I don't own The Hunger Games.
I burst into Mitch's room. He is sleeping silently so I pick him up, sling him over my shoulder and run down the stairs. I grab some bottled water from the kitchen and then race into the back garden. My Mother is stood by the shed. By now, the Capitol has found out that I know their little secret and we can hear gun shots in the distance that start in The Seam but will eventually end up on our doorstep. We will all be killed unless we leave now.
"Take these and follow me!" My Mother says, handing me two backpacks. She is also holding one and she pushes a huge wooden barrel out of the way of the wall. When it is moved, it reveals a device that you write your pass code and scan your eyes into. She types in a number and has her eyeballs checked. It beeps, and the ground shudders and parts. I clutch onto Mitch, surprised that this has not woken him up. He is incredibly heavy for an almost eleven year old.
"See the ladder? Climb down it; I'll be right behind you." Katniss says, and runs back into the house before I can tell her not too. The gunshots are getting louder, which means that they are also getting closer.
"Lillia? What's happening?" Mitch has finally awoken.
"Mother will explain later. Can you climb that ladder for me?" I say gently, knowing that he can get angry when he is tired. Mitch carefully makes his way down the ladder and into the darkness. I follow him, and hand him a backpack. I rummage through my own as I wait for my Mother, and find a flashlight. I switch it on, but I still cannot see the end of the tunnel. I turn it off again, not wanting to waste the batteries. I can still see because the ground above me is open. Katniss runs down the ladder and presses a button on the tunnel wall. I loose site of the rest of the shed as the floor clicks shut.
"You have to keep up. The Capitol shouldn't know about this tunnel, but you can never be too sure." She has a walky-talky clipped onto her belt, a bow in one hand and a sheath of arrows slung over he back. She hands be a spear with a piece of string tied to one end. As I run I wrap the string around my hand. This way, when I throw my spear, I can pull the string and it will come back in to me without me having to go and pull it out of somebody's body.
"Ouch!" Mitch yells as he falls. I pick him up and place him back on his feet.
"Take my hand." I say, and we run together. We follow our Mother for what seems like forever until she stops. I almost run into her she stops so suddenly. Katniss pulls a lever on the roof of the tunnel and we wait.
"Where are we?" I ask her. We are no longer under the villages of District 12. "And when did we get that in our shed?"
"District 7. Their forest is so huge that it joins onto ours. Secondly, when you were three years old I grew suspicious of the remaining Capitol citizens. There were a lot of them and I thought that they would have attacked us shortly after the rebellion. So your Father, Haymitch and I built this as an escape route. We meant to leave when they finally made their move, but I couldn't because I was pregnant with Mitch. They, nor my Mother, would leave without me so we all stayed in Victor's Village. If they are truly alive like you say they are, Lillia-Primrose…I will be able to thank them for all they have sacrificed for me for me. And Prim…" Katniss trails off at the end.
"It's okay. She can live the rest of her life in District 12 when we get back. She won't be young anymore, but at least she'll be alive." I am about to put my hand on her shoulder when the ground above us groans. I cover my head, thinking the tunnel is about to cave in on us. I put my hands down when I hear a voice.
"Katniss Everdeen! And Lillia-Primrose, I haven't seen you since you were about two years old! And I've never seen you before, boy. Get knocked up again, did you Katniss? For real this time?" The voice laughs. I slowly look up and find myself looking straight into the eyes of my Godmother.
"Hello, Johanna." Katniss says. "I have some very interesting news."