He suddenly wished he wasn't out in the wilderness with an a strange, armed woman.
"And HERE we go," Adam exclaimed. She continued.
"I'm from a ruined world and I need the help of someone here to help me fix the place I came from."
Adam started to walk towards the road again. Katniss kept after him.
"I know you don't believe me. I didn't believe it either when I heard just a days ago. But here I am. I came from a place called Panem. It was ruled by a… horrible man called President Snow."
"Snow. Sounds like a classic comic book character," Adam said. "Wasn't he the main character in 'Planetary'?"
"There is no freedom, no food, no idea how to live thanks to Snow," Katniss said, skipping over the part about her killing him. "People have nothing, and many, many have died. There are no roads, no schools, no… (she gestured towards his blue Prius) whatever that is. I was the part of a rebellion that toppled Snow and his awful followers. They sent me back here because it's the place where Snow's earliest relative - Charlotte Snow - came from. And because maybe we can find a way to live again. With your help, we can."
He reached his car, and put his hand on the door handle.
"Why don't you give me your card, and I'll call you if I can think of someone you can help you," he said.
"I don't have a card - or even know what that is," she said. She had tried to be brave and talk to this man, but it wasn't working. Was he heartless? Why wasn't he helping her?
"I need you to help me." she said.
"You need help," he said. "You've been living out here, I can tell. That's rough. I can call the police and they will take you into town and find you a warm place to stay."
"NO POLICE," she shouted. "They can't be trusted." Police must be their version of those bastard Peacekeepers, she thought. Her head started to fill with images of the beatings and the shootings, but she shook them away.
"You're not from the future," Adam said. "You've had some sort of breakdown, or you're taking this LARPing thing was too seriously. But I don't think you're acting so I'm guessing the former. I'm going to leave now, but I will call someone for you. I promise."
"Look at this," Katniss said. She extended the bow, which also spoke her name in a soft, young man's voice. She held it out to him.
"Not bad, but I need more than that. Probably they make they things in Japan right now," Adam said. He opened the door, and started to get in. She had one last shot.
The hologram projector looked like a long, thin trapezoid. She pressed a button and two metal rods flipped outwards. Immediately a thin screen of white light about a foot tall raised out of the base.
"Prim," she said. Pictures of her sister flashed on the screen, along with her birth and death date.
"This is my sister. She is dead now." Katniss let those words hang in the air a minute.
"Peeta," she said.
Peeta's broad, strong face appearing in the light. He was smiling, just a portrait for a few seconds. Then it started to play Hunger Games footage. Peeta in the forest. During their tours. On fire with her in the chariot.
"This is my husband," she said. "He is waiting for me, along with millions of other people. Will you help me or not?"
Right then, the last bit of snark and cynicism left Adam completely. He was smart enough to know something impossible when he saw it. It was no trick. He spent a lot of time reading tech blogs and he knew that this did not - could not exist. She was from somewhere that wasn't here. It was science fiction that wasn't fiction. She was here. She was talking to him. She wasn't saying "Take me to your leader" but she might as well have.
He felt like he was no longer in control of his own body. He heard himself saying, "Let's go," and he helped her inside the car. When she didn't do it on her own, he buckled her in. He turned on the engine and watched her jump a little. Then, knowing not a thing anymore, he punched in his own home address into the GPS and let his phone tell him how to get home.