First Annual Hunger Games: A New Tradition

Chapter One

It was a mess here in District 12, it's only been 13 years after the rebellion and a lot has changed. We, the people of district 12 are in charge of the coal. We are forced to dig out huge amounts of coal and send most of it to the Capital, trying to satisfy their endless needs. We are treated much worse now as we did before the war, sure the Capital was always dictating our lives, even before the war, but now it seems we have less of a voice. We are demanded to do so much work for little pay, and we are left in this waste land with no help but our own. They could care less who dies today or the next day. The war left District 12 with a lot of scars, their isn't as much nature and food supply as there was before the war, the only thing that exist is the tiny forest next to us, but as punishment of, 'killing President Clove' President Python made sure that it was restricted from us. We have also become the poorest district out of the 12. It was terrible seeing people die of starvation. Getting used to this grim life style is hard, but for the sake of my family, I live on.

My name is Tre Harper, I'm 17 years old. I have a little sister named Kayla, and an aunt named Sherrie. We're all that's left in our family. My father died in the war, he died while trying to evacuate the people of District 12 from the bombing. He saved many lives, just not his own. My mother died a year later giving birth to Kayla, luckily my aunt Sherrie was there to take us in. Raising us like her own children, without her my sister Kayla and I wouldn't be alive today. But how things ended up after the war, was it worth my father and mother's lives?

"Oh! What did you get me for dinner today?" A cheerful voice spoke. I turned towards the voice to see Li' Sae. She was skipping towards me with a bright smile on her porcelain face.

"I didn't do so well today," I frowned "I only have a bunny and a squirrel, and I don't know if your mom will buy the bunny from me though."

"Why not?" Li' Sae asked, "My mom says meat is meat, and once it's in the stew it taste like beef." I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips. She would always tell me this and she had a way to make me feel better. That's what you'd expect from the daughter of one of the cooks here at the Hob. The Hob is a black market of District 12, the only place willing to take a risk at buying things I hunt at the forest... Well try to.

She gave me a pout on her tiny lips. Li' Sae has started to grow on me. Her and my sister are good friends, she would visits us a lot and I used to bring Kayla to the Hob, but I realized that maybe bringing my little sister to a black market wasn't exactly the smartest idea. My Aunt Sherrie doesn't even like the idea of me going to the Hob in the first place.

"It's not that, it's just that how the bunny looks," I explain to Li' Sae, trying not to scare her, "I just don't think your mom will find this appetizing.." I told her looking at the bunny.

Her pout face was replaced with a puzzled expression. She parted her lip to say something, but before she could speak she hears her mom calling for her to come inside.

"Coming Mom!" Li' Sae says as she rushes inside, I walked behind her.

"So Tre what do you got for me today?" Momma Cinda asks me while looking at my hunting bag.

Momma Cinda is Li' Sae's mom and she's the cook of the Hob. She trades for goods and stuff. Everyone in District 12 calls her Momma Cinda, even the peace keepers because of her warm mothering nature. She has a habit of mothering everyone she meets and sees.

"Well I didn't do so well today," I say while pulling the dead squirrel and the rabbit from my hunting bag.

"Don't worry hun, you'll get better at hunting," She said looking at the animals I killed "Besides for someone who recently started hunting you're not so bad." She said grabbing the squirrel examining it carefully.