CHAPTER 9

We were all sitting around the house waiting for the announcements to come on. Maria had told us that today they were showing the prisoners and their pasts and the reaping's. The TV flashed a bit before the Capitol's symbol showed on the screen. The music played for about a minute before Caesar Flickerman popped up on his stage with a couch near him and on that couch was Kaleb's little sister Eliza, they had done her up so she looked cute and innocent, she was dressed in a pink poofy dress, frilly socks, white heeled boots and she had her hair curled in tight small curls around her face.

I heard Peeta growl and saw his fists clench.

"Well hello, hello, isn't it just great to have another Hunger Games earlier in the year. Now, we have a fugitive on stage with us ladies and gentlemen, Eliza Mellark" the crowed 'ooed' and Eliza looked terrified "Don't be fooled by her innocent looks" Even Caesar looked uncomfortable, no one agreed with the capitol but they had no choice but to comply with them "Now, Eliza, tell us about yourself" Eliza shook her head keeping her mouth shut, Katniss would have told her not to say anything, good job Eliza.

"Good girl baby, don't say anything" Peeta said proudly. The family gave us weird looks before realisation hit them.

"Your Peeta Mellark, Kaleb and Annabella Hawthorne" their son Mathew pointed to us "You're the rebels!" he said with excitement to Johanna, Annie, Daniel and Abaigael "But you I don't know"

"Come on I helped Anna escape, I stood up to the Peacekeepers with her dad?" the boy shook his head still confused.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, it seems that little Eliza isn't going to give us anything so we might as well move onto our next guest" He grabbed Eliza's hand and kissed it, earning an awe from the audience and a growl from Peeta and Kaleb. "Haymitch Abernathy!" The crowd booed as Haymitch staggered onstage, not because he was drunk but because he was beaten pretty badly, they stayed away from his face but you could see the bruises on his neck. Haymitch plonked on the couch and gave Caesar one of his death glares.

"What do you want?" Haymitch barked.

"Well we all know why you're here, you have defied the Capitol, care to explain what you have done?" in the background on the screen they had playing his time in The Hunger Games.

"Well you see Caesar, you and the rest of these pompous Capital idiots are going down, you have brought innocent people and charged them for something they didn't do all because a special little girl didn't die like how you planned. You bring in an 11 year old girl who is terrified for her life and portray her as a fugitive when the only terrible thing she could have done in her short life was not eat her vegetables!" Haymitch had stood up in rage getting close to Caesar and threatening him. Caesar looked about ready to crap himself; he was sweating and leaning as far back in his chair as he could. A bunch of Peacekeepers grabbed Haymitch, restraining him and dragging him off stage kicking and screaming. Peeta and Kaleb high fived chuckling.

"Well wasn't that pleasant. Our next guest is our dear Effie Trinket everybody" the crowd cheered, and Effie entered the stage, she looked terrible, she wasn't wearing any of her Capitol make up or wigs. Her dirty blonde hair was tied back in a small ponytail and her face was naturally tanned, she had dark circles around her eyes and cracked, dry lips "Effie, Effie, Effie, how is it you got yourself into this mess?"

"I cared about my tributes" even her normal voice was different "I wasn't aware it was a crime to care"

"No of course not, but it is a crime to conspire against the Capitol" Caesar is defending them even though it is clear he doesn't agree with them. Effie sighed and gave a small chuckle before walking off the stage herself; she ripped her microphone off and stormed from the stage. "Well aren't these interviews delightful this evening, we are definitely saving some time aren't we?" Caesar laughed at his own joke and as if on cue so did the audience "Our next guest is Mrs Katniss Mellark, formally known as The Girl on Fire!" Caesar stood egging on the crowed as Katniss entered the stage wearing the exact same outfit as the very first time she was on his show.

"They're trying to send the message that she is still just a child" Johanna scoffed.

"Hello Caesar, I'm am going to save you all the time you require and just say right now that the Capitol are putting this all on so we look like the bad guys when we have done nothing wrong" She was eerily calm that it was nerve wracking, it made my spine tingle.

"You don't think conspiring against the Capitol is wrong?"

"Please elaborate on how we have done any such thing"

"She is turning the tables" Annie smiled "Thatta girl"

"We have lost so many good people, friends, family, husbands, fathers, wives, mothers and siblings, to the games every year, and just for being human and we are the bad guys for not standing for being killed and controlled?"

"Dear Katniss, the Capitol don't kill people for no reason, all those people were killed in self-defence and the Games are our way of keeping the peace between Districts. Surely you can see that the Capitol don't act without provocation"

"Ooooh, that's a big word for you" Ryder remarked. Abaigael rolled her eyes and slapped him over the head.

"It seems that I am wasting your time Caesar" Katniss stood to leave "Oh and one more thing… touch my daughter again and you will learn the meaning of provocation" she growled, we all cheered for her and laughed hysterically at Caesars face.

"Well, on to the next guest, maybe we will get a pleasant reaction from him… which is doubtful considering his history… Gale Hawthorne ladies and gentlemen!" Dad walked on stage with a pack of makeup on his face, you could see the bruises beneath it. I moved to the floor and closer to the screen touching his face through the TV "Now Gale, you are a familiar face to the rebellion, you were one of the leaders in the last one correct?" Dad didn't even flinch he just kept staring at his feet "You even ordered for the bombs that dropped and killed Katniss' sister" I could see his hands gripping the chair tightly. They were provoking him on purpose, they knew he was the one to provoke because of his temper, no one else would take the bait.

"Don't take the bait daddy" I pleaded.

"Gale, is it true that you raised your daughter yourself" oh no, they knew how to push his buttons. Dad's head shot up to glare at Caesar but he nodded "That does explain how she is the way she is, shame about her mother" dad gripped the chair tighter and looked back to his feet breathing deeply. He was doing good so far. "Annabella is quite the surprise, grew up unnoticed and suddenly volunteers for her boyfriend's little sister and all of a sudden becomes a rebel. Now I have also heard from an inside source that she is hauled up with the famous Johanna Mason her daughter Abaigael and Annie Cresta, what are your thoughts on that?"

"I think that is brilliant Caesar, no better people to be with to take you lot down" Dad smiled shaking his head.

"I doubt that very much, the Capitol has eyes everywhere, and they see and hear all"

"Then how is it that they are still out there and not here with us?"

"I assure you, you will be reunited with Annabella soon enough" Dad couldn't hold it anymore; he leaped from his chair and onto Caesar Flickerman. The TV flashed and turned off, the Capitol had gotten what they wanted. They portrayed us as the bad guys.

"Thank you for your hospitality" We all shook the families hands; their eldest girl Mable who was 20, their second eldest girl Sally who was 18 then their son Mathew who was 16 then the youngest twins, Alicia and Ebony who were 10. I hugged Maria and thanked her for her help and hugged her husband apologising for Jessup who we had tied up and gagged. He was on a long rope that his brother was holding onto. The sun was still rising and has just barely cast light on the District, we had to move now if we hoped not to be seen.

"There is one way you could repay us" Mathew spoke up "Take me with you, I'm really good with throwing knives, please. I want to help" he pleaded looking up at us with a puppy dog look. I looked to his mother who just looked at Mathew with pride in her eyes, so I'm guessing she wants him to come with us "Please? I was planning on coming to join you guys on my 17th birthday anyway"

"I'm sorry kid but we can't have anyone else's blood on our hands" Johanna said. It was true; I couldn't bear to have anyone else die with us and because of us.

"But I want to come" he whined, I have a feeling he was used to getting his way.

"Well too bad" Ryder said mimicking the boys tone. The boy frowned and stomped his foot taking in a deep breath. What was he doing?

"Intruders! HELP! HELP!" peoples lights turned on and Peacekeepers came running "Intruders!" I'm not sure who but someone grabbed my hand pulling me in the direction we came in; I turned and ran with the person. It was Abaigael; everyone else was already a few metres ahead, Daniel was tugging Jessup along but he was refusing.

"Leave him!" I yelled "He is slowing you down, leave him" I reached him and ripped the leash from his hands and dumping it, Daniel didn't want to leave his brother but he had no choice. I pushed him along, it took a little time but he turned and ran. Jessup was screaming through his gag but it was too late to go back for him, the Peacekeepers had passed him and were gaining on us. The people if District 2 didn't do anything to try and stop us as we passed them, they just stood there terrified of what might happen.

Daniel shot out in front of me catching up with the others; I am so unfit I was at the back of the group, another thing I can blame on the baby I guess. Abaigael was being polite and not leaving me behind, she was running with me whispering 'come on' and holding my hand. We were almost at the fence when it happened. Everything was going in slow motion, I could only hear my own breath as I huffed and puffed. We looked ahead and saw Annie, Kaleb and Peeta had just made it through the fence and Johanna was waiting for us and Daniel was making his way through it helping the others gather our weapons and supplies. BANG. I fell to the ground next to Abaigael, her weight dragging me down, I heard a scream but it wasn't mine, it was Johanna's. She was screaming for Abaigael to get off the ground, I looked at our intertwined hands and noticed hers was limp. I rolled her over to see blood coming from her chest. Johanna started running for us when I was grabbed from behind, it took me a while to register what had just happened. Abaigael had been shot, someone shot her!

It only took them touching her for me to snap out of it. everything returned to normal speed as I jumped lifting my legs best I could with this man restraining me. I pushed off of the man who was grabbing Abaigael' face, I think I broke his nose, I flipped over the person restraining me so his arms were forced to let me go and when he turned to grab me I punched him square in the nose. Another pointed his gun at me ready to fire; I quickly grabbed his arm pointing the gun at one of his fellow Peacekeepers and watched as he went down.

Johanna had reached us and grabbed Abaigael along with Kaleb who was grabbing my arm and pushing me away as he was grabbed I went to run for him but I was pulled in the other direction by Johanna who was also trying to carry Abaigael I screamed out for Kaleb and was struggling to try and get to him. Kaleb shot one of the guys backing away; he threw down the gun and sprinted for us. I broke away from Johanna and met him half way placing a quick kiss on his lips. He grabbed my hand sprinting for the fence. We dived through the fence and ran for the trees following Annie; I can't believe Abaigael was shot. What are we supposed to do now? We need her, we can't do this without her.

We stopped running after a while all bending over trying to catch our breaths.

"That little shit needed to be shot" Ryder growled looking over Abaigael "I'll kill him, he didn't even know who I was, can you believe that freckles?" Abaigael gave a sorry excuse for a laugh.

"Yes, I can" Ryder smiled down at her, stroking her hair from her face, he lay her head in his lap while Annie and Johanna looked over the wound. I stood back in Kaleb's arms to hide myself from all the blood, it made me feel queasy.

"The bullet went straight through" Annie turned her on her side inspecting the wounds "Judging by the amount of blood loss and the fact that you are still conscious, it hasn't pierced anything, so we should consider ourselves lucky that he was a bad aim. We need to sanitize the wound and keep pressure on it, has anyone got medical supplies.

"I do!" I pulled out the pack that Mrs Everdeen prepared for me full of medical stuff and handed it to Annie. She pulled out a bunch of stuff and started working on Abaigael.

"That was so stupid" Peeta pulled Kaleb from me chastising him "You shouldn't have gone back, she was perfectly fine. You could have been taken or… or died" Peeta choked on his words and brought Kaleb in for an intense hug. I smiled at them and went to sit with Daniel; he was all by himself brooding.

"I'm sorry about Jessup, but he was a liability to us all" I placed a hand on Daniels shoulder expecting him to cry or be upset or something but the only emotion he showed was happiness, he smiled, his smile turned into a chuckle and then a small laugh. He patted me on the back and went over to Abaigael to help out in any way he could.

"Did anyone grab the little TV thingy that Jessup had?" oh no, he had it on his belt. But the Peacekeepers grabbed him. We needed that device to get into the games and find everyone, how could we have completely forgotten about that? I grumbled and stomped around a little bit throwing a minor silent tantrum before letting out a big sigh and loading myself with weapons.

"I will go get it. No buts" I cut off Kaleb "I will be better and faster by myself, keep moving by the stream that's directly ahead, try not to travel too far away from it so I can find you again" I grabbed my spear and held it tightly "I will be back with the device. Take care of Abaigael and get to cover" Kaleb rushed over to me hugging me tightly.

"I love you" he gazed deeply into my eyes "Be safe"

"Always"

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