Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games.
A/N: I know it's been a full week since the last chapter, I've been pretty busy and this one was harder to write. Sorry about the wait and thanks for continuing to read my story. Please take a minute to review. Thanks again and enjoy!
I wake up to the sound of my mother's screams. I sit up and whip my head around the dark room. Rain pounds on the window, clouds blocking the sun and making it hard to see. She's not in her bed. I throw my sheets to the floor and rush to the kitchen. I see Mom standing frozen in front of the TV. Then I realize what is going on. It's day two of the Hunger Games. The TV shows Katniss jumping from a tall tree. In the background is a blazing fire. I wonder, for a moment, if the Careers set everything on fire. Then I hear the dreaded voice of Caesar Flickerman.
"Our gamemakers are starting off with a bang!" he announces far too enthusiastically.
"These flying fireballs are the latest idea of our very own head gamemaker, Seneca Crane!" he shouts. The TV has changed from showing Katniss, to showing Caesar Flickerman in the same auditorium as always. In the background, a giant screen shows Katniss. The head gamemaker comes on stage and sits in a chair by Caesar. His beard is styled oddly. I will never understand who comes up for the ideas for the Capital's hideous fashion. So far, they haven't put Katniss in anything ugly. It has all seemed to fit her. She has been dressed in fire, and that seems to go well with her personality. I'm only half paying attention to Seneca Crane and Caesar, who are talking about the games. It is terrible to listen to. They seem so excited, talking about how awesome the bloodbath was. They also talk about the 50th Hunger Games, when the record number of 18 tributes died in the bloodbath.
"You know, I do like it when they knock out around ten in the bloodbath," Seneca Crane says.
"And why is that?" Caesar asks. For a moment, I think he is seeing reason. Why would you want ten people to die? Then I see the curiosity on his face.
"Well," Seneca says, "It's great to have a fun bloodbath, but once you kill off some of the weaker ones it's good to have some left, you know? More fun to watch it over a longer period."
"Oh yes! I do agree," Caesar replies. It makes me sick to be reminded that this is how they see the Hunger Games. In the video before every reaping, they tell us it's just our reparations from the rebellion, that if there hadn't been a rebellion it would have been fine. I know better. There must have been something wrong at the time for there to have been a full-scale rebellion. I know the games are to scare us, to show us that we are small and worthless and that we have no power over the Capital. That is also a lie. If we had no power over the Capital, if they weren't scared of us, there would be no games. Sometimes, I wish there was something I could do to change it. It's not right, but I'm not sure what I can do.
"Tell me, Seneca, what was your inspiration for this fire?" Caesar asks. I look up again and see that Katniss' leg has been badly burned. She is still running, though I can tell it pains her.
"Well, her nickname is the girl on fire," he explains. I know what he's talking about, the chariot dress, the interview, it all caught fire.
"I figured the audience would love to see how our girl on fire would react to being set on fire, for real this time." he finishes. He says this very attentively like he has had this all planned out since the chariots. He probably has.
"How thoughtful of you," Caesar says, "And to all our sponsors out there if she does make it past these fireballs, that's just one more reason to bet on her!" The TV goes back to showing Katniss. After a few minutes, the firewall stops advancing and Katniss runs towards a pond. I let out a sigh of relief and let myself relax. The TV changes and shows the Careers. They have piled all their supplies together in a giant mountain near the lake. I turn away from the TV and make my way to the kitchen. I bring the last bits of the leftover fruit to the table where Mom is now sitting.
It's a little after ten when we hear pounding on the door. For the last half hour, it has been near-silent, so when I hear the noise, I jump. For a moment, I fear it is a peacekeeper, though I don't know what we could have done wrong. Then, before I can even reach the door, it is flung open. Gale is standing there out of breath. His face is dirty and a bit bloody. Unfortunately, I am used to this, mining accidents happen almost once a month. The conditions of the mines are terrible and collapses are far too common. The worse one in recent history was the one that killed my dad. It killed a few hundred men, Gale's dad included. I quickly examine the situation while clearing the table. Gale looks a bit hurt, but nothing bad. Another guy is slung over his shoulder. I'm not sure how Gale can lift him, but I'm guessing that it has something to do with adrenaline. The man is unconscious and doesn't look like he is doing too well. Gale sets him on the table as gently as possible. Behind him, is two other men. One is holding the shoulders of an older looking man and the other is carrying the feet. The man is fading in and out of consciousness. When I realize this, I run to my room. In our small closet, we have an extra cot for times like this. I bring it out and motion for him to be set down. Mom rushes Gale and the two other fully conscious men to the couch and tells them to make themselves at home. Then she begins to examine the man Gale was carrying. I kneel down next to the cot and begin my own work.
"Hello sir," I say, trying to sound casual. No matter what the injuries, it is best for the patient to stay calm.
"What's your name?" I ask. I begin to examine him. A large bump is forming where he must have hit his head. It's bleeding a bit, and it's very dirty. If I don't clean it well, he could die from an infection.
"Ronald, Ronald Avery," he whispers.
"Well Mr. Avery, my name is Prim. You had an accident in the mines?" I ask. He just nods.
"My mom and I are going to help you, okay?" I say. He nods and mouths "Thank you," Along with the head injury, he has a large gash on his left leg. I get a rag and begin to wash his face. After I can no longer see coal dust and blood, I walk to the cupboard to get a yarrow salve. After a minute, I finally find some crushed garlic to put in the salve. The garlic helps to fight infection. When I come back, I see that he is once again drifting off. He has a concussion and I know he needs to stay awake. If he doesn't stay awake, it's hard to see if he is recovering or getting worse.
"Mr. Avery, I'm going to put some yarrow on your head now. The yarrow helps to keep it clean and stop bleeding." He is still zoning off, so I keep talking.
"The yarrow is a wildflower. It's very pretty in the early summer" I tell him, "Two years ago, it grew so well we hardly knew what to do with it." He smiles. I am finally keeping his attention.
"Actually, almost everything grew very well that summer. Once, my sister took me out to a nice meadow and we had a picnic. After eating our sandwiches, we picked wildflowers and herbs, and guess what! We found huge blackberry bushes, and we ate until we couldn't eat another berry. Our hands were stained from the berries and so were our faces." I love to remember that day, and I can tell he enjoys listening to the story. I continue to talk about various adventures with Katniss, as I move onto cleaning and dressing his leg.
"Where is your sister?" he asks after a while. I tense up and try to think up a response.
"She's not here at the moment," I say.
"What's her name?" he asks. I take a deep breath, I am not going to break down now.
"Katniss," I answer.
"Wait…" he says, obviously putting the pieces together, "And your name is?"
"Prim," I say, "Primrose Everdeen." He nods.
"I'm so sorry," he says. I nod and smile gently.
"Yes, now you're all cleaned up and you should rest," I say, "But since you have a concussion, you shouldn't sleep for the next few hours so we can monitor you." He nods. I bring the remainder of the herbs back to the counter and ask Mom what I can do. After mom tells me that she doesn't need help, I look towards our other patients. One is around Gale's age and the other is older.
"Mr. Avery should recover fairly quickly," I tell them.
"What about Cyrus?" Gale asks. That must be the one who came in already unconscious.
"I'm not sure. He has many injuries, including internal ones. What happened to him?" I ask.
"Got caught under rocks during a cave-in." Gale answers. I nod understanding. I quickly assess their injuries. The younger one has a broken ankle, but I cast it quickly. The older one just has a few bruises and scrapes, which I patch up quickly even though he says he only came to take the two who are badly hurt. Gale has a small cut on his forehead. I clean it and dress it before moving into the kitchen to boil water. Mom uses the water to make different dressings and medicines. Cyrus isn't looking good. With the water leftover, I make tea, Mint, and Lavender. It should help to calm Gale and the others. I will never understand why they have to deal with such terrible conditions. I hear a knock at the door. I really hope it's not another accident, we won't have room. I open the door to see Rory. He looks frantic. he is out of breath from running and his hair is in his eyes.
"Is Gale here?" he asks. He sounds terrified.
"Rory?" I hear from behind me.
"What's the matter," Gale asks. Rory runs towards Gale and puts his arms around him in a tight hug. It's almost a full minute before he pulls away from Gale.
"I heard there was an accident in the mines, and a guy said you were coming here, and I thought you were hurt or ..." he trails off. Gale nods and puts his hand on Rory's shoulder.
"Everything is okay," Gale says. Rory nods, sitting down on the couch and trying to slow his breathing. I turn towards Mom and see Cyrus is still unconscious.
"Is there anything I can help with?" I ask. Mom shakes her head.
"I've done everything I can," she says grimly, "But he's still not looking good." I nod with understanding. She's not expecting him to recover, at least not without major injury.
"Why don't you go out to the herb garden?" she suggests, "It could use being weeded."
"Alright," I say, "Do you want me to harvest some?" Though it's the last bit of summer, many of our plants are still in full bloom.
"No, we can do that together after dinner," she answers. I smile and nod.
"But for right now why don't you ask Rory to help you." she says, "I think it would be good for both of you," She smiles at me and I walk towards Rory. Rory is still sitting on the couch, his head in his hands.
"Hey," I say gently. He looks up tiredly, his hair falling in his face.
"Do you want to come and help in the garden?" I ask. He looks up at Gale, his questioning look asking for permission. Gale nods.
"Sure," he says uncertainly. We walk slowly to the front door. Once we're outside, he turns to me.
"I… I'm… Prim, I'm sorry. I wish I could help you, but I don't know what to do." he stutters. I smile at him.
"You have already done so much," I say, "Thank you," I don't know how I could have survived this long without him. There's something about him that just makes me feel safe.
"Let's go," I say quickly. I lead him around to the side of the house, to my herb garden. Different types of herbs grow in rows, they are sorted by their main use. The most common uses are wound healing, cleaning, and treating sickness. I kneel down at the edge of the garden and he does the same. I begin showing him how to identify the weeds. He catches on very quickly and seems to enjoy it. I find myself wondering how good of friends we could be, how good everything could be, if only we weren't controlled by the Capital. If the Capital couldn't control us, we could make a change. We need to show the Capital that they have no power over us. I shake the thoughts from my head and smile up at Rory.