"Write drunk, edit sober" Well, I'm editing drunk because y'all deserve an update. This may be fixed tomorrow.
6/10 - sorta edited
Rory and Haymitch return from the Capitol after only a few weeks, the tributes dead. Peeta stays in the Capitol a few weeks longer, but returns with news from other districts, especially District 4. He starts organizing us with renewed vigor and finds ways to slip extra supplies into the district. We spend the summer embroiled in the rebellion.
It is from those supplies that we begin to stash survival gear just outside the district. As the plan stands, the explosion Gale and I will detonate will alert the rest of the district to start their parts of the coup, and we will stay hidden for a few days until we receive the signal that it's safe to return. At my insistence, we've made plans to keep Prim and Gale's siblings safe throughout the takeover, and to smuggle them to us south of District 12 if they fail. We'll be armed with enough survival gear to live semi-permanently in the wilderness if necessary.
Or forever, if Gale gets his way.
Gale has proven himself a valuable member of the planning team and he and Peeta have grown into a grudging partnership. Peeta has contacts throughout Panem, and an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the personal side of the politics and government of the country. Gale has the planning and strategic ability to figure out how to use that knowledge to our advantage.
Madge spends hours with Haymitch, making plans for in town. They've decided that it's best if Gale and I don't know what the plans look like just in case we're captured or killed. For the same reason, she's kept everyone else, even Nick, in the dark about most of the details. Only Peeta knows our part of the plan, although Haymitch knows the generalities.
During his last Capitol trip, Peeta got a hold of another surveillance device detector, and gave it to Gale and I so that we can be sure our house and the Apothecary are safe. Thus far, the light has stayed green. It is in our house that Gale and Peeta spend a rainy afternoon in late September, going over ways to keep Gale and I from being captured.
"From what I know, they track fugitives using 3 techniques. They'll track visually from the air using hovercrafts, send troops in on the ground in heavily suspected areas, and at night they'll use heat-seeking technology." Peeta has some tactical books and records from previous missions to track down traitors to Panem.
"We can easily get around the first, and find hard-to-travel areas for the second. The hardest to work around will be the heat seeking cameras." Gale mutters and rubs his temples. We've gone over this multiple times. Gale has already determined the search areas they'll use day-by-day if they're looking for us, and the least likely places that they'll look. He's also spent weeks poring over maps, finding good places to settle once we've escaped. But the cameras use technology that we're not familiar with, and they seem to be difficult to get around. Peeta has gotten a little information from Wiress in District 3, who invented some of the components. They detect heat on the ground, and can clearly show the temperature difference between the terrain and living creatures. According to Gale's research, they simply shoot whatever shows up as body temperature, and retrieve the bodies in the morning.
I read through the paperwork again and ask the boys "so they probably catch a lot of deer and stuff accidentally, right?"
"I don't think they care that much about false positives or saving wildlife. They just keep going until they find whoever they're looking for, but yes, they get deer and wild horses and some boars." Peeta grabs the paperwork again looking melancholy.
"And bears." Gale mutters.
"Huh?" Peeta is still reading.
"And bears. They must get bears."
"Not really...not according to this."
Suddenly it dawns on me. "They're not getting bears because the bears are in caves at night...and the heat seeking cameras only take surface temperature."
As the realization also dawns on Gale, he breaks into a wide grin.
We look at each other with glee.
"Caves!" It's almost simultaneous.
"You two freak me out when you do that thing where you think with the same brain." Mutters Peeta. His furrowed brow has smoothed, and he's looking at the paperwork with renewed hope.
Gale is excited now. "So all we have to do is hide in caves at night, and we're good."
I hate to cut into his enthusiasm, but I'm not so sure. "There's no guarantee that there will be caves where we're going, and even if we find one at the right time, there's no guarantee that there'a not something living there already." I feel bad pointing out the obvious, but we have to think this through.
Gale and Peeta return to searching through the paperwork, which includes some of the searching tactics the Capitol uses. Peeta gives up with his stack of papers and starts throwing together a stew to go with the bread that he brought. Usually when we have "planning" days like this, we'll put the paperwork way after dinner and find something different to do in the evening. Tonight we're planning to go play chess at Peeta's house with Madge, Delly and Nick.
Just as I'm ladling the stew, Gale has a brainstorm.
"Ok, so the Capitol calculates how far fugitives can get each day, and gradually increases the search area. That means that each day they have more area to search, and they probably ignore the area they've already looked."
Most of the time Gale and I think along the same lines, but there are times I feel completely lost. He has an uncanny ability to understand how animals and people think, to predict their behavior, and to find creative ways to deal with them. This is one of those times.
Peeta and I stare at him blankly. He's going to need to fill in some blanks.
He pulls out the maps again. "So we only need to find one cave. One close to town. If we can stay undiscovered on the first night, and we stay there for a few more days, we can run inside their search area, right under their noses."
Peeta nearly drops the bowls. The solution is so simple. The only thing we're missing is a cave.
Gale and I set out to find a cave on a cold December day. We've pored over the maps and found the areas that are least likely to lead to detection, but most likely to have caves. We've narrowed it down to 3 areas. One is south of town, closest to the route we want to take in order to eventually settle close to District 11. Another area is northeast of town. Knowing the topography, this area is most likely to have the kind of cave we want. Finally, there's an area to the west, nearer to the detonation point, but similar in landscape to the southern area. We've planned to spend 3 days searching out the caves in each area.
Peeta keeps telling us to wait until spring to explore, but we pointed out that right now the bears are hibernating in their caves. If we come across one, we're in much better shape than if we wait until spring and have a run-in with a hungry, awake bear.
Our packs are heavy on our backs, but since we have no guarantee of shelter or food, we've had to bring everything with us, including sleeping bags, a tent and food. We each have a quiver of arrows and a bow slung over our shoulder.
The first part of our journey is the hardest. We also have more explosives to drag with us to the trestle where we are going to sabotage the tracks. The added weight has us sweating within the first few miles in spite of the cold. Once we've hidden them securely, we set off to explore the westernmost area for caves. We spend as much of the afternoon as possible, but find few useful areas. The few caves we find are shallow, and won't shelter us as we need, but as the sun goes down we settle in one of these caves for the night.
The days are short, so it's well before our usual bedtime. We light a small fire, but put it out shortly after dusk, so as to not arouse suspicion. Gale and I can spend hours marching around the woods without saying a word, and tonight is no different as we snuggle into our sleeping bag in the tent. Out here in the woods, I often feel closer to him. This is something that's just ours, and I briefly wonder if other couples have something like this, something that's just theirs. I sigh happily and bury my face in Gale's chest, and fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.
The next morning we awake at daybreak and set off toward the area south of the district. This is the area where we most hope to find a good spot; after all, we plan to eventually settle a few hundred miles south of District 12, midway between 12 and 11. Hiding here would give us a head start, and we have a good route planned from the detonation site to this area.
But after an afternoon of trekking, we've only found one suitable cave, and it's occupied by some sort of animal. Rather than find out what it is, we settle in for the night about 30 minutes north, our tent sheltered by a small cluster of trees. As we lie listening to the sounds of the woods, I sense that Gale is annoyed.
I run my fingers across his chin stubble as I ask "what's wrong?"
He lets out a sigh. "I was just really hoping we could find a spot out here."
I can sense that it's about more than just a cave. If we can get this detail put together, we're prepared to set off the rebellion at any time. And that's truly what Gale has wanted all along.
I kiss him gently. "We'll find a spot. And it will happen. The rebellion."
Gale presses his forehead against mine and whispers "yes it will. No matter what. But hopefully not in the dead of winter. This sucks."
I giggle and agree. Being out here this time of year is cold and uncomfortable, despite the fact that I like the time with Gale.
On the third morning we make our way to the northeast side of the district. It will be harder to get to this area from the detonation site, but it's a hard-to-trek area, difficult to see from the sky, and most importantly, has a large number of caves. An ideal hiding space.
The first cave we check looks to be lived-in by some kind of bear, but the second cave is perfect. It goes deep into the mountain, has a mostly-hidden entrance, and is close to water sources. We spend much of the day setting snares around the opening in order to keep animals from moving in, and further concealing it. Then we follow the map and mark a path back to the district. By nightfall, we've hidden our gear and ducked back under the fence, grateful to sleep in our own bed in front of a warm fire.
Once we return to town with our cave marked on a map, we go back to our usual routine. I work at the apothecary, Gale works in town, and we hunt when we have spare time. Things have been quiet for awhile; Rory has been avoiding public appearances, and the fence is off more often than it's on. There are still occasional whippings, and several people are placed in the stocks for minor infractions, but the district has adjusted to the new normal.
Some evenings we hang out with Peeta, finding safe routes and talking about the rebellion. Often he'll bring Delly with, but refuses to respond to my raised eyebrows. The two of them seem to be getting closer, but are also cautious about appearing in public together. Peeta refuses to discuss this at all.
Rory and Prim are also getting closer. I occasionally catch her calling him her boyfriend, and she is humming around her work more often than before. One January evening I walk up to the apartment to grab dinner, and catch them jumping away from each other on the couch, red faced and rumpled.
It's hard to come to terms with the fact that Prim is no longer a little girl. In my head, she still wears her hair in two braids and needs me to tuck in her shirt, but in reality she's grown up into a pretty, confident teenager. She's relied on me less and less since I moved out a year and a half ago.
We also spend some time with Madge and Nick. They're quite busy running the candy shop, but in the evenings we like to sit around the fire in their apartment and chat or play games. Sometimes Peeta and Delly join us (always arriving separately).
In mid-February, Madge and Nick surprise all four of us by announcing, almost casually, that Madge is pregnant. She's due in August. Delly shrieks in excitement, and Peeta draws them both into a hug. I notice, after I break away from hugging Madge, that Gale is pouting on the couch.
I nudge him and whisper "go congratulate them."
He shakes himself a bit, and gives them a halfhearted congratulations. I shoot him a look. I know why he's pouting. He's jealous. Every once in awhile he'll hopefully bring up the subject of children, but I always shoot him down and tell him to wait until after the rebellion.
As we walk home that night, his silence is less comfortable than normal. He's brooding, which for Gale is rarely good. While his temper is usually under control, when he thinks too much he gets grumpy and cross. I sigh and brace myself for a few weeks of putting up with his antics.
A/N Thanks for your patience! I promise these will become more frequent. I have several future chapters written, but this in-between part has been rough for me. Feedback is always welcome!