Give No Mercy Chapter 1 I walked into my modest home to get ready for the reaping. My beauty team gets right to work on my hair, makeup, and outfit. The Hunger Games start now with an impression. They work for hours until I look simple with an elegant flare. I smile into the mirror remembering the image for in two short weeks I would look like a the savages of District 12. Maybe worse. The thought makes my skin crawl. I turn around and take a twirl. My knee cut dress floats around me in a perfect circle. I smile at myself and turn out the door out into the Town Square. I strut past the other children flowing out of their homes. Unconcerned. Bored expressions covering nearly all faces. I get the occasionally stare, for the district already knows who the tributes will be. Marvel and I will be going to The Hunger Games to fight to the death on live television. They all knew it. I wasn't scared one bit. My only worries were from Districts One through Four. The rest were twigs. Easy to break. I walk into the group of sixteen year old girls. They all gave me good wishes and some encouraging hugs. My ears perked up to the anthem now playing throughout the square. We watched the video as we always did every year at the reaping until Emerald takes the stage as normal and gives her speech on our district. The wealth. Diamonds. Blah. Blah. Blah. We no longer have to draw tributes. Therefore, our reapings are very short, sweet, and too the point. Emerald asks for a volunteer from the boys and of course, Marvel Kriper raises his hand and comes forward onto stage. She announces him name, there is a light cheer and we move on. Then, she asks for a girl volunteer there is a long silence. I slowly raise my hand and walk forward. Having no clue what I was getting myself into. I led myself up the stairs that led to my future. If I live or die would be on everyone's mind for the next month. Of course, I had a greater chance of winning then other districts. I made my way up to the center of the stage where I got a applause. " The Tributes of District One! " Emerald cheered. " And may the odds be ever in your favor. " We were guided into our Justice Building away from the now screaming crowds. Marvel and I were taken up an elevator to our waiting rooms. We both had no visitors. Which suited us both just fine. We had already bided our goodbyes to our family. Promising our safe return. But, didn't every tribute say that to their family. Yet twenty-three people will break that promise. I shudder at the thought of twenty-three innocent children being slaughtered. Twenty-three families losing a innocent member. Twenty-three parents mourning the lose of their child. All for the sake of showing the districts they are always under control. The capital is in charge. And always will be. I stretch out on the couch, gripping the diamond necklace around my neck. My districts memento. It was from my father. For my fifth birthday, he gave me this necklace. " Always remember me. " He whispered to me and I never saw him again. He disappeared. Without a trace. I snap out of my trance by the door creaking open. Emerald pops her head in telling me the train is here. I follow her down to the front of the Justice Building down to where the train was at. I am loaded onto the train, somewhat surprised by the beauty of such a small cabin. Emerald shows me too my room and I lay on the bed thinking of the day. I must've of fallen asleep because before I know it I was being called down to dinner. I walked down to the dinning hall in utter silence. " Oh goody, you're here. We were just about the start without you " Emerald squawks. " Oh thanks. " I say bitterly. We eat dinner and about halfway through our mentors show up. They are ignored except for getting us sponsors. No other need for them. Emerald turns on the television where they are broadcasting the reapings. I pay extra close attention. Names. Appearance. Districts. It all would matter. If they were a threat. I would need to know. Of course my District One teammate would be a threat when it came down to it. Both Cato and Clove from District Two looked intimidating enough. They would need to be our allies. District Three's boy Marco would be a good addition. The girl, Natalia however would not be. Dead within the hour. District Four. Salmon and Angel would be helpful if there were to be any water whatsoever. So they are counted as threats or allies. Districts Five, Six, Seven, Eight , and Nine were young. Young and foolish enough to kill with a twist of the neck. The boy Dacci from District Ten would be on my watch list. Along with the boy from Eleven Thresh. The girl from Eleven who's name was Rue was very young. Also, an easy kill. District Twelve was the last to appear on the screen. I watched as a young girl appeared. She had to be twelve. But, looked much younger. As if she were only nine. I watched as she made her way to the stage as an older boy about my age ran from his group towards the girl. Peacekeepers held him still ah he trashed around screaming. His words were slurred by the tears filling his face. I could only make out the word volunteer. Of course, that was forbidden. No male volunteer could take a females place. And now that he had made a scene, he couldn't volunteer for male tribute either. He shrieked at the top of his lungs. Throwing his arms around desperately trying to save this girl. My eyes felt as if they were getting watery. I straightened up and regained myself. He was dragged away by Peacekeepers. I could have only guessed that boy was her brother. She made her way to the stage. They announced her as Posy Hawethorne. The poor child I thought. I just hoped someone would kill her so i didn't have to do the job. She made her way to center stage tears filling Her eyes. From there, District Twelve's escort asked who that was and she gave a simple response. "My last hope. " She said and turned away from the cameras. The crowd went silent. Slowly, everyone places three fingers over their lips and raised them in the direction of the girl. I watched mesmerized by the district and its people. They had taught us the District Twelve respect sign. But never had I seen it in such a quantity. The only audible noise from the crowd was the sobs coming from the young girl. The escort ignored the silence and went on with the selection of tributes. Finally, a boy was chosen. The name Peeta Mellark boomed through the loud speaker. Silence. The camera scanned the crowd to finally focus in on a boy who looked about my age. A shocked expression covering his face. I stared at this boy and felt such remorse. For their district and entire population. That was the last thing I should be feeling, knowing I am about to go into an arena where they will most likely die within the first day. These children had no training for what they were going in for. No battle lessons. No survival techniques. Nothing. Peeta had bleach blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was holding back tears as he made his way up to the stage and stood emotionless. As there escort babbled on about this year's Hunger Games, he made his way over to the young girl, Posy. He picked her up and embraced himself around her. At first she laid limp in his arms, but then she gripped onto him for dear #life and cried into his shoulder. I stared at the screen shocked. Out of all The Hunger Games re-runs I had watched this was a first. Never had tributes showed any emotion but hatred toward each other. I envied this boy for doing such a thing. He was stronger than I had thought. He was not a fragile boy from District Twelve. I saw much more of him than that. He may not be able to throw a spear 20 meters. Or shot an arrow right through the heart. But, he could withstand emotion. Dare to break the barriers of the games. And believe it or not, that was the biggest part of this game. Never giving up. I sat in my chair stunned beyond believe. The screen went black and I erased everything about the other tributes. None of that mattered. I wanted District Twelve as allies. Only them. And I don't care what anyone has to say about it. I excused myself from the dinner table without another word.