Red beads in my long bangs bumped repeatedly on my collar bones. My long black hair swished back and forth in the wind as I made my way to the stage at the front of the gathering for the special day in District 7, in all of the Twelve Districts.....reaping day. The day when tributes were drawn out of a lottery to kill in an arena for the entertainment of the citizens of the Capitol. My name had beed drawn from the fancy - out of place in my district - glass bowl. Choi Maya. Now a male would join me, I was zoned out and didn't notice anything but the boy's first name, Caleb. We had talked but were never friends. We shook hands and were ushered to a building where visitations would be held. Almost as if it were a funeral, but we were alive, for now.

So many different cultures and countries were in the mix of our newer, larger country. So many survivors that looked to us for help and then were thrown into the Games with the rest of us.

I had no family, my father being killed of disease and my mother following shortly after of depression. My elder brother had died in the Games a few years back, in the 88th Annual Games. Now here I was going to compete in the 92nd Games. That's all right though, better me with no one then a girl with a whole family who had to watch their daughter or sister get slaughtered by Career tributes or something worse.

There was only one person who would visit me, Nadia Summers who was like an older sister to me. She would also be going with me as my mentor, having won the games the year after my brother died in his. Just as I finished that thought, the door creaked open and in strided Nadia. I stood to meet her in a crushing hug that made my ribs hurt.

"Maya...."

"I know.... you know as much as I do that I'm not going to win," I whispered.

"Hush, dying out there is better thand becoming a Victor anyway. You don't have the haunting nightmares of the arena or the memories of the innocent faces of the teens that you have slaughtered. Not to mention that the Capitol uses you," she whispered back into my ear so that nobody would hear.

"I'm not a fan of giving myself to the hands of the highest bidder," I growled out.

"I know."

There was a minute of silence as we still held onto each other.

"I want to get into the final four though."

"Then find an axe, a backpack and take to the trees. Remember that the trees are your new best friend."

The door opened and the Preacekeeper said that her time was up.

"I'll see you on the train."

Nodding, I watched her leave and was left alone with only my thoughts to keep me company. Until the door opened and my best friend walked in. I ran to her and gave her a hug. We stood there, not talking.

Caleb and I sat next to each other silently as the train traveled towards the Capitol of speeds of 200 miles an hour. We were eating slowly and I was thinking of how I was going to get into the final four. My speed and litheness in trees would help drastically, but if the arena didn't have any trees then I was screwed. What would the Careers be like this year? Brutal as always I knew but maybe I could out smart them, out live them even, anything.

I thought to myself in the next few hours as we watched clips of previous Games in which I paid no attention to. Then there were the clips of the other tributes.

Not many of the others held much of my attention except one, the male from District 2. He had volunteered for the Games and was down right good looking. Icy dark brown eyes and black wavy hair with a very muscular build. He would dwarf me in height and size any day.

His name was Kai.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope you liked this chapter! ^^ Don't worry, you will be seeing a lot more of Kai in the chapters to come. I don't know when I will be updating next because I'm so busy.

Please comment and subscribe!^^