This is Iris. I'm sorry for losing you earlier. I will attempt to make contact this way via computer. I will try and try to stay with you, but the connection I've hacked may only last so long.

Prim sat quietly with her hands on the ground. She felt for any movement in the ground. Now they were in survival mode. The thought of a silver little beetle popping up and settling down with what they needed was nonexistent. It was all up to Prim and Lucas, and with Prim's...condition...Lucas was, a lot of the time, on his own. Prim was actually alone at the moment, hidden under a tree. Lucas was out planting clues to their whereabouts. They were determined to lead their adversaries astray until it was time to get them out of the arena as well. First, they had to get out of the arena themselves.

She was still covered completely in camouflaged and was sitting comfortably under the tree. Her fingers were cool buried under the dirt. With her eyes closed she was able to pretend like she still had her vision. The darkness was still the same behind her eyelids. She could still feel that same touch of the dirt between her fingers. She could still hear that same buzz of everything around her. With her eyes closed Prim was still herself, and she was still normal. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that Ash wasn't going to like it. He wasn't going to like what happened in the Hunger Games on camera and he wasn't going to like the fact that she was needy now. More needy than ever. He hated needy girls...

There was a slight click on the trunk outside the tree and Prim found herself smiling. He was back.

First, he touched her shoulder and then she felt his knees against hers. It wasn't in anyway the idea of them becoming a couple. It was how she knew he was there. It gave her reassurance of who exactly it was and when he wrote out his name on the back of her hand letter by letter she knew it was him and that it was safe to speak. "Did you have a fun time?" Her voice was in a low whisper and could barely be heard beyond the walls made by the tree's trunk.

"Not particularly. I was doing some...searching while I was planting evidence and found out that the last career boy is traveling alone. The girl is dead." Lucas sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose smearing the camouflage they had worked so hard on. It was caked on pretty thickly, and every time they added a layer it got worse. The thinnest part was over the wounds on their arms which they cleaned as regularly as possible under their conditions. They had ditched their watches long ago which they had used as their first clue when they first ran off. So the news was brand new. Unfortunately, their list had been lost as well though it wasn't hard to figure out who was left. That wasn't what was worry Prim in any way at all.

"Lucas, you're not supposed to be going after the tributes," Prim hissed and Lucas sighed knowing this was going to be the reaction even if they needed the information. It added to the stability of their plan. Prim wasn't looking for a plan though. She was looking for both of them to survive. There was only so much precaution they could take to stay safe. Even with the silencer on Lucas' gun now, even when he only used it in dire emergencies. It didn't matter. They had to take every chance like their last. Every choice meant life or death.

"Prim, we can use this to our advantage. All we have to do is lead the man alone this way. We lie outside that door shoot him down and the door opens. Easy." There was that word. Lucas had been using it a lot over the last couple days and Prim was sick of it. It wasn't easy. Death wasn't easy. Killing someone took a toll. It took a toll on all of the family members of the victim and it took a toll on the killer. Prim knew that almost better than anyone. The only person that new better was Katniss, her mother. Dreams still caught of with Katniss. They caught up and they choked screams out of her until Prim had to wake her from the dreams and get her to stop because her father couldn't take anymore. He couldn't stand hearing his love in pain. He simply left the house and didn't come back till morning as if he couldn't face it.

Katniss claimed that she didn't need to be woken. She had to face the dreams. She admitted to being scared, but she never admitted to giving in to fear. She had to face them because she had to finally take on those people who she had killed. So, how many years had she gone facing them? Before Prim became brave enough to leave her bed and help her mother, how long had Katniss laid there and just screamed having told Peeta the same thing and he listened and left her be?

Prim remembered hearing her screams. The first one scared her every time because it split through the night like a bolt. Peeta said when Prim was a baby it was the only time she cried. When she was old enough to remember she could see herself lying in bed. She stared at the wall and waited. Clutching a ratty old toy cat her mother had attempted to sew when she was little, her mom had called it Buttercup, until that first scream. Then she would clap her hands over her ears and she would pray to no one and everything. She wished on every start in the night sky around District 12 that it would just stop! Just let her mommy be okay the next morning. Let her be herself. Let her be that strong person she always pretended to be...

"It's not easy," Prim whispered and Lucas knew he had struck that chord again. He didn't mean to. He had always been used to talking to his father who just nodded and smiled as if he understood all the problems in the world and then found a new one that he hadn't quite figured out yet.

"I'm sorry Prim..." Lucas looked down and still used his hand to trace the letters to spell out 'sorry' on the back of her hand. When she moved that hand and touched his face he looked up at her. For a moment he waited for her eyes to focus, but then he let the hope go. She wasn't going to be the same. She used her thumb swiping away the dirt on his cheeks as if he could see the way she was cleaning his face. His skin was exposed slowly and Prim found herself searching for his lips with her fingertips. Once she did she was sure she would apologize and pretend it never happened by starting a new conversation. Surprise hit when Lucas shifted and she knew what was about to happen. He used his own fingertips to gently move the dirt from her chapped lips. When he moved forward to kiss her she let him until the very last moment when she turned her head away closing her eyes. He stopped and scooped up her hand with his own. "The cameras aren't on anymore. He won't see this."

"I know..." she breathed and took a moment to swallow that feeling of hope for his kiss. She swallowed that feeling and the lump in her throat that had dripped together with the pain of letting him down.

"Okay Prim," he smiled even though she couldn't see it. She was faithful to Ash and Lucas would respect that. If he ever did get a chance he hoped to get the same reaction. He hoped Prim would be as dedicated to him as to Ash. That didn't mean Lucas like Ash at all. Ash was using her. It was clear by the way he reached for her body and pulled it closer as if they weren't already pressed together. Their relationship was physical and Lucas could see that. Why couldn't she see that?

The sun started to set outside and Lucas sighed. "We should get some shut eye." Lucas muttered and curled up on the ground nearest to the trunk so that his back was against a solid part of the walls. Prim searched for him and curled up next to him for the body heat. This was also something they had started to deal with. With there only being five left they temperatures were starting to differentiate wildly. At night it dropped into the thirties sending most of the animals into hiding which meant most of the chances of game. They had to get out soon, or they would run out of food.

Gale and Katniss were being led by peace keepers forcefully to the train station. President Markkus was waiting patiently on the train platform. He had his hands behind his back using one to hold the other's wrist. Though Katniss and Gale's hands weren't cuffed there was an obvious urgency to their escorts steps and their ranks were in such a way that there was no escape. They were shoved to stand next to President Markkus with Gale on his left and Katniss on his right as if to make fun of her.

"After this," the President muttered through gritted teeth so that he could continue to smile for the camera, "you'll get on the train."

"We're supposed to be here as mentors," Gale hissed not bothering to smile to the cameras. He was rarely ever caught with a smile on his face on camera. "We're not leaving until our kids are out of the games."

President Markkus didn't answer them directly but faced the cameras full on putting on a grim look. "After a small malfunction with our trackers in the arena since the technology hasn't been used since the past game we some how lost two of our tributes in the arena: Primrose Mellark from District 12 and Lucas Hawthorne from District 2. I am sad to say that our Game Keeper has used a small rogue camera and tracked down the bodies of these two tributes incinerated by another explosion in the arena that they set off. So we send home two of our mentors today with heavy hearts and keep them in our minds as they go through this hard time with their families." President Mellark turned and hugged Gale first and then he hugged Katniss. "I'm sorry for your lost Mrs. Mellark. We'll send you the ashes of your daughter as soon as possible." The two were immediately loaded onto the train and as they pulled away from the station President Markkus waved with a single tear rolling down his cheek.

The next morning Prim woke up in Ash's arms. They were lying in their spot on top of his flat topped house. He had spent so much time brushing off all the coal dust that he was so proud of it, but that wasn't what he was focusing on now. He was holding Prim under the blankets they had pulled up there. Nothing had happened, nothing serious at least. He held her as if something had though. She curled into his warmth desperate for his life that was so sure of itself. He was always so sure of his self. He wasn't scared of anything. She envied him so.

She opened her eyes and could see! She could see Ash's beautiful face looking at her so comfortably as if she were the most beautiful sight he had ever seen and she was all his. He caressed her face and when his chest lifted with breath her heart fluttered. When he kissed her a smile lit her features along with the red of a bashful blush. He worked so hard to get that kind of reaction out of her and would do almost anything to get it. Sometimes it made her angry beyond belief, but other times it was sweet and enduring.

How did she get there? How did life become to perfect? Had they gotten out?

She had probably forgotten a lot of things after the surgeries to fix her up. Of course her parents would pay for those kinds of things. She was perfect again. she had vision and for once she was Prim again. How had they gotten out? Who cared? She was safe again back in District 12. When she went home Prim would see her family. See them! They would hug her and ask how her day went and she would complain about the same old things because those same old things were all District 12 had to offer. Prim loved them all though.

Lucas was probably back in District 2 he had probably proven himself worth and was going to the Peace Keepers Academy and meeting some girl that would be his special someone. Yea... He would have his own person to love and grow up with. Prim was...happy for him. Maybe she'd even get to see him again. How good would that be? They could have their families see each other and all would be good. They would be happy. All of them.

"Prim... Prim..." Then the dream was gone. She was being shaken awake and it was Lucas who was waking her. She wasn't in Ash's arms and the breathing hadn't been Ash's. Prim, while dreaming, had spent that whole time with Lucas while she dreamed away. Reality hit Prim when she opened her eyes and the world was a blur once more. At first, she thought she would cry and then she thought better. She searched for Luke in the minimal light and found him crouching near the doorway that led back out into the craziness of the arena. His silhouette was dark and mostly just a blob with blurred edges. "The boy career is out by a mile. I've got clues lined up to lead him here. Come on." Prim crawled over to him and found his waist band where she latched her fingers around a belt loop for him to lead her out to their spots.

Prim laid down first and let Lucas fix up the camouflage. "Close your eyes," he breathed and she listened. He covered her lips carefully and her eyelids. "Don't move." Prim did as she was told and went perfectly still as he finished by covering her up with some of the brush. Lucas fixed his own camouflage and drew his gun. He covered his lower half and some of his clothes with some vines and leaves from some of the other plants around, but chances were they couldn't be seen. Lucas positioned his gun just so that when the boy walked up it would take one quick shot. Then all would be over with.

They waited for what seemed like hours and then the boy walked up. Lucas was about to pull the trigger when a throwing knife came out of nowhere and pierced the boys chest. A cannon went off and then there were a few moments of dead silence before a voice broke the air:

"Owen has been tracking them for days. We just have to pick up where he left off now." Lucas pushed his gun under the brush with a silent move and waited patiently only hoping that Prim made sure not to move as well. The boy that had killed Owen was talking so confidently that Lucas was in no mood to try and take him and whoever he was talking to down.

"I don't know Linus, maybe he's just insane. I mean, it looks like he's the only person that's been through here and there's a giant triangle carved into that tree.

Lucas hoped and hoped for them to leave he just needed the hoover bike to come through. That's all he needed.

"We'll see Odessa. Come on," the boy motioned to the girl and led her over to the body where they searched him for weapons. Odessa pulled the bow and arrows from Owen's body. Odessa grabbed Linus' hand and smiled weakly. "We'll head back to where he came from," Linus told her. "We'll find the last clue he had on the two and work from there." Odessa nodded no matter if she agreed or not and the two walked off through the path Owen had so messily made on his way through.

Lucas grabbed Prim's forearm as soon as everyone was cleared out. When the door opened Lucas pushed Prim in first and then himself as the hoover bike passed over them. As the door sealed the floor lowered from being at the sharp angle of a ramp until it was parallel with the floor. Lucas used his hold on Prim to pull her to her feet and the two of them ran for the nearest doorway. When they made it into the doorway they were brought into a supply room stocked with toilet paper and other things.

"Lucas?" Prim asked as she sat against the door with one hand on the door behind her and one hand on the floor as if she would be able to tell when someone walked up. "What do we do first?" She wondered as he dug around the supply room desperately. When he found what he was looking for her cleared out the spot and moved the shelf though he wasn't being very quiet about it.

"We're going to go through the vents," Lucas said calmly as he tucked his gun back into the waistline of his pants.

"Where to?" Prim asked as her heart pounded. There were so many people walking through the hallway and she was just trying to look out for the one person headed to their door.

"The mentor's room. It's got to be in here somewhere." Lucas got the vent open and touched Prim's knee. "Let's go."

"You have to go first."

"I have to close the vent door." Lucas told her and then got her to climb through first and into the vents. Lucas closed the vent behind them as best as possible before he followed Prim into the vents. "If you press against the far wall I think I might be able to move past you." Prim nodded and moved close to the left side wall. Lucas carefully slid past her and moved on forward with Prim following close behind him just by the sound of his movement.

They were in those vents for hours just going to dead ends and then turning to a different way. There was always this maze like quality to every turn that made you feel like you would lost forever. The maze had to end eventually and when it did Lucas laid down outside the vent that led into the stuffy little mentor's room. He listened as a women came in that was obviously capitol that it made Lucas feel sick. She broke the news to the mother who seemed to be an only mother of the death of her son. She talked about if the women would just follow her they would show here Owen's body and she could head home to start making arrangements for the service. Even when they were gone Lucas sat there to watch and see if anyone would walk in or out of the room. Maybe they would walk in and then they could get some help. Maybe, maybe...maybe.

Lucas turned away and was crawling down the direction they came when Prim came from the wing he had left her in and touched his calf. "Lucas, what are we doing here?" Prim demanded making sure to keep her voice down.

"We came to get our parent's help," Lucas muttered and started to crawl farther with Prim on his heels.

"Are they going to help?" Prim whispered with hope. They were going to meet them, right? They were finally going to have some way to clean up and get out of here, finally.

"They aren't here."

A voice crackles on over the speakers within the innards below the arena of the 76th Hunger Games: ATTENTION ALL CAPITOL MEMBERS IN THE ARENA THERE ARE INTRUDERS IN THE ARENA. REPEAT! THERE ARE INTRUDERS IN THE ARENA! ALL PEACE KEEPERS ARE ORDERED TO REPORT TO THE GAME KEEPER NOW! THIS IS CODE YELLOW! CODE YELLOW!