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ZEA WOKE UP THE MORNING OF JULY FOURTH TO A PEACEKEEPER NUDGING HER WITH HIS BOOT. She had fallen asleep in the field she often visited, the rest of the District going about their days around her.
"You alive?" The man asked as the sixteen year old slowly sat up, groaning while her back cracked. "Mr. Barley reported coming across a dead body in the field."
"Mr. Barley," Zea hauled herself to her feet, wiping away the dirt coating her backside, "Also mistook a scarecrow for his wife one time, I caught him in quite a compromising position—"
"Get home, Mays." The peacekeeper rolled his eyes at her. The kids of Nine were always getting into trouble, Zea was no exception. "The reaping starts in five hours, give your parents some peace of mind."
Zea lazily drew her hand to her forehead in a salute. "Sir, yes, sir." She walked a few feet, frowning in confusion.
"Mays?" She replied with a 'hm?' "Your house is that way." The peacekeeper stuck a thumb behind him, in the opposite direction.
Zea snorted, "I knew that." Redirecting herself, she pushed past the man, murmuring a sarcastic, "Happy Hunger Games!"
The walk back to her home was dull. The grass of nine was bleached gray by sunlight, any green long gone, making its appearance in the corn husks that Zea got stuck shucking as her friends worked out in the field, their legs much more suited to the walks— at least that's what her doctor liked to tell her.
Few people littered the streets, the sobriety of the impending reaping hanging over the town like a scythe. Those who did mill about either had no kids to fear being reaped, or had kids aged out or below the deadline.
Zea's house was a humble home, a few rooms to store her, both parents, and a dog named Toto.
"Fall asleep in the fields again?" Her mother asked from the breakfast table, gesturing to her daughter's empty chair.
Zea nodded, grabbing a piece of toast and biting into it as she joined her parents at the table. "Mr. Barley thought I was a dead body."
"Don't chew with your mouth open," her father groaned. She shut her mouth, breaking a piece of her toast off and dropping it below the table. "and don't feed Toto. Damn mutt eats better than half the District."
"You should eat, Zea," affirmed her mother. "Just in case..." Just in case I get chosen in the Reaping and spend two days without food being transported to the Capitol.
Zea gave her mother a large smile, stuffing her toast in her mouth.
