Chapter One

"We could run away, you know. Together."

All around me, night animals are coming alive. Owls hoot, mice skitter across the ground, and something howls in the distance. We are going to have to get home soon.

I'm in the woods with Gale, after a long day of hunting. Gale is my best friend, and hunting partner. We had been talking about the Capitol, and living in District 12, and the Hunger Games, and how unfair everything about our lives is. Then Gale brought up the one subject I had wanted to avoid. Running away.

"We have our families. We can't just leave them here to starve," I say quietly. Our hunting is the only thing that gets our siblings and mothers enough food.

Gale doesn't say anything for a long time, and I can tell he is thinking about something. His gray eyes, identical to mine, stare blankly into the trees. I know him well enough that I can tell when he is deep in thought. I brush my long, brown hair out of my face, waiting for him to speak.

Finally he says, "We could bring them with. I know it would be hard to take all the kids and our mothers into the forest and hide, but we would get them enough food, and once we found a place to live, we would be safe."

I sigh. The way Gale describes it, life in the wild doesn't sound half bad. I mean, there would be the Capitol we would have to look out for, and wild animals, but Gale and I stray outside of District 12 all the time, we know how to survive out here.

But our families don't. I don't know how I would convince my little sister, Prim, or my mother to leave their home, and risk their lives to live out in the wild. And suddenly having almost a dozen people disappearing out of no where would make the Peacekeepers suspicious. And word would get to the Capitol. It was too risky.

"I can't," I tell Gale. "I can't risk Prim and my mother's lives."

Giving up on trying to persuade me, Gale stands up on the rocky ledge that overlooks a valley. We come to this place all the time.

"We should go," he tells me. "We don't want any wild dogs sneaking up on us in the dark."

He glances at me, and then says jokingly, "Of course you would just climb a tree and leave me on the ground to be eaten alive."

I laugh. "No, you would just set a huge trap on the ground and they'd all be caught in it."

Lightening up our mood, we joke the rest of the way home.

Reaching the chain-link fence that surrounds all of District 12, we pause and listen, making sure the electricity is out. Our District is lucky if we have two hours of electricity a day, if that.

The electricity isn't running through the fence, and we make our way through the small hole at the bottom of it safely.

We make our way through the Meadow, which separates the fence from the rest of District 12, and once we reach the street, we say our goodbyes. I watch Gale walk the opposite direction from me, shouldering his game, his dark hair blowing in the evening breeze.

Normally we would have gone to the Hob to trade some of our game, but we didn't catch very much today and I had decided to collect some herbs for my mother. She uses them for the sick who come to her.

Arriving at our little house, I hang the two dead squirrels I shot today on a pole I keep my unskinned game on outside, hoping that Prim's ugly cat, Buttercup, won't get to them.

Walking in the door, I hand a small burlap bag of herbs to my mother, who is preparing our meager dinner.

Giving me a hug, my twelve year old sister, Prim, says, "You got back late. I was starting to worry."

"You shouldn't worry about me. You know I come back every time," I tell her.

She smiles, the worry gone from her bright blue eyes. "I know."

This is the reason I could never abandon my family. I don't know what Prim would do with out me, my mother can't take care of her all by herself. She doesn't have the money or the ability. If it weren't for me, my mother and Prim both would have starved to death after my father was killed in a mine explosion.

"And I always will come back," I promise her.

I make my way through the busy streets the next morning, planning on trading one of my squirrels for a loaf of bread.

There are many people out today, crowding the streets. I'm trying to make my way through the crowd toward the bakery when I slam into someone and we both go tumbling to the ground.

Grabbing my things, I look over at the person a ran into. It's one of the baker's sons, Peeta. He had been carrying a couple boxes, and I picked one up and handed it to him.

"I'm really sorry," I tell him. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

He smiles at me. "It's all right. Luckily the cakes aren't ruined."

Glancing back at the boxes I notice they're the fancy cakes they always have on display in the baker's window. They're too expensive for me to ever get.

"They're really pretty," I tell him.

"Thanks. I decorate them," he says, surprising me. I never would have guessed that a stocky boy like him would have a talent like that.

"Well I have to go deliver these, so I guess I'll see you around," he tells me. Giving me a wave, he walks away. I don't know Peeta very well, but a long time ago he had practically saved me from starving when he gave me some bread. I'm not sure if he still remembers it, but I sure do.

I trade the squirrel with Peeta's father for a loaf of bread, and then head home.

I'm skinning the other squirrel and throwing the innards to Buttercup, when Gale comes running up to our house.

"Katniss!" he yells to me. "You should come see this!"

Forgetting the squirrel, I wipe my hands quickly, and run after Gale to the center of town.

I know something is going on when I see all the people gathered around.

Two men are standing in the center of the crowd, one holding the arms of the other. The one is a Peacekeeper, new from what I can tell, and that means stricter. The other man is the baker.

"This man," the Peacekeeper announces, "has been illegally hunting." He holds up the squirrel I had traded with the baker earlier today. I glance at Gale, alarmed.

"He must be punished," the Peacekeeper continues. The baker isn't protesting as the Peacekeeper lifts a whip up, and brings it down with a crack on his back.

Suddenly Peeta is next to me, staring with shock at his father, who's back is starting to bleed from the blows. Peeta tries lunging toward him, but Gale grabs his arm and pulls him back. Shaking his head, he tells Peeta, "It will only make it worse."

Peeta struggles a little more, but then gives up. He stands there hopelessly, watching while his father gets beaten for something that I should be punished for, not him.

I can't watch any longer. I spin around and run the whole way home. All I can think is that could be my mother or Prim. We've been surviving on that food ever since I was twelve. If they were caught with my game, they'd be beaten too. I don't even want to picture little Prim being whipped like that. I'm not even sure she'd survive it. And I'm not sure if my mother could survive that either.

I sit down on my small bed I share with Prim the rest of the day, thinking. Finally Gale comes in, looking for me.

"There you are. I thought you might have gone hunting," he says, a little relieved.

"No, I've been here," I say, not even looking up at him.

"Look, it's not you fault the baker was caught," he tells me, sitting down next to me. "They could have found anyone."
"What? Like my mother? Or Prim?" I say, anger filling my voice. "Or what about one of your brothers or your mother? Or even your little sister? They might even punish her!" I know it's unfair to be yelling at Gale like this, but I feel like I have to say something.

"But we've never been caught before," he says.

"But we could be," I tell him. "I hate living with that risk."
He doesn't say anything, and I know he's lost for words.

I don't say anything for a while too. Finally I tell him what I've been considering all day.

"We should leave District 12."