A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for giving this story a try - I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for Belle453 for the beta.
The Universe of the Hunger Games & it's characters belong to Suzanne Collins. Original Characters overlap with my story Escaping District 12 but otherwise there's no connection to that story.
It took Gale about an hour to find the student housing section of Capitol College. He checked his communicuff again, but the only message was from work. Grudgingly, Gale stopped at the front desk, showed his ID and asked for directions. At least he'd changed out of his uniform.
He stepped onto an empty elevator that glided smoothly up one floor before stopping to let in a pair of girls in short skirts and high boots. Gale readied himself for it. The batted eyelashes, the vapid flirting. He'd been thrown into the spotlight after the rebellion, a posterboy for the post-war military. It wasn't what he'd signed up for, but orders were orders. He'd learned to play the game, to manage the work, but it bled into his already messy personal life. It had been flattering ... and infuriating. Pretty girls thinking they loved him - they didn't even know him.
It didn't come. Other than a smile as they stepped aboard, the girls barely looked at him. Unsure if he was relieved or offended, he pretended to pore over the flyers plastering the wall of the elevator. The brightly colored papers advertised everything from concerts and drink specials at a local bar to some ridiculous "save the muttations" campaign, and everything in between. When Gale was Vick's age, he'd been fighting a war against mutts and Peacekeepers. These kids didn't know how good they had it - no wonder he couldn't relate. He tore down the flyer for the mutts campaign, crumpling it in his hand.
Gale found his way to room 741. A digital screen embedded in the cold metal door showed a picture of two clean-cut boys, academic refugees from district 11 and district 12 - Vick and his roommate Seth. He still couldn't believe Vick was enrolled in a fancy school in the Capitol. Under Paylor, Capitol College has been expanded and opened up to residents from all districts. Who knew Vick had those kind of book smarts?
Gale knocked on the door. A robotic voice asked, "What is your quest?" It wasn't some senseless riddle, just how Vick or his roommate had programmed their door to respond. Gale frowned. Some technology just didn't sit well with him.
Gale asked the door, "Is Vick Hawthorne here? I'm his brother."
The voice answered with a default programmed response, "I'm sorry, but Vick is not home. May I take a message?"
No point in a message. Gale had turned to leave when he heard a thump and muffled voices from the other side of the door. A moment later the door swung open and Vick said, "Hold on, we're here. We haven't left ..."
Vick looked at his brother in confusion. "... yet. Gale! What're you doing here?"
"I told you I was in town," Gale answered testily. "Didn't you get my message?"
Vick glared back. "You said Wednesday. It's Friday."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I sent a message today though?"
Vick held up his arm, showing that he didn't have his communicuff on. "My communicuff's down. I kinda spilled something on it yesterday. Hasn't dried out yet."
Communicuffs didn't usually go on the fritz just from a little spill - more likely Vick had seriously dunked it in something, or worn it in the shower maybe. Gale shrugged it off and said, "Well I'm here now. Thought we could get dinner or something?"
"Uhh, maybe - I don't know ... hold on." Vick looked awkwardly back into the room.
Seth stood near a desk, baggy t-shirt and jeans hiding his stocky frame, a backpack hanging from his shoulder. He shook his head. "Group leaves in 20, man. Your call."
Vick groaned, pissed that Gale had picked now of all times to show up.
"Gale ... I've gotta go. I'm sorry. Maybe next time, okay?"
Gale ran a hand through his short hair. It had been a rough week - a conference on ethics in the military, dredging up all kinds of bad memories from the war. He'd barely slept all week. He'd almost wanted to go home without stopping by to see Vick, but he wouldn't let the fancy university scare him off. He hadn't seen his brother since Vick had come to district 2 for a couple days at the end of the summer, before going back to campus for his second year. Gale could at least take his brother out for a good meal.
He made one last attempt. "I've got a car downstairs. I'll drop you anywhere you want. Can't you meet up with your friends later?"
Vick glanced at Seth, who shrugged.
Vick answered, "I dunno. Could we, uh, drop Seth off and get directions?" Gale nodded in agreement, glad he'd get some time with his youngest brother after all.
Gale watched the boys as they hauled their large backpacks to the elevator. "So where you guys going? Looks like you've got enough gear for a month."
"Camping," Vick said after a pause. Gale's heart sank. He'd always meant to take Vick out into the woods.
"It's with this student group. It's like ... wilderness training, except more fun. They've got s'mores and hot dogs."
Having spent half his childhood relying on illegal hunting to keep his family alive, Gale knew the value of outdoors skills first hand. He should be the one taking his brothers out into the woods, teaching them basic survival skills. But after everything that had happened ... well, he wasn't sure it was such a great idea. Besides, what Vick was describing sounded like a joke. It had to be some kind of put-on. Gale gave his brother an appraising look. "Wilderness training? With s'mores? You're kidding, right?"
Vick rolled his eyes. "Come on Gale, you never let me go near the woods growing up. Seth was going, I figured why not."
Gale didn't like the sound of this weekend excursion, featherbrained games masquerading as serious training, but he let it drop. He was just Vick's brother, not his dad, as Vick wouldn't hesitate to remind him. They loaded the car and he followed Seth's directions to the meeting spot, where about a dozen kids stood around a few cars that were loaded with gear. It looked like what Gale imagined a group of clueless students would look like. Small group standing around chatting while they waited for the stragglers to show up. This late in the fall, the sun was already low in the sky and he could feel a chill in the air. If they were camping anywhere further away than a city park, they wouldn't have any daylight to set up in. Who in their right mind would start off a camping trip with a bunch of kids at this hour?
While Seth pulled their bags from the car, Vick ran over to talk with a lanky guy carrying a clipboard. In the meantime, Gale leaned back against the car provided to him by the military and studied the rest of the group. In addition to clipboard guy, a tall girl appeared to be in charge of loading vehicles. Gale guessed she was from district 11, judging by her dark skin. Gale spotted Seth with a pair of girls sitting on the curb by one of the cars. Seeing the boy's cocky stance, Gale started to doubt it was wilderness skills that he and Vick were here for.
Just then his communicuff beeped. Gale glanced at it, wholly expecting some work message that he was already promising to ignore until at least Sunday. Instead, it was a message titled "Fwd: CC Wilderness Outing." Opening the message Gale saw an address and directions for a Red Rocks Campground on the outskirts of the Capitol. Gale glared toward his brother, who was now headed back to the car.
As soon as they were in the car Gale demanded, "You gave him my personal code?"
Vick shrugged. "Yeah, so? The directions were complicated. Figured that was easiest."
"So, I don't want my information getting out to just anybody. Geez, Vick. Do you even know these people?" Gale had already had to change codes a few times when the press or Mockingjay fans got their hands on it and overwhelmed his messages with demands for interviews with Katniss' supposed cousin. Most of that had died in the last few years, but he still couldn't believe his brother would just hand it out to some stranger.
Vick rolled his eyes. "Carlos doesn't even know who you are. And if he did he wouldn't care. Not everybody thinks you're Mr. Bigshot you know."
"Yeah, right" Gale answered sarcastically. "So he's the one leading this little trip of yours? Tell me he's at least from above ground."
"Yeah, yeah. Him and Rose, both from district four. They're down."
Gale watched the road ahead as he asked Vick, "I gotta tell you, from what I see these guys don't know what they're doing. It'll be dark before they even reach this campground. Don't they need some kind of approval to teach you promising minds that kind of stuff?"
Vick stared angrily out the window as campus sped by.
Gale sighed. "I thought we were going to do this together."
Vick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. I thought so too. I asked you to take me camping last spring, remember? Guess you were too busy."
Another sigh. Vick was right. And Gale hadn't even had a good reason for bailing on the invite. Vick's first camping trip - Gale didn't want to screw it up. It didn't matter; vicious spring storms and flash flood warnings would have cancelled the trip anyway. Defensively Gale answered, "I didn't know it was such a big deal. You want to go camping, we'll go camping. But these guys? They probably don't know the first thing about survival."
Vick's reply was tinged with sarcasm and bitterness. "You want to do this together? Now's your chance. Stick around for the weekend. You can show us how full of crap they are, if that's what you think."
Gale heard the hurt in his voice and knew he was already screwing up this visit. Trying to take a lighter tone he smirked and teased his little brother, saying "Nah, you wouldn't want that. You'd never stand a chance with those girls if I hung around."
"You are such a -" Vick began.
"Hey, don't make me call Ma." Gale interrupted before Vick could fill in the blank. The back and forth broke the tension. Both brothers smiled now.
Vick answered, "Go ahead. I can tell her how you never visit me, either."
"I'm visiting you now, genius. I thought you had to be smart to get into this place?"
They continued that way all the way to Gale's favorite Capitol restaurant and well into dinner. Gale was happy to listen as Vick talked endlessly about college - his classes, his friends, even the wilderness group. After a full meal Vick wolfed down a double chocolate caramel brownie as Gale sat back sipping his coffee, content after enjoying his succulent roasted pork ribs.
Reluctantly Gale drove his brother out to Red Rocks campground, fully expecting to find the students at a loss in the dark woods, to pick up Seth and take him and Vick back to campus. Or maybe taking them out himself, showing them what's what. Not that setting up camp for two novices in the dark was his first choice, but it's not as if he needed to rush back to district 2. As the car rolled slowly into the campground, he had to laugh at the place. There were bathroom buildings with running water taps, and parking spots next to orderly campsites with picnic tables and flat open areas for tents. Hardly the location for "wilderness survival." It was ironic - the campground was probably a better place to live than the Seam they'd grown up in.
"Your friends are really roughing it out here." He said.
The campground was largely empty, so they found the three neighboring campsites Vick's group had claimed easily. To Gale's surprise, tents were arranged in two orderly groups with gas-fueled lanterns hung from tree boughs lighting a path between the tents and a bright, crackling bonfire in the middle campsite. Most of the group sat talking around the fire while a couple of people stood filling plates with food from a bounty laid out on the closest picnic table.
"How ..." Gale muttered, as he set the car's parking brake. His curiosity was piqued by the contradictions. The laughable "wilderness," the elaborate set up after their seeming unpreparedness, this was definitely not what he'd anticipated.
Vick grabbed his jacket from the back seat. "Well, thanks for the ride. You know Carlos said you could come too, if you want ..."
"I'm not leaving yet. I at least want to know more about these guys." Gale swung out of the car, stalking silently toward the camp.
Vick jumped out to follow him. "Check out the sweet fire! I hope there's still hot dogs."
Lanky clipboard guy met them before they reached the fire circle, minus the clipboard. From what Vick had said, this must be Carlos. Vick gave him a wave and continued straight to the picnic table. Carlos addressed Gale directly. "Hey, y'all found us! Good, glad you made it. You must be Vick's brother. Sorry we didn't meet earlier. I'm Carlos." He stood eye to eye with Gale, who politely shook the proffered hand.
"Gale. Nice to meet you," Gale answered coolly. "Quite a set-up you all have here."
Carlos smiled good naturedly. "Just lettin' folks have a little fun. No harm there, right? I hope you'll stay. The more the merrier, right?"
"Thanks," Gale said. "What's the deal here? Vick said this is some kind of wilderness survival thing, but I gotta tell you, it doesn't look too wild."
Patiently Carlos explained, "well, this is an intro trip. We can't just throw'em in the deep end. You fought in the rebellion, right? You get it. But these guys, they were just kids during the war. They're not used to having to fight to survive."
"So .. what? You make it a game?"
"Not exactly. We learned pretty fast how easy the students lose interest. This way, they make friends, have a little fun, and pay attention when we get to the serious stuff."
He could see Gale wasn't convinced. He glanced back toward the campfire. "Hey Rose!" he called, jerking his head before turning back to Gale. "Look, we're not perfect. But we try. Why don't you hang around? "
Carlos introduced Rose, the woman who'd been loading the cars back at the meeting spot. The firelight highlighted her striking features and reflected in her eyes. "Rose, this is Vick's brother Gale. Gale, Rose. The program is her brainchild, really."
"General," she nodded.
"Just Gale," he answered with a frown. He thought he recognized her, but since he couldn't place from where he worried that he might be thinking of some other district 11 woman. "Do we know each other?" he asked.
Rose smiled. "I'm surprised you remember. We met in 2, right after the war. I was in Templemore's group."
Templemore's group. They'd been one of the better squads he worked with. She'd seen a lot of action. He still wasn't convinced her little wilderness program was any good, but he had to at least give her some benefit of the doubt. Both Rose and Carlos seemed eager to have him stay, and he really did want to spend more time with Vick, so he agreed to hang around, see how they ran things.
Gale wasn't fond of fire. More bad memories. But he had learned to deal with it. There were plenty of things from his past he didn't want to face. But fire was a necessity in the woods, so his survival instinct had forced him to adjust. He followed Rose over to the group. She grabbed two cokes, handing one to Gale. "Sorry, no beer. We don't allow it." Gale shrugged.
Sitting by the fire, Rose chatted easily about life in the Capitol and the wilderness group. When Gale asked how they'd set up camp in the dark, she laughed. "We didn't. Runa and Spinner set it up before Carlos and I brought the students out." She gestured to where the two were sitting across the circle.
"Friends from the Capitol?" Gale asked. He'd noticed them before - no way NOT to notice the girl. His earlier glance had told him she was Capitol through and through, starting with her wavy hair dyed to look like flames, particularly effective in the firelight. He wondered if the effect lost its power in daylight. The guy - compact, muscular, brown hair and eyes - could probably blend in anywhere. He'd be great for special ops, Gale thought, looking more closely at the pair. Their clothing was styled for the Capitol, but that wasn't a surprise. Some tattooed design snaked up from under Runa's long sleeved shirt, weaving its way up her neck to the side of her face and along her hairline. It was her face that he found himself staring at. She looked familiar somehow, but he couldn't place her. Maybe she'd been with Rose in 2.
Rose didn't seem to notice his staring. Maybe she was just used to it; that kind of appearance invited plenty of attention. She explained, "Spin's from four. We met Runa here. I know what you're thinking, but trust me. For being from the Capitol, she's got serious skills." Rose filled him in on how startled they were when the younger kids at the College seemed so carefree and clueless about the war. They'd learned about it in school, and even remembered it, but as the years passed, the younger the students got and the more sheltered they'd been. They didn't have the survivalist mindset. Rose explained how wrong it had seemed that such a change would happen so quickly. Gale was only half listening, his attention on the puzzling woman sitting across the fire.
It wasn't until later, when she absently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smoothed her hands across her pants that it came to him. Madge Undersee. She was a dead ringer for her, minus a decade and all the Capitol decoration. If he didn't know better, he would swear he was sitting not four meters from Madge Undersee. Except that Madge Undersee had been dead for ten years.
Vick helped himself to the food available at the camp. As Ma said, he was a growing boy. He was busy getting pointers from Andrea on how to roast a s'more when he saw Gale join the bonfire with Rose. He hoped it meant Gale was staying. Gale seemed friendly enough with Rose - Vick hoped she could convince him they knew what they were doing. Maybe then Gale would stop criticizing the wilderness group so much. Vick didn't understand why Gale couldn't just relax and have a little fun.
It was cute how Andrea kept explaining how to slowly roast the marshmallows over the coals of the fire, but Vick liked burning them better. The taste of charred sugar wasn't so bad. He even forced one of his burnt up s'mores into Gale's hand, since Andrea and her friend didn't want to help eat them, though they were happy to watch his marshmallow roasting. The other girl - what was her name again? - shrieked every time one caught on fire.
Vick was still half-expecting Gale to take off back into the Capitol, but Gale surprised him by agreeing to stay the night. Carlos offered Gale a space in one of the guy's tents, but was turned down. Instead Gale borrowed a bivy sack to sleep under the stars. Following his brother as he scoped possible places to lay his bag out, Vick was glad to hear about Rose's invitation and Gale's decision to stay for the weekend. Gale didn't explain all his reasons for staying to Vick. He didn't tell him about having met Rose before, or about his confused suspicion over Runa's past.
Before heading back to his tent, Vick joked, "don't go sneaking over to the girls' tents. You might get me in trouble."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Gale answered innocently.
