"Effie will be here in an hour Dearest." Delly says from the doorway. I don't look up from my work.

"Alright." I say continuing to ice the last of our products. I can feel her hesitate before leaving. While I feel bad for my cold remark, I will not go to comfort her. She's too sensitive, and sure this is a difficult day, but that means nothing to me now. It isn't just hard on her, after all.

My name is Peeta, I'm twenty years old, you've already met my wife Delly. We live in a place called Panem, life isn't so easy for anyone here. Especially not for our sector, 12. You see, fifty years or so ago there was a world-wide economic collapse. War broke out for five long years.

Humans almost literally blew the world into oblivion. Only a small few people, once called Americans, were able to pull society in their country together again. All the survivors descendents now reside in the South Eastern of the former United States. There is no one left.

Panem rose from the ashes and rebuilt the society still in place to this day. The original doctrine stating our societal structure separated us into different sectors. There are 13 sectors, to be exact, and the Capitol which is at the center of our society. Each sector is in charge of a different field.

Mine, for example, is the mining sector, I however am fortunate to be the only living son of the baker in town. I had two older brothers and a sister, not one of them made it to adulthood. It's a fifty percent chance one will make it to adulthood. No one is sure why yet. Sector 13 is working on that, they happen to be the science and health sector.

My sector happens to be the smallest, only the bare minimum of stores in town with surrounding homes for the miners.

That's when I hear a knock on the back door. I walk over, I spot Gale with his game bag standing on my back door step.

Gale is a very dear friend of mine since our school days. He has three younger siblings, his youngest brother Vick is very sick at the moment. It's wearing on Gale I can see it in his tired eyes.

Both of his parents died when we were sixteen. Ever since he's been hunting to keep his family off the streets. He tries desperately to be a good parent for his kids.

He's a good guy, I'll finally see him married in a few weeks time.

"How much do you have for me?" I ask with a smile.

"Two squirrels, five fish, and a goose." He tells me.

"I'll take the squirrels." I tell him walking inside to get the two loaves for his squirrels. We quickly exchange, like it's a normal day. It isn't but pretending it is feels like a small blessing, "How's Vick?" I ask hesitantly.

"The healer says he may not last the night." He says heavily. "The kids don't know yet."

I nod slightly.

"How are you taking today?" He asks.

"One step at a time." I tell him.

"That's the only way we know how." He tips his head to me, "See you tomorrow."

"See ya." I wave him off before going back to my work. Like I said, no one's life is easy in Panem.

A half-hour later I shower off and start to change. I look out the window as I do most days or nights in my free time. Sector Twelve is on the very outskirts of Panem. I can see right where the fence acts as barrier between the sunset and the edge of the world. Even though today is murky with humidity and the clouds are dense, I still see the stiff fence. There's a slight difference today, there is nothing beyond the fence, the spring fog is too thick.

The fence marks the unknown, where everything is supposed to be dangerous. But for me? I see it as a haven. I think that I have a chance if I could just build up enough courage to leave, I could easily get passed that fence. Then I'd never have to come back.

My idea is futile. I know that, but I can dream. I have little else in this world.

I dress in my best clothes for our visitor. My wife, Delly and I have been trying to conceive for a long time now. However, she is infertile, as most women are. The Capitol has a family plan for people like us. We are assigned a surrogate until we have the required four children. With the hope at least one of them will live.

I hate the idea of having surrogate mothers, it's sick and cruel, on the grounds of my government telling me how to live. I don't want children, not with the high chance of death in our world. And for my government to tell me I must have children is quiet literally insane.

It's only a cop-out way for woman to never work a day in their lives anyway. Women just selling themselves for money to carry other peoples children? It's a topic I frequently argue that sends my wife straight to tears. I hate making her cry, and it's wrong of me to do it so often. But someone needs to hear me.

"Dearest?" Delly asks walking into our bedroom, "Effie is here." She tells me. Though she smiles I know she's at her wit's end. It pains her to do this, for the sole reason she wants to do it.

She doesn't want another woman in our home doing the thing she was born to do. I stand to kiss her forehead, the place that gives her chills when I kiss her.

I see goose bumps rise on her pale arms, "Shall we?" I ask. She laces her fingers with mine. Even after years of friendship and years of being my bride, our fingers still don't fit together.

We get downstairs to meet our family planner. Miss. Effie Trinket, who is sporting pink... just pink. So much pink I wonder if she's blushing, has too much makeup on, or if her clothing is simply reflecting on her pigment-less skin.

"Hello." She smiles brightly shaking our hands, "What a lovely couple."

"Thank you." Delly blushes, as she is easily prone.

"Let's get in the car shall we? It's a big, big day!" She seems so revolting happy that my wife can't carry a baby. Maybe it's just because we require her services, I think it has to be that she thinks her job is actually important. She's only an escort she must know she isn't important.

We slip in the car, we'll be going to sector 13 and then to the Capitol once our surrogate has been selected, (or reaped as the surrogates sometimes refer to it as.) They'll check my DNA and match it with one of the surrogates to see whom they'll be implanting. If it sticks she'll live with us until the baby is born. The cycle will continue until we have four.

Panem is not nearly large enough for there to be a long commute to sector 13. I'm grateful for this as sitting in a car with Effie, whose perfume must be toxic and whose smile can't not be plastic, is not what one would refer to as enjoyable. Some may even go so far as to call it creepy.

Sector 13 consists of ten tall buildings, all labeled for their purpose. Whether it's a school, living quarters, or a hospital. They are all identical tall grey blocks. The signs are certainly helpful in this aspect.

Effie walks us through the process of choosing a mother during the span of time we spend in the car. They'll take all of my physical features and put them in the child. If I have yet to say it, pigmentation and structure are two very important things in our world. Structure for obvious reasons, the stronger you are the more likely to live. Pigmentation is just a natural occurrence of the human race, we want a perfectly proportioned, perfectly set type of people.

We pull up to a fifty story grey block labeled 'Family Planning'.

"We're here!" Effie giggles hopping out of the car. We follow close behind into the building. Inside it's blaringly white, I'm nearly blinded as we take our first few steps inside.

There are doctors walking with clipboards, in white lab coats, with medical masks covering their mouths and noses. They have strange plastic foot coverings over their shoes, and latex gloves the have to reach beyond their elbows. I feel like there's a reason behind their attire, and no one is supposed to know why.

"Alright, if you'll just follow me we can get the tests started." Effie says leading us down one hallway. "You'll have Dr. Cinna, he is excellent." She opens the door closest to the end of the hall. An examination room.

I take a seat, "Oh, Mrs. Mellark could you please come with me for some paper work?"

Delly nods leaving me by myself.

Not a moment later a woman with her face, hands, and feet covered walks in, "Hello Mr. Mellark I'll be your nurse today. You can call me Portia."

"Hi." I greet her.

"Let's see here, Twenty huh?" I nod, "A good age to start a family. Not too young, not too old. Still got a sense of humor." She looks at me, "That was supposed to be a joke." I laugh at that, "I'm going to start with a routine check up and then I'll draw some blood before the doctor comes in."

Her examination is quick and after she draws blood she asks me to get in a hospital gown.

Dr. Cinna walks in calmly observing his clipboard with a lack of intensity, "Peeta Mellark?"

"Yes." I answer.

"Nice to meet you." He holds out his hand for me to shake it. "I presume you know why you're here so let's get to it." He stares at the syringes in the cabinet for a moment before laughing at himself, "I must apologize. I normally don't work with the men."

"Oh..." I say as he fills a syringe with what looks to be a vaccination.

"They want me branching out more, I don't know why of course. I'm one of the few people who's willing to work with those poor girls." He takes my arm and readies the needle. "They ask for volunteers and 'm there." He plunges the serum into my arm.

I curiously ask him, "Why would you work with them voluntarily?"

He smiles slightly, "Because they need someone on their side." Like they need anyone on their side. The government worships their surrogates, the vessels of the future.

"Okay Peeta, I think you know what's next." He says to me, and while... Yeah I do know I really wish I didn't have to.

Once my DNA is rounded up and sent off to a lab, I'm allowed to change back into my own clothes. Delly and Effie are back almost immediately. Effie seems thrilled for us.

"Your profile has been approved, they're matching you right now." She tells me. I manage a smile, "Come along, we'll meet your potential carriers."

Yes, we must me the woman who may carry our offspring. Wondrous.

Delly's hands are sweaty when I take hold of them again. She's nervous, but I can't tell why. She very much wants a baby and the life we're supposed to have. Maybe she worries about what we'll do with a surrogate.

We are taken to an upper-level room that looks like one of those viewing boxes for surgeries. Below us every surrogate that could potentially carry our baby sits cross-legged in grey, floor-length, turtleneck dresses. They sit with their heads down, their hair pulled back, obedient, motionless. As they should be.

It's eerie to look at them all lined up as if at a funeral waiting to glance at the corpse. To think one of these women will have my child in them soon is utterly unimaginable.

The three of us take a seat and stare down at them. It's like their judgment day, and I can't feel more out-of-place. I'm in no position to pass judgment on anyone, being as I'm a simple baker, but I feel heavy judgment for these girls. None of them will be right, the only one I can imagine having a child with is sitting right next to me, shaking, sweating, fearful. Infertile.

There are Peacekeepers all around the lower room, waiting for instruction. The entire area is tense with waiting. Only I am free of this affliction, the only thing I feel is an intense longing to leave. I don't want to feel the crushing apprehension that sticks in the air any longer. A doctor walks in the room and instructs several Peacekeepers to haul five girls from the room.

"Oh, isn't this wonderful?" Effie asks, "You have five potential candidates."

"Five?" Delly asks in that nervous 'I may just throw up' tone. I rub her back encouragingly.

"This is a very good thing." Effie stands up, "We'll be moving on now. Up, no time to waste!" She's so excited, yet all the terrible things I'm thinking but not saying bubble around in my mind.

"Peeta," Delly whispers to me as we walk down the hall, "Do you still love me... Even though-"

"Yes, Dell. I do." I tell her. She's always doubting I could love her, only because she cannot have children. She feel like a failure but she can't be farther from it.

We walk into a room full of covered doctors examining test results. There is a window separating us from the grey clad girls. They again sit cross-legged with their heads bent down.

"Number Four can go." One doctor says into a microphone connected to the next room. A Peacekeeper rips one girl from the room as Effie introduces us to the head doctor.

"This is Dr. Coin. She's the head of this department." Effie tells us.

Dr. Coin shakes our hands, "You two are in luck. You have some very good matches, as of now, we're looking for the best match." I nod squeezing Delly's shaking hand.

We walk back to the window. Two more girls are taken from the room leaving us with two girls. They both look younger than twelve, maybe it's just because their hair is pulled back so tightly into a bun, or maybe it's because each of them are sitting on the floor, hunched over and I cannot see their eyes.

"Tell them to bring Girl number Two." Dr. Coin says to one of the doctors below her. "Congratulations, Mellarks, I believe we've just found your surrogate. She's a newbie too, health. She'll make an excellent carrier." Delly looks relieved but I feel heavy indifference. "Let's meet her." Dr. Coin takes us down a series of hallways before we reach a small room with Peacekeepers lining the walls. "We take these meetings very seriously. All the rules are enforced."

Delly and I walk in first, to meet the woman who will carry our children. Only she's not a woman, she's more like a girl. She's not very tall, and not very developed. Maybe it's the extremely covering clothes she wears, but she could probably pass for a boy.

She has a dull olive tint to her skin, her hair is dark and silky even as it's pulled back into a tight bun. She has hard grey eyes that remain downcast. She is pitiful and honestly not beautiful.

I can only focus on one thing about her and that is the intensity in her down turned eyes. She is not obedient, she will fight. For her that could be deadly. It's dangerous to fight against me or our government. So why is it I feel a twinge of admiration in her intensity?

A Peacekeeper has a firm grip on her elbow as our party enters.

"You can release her, I've trained her well enough." Dr. Coin says. The man releases her to reveal a pale patch of skin where he held on. "Now what do we say?" Dr. Coin jeers her.

The girl bows at the waist to us, "I will not disappoint." She says.

"You're beautiful." Delly says. Leave it to my wife to find the good in people. Even, as the case may be, if it isn't very truthful.

"Th-thank you, ma'am." The girl says still bent over at the waist.

"What is your name?" Delly steps forward. The young girl bites her lip.

"You won't need to call her by name. You'll only refer to her as she or her, and she'll respond." Dr. Coin says. I take Delly's hand to bring her back beside me.

"That seems a bit cruel." Delly whispers to me.

Dr. Coin begins reading off facts about our now surrogate, "She is sixteen years of age. Blood type B positive. A clean family history. Mentally stable. Teachers favorite student." The girl only stiffens for an instant, it goes by unnoticed by Dr. Coin, but I catch it.

"When will we know?" I ask.

"In a weeks time, you'll be called back for the reading of the results. She'll be living with you after that, if she is pregnant. She'll remain with you until the baby is born. Then she'll return until she conceives again." Dr. Coin gestures to the girl who is still bent over, she stands firmly in her place. Unmovable, untouchable, unbreakable.

"Is this all?" I ask desperate to leave at the very least so that girl can stand.

"You'll come with me to the Capitol. To sign her under your name." Effie says. What? Am I, buying her as my newest piece of property? "If you're ready to leave we can get going."

"Let's go." I say quickly, I want to drag Delly out of here. However Delly takes one finally glance at the girl.

"Thank you." She says as I yank her from the room and out to the blinding hallways. Effie gets us back in the car and drives us to the Capitol. I feel odd as I think about what has just transpired, I know they're inseminating that girl right now. That girl who hardly looks fourteen but is said to be sixteen. I feel like I'm cheating on my wife even as I sit beside her, signing a young girl's life away to carry our children.

Once we get back home its mid afternoon. I hold Delly in the front of our home. I rock her back and forth trying, if anything, to comfort her.

"You were scared." I tell her.

"Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"I'm a painfully observant individual."

She sighs, "It's frightening, that girl is having our child. Only it's yours and hers... I can't help it."

I say nothing for a moment, "It will still be our baby Dell."

She smiles up at me, "I know, and that's why I still think she's perfect... isn't she? Young and sturdy. She'll give us a good baby." I don't say anything, "She's the answer to our prayers." I remain silent until she pulls back from me. "We'll have to make room for her. They'll be expecting to see the house."

"I can set up a bed for her Dell."

"Oh but where? We only have our room and the nursery right now."

"We can put her in the basement." Out of sight out of mind right?

"Are you sure?"

"We can clean it up." I tell her. "Together. Tomorrow night."

She smiles and hugs me tighter, "I'll get dinner started." She tells me heading into our kitchen. I however go upstairs.

I sit on our bed and watch the clouds dim. I know it's the sunset, and I can feel in my heart, it's like something is setting in my life too. I just don't know what that is yet.

One week later we are back at the grey block labeled 'Family Planning'. We are led into a small room like when we first met our surrogate however she sits on the cold hard floor in front of two chairs meant for Delly and I.

We take our seats with Dr. Coin and Effie filing in behind us.

"Alright," Dr. Coin says, "Let's begin shall we. As you know if you are not pregnant the first time out don't be discouraged most don't conceive until the third or fourth try. After two years if there is no success at all you have the option to switch surrogates."

Delly and I nod, our fingers that don't fit together are twisted tightly. Her hands sweaty and shaky. My nerves simmered down inside me only relevant to me.

"Ready?" She asks. Delly nods, the girl at our feet seems to sink into herself. I wonder if she already knows. Maybe she does, I've heard you know the moment it happens. Of course I'm not sure how it works.

"... Congratulations," That's all Dr. Coin needs to say. Delly and I are having a baby only it's just my baby. It's mine and this girl who sits at our feet slumped over, like she wishes to disappear.

Delly looks ready to cry. I feel ready to vomit.

"You're pregnant."