Life at Odds (Hunger Games Fanfic)

Chapter 1

"Ryder get your lazy butt up!" Thats what he said. My brother, Zach, who is now 20. He won the 184th Hunger games at age 18. His short dirty blonde hair and striking blue eyes won over many sponsors. Let's just say that he outshines me, and my parents couldn't give a crap about me. All they care about is Zach, the Golden boy, literally he always wears golden sneakers, and my younger brother Simon, who is 5.

I, myself, am 17. Zach volunteered when he won. Why? Well because he is the golden boy after all. He has trained me though, so that, in his own words,"I don't become an embarrassment to the family if I am drawn." He is just the nicest person am I right? Yeah...

I excel with surprisingly both battle axes and throwing axes. I can use knifes too, but I like the feel of the axe in my hand better. After contemplating if I should sleep more or not, I finally open my eyes. I get out of my bed, fixing the dark, midnight blue covers. As I walk to my closet, I realize the Reaping is today, in 3 hours to be exact.

I slip on some exercise clothes and start doing my normal routine. I have a pretty good 6 pack if you ask me. It goes well with my classic District 4 short sun-bleached blonde hair that has a couple streaks if brown and piercing blue eyes. Although rather attractive, if I might say so myself, no girls take much interest in me. As I said before, everyone swarms my brother, not the disappointment to the family. I am in the middle of target practice with axes when my mom calls me in and tells me it is time to report to my father.

I do as told, and my father gives me my clothes for the Reaping. We must dress nice, even though it is like dressing fancy for a funeral, because that is theoretically what it is. I see that my dad gave me a light baby blue button-up shirt and light tan khakis. He also gave me a bronze belt (Like I said before, no gold for me) and a pair of REALLY nice red sneakers.

It is finally time to go to the Reaping and I stand in line. It is finally my turn and they prick my dumb blood. I stand in the 17 year old boys section.

"Hey Ryder! Over here!", my best friend Daniel calls out to me. He is the only one besides my family who knows that I receive training from my brother.
I make my way over to him. He has short, well groomed brown hair with brown sparkly eyes. What makes his eyes really cool is the fact that there are little bits of what looks like gold in the green.
"So are you nervous?"

"Of course I am Danny!"

"Well Mr.Golden Boy helps you train"

I am about to respond to that but I am cut off my none other but the escort for our district, Sandy Pumpernickel. She is always dressed crazy, but today she is wearing what looks like a giant Blueberry. She just ruined blueberries for the rest of my life. There goes my favorite food...

"Welcome, welcome, happy Hunger Games everyone!"

She does get quite a lot of applause. District 4 is weird. We are sometimes considered careers, sometimes not. It all depends on the tributes.

"As always, ladies first!"

She swishes her hand around the bowl for a good 20 seconds before finally pulling out a name.

"Zoe Seaweed!"

A tall girl with strawberry blonde hair makes her way up to stage. She looks really worried and scared.

"Age 13"

A couple gasps could be heard. In all honesty I'm just surprised no career volunteered.

"And now for the boys!"

Instead of swishing it around like the girls one, she just goes in and takes one.

"Daniel Green"

Danny looked at me, with fear in his eyes. He shakily started to go up. Daniel never received any training.

"I volunteer!"

I made my way up to the stage and saw a grateful yet sad and worried look on his face.

"And what is your name and age Dear?"

"Ryder. Ryder Finn, age 17."

"District 4, Here are your tributes, Zoe Seaweed and Ryder Finn, For the 186th Annual Hunger Games! May the odds be EVER in your favor!"

Zoe and I are pushed onto the train, but before I step in I see happy and proud looks on my family's faces. Even if I die, this one moment of them being proud is all I could ever ask for. With that, the train doors close and starts heading for the other districts.