Alma felt dead to the world for the next three days. Part of it was probably shock—she hadn't expected to get out of that arena alive, for one thing, and she had also ended up having to kill someone for it with a plan that should have never worked. She had told herself when she was making her original plan that if they got into a fight and killed each other, then she wouldn't really be the one to kill them. Yes, she would have started the fight that ended in their deaths, but they would have ultimately killed each other with their stubbornness.
But that wasn't how it happened. Alma didn't know how she felt about that, and, if she was honest with herself, she didn't want to know how she felt about that. It would have come down to her or him (she wasn't even sure she wanted to think about his name, as dumb as it had sounded), but there was also no getting around the fact that she had killed him.
She wished she could forget that she was a killer now. She didn't even have the temperament to be a killer—she was more of a schemer, a behind-the-scenes person who everyone knew was there making it function, but not the one they could see doing the tricks.
She had seen how the Capitol paraded around the previous victors (killers). She didn't want that. She needed to go.
On the third night, the hospital let Alma go, supposedly on good behaviour (though she had done exactly nothing since arriving), Caminus telling her that the celebrations would start in the morning and told her to get some rest in her bed at the Training Centre. She left the hospital before any paperwork could be done, knowing someone else could do it if they truly cared about her sitting in a bed for a few days.
Hours later, unable to relax enough to sleep, Alma packed up what little she had taken to the city with her and left. She knew there must be cameras watching her leave, but no one came to stop her. Alma had no idea where she was going besides "away," but it didn't matter too much. If she didn't like where she ended up, she would just go somewhere else. If someone recognised her and tried to take her to the Capitol or anywhere where someone might bring her back to the Capitol, she'd run.
Strangely, the city wasn't fenced in any way. Whether because its citizens weren't restricted in very many ways, or because its citizens had no desire to leave or any other reason imaginable, the girl was grateful that her departure wasn't hindered. She had no intention of lingering, and no desire to ever return.
Alma spent weeks hiking through mountains, forests, and all sorts of other terrain, changing direction any time she saw a fence or any other sign of civilisation. It felt like months almost by the time she stumbled across a pond surrounded by small buildings. She almost turned around and ran in fear of someone catching her when she took full note of everything. There were no signs of human life. No sounds of chatter or footsteps, no smoke or lights shining from the houses, not even any domesticated animals.
She eventually decided to spend the night in one of the buildings. It would protect her from the wind, at least, and there might even be some clues about what plants in the area were edible. Alma may not have known much about survival during the games, but she'd had to take some guesses if it meant she wouldn't starve once she'd escaped. She'd watched what animals had eaten and hoped their digestive systems were similar enough to hers, but hadn't tried to hunt any of them because she didn't want to risk the smoke from a fire.
Overall, she'd risked eating very little, so any information or food left behind by whoever had once lived by this pond would be greatly appreciated. The teen was just settling in for the night when she heard the first sounds of human life from outside. It sounded like footsteps coming from the other side of the pond, followed by soft splashes. She peeked her eyes over the empty window sill and saw a lone figure standing knee-deep in the water.
As Alma watched, he bent down and scooped up something. At first, it was hard to tell what it was, but then the figure raised whatever it was to his mouth and ate it.
The girl wanted to rush out and ask what plant that was, but stopped herself with the reminder that the unknown person might report her and get her sent to the Capitol, and, at this point, most likely punished. Instead, she took careful note of where he was standing so she could inspect the area more closely when the person left.
Alma ended waiting for the man in the pond to leave for hours, by which time it was completely dark. Deciding it would do her no good to look for the plants he had been eating when she wouldn't be able to see them properly, she fell asleep.
Morning came, she found the plant, gathered as much of it as she could, and went on her way, in the opposite direction that the man seemed to have come from.
Several more days came and went, but it seemed the further Alma went, the more barren the land seemed to be. She had found barely any of the new plant since she had left the pond, and almost as much water or other plants she knew she could eat. It was just when she found a pile of rubble and thought the complete lack of plant and animal life in front of her signified her doom that she noticed that there was smoke (or was it steam?) rising from various points in the ground.
Alma carefully backed away, wary of explosives that may have been buried beneath the rubble. She examined the mist coming from the ground and decided that it was steam, and therefore much more likely to be man-made. Just as she was about to make her way somewhere else where there would definitely be no people, she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye as a door in the ground opened and a man stepped out.
"We've been waiting for you, Alma Coin. We are District Thirteen. Come with me." the man said, extending a hand full of the plant from the lake before turning around and descending beneath the ground.