Chapter 1

A few days after I went to see Peeta, I kept myself in my room. The only time I left was to go to the next room to visit my mom, who was in a comma. Everyone wanted to see me, to make sure I was okay. I only excepted a few people. Gale, Prim, Katniss, and Haymitch. I insisted that Flex stay with me in my room, because I didn't want him sleeping by himself in our mother's old room. I never liked him being alone.

Right now, I was sitting up right on the bed. Flex was laying down next to me, playing with Midnight on his chest. A nurse was checking my neck feeling her way around the bruises. I wanted to punch her in the face as my neck was still tender. My voice was still messed up, and I was beginning to get scared as I thought I may never speak again. Everyday I was trying to speak more and more, and every time, I would give up.

"Okay.. Journey, I'm going to need you to try your voice again."

I tried to groan, but as usual, nothing came out. But, I complied anyway. I tried clearing my throat and inhaled deeply.

"I want you to say, My name is Journey Lavender."

I nod my head.

"M-My… na-ame i-is Jour-...ney Laven-"

"Be careful. There still is major swelling in your vocal cords dear." I nod my head and clear my throat again.

"My… name i-is Journey…. L-Lavender.."

"Great, you did great today." I nod a 'thank you' to her as I heard the doors open to reveal Plutarch.

He walks up to me with a look of hesitation.

"Since you're feeling better, we were thinking that maybe you'd like to see Peeta today."

I looked down to the ground. Deciding on what to do. See him? See Peeta? I don't think I could handle seeing him like that again. Thrashing around, screaming nonsense like some kind of wild animal.

"If you need more time we understand-"

"I… I w-want t-to see him." I said finally, looking up at Plutarch. Not showing fear that was more evident on the inside than the outside.

"Okay. Come with me." I turn my back looking at Flex, who was oblivious to our conversation. It didn't feel right leaving him here…

"It's okay. The nurse will look after him." He told me. I turned to the nurse who gave me a small caring smile, and I felt a little better.

He gave me his arm to hold as he led me out of the hospital wing. I was glad to be back out of that place and I was escorted to the same room I snuck into that first night. I was met with that glass window and inside was Peeta. To my relief he didn't look thin anymore, and his bruises seem to be fading.

"You can see him, but he can't see you." Plutarch said to me. I didn't respond, all I did was look at Peeta.

"Okay.. send her in." I heard a buzzing sound and the door to Peeta's room opened to reveal Katniss. She walked in slowly, but with confidence. A smile played on her face as she sat down on his bed. He watched her every move. His eyes showed adoration.

"Hey." She whispered.

"Hi." He said. He didn't smirk or smile as he did so though.

"Katniss how… how did we get here?"

"It's okay. You're in District 13 now. Gale and the others saved you from the Capitol."

"How.. W-why has my family not come to see me?" He whispered, his voice sounded broken. That hit me like a ton of bricks. He still didn't know what happened to them. And I felt like now was not a good time to say anything.

"There was an attack on 12..." Katniss said. I could tell by the way she looked down that it was hard for her too. Telling him about his family.

"They didn't survive Peeta. I'm so sorry.."

He turned his head to the side. Not wanting to hear anymore. His eyes in a flash went from sadness, to anger. That was what frightened me.

"It's because of Journey."

"No.. No Peeta! It wasn't because of her-"

"She told you to say that didn't she. She has you on her side. You can't trust her Katniss she's a liar and she's manipulative."

"Peeta listen to me, everything you're saying isn't real.."

"She sent you here to talk to me.."

"Peeta-"

"NO! NO YOU CAN'T TRUST ANYTHING SHE SAYS! SHE'S A LYING, MANIPULATIVE BITCH KATNISS! SHE'S A MUTT THAT THE CAPITOL CREATED TO DESTROY US! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME KATNISS WE NEED TO KILL HER!-"

"Get her out of there!" Haymitch ordered the guards.

Katniss left quickly as doctors came in to hold him down and sedate him. I turned my head not wanting to see anymore. My eyes started to sting, but I choked back my tears and tried to keep my head up. I tried blocking out Peeta's screams.

"Journey.. Journey listen to me, this is just the serum talking. This isn't him."

This isn't him. Finally something Plutarch said made sense.

"You're right… T-this i-isn't him." Was the last thing I said before I made my way to the door. But before I could grab the handle, Plutarch yelled after me.

"WAIT! Journey, there's one more thing we need you to do."

"What?"

"We will explain everything when we get to the meeting room. It's something very… very important." Half of me in that moment told me to hell with them and go back to my room. The other half of me, the curious side, wanted to know what was so important. And as usual, the curious side of me won.

"O-Okay." I said.

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Haymitch and Plutarch then led me downstairs to the meeting room. Coin was sitting at the head table, Boggs and Gale sat on the right. I walked over and sat on the left in front of Gale and Haymitch sat next to me.

Plutarch then stood next to Coin.

"Thank you all for coming. Now you all must wonder why we've called you in. I'm sure Plutarch will start things off in explaining." Coin said.

"Thank you Madam Coin. Now, When Gale, Boggs and the other soldiers went into the Capitol at the Tribute Center, they didn't just find the kidnapped Victors. They also found a file."

Everyone was silent and all eyes were on Plutarch.

"This file contained papers, documents...and a disc. But before we get to the disc, I would like to tell you what we found in the documents. We read through them and we came to something very… remarkable. Chicago."

Okay what? I looked around the room and saw everyone looked as confused as I am.

"What does Chicago have to do with anything?" Gale asked.

"Well, remember how after all of these years, we were told that Panem was the only place to survive the war and disease?"

Everyone nods their head, not wanting to speak.

"Well it turns out that was a bunch of bull crap told by the Capitol. There's a city on the outskirts of Panem called Chicago. It's real and it's very lively. Humans do still live there."

"And we've never heard of this before now because.." Boggs said.

"Because President Snow saw to that. He didn't want anyone to know about Chicago because he thought it would turn everyone against him and he would lose all power he had. And after watching this disc, we came to a conclusion that Chicago doesn't know we're alive either."

All of this information was just too much. I mean, all of these years, we thought that we were the only ones left to survive. We thought that we were the only ones on this planet.

"It's a very different place then Panem."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning their system of living. I think it's time to play the disc."

Plutarch went over to the projector and inserted the disc in. The screen lit up and on it revealed a woman. She was dressed in a blue suit and had brown hair down to her shoulders.

"Hello. Whoever is watching this, means you must not know of our survival. Chicago is a place of factions. Dividing humans into one of five factions. Amity, the peaceful. Candor, the honest. Abnegation, the selfless. Erudite, the intelligent. And Dauntless, the brave. We, the founders created this system to insure peace, something that was destroyed and almost forgotten once a long time ago. The Choosing Ceremony is the day 16 year olds from each faction come together and choose which faction suits them depending on their aptitude test results. We believe that the Factions will keep the peace-"

"And that's where it cuts off... I believe that we could use Chicago to our advantage-"

"Wait, wait, wait… are you thinking of us… going out there? Haymitch asked, worry plastered on his face.

"That's exactly what we're thinking. We can't broadcast this because The Capitol has overridden our only system that connects to the Districts. We need to go to Chicago and find these two people." Coin said handing us the files. Inside were two pictures. A girl with a narrow face and thick blond hair. Her eyes were big and round and has a blue-grey color to them. Her lips thin. I noticed a tattoo of birds on her collarbone. The next photo was of a man. He looked intimidating, his hard set brown eyes. His blondish brown hair, sharp jaw and from what I could tell, he had a tattoo too. I could see some of it sticking out onto his neck out of the shirt.

"W-who are t-these people?" I tried saying.

"These are people known as Divergents. They override their Faction system. They can't be placed into just one faction, they can be placed in many. In Chicago, Divergence pose a threat to them, they are seen as almost dangerous. But these two, are very important. I believe with the help of these two, we can convince them to gather an army to come to Panem and help us fight. It's risky, but it'll be worth it."

Everyone sat in silence, not knowing what to do or what to say. They want us to go out there alone, sneak into Chicago, which has a big ass wall with guards, find two people who are on Chicago's hitlist, convince them to build an army and bring them back here to Panem? This is the craziest, most reckless plan ever!

"Okay, who's brave enough to volunteer for this?"

Gale raised his hand first, then it was Boggs, and then… it was me.