I'm sorry it's been so long, you all have been so patient and supportive of this story! I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month, so I'm working on my original novel. I'll try to get back to updating on Sundays in December though, and definitely get this one moving along. If you haven't already, make sure you read my other HG fics, I'm working on like 37 new ones which honestly I should just sit myself down and get them done... But anyway, enjoy Refugee!Everlark :D
"Do you hear that?"
"What is it?"
"It sounds like dogs. It's probably the peacekeepers, we need to run!"
"Run where? The dogs will follow our scent!" Peeta reasoned. I looked around, it was nearing dusk, if we could just get high up, the darkness would shield us in the trees.
"Can you climb a tree?"
"I used to climb the apple tree in our yard, but I'm not that good."
"It doesn't matter, just climb the first tree you think you can. Do you trust me?" I held his arm to look into his eyes. We're coming on our second night in the open, and we've had to trust each other completely, otherwise we couldn't work as a unit. He nodded. "Then run until you can climb, then go as high as you can and try to hide yourself. I'll meet you there." We'd taken advantage of the fog this morning to light a fire and cook the meat I'd gotten our first morning, and in hindsight, that might have been what alerted the peacekeepers that we were alive. I rubbed the bottoms of my shoes the last piece of raw wild dog, then ran off as fast as I could in a different direction. I didn't run straight, I made several turns, as if we didn't know where to go. This would take longer for the dogs to follow than a simple straight line. When I had run for 5 minutes, I started getting tired, and decided I'd gone far enough. I climbed a tree quickly, hearing the peacekeepers on my trail, and swung from branch to branch into the next tree. I paused, assessing my surroundings, making sure I was going in the right direction. I kept inching my way closer and closer to where Peeta and I split. It had been close to 15 minutes when I saw two sets of prints on the dirt. I looked around, seeing no white uniforms, so I dropped down and carefully obliterated Peeta's prints until they went under the trees, where they didn't take shape because of the leaves on the ground. I went tree-to-tree in his direction, moving silently so I could hear his location. I'm not sure where the peacekeepers are now, they might not have even gotten to our juncture.
"Katniss!" He hissed from the branches above me. I wasted no time, landing in the tree closest to his and finding him sitting on a limb high above the ground.
"Hey, you're pretty good at this." I smiled at him. He smiled shyly back.
"Where did you go, did you see anyone?" He asked. I shook my head.
"I made a false trail, it'll take them awhile to track it. Are you okay? We could probably rest here for a while. I don't think they'll find us."
"Yeah, I'm definitely feeling the lack of sleep now. I'm just worried I'll fall out." I nodded, taking my belt off and securing it around my leg.
"Use your belt, I've done it before, when I got stuck out at night when they electrified the fence." His eyebrows went up, but he did as I told him to.
"You're sure about all this?" I knew he didn't mean sleeping here, the trick with our belts or being found.
"I'm sure. Anyways, we can't go back now, we'd get flogged, and your mom would... we can't go back now." I told him, using my blanket behind my head. He reached out and I put my hand in his.
"Thanks, Katniss. Thank you." I smiled, leaning out to place my lips on his hand.
~~~~~~~~
"Katniss?" I dragged my heavy lids open. "Good morning, beautiful." I smiled at the boy in the tree beside me.
"Hi Peeta, how long have you been awake?" I couldn't help but think how angelic he looked with the sun behind him, making his golden hair glow. I must look funny, squinting into the morning light.
"I woke up a while ago, I went through our packs to see how we're doing provision-wise. I still have some bread, but it's going to get moldy soon. And we really need to finish off that dog." I nodded, rubbing my face while I thought.
"We should focus today on finding water. We're almost out, and we could both stand to bathe." We both laughed, knowing how bad we smell. We rolled up our blankets and stuffed them back into our backpacks, refastened our belts around our waists, and climbed down to scope out our surroundings. I want to head north, away from the districts, so I used the sun to determine our path.
"If we find water, we can stay there and rest tonight. I'll shoot something on our way." I told him, making sure my boots were tied well. He nodded, offering me a flask of water before we started out.
"We can eat breakfast once we get away from here, I don't know if the peacekeepers went back into 12, but I haven't heard anything since I woke up. It was probably around 4, that's when I would usually get up to start the bread." I nodded, taking this into consideration for our direction.
"If we head north, we might be able to get far enough away from Panem that they won't be able to find us ever. I wonder if anyone else would be around here." I mused.
"It's hard to tell if a disappearance is someone running away or just quietly being taken care of by the Capitol." We walked for about half an hour before stopping to eat. We were both tired and quiet, getting only a few hours of sleep at night and trekking all throughout the day. But we clung to the hope of finding freedom soon, and being able to rest all we want there.
Review responses:
Guest: Yeah, I think so, that particular response sounded pretty stock to me:P
lizzyvb: I did, I'll probably keep reporting it until it is deleted, I think I'm on 7 tries now? Anyway, thanks, I hope you liked this chapter!
American Socialist: I blocked them, thank you for your encouragement!
Karla630: Maybe... we'll see if I can bring Fin in somehow...
Ex2See: Thanks! Will do :D
Lglz: Aw thanks haha, I hope to update again soon!
Ha ha I'm so alone: I love your username lol. Thanks for your support, I've reported it several times and I'll keep doing so until it goes away. I'm sorry the same happened to you!
nandy7781: Great! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Justanotherdrop: Aw :') thank you so much, that means a lot to me, I am working on a bunch of original pieces, maybe someday I can get published XD
Guest: I'm not sure why they chose my story to crap on either, but what can you do, right? Hope you stick with the story!
Guest: Agreed lol... thanks for reading!
