GAMES
"Do you know what the reason for these games even is?"
"Of course I do. To punish us for the Dark Days. The war."
"Exactly. And do you know what that means?"
"What?"
"No one wins when it comes to the Games. Twenty-three tributes lose their liv...
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***
The wind rustled the tall grass of the fields that the cattle grazed. Shaylin Herba sat on top of her brown mare, Stella, as she kept watch, making sure none of them strayed from the group. The wind picked up again, causing the blonde girl to look to the sky. Dark clouds started to roll into the area directly above her head, signaling the fast-approaching storm. What a wonderful omen, she thought, a thunderstorm storm just in time for the Reaping tomorrow. She just hoped it wasn't another tornado after the devastation the last one caused.
District 10, the livestock district, was the third poorest district in Panem. Mostly made up of large open fields for the animals, it was also one of the largest and least populated. The people in District 10 raised everything from cattle to chicken to sheep and more. The livestock were raised on ranches, owned by the Capitol. Outsiders looking in may think that the ranch managers were the owners of the ranches and think them rich and having more freedom than the average citizen but they were wrong. The ranch managers were under the thumb of the peacekeepers and President Snow just like everyone else even if their social standing was slightly higher than average. Not many people owned the livestock themselves.
The young blonde was shaken from her thoughts as the sound of another horse approaching next to her. She glanced to her right to see the ranch manager, Ruben Astoria, ride up next to her. Ruben had been like a surrogate father to her and her sister since their parents disappeared when Shay was only nine. His wife, Rosa, and he were friends of Mr. and Mrs. Herba and managed the ranch for the Capitol giving Shay a job when her sister couldn't work due to her pregnancy.
"You can head back in now," he said, shooting her a small smile. "I'm sure Althea will be worried if you're still out here with us when the storm hits and the last thing she needs is more worry. Ash, Rosa and I can herd them back to the barn."
Shay smiled back at her father figure. "True. She's always anxious about something these days. I keep telling her it's not good for the baby but I think that just makes it worse because then she's worried about the baby."
"You should take it easy on her. It's hard being a first-time mother. Rosa was a wreck leading up to having Ash but by time we got around to Daniella, she already had two other tykes running around so she was a pro." There was a pause as the two smiled at the sentimentality of the conversation.
Althea was a great sister. The twenty-two-year-old was the only motherly figure she can remember aside from Rosa. Althea was fifteen when their parents disappeared and she definitely knew more about the whole situation but whenever the topic would come up, she would get oddly quiet and keep to herself. She'd gotten married about a year after finishing school, when she was finally too old to participate in the Reapings, to her longtime boyfriend Richter. He was a classically handsome guy with a devil-may-care attitude. Unfortunately, he was another kind soul taken from this mad world.
