The Meeting

I hate hunting by myself. I miss my hunting partner, but I have to clear my head and Gale is busy with Beetee in the weapon's lab. When you hunt in pairs you feed off of each other's strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. My weakness now tends to be impatience. Especially at District Thirteen not rescuing Petta yet.

The woods are refreshing this time of year. There are maples and oaks like home; it's the tall pines that stand out, rising majestically into the sky. It's been a quiet time, though, for some reason the game has been scarce. I spot a rabbit and pull back my bow and was about to shoot when the rabbit runs from the noise. A gunshot, then another. It's hard to tell where they are coming from with the echos but I go ahead to find them. The gunshots continue and they're getting louder. After a few more minutes of walking, I see them. Three soldiers, one with a large rifle, one looking through a telescope and one looking through binoculars. The one standing sees me and waves me over.

"Hello, Miss Everdeen," she says as I approach. It's funny to have someone call me Miss Everdeen; it feels as if I'm being treated as an adult. She puts out her hand and introduces herself as Captain Emma Dever, commander of Company S. "Call me Em."

I answer back, "Katniss".

As I look at her I have the feeling I've seen her before. She is a woman a little younger than my mother, with short black hair, about my size, dressed in camouflaged clothing. There is something about her eyes. It could be that they are as blue as Petta's but that's not it; it's when she looks at me I fell she is peering directly into my soul.

I shake my head to stop from staring and look for the target but I don't see anything. "Where is the target?" I ask.

"One thousand yards that way," she says pointing. "This is sniper training. It's a two person team. One is the shooter and one is the spotter."

Another shot goes off and the spotter says, "Hit."

"I see we interfered with your hunt. Gentlemen, you can take off now, we're finished here". I didn't mean to stop them but, Emma asks if she could come with me hunting.

I say "Sure". And it was nice to have company.

Emma asks to see my bow and she compliments its craftsmanship. "Did you make it?"

"No, my father" I reply. "Thank you. He loved making them."

"And you're a very good archer. That apple shot in training was-"

Before she could finish her sentence I say "That's where I've seen you before. In the game maker's box. But you had long red hair then."

She chuckles and says, "Yeah, I had it long, until the incident."

"What incident?" I ask.

"That's a story for another time." She then comes to a full stop and points to a rabbit behind a bush, almost perfectly camouflaged with it's brown coat. I can barely make it out; she saw it, though.

I load my bow pull back and shoot. Perfect kill. I tell her, "Thanks." She says she was the spotter and I made the hit. I say, "It's a two-person team." She smiles and nods in agreement.

We stop talking and both go into hunting mode. She's quiet, very quiet. She doesn't have a gun or a bow, so I just assume she is going to spot for me. While walking, she throws a knife. Perfect hit. As we retrieve the rabbit I comment "That was a great throw."

She says "Thanks," as she cleans her knife on her pants. "And also on your Victor Tour. But I was a blonde."

I look at her with bemusement while I picture her as a blonde. "Yes. That's right. You were always in the background."

"I was with internal security. My assignment was to keep an eye on you. But, in reality, I was there to protect you and Peeta."

I ask, "How long are you with the rebellion?" She tells me she joined Plutarch's group about five years ago.

"When did you come to District 13?"

She responds, "I was on a hovercraft the night of your rescue." I look at her and start to formulate all the questions I want to ask. "Our job was to rescue all the surviving victors. Unfortunately, we were not alone. Peacekeepers had entered the arena and we could only get the three of you."

I come back kind of abruptly "Why me? Why not Peeta?" I can feel my heart start to race when I ask that.

"We tried. You and Peeta were both priority one but we came under too much fire and had to retreat."

"I'm not sure you made the right decision," I say.

She looks directly at me with those eyes and says "Don't say that. You're very important to people."

I snap back, "To Coin and Plutarch."

"No. I mean the people who love you. Your mom, Prim, Gale, Peeta and even Haymitch." She knows a lot about me, but then again I am an open book.

I look at the ground. "I'm sorry." I quickly change the subject. "So, were you always with security?"

Emma responds, "No. Prior to that, I worked directly for President Snow."

I stop in stunned silence. "What? What did you do there?"

"I did special jobs for him," she says. The look on my face shows I need more. "I killed people. I was his personal assassin."