A/N: Extra long chapter for you guys! I suppose it's a sort of 'I'm sorry' for taking so long to update again. Which, once more, I am horribly sorry for. I think I'm back on track now anyway so yay! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.
Chapter Twenty
Clove pressed her back up against the wall, luger clenched into her white knuckled hand as she peered over the edge of the red brick to examine the situation. It was raining in District 2, fat drops splashing against her skin and soaking her clothes. The fabric clung to her body like a second skin and she tried not to shiver against the cold.
Behind the wall, there were two law abiders standing guard. They had their backs to her so she could easily send a bullet through their backs if she got at close enough range.
She turned and squinted into the darkness. "Cato?" she whispered. "Two abiders, I think we can take 'em."
Cato slid up the wall to stand beside her, moving around her to peer behind the wall at the two women too. "Oh yeah," he whispered. "We can take them."
Clove nodded. She prepped the luger and handed it to her ex-slave. She perferred using her knives over guns. Ever since she was a child she had never been able to perfect using a gun, be it a luger or an M16. Her nose always took the brunt of her fist from the throw backs. And now that she was in a life or death situation, she knew the risk wasn't worth taking.
Cato glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You okay?"
Clove nodded again. "Fine," she said. "I just can't believe this is happening."
Her slave smiled. "I know," he replied. "Neither can I."
"I go to sleep every night thanking Katniss Everdeen for giving us this oppurtunity," Clove said quietly. It was true. If it hadn't of been for the District 12 girl's admission on live television, neither of them would have had the courage to sneak out of her mother's house late last week and make their way to the District's byline fence. They wanted to join the rebellion. Which meant they had to find Katniss and the rest of her party. Which also could very much be what kills them.
But it was worth the risk.
"Whatever happens," Cato said, not looking at her but at the two law abiders instead. "I'll always love you."
"Ditto," Clove whispered.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
They moved away from the wall and took their shots.
~xXx~
Glimmer stood at the giant window on the 10th floor of her building. The District looked so calm. Out of all twelve, District 1 was the most serene, not having many women willing to uprise. She sometimes wondered if she was the only one. The only person in her entire home District who had trusted her soul to another. To someone she had been raised to believe was bad.
But he wasn't bad. That was the point.
He had been a fifth birthday present. Her mother had thought it fitting to give her a slave at an early age so that she would learn how to treat males at an early age.
"What's your name?" Toddler Glimmer twisted her plait around her hand and bit her finger nails. Her mommy had told her she was too old to be sucking her thumb anymore. She was a big girl now.
The kid was funny looking. Their hair wasn't long and their body wasn't petit like all the other girls she'd seen looked like. "I don't know," he answered. Their voice was deep and slightly rough. Strange. They looked up at her with wide brown eyes. Glimmer liked brown eyes. Ruby in her class had brown eyes. Brown eyes were very pretty.
"You're a weird looking girl," she had said.
They tilted their head at her. "I'm not a girl," they'd said.
"What are you then?" Glimmer asked.
"A boy."
Glimmer's eyes widened. "My mommy said boys are bad." The boy didn't answer. He simply shrugged. "But you don't look bad. Did your mommy tell you you were bad?"
"I don't know my mom."
She shook her head defiantly. "Everyone knows their mommys. Mommys bring you into the world. They make the order with the stork."
"The who?"
"The stork. The bird that comes to drop you off at your doorstep for your mommy."
The boy looked sad. "My mommy didn't want me."
Glimmer gasped, horrified. "Why not?" she exclaimed. "Your mommy is supposed to love you, not not want you. That's not very nice of her. She made the order for you, why shouldn't she want you?" As a simple minded child, Glimmer hadn't fully grasped the biology of having children. Her mother hadn't gotten to that area with her yet, since she was still only five.
She took in the miserable look on the boy's face and her eyebrows bowed together sadly. "Well, your mommy is stupid. I like you."
He smiled. "I like you too."
"We need to find a name for you though." She looked around the room and saw her mom's newspaper lying out on the table. On the back there was an advertisement for vintage comics that had been sold years and years ago. Glimmer supposed they were sold back in the black and white times. She squinted at the names. DC comics and . . . Marvel comics. "Marvel," she said. "How about Marvel?"
The boy perked up at the name. "I like that name," he said, nodding enthusiastically.
"Great! Then from this moment on you shall be called Marvel! Nice to meet you Marvel, I'm Glimmer!" She thrust her hand out to him.
"Nice to meet you, Glimmer."
They shook hands.
Glimmer found that she was crying. She reached up and tentavively touched her cheek with her fingertips. Yes, those were tears. She let out a shuddering sigh and brushed her hair out of her eyes. That felt like a million years ago. Back when there was only a five year old Glimmer and a five year old Marvel, shaking hands on the kitchen floor while her mom was out the back. It had all seemed so much easier back then.
And they had no idea what they were going to go through between then and now.
Marvel's whipping for talking to her in the back yard when he was supposed to be weeding the garden.
Glimmer hiding her mother's leather belt that she used to hit him with.
Her mom finding the belt.
Her mom believeing it was Marvel who hid it.
Her mom punishing him.
Again.
And again.
And again and again.
Glimmer screamed and threw a nearby vase to the floor, turning back to the window and listening to the satisfying smash as it hit the ground and shattered. There was movement behind her in the reflection and she glared at the reflective Glimmer staring back at her. "Marvel, I swear to God if you tidy that up, I'm going to kill you," she said through gritted teeth.
"Sorry," he muttered, stopping in his tracks. "Force of habit."
Glimmer sighed, feeling awful. She turned around and hugged him. "I know," she whispered into his chest. "I know, I'm sorry."
Marvel stroked her hair and kissed her head. "It's okay," he said. "I know you're stressed right now."
Glimmer Sparkle's Building of Escorts.
This was her business.
Well, her supposed business.
Every once and a while, Glimmer would go into the Capitol and enter the Slave Compound to buy a slave. She'd tell the people at the reception desk that it was for the Glimmer Sparkles Building of Escorts in District 1. But that wasn't it at all. Well, it was. But it wasn't at the same time.
She'd buy slaves and take them to 1 to live in the building freely, letting them be their own people and do as they liked. She felt it was her duty to do so. The Capitol women believed that the big building in District 1 was her escort building, while everyone in District 1 thought it was just an old abandoned building. It was a dangerous thing to do but Glimmer felt it was worth the risk.
After Katniss Everdeen unleashed hell on earth last week on live television, Glimmer had been living in the fear that her secret would get exposed and that all the slaves who's lives she had saved would be taken back to the Capitol where she knew for certain they'd all be punished and forced back into labour. She didn't want this to happen. Because that meant they'd also take Marvel away from her.
They weren't taking Marvel away from her.
Glimmer had been pretty pleased with the amount of lives she had saved, having only one soul on her concious. The most recent slave she'd tried to buy . . . they wouldn't let him go. She'd fought tooth and nail for him, she really had. She always tried to find the most miserable and buy them so that she could bring a smile to their face and make them happy for the first time in their lives.
"But you must rethink your decision," she'd insisted. "My business still needs a blond."
The blonde woman laughed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, this one isn't for sale." Glimmer peered past the woman at the poor soul who sat with his back against the wall. He looked so sad, like he'd lost all hope for anyone coming to help him. The P&P floor always gave Glmmer the shivers and she tried to keep the smile plastered to her face as she fought the images of what they probably did to this poor boy when there weren't visitors spinning in her mind.
"I need a blond," she'd almost begged. "There's women in 1 who are demanding at least one blond. I'll pay whatever it takes!"
The slave driver shook her head again, green eyes gleaming with mirth. "You know we appreciate your business with us Ms. Sparkles but I must insist that you leave this one alone." A woman with red hair stood by the door, looking slightly confused as the blonde woman spoke. Glimmer met eyes with her for a moment and a chill jittered down her spine at the chilling look she held in them.
She averted her gaze back to the blonde.
"Can I at least ask why?" she asked.
"Posioned stock," the woman answered. "This kid is crazy. Wouldn't do the women in your District any good. I'm sorry."
Glimmer regretted accepting that as an answer even to this day. Because he was the boy that this Katniss girl wanted back. The boy that had been captured and taken back to the Capitol. Sure, if she had of taken him, the rebellion might not have even happened, but then at least she wouldn't feel as guilty about leaving him behind.
"You're thinking about that boy again aren't you?" Marvel asked.
"I just feel so bad about it," Glimmer muttered.
"It wasn't your fault," he assured her, rubbing her back comfortingly. "And if you had of taken him here then that Katniss girl wouldn't have fallen in love. And that one event now has such a throw back effect that it was lucky that you weren't allowed to take him that day."
"But now they've taken him again! I could have stopped that!"
"Glim," Marvel grabbed her shoulders and gave her a small shake, "there's nothing you could have done. What you're doing here is amazing, I swear it is. Listen, we can go to 12 and join Katniss and the other rebels. We can bring everyone with us."
Glimmer blinked at him. "How?" she asked.
"Out the back way . . . I know where there's a weak spot in our fence . . . we can sneak out through there late tonight and start the trek up to 12."
"It'd be dangerous," Glimmer pointed out.
Marvel smiled sadly. "It'd be worth the risk."
Glimmer sighed. "For people who have been beaten down since the day you were born, how come you males are all so full of hope?" she asked.
"I can't take all the credit . . ." Marvel said, trailing off. "I was friends with Katniss' slave back in the compound . . . for a kid he spoke of rebellion so freely I wondered how he hadn't gotten himself shot yet . . ."
"If you knew him then why didn't they let me take him?" Glimmer asked. "Surely you know!"
Marvel shrugged. "I think there really was something wrong with him. Mentally or something. Jackson used to experiment on slaves and she used to dose the poor kid up so much sometimes he couldn't move, let alone work."
Glimmer pulled a face. "Who's Jackson?"
Marvel's face looked grave. "Someone you never want to meet."
Judging by his tone, Glimmer knew he was right.
She turned around and moved back to the window, staring out at the city of District 1 with disgust. Marvel was right. They had to get out. They had to get to 12.
They had to join the army behind Katniss.
~xXx~
"Quick Gloss," Cashmere hissed in a panic. Gloss grunted with effort, pushing on the plingers as hard as he could. The chains that binded the two basement door handles together wouldn't give in, clinking against each other in protest, not wanting to get snapped.
Footsteps creaked overhead and Cashmere's heart jumped into her throat. "Oh God, Gloss!" she exclaimed in a panic. "She's coming!" She scrambled onto the top step beside her brother and grabbed his hands, pushing down with all her strength so that they'd snap.
"They're not giving, Cash," Gloss grunted under his breath.
Cashmere cried out in effort, her arms shaking in the effort. Finally, the plingers clamped down and the chains snipped with a clink and fell to the ground. Gloss dropped the plingers almost immediately and Cashmere burst past him, flinging the basement doors open. Sunlight streamed in through the now open basement, momentarily blinding them. Gloss stared up into it in awe and it broke Cashmere's heart to know that he had probably never saw or felt proper sunlight before.
"It's beautiful," her brother breathed.
"I know," Cashmere replied, even though to her it was nothing special. "Come on, we have to go before mom finds us." She ran up the steps and climbed out of the basement, crawling out onto the grass and jumping to her feet. Gloss stumbled up the steps behind her and she grabbed his hand to help haul him out the rest of the way. "You okay?" she asked as he dusted his clothes off. Gloss nodded.
Just as he nodded, the kitchen door burst open at the top of the stairs that lead inside the basement. "Cashmere!" their mother yelled. "What are you doing?!"
Neither of them answering, Cashmere and Gloss shared a look. Gloss' expression asked a question. 'Are you sure about this, sis?' Of course she was sure. There had never been anything she had ever been more sure about before in her entire life. She was sick of watching her brother get treated like dirt, just their father had been treated. The only difference being that the way their mother had treated their father had been what had killed him. Cashmere wasn't letting that happen to her brother.
So that's why she ran.
With Gloss' hand in her hand, she dragged him after her. Her boots pounded the grass as their mother's screams followed them off into the woods. Almost immediately, they banged into the District fence. Cashmere had never been much of a climber but she was running purely on the adrenalin that was pounding through her veins.
Gloss scrambled up the fence like an insect running up a wall. Cashmere turned around fearfully to keep an eye out for law abiders. Once he reached the half way mark, he stopped and held his hand out for her to grab. She reached up on her tiptoes and snatched it up, grateful when he was able to haul her up to his level. The gate rattled under their hands and feet, wobbling unsteadily on it's axis.
"You okay?" Gloss asked.
Cashmere nodded, clinging fearfully to the chainlink. "Fine," she managed to croak out.
"We're nearly there," he promised. He then proceeded to climb up the rest of the way, swining his leg over the top so that he straddled it. The fence rattled and Cashmere yelped. "Grab my hand!" Gloss called, reaching down and holding his hand out again. Once again, he hauled her up to the top.
Cashmere looked down over the other side and gulped. "It's very high," she said.
"We're going to have to jump it," Gloss pointed out.
She sucked in a breath and nodded. "I know."
A crack suddenly cut through the air and a rush of wind sped past Cashmere's arm, nearly knocking her off the fence. Gloss grabbed her just in time and helped her gain her balance again. When they looked down, their mother was leading a gang of law abiders right towards them. One of them having taken a shot at them.
"So much for motherly love," Cashmere muttered.
"We're going to have to jump now," Gloss said urgently. Cashmere nodded, knowing that her brother was very probably more scared than she was. He knew what it was like to be brunt of the abiders' wrath and she knew that he didn't want to be there again. She didn't want to see it again either.
"Remember to bend your knees," she said as they both swung their legs around and perched on the gate like old friends sitting together on a wall. "If you don't your ankles will shatter." Gloss nodded and just as he did so, another crack sounded and pierced right through his arm. The impact knocked him off balance and he fell off the fence, tumbling to the ground and landing on his back on the ground.
Cashmere heard something break.
"Gloss!" she screamed. Without thinking about it, she pushed herself off the fence and leaped forward. At first it felt like she was hanging in suspended air, the world hanging frozen around her. It was almost like someone had pressed the pause button on her life. But almost immediately feeling shattered and the earth came right for her, gravity flinging to her to the ground full force.
A pain shot up her arm and Cashmere cried out in agony. Her body vibrated from the impact and she clawed at the ground to pull herself towards her brother. His arm was bleeding and he wasn't concious but he was still breathing. Cashmere clung to this fact like her life depended on it. Well, techinically, his life depended on it.
Using every ounce of strength she had left, she hauled herself to her feet and started dragging Gloss away. The ground spun beneath her and she stumbled and fell a couple of times, but the knowledge that with every passing second the abiders were getting closer kept her moving. She kept pulling and dragging and falling for what felt like hours until she finally stumbled upon the District 2 fence as it began to get dark.
She cried out in relief, falling against a tree and slumping. She would wait for Gloss to awaken again and they could devise a plan on how they were going to get through the District without being detected. Sighing, she ripped off a piece of her skirt and tied it around his arm to quell the bleeding.
They had to get to 12. It was their only hope.
~xXx~
"Will you quit it for at least five minutes so we can discuss our plan?!"
Maysilee was at the end of her tether. He just wouldn't stop drinking!
"We can still discuss the plan while drinking," Haymitch slurred, clugging another large swig from the vodka bottle. Maysilee winced as she watched him swallow the brurning liquid whole without even choking. She supposed it was her fault for falling in love with an alcoholic.
"No, we can't," she sighed, tugging him up the dirtpath. "You're going to get yourself hammered and then you'll think the best plan will be to listen to your hallcuinary pink elephants to see what they think!"
"Hey now," Haymitch said, "those guys are clever!"
Maysilee rolled her eyes and gave his hand an unnessecary pull, making him stumble and spill some of his vodka. "You're lucky I let you drink like that!" she snapped. "Slaves are only supposed to drink water."
"That's why you're so nice to me," Haymitch replied.
It was typical. The one week Maysilee decided to go on holiday was the one week that someone declared war on the women of Panem. They were from District 12, they should have been there when it happened! Instead, dumb twit Maysilee had to go and decide to would be nice to go to District 9 for a while. Now the trains between Districts had been closed off and there was no way back home.
"I swear to God Haymitch if you don't put that bloody bottle down I'm going to shove it up your ass!" she snapped. Haymitch grinned and sloppily offered her some. Maysilee sighed and snatched the bottle away, taking a giant swig herself. It burned down her throat like fire and she almost heaved, only managaing to keep it down by a slither of chance.
Haymitch was actually a very wise and kind man. When he wasn't sloshed. When he was sloshed it was like trying to look after a two year old who wouldn't let go of his bottle.
"I don't see what's so difficult about this," Haymitch said.
"Oh really?" Maysilee asked. "And why is that?"
"All we need to do is get to 12."
Maysilee scoffed. "Oh, and that's so easy?"
Haymitch shrugged. "Well yeah. All we need to do is climb under the fence fault lines," he said.
She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. She done it so aburptly that Haymitch bumped into her. "Fault lines?" she asked.
"The faults in the fences. They all have one," Haymitch explained, straightening himself out. "Come see." He turned and guided her out of the main square of the District and out into the fields where the fences cut across the ground, dividing the panned out forest with the District itself. Maysilee watched, rubbing her arms as Haymitch examined the fence carefully. He kicked some parts and tugged on others. After what felt like forever, he finally pulled a section that pulled right out from the ground, leaving a big enough hole for them to fit through.
"Oh Haymitch, sometimes I wonder how you do it," Maysilee sighed, surprised at how he could still manage to have done that after downing about half a bottle of vodka. "You still manage to shock me at every turn."
"That's my job, baby," Haymitch replied, crouching to the ground and crawling underneath the fence. Maysilee checked if the coast was clear before she crawled under as well. Haymitch took her hand and helped her up. "Can I have my bottle back now?" he asked.
Maysilee laughed and handed the bottle back. Haymitch grinned and pecked her cheek lovingly. He took her hand. "Let's go. To 8!"
"You mean 10," she corrected.
"To 10!"
Distrct 12 couldn't be that far, right?
~xXx~
"Thresh!" Rue screamed. A bullet blast through the air and Thresh barely had a chance to duck as it soared past him. Rue hit the deck as well with a shriek as it whooshed past her head, missing her ear by inches. Thresh scrambled to his feet and gathered her up into his arms before taking off into a run.
"It's okay squirt, I've got this," he muttered under his breath. They were almost there, almost to District 12. Rue could see the fence in the distance. All they had to do was get over it. The Law Abiders had caught up with them though and had been firing at them for nearly a mile now.
Another shot was taken and the ground just by Thresh's feet exploded. Rue screamed in fear and yelped as he swerved around a tree just as a bullet hit just where they had been standing. She clung to him desperately, not wanting to fall and be left behind. Thresh had been her mother's slave ever since she could remember and she knew he wouldn't drop her but the thought still fluttered uneasily in her mind so she hung onto him for dear life.
Thresh was angry that she had followed him. She knew that. She had just wondered where he was gonig and why he had left. She thought something was wrong so she followed him to the District byline and watched him climb the tree and hop over the fence. She'd scaled the fence easily, after having so many years practice from climbing the trees of the orchards.
When the first shot had been taken, she'd screamed and that was how Thresh discovered he had been followed. He barely had any time to be angry though as another bullet was shot and nearly hit her shoulder. Instead all he shouted was 'run' and made sure she took off ahead of him.
It was in that moment that Rue had figured out what he was doing. He was going to 12 to join the resistance. And now she had to go with him. Not that she minded, she had thought about joining, but had thought that she was too young. Now was her chance. To enter 12 with Thresh, find the overtaken Justice Building and become one of the rebels.
Huh, a twelve year old rebel. Now that would be interesting.
As soon as they reached the fence, Thresh threw her up onto it, knowing that she'd know to grab onto the chain link and climb. Rue scrambled up as fast as she could, not daring to look down as more bullets cut through the air and shook her bones whenever they hit something. The fence sagged-Thresh had obviously begun to climb as well-and Rue leapt over the other side as quickly as she could, going in for a tuck and roll as soon as she neared the ground.
Thresh was a quick climber and was soon landing beside her.
They'd made it. They were in 12.
It wasn't over yet though as the abiders were still following them.
From where they stood, Rue could see the Justice Building clearly. She immediately took off toward it with Thresh right behind her. She tried not to think about the women she was pushing past and nearly knocking off their feet as Thresh and herself tore through them. There was no doubt that they were catching the attention of everyone, including 12's abiders.
The famaliar whistle of fired bullets tore through the air, causing the sqaure in which the Justice Building stood to erupt into chaos. Women screaming and fleeing from the sqaure, nearly knocking Rue off her feet in the process. Thresh steadied her every time she nearly fell and urged her forward.
A blonde woman appeared out of the Justice Building, gun in hand, with a familiar brunette by her side.
Katniss Everdeen. The Mockingjay. The girl who'd given them hope.
"Rebels!" The blonde woman yelled upon seeing them, cocking her gun and firing at the abiders who were shooting at Rue and Thresh. Rue slammed into the steps by the building and Thresh hauled her up onto the platform, ignoring the steps and propelling her to safety. She stumbled and nearly tripped over her own feet but was caught.
She looked up and was looking into the eyes of the Mockingjay. Of Katniss.
"Are you okay?" she whispered softly, helping Rue to her feet. Rue nodded frantically.
Thresh was quick up onto the platform and was immediately tossed a gun by the blonde woman. "Madge Undersee, head rebel. What's your District?" Thresh didn't answer, instead shot an abider that was scrambling to refill her gun.
"He doesn't talk that much," Rue piped up. The blonde woman looked at her and blinked. "We're from Distrct 11."
Madge nodded. "One of the lucky ones," she murmered. Rue wondered what she meant by that but didn't have a chance to dwell on it as Katniss brought her into the Justice Building while Thresh and Madge continued to shoot at assualting abiders.
"Are you hurt?" the mockingjay asked her gently.
"No," Rue replied. Katniss nodded and sat her down on a seat by the window.
"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked her.
"Um, yeah. Thresh was leaving the house and I followed him because I knew mom hadn't given him an order to anything and I was wondering why he wasn't using the time to rest, you know?" she said. Katniss nodded. "So I followed him over the fence. And that's when the abiders started shooting at us. We've been running since then."
"You must be exhausted," Katniss said.
"I'm okay," Rue replied. "I'm glad we made it."
"So am I," Katniss smiled. "I didn't think anyone was going to rebel."
Rue laughed. "You're kidding right? You've got people all over Panem trying to get here without being spotted."
Katniss' smile faded. "What? Really?" she asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah. I thought you'd have known," Rue replied. "You and your slave have touched so many lives that there's people declaring love and no longer hiding it all over the country. They all want to help you. They all want to overthrow the Capitol and get your man back."
"My . . . man?"
"The blond man who was taken to the Capitol with those two slave drivers? Wasn't he your lover?" Rue frowned. Katniss blushed and Rue wondered if she'd said something out of line. Her mother had always told her to keep her mouth shut. "Or your friend?" she quickly amended.
"Um, yeah, he was my friend," Katniss replied nervously.
Rue nodded. "Well, we want to help. Women and their slaves are breaking out from their Districts and are coming here. To help you. To become the army behind Katniss Everdeen."
The Army Behind Katniss Everdeen.
It was going to win.
Rue could feel it.
A/N: The Army Behind Katniss. You like? :)
Please R&R! :D