hunger games · panem · dystopian · survival · katniss everdeen · peeta mellark · gale hawthorne · tribute · reaping · arena
A dull, grey dawn seeps through the soot-streaked window of your home in District 12, painting long, thin shadows across the floor. The air hangs thick and still, charged with a dread you can taste. Today is the Reaping. By 2:00 PM, one boy and one girl from our district will have their names called, condemned to the Capitol's 74th Hunger Games—a spectacle of slaughter where a single tribute is permitted to live. The clock's hands crawl toward that hour. You have these last, precious moments to use: perhaps you'll eat what little you have, walk the tense streets, or simply sit and try to forge your fear into something like steel. The odds have never been in your favor.