Chapter 41
(Gale POV)
My heart drops into the pit of my stomach when I come over the hill and see what's left of 13. Nothing but pure rubble and weeds from years of no one living here. It was all just rumors. Nothing livable here at all. All around me, as others get their first look at the mess, I hear gasps and even a curse word or two. I have no idea what we will do now. How are we going to live the rest of our lives out here? I'm trying to pull together the right words to say to the group when I hear someone speak up loudly from behind.
"We aren't there yet."
Most of us, myself included turn around to see Drew standing to the back of the group.
"What?" I ask, already fighting the tone in my voice.
"This isn't where they are. We have to go around this, it's further towards that Mountain up there." He says as he points towards a mountain on the horizon.
"Drew, what are you talking about?" Madge asks and I'm glad she does because she may be the only one he'll give a clear answer to.
He looks directly at her now. "The new District 13. It's not in this part. They rebuilt further away, closer to the mountains. We need to keep going."
"How do you know this?" She asks.
He sighs a little and shrugs. "The same way I always know things."
"That doesn't make sense. If the Capitol knows where the new district 13 is, wouldn't they be attacking it instead of just documenting it in some sort of computer database?" Madge points out.
Everyone is silent and staring at Drew waiting to hear his response.
"They tried to attack, many times in the first few years. They were always unsuccessful in eliminating them for some reason. Over time, they felt it was a waste of time and resources and instead focused on creating the illusion that all of the district had been demolished. They haven't focused on this place in more than 50 years."
"How long have you known about this?" She presses, her voice hinting at anger now.
He just shrugs again. "Awhile."
Madge's jaw tightens but she says nothing else to him. Instead she turns to me and speaks. "I guess we need to keep walking then."
I glance up at the sky and it's already pretty dark. "We should probably stay here tonight. We'll head out first thing in the morning."
We set up camp at the edge of the rubble for the night. As much as I'm ready to just be there, I know it would be too much of a hike with the kids in the dark. They're already tired and we'll have to navigate around a lot of things that which will be hard to do in the dark. Better just to camp out for the night. Madge and I set up our blanket far off to the side by ourselves. Once we're alone, I ask her about what Drew said.
"Do you think he's being honest or is it at all possible that he's up to something?"
"I think he's being honest. I can't imagine what reason he would have to make something like that up. I mean, all it would do is have us end up hiking longer than we expected and I can't see how that would serve him personally in any way."
"Did he mean computer hacking was how he found out about all this?"
She nods. "Apparently he's a whiz when it comes to computers. The Capitol was really wasting his talent in planning to make him just a Mayor."
"Seriously. I wonder what else he knows." I say and I really am curious. It seems like he knows everything that's happening in the Capitol. I'm not curious enough to actually ask him or anything but I can't help but wonder what his knowledge level is at.
"Who knows? I pretty much feel like he knows everything. At least everything that's been documented on a computer somewhere anyway. Honestly though, I'm kind of mad that he knew there was a new District 13 the entire time and never told me."
"Did he know you were interested? That you wanted to run away from Panem?"
"Not exactly. He knew I very much disliked everything related to the Capitol though. Seems like if he'd really been so keen on winning me over that he would've just offered to take me out here, to get me away from everything I hated." She says with a little bit of a laugh at the end.
I know she's being sarcastic but I don't like the idea that he could've so easily had her if he'd just played his cards right. "Would you have gone with him? If he'd offered at any point to bring you here?"
"He wouldn't have offered. I was only joking." She tells me.
"But if he had?" I press, not sire why but I just do.
She puts her hand on my cheek and looks me right in the face. "If he'd offered it after things began with you, no." She says seriously.
I kiss her. I don't know why I just pushed that so much. Probably because I've never felt about anyone the way I feel about her. All the could haves and what ifs in the world never mattered before but when it comes to her, they make me feel so nervous even when I know they can't happen now. It's a very strange feeling.
When our kiss breaks, she adds to what she'd just told me. "Although if he'd offered that after things began with you, I would've told you about it and hoped that you would take me to find it instead."
"I would've. I was really coming to look for it as soon as the fence was off again anyway. Of course, I would've seen all these ruins and thought nothing was here."
"I guess we should be happy Drew followed his insight, we'd be trying to form a new plan right now and I don't think we were prepared for that."
"I'm definetly glad we aren't trying to figure all that out right now. I don't know what we would've done. Of course, coming out here was the only option for most of us if we wanted to live."
"I think Drew was the only one who would've escaped unscathed from all of the Capitol's revenge. If I'd gotten on that train and gone home with him to his district, I probably would've just ended up being summoned to the Capitol. Drew likely would've fought to get me out of any trouble but I'm pretty sure I would've been under investigation and very possibly punished in some way. And it likely would've been a dealbreaker for his father."
"Dealbreaker?"
"His family already wanted him to pick Ellison instead of me. If there was any sort of negative connotation surrounding me, I doubt his father would've let him marry me."
"Why'd they want him to pick her?"
"She's of better social status than I am. I overheard a conversation once where his brother more or less said I was trash. He told Drew that no one picked 12 over the Capitol. I wonder what they're all thinking now. And Ellison too. I wonder what she's thinking."
"Well if they didn't like you before they're probably full on hating you now. They think you got Drew killed."
She snorts a laugh and shakes her head. "Probably so. I do feel a little bad that they're likely mourning his death right now though."
"You gonna miss anything from your old life?" I ask as we lay back on the blanket.
"Nothing that mattered. Mostly I'm just looking forward to finally being able to actually be myself. I've never gotten to do that around anyone except you."
"How'd I get so lucky?" I muse as I hug her a little closer and kiss the top of her head.
(Madge POV)
"What do you think it will be like there?" I ask as we lay on my blanket, me curled up against him.
"I have no idea. I feel like anything has to be better than what we just left behind."
"I'm eager to see it but also very nervous all of a sudden for some reason." I admit. I have no idea why I feel like this but after we got here today and saw the ruins that used to be District 13, I started feeling nervous.
"Well, only a few more hours and we'll get to see it." He says, his voice a little mumbly.
"Gale?" I whisper as I can tell he's starting to drift off to sleep.
"Yeah?"
"What if they don't let us in? What if they refuse to let us live there?"
"The rumors, some of them anyway, talked about them taking in refugees. And having been bombed themselves once, I doubt they'd turn away our group considering what we just managed to escape. Why are you so worried all of a sudden?"
"I don't know. I suppose I'm just not used to dealing with unknown when it comes to my future. It's a little unnerving is all."
He kisses the top of my head and hugs me a little closer. "We're gonna be just fine."
We wake up just as the sky is starting to brighten. I hardly slept last night because my mind is swirling with so many unknown things. Like if they'll really let us in? Or if it's a good place to live? What is the living situation like? How many people make up the new district 13? So many questions that I'm thankful I'll be getting answers to very soon. The rest of our group looks eager to get there as well as we start quietly heading that way.
It's definetly challenging making our way past the hunks of concrete and rebarb. Gale was right when he said we shouldn't do this in the dark last night. When we get past all of the ruins, it looks like just open fields leading up to a mountain base. I still don't see any signs of life though and I'm starting to worry that Drew was wrong.
"I don't see anything. Shouldn't we see something by now?" I whisper to Gale.
"Yeah, if there was something at the base of the mountains, we should be able to see it by now."
"Drew? Where is it? Are we in the right spot?" I call back to him.
"Keep going until we get to the edge of the mountain." He advises.
"And then what cause I don't see anything there?" Gale interjects.
"Then we sit and we wait."
"What? Sit and wait? Wait for what?" I ask, feeling confused.
"They'll send someone to get us if we sit and wait. Trust me." He says.
Trust him? He wants me to trust him? I can't think of many people I would trust less than him. But what choice do we have at this point except to trust him? I glance up at Gale and we share a look in which I can both tell we have doubts about Drew's instructions but we keep walking towards the mountains anyway.
When we get there, our group sits and we pass around water and eat a little bit of the food we have left. No one really talks as we wait. Some of the smaller children sleep in the shade of the mountain. The sun is just beginning to drop lower down in the sky and I've mentally decided that Drew was totally incorrect about all of this when suddenly 3 men appear, seemingly out of nowhere and walk towards us, guns in hand.
My breath catches and I can't get any words out but my hand grabs at Gale's arm. Why do they have guns? Did Drew somehow set us up to be captured by the Capitol? Then from behind me, I hear Drew tell the group to stay calm, that it's just a safety protocol.
"Who are you? Where are you from?" One of the men asks almost gruffly as they come to stand in front of us.
"We are survivors from a bombing of District 12. We are looking to seek refuge here." Drew says calmly and clearly.
"Do you have any weapons?" One of the men asks us.
"A few knives for hunting. We can give them to you." Drew tells them and then he turns to Gale and I to get our knives. We open the backpack and hand them to him. I am a little surprised at how Gale is letting Drew handle all of this new interaction but Drew sort of stepped up and started speaking for the group without asking so it's probably best that we just let him run with it at this point.
The men take the kitchen knife and pocket knife and then ask to search our backpacks. We let them and they quickly hand them back. One of them steps away and speaks into a wrist device he's wearing but we can't hear what he says. Shortly after that we are instructed to follow them.
I feel butterflies flitting about in my stomach and I cling tightly to Gale's hand as we follow the men. They lead us to a hidden entrance on the mountain and then we enter, going down several flights of stairs to a lift elevator that then takes us even deeper into the mountain. As we're led through all of this, I realize we are going below ground and deep inside the mountain at the same time. That's why we couldn't see anything. The new 13 is hidden below ground and inside a mountain! We were sitting here in front of this place all day and none the wiser.
We're taken to a room and told to have a seat and that someone will be in to speak with us shortly. Then someone comes in with cups of water and a bowl of apples for us all. No one here seems super talkative yet but they do seem hospitable and I'm taking that as a good sign. We wait maybe a half hour or so and then a woman comes in.
"May I have your attention please?" She asks.
We all sit and turn to listen to what she has to say.
"First, I want to welcome you to District 13. Secondly, I want to say how sorry we are that you've been through something so awful. We are happy to offer each of you refuge here, provided you are willing to abide by our rules." She informs us, then pauses to see if there are any objections. When there aren't, she continues. "You will go through a week long process where you learn about what life is like in District 13 and while we find a role for you to fulfill. Everyone here has a role which helps keep our community safe and thriving. You will learn more about all of that later but for now, we need to get you all checked into our Refugee program. One family at a time we will take you and get you checked in, then you'll be issued uniforms and housing."
I turn to Gale and whisper "Uniforms?"
He shrugs and has a funny look on his face. I'm not sure either of us is too keen on that idea. The woman starts calling for families one at a time and the Hawthornes get up to go. Gale lingers wanting to stay with me but the woman instructs him to stay with his family.
"I'll come find you as soon as we're all checked in, I promise." He whispers and kisses me once. I smile at him as he leaves the room and try to ignore the butterflies that are still fluttering about in my stomach. I still feel incredibly nervous and I'm not sure why.