Chapter One - From Embers To Ashes
I could hear my feet slamming against the ground as I ran towards the girl on fire, set ablaze by the
flames he had created she was screaming with such emotion that I believed her to be half dead already,
on the ground her arms and legs flailing in every direction surrounded by the ashes of the dead, I had
almost reached her when a large explosion to my immediate left threw me to the ground, more bodies
were not scattered around me burnt and mutilated to unidentification. I try to stand but my prosthetic
won't move I look down, its pinned to the ground impaled to the floor with a 16 inch long pipe, the
regenerative fluid of my prosthetic that was fusing it to my flesh was beginning to leak out singing and
eroding away at anything it touched. Something caught my eye, something I knew all too well the beacon
of our long forgotten hope. The Mockingjay pin. Where it was once golden and shining it was now black
and melted the entirety of the top right hand corner leaving the bird wingless and deformed as I watched
my synthetic blood engulf it melting it down to the point of it now being nothing but a black spot on the blue
liquid, it was almost Hypnotic watching our sigil of rebellion fade into nothingness but it was fitting seeing
there was nothing left to fight for. I draw my eyes away from the greying puddle surveying the area and
then quickly close them again rubbing my fists against them, a thick cloud of dust and smoke lingers over
the city I'm immediately reminded of the images of District 12 President Snow showed me when he... Hijacked
me I'm still trying to grasp the concept of what has been done to me, Back when I was younger you
would hear stories of people disappearing ... that's how Greasy Sae lost his Wife, she rebelled and unsurprisingly
she was taken away by the peacekeepers we thought she would be executed but after a few weeks she
returned, in body but not in mind. First she locked herself in a mine shaft and threatened to strike a match
and kill herself and in the process all who were trapped in there with her, she was quickly subdued by Gales
father, he cracked a spade against her head knocking her unconscious but that didn't end it she refused to
leave her shack, And denied anyone entry being them members of the district or her own husband, then
everything stopped, no screaming, no banging, just the ear-piercing silence of district 12. They assumed her
dead who wouldn't, from what we were told if she was in there you would have known, this scared people
more than the screaming more than the threats of death to whoever was unfortunate enough to pass by
during one of her tantrums of madness, no the silence scared them, the silence always meant something bad.
The peacekeepers arrived that night, they had watched they had watched the whole time and had done nothing
to stop it, no orders people said, they wouldn't act without orders, so the arrived in the dark twilight under the
cover of the dark, but they had watched , the people of the district watched as they entered the cabin every foot
step could be heard every whisper was no secret the entire district was listening in awe and utter terror, they
then watched them return from the cabin coming in groups of four after the first group had passed the second
came carrying a body shrouded in a white sheet, but they knew, it was obvious whose body it was , because
her arm hung lifeless seeming to have accidentally unravelled from the clothing the arm itself was pure white
all except the crimson red tracks gouging there own paths down the snowy paleness of her skin dripping in
steady stream down to the darkened earth the blood had a source and that source was the hard ragged trenches
that extend across her wrist, she'd killed herself, But why? That wasn't all that caught the eyes of the onlookers
it was the Shadow man, Dressed all in black as if attending a funeral he had extended a long dark arm towards
her allowing his gloved fingers to ever so slightly rest upon her covered face almost caressing her dead
cheeks, it sent chills down the spines of all who saw, it was a lover's caress that was what stripped the viewers
of thee pureness the fact that the shadow man would go as far to.. Touch the dead wife of a man who was
among the watchers it was evil, it was immoral. But their all knew too well to fight ,all accept Sae his friends held
him back as he screamed in agony and loss of his love and best friend. That's all he could tell us, he broke into quiet
tears and returned to his cabin we didn't see him for three days some of the elder folk thought it was wrong for him
to tell us the story believing we were too young to be exposed to such things others thought oh well we're in the
lowest district what more can damage them. I'm Older now ive seen worse and i've lost so much more, My Family
and my home both reduced to charred bones and ashes I can't bring any of it back, but I'm not really sure I want to.
Another explosion drags me out of my daydream sending rubble and ashes flying at me, I can't run I can't even
move I just have to take it the concrete and woodcuts my face and arms, the flames and sparks singe's my clothes
and burns my skin , I try to scream but the smoke from the flames fills my mouth I start to choke gasping, clawing at
the air trying to clear a pocket so I can breathe then I hear a humming then I fell backwards hitting my head on
the floor as I go, I assume i'm dying the pain is endless and I just wish for it end, i'm then doused with freezing cold
water extinguishing the flames and with them the pain.