I awake to the sound of wild dogs in the distance calling to each other. It's still dark, but I can sense an imminent sunrise. Sleeping soundly in the bed next to mine are my mother and father, cuddled closely together to ward off the cold. The house is silent aside from their hushed breathing, as my two brothers were killed in the same mine explosion and no longer occupy the emptiness the rest of my bed has become.

I rise slowly from my mattress and carefully step across the creaky wood floor, winding through an invisible pathway I have memorized after years of walking across the same floor of this one room house. I silently take my hunting jacket and game bag from the hook by the door, then decide to grab a small hunk of cheese to share between myself and Gale. Clicking the door closed, I jog my daily route to the forest where I can escape to a realm of inconspicuousness. The woods is the only place that I feel peace, because in District 12 there is a constant feeling of angst and consternation as a result of mutual suffering and starvation among people in the Seam.

Gale and I share that suffering, which is the reason we retreat to the woods as often as we can; when my brothers and his father were killed by lethal explosions in the coal mines where they worked, we both took on the responsibility of providing for our families. He, being two years my senior, had already begun to practice hunting with his father in the woods while I was still being taken care of by my older brothers. When they died, I trekked to the forest, intent on teaching myself to hunt like them to feed my family and avenge their untimely and early deaths.

It was a rainy, misty morning when I brought my brother's bow and arrows into the woods to teach myself to use them. I'd only seen them used a handful of times, so I lacked the know-how, but I was convinced that I could teach myself the art of hunting so my parents wouldn't starve. I'm sure my father could have worked in the mines and hunted for us if he wasn't blind. My mother has always been charmed by his tendency to remark on her beauty that we all know is beyond his recognition, but he continues to insist upon her radiance, even though he cannot see it.

As I crawl under the fence that marks the edge of our district territory, I fear I will never be able to provide for my family like my brothers once did, but I'm confident that my desire to give to my parents what I've always been given by my brothers will fuel the strength I need to be my parents' keeper.

I slip into the woods and carefully step around crinkly leaves and dead branches, because I know I'll disturb some kind of peace that animals can sense. After walking for what seems like miles, a large deer steps into view about 100 yards away. I try to stealthily pull out an arrow and thread it, then clumsily pull the arrow back, envisioning my arrow piercing through the moist air and straight into the beast's heart. I cannot afford to miss this shot, and my heart sinks about ten feet into the ground when I realize I've released my arrow and its tip shoots straight into a tree yards away from my intended target. I assume the buck will run for it, and I'll never get to bring home the venison that will feed my family for at least a week, but for some reason the deer falls to the ground, an arrow going precisely through its heart.

My own heart skips a beat, knowing my arrow lodged in a tree and I could not have killed that animal. I whip around, looking for the Peacekeeper that I know will be ready to slit my throat, when I hear the voice of another teenage boy.

"What were you going to do with that?" I hear him shout, but I still cannot place who it belongs to. I'm not sure if he's being funny or if his remark is serious, so I answer sincerely.

"I've never hunted before. I was just trying to ... to kill it. To feed my family. My brothers used to hunt in here, but they..." I can't seem to say it out loud. I can't find the words to explain what happened to them.

The boy comes out of hiding for the first time. I think I've seen him before, but I can't put a name to his face. He says, "I know what happened. Same with my father a few years ago. That's why I'm here too." Suddenly I realize why he's so familiar. His father was killed too, while mining, and I watched as he received a medal for the same event I would later experience twice over in just two years. I'm not sure what to say, because a simple sorry can't cover the grief that I felt when my brothers were killed, and he probably knows that I already understand that same pain. "You want to learn how to use that thing or am I going to have to shadow you forever killing the animals you can't shoot yourself?"

I look down sheepishly at my bow, realizing how ridiculous it looks in my small hands, and then up at his muscled body that contrasts my small figure. I hand over my weapons so he can teach me how to become a provider.

Now, as I'm reaching the District 12 boundary, I listen for the distinct but rarely present buzzing of electricity in the fence that I've learned after years to avoid. The Capitol insists the fence is to protect us from beasts that live beyond it, but I've never seen some of the creatures they describe to us in classes, and I've been in the woods almost every day since I was 12, so I know it's all lies. They don't even keep the fence on for most of the day, which allows Gale and me to hunt illegally without risking our demises by electrocution. I pull the fence up from the bottom and crawl under, looking over my shoulder for Peacekeepers that I know aren't there. Even if I got caught, I wouldn't be punished; some of my best customers are the very Peacekeepers provided to us for the job of enforcing the Capitol's laws.

The first time my brothers brought me to sell meat to a Peacekeeper, I was thoroughly frightened. All I remember is staring wide-eyed at their gleaming white, intimidating uniforms and wondering what would happen if all of a sudden they started actually enforcing the laws that banned going outside the District boundaries. A shiver runs up my spine at the thought. Both Gale and I would be tortured or beaten or killed in public as examples to the people. Suddenly, my thoughts are interrupted by the very person who inhabited them moments ago.

"Happy Hunger Games, Peeta! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" Gale trills in an attempt at mimicking the ridiculous and infamous Effie Trinket. She's been the announcer for our reapings since before I can remember, and although harmless, District 12 loathes her for her blatant disregard of the animosity and cruelty of the Hunger Games. Twenty-three kids die in a duel to the death each year, and only one tribute lives and must continue their life knowing that some of those mere children died at their hands. Effie's ignorance of the sadistic annual even might be bearable if she wasn't such a materialistic and wasteful human being. She comes to District 12 each year to sentence two kids to their certain death, but her powdery makeup, heinous wig, and iridescent clothing make her appear to be some grotesque creature. Her life is spent dawdling over material items, while my every breath is spent keeping my family alive. That, and trying to come up with a way to get Katniss to like me.

Katniss Everdeen. She is gorgeous. Her family runs the bakery in town, so she hasn't lived the same life I have of constant uncertainty of my next meal. I should despise her for that, but I can't help loving the way she always smells of fresh breads and cakes I'll never be able to afford, how I find her mindlessly singing in her beautifully mellifluous voice when I come to trade meat for bread, and the perfect braid she wears her hair in every day with a different flower pinned to the side of her head just behind her right ear. She's from the Town, though, and girls like that do not fall for boys from the Seam.

"Peeta, you there?" Gale sharply interrupts my rumination of Katniss. "I mean, it's fine to be nervous about the Reaping, but don't tune out on me. You've got the snare run today. Both our families with go hungry if you don't snap out of it."

"Sorry, I was just thinking about," Katniss, I think. "I was thinking about Effie. And everyone in the Capitol. I just wish there was a way that I could... that I could show them we're more than a piece in their Games. They all believe that the Hunger Games are a freaking joke. They don't get that those tributes in the arena... they're people, too. With families." Silently I add that after that I was thinking about Katniss, too. But Gale already knows how much I love her, so he might already suspect she was on my mind.

"Yeah, and how would you go about that? You can't exactly march up to his Majesty Coriolanus Snow and demand justice. The Capitol... they're not people you want to mess with, Peeta." he replies.

"But we could try. Stage a rebellion. Get all the districts together somehow. I'd show the Capitol we're not just their slaves." Truly, the people in the districts are the Capitol slaves. Each region has its own business - 3 is technology, 4 is fishing, 10 is lumber, 11 is agriculture. Here in 12, we mine coal. Panem districts provide the products that fuel our oppressive government.

"A rebellion? Right. You wouldn't make it five days without the Capitol shutting everyone down," he says, making a mockery of my plan. That infuriates me - it's people of that mindset that would make the rebellion fail. If everyone in Panem bonded together, it'd be a success. But one weak link and everything would fall apart.

"Oh, I'd go five days. I'd go that way," I point west in the direction of the other districts. "Right after the Hunger Games end this year, I'll get a band of strong rebels together, and we'll all head out to tell the other districts. We'd get to 11 first, and they'd spread it to 9 and 10, and word would spread about Panem. Everyone would be inspired to revolt." I get on my feet so I can go start the snare run, collecting each kill from the snares and resetting them.

Gale lets out a laugh as he replies, "With all those Peacekeepers nobody would be convinced. It's not like here, where they encourage illegal stuff. There's no way you'd get everyone on your side."

As I trot away to begin collecting from snares, I murmur, "We could do it, you know."

A few hours of hunting earns us four squirrels, two rabbits, and buckets full of wild berries and vegetables. Usually Gale and I bring all the strawberries we can find to Madge Undersee, the Mayor's daughter. I find her to be an incredible annoyance, as she always parades around in her perfect little dresses and fingernails painted to match. She always has her hair done up perfectly with a silky bow that makes me sick. She has enough money to swim in while everyone in the Seam lives in squalor, and she has the nerve to flaunt her high status with neatly ironed dresses and frilly hairpieces. Boys fawn over her, although she cannot compare to Katniss' uncommon beauty.

We arrive at the Mayor's door and immediately the beautiful music emanating from within the estate ceases. Madge appears at the door wearing yet another brand new dress. It's a white lace frock that cinches at the smallest part of her waist with a slender brown braided belt. A golden ribbon adorns her blonde curls, and a small golden pin peaks over the curve of her breast. If I wasn't as smart as I am, I'd say she looked attractive.

"Hello, Gale. Peeta," she chirps politely. "Do you have some strawberries for me to buy?"

"No. We came here into Town all the way from the Seam just to say hello to the lovely Margaret Undersee," I reply, my voice dripping heavily with sarcasm. Gale shoots me a look of consternation; even though he feels the same way about stuck-up Townies, he is eternally polite.

"Sorry about him, he must have stuck his foot in his mouth by accident when we were eating a few of those berries," he remarks smartly. I begin to protest, but his reference to the berries reminds her of what we're here for.

"Oh, right. The strawberries. I'll go get some money. Would you like to come in a moment?" she inquires.

"No, thank you. We'll just wait out here," Gale replies. She smiles sweetly and returns quickly with more than twice the money she owes us, handing it to Gale. I can't stand her openly pitying us, so I speak up.

"You know that's way too much money, Madge. Take half that back and return to your life of abundance." She appears highly reluctant, and I think I catch a spark of longing in her bright blue eyes. She's squirming to find the words that will convince me to take the full sum she offered without offending us.

"Please take it. I have no use for all the luxuries my father bestows upon me. At least let me reward the people who never stop working to protect a life I'll never understand," she pleads, stepping forward to collect the berries. Sensing a hidden pain, I allow this unwarranted overpayment. I curtly nod my head and mumble a thank you, turning to leave.

"And Peeta…" she calls out. "Good luck today. Same to your brothers, Gale."

"Good luck, Margaret," I wave unsure of the reason I used her full name, and Gale and I walk back to the Seam to prepare ourselves for the Reaping to take place today. In a few short hours, my fate could be decided by a slip of paper in a glass bowl.