Cover Hunger Games Novels & Stories

**** HAILEE'S POV. I was so hungry. It had been hours since I last ate anything. My stomach growled with hunger pains, and my throat felt dry. I tried to find water, but there was none in the room. I had no idea how long I was going to be trapped in this room, and the thought made me even more anxious. I paced back and forth, hoping that someone would come and rescue me. But the door remained locked, and I was stuck in this small, windowless room. The air was hot and stuffy, and it was hard to breathe.

"It's highly likely we'll freeze to death in this weather if our car breaks down." The new year came three months after the zombie outbreak. The snow hadn't stopped over the past month, and the frostiness had slowed the rotting of the zombies' corpses. The zombies themselves had also slowed. We didn't have much food left but still decided to have a hearty meal on New Year's Eve. We made steak and fried chicken, even popping open our last bottle of wine to celebrate. "Happy New Year!" We wanted to celebrate the new year and the fact that we were still alive.

Adelina's soft voice echoes. My heart fills with relief and I open the door. She has a movie playing on her laptop, horror I think, and a bag of snacks slung over her shoulder. "Duty calls," she chirps before plopping on the bed. Adelina is already sprawled out on my bed, her laptop propped up on a pillow, and a bag of chips in her lap. The horror movie's playing, but she's more focused on her snacks than the actual plot. I sit beside her, glancing at the screen as a suspenseful scene builds up, but my attention keeps drifting back to Adelina and her never-ending supply of junk food.

Hunger is a monster. It sinks its claws into my gut, gnawing, tearing, devouring me from the inside out. My body is shutting down, drained of strength, stripped of any ounce of power I once had. The Ascendants have made their decision. If I won’t drink blood willingly, they’ll make me suffer for it. They starve me. They drain me. Day after day, I’m strapped down, cold needles piercing my skin, pulling what little life I have left.

Anya, cloaked in darkness and her newfound determination, navigated the maze, her senses on high alert. District 13 was a different beast entirely. Towering, dilapidated buildings cast long shadows, and the air hung heavy with the stench of garbage and decay. Stray dogs scavenged through piles of refuse, their mournful howls echoing in the deserted streets. Anya's stomach growled, the reminder of her hunger a constant companion.

I don’t know what they have planned, but by the way, they keep giggling and pointing, I can already tell it is going to lead to some kind of spectacular heartbreak for Liliana. Which is the point of all this. I designed the game this way--to drag out her pain slowly over time so that by the end of the year if she makes it that long, the devastation is so complete that she finally breaks. After three years of trying, we will finally show her what it means to be a Legacy--and how she’ll never live up to the challenge.

He’d seen her anger and sensed how much she wanted to kill him. It took them longer to walk down her aisle as they revelled in torturing her by keeping the bread in her view. The bread on the cart was small and smelled stale, but as the size of the pile dwindled, her mouth watered more. She hadn't eaten before she'd gone after Jax, and now she would go a second day without food. She was too focused on the bread to notice that more Hunters came in until they walked past her cage. They stopped at the scout's empty cage, and one unlocked it.

"Attention, neighbors. There is now a bounty on a woman named Lauren Gantt. Bring her to me alive, and you'll receive two boxes of instant noodles—or an equivalent amount of food." With that, he quickly shut the window. The icy wind rushing in was enough to freeze a person solid. He remained perfectly calm, but the entire apartment complex erupted like a boiling pot. Everyone knew that the longer this apocalypse dragged on, the scarcer food and clean water became. Compared to the first few days, two cases of instant noodles now were worth a fortune. These supplies were enough to drive people mad. … Inside another apartment, Lauren paced back and forth, her face stormy.

"Beastkind are dying. No frills. No drama. Just fact. No daughters born since the plague’s last winter. Fewer sons. Old lines cut off. Dens are empty." Varrow’s thought is rougher. "Courts rot. Deals rot. Pride and fear make bad choices." Rime’s whiskers twitch. "The Great Games buy time. The Walled City calls it tribute. It is a leash. It keeps war quiet. But hunger grows. Despair grows." He pauses. "Some will not wait. Some will attack the walls and take women." There it is. Cold and simple. My hands go still on the tiger’s fur. “Take,” I say. It tastes like ash.

Hazel cried, holding her bleeding nose. “Sorry won’t fix it!” Selene stood up and started stomping on Hazel’s legs and stomach. Thud! Thud! Thud! “Take it! Take it! This is what you deserve! Ugly thing! Nobody wants you!” Days passed, and the hunger became unbearable. It had been three days since Hazel had eaten anything substantial. Her only food was a small cup of watered-down soup with no meat or vegetables. She was starving. Her stomach felt like it was being twisted by knives. She looked at the dogs eating their food, and she envied them.