Personal Log: Shay
Entry #: 2
Date: 6.14.2505
So far the trip was going well and Penelope's mood improved the farther we got from the districts. So many questions were going through my head, mostly about the things going on outside of the ruins. But with another district of the ruins being explored while I am gone made me mad to think I had to miss the surprises that wait for us. Why was my name had to…
"Shay!" Penelope yelled at me, interrupting my thought.
"Yes?" I yelled back, wondering what happened this time.
"Gale asked you a question," Penelope said, lowering her voice. I was stuck in thought; I didn't even hear him.
"Oh it is ok if he doesn't want to answer," Gale said in a low voice.
"Oh sorry I was thinking about what is going on, so what did you ask?" I asked him, feeling embarrassed by the way I am getting lost.
"What are the ruins?" Gale asked. I felt my heart drop, trying to come up with an answer.
"The ruins are not really ruined in the way you would think. They are in good shape, but grown over by vegetation and they have been abandoned for around for around 350 years," I said trying to figure out what to say next since there is so much to say.
"The ruins are of what was an alliance between three big cities and 6 smaller districts," Michael said coming out of another hatch with a map of the ruins. "The ruins are a perfect square like the Capitol, but a lot bigger and better built. You are not allowed to enter the cities unless you are a researcher like Shay, but you can pass through roads and skyways that have been marked through for travel to the northern districts."
Like he said a perfect square divided into 9 districts with the middle row being the three cities and the other two rows being small districts that provided stuff that couldn't be made in the cities.
"Why is this one gray?" Gale asked, raising an eye brow. He pointed to the middle district.
"That is Caprica, the largest city of the three. We believed it could hold about 150 million people," I said to Gale whose eye grew to the size of plates, but it was to be expected since Panem had such a small population of a few million.
"I know it is shocking I had the same reaction when I heard that," Penelope said, looking at him with a little smile on her face.
"How is that possible?" Gale asked, still shocked.
"Trust me, when you see it you will be amazed by how big the city is," Penelope said. She is right about how big the city is. But when I look at the city plans I think that it is not right. The city is big but has no offices or businesses other than places that served food. Too much of the city went to apartments and parks.
"That doesn't explain why it is gray," Gale said and he was right. . . But should we tell him the dark secret of the ruins?
"Should we tell him about the things Shay?" Penelope said with Gale staring at us as we talked.
"I don't think we should, but he will have to deal with them once we get back," I said thinking about those things and how I wish they were only a nightmare.
"What things?" Gale finally yelled out.
Out of nowhere Michael pulled out the bones of a Reaper that killed 10 people in the area he was working about 2 years ago. "This is what we call a Reaper. It doesn't care about your life or its life so no matter what it will kill you," Michael said. I fell on the ground when Michael pulled out the long bones that put together look like a human but with the mix of evil when you see the huge jaw with lots of razor sharp teeth and is about 3 feet tall.
"That's it!" Gale said, unpleased but almost laughing.
"That thing can kill you in a heartbeat!" Penelope yelled at him.
"That is not scary compared to what the Capitol created to kill us," Gale said and he is probably right, but he doesn't know that the bones in front of him are just a newborn that was only 2 days old and it is half as tall I am.
"You know this thing was only two days old when I killed it," Michael said, shuttering at the memory of it.
"Still you will have to do better," Gale said and laughed when he finished.
Michael looked mad, but all ne did was pick everything up and just went back to another hatch and climbed into it. Penelope left also to take a shower, leaving me alone with Gale again.
"Well you have told me about the ruins. . . Tell me about yourself," Gale said, cooling like nothing just happened.
"My name is Shay Townson. I'm seventeen and I grew up in the ruins. I was a farmer until I started the research program. . . My best-friend is Penelope and my only other friend is Michael," I said in a fast pace but thinking everything over and editing what I just said.
"I am not a friend?" Gale said. I was shocked.
"Well yes, but I don't know you," I said hoping, it would change to conversation.
"I grew up in District 12 with my family. My dad died when I was young so I hunted in the forest around 12 to get money and food. I had a few friends, but they are back at 12," Gale said.
"Oh I am sorry you had to leave them and I am sorry to hear that your dad died, but I must go watch the outside - we are close to the ruins," I said thinking about my own family and how I watched them be torn apart by Reapers.
Outside is better but I can still hear Gale and Penelope talk inside the cabin. The wind is nice as it sweeps all emotions away and the stars in the sky become new dreams and memories in my head. Michael came out of a hatch behind me and scared the living daylights out of me. So I kicked him off the ship while he was hunched over laughing, but I stopped for him to get back on.
It is clear that we are back by the light of the cities appearing before me and the sound of the Reapers' screams fill the warm night air. I think to myself that the truth is in those walls that hold us back just waiting for us.