Broken (A Hunger Games Fanfic)

Prologue

  All District 7 is to me is one word: Hell.

   I already know that I'll be the female tribute this year. I know that when I go to the arena, no matter how easy or difficult it is, I will die. My three siblings won't make it either way. Berkley is only seven, and Sage is five. Ash could take care of them, but he can hardly make enough money to feed one of us. Almost everyone else in my neighborhood is too selfish to care.

   Me? I'm not even old enough to start work. My only job is to take care of my younger siblings, like mother did. No one knows what happened to my mother or father. Father said he was going out to fetch us supplies, and never returned. When mother went to retrieve him, the same thing happened. The next day, we asked neighbors and vendors, but they were dumbfounded. They hadn't seen them nor heard from them.

   "Ash, do you think. . . that maybe. . . well we could, like, run away?" I asked him one night.

   He just about slapped me, "Annabelle, how could you think like that?"

   "Well, how else can we survive without ending up like Mom and Dad?" I shouted at him.

   "You're only fifteen! Sage and Berkley will have a higher chance of getting killed out there than in Distrct 7."

   "Just forget I ever said anything," I spun around and stormed into the bedroom. Sage and Berkley were sleeping in the larger bed, and the smaller one was empty. I jumped on it and pulled the dirty blanket over my head.

   In the middle of the night, I had a nightmare.

   Mother, Father, Ash, Berkley, and Sage were lying dead in the road, blood spilled everywhere. Peacekeepers stood ten feet in front of me with their large rifles. One of them smiled, then began to walk towards me. He lifted his gun, then all I could hear was the blast, and I was seduced into darkness.

   I bolted straight up. Ash's snoring reliefed me, and Berkley twitched beside him from the cold.

   We're going to die eventually, and I can't save either of them. Every person for themselves.

   I sat out of bed and brushed through my long reddish-brown hair. In the kitchen, I grabbed a sachel and filled it with a slice of bread, a small palm fill of grain, a chunk of goat cheese, and a few lettuce leaves. I took my clothes from the tiny dresser. It wasn't much to survive, but I had to leave some to my siblings.

   The cool June air chilled everything in District 7. The heavy woods stood guarded by a tall brick wall. I ran toward it and jumped, swinging my legs over, and falling into the dirt. I turned myself to the darkness of the isolated woods. This was it now. No turning back.

   A sighed deeply, then started running.

I do NOT own anything! All rights go to Suzanne Collins! Thank you for reading! -Kaitlyn