chance we were going to get picked, so we did have to hold our head high. Even if it meant crashing down in the end.

Liam smiled and it reached his eyes. You could see it perfectly. I put his hand on top of mine, patting it. "I would love to get to know you more, May," he inquired. "If we don't get picked in the reaping tomorrow, would you like to have a bite to eat?"

I went wide eyed. This was weird, I felt all tingly in my stomach. I had never felt this way before, till now. I finally realized that I had waited a but too long for his liking, so I nodded quickly. He smiled again. It was a genuine smile; sweet and nice.

"Think we should go back?" I asked, standing up. He nodded and he stood up as well.

We went our separate ways and I went into my house. I walked into my room and sat on my bed. I inhaled really deeply and exhaled as I threw myself onto my bed. I didn't bother changing clothes and I just fell asleep.

Maybe none of us will be picked tomorrow. I have no way of knowing till tomorrow, so I better get a nap in because I was exhausted even though I didn't do much today.

A/N- Like it guys? I know exactly how this story is going to go, so please feel free to ask questions but don't try to ask questions about like future things. It will give away things to others and some people don't like that. Actually I don't think anyone does, so just please comment questions about this chapter and vote, comment, and/or share!

~Cyn<3  

Omg so this is tatum!! She is like my bffl!!!!! And Cyn isn't giving me credit sooooo her I am giving myself credit. I wrote most of this book!!!! Kk gtg!!!! Oh btw if this is Ms.hart HIII!!!!!!!  

Kk bye 

Tatum