Katniss' eyes flew open from the front door opening downstairs, she hit awake her husband Peeta. She heard someone move, and then realised there was more then one. Peeta was alert; he became worried when Katniss told him the emergence phrase 'survival hunger'.
Both adult moved silently putting clothes on over their pyjamas and heading through hidden doors on opposite sides of the room, Katniss to their daughters room; Pearl and Peeta to their sons room; Cinna.
Katniss POV
I got through the secret door into Pearls room and instantly woke her up; she saw the fear in my eyes and seemed to know exactly what was going on. She was 9 and exactly like me in personality, although a much better actress. As I collected out emergency backpack from the wall, I saw her pulling thick, dark brown trousers over her legs, A thin dark brown jumpers and her black coat around her zipping it up fully, she pulled her socks on quickly and her trainers were soon to follow, I saw her pull a black backpack from under her bed and put it on her back; she's always scared about being taken away, I guess now it's a good thing.
We rush into her closet and go down the trap door looking it from our side afterwards and run down through the mud tunnel, at one point we have to crawl because it has collapsed but we get to the forest in record time anyway. As we climb out Pearl doesn't hesitate to start running in the direction of our meeting place with Peeta, when we get there, he isn't, he had a simpler route and should have been here. Pearl hits my arm and points upwards, it Cinna, he climbs down and tells us that there were people coming towards us, Peeta is distracting, he said to tell me to split up. Cinna is 5, I can not separate from him even though he is the most likely to be taken pity on and given a new life.
Pearl opens my backpack while I calm down Cinna, I know what she's doing and I don't stop her…
Pearl's POV
Dad said we all have to split up, if we go separately it's hard to track and more people to follow, when I see Mum hug Cinna, I know she can't leave him alone, he's only 5 and cried for hours when he saw how big the forest was a few weeks ago. I go into my Mums backpack and she doesn't stop me, I collect my individual supply of food and put it in my back, I also collect my selected weapons attaching them to my trousers. After I've zipped her bag up, I stoke her arm and venture off, my destination; another district.
I'm about to go through the forest and district un-noticed and get to the train station just as the sun is rising, the train is about to leave and I'm able to get on. I carefully walk through and slither into a baggage holder, I remember my Dad telling me that no one uses these ones as they are used to hold dead bodies, but there are none here, I just hope I can get out of it quickly.
I end up falling asleep, bad idea I should have stayed alert, but minutes later the train stops, I see it's clear and run out onto the new train station. I carry on running until I get to the toilets and hide in one of the cubicles, on the way I noticed I was in district 2.
I go into my bag and get out my people book, my Dad made it for me to know who I can trust. I flip to the chapter for district 2, there's a few people here but one stands out, Gale Hawthorne, I remember my Dad telling me if we have to use the tunnels, it's a life or death situation and he'll protect me. Now all I have to do is work out how to get there.
A lot of people say I look a lot like my Mum, especially when I'm dressed in black. Although I eat more then she did and still does so have chubby checks and my check bones are not as noticeable. I'm still quite skinny though as I do a lot of exercise, I love the forest just as much as she does.
I must remember what my Mum told me, wait a minute, I took notes. I got out the notes and read them carefully. Make sure nobody can identify you as part of the family. That is the most important when they want to kill me and my family. I change into a pink summer dress and use water from the sink to make sure I have no mud on me. I clip my hair back and take out my pink backpack and carefully put in the essentials, its smaller then my black one. Once done I bin all my old clothes and backpack and leave.
I know it's unusual for a 9 year old to be walking alone so I pretend I'm looking for one, I notice a newspaper ad about Hawthorne organisation, I see a picture of Gale, he's very well-known here, hopefully it will be easier to find him. Maybe I could just ask someone, I see an old women sitting by herself on a bench and sit next to her. She looks at me and I smile sweetly receiving a smile back.
"It's a lovely day today" she says to me
"It's beautiful" I say smiling "I'm glad I asked to walk" I falter at the end of the sentence looking down at my feet, a little shocked as I forgot I was wearing white dolly shoes.
"What's the matter, why would you be sad to be walking?" she asks concerned
"I told my parents I could walk there by myself, they were running late, but I can't remember where to go. They'll get worried" I say forcing myself to tear up as I was speaking, but talking about parents made to start to cry anyway.
"Oh dear! It's OK, where do you need to go?" she asks, handing me a tissue
"I can't remember, I only remember who we are meeting" I say using the tissue to clear my eyes,
"Well, maybe I know them" she says nicely
"I think his name is Gale Hawthorne. Do you know him" I ask hopeful looking into her eyes
"Mr Hawthorne?" she asks shocked "Well ofcorse, he's down so much for us since the rebellion, you must be going to his home, he works from home on weekends."
"Yes, I remember my Mum saying something about that, no wonder I couldn't get there. I'm so lost" I look down at my dolly shoes again as she begins to talk
"No your not sweetie" I look up to her as she gives me directions, apparently it's not far.
"Thank you so much" I say happily as I hug her
I walk in the direction she told me and after about 10 minutes find a huge house with guards at the door, I'm too scared to go up to them, they're holding guns and looks really mean. I walk down abit and sneak through the fence, I just fit. I see a window open on the first floor which is right next to a tree; perfect.
I've climbed many trees before but my Mum was always there to help or catch me, I nervously made my way up the tree and through the window, I ended up in a bathroom. I carefully opened the door to see a large staircase, I noticed a girl younger then me by a few years but older then Cinna watching two men having an argument, one of them was Gale, I snuck out and head behind a pillar. I was shocked about what I heard;
"How dare you try to kill them!"
"I'm sorry Hawthorne, I had no choice! Either I agreed or my wife and baby are dead!"
"You could have warned me! She could be dead! She has two children!"
"I know, I'll give you updates I promise, my family is safe now"
"It might be too late now! I should have been able to warn them. Where are they?" Gale's voice was faltering, he's sad
"We don't know, they escaped. They nearly had Peeta but he disappeared. They had underground tunnels from their children rooms leading to the forest. We have no idea, they are still in district 12, all trains have been stopped"
"So they are trapped, unless they get to district 13"
"Yes, once there, they are safe and we can't do anything, can they make it?"
"I know Katniss can, but she has children now. Is there any other way they'll be safe?" he asks, I can tell he's thinking
"As long as they are in district 12, we can kill them. Anywhere else, they're safe."
"You should have warned me, you just put children the same age as some of my children to death!"
"I'm sorry, I'll send updates." With that the man who helped people try and kill my family walked out.
"Dad?" I heard the girl say
I carefully looked around the pillar to see Gale holding the girl close, maybe it's his son. There's no one else here, I guess I might aswell ask him to protect me now.
As I step out from behind the pillar his eyes instantly see me as he moves his daughter behind him.
"Who are you?" He asks scarily, but not loud enough to alert anyone of my presents
"I… I was told… I could" I stumble, I don't know what to say, I might aswell just hope he really does like my Mum and Dad and isn't a person to randomly start an argument for fun. "I'm P… P… My Mum is … I … well…" I can't say it, he's eyes are scary.
"Well? Who are you?" he asks slowly, a tad friendlier by my nervousness
"Pearl" I reply simply, he still stares at me, he doesn't know what my Mum named me "I'm Katniss' daughter" I whisper out, he hears it because the next thing I know I'm in he's protective arms. I cling onto him for dear life.
"Don't worry, you're safe now" he pulls back and looks at me properly "Do you know where your family is?"
I shake my head "We split up, harder to track. Mum went with Cinna, he's 5 and terrified of the woods. Dad disappeared right at the beginning, he said to split up. I snuck on the train at sunrise and hid."
"Just before they stopped all trains" he said thoughtfully
Katniss' POV
After my daughter leaves I stand up, I know she can take care of herself, I just hope she doesn't panic. I pick up Cinna with one hand as he grips onto me tightly with his legs and arms. Using one hand I climb the trees and move between, making my way to district 13, the only one we will be able to get to on foot hidden. District 11 will be impossible.
I received a letter from Gale years ago informing us that every week they have to vote to see if all victors should be terminated to rid any memory of the Hunger Games. He told us to be ready, it didn't happen, I never received another letter, I'm glad I still trusted him otherwise we would have had no escape.
Cinna and I had been travelling for around 4 days without being court, we had been moving for an hour for the day when we heard voices, a lot of loud voices, I picked Cinna up and climbed a tree edging closer while Cinna held on silently, I was surprised to what I saw. 3 victors were in the barriers of district 13 unharmed; Annie, Haymitch and Johanna along with a lot of soldier yelling at the soldiers on district 12 to go away. There was about 15 metres of short grass to get through to be able to reach district 13, plenty of time to kill both Cinna and I.
I catch eyes with one of the soldiers who are here to kill us, I reading myself to run, expecting him to expose us, but he doesn't he winks at me! That's when I realise I use to go to school with him. He looks away from my location and shots towards something that is nowhere near us. Everyone looks towards where he shot.
"Katniss has dark brown hair, right? Well nice to know she still has it in a braid he laughs walking into the forest. A lot of the other soldiers laugh and run in after him, I realise that all except one move deep into the forest… I get my stun gun, it would stun the person for 10 minutes, plenty of time but can be noisy at times. I had to take the chance, I hear more gun shots. Now's my chance.
I shot the last soldier and leg it across the short field seeing the surprise in a lot of district 13s faces. I jumped over the fence not bothering to use the gate and ran abit further stopping at Haymitch
"Took your time sweetheart" he joked
"Is Peeta or Pearl here?" I ask instantly seeing his face fall slightly
"No one has heard or seen Peeta, we thought you might have regrouped before you got here. Would he of went somewhere else?"
"I don't know. What about Pearl, is she OK, is she here, is she safe, where is she?"
"She's safe. She turned up at Gale's house around 2pm on the day the order went out."
He informed me, I gawked at him, putting Cinna down, not knowing if I could still stand as I asked
"Gales?"
He simply nodded letting me take it in
"How did she even get there?"
"We talk to Gale constantly, he is still looking after her, want me to arrange a video chat?" he asked, it surprised me that he sounded sober
I nodded "How did she even know where he was"
"It seems Peeta told her in a life or death situation, get to Gales. She got onto the last running train before they shut them down and Gale says she was in his house and told him who she was. Apparently she climbed up a tree into the bathroom through the window."
"Peeta told her?"
"Come on, let's go inside. Finnick Jr is desperate for someone who isn't an adult" he joked again, this time I gave him a small smile as he led us.
Peeta POV
When I got back to the meeting point, Cinna was gone, I could only hope Katniss found him, but I couldn't be sure. I headed in the direction of the lake, surely district 13 will send someone to check there, it's the place Gale took them for safety, it was also a safe point we devised with a children. If they split up, Katniss would stay with Cinna and I'm positive Pearl would go here, she's not very resourceful, she always needs my help. I love it, I love her depending on me but now I must help her! I get there and I find soldiers, lots of them, before I can even turn away, I have 10 guns pointed directly at me.
"Where's my daughter?" I ask
"His daughter's close by, get her!" I see half a dozen soldiers move into the forest
"No!" I go to strike but suddenly fall down to the ground, I can't feel my body, suddenly my world goes black.
Gale's POV
I had just convinced the government not to kill the children. The agreed to bring all the children on victors to my house when captured and then arrangements will be made for a new permanent family. I decided it's a start and video called district 13, it got answered by Finnick Jr.
"Hello, are there any adults there?" I ask, knowing his answer, he always says the same thing
"I'm the only child here! Do you think I'll be left alone!" he sounds annoyed, so I amuse him
"But your 17, practical an adult know anyway!"
"Thank you! At least somebody understands" he expresses suddenly he squeals in delight "Finally!" he disappears from view, must be lunch.
He's replaced by Haymitch who looks slightly less worried
"Gale, just about to call you, but before I talk, why did you call?"
"Only the victors are in danger now. All of there children are not targets and if spotted will be brought to my house. I'm still working on the rest of it but it's a start" say without hesitation
"That's great, I'll get word out to everyone hiding."
"OK, why were you going to call me?" I ask and see his face lighten a bit, must be good news, suddenly he disappears from view and Katniss sits down looking like hell "Katniss!" I virtually scream seeing her
"Hi Gale" she says simply, I look at her and she seems really tired. "I heard Pearl is there"
"Yes, don't worry she's safe. She'll be thrilled to know you're safe. Is Peeta and Cinna there with you?" I inform and ask, unfortunately I know I can't keep the disgust out of my voice saying Peeta's name but my voice softens so much when saying Cinna's name that I'm shocked
"Cinna is with me, Annie is taking him for a bath and somewhere to rest. I haven't seen Peeta since they came" she informs me
"I think you should rest aswell, I don't want to be rude, but I don't think it's the best thing to let Pearl see you like that" I try to sound nice
I see her take a deep breath as she thinks before finally nodding "I'll clean up and sleep for a few hours."
I smile at her and she smiles slightly before being replaced by Haymitch, I watch as Johanna offers to help her and they walk off.
Pearls POV
I've been at Gales for 5 days now and still haven't heard anything about my Mum and Dad and Cinna. What if they're being tortured right now? Before I went sleep Gale told me that only the victors are targeted and their children won't be. So it means that Cinna and I won't be killed. But what if he's already laying face down dead.
I fall asleep even more worried as tomorrow will be day 6.
It felt as if I just closed my eyes when Gale woke me up and 5am, he took me into his office, I spoke to Haymitch and Annie a couple of times and Finnick a lot. I don't know why I'm going there, maybe they changed there mind and are coming to kill me. It's only when I get to the computer screen and see my Mum that I smile
"Mum?" I ask
"Hello, how are you?" she asks and I grin to her voice
"I'm fine, I am, Gale has taken great care of me and he has children too. He has 5, they are all names after trees; Oak is 13, Cedar is 10, Hazel is 7, Poplar and Elm are 4. Poplar and Elm are twins but they are nothing alike. I mostly spend my time with Cedar and Hazel but they are all fun and as it is the summer they are not at school. We stay in the house or backyard just in case. But now that I'm not targeted we can go out, not that we need to. Gale has a huge swimming pool in his home, it's great. I can't wait for you to see it. The place is so big, I still sometimes get lost but not much now. I was so worried about and Dad and Cinna, are you all OK, you didn't get hurt did you? I was scared that you would have looked for me, but you know I can take care of myself, I followed the exact route you told me and nobody saw me. I hid in the dead people space on the train. What are we going to do? Will more people die?" I say to her, I'm so excited I don't really think about what I'm saying until I release it's not a game, we are in trouble, my Mum hasn't mentioned Cinna or Dad
"I don't know, Cinna is safe and on his way to you"
"What about Dad?" I interrupted her
"I don't know where he is, nobody does" she looked down
"He'll turn up, I'm sure he did. You came, you were fine!" I try convincing her, I try to be the strong one but know my eyes are tearing up. Gale picks me up and puts me on his lap for comfort "Mum?"
She looks up at me and sees my face, her face slowly hides most emotions, she then speaks sternly, making sure I listen "You are going to stay with Gale. If your Father and I don't make it, you will live with him. We have already agreed that he'll take care of you and if he needs to full custody of you."
"Mum, why are you telling me this?" I whisper letting the tears fall down my face freely now
"Promise me you'll be good for him" she says suddenly I hear banging from her end, she doesn't seem surprised "Remember I love you"
"Mum, I love you too, don't leave me" I scream at her
"Be good for Gale!" she says again as the wall behind her explodes seconds before the screen turns black
"No! MUM! NO! COME BACK! MUM!" I feel like I can't breath, I shouting for her to come back knowing she won't, she's gone. I turn around and cry into Gale's chest. How did she know she was going to die? Why didn't she run? Gale is creating circles on my back and I feel myself falling asleep on him.
Cinna's POV
My Mum ran into where I was sleeping and woke me. She told me we're not safe, I need to get away from her, it doesn't matter where we are. She picked me up and pushed me onto a hovercraft and closed the door. Finnick was holding me away from the door as I desperately tried to open it for her, he was sobbing aswell as the hovercraft launched off. I kept screaming and kicking and yelling, anything I could think off until I found myself falling asleep.
I woke up in a big bed with cream sheets, I get out of the bed and open the door.
"Mummy? Daddy? Pearly?" I shout and it's quiet for a second when I see a boy a lot older then me.
"Hello, I'm Cedar. You're Cinna, right?" I nod "Come on, want me to take you to your sister?" I nod again and he takes my hand leading me down stairs into a large room with a really big and long couch.
I see her, she's sitting there, reading a book "Pearly!" I yell running towards her as she turns and pulls me into a hug.
"Where's Mummy and Daddy?" I ask her to see her tearing up, I repeat the question more desperately "Where's Mummy and Daddy?"
"Cinna, they're not here. They're never coming back" she tells me
"LIAR, YOU'RE LYING!" I scream at her watching tears to start to flow down her checks "Please, tell me you're lying" I beg, when she doesn't answer I run away from her, past a man and hide under the first table I come across.
Finick's POV
She's dead, they found her body today. She is getting buried in the same place as the other victors. Peeta was one of the first buried, he didn't even make it out of the forest. All the victors that got to district 13 were killed and getting buried tomorrow, we're not allowed to go, they are broadcasting it. There was only 3 other children of victors that survived, Gale has taken all of them in. Cinna is still the youngest and I the oldest of the victor children…
I wonder if this was worse then doing the hunger games… broadcasting the burial of survivors…
Authors' Note:
Thank you so much for reading
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