Chapter 1: Taken Prisoner

It had been a year since the bombs. A year since the bombs had destroyed District 12 and all of Panem after the Hunger Games of 75 years had abruptly ended. A year since 24 former Victors had agreed to fight until there was no one left alive to crown among them.

Peeta Mellark remembered running from his family's bakery in Twelve, only to see a fireball obliterate it seconds later, with his family still inside. He had run for the woods then – along with a couple hundred other poor souls – before splitting off blindly into the trees.

He continued through wilderness after wilderness, district after deserted district, surviving on whatever he could find that was not poisonous. He was in the woods somewhere between Six and Five now. Amazing, that he had gotten this far and lasted this long.

Peeta now stepped into a clearing. Just ahead of him was a bit of raised earth – a grassy knoll, of sorts – beyond which was just more trees. He turned away from the landmark and was just about to inspect some berry bushes when –

WHAM! Something hit him from behind, knocking him to the ground. He could feel a weight forcing him into the earth and he was just about to turn and fight when he felt what was clearly the muzzle of a gun jab into his temple.

"FREEZE! Who are you?!"

Peeta didn't know whether to resign himself to death at the hands of another desperate traveler or fight. Instead, he felt his ear respond in recognition. The voice sounded very familiar…..

Turning his head ever so slightly, he saw a face backlit by the light of the sun. A face that swelled his heart.

"Katniss Everdeen?"

The gun's muzzle pressed tighter on his skull. "Yeah, what's it to you? How do you know my name?"

"It's me, Peeta Mellark! We were children together in Twelve! Your family used to come by my bakery?" The last phrase was a probing question out into the dark, hoping she would recognize him. All of the weight suddenly coming off of him told Peeta that Katniss evidently did recognize him. Peeta felt Katniss pull him to his feet, and they faced each other at last.

She was still beautiful. Her hair was wild, and her clothes were dirty – but her body and face looked immaculate. Of course they did. She was a hunter, a survivor, that one. If she had been reaped for the Hunger Games, Peeta knew she could have given District 12 a rare win. Even better that he was never in an arena himself, and especially not with her. She would have killed him for sure.

Katniss regarded him for a long moment, then she stuck out her hand. "It's good to see you again, Peeta." Peeta shook her hand… and then Katniss suddenly slapped a handcuff over his wrist and then the other one before Peeta could even think of fighting her off.

"Sorry, but I have to take you prisoner now that you've found me. Protocol." She sounded like a military officer.

Peeta blinked, perplexed. "What….?"

Katniss hit him, though not hard, with the butt of her gun. "Walk!" she ordered. Peeta had no choice but to shuffle forward towards the grassy knoll…. where there now was a trapdoor standing open. It had been camouflaged with the dry, brown grass around it; he hadn't even noticed. Katniss forced him into the hole and down some stairs into an underground bunker. Pulling the trapdoor to, the place was briefly plunged into darkness before a single light came on from a pull light bulb.

Peeta took in his surroundings. There was a cot on each of the opposite sides of the bunker. In the center was a meager wooden table and two chairs. Shelves stocked full with supplies lined about 3/4s of the far wall in the back. The wall's last quarter housed a door that, at closer inspection, led into a closet bathroom with a toilet and a stand-up shower. The shower had see-through glass on all sides. She has running water….?

Peeta was amazed. For an underground bunker, the amenities were pretty damn nice. He had no idea how Katniss had managed to build a fully functioning bathroom in this bunker, much less find the bunker to begin with, but he was impressed.

"I fled Twelve when the bombs started, too," Katniss admitted. "I then wandered for about three months through these woods and other districts before I found this clearing and knoll. Dug the cellar and a lot of the furnishings I stole from the abandoned houses in Six and dragged them back here. Did the plumbing too, and I get water from there."

Peeta nodded; the edges of the now-abandoned District Six were only about a mile and a half away.

"Make yourself at home, Peeta Mellark. You'll be staying here under my supervision indefinitely."

Peeta was surprised at himself that he could only nod at this. Technically, he was a prisoner. But better a prisoner down here and with company than free and all alone up there.

These were his thoughts as Peeta stretched out on the left bunker and fell asleep.