¹MALIGNANT, the hunger games ⋆ finnick odair

𝑖．

❝ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 ❞

CHAPTER i. ❛ trust nobody ❜

It was the year of the 65th hunger games. The start of a new year, but it never seemed new. Always the same. Emerald and her family had lived off the grid in the forest for years since her parents had ran from District 13. Her mother, Lyn, never explained the exact reason on why they did leave. She always, and only, said "trust nobody." Emerald took that advice and kept her mother's words, she always had.

Damon awoke with a cold shiver as his younger sister quietly stepped into the old, wooden room to take her coat off the door. They were a happy, peaceful family. Living in a worn out cottage in the woods made out of thick oak wood. Emerald was 14 at the time, young but with lots of knowledge.

From her experience in District 13, she knew a lot about military weapons and resources to find in the woods. Her father Rafe also taught her how to build and fix common things in the cottage, like worn out wood or leaks in the roof. Whereas her mother trained her how to survive among unreliable food in the woods like berries and animals. Lyn was also gifted with the talent to sew and repair clothes if she had the right amount of fabric. Damon basically taught Emerald everything she knows about physical fighting. He would train with her every Saturday, in the woods, in water, even in trees. Wherever they were, whatever he knew. He would teach her.

Emerald herself knew much about knives. A dangerous yet sleek weapon that she was quite talented with. Among the years she taught herself how to throw appropriately and other defence mechanisms like how to take down someone twice your size, and with enough force, how to snap someone's neck.

"Emerald? Its Saturday, where are you going?" He lazily mumbled as she flung the coat over herself.

"We're out of food, and most of the animals have stopped coming here knowing I hunt round here now."

Damon was 4 years older than Emerald, but they still cared very much about each other.

"So, go pick some berries. Its reaping day, Emery. There's hundreds of peacekeepers around, its too risky."

"There are no berries anymore, Damon." She snapped impatiently. "We picked them all."

He looked out the window at the horizon. It was the beginning of a sunrise, a beginning of a new year.

"Fine, be careful. Remember, talk to no one, trust no one."

Emerald nodded as her older brother hesitantly pulled the covers back over him and shut his eyes.

_______

Emerald trudged away from the cottage. Getting into District 12 wasn't hard considering they lived right on the outskirts of it and the supposedly electric fence was never actually turned on. Lyn and Rafe had made the decision to move to the outskirts of District 12 because 1: it was the closest to District 13 when they ran, and 2: it was the safest district that went unnoticed by the Capitol when it wasn't reaping days.