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PART I "THE TRIBUTES"
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When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold My fingers stretch out, seeking Prih canvas cover of the mattress She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our
I prop ht in the bedroom to see them My little sister, Prim, curled up on her side, cocooned in ether In sleep, er, still worn but not so beaten-down Prim&039;s face is as fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose for which she was named My mother was very beautiful once, too Or so they tellher, is the world&039;s ugliest cat Mashed-in nose, half of one earsquash Pri that his ht flower He hates o, I think he still reht hi with fleas The last thing I needed was another ed so hard, cried even, I had to let hiot rid of the vermin and he&039;s a born mouser Even catches the occasional rat Sometimes, when I clean a kill, I feed Buttercup the entrails He has stopped hissing atThis is the closest ill ever cos off the bed and slide intoboots Supple leather that hasdark braid up into a cap, and grabOn the table, under a wooden bowl to protect it frooat cheese wrapped in basil leaves Pri day I put the cheese carefully in my pocket as I slip outside
Our part of District 12, nickna out to theshift at this hour Men and women with hunched shoulders, swollen knuckles,to scrub the coal dust out of their broken nails, the lines of their sunken faces But today the black cinder streets are eray houses are closed The reaping isn&039;t until two May as well sleep in If you can
Our house is alates to reach the scruffy field called the Meadow Separating the Meadow froh chain-link fence topped with barbed-wire loops In theory, it&039;s supposed to be electrified twenty-four hours a day as a deterrent to the predators that live in the woods - packs of wild dogs, lone cougars, bears - that used to threaten our streets But since we&039;re lucky to get two or three hours of electricity in the evenings, it&039;s usually safe to touch Even so, I always take a moment to listen carefully for the huht now, it&039;s silent as a stone Concealed by a clump of bushes, I flatten out on my belly and slide under a two-foot stretch that&039;s been loose for years There are several other weak spots in the fence, but this one is so close to home I almost always enter the woods here
As soon as I&039;m in the trees, I retrieve a bow and sheath of arrows fro Electrified or not, the fence has been successful at keeping the flesh-eaters out of District 12 Inside the woods they roam freely, and there are added concerns like venomous snakes, rabid animals, and no real paths to follow But there&039;s also food if you kno to find it My father knew and he taught me some before he was blown to bits in aeven to bury I was eleven then Five years later, I still wake up screa in the woods is illegal and poaching carries the severest of penalties, more people would risk it if they had weapons But h to venture out with just a knife My bow is a rarity, crafted bywith a few others that I keep well hidden in the woods, carefully wrapped in waterproof covers My father could havethem, but if the officials found out he would have been publicly executed for inciting a rebellion Most of the Peacekeepers turn a blind eye to the few of us who hunt because they&039;re as hungry for freshour best custo the Seam would never have been allowed
In the fall, a few brave souls sneak into the woods to harvest apples But always in sight of the Meadoays close enough to run back to the safety of District 12 if trouble arises "District Twelve Where you can starve to death in safety," I lance quickly over my shoulder Even here, even in the ht overhear you
When I was younger, I scared s I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol Eventually I understood this would only lead us to ue and to turn my features into an indifferent hts Do my work quietly in school Make only polite small talk in the public market Discuss little more than trades in the Hob, which is the black market where I make most of my money Even at ho tricky topics Like the reaping, or food shortages, or the Hunger Gain to repeat my words and then where would we be?
In the woods waits the only person hom I can be ,as I cli a valley A thicket of berry bushes protects it fros on a smile Gale says I never smile except in the woods
"Hey, Catnip," says Gale My real name is Katniss, but when I first told hiht I&039;d said Catnip Then when this crazy lynx started followingfor handouts, it became his official nickname for aretted it because he wasn&039;t bad coot a decent price for his pelt
"Look what I shot," Gale holds up a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck in it, and I laugh It&039;s real bakery bread, not the flat, dense loaves we rain rations I take it in my hands, pull out the arrow, and hold the puncture in the crust to rance that makes my mouth flood with saliva Fine bread like this is for special occasions
"Mm, still warm," I say He must have been at the bakery at the crack of dawn to trade for it "What did it cost you?"
"Just a squirrel Think the old ," says Gale "Even wished me luck"
"Well, we all feel a little closer today, don&039;t we?" I say, not even bothering to roll my eyes "Prim left us a cheese" I pull it out
His expression brightens at the treat "Thank you, Prim We&039;ll have a real feast" Suddenly he falls into a Capitol accent as he mimics Effie Trinket, the maniacally upbeat woman who arrives once a year to read out the naer Games!" He plucks a few blackberries from the bushes around us "And h arc toward me
I catch it in my mouth and break the delicate skin with ue " - be ever in your favor!" I finish with equal verve We have to joke about it because the alternative is to be scared out of your wits Besides, the Capitol accent is so affected, al sounds funny in it
I watch as Gale pulls out his knife and slices the bread He could be ht black hair, olive skin, we even have the saray eyes But we&039;re not related, at least not closely Most of the families ork the mines resemble one another this way
That&039;s why ht hair and blue eyes, always look out of place They are My mother&039;s parents were part of the small merchant class that caters to officials, Peacekeepers, and the occasional Seam customer They ran an apothecary shop in the nicer part of District 12 Since almost no one can afford doctors, apothecaries are our healers My father got to know my mother because on his hunts he would sometimes collect medicinal herbs and sell them to her shop to be brewed into remedies She must have really loved him to leave her home for the Seam I try to remember that when all I can see is the woman who sat by, blank and unreachable, while her children turned to skin and bones I try to forgive her for iving type
Gale spreads the bread slices with the soft goat cheese, carefully placing a basil leaf on each while I strip the bushes of their berries We settle back in a nook in the rocks From this place, we are invisible but have a clear view of the valley, which is tee, fish iridescent in the sunlight The day is glorious, with a blue sky and soft breeze The food&039;s wonderful, with the cheese seeping into the war would be perfect if this really was a holiday, if all the day off ht&039;s supper But instead we have to be standing in the square at two o&039;clock waiting for the names to be called out
"We could do it, you know," Gale says quietly
"What?" I ask
"Leave the district Run off Live in the woods You and I, we could make it," says Gale
I don&039;t kno to respond The idea is so preposterous
"If we didn&039;t have so many kids," he adds quickly
They&039;re not our kids, of course But they ht as well be Gale&039;s two little brothers and a sister Prim And you may as well throw in our mothers, too, because hoould they live without us? Who would fill thosefor hts when gahts e go to bed with our sto
"I never want to have kids," I say
"I ht If I didn&039;t live here," says Gale
"But you do," I say, irritated
"Forget it," he snaps back
The conversation feels all wrong Leave? How could I leave Prim, who is the only person in the world I&039;m certain I love? And Gale is devoted to his fa about it? And even if we did even if we did where did this stuff about having kids co romantic between Gale and h he was only two years older, he already looked like ati over every trade and begin helping each other out
Besides, if he wants kids, Gale won&039;t have any trouble finding a wife He&039;s good-looking, he&039;s strong enough to handle the work in the irls whisper about him when he walks by in school that they want him It makes me jealous but not for the reason people would think Good hunting partners are hard to find
"What do you want to do?" I ask We can hunt, fish, or gather
"Let&039;s fish at the lake We can leave our poles and gather in the woods Get soht After the reaping, everyone is supposed to celebrate And a lot of people do, out of relief that their children have been spared for another year But at least two families will pull their shutters, lock their doors, and try to figure out how they will survive the painful weeks to conore us on a day when easier, tastier prey abounds By late reens and, best of all, a gallon of strawberries I found the patch a few years ago, but Gale had the idea to string mesh nets around it to keep out the ani by the Hob, the black market that operates in an abandoned warehouse that once held coal When they came up with a more efficient system that transported the coal directly froradually took over the space Most businesses are closed by this ti day, but the black market&039;s still fairly busy We easily trade six of the fish for good bread, the other two for salt Greasy Sae, the bony old woe kettle, takes half the greens off our hands in exchange for a couple of chunks of paraffin We ht do a tad better elsewhere, but we ood terms with Greasy Sae She&039;s the only one who can consistently be counted on to buy wild dog We don&039;t hunt them on purpose, but if you&039;re attacked and you take out a dog or tell, meat is meat "Once it&039;s in the soup, I&039;ll call it beef," Greasy Sae says with a wink No one in the Sea, but the Peacekeepers who come to the Hob can afford to be a little choosier
When we finish our business at the o to the back door of thehe has a particular fondness for thee, opens the door She&039;s in hter, you&039;d expect her to be a snob, but she&039;s all right She just keeps to herself Like roup of friends, we see next to each other at asse for sports activities We rarely talk, which suits us both just fine
Today her drab school outfit has been replaced by an expensive white dress, and her blonde hair is done up with a pink ribbon Reaping clothes