Author's Note: Hope you like the new chapter. Read and review, please. Again, I do not own the characters created by Suzanne Collins.

On their way home from dinner at a friend's house one night, the Oakley family was attacked by a mountain lion. The two boys ran, leaving their parents behind. When they returned, they found the beast gone and their parents' remains. Because Blight was eighteen, he recieved guardianship of Ridge.

The Oakley's were never rich, but the parents, Hunter and Robin, owned a handmade furniture buisness. The money from the shop made them have enough to get by easily. But after they were buried, Blight closed the shop. Blight tried to earn money by working in the lumber yard and hunted illeagally outside the grounds as well. The brothers still struggled, though.

While on the brink of starvation, the fifteen-year-old Ridge stole two loaves of bread and got caught. Unlike District 12 at the time, the Peacekeeper rule had always been strictly enforced. Ridge was publicly beaten, branded, and wipped in the town's square, leaving his face and body bruised, scraped, and a singed 7 on his right cheek. Three days later, Blight was reaped for the 69th. One day before his nineteenth birthday. But looking back on that day, both brothers eventually agreed that Blight being reaped was one of the best things that ever happened to them. But that was the only thing they liked about the Games.

The Games changed the boys for better and worse. After moving into the Victor's Village, both recieved the necessary health and food they'd needed. Blight had gotten a doctor to treat Ridge's wounds. The brothers finally reached a healthy weight. But Blight suffered every night. He was awoken by nightmares starring his victims from the Games. Periodically, the mad dreams featured the death of his parents as well. It didn't help that he had to mentor in the Games every year later. That was, until he met Johanna.

They'd gotten to know each other pretty well during her training. They opened up to each other; he told her about his family. The night before she left for the arena, they specifically talked about Ridge and her older brothers. He talked about Ridge's rub with death and his stubborn personality. "You'd like him," he said. "He's a lot like you."

Johanna remebered all the things Blight had told her that week and all the fun the three had together for the four years after she'd won the games. Blight had been right. She and Ridge were a lot alike. After Snow killed her family, the Oakley brothers became her only family left. And in a way, Snow killed another one her family members. Now Ridge was all she had left. "You're a sight for sore eyes," he said.

Johanna smiled and her cheeks grew red. "As are you Ridge." She sat down in the uncomfortable chair on his right.

"Is it possible that I see the rough, tough, and stubborn Miss Johanna Mason blushing?" He feigns shock and begins to laugh quietly. "So you're one of the rebels, huh?"

"Yeah," Johanna mumbled.

"Then why aren't you out fighting with the girl on fire?"

Johanna's grin broke to a serious demeanor. "Snow water tortured me." She stared at the floor. "I failed the final training test because of it."

The grim silence was broken by Johanna's soft cries. Ridge reached out his hand and patted her on the back. "Hey," he whispered. "Johanna. Don't let them get to you again. You can't let them break you like last time. Alright?"

Johanna shook her head, knowing what he meant. She looked up when he moved the hand away. She noticed a huge covered gash on his arm and then another one on the back of his neck. "Ridge, what are those from?"

He glanced down at his arm and tried to change the subject. "What's up with all the gray in Distri-"

"Ridge," she said, her temper rising. "Tell me where those came from."

Ridge looked at her and breathed deeply. "They're from the bombings in 7. A riot started after Blight died. Luckily, I had already had my stuff packed. 1/24. Odds didn't really seem to be in Blight's favor. I was going to have to leave the village anyway. I immeadiately left after he ran into the forcefield. They started dropping bombs on my way out. One fell a few yards away from me. I haven't ran into any 7 survivors."

"Looks like we're the only ones left then." Johanna turned her attention back to the bandages. "You didn't get those dressed 'til now?"

"No. 5 hadn't rebelled by the time I got there. I found a small group of rebels that sewed them up. They're just clean bandages." Ridge tried to take the bad memories off their minds. "So about this gray uniform. What does a guy have to do to get some blue jeans and flannel around here?"