PROLOGUE

~This takes place when Katniss is eleven and Gale is thirteen. Their dads were supposed to die in the mines explosion, but that never happened~

My name is Gale Hawthorne...I'm thirteen... My father works in the mines... District 12 is my home.

I gave a frustrated groan as the knot fell loose at my fingertips. Again, I had failed to tie the simple knot my father had shown me.

"Why can't I do it?" I mutter darkly, turning my gaze from the broken snare to my hands. "I followed your instructions, but..." my voice trails.

I feel so guilty for not being able to bring home any food for my family.

Gosh, guilt hurts...

Plus, what's my father going to think? That I'm hopeless at hunting and I'll never be able to tie a simple snare? What if Dad doesn't catch anything and when my snare doesn't work, my family back at home will starve to death? The more that comes into my mind, the more guilt comes over me. What would Dad think when he comes back to see his eldest son throwing a tantrum?

I grunt and try again, knowing I am one of the biggest supporters of my five-person family. With my mother being just days away from giving birth, I know I cannot give up, not now any ways. I try for the fifth time, and again fail. I stand up and walk around for a while, trying to get the stupid snare off my mind. After I'm walking for about a mile or so, I decide to try my snare again. I settle down and snatch the rope from my bag. Not even needing to think, my fingers lead the rope places, doing this so many times, memorizing every step. I finally got it! I walk a few yards away, and begin setting another one. Then another. Then another. I walk around a bit, waiting. Waiting for something to walk right where I want it, so it can become my family's dinner.

After walking around for an hour, I return back to my place with my snares. When my feet lead me to where I want to go, I crouch down to examine my rope that is tied in knots in all different places, to create my trap. In total from my snares I only have one rabbit that is not even dead, just stuck. I pick it up and let it go feeling compassion. I tread on the moist leaves of the woods when I see a figure standing about thirty yards away from me.

The figure was a man. He was tall, about 5'11 with dark brown hair with the same colored eyes. He wore a brown leather jacket with a dark green shirt matching the pine trees around us along with three rabbits hanging from his belt, with brown boots and cheap black pants.

"Um..." I pause.

What should I do? Plus for all I know he could be some Peacekeeper dressed up and being ready to shoot me with the quiver full of arrows that was slung around his back. What would dad do?

The man was leaning against a thick pine about a good thirty yards away from me. If he advanced, I could easily run with a good enough head start to climb a tree.

"I can help you make a better snare, you'll be able to catch plenty more rabbits where that came from." He said slowly, taking a step foreword.

I took a step back, scanning his expression for any sign of suspicion. Nothing, except the look Dad gets when he wants to help me with a mistake.

Can I trust him? Maybe. I'll have to be careful.

The problem is my mind thinks otherwise. I just stand there, having no clue what to do. I open my mouth, but nothing seems to be coming out. I close my mouth and nod. The man chuckles, and in a his deep, worn out voice, he grumbles, "Haha! What's your name, son? You look vaguely familiar."

"Gale. Gale Hawthorne. And what might yours be?" I ask, trying to seem tough and attempting to hide my scared emotions.

"Ash Everdeen," he replies with a chuckle. "You're pretty brave for a young fellow to be trekking' out on these woods." I just shrug, trying keeping a calm expression on my face. He laughs again, "You look familiar. Is by chance, your father David Hawthorne?"

I nod. "May I ask, how you know him?" It was a stupid question, but I slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"Me and your father are good friends. We work in the mines together." Ash Everdeen answered calmly.

"Now, do you want me to show you how to make the snare or not?" i nod, and we begin.

TWO YEARS LATER

My name is Gale Hawthorne... I am fifteen years old... My father works in the mines with my best friends dad... taught me how to make a snare... District 12 is my home...

I am hunting with and Katniss like we usually do. Katniss is out picking strawberries in the patch we found last summer.

has helped me so much. He taught me how to make a proper snare that does not fall to a piece of string on the ground. I have gained his trust and he has earned mine.

I am walking in the woods when walks up to me, and asks me a question i would never think of hearing.

"Gale?"

"Hmmm?" I reply

"I have gained your trust, and you have gained mine. If there was ever a problem with...any thing, I can trust you to look out for my family. Especially Katniss. She will need a best friend, a good shoulder to lean on. Would you be willing to promise to keep her safe?"

"Yes! Of coarse! I will gladly accept!" I reply honestly.

"Thank you so much! I knew I could count on you! But, no matter what happens, always make sure to be there for Katniss." I nod while smiling, and finish my snare, then return home.

THREE YEARS LATER

~This is seven months before the reaping when Katniss is 16. There was no explosion that killed her dad when she was eleven.~

My name Ash Everdeen... I am Katniss' father...I work in the mines... David Hawthorne and I have been working on the District 13 case for a long time... This was the chance to put the plan to action...

I woke up with a start. The shadows of my dream still hung in my mind, and I touched my wife's hand to bring my body back to the waking world. I look at my wife, her eyes still closed in deep sleep. Her beautiful blonde strands of hair that fall lightly over her face glisten in the morning light. I smile, but trying not to wake her, I slip slowly out of bed.

Getting dressed in my plain gray overalls that were blackened from the coal. I pull on my big black boots and take a slice of cheese and ham for my breakfast.

I slink out of the bedroom into the hall where a door leads to my two daughters room. I quietly tiptoe into their room and kiss the top of their heads when Katniss' eyes flutter open.

"Go back to sleep. I am just going to work. I will see you later. I promise." I whisper softly.

Her eyes close again, and I slip out of their room and out of the house, to go to work. My feet lead me to the mines when I meet up with David Hawthorne, my best friend.

Every day of the week, from five o'clock am to eight o'clock pm we are at work in the mines. While we are in the mines working our butts off for the stupid capitol, our oldest children, Gale and Katniss, are hunting for food. At eight thirty we walk separately to our houses and return home for dinner. It's been like that everyday since I can remember.

We are talking small chitchat, and then our hunting senses come to great use. The small, very, very quiet grumble someone without our hunting senses could not hear. When I notice this I nudge David, and he nods understanding. We set down our mining tools and dash to the rusty old elevator. It makes squeaking sounds as it lifts us up from the bottom floor of our workspace underground.

No one notices us. By the time we reach the dust top of district 12, you can actually feel the ground rumble. We dart for the only place that we could find peace. The forest. We wouldn't want to go home just to worry our wives and kids. We also had been working on the mystery of District 13. Since everyone thought we were dead, instead of worrying our family, the only other option is to start our actual work. I'm sure Katniss and Gale could keep both our families alive. They would think we are dead any way. This could be the only chance we would ever get -without being at risk of being killed- to put our plan into action.

As soon as we reach the fence, we pretty much wander around for a while, not really sure where to start. When we reach the rock, our old rendezvous point, you can see the explosion, and the fire, and the sadness. You can't help but feel guilty for leaving all those people, like it was somehow your entire fault that the whole explosion happened. But there was not enough time to rescue all the hundreds of people working to keep their families from starving to death.

That's what it is like in District 12. You either try so hard to keep your family from starving and working till you feel like you could drop dead, and in most cases your family goes to bed with empty stomachs any way. Or you don't try at all and starve to death. After a few minutes of watching the sad scene, we continue our trek to the mysterious District 13.