Chapter 11
1083 Words
Kuma Swain
I finally had something to be proud of. Usually I got my mother something dumb like a pretty rock or a bit of ribbon for her birthday. This time I had something worth giving. It would change her life. It would change all of our lives.
Every day, I worked dawn to dusk at one of Eleven's fruit packing factories. Every chance I got, I learned something new. I could do everything from sorting the fruit to hosing down the leftovers. I worked like crazy to always come in over quota, even though it didn't mean any extra pay. Opportunities were few in Eleven, and you had to earn every inch you gained.
It all came to fruition (no pun intended) a few months after I turned sixteen. My manager pulled me aside and said he'd been keeping an eye on me lately. I'd noticed, and it had driven me to work even harder as I saw my goal getting closer. One of our managers was getting close to retirement. Based on my performance, my boss offered me an apprenticeship. It would take three years to fully take effect, since I had to study business and things like that, but the first pay raise came immediately.
I was over the roof. Not only would I be bringing more money to my family, but I was actually moving up in the world. So few people got that sort of chance in Eleven. If I was a manager, I wouldn't have to ruin my back straightening and bending over vats of fruit. I'd get invaluable education that would put me among the elite in my District. I wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt and losing my job. It was everything I'd been working toward for years.
My mother's birthday was a week after the Reaping. I was wrapping my present early, just in case. I could have gotten her something fancy with my first new paycheck, but this was better than all of that. I would get her lots of presents as soon as I could, but the best thing I could think of was to wrap the contract that listed my new position. Better than any present I could buy her was the fact that with my new income, she wouldn't have to do what she'd been doing lately. I didn't condemn her for it, but it still broke my heart. I'd said a lot of things I regretted, but I loved her. My sister wandered in as I was wrapping the paper.
"You got Mom a sheet of paper? With scribbles already on it?" she asked.
"You'll see," I said. "What did you get her?" I asked.
"A bracelet, maybe. A pocket watch. Whatever someone has in his pocket," she said. She knew I didn't like her stealing things. But I wasn't her father. If our father had stuck around, maybe she'd know better.
I wasn't going to let her ruin my day. I couldn't wait to see Mom's face when she read the contract. It was a whole new world for us. For the first time, the opportunities were endless.
Lily White
Anyone can get picked for the Hunger Games. All of us needed to have a plan. I'd been watching the Games since I was old enough to talk, and I'd been learning ever since.
The first thing was to know your place. I wasn't a Career. I couldn't fight or scare people away or defend myself if I got attacked. I couldn't go into the Bloodbath, no matter how nice the stuff there was. I couldn't afford to take chances and I couldn't afford allies. I was an easy target, even for someone who said they were my friend. I had to analyze myself and take the proper precautions.
The most important thing of all was to be forgettable. I didn't want to be the cute one, or the smart one, or the one to beat. I didn't want to be anything memorable whatsoever. I wasn't going to be good at anything. I was going to be utterly average. Maybe I wouldn't get any sponsors, but that was okay. The idea of sponsor gifts always seemed risky to me. Someone might see the parachute and follow it to me. I'd die before I got to eat the apple someone might have sent me.
My strategy was the most boring strategy in the world, but it had worked before and it would work again. For me, my only hope was to stay hidden until everyone else was dead. It worked for Drone, Toby, Lena, and Cornflower. I just had to stay out of the way and lay low. None of us wanted to kill, but by the end of the Games I'd seen, the Tributes were always willing to fight. I knew I'd come out the worse in a fight. The only option was to avoid them entirely.
That wouldn't be enough, though. I knew I needed an emergency plan for if the Gamemakers got bored of me hiding behind a rock. If I absolutely had to, I had a plan for killing someone. I'd climb a tree and throw a rock, hopefully stunning them. Then I'd kill them before I got up. It was dirty and low, but I didn't plan on getting any honor from the Games. I didn't even think the plan would work, and I hoped I didn't have to try it.
I needed a plan, because the odds weren't in my favor. My family wasn't rich, not even by Eleven standards. I'd taken out more tesserae than I wanted to think about, even though I knew the exact number, since I calculated the odds every year. They weren't good this year. The odds were still greater that I wouldn't get picked, but I wouldn't have played Russian roulette with the same odds.
I wore a plain white cotton dress to the Reaping, like most of the other girls. I blended in as just another face in the crowd. I hoped by my anonymity I couldn't avoid being the name on that slip of paper. As the moment of truth drew nearer, I thought of Lena. I wished I could disappear, just like her.
Kuma is almost six feet with brown hair, brown eyes, a broad build, and resting grumpy face, which he's self-conscious about. Lilly has dark skin, dark brown eyes, and frizzy hair. She is underweight and smaller than she should be.
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