My little tribute to Lavinia. Written for Starvation Forum's Monthly One-Shot Challenge. Prompt: Longing. Lavinia doesn't care if she dies because she just wants to be free. I hope you like it. Please review. :)

I Just Want To Be Free

"Come on," I say to my brother, Marcus. "We have to keep moving. Where do you think we are, anyway?"

"I have no idea," he replies. "But if you ask me…"

"I am asking you, stupid," I snap. Immediately, I regret my words. Marcus closes his eyes for a long time, as he does when he's offended. I sigh and sit down on a boulder. "I'm sorry, Marc. It's just that… I'm so tired… I don't think—"

"Lavinia," he says. He squats on the ground and unloads our packs. He takes a small container from his pack and fills it with water from the river running beside us. Marcus curses. "Sorry," he mutters. "I think we just ran out of iodine solution." He hands me the container. "But that's okay. If you're tired, we could rest for a bit then move on."

"No, that wasn't what I meant." I shut my eyes. What did I mean? I struggle to find words to explain myself. "Well… what I meant was… I don't think I could do this anymore."

Marcus's eyebrows scrunch together. "But, we need to do this. It's not like we have a choice."

"But that's the thing," I tell him. "We do have a choice."

"And we chose to do this," he finishes. I take a sip of water. It tastes like… life. "Forgive me, Lav, but I think I said it wrong. It's not that we need to do this. It's that we want to." I take a deep breath.

"I don't know, Marc," I reply. "I'm not even sure why we're doing this."

"We're doing this for the rebellion," he says instantly.

"Marcus! Look!" I point at the hovercraft overhead. "It's…"

"A Capitol hovercraft," he answers. He quickly shoves all our stuff into our packs. "Lav, we have to go now!" I stand up and grab a pack from him. I start running, and before I know it, he's right beside me. "Faster!" We run into a clearing.

"We have to keep going," I tell Marcus. "It'll be easier for them to spot us in this clearing." So we dive into the woods once more.

"When do you think this will end?" I ask him while we run.

"I don't know." He looks at me with a troubled expression on his face. "I don't think it will."

We run into another clearing. Marcus looks up at the sky and curses. "Look who followed us."

"Crap," I mumble. "What do we do?" I look around us. Where can we hide? Suddenly, my father's words come back to me: Lavinia, you can run from the Capitol, but you can't hide. I push those thoughts out of my head and try to spot something, anything, we can hide in.

"That rock…" Marcus says. He points to a big boulder at the edge of the clearing. We start running. "It's our only hope!"

But someone, or rather, two people, already beat us to it. As we head closer and closer to the rock, I could make out two faces. One face is the face of a girl, probably fourteen or fifteen. Another is the face of a boy, about two years older. They look like siblings. I lock eyes with them. Help us, please, was my silent plea. You're our last hope.

"Lavinia!" Marcus screams. I spin around, and I see the hovercraft with a gigantic spear in one claw. A large net is in its other claw. I watch in horror as the hovercraft stabs Marcus with the spear.

"Marcus!" I shout, but it's useless. He's gone. I could feel the fear curling around my heart, and the tears spilling from my eyes. What will happen next?

The hovercraft lowers its net, and that's the end of it for me.

"Darius." The guard unlocks the cell. "You first."

I curl up, trying to avoid the guard's attention. He leads Darius out of the cell, and locks it. Darius glances at me, and I can't help but be reminded of Marcus. Marcus looks just like Darius—the same tousled red hair and determined brown eyes. I wish I could see Marcus again, I think. I shut my eyes.

Pretty soon, I hear the unlocking of the cell again. "Lavinia, you next," the guard tells me. He kicks me. My eyes open.

I look up. Darius, all beat up and bloody, makes a sound, which I take as, Leave her alone.

My lip trembles as the guard forces me out. He takes me to another room. The room is full of gadgets and torture devices. I try to gulp, but I can't. It's been hard for me to swallow ever since they took my tongue out.

My gaze rests on a device, which (if I'm right) is used to electrocute people. The guard pushes me to it, and connects me to it.

At this point, I don't care if I die.

I just want to be free.