Predator

Chapter 1

When I woke up, it was because of the sun that shone through our makeshift curtains and into my eyes. Stretching, I looked to my side only to notice that the figure of my sister - Prim - wasn't there like when I had fallen asleep. It meant that she must've had a nightmare and snuck down the hall and into our mum's bed to try to fall asleep again.

I came to the sudden realisation why. It was Reaping day. Although being highly unlikely as she was so young - she had always feared that her name would be the one to be picked out of the hundreds of girls on reaping day - making her the female district 12 tribute. She's had nightmares of it for the past two years, always on the night before the reaping, now that she was actually eligible.

As for myself, it was my final year eligible with me being 18 - but I was not yet safe from the Capitol's grip. I had taken out a lot of tesserae throughout my years, but even more so this last one because our mother had gotten very sick and we couldn't afford medicine. Another reason I had taken so much is so that my other sister, Katniss, wouldn't feel the need to.

She'd been so worried about the family the last couple of years and wanted to help me in any way that she could - but I had her promise that she would never take out any tesserae. I told her that if she wanted to help, she could learn to hunt with me out in the woods - which she did.

The system had worked out all those past years, but I'm not sure what will happen to us when I turn 19 and can no longer take out tesserae. I just hoped Katniss didn't take it upon herself to continue in my footsteps.

I got out of bed, the floorboards creaking beneath my feet, and went to look for Katniss. We've had an annual tradition that I took her hunting before the Capitol ships arrive, and the reaping begins. Walking through the hallway,

I passed my mum's room - and decided to have a peek in. I cracked the door slightly open, and peered around the frame. What I saw confirmed my suspicions. I found my youngest sister's body curled into my mother's arm. I let out a small smile and closed the door, not wanting to wake my sister up.

Continuing my way through the house to the kitchen, I finally found Katniss. She sat up at the table eating a meagre breakfast - and her eyes lit up with excitement when I walked in and asked if she was ready to leave.

However, her face twisted into confusion before she asked me: "Are you not going to eat anything before we go?"

Flustered, I tried to come up with an excuse that wouldn't make her worry, and decided on telling her that I would eat when we came back. Accepting my answer, she nodded and said to me, "I'm ready to go then"

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Creeping our way through the derelict backstreets of district 12, we made sure that we kept out of sight from the patrolling peacekeepers. We almost got spotted a couple of times, but we ducked before they could actually see us. Turning around the last corner, we finally caught sight of the - supposedly - electric fence surrounding the district, which also kept us separated from the forest.

As we stealthily made our way closer, I noticed that I couldn't hear the faint buzzing coming from the fence - which meant as usual, the fence was turned off, meaning it had no electricity running through it. It would be safe to go under.

We quickly but quietly uncovered our crawl space we made years ago leading to the other side of the fence, and squeezed our way under - with Katniss going first, as per my request. At last, we had made it to the other side. The forest.

We quickly ran further into the foliage to make ourselves more hidden within the trees and began to slow down into a walk when I thought it was safe, still moving deeper into the woods.

The trees began to get denser and denser as we kept moving forward, but we started to make our way over to one of the traps I set last time I went to the forest without Katniss, using the map in my head as guidance.

After another 15 minutes of walking we finally made it to the first checkpoint, which unfortunately didn't catch anything - so we moved on to find the next. After another trap being empty, we finally had some luck at the third.

A rabbit was caught in the net I had set up a couple days ago. Making sure Katniss wasn't looking, I reached behind me, grabbed a knife and stabbed it through the rabbit's skull, killing it. Katniss had never liked seeing things like that.

I called over Katniss who quickly made her way over and helped me cut it down from the tree. I let her carry it after a bit of her begging, saying she wanted to feel useful. We continued our path through the forest before Katniss started to complain about her feet hurting - so I decided to put her out of her misery and called for a break.

After l watched her lean her makeshift bow against a tree trunk and then climb up it, I was about to do the same, but then I heard a slight rustle coming from the left of me. Katniss immediately stopped all movements - which I internally thanked her for - before I took an arrow off my back and put it in my bow I was carrying.

I pulled it back and aimed it at the bush I heard the noise from and a small rabbit hopped out a minute later. I let go. The arrow flew through the air before it pierced itself right through the rabbit's eye. It fell to the ground, dead.

I looked back at Katniss, to find her already smiling down at me. She excitedly exclaimed "Two rabbits in one day!"

I put a finger over my mouth, trying to silence her, then listened to the forest around me. She complied, but I heard no other noises indicating more rabbits, so I finally answered her back,
"Looks like we have food for a couple days then."

Leaning my own bow next to Katniss', I climbed up the tree and sat down next to her. She put her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes, and in turn I put my arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. I eventually dozed off.

We stayed like that for a while, before I came back to my senses. When I looked up the sun was high in the sky, meaning it was most likely a little past 12. I slightly shook her and told her we should start heading home, as our mum would be awake and had probably started to get worried about her - even if she knew where she was. She never said she was worried about me, which I just learnt to ignore.

Our walk back to the fence was uneventful, with us hearing no noises of wildlife, apart from some birds high up in the trees. We must've scared all the wildlife away when I shot the rabbit.

We made it to the fence after around 30 minutes of walking, and I made Katniss stay hidden as I walked out of the trees and looked around for any peacekeepers. When I saw it was clear, I motioned her forward with my hand, and we went under the fence, back into district 12.

The sun had only gotten higher in the sky, which meant we must've been gone for around 3 and a half hours.

We quietly made our way through the same alleys, only in reverse this time, before we joined back to the main street. It was only then when we felt we didn't need to sneak around, however I still made sure to keep as clear as possible from any peacekeepers. It was always best to avoid them so as to not cause any confrontation, especially on a day like reaping day.

After turning down one last street, we finally made it back to our house. We entered without knocking, knowing our mum was not expecting anybody else today. It seemed as though I was correct about her and sister worrying about Katniss, as they quickly ran into our sight when she heard me call out that we were home.

Prim immediately wrapped her hand around my waist, and our mother scolded me a bit, saying that she was worried about Katniss and we took too long, but then she told us that we have to get ready, as the reaping began in an hour and a half.

I told her that I would get ready last, that Katniss and Prim should get ready first, so they could have the room to themselves, and my mum agreed, steering them both to the bedroom, Prim being reluctant to let me go.