Chapter 1 – The explosion

There was an almighty crash. Timothy Everdeen's head span around so fast that you would be surprised that his head didn't fall off. What had once been the entrance to another branch of the mine was now just a pile of dust and rock. He was lucky that he had been standing around the corner rather than right in front of it, otherwise he would have sustained massive injuries or be dead. However, some of his colleagues were not so lucky; one man had lost his arm and where it had been, there was mangled flesh and blood running down his side. He wasn't going to last long.

Screams of pain pulled Timothy out of shock. He knew that if no help reached them soon, there was next to no chance for the injured. Infections would soon spread; his wife had taught him that. Without sparing a second glance at the fading men, he dashed towards the elevator that would take him to the surface. He hoped it hadn't been damaged by the collapse. The elevator bussed to life and it rose upwards slowly towards the day light. People above were staring at him curiously, wondering why he was leaving in the middle of the shift; there were harsh penalties for those who tried to evade working in the mines.

There was a small shack on the surface where the elevator came to a halt. As the mesh doors opened, he stepped out of the shadow of the shack and his face was flooded with sunlight. A normal person would shield their eyes from the sudden increase of light but the mine workers were used to this. Perhaps this is why the men of 12 all had bad eyesight. His eyesight hadn't begun to deteriorate like other had due to the fact that he normally worked close to the surface of the mine. Today however, he had been a bit deeper. The procedure for mine collapses had been well drilled into his mind. The first thing that he needed to do was alert the peacekeepers. Once he had done that, he would get in contact with his family and tell them that he was safe.

Buildings flashed past as he ran towards the peacekeeper's headquarters. He reached the overly conspicuous headquarters building. There was a stark contrast between the blinding white paint in the headquarters and the grey building surrounding it that also has a touch of brown dirt smeared here and there. He knocked on the door and a peacekeeper rushed to answer it.

"A mine worker? You shouldn't be h…"

"There's been a collapse in the mines! You need to help them immediately." Timothy cut across the peacekeeper. As the peacekeeper hurriedly turned around to get help, Timothy saw a flash of red hair. It was Darius. He turned back around to face Timothy.

"Would be able to inform Head peacekeeper Cray? It would do me a massive favour." Darius asked. The head peacekeeper could usually be found in the hob which is on the other side of town. About a 5 minute walk, or in his case a 2 minute run.

"Of course," Timothy said and dashed toward the familiar black building of the hob. Cray was a grey haired man with dark skin due to the amount of time he has spent in the district twelve sun. He, like all the other peacekeepers, wore pristine white clothes. At this current moment, he was drinking Vodka at the alcohol bar and probably quite drunk judging by the growing pile of empty bottles.

"Oi! Head peacekeeper Cray!" Timothy yelled. Cray attempted to spin the chair around, forgetting that those luxurious chairs were only found in districts 1, 2 and the Capital and ended up falling on the ground. Timothy was glad to notice that his old friend and recent victor Haymitch wasn't occupying the chair next to the drunken Head peacekeeper.

"Yes?" slurred the peacekeeper from his position on the ground. "It better be important, my drinking is a necessary part of my life."

"There has been a collapse in the mines and as head peacekeeper, you have to sort it out."

"Urgh, that would mean that I would have to get off the ground, it is surprisingly comfy. You should join me."

"Get up! There are people dying and you can't be bothered getting your drunk ass of the ground."

"Fine. I'm going, no need to yell," he mumbled.

"I heard that." Timothy ground out. Cray sloppily got off the ground and grimaced as his back cracked.

***Meanwhile***

"EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!" Yelled Darius. All the heads in the room turned to face him. Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and a ping pong ball clattered along the wooden floor as it stopped bouncing.

"There has been a collapse in the mines. We need about 10 of you to go straight into the mines and get to work. It will be dangerous, but this is what we were trained for. We chose to do this so don't take this task lightly." Immediately, the ten most experienced peacekeeper stood up and got ready for the rescue mission.

"We also need 5 more of you to go get all the healers. We need all the help we can get." Darius finished his speech and walked out of the room as the others were deciding who should fetch the healers. Darius was intending to contact the Capitol and the neighbouring districts to see if they could get some help. The though flashed through his mind that perhaps this was just a small collapse but little did he know that his actions during this period of time would soon earn him the title of head peacekeeper sooner than he imagined.

***In the mines***

There was a mixture between confusion and panic. The word of a mine collapse had spread like wild fire. Unfortunately, only one miner realised the true danger of a mine collapse. Even a small collapse can result in an explosion. These can be delayed – the worst sort. When a delayed explosion occurs, everyone thinks that it is safe and that there were no immediate dangers. However this can cause their death as they are not expecting the mine to explode. The reason is hidden in the earth which is also why not many people from district 12 know of this; their education is very limited.

Of course Dan Hawthorne knew of these dangers and immediately set to work on evacuating as many people from the mine as possible. This would save many lives, but unfortunately, not his own.

***Back with Timothy***

He had reached the Apothecary that his wife worked at. Hestasia usually worked at the front desk in the shop so you can imagine his surprise when he saw the shop empty. He then looked down the street and noticed that the other healers store also seemed to be closed. It then clicked in his brain that the peacekeepers must have already collected the healers and taken them to the site to help the wounded.

He turned and walked down the street towards the mines when there earth shook violently and dirt flew around in an eerie sort of way. A hundred meters or so ahead of him, a huge cylinder of rubble and dust rose into the air. That was when he realised what had happened, what he had done. By then, it was too late– his wife was already gone. As unbearable pain ripped through his heart, he vowed to make sure that he would never have a loved one be ripped away from him like that ever again.

END CHAPTER 1 :)

For those who couldn't work that out, Katniss and Prim's mum just died instead of their father… Ohhhh trippy! What will happen to Timothy? How will this effect Katniss and Prim and what does the recent victor, Haymitch Abernathy have to do with this?