Chapter Twenty-One: Abnegation Tris Prior

*Tris POV*

I walk over to Katniss. "How can the people survive like this?" I ask her.

"They can't," she answers. "They must have no support outside of the district. I feel it is necessary to convince Coin to help these people. I want to hunt to get them some food."

I nod. That is not the way I want to help. I want to do something bigger than that. But what?

Think Tris, think! What would my father or my mother do? They would give out food, but I only have what Thirteen sent us with, and it is heavily guarded by the soldiers. I would hunt with Katniss, but I'm no good, and we need to do something quickly.

I go over to Boggs. "We can stay here until you guys come up with a plan, right?" I ask.

He answers, "Yes. These people need some inspiration. Plus, we have no need for you guys until we have a plan."

"Do you know what is with the conditions here?"

He frowns, "Yeah. When they overthrew the Capitol from this area, the food distribution from here was discontinued. It was unfortunate because Two got all the food that the other districts used to get outside of feeding Peacekeepers because the rest were officially rebelling. President Coin says we can't spare any food for them until we recieve word that Ten and Eleven can begin circulating again. After they removed the Capitol officials, they needed to have reassured peace and then they had to begin working again. Luckily, we helped improve working conditions and there are no Peacekeepers there, since they all are here and in the Capitol. But, we haven't recieved word, so we can't send anything out. Plus, the majority of Two is still under Capitol control."

"Why can't Thirteen spare anything?"

"We only have enough to sustain our population," he says. He says it like he is hiding something. He comes closer to me and whispers in my ear, "There is alot that she says that is hard to believe, but we must accept it, for now. We can spare it, but she chooses not to. Watch what you say around the other soldiers. She has insiders who are there just to listen to our dialogue."

"Okay," I whisper. He smiles fakely and walks away. So, how can I help? Food is not much of an option, even though that is what they need. I don't have any money, plus I don't know what type of monetary system they have. (Chicago's is really only used by the Erudite and Candor. Dauntless, Abnegation, and Amity supply their own food without money). I have no idea how to help.

I go over to one of the people. "Hello, my name is Tris. I'm here with Thirteen to help take the rest of the district from the Capitol."

The lady, with a strong accent, says, "God bless your heart, dearie."

"Is there anything I can help you with?" I ask.

"I am fine, but thank you," she says. Right afterward, she shivers.

"You are cold," I say. "Here, take my coat."

"No, you keep it. I'll be okay."

"I insist."

"Thank you." She smiles at me.

"Do you have a living arrangement?"

She shakes her head. "Alot of this area has been demolished by war. Very few people have houses left, at least in this town. We have a few shelters set up, but electricity and heat is hard to come by."

I think I have an idea! Alot of these buildings can be used, but they are too afraid to use them. We can quickly fix it. The weather in Two can probably get pretty brutal, as there are mountains in this region. I can see if Katniss can hunt us some food, but I want to help build up the infrastructure.

I go over to Katniss. "Hey 'Mockingjay', I have an idea," I say.

"Okay, I'm listening," she says.

"I know you want to hunt, so here is what I propose. You will hunt to get some food for the people here, and I will help them build up some of their infrastructure so they have shelter to protect themselves. It is wintertime, and they are near the mountains. They have worked in masonry, so hopefully I can get some volunteers. The rebel soldiers from here seem more fit for a task like this. We need to help these people."

"Okay," she says. "So, you'll be a construction worker?"

I laugh. "Yeah, I guess haha. They need the help. Plus, Coin will like it because it will save her money in the rebuilding process if we win."

"True," she says. "Better tell Boggs so he knows what's going on."

"Okay," I reply. We go over to the Commander and tell him our plan. Luckily, he agrees with it.

"I'll show you to the town rebel base," he replies. "We need to keep them separate from others in the district until we secure it so that if there is a ... situation, we are prepared for it."

"Situation?" I ask. "Like what?"

"Bombing or any attempt to kill off all the rebels," he says.

"So, you're prepared so it saves life?"

"Yes," he answers. "And, it keeps the hope of the Rebellion alive."

"I guess," I say. I would only concern the lives of the people, not the war itself.

We walk over to a large tent closer to where the hovercraft landed. We walk in and something does not seem right to me. The rebels seem different from the Thirteen soldiers, or even the ones I've met in Six. They seem like they are acting very proud. I don't feel good about this.

"Commander," a younger man says to Boggs. "What do we owe this occassion?"

"I am here with a new member of President Coin's Airtime Assault, Tris Prior," he answers to the man.

"Got it," he says back. "What is the reason of being in Two?"

"She is here to help us as we attempt to conquer the National Underground Training facility."

"Fair enough," the man says. "I'm Lieutenant Spirggs of District Two, in charge of the Rebellion on this side of the district. I am currently in position of the Thirteen military reresentative." So, he's a member of Coin's crew. Crap. I swear, Boggs is the only one of her cronies I like.

"Nice to meet you," I say fakely as I shake his hand.

"So, anything I can do for you?" Spriggs asks.

"Um, actually, I came here to ask for your help," I state.

"Well, we are very busy. Very, very busy. This better be important," he says, very, very fast.

"Well, I wanted to help rebuild infrastructure so the people have shelter during the cold months until the war is over."

"Abosolutely... not."

"Why not?" I ask, angrily.

"As I said, we are very busy. We have no time to spare fixing damaged buildings when the district is halfway in Capitol control. I apologize, but there is no time until the Nut falls."

He is being such an asshole. He is pissing me off now. "Well..."

He freaking cuts me off to say, "...No. I'm sorry, but unless orders came from Coin, then it is not possible. We can provide tents and blankets as concession instead."

I think Boggs can tell I am pissed off, so he pulls me out of the tent for a moment.

"I'm going to call President Coin. He is being a jerk. I could have said somethign, but I think it will mean more to him coming from her. Wait here for me until I return," he tells me. I nod.

While I am standing here, Katniss, who waited outside of the tent, comes over to me. "What's going on?" she asks.

"The douchebag lieutenant of the town won't let me do this," I say. "Boggs is calling Coin, so hopefully I can still do this."

"Yeah, Boggs is good at getting what he wants," she laughs. "I just think that you have a very selfless, Abnegation plan here."

"It is Abnegation, isn't it?" I ask. My mother and father would be so proud.

I hear voices behind me and turn around out of curiosity. I see two people, obviously from District Thirteen, carrying a large, actually very large, box into the tent. I signal for Katniss to follow me and we go eavesdropping on whatever this is.

I over hear the first person as he begins to speak. "We have a delivery of food from District Thirteen." Food? I thought it was hard to come by.

Spriggs speaks up, "Good, good." Does he double every single word he says? "Put it in the back of the tent, behind the curtain."

"Okay," the person says. We walk into the tent right afterward, suspicious of what is going on.

"Oh great, now what?" Spriggs asks sarcastically as I walk over to him.

"Are you planning on feeding that food to the others in the town?" I ask him.

"Yeah," he says. "Sooner...or...later." Each word is quieter than the first.

"You'd better be!" I shout.

"Can you prove that I'm not going to?" he asks.

"Well," I say. "Let's see." I march over to the curtain and move it back. Let's just say that I am very appalled with what I see.

There is a lot of food here and I mean a lot. Enough to possibly feed the whole city of Chicago, including the factionless. It is still in original packaging and everything. The box hasn't even been touched yet.

"So, you've been keeping all this food here while the town starves to death?" I ask, horrified.

I turn around to see three guns pointed at Katniss and I, Spriggs and the two soldiers from Thirteen.

"If I were you, I wouldn't say anything about this to anybody," he says.

Tobias was right. District Two is a dangerous place.

Note: Sorry for my major delays. I promise, it will begin to change. I've just been really busy with school, I'm a high school senior in an AP English class, as well as tennis team, music ensembles, model un, etc. Plus, I am going to college for music education, so I had to work on auditions and stuff. Please bear with me. I apologize for these delays, but I promise that this story will make it to the end. Thank you for those of you that have sticked with me on this.

Anyways, the chapter was a little dry at first, until they done got Tris pissed off. And, this is where something interesting will happen, but no spoilers. Well, Please review!