This chapter is a little shorter than usual. I'm very sorry. It's still just me because once again this is off the record. Well, it won't be for long. Everyone will now what happened :)

Katniss pushed open the door to her home which seemed a strange place without her daughter greeting her casually to bring her into the life of the home. This wasn't home without her.

No one was there so Katniss dropped off her bags and headed into town towards her husbands bakery where she was sure they would be. When she got there the store was closed, yet the door was unlocked which allowed her inside easily. Gavin was sitting at one of the small tables with a biscuit that he tore chunks off of silently. Peeta was cleaning off the counter next to the cash register though it was a heartless act. They had no life whatsoever.

"Peeta?" Katniss spoke up and his head snapped up to look at her. "Why don't you have the Games on?"

Peeta walked from behind the counter using the rag to wipe his own hands. He then casually threw it over his shoulder and walked to her hugging her tightly. "Who are you? A Peace Keeper?" He whispered in her ear refusing to let go of her. Gavin ran into them as he hugged their legs desperate for his mom's touch that had been absent so long. "There's nothing to watch anyways. There's only two left and they're just living as if the arena is their home. They start work on building a permanent shelter yesterday."

Peeta finally let go of her and Katniss picked up Gavin no matter his age. He clung to her squeezing her neck. Peeta headed back for the kitchen where he worked on pulling some of the loaves from the oven. The clang of the pan against the counter made Gavin jump in her arms and she rubbed his back carefully to settle him back down.

"She's alive." Katniss said it so suddenly that Peeta looked at her as if it were a cruel joke. She didn't back down though. Why would she joke about it? "I saw them when they cut the trackers out of their arms. They got away and President Markkus said they were dead so that he could send Gale and I home." Peeta's astonishment melted away and then he let his face fall as he though about it. Katniss set Gavin on the counter nearest her and moved closer to Peeta taking both of his hands in hers. "She's okay Peeta. She's on her own now, but Lucas will get her out. We'll see her again." Katniss got on her tiptoes kissing Peeta as if to seal the deal like the day they got married. Unfortunately, Peeta couldn't find that same hope for Prim.

Lucas now had Prim's hand as they walked while Leera skipped along into the holding cell hallway as if nothing was happening. Lucas had taken the place of the guard for the hall and was now pretending to flirt with Prim who was being a lovely Capitol citizen named Malia. Lucas had her cornered against the wall with her ducking her head bashfully. "How are we going to get out of here once we get this girl?" Prim wondered touching her hand to his chest as if she wasn't sure if she should push him away or bring him closer.

"I was thinking, in a place this big, it's got to have a couple thousand emergency exits and the Game Keeper, or past one, knows all the ways out. Maybe there's one without an alarm." Lucas touched her face carefully as if his touch would scare her away. "We've been all through those vents and there was no way out through there. We just have to get out of the arena now." Prim giggled as someone walked by and they faced them for a second before rolling their eyes and continuing to walk as if nothing had happened.

"I guess we have to actually talk to this girl then?" Prim muttered suddenly deflated. This wasn't something she was particularly looking forward to. In her eyes this was still the girl that had blinded her so cruelly. With her mothers temper it was easy believe that there were moments that Prim wished this women dead.

She couldn't feel that way much longer though. When Prim and Lucas were called back into the hall by Leera they came face to face with Iris: a seventeen year old girl that in no way looked like she belonged in the capitol. She had on loose fitting jeans and a black v-neck that hugged her figure. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her eyes were the most normal of browns you would ever see. She was a normal girl just like Prim. "Thank you guys for coming to get me," she smiled and her eyes twinkled with the smile as Leera waited for the tension to dissolve from Lucas and Prim's side of the exchange. Lucas grudge was all but forgotten. Prim didn't have to worry about the girl's looks getting to her. She did seem to understand the innocence in her voice though and she cut her some slack.

"We need a way out," Prim snapped. Okay, so there wasn't that much slack to give her. "Are there any ways without an alarm?"

"No, every emergency exit has an alarm and a guard. The only way that doesn't is the main way and they have tons of guards up there." Iris sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose realizing who the girl was even under the makeup as soon as she had spoken.

"I can take out the guard," Lucas put a hand on Prim's shoulder and she relaxed slightly at his touch. "Then we just have to disable to alarm somehow."

"You can't. The alarms are controlled all through the Game Keeper's room. It's the main control center. It has everything." Iris started to pace in the hallway as if it required hard thinking though no one could pin what exactly she was trying to think about. "We aren't actually all that far from District 13," Iris suddenly said looking at her group. "I know Prim and Lucas are in shape. I still go diving and swimming every now and then. Leera?" Leera nodded as if she was telling everyone she was still in shape, or she hoped she was. "If we can move fast enough maybe we could make it District 13."

"We'd have to set off the alarm first," Prim reminded everyone. For a moment it sent all the plans into shambles. Everyone looked at each other and continued to stare as if it would change anything.

That's when everything happened all at once. Lucas had been about to tell her that it would be worth it to at least try and then the people of District 13 would protect them when a Peace Keeper poked his head down the hall. "Hey you! You're supposed to be in the cell!" Lucas whipped around pulling his gun and fire then and there. It his a citizen's arm out in the hall and she fell to the ground screaming. The Peace Keeper was gone though.

"Where's the nearest exit?" Lucas demanded grabbing Prim's hand and leading their whole group down the hall.

"Twenty yards down this hall. Leads up and out, but it's a lot of stairs."

Lucas ignored Iris after that as the four of them ran for the exit. While Lucas and Iris managed to run at full speed, Leera and Prim struggled in their heels. Eventually, Leera hooked off her heels and tossed them to the floor to continue running along with her group breaking closer to the front next to Lucas who finally picked Prim up right off her feet and ran with her on his back and her clinging to his neck. She was now the hindrance where she had tried not to be the whole time. She wished so desperately that she could still be in the arena so that Lucas could be long gone by the time the Peace Keepers got close.

The ones that were smart enough to realize they needed to be faster had taken the hover bikes and were speeding towards them crazily. Lucas broke through the exit door and the alarms started to ring. Unfortuantely, as an add to all security systems once an emergency exit door was opened and the alarms went off they stayed open so that any other people could continue to file out and not be slammed against the door. The four of them hurried up the stairs as fast as possible taking the stairs two or three at a time. They continued straight up without any break and soon their legs started to demand a break. Luckily, the hover bikes had to be ditched a long way back because they couldn't fit through the doorway.

"Go! Go, go!" Lucas bellowed up at the front of the line as he spotted the door at the top. Iris slammed her hands against the bar and emerged out in the middle of almost a barren waste land. A mile away Lucas could see the woods where they would be able to hide better. "Run!" Lucas ordered not stopping to take in the scenery. They had to make it out there before anything could get to them which meant there was no time to stop. Dust kicked up around them where their feet fell and it became clear that they were the only people out there until dust moved in front of them. A wall of sand picked up in front of them and a sound, barely audible, entered the air. A hovercraft landed there in front of them. The first person to step out: President Markkus.

"Isn't this cute?" President Markkus chuckled and then looked over his shoulder at the hovercraft that was now shut down. "Boys," around ten men emerged from the hover craft and rounded their group together. Prim slid to the ground as she cuffed and led toward the hovercraft. The Peace Keeper leading Prim stopped in front of President Markkus and left her there as he helped round the other three into the hovercraft. Lucas pushed forward toward Prim angrily. They weren't leaving Prim and Markkus alone. He wouldn't let them. Lucas really didn't have a choice. There were at least four guys on him already and when the Peace Keeper left Prim there, there were suddenly five and he was forced into the hovercraft where the door sealed and left Prim out there.

President Markkus grabbed the wig Prim was wearing pulling it backwards off her head and letting it fall to the ground. "I told you I would own you Primrose Mellark."

Inside the hovercraft Lucas was being searched for weapons. When they reached the small of his back where his gun was he waited for it to be confiscated. When they said he was clear it shocked him. He had had his gun. He was sure of it. He had tucked it back into place when he had to pick up Prim so that they could all run. The girls were standing next to him looking at him expectantly as if he would have a plan. He didn't have a gun though. What would he fight with?

Bang! A shot sounded and all the Peace Keepers turned toward the doors. They all rushed outside and suddenly many words went up at once. The one that Lucas caught was Prim's voice: "Move and I'll shoot you too! Let them out." The large door they had been led in through opened like a garage door and Lucas was able to see Prim with her wig stained red as it laid in a puddle of blood. President Markkus was dead.

The shot heard around the world. We'll be headed back to the Capitol. Thank goodness. Maybe I'll finally go home to District 4 where I can see my family again.

Lovingly,

Iris Jones