The Huntress

I was hunting in the woods. I was crouched in the bushes ready to shoot this mother deer and her baby when the sirens went off. I immediately knew something was up. I then ran all the way to home to see my mother, Katniss, and Prim were nowhere to be seen. I then rushed to the entrance of the mine to find my mother and sisters standing together huddled together. Before I could reach them, my dream changed and I was standing in our house and everyone was in the living room. I looked down and I was still in my hunting clothes as I walked in there and my mother smiled at me.

“Where have you been Adyrn?” my mother asked.

“Hunting like I always do on Sundays,” I replied.

“We have a special guest,” she smiled at me.

“Who?” I asked and then the person in the chair turned around and it was my father burned to a black crisp and he was smiling at me.

“Hello Adyrn,” he said and I screamed in my dream.

That’s what I woke up to today. I felt my forehead and it was drenched in sweat and so was my entire body. I groaned inwardly because ever since the hunger games were coming closer, the nightmares I had were increasing more than normally. I walked down the stairs from changing into my hunting outfit to find that Katniss was comforting Prim again. Ever since we watched the Capitol announce that the 74th Hunger Games were going to start in the next week Prim’s been having nightmares every night and either Katniss or I would comfort her. Today it was Katniss’ turn.

“Stay here,” I said as I grabbed my dad’s hunting jacket and my usual game bag.

“Why?” Katniss said confused.

“Because it won’t look suspicious if one of us just leaves,” I said, “Besides if someone is going to get punished by peacekeepers it’s going to be me. Prim needs one of us alive.”

I was surprised when Katniss didn’t put up a fight about this because she always did this when I told her to stay in the Seam while I went out to hunt. Instead of fighting with me she nodded her head and told Prim to follow her.

“Be careful Adyrn,” she said before I left, “I don’t want you or Gale getting hurt.”

“I won’t let that happen Katniss,” I said and then looked down at Prim and got down to her level, “And they won’t pick you Prim. Katniss and I made sure that wouldn’t happen. The odds are in your favor this year.”

I then kissed her forehead and hugged Katniss.

“Wait,” Prim said and rushed over to the kitchen table and brought back a small thing of goat cheese, “I made this for you and Gale.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I then hugged Prim and left to head into the woods outside of District 12. It’s forbidden to poach animals in these woods but since District 12 was so poor the peacekeepers didn’t really punish me, Gale, or Katniss because they were the people we usually sold to after we brought our share of food to our houses. I stood next to the fence that separated me and the woods to hear that the electricity was off. The fence that separates District 12 from the woods is supposed to be charged with electricity that can kill you in an instant twenty-four seven, but since I can remember, it hasn’t been charged in this area for years. I quickly hopped through it and rushed down to get into the woods before I could get caught. I grabbed Katniss’ set of arrows from a hollow tree and then grabbed her bow from a hollow log and started the journey up the hill to find Gale. For some odd reason when I got to our meeting spot, Gale wasn’t there but about twenty feet in front of me was a deer. I quickly and quietly loaded my bow and waited for the right time to kill it. Before I let go of my arrow, the deer smelt something and moved. I growled quietly, and went to go follow it. The deer was hiding behind a tree so I picked up a rock and hit the tree to get the deer to move. Once it moved, I got ready to shoot at it and just as I was about to let go of my arrow Gale showed up.

“What are you going to do with deer Adyrn?” he asked and the deer moved.

I tried shooting at it and growled because I missed.

“God damn it Gale,” I spun around to glare at the Gale who was smiling at me innocently.

“What are you going to do with a deer that size with peacekeepers crawling around the place today?” he asked, “You wouldn’t be able to get through the gate without raising suspicion.”

“I was going to sell it to them,” I muttered and Gale laughed.

“Sure you were,” he said, “Even I’m not that crazy to go and do that today.”

“It was the first deer I’ve seen since that day,” I said looking at him, “Even if we didn’t sell it between our families we would have meet for weeks and you know that.”

“Oh well,” he said and then he noticed Katniss wasn’t here with me like usual on Saturday.

“She’s home,” I said answering his unasked question, “I figured that if all three of us left today it would be suspicious. Besides I don’t need to worry about Katniss getting in trouble.”

“Oh really?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I sighed, “She’s been acting tougher than she needs to be. This next month is going to be five years Gale. She’s taking it harder than anyone else.”

“Now you and I both know you’re lying through your teeth when you say that,” he said as we started walking.

“I am not,” I lied knowing good and well that having my father being gone for the past five years have taken its toll on me.

My hands were now calloused from hunting for the past four years and I looked at acted a lot older than I was. I was only eighteen and my mind was at the level of a twenty-three year old who had a family to provide for. On our way back to our usual meeting spot , we checked Gale’s snares and saw that most of them had caught something. When we reached our spot, Gale and I had about four squirrels, two rabbits, and I had been able to kill a couple of birds and more squirrels along the way. Once we were sitting down, Gale looked at me.

“What did you bring for breakfast?” Gale asked as I was opening up my pack.

“Prim made us some homemade goat cheese,” I said, “What did you manage to scavenge?”

Gale then smirked and pulled out a full loaf of bread.

“Oh my god,” I said scooting closer to him, “Is this real? How did you get that?”

“I would hope so this cost me a couple of squirrels,” he chuckled.

“We shall have a feast,” I said as he handed me the bread and I grabbed some of the blackberries nearby.

I made up a piece of bread with goat cheese and a blackberry and then handed it to Gale. I quickly made myself one and looked up at him.

“May the odds be ever in favor,” I said in my capitol accent and Gale chuckled.

“How many times is your name in the drawing?” he asked me after a few minutes of silence.

“Forty-two,” I said looking over at him, “You?”

“Forty-two,” he said.

“Looks like the odds aren’t in our favor,” I sighed.

“You got that right,” he said and we ate in silence.

I continued to make us our slices of bread, goat cheese, and blackberries when Gale said something.

“You know we could do it,” he said, “Make a run for it and live in the woods and not have to worry about anything.”

“We can’t do that Gale,” I said, “We wouldn’t get five miles. You and I both know they have alarms that would go off the minute we got passed the five mile radius. They would find us and make us Avoxes.”

“That’s if you’re running behind us,” he said and then pointed in front of him, “I would run that way.”

“You can’t leave your brothers and Posy,” I said, “and I can’t leave Prim or Katniss.”

“We can take them,” he said.

“Yeah can you see Prim or Posy in the forest with us?” I asked and chuckled lightly, “Prim would want to save everything we would shoot and Posy would ask if we were there every five minutes.”

He didn’t say anything but smirked a little as we continued to eat. Once we were done eating, Gale and I reset the snares and then headed back into town to get ready for the reaping. We slipped through the fence with our game bags and we walked back to the Seam.

“See you in the square?” he asked me.

“See you there,” I replied.

“May the odds be ever in your favor,” Gale said in his Capitol accent and I shook my head giving him a warning look.

“Right back at you,” I said.

We then went our separate ways and I went up into town to trade some squirrels for some bread from the baker and his family. When I got to the back door, I saw Peeta Mellark and his father finishing up the last of the breads. When I have some free time, Mr. Mellark and his wife have a allowed me to help work in the bakery for a small amount of money. I usually just decorate the cakes with Peeta and wait on customers because Mrs. Mellark thinks I will spread a disease if I touch the bread in dough form. As I worked at the bakery, Peeta and I became good friends quickly. He soon told me how he fell in love with my sister when they were like five and my heart melted. From then on Peeta and I have had this silent pact to try and get Katniss to notice him. I knocked on the door and Mr. Mellark turned around to smile at me.

“Hello Adyrn,” he said, “How can we help you?”

“Well I brought some squirrels to see if I can trade them for a loaf of bread from you,” I said, “Hey Peeta.”

“Hey Adyrn,” Peeta smiled at me.

“Well I think we can manage that,” Mr. Mellark said, “Your friend was here earlier this morning.”

“That’s what he said,” I said, “We had some of your bread for breakfast and it was delicious.”

“Well I’m glad you liked it,” he said as he handed me a fresh loaf of bread and I gave him four of my six squirrels.

“You don’t need to give me that many,” he said in shock.

“Keep it,” I said and then I added gravely, “It’s supposed to be a celebratory day. May the odds be ever in your favor Peeta. Have a good day Mr. Mellark.”

I then quickly headed back to the Seam to get ready for the reaping. I walked into the house to see Prim and Katniss getting ready.

“What did you two hunt?” Katniss asked since the windows were closed and boarded up tight.

“Two squirrels, one rabbit, and three birds,” I said, “And then I went and traded with Mr. Mellark for a fresh loaf of bread.”

“Thank you Adyrn,” my mom said and quickly grabbed the game bag from me and started cleaning the game so she could put it in the stew she was making for tonight, “Your clothes are laid out for you.”

“Thank you,” I replied quietly and headed upstairs to get ready.

I took my bath in the normal cold water we had in the Seam and walked over to where my reaping dress laid. I had worn the same dress for about four years now. I wasn’t tall and stopped growing when I was twelve. I was only five-foot-six so the reaping dress I have had for the last four years managed to fit me perfectly. I changed quickly and my mother put my hair up in a very difficult braided bun that I loved.

“All three of you girls look beautiful,” she said.

“I wish I looked like you and Katniss,” Prim said.

“And why is that?” I asked getting down to her level.

“Yeah,” Katniss said joining in with me, “We wished we looked like you.”

“You do?” Prim asked shocked.

“Of course,” I said, “You have pretty blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. I wish I had those.”

“Me too,” Katniss said and then Prim seemed to relax a little bit.

We then heard the bell signaling that we had to get going to the town square for the reaping. When we all heard that sound, Prim’s eyes grew in worry and this time Katniss took over.

“Everything is going to fine Prim,” she said, “I promise.”