The 45th Hunger Games: The Tribute of District 4 (Watty Awards 2012 completed)

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games. This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Hunger Games world, which is trademarked by Suzanne Collins. All original characters are products of the author, as is the premise and plot. Copyright infringement is not intended and I make no money from posting this story.

A/N- Enjoy.

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The sun was setting in the standard beauty that the citizens of District 4 had become accustomed to. I stare at it longer than usual, considering the events that would take place about a week from now. It was the late afternoon, and a Sunday at that, so everyone had just gotten off work. My parents were inside the house.

Mother was frying the fish, and boiling the prawns until it was the right shade of orange. Father was sharpening one of the spears that he used for fishing.

My brother stared apprehensively at the depths of the darkening waters. The only reason why I was living a comfortable life up until this point was because he had been a victor in the 38th Hunger Games. He had been 17 when he entered.

It was a voluntary choice of his. We had gone a few years without a victor, and our district had been slowly declining with regards to the sustenance of the citizens. We had enough to go by everyday, compared to the other districts surely, but with the larger population and what we had formerly been used to, resources had been scarce.

Our parents never asked us to sign up for tesserae. There were very few in the district that did. Fishing was a profession that was mandatory for almost everyone who were 18. Making hooks and weaving to form different items were skills that the standard citizen needed to learn growing up. Everyone in this district knew how to swim. After all, we were surrounded by ocean.

There were plenty of things that could have made our livelihood. This was why our district never truly starved. Unlike the Capitol though, we had to work every single day of our lives to continue living. As comfortable as we were, we could not remain idle. There was a quota of supplies to fulfill everyday, and if it weren't met, then someone would pay the price.

To maintain the supply of nutrition for our district, the children were trained in school everyday, from the age when they would attend school. This increased our chances in surviving the Hunger Games. This was why we were skilled in combat, if not survival. Swimming was second nature as walking was. Fishing and searching for valuable things in the sea weren't limited to just the adults.

As despicable as it was to place two children in for slaughter, we had no choice. Our only choice was to make sure that they had the best chances to come back alive. It was illegal to train, but it seemed the Capitol enjoyed a dose of violence and combat, so the Peacekeepers turned a blind eye to that aspect. Skilled fighters made for good television.

Peacekeepers paid special attention if any of the citizens were breaching the perimeters of our district. We were given a vast ocean to fish and dive. The Capitol needed their different ingredients for their varying meals, after all. They also needed their pearls and valuable minerals from the ocean. There was a point where it stopped though, and a barrier suddenly protruded from the deep, blue waters. Peacekeepers were present round-the-clock, in case anyone decided to hoard any resources from the ocean, or maybe leave the district without permission. Everything that we caught was to go to the quota. There was only an allotted amount of resources that we could take home, and it wasn't a lot. It would usually be one fish, and occasionally, shellfish and oysters.

The rest went to the supply that went to the Capitol. Hoarding and poaching were strictly forbidden. As much as we had the resources from our surroundings to keep us well fed, the Capitol made it unable for us to do so freely.