A/N: Hi everyone - Thanks so much for reading! Just a note to let you know I'll be away from the internet a lot over the next few weeks. I hope to post another chapter or 2 later this week and will include an update about how long I'll be away then.
I've been working with Naiya a few days, and so far everything's been going pretty well. I'm still learning about the inventory and everything behind the scenes, but I have a bit of a knack for the actual handing out provisions work. Being a Mayor's daughter was perfect training for dealing with the general public, I think. I'm so used to not batting an eye at having to deal with all different types of people. Only back in district 12, it was usually Capitol citizens we had to host in our home during their seemingly interminable visits. Here it's a constant stream of new faces. Naiya is really patient with me when I screw something up, too.
Things seem to be getting better for everyone. Spinner asked Rose out, thankfully, and of course she said yes. She definitely seemed more welcoming to me after that - she even apologized to me. They had their first date last night. He wouldn't tell me anything about it but based on the goofy smile on his face this morning, I think it went well.
Yesterday, Marai was released from the infirmary. She didn't come back to the apartment though. I guess there are too many memories of Carlo there for her. She's staying with a friend from the communications task force instead.
Bear's working in the apartment, mostly at night, on one of those electronic tablets like we use to register people at the store - my nickname for the distribution site. His leg is healing I guess. He doesn't like to talk about it, which is really frustrating. Spinner reminded me that Bear usually prefers to be on his own anyway. Since Bear won't talk about it, I've started calling him 'the invalid' as a joke. Spinner loves it.
I was at the store today when Naiya got the message on her communicuff for people to gather at our muster stations at 16:00. So, here we are.
Each neighborhood has a muster station where we're supposed to gather for important news briefings. Naiya explained them to me on my first day, and pointed out ours on my map. They're actually called something like Neighborhood Response Advisement and Action Centers, but nobody calls them that. Muster stations are where you gather in an emergency on a ship, so it didn't take long for the people of district four to apply the term here.
The announcement is about a hurricane that may be headed our way. The word sounds familiar but I can't place it at first. As the discussion turns to storm surges and wind speeds, I remember where I've seen it: in descriptions of the long ago time before Panem existed, tucked in there with storms and sea level rise. We didn't get hurricanes in district 12. but I know it doesn't sound good.
I'm trying to remember more details when I hear a muffled snort to my right. Next to Johnny, Bear is covering his mouth, as if suppressing a laugh. When he glances my way I glare at him, but that only makes him fight off more laughter. What's his problem? It's one of few times he's been out of the apartment since the train station attack. Is he laughing at something about the new system of organizing and announcements?
Our spokesperson goes on to describe the preparations already underway, and says extra provisions will be available at the distribution sites tomorrow, to help everyone prepare. He lists the sites and hours for people to get their supplies. I guess I'll be hearing more about that soon enough. They don't even bother talking about what to do when the hurricane hits - I guess everyone here already knows that.
On our way back to the apartment, Bear does it again - only this time he doesn't suppress his laughter when he looks at me.
"What?" I hiss at him.
Making sure no one else will hear, he whispers teasingly, "do you even know what a hurricane is?"
Great, he's laughing at me now. I shove his side, which I shouldn't since his leg is still recovering, and huff, "Shut up! I know it's bad. Like a big thunderstorm."
"Okay okay, you're not completely clueless. But you've never seen one, right? It's the wind, that makes it a hurricane. Seriously, hope it passes us by. Those storms can do serious damage."
We're not back in the apartment half an hour when there's a pounding on the door. Johnny raises his eyebrows at me. When I shrug, he hops up and answers the door, then walks back into the apartment followed by Rose.
"Maddie!" she says happily. "Hey! I was hoping to see you. How's everything going?"
I'm glad to see she's acting normally toward me. I smile and answer, "Going great. Your mom's really helping me get into the routine." As I speak, Spinner's head pops into the room from the hallway behind Rose, but he's holding a finger to his lips, so we all act like we don't see him and I try to focus on my conversation with Rose.
He sneaks quietly toward her as she laughs, telling me, "Yeah, sorry I haven't been by the site much. It's one crisis after another, I swear. And now the hurricane. So, we'll be sending extra provisions around on a few trucks in the morning, to distribute as much as we can before the storm hits. I'm hoping to recruit Spinner to help. Speaking of ... is he here?"
I don't know how I keep myself from bursting out laughing. "Umm ... yeah, he's around here somewhere." Just then, Spinner closes the distance between them and lightly grasps her waist. "Boo!" he says.
Rose shrieks, practically jumping out of her skin. Bear, Johnny and I crack up laughing. Rose smacks Spinner in the chest as she turns to face him. Infuriated, she gripes at him, "You...! You're gonna pay for that."
Spinner lifts his eyebrows and grins back at her. "Oh really? And here I thought you came to ask my help."
She gripes at him, "You're impossible. Come on, we gotta get to command." With that, Rose drags him out the door. We have a pretty quiet night in the apartment after that.
The next morning when I arrive at the store, Naiya is already directing Tad and Sasha in preparations for the crowds that are sure to visit us today. I haven't talked to her yet about Rose and Spinner ... I wonder what she thinks about it. Getting down to business, she tells me that Spinner's bringing the truck in two hours. We'll distribute from the existing inventory until then, and then distribute from both the regular counter and directly from the truck while supplies last. We'll be checking people in on the electronic tablets as usual, so nobody gets more than their fair share. There's already a steady stream of people, and the time passes quickly. Before I know it, the truck is pulling up outside the building. Tad and I hurry out to meet Spinner. There's not a ton of space to work with at the back of the truck, so Spinner sends Tad back in to help Naiya at the counter, while I stay to help him. Spinner takes the electronic tablet to check people in, but soon the crowd is overwhelming. He has to yell to be heard about them all, as I hand bags of food and supplies down to people Spinner's registered. The crowd pushes forward impatiently until they are almost against the back of the truck, scarcely allowing room for people to leave.
I'm trying to distribute the supplies as quickly as I can, getting them to the right people. Then, before I know what's happening, my ankle is jerked out from under me as I'm reaching into the truck for more provisions, and I'm pulled off the edge of the truck. I hit the pavement hard, knocking the breath out of me, and then hear a series of gunshots, followed by Spinner's agitated voice. "Everybody back. Out of the way."
Why was there gunfire? What's going on that I can't see? The crowd moves away, and I'm staring up at a cloudy sky, shakily gasping for air.
Again he yells, "You take one step near the truck and I won't hesitate to shoot. We'll close down the entire distribution site if anyone so much as breathes heavy." Then he's at my side, asking if I'm okay. Shakily, I answer, "Yeah, I think so." As I try to shift to one side, pain surges from my shoulder. I yelp, "Ow! My arm hurts."
Naiya has pushed her way through the crowd and slowly checks me over and helps me up. I ache all over and something is wrong with my shoulder, from which my left arm hangs awkwardly, but I can walk and talk and seem mostly okay, so Naiya helps me to a back room in the building and orders me to stay there. I'm not about to argue, but I insist that she go back out to finish the distribution. She does, once she's sent a message to the infirmary and has brought me some water to sip on. I close my eyes and try to ignore the pain.
The infirmary sends its own vehicle to come pick me up and take me back to get checked out. In the infirmary I learn that my shoulder has been dislocated and there's damage to the tendons and ligaments - basically, the stuff that usually holds my shoulder in place. The healer resets the shoulder into place and puts my arm in a sling. She says I shouldn't use my arm at all, that it needs time to heal. Otherwise, I'm a little scraped up but nothing serious. She's going to let me go home, but I'm supposed to come back in two weeks to have my shoulder checked. Then she tells me to wait while they prepare painkillers for me to take home. While I wait, I think about what happened. I feel stupid; I should have been more careful.
It's been a long time since I've thought about playing piano, but somehow losing the use of an arm, and sitting here bored in the infirmary, brings to mind the hours I used to spend practicing. To distract myself from the pain, I tap out the pattern of an old familiar melody with my good hand. I'm quietly humming and tapping my way through a second tune when Johnny appears at the door to my room looking overly concerned.
"Maddie? Are you okay? How long have you been here?"
"Hey. I'm okay, just a little banged up. The healer's going to bring me some medicine for my arm."
He turns a critical eye on the sling. "It wasn't a break. Dislocated? I can go check on the painkillers, if you've been waiting long." That's right, I think, he works here now.
I shake my head. "You know all about this stuff now, huh?"
He blushes a bit, saying, "Not really, but I'm learning more every day. I'll go check on your medicine." He disappears down the hall.
Johnny's back in no time at all, pouring me a glass of water so I can take one of the small white pills he's brought. After I take the pill and finish the water, he hands me the rest of the pills in a packet and tells me, "Two a day - one with breakfast, one with dinner, starting tonight. You can let me know if you need more. You're free to go home. I've got a few more hours here, but tonight we can go over how you should take care of the shoulder."
Surprised by how professional and knowledgable he seems, I thank Johnny, and he walks me to the door of the infirmary. As I'm thanking him again, I think of Spinner and Naiya. They probably haven't heard anything since I got whisked away to the infirmary.
"Hey, Johnny? Do you think you can get a message to Spinner, that I'm okay?"
Johnny agrees, "No problem."
Bear is surprised to see me back at the apartment early, and even more surprised by the sling. His forehead wrinkles with concern until I can assure him I'm fine. I try to explain what happened, but realize there are a few missing pieces to my story. Once I've convinced him I will live, he jokes that I must have gotten myself injured on purpose because I've been so obviously jealous of his amazing life as an invalid. Great, now he's turning my own joke against me. I can't win.
Eventually I realize he was working before I turned up, so I change the topic by getting him to explain what he's doing for the intel operation. He's got one of the electronic tablets he works from, and he explains how it lets him access some of the digital records from the Capitol files. He reads through everything and takes notes on anything that might be useful for his reports to command. He's showing me some of the electronic files when Johnny gets home from the infirmary with Spinner in tow. They're carrying several bags of provisions for us, which I'd totally forgotten about since my injury. And of course Johnny won't let me help put them away, saying I need to rest and get used to not using my arm.
Bear immediately wants to know what happened at the distribution site and Johnny's anxious to hear too. Soon Spinner is explaining what happened from his perspective - he didn't see who pulled me out of the truck, but the gunfire had been his, firing into the air to get everyone's attention and get them away from me and the truck. I am unbelievably grateful to him, for how quickly he reacted to make sure I was okay. After that they shut down distribution from the truck until they'd gone through everything designated for distribution from inventory, then the entire group worked to keep things in order around the truck for the rest of the distribution. I'm glad it worked out okay. If the hurricane does come, people will need these supplies, and I'm glad the entire neighborhood wasn't punished because of one person's actions. He also brings a braided cord, a bracelet that Rose and Naiya sent for luck, joking that after today, they both thought I needed some luck. Spinner says they both felt bad about what happened - which is ridiculous of course, it wasn't their fault. Still, It's a sweet gesture.
The district has set up communications so they can broadcast over the televisions within the district to deal with the storm, and the rest of the evening is interrupted with their repeated announcements and warnings.
The next few days are pretty quiet for us. The rain starts the next morning, and continues to deluge the district for two days. But apparently we avoided the worst of the storm, which passed to the south of the district. Even so, the new district broadcasts and the communicuff alerts bring a steady stream of new concerns for the district. In the meantime, we're not supposed to leave the apartment, so we entertain ourselves with card games and stories. The apartment loses power sometime during the first night – Bear says it was around 1:00. Spinner uses his communicuff to send Rose messages, and we tease him about "keeping channels open" for emergencies. I'm sure he wishes he'd thought to stay with her through the storm. Johnny keeps an eye on my shoulder and rebukes me whenever I forget and try to use my left hand for something.
That night the rain slows and finally stops. Outside, water still flows through the street below us. The new apartment is in one of the most densely developed parts of district four, and I'm really not used to being surrounded by so much pavement. With so much rain, there's nowhere for the water to go except flowing across the pavement.