The Dark Days - Chapter One

Yeeees! Fanfic! Yep, the Dark Days, prologue to the Hunger Games!

Oh, by the way, some information in here is inaccurate. Sorry. I wrote this before I read Mockingjay. Stick it through.

(No spoilers whatsoever)

PART ONE – THE TEST


Chapter One

Life is unfair.
It's supposed to be fair, but it isn't.
Whoever created the world didn't have the foresight to see what will become of the world. Sure, there's been unfair situations before – when your parents buy your brother a video game but buys you a cracker, but this is completely different.
Forcing kids to work under the hot sun, to jump from tree to tree a hundred feet in the air, twelve hours a day and still starving us, there's nothing more unfair than that.
Well, that's when I had my brilliant idea.


"Go home!" shouts a Peacekeeper. I drop my basket, exhausted. We've been working six hours straight since one, and all of us are tired. We get exactly one hour for lunch, and then it's back to work. I didn't get to finish my bread and cheese fast enough, so I had to work on a half-full stomach.
Everyone harvests during the harvest seasons. The sun is broiling down on us, threatening to bake us as we troop back to the village. On the way out of the orchard, I poke my best friend Holly on the arm.
She turns to look at me, but not talking. I breathe in her ear, "Meet me at my house at eight thirty." She nods, scampering away. I have my brilliant idea ready.
When I get home, Amy's already there. Of course she would be – her work ends at six. There's a huge mountain to the west, so there's always an early sunset. They don't want people bumping into each other in the fields, or swinging a sickle the wrong way. All the nightvision goggles go towards the foragers, like me.
"Holly's coming after eight," I tell my sister. She nods but doesn’t say anything.
Alright, we're orphans, but I'm still the older child. Our parents were killed from that muttation attack years ago. Our aunt took care of us but eventually passed away from a serious fever. I hate the Capitol that way.
That war which made Panem rise happened forty-nine years ago. This year, in December, they'll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Panem. I don't want that to happen. My plan should be obvious now, shouldn't it?
I had managed to slip a few strawberries in my pocket, and no one noticed. If they did, I wouldn’t be standing here now, because I’d end up dead. Amy finds the bread they gave her today, and slices the loaf into thin slices. Enough breakfast and dinner to go for a week, when they'll give her another loaf. I aslo put out some basil leaves and mint leaves, and so we have our tiny dinner.
No wonder we're both as puny as a twelve-year-old instead of fourteen.
"So, did anything happen today?" Amy asks after ten minutes of silence.
"Ruth fell out of a tree. She gets a week off work," I grumble. "Lucky."
"But her family can afford a week without her share of pay," Amy points out. I nod unhappily.
"Unlike us," I say. It's true. We rely on each other. Amy brings the wheat and bread. I bring the leaves and berries, occasionally nuts. Never meat. We might be hungry sometimes but we've lived on each other.
"Yeah," says Amy gloomily.
We sit like that until we finish off our bread. It takes time to work our muscles, stretching our limbs, massaging each others' sore muscles. By the time we are finished, it's almost eight thirty.
Amy and I chat for a few moments, but there's nothing really to chat about. Eight thirty comes and goes. By the time it's nearing eight forty-five I'm beginning to get worried.
"Holly should be here by now!" I cry out.
"Why is she coming anyways?" Amy asks. I don't bother asking what's on her mind. I already know. Obviously, it's our parents, before they got killed. Killed in that stupid muttation attack.
"Because I don't want to work like slaves," I say fiercely. "Haven't you thought about it, Amy? They work us to death out there. We never get enough food. We never get a good night's sleep. We never even get to see the moon because of how tired we are! I'm sick of this, Amy! I want this to stop!"
Amy's silent for a few moments, and then she speaks.
"What can we do about it, Aryn?" she asks. "We're just kids."
Yes, we're just kids. Amy's always been the cautious type, whereas I'm the action type. We might be twins, but we're not alike.
"How can you not care?" I ask. "How? They killed our parents! They killed them!" I point to the only photograph in the house, a small black-and-white photo of my family. My mother, my father, Amy and I. We were only nine in the picture. Two months later, two of those people died. My parents.
"I do care," says Amy softly. A knock on the door disrupts the tension between us. It's Holly. Who else would it be?
I unlock the door for her. She shakes her sopping hair and steps into the threshold.
"It's pouring out there," she says unneccasarily. "This has better be good."
"It is," I say. Wasting no time, I ask her, "Holly, have you ever gotten tired of the foraging?"
"That's obvious," she says. "Yes a thousand times over."
"Do you want it to stop?"
"If we don't starve, yes."
"Maybe... we can do something about it," I say. “I'm sick and tired of it. I really want it to stop."
"But how?" Holly asks, quoting Amy. "Aryn, three kids can't exactly stop the force of the entire nation of Panem."
"Not the entire nation," I remind her. "I'm sure that the people of the districts will agree with us. It's just the Capitol."
"And we have the Peacekeepers to contend with," Amy interrupts. "I want to chip in, Aryn, but you must know what you're getting into!"
"Well, everything begins with one small step," I say. "Tomorrow, you guys ask around about if they want freedom. Don't let the Peacekeepers hear you. If we can outnumber them, because we're the largest district around, then maybe we can break out and warn the other districts. I want this to end."
There's silence. "You're asking for one hell of a miracle, and I don’t even know your plan," Holly finally says.
"And what are we going to do once we get the districts to ally with us?" Amy asks. "We're still kids."
"But we're kids who can lead the uprisings!" I shout. "The fiftieth anniversary is coming up. Now's the time to smash the Capitol's dreams. It's time for it all to end!"
A moment of silence, and then Amy speaks up.
"Please tell me I heard you wrong," she says.
"You didn't," I shoot back. "This calls for a rebellion."



One chapter per day. That's it. I have all 27 finished but I'm not posting. OR, if your Google skills are good enough, you can find the finished version (the unedited version) online somewhere...