Gently Jacob lifts me off the ground. I dust myself off- though it didn't help my appearance much. I grimace at the pain, but put my best fake smile on so he doesn't see.

"Can you walk alright?" he asks and I take a couple test steps. My head hurts and I'm dizzy, my feet are wobbly and sore and I'm falling forward, forward- right into Jacob's arms.

"I don't think you're ready to move yet. Here. Hop on." I manage to struggle my way onto Jacob's back, but it's difficult because I can only use one arm. Gale and the rest of our pack are already moving.

Jacob turns into a slight jog to catch up with the others. He catches up with Gale and strikes up a conversation, but I don't pay attention. I can't really hear them anyways, with my ear and all. I decide to see whom we're with. There aren't many girls, but the few that there I don't recognize. There are a couple stocky guys, but we're all mostly skinny as hell, because it's District 12 we're talking about.

"- and when we get there, Elaine's supposed to get us all rooms, but it's gonna be crowded. We'll probably all get roommates. Yeah, it's a lot-" I tune the boys out again.

Overall, there are maybe 35 of us. Looks like my mom's group didn't have many people in it. That's when I realize our surroundings. This forest- this beautiful medley of spruces and pines -must be the one beyond the Fence. I'd never been back here before. In fact, I'd never been in a forest before. I'd never been anywhere besides District 12 in my life before.

A stick thin girl maybe a year younger than me approaches and says hi.

"Hey. I'm Izzy. What's your name?" I feel awkward because I'm on Jacob's back, but I get the vibe that the girl isn't nervous because of that. She ignores my question.

"You know, we could get caught. What if the Capitol finds us? Finds us running away?" She looks nervously around.

"That's not true. If the Capitol knew about District 13 then they'd look for us. But they don't know what we're doing." I say with surprising confidence, though I'm not even fooling myself. The girl retreats but her worried expression doesn't change.

I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Izzy?" I do a little jump, but it doesn't really work since I'm on Jacob's back.

"Sorry. I was zoning out." Jacob lets out a little grin.

"We're about to catch up with Steel's group. You'll probably get to see your mom." I read Jacob face and understood someone he knew was also in that group. My face lights up. Immediately I can feel as if I could walk, even run to my mom. I notice a little moving clump on the horizon and I figure my mom must be there. In a matter of minutes we're coming up on the edge of a desert with Steel's group a mere hundred meters from us or so.

That's when I notice we've stopped. With my ear, I must not have noticed, but now I hear a faint whirring sound. Even the people with my mom have froze. Gale shouts.

"Everbody! Get down! Hide! Now! The Capitol's coming!" With the evasive maneuvers of a pro, Jacob dives behind a bush. I land on my hip and I hear a little 'pop' and everything hurts. The sound gets louder. The wind picks up. I'm scared, but I want so badly to help my mom. Then a huge shadow is over us, the sky is black and all I see from the bush is my running mom being picked up by a hovercraft.

"No!" I scream and claw at the bush! I get up and start running towards my mom. I don't care how bad it hurts- I can't lose my mom now.

"Mom!"