Chapter 23: The Rebel Life of a District 8 Commander
Author's note: These next few chapters are a complete deviation from Amanda Snow's story in the Games. Shortly after I finished Chapter 22, I was writing one day like I always do and I just started thinking of President Paylor's life in District 8 under the Capitol's rule, and as I was pacing back and forth in my living room while I was voice typing into the microphone of my headset out of my imagination and my word processor on my computer popped out 20,000 words worth. It's irrelevant to Amanda Snow's story, but after I had written this it seemed a shame to waste it. Some character's lines from both the movies and books have been changed. Enjoy.
President Paylor sat in the lounge off of the Gamemakers control room. She liked to give them instructions every now and then. The Gamemakers were not under threat of death to put on a good show like they were under the old regime, but they would be severely reprimanded for disobeying President Paylor's rules. The first rule was at the Gamemakers were not permitted to kill any of the tributes. All of the tributes would die only at the hand of another tribute. The Gamemakers could still manipulate the tributes to put on a more entertaining show, but the Gamemakers were not allowed to kill the tributes. The Gamemakers were permitted to scare the tributes and even wound them with a few cuts and bruises, but not too severely. The only slip-up on that account was Lisa Derrick dying because her legs got tangled in grass under water. President Paylor told them that there would be no punishment for that because it was clearly an accident, but she did reprimand them to make sure it didn't happen again.
President Paylor watched on the television as Amanda Snow had just killed Irene Avion. She had just listened to Amanda Snow's defiant denunciation of her. The President considered it, using her own power and authority to pull some strings right now, this minute, and end the Games, and declare that there were six winners. But she felt that she needed to adhere to the rules, the people expected from her a sense of continuity. She could not stop the Games.
She thought of her present life, she did not surround herself with wealth like President Snow did, no. She lives in the President's Mansion and had brought her family and close cousins from District 8 to live there with her, though she sleeps in a king sized bed and is served fine meals, she tries to live a relatively simple life. Other than that, she attends to her presidential duties. She attends a lot of administrative meetings, and does a lot of paperwork in her office, redirecting orders of supplies, labor, and raw materials to construction projects for the reparations of broken buildings from the war and other such things. She also reads reports, criminal activity throughout country, the new rules that the Peacekeepers had to follow of enforcing the law with benevolence, and keeping the peace by helping people. The Peacekeepers rarely needed to deal with serious crimes such as murder, assault, or rape. The country was at peace. The people of the districts were content because their standard of living had gone up significantly. Mostly, all that the Peacekeepers had to deal with were small, insignificant, and mild crimes of indiscretion that were swiftly and justly dealt with, but nothing meriting a public whipping, or the death sentence.
But for now President Paylor's mind was on the violent fight between Amanda Snow and Irene Avion, and then Amanda Snow's plea to her that she should end the Games, and had there not been enough killing? The President thought of everything that led up to this point.
Flashback:
Three years earlier, District 8:
It had been the final day of the 74th Hunger Games. Textile-factory worker, Finch Paylor had been sitting in her living room with her two daughters watching the television. Katniss Everdeen had just shot an arrow into the forehead of the boy from District 2, Cato, while he was being eaten alive by the wolflike Mutts. The cannon sounded. The wolf monsters retreated away from the cornucopia. That was it. It was over. They all had been rooting for the starcrossed lovers from District 12. And now because they were both from the same district, and they were both the last two standing, the new rules laid down by the Gamemakers was that they both were going to go home together, the first and only year where there would be two victors. Or maybe it was a standing new rule? Perhaps every year there are be two victors if both came from the same district.
Paylor and her daughters watched as they waited for the voice of Claudius Templesmith to announce both the end and the winners of the 74th Hunger Games. Nothing. There was a silence as they watched Katniss and Peeta look around in confusion, as clearly they were wondering what was the holdup.
Then Claudius Templesmith's voice was heard.
"Congratulations, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! You both have made it all the way to the final two, you both have worked extremely hard to make it this far, and you both should be extremely proud of yourselves! However, further examination of the rules have determined that the previous amendment to the rules allowing for two victors from the same district... is illegal on our part, and now we must correct our own mistake! There can be only one Victor! Good luck! Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"
Paylor and her girls were both outraged. Paylor understood it though. This was the height of television entertainment. Building anticipation, then just to bust out something even more exciting. What were Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark supposed to do. Each volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the other so that the other could go home. Peeta then un-bandaged his leg and he started bleeding profusely. With that rate of blood loss he wouldn't last much longer. Katniss Everdeen then pulled out a handful of poison berries from her pocket that she had been planning to feed to Cato, and poured some of them into Peeta's hand.
It was then obvious to Paylor what Katniss and Peeta were planning to do; they were going to force the Capitol's hand.
'You can't force the Capitol's hand, it would never be allowed!' Paylor thought? 'No one had ever challenged the Capitol by forcing their hand before!'
That would be the Capitol giving in to blackmail. And everyone knows that if the Capitol gave into blackmail in even the smallest sense, especially on live television like the Hunger Games? ... It would give thousands of people across the country reason to become bold enough to do the same. The only thing that maintains order right now with in the districts, is that the citizens just try to keep a low profile and be good. But on the television right now, what could the Gamemakers do? If the last two tributes who were standing were to die simultaneously, then there would be no winner, the Gamemakers would be blamed for it, and executed as an example to the future Gamemakers to make sure the same thing never happens again. What were the Gamemakers to do?
Then the voice of Claudius Templesmith came again.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Katniss and Peeta looked up at the camera.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winners of the 74th Hunger Games! Katniss Everdeen, and Peeta Mellark!"
There was a live video broadcast as Katniss and Peeta were brought into the hovercraft and Peeta passed out from blood loss while Katniss banged on the glass that separated them.
Paylor herself now felt more bold. If the District 8 citizens could raise an army, then maybe they could overthrow the Capitol. It's harder than it sounds, of course. It would take very careful long-term planning, as most people would be more compelled to cower in their homes, which Paylor herself did not blame them for. She thought of the mere fact of why she and her two daughters were without her husband and their father. He had been publicly executed by the Head Peacekeeper one year earlier on a false charge of a small and mediocre crime. She worked double shifts six days a week at the textile-factory to feed her two daughters.
One of her personality traits was that she had an authoritative tone of voice and a very strong will. In her life she herself had endured several public whippings, though with a defiant attitude. But among her peers they always trusted her judgment as she could make split-second decisions in a desperate situation and almost always be right. That gave her power among her people, and with great power comes great responsibility. She looked at her two daughters, the two people in the world to whom she loved more than anyone else. She had a dream, a dream that one day her daughters would have an easy life of luxury, little work, and a less strict police force that would watch over them with gentleness. A fools dream. An overambitious dream. But she always clung to a shred of hope for that possible future for her little girls.
The very next day she met with some of her friends. Other families and their friends met at their homes as well. They were all very careful; they had to make sure only to talk to people that they trusted and Paylor made sure that her girls were out of earshot when she talked about this stuff.
"Who else knows of this meeting?" Paylor asked her friends.
"The Peacekeepers all think that we are just here to play a friendly game of poker with you. Nothing that they would be suspicious about." said Hunger Games victor, Woof.
"Good." said Paylor. "I would trust each and every one of you with my daughters lives!" said Paylor in her strong authoritative voice that all of the people around the table felt with a sense of awe.
"I want to lead the people to stage a revolt, kill every Peacekeeper in this district, take control of this district, and then get the word out to the other districts to do the same." said Paylor.
"I second the notion!" said old Woof.
"Even if we were to do such a thing, you know we would never be able to hold the district." said another man named Fred, who was confident but with an attitude of acting more realistic. "If we killed all of the Peacekeepers simultaneously in a mass district-wide mob and then took control of the whole city, the Capitol would unleash the full might of its military force on us. We would be overrun by thousands of Peacekeepers, and then once they have restored order there will be a huge security crackdown and we would be 10 times worse off than we are now."
"True." said Hunger Games victor, Cecilia. "But at the same time it will send the Capitol a message. We have to show the Capitol that we aren't going to take any more crap from them! And I would willingly give up all of my Hunger Games winnings if I didn't have to sleep with another man in the Capitol ever again! Something President Snow has forced on me ever since I won my Games. Where do you think my three kids come from?"
Many of them were shocked by this revelation, but didn't force the subject.
Cecilia's children were half Capitol, and therefore illegal, but President Snow had the birth documents say that the kids were pure District 8, and held their lives over Cecilia's head to keep her in check.
"You know that this is just a fool's attempt." said another man named Bill, who was less confident.
"We're going to need more help before long." said a school teacher named Twill. "The military of the Capitol can't stand up to the collective might of all 12 districts combined. What we need is for all the districts to rebel together. Right now the Capitol's method is for them to keep us in check through fear, that only requires a small garrison. If a district rebels, the collective military might of the Capitol can move in to restore order without much difficulty. However, if we could get all 12 districts to work together it would spread the Capitol's forces too thin."
"We might need more than 12 districts." said Woof. "the rumors have been going on for decades, plus everyone knows about the same old footage that they use for District 13 on the televisions. I think we need to get a message out to District 13."
"There's no evidence that District 13 exists." said Fred. "As you just said they are only rumors. Why would District 13 have abandoned the other 12 districts if they possessed nuclear weapons."
"The Capitol also possesses nuclear weapons at another facility out West, past the Capitol, beyond the districts, any nuclear strike that District 13 makes on the Capitol would result in immediate retaliation, though of course the Capitol would give in to blackmail if they themselves didn't want to retaliate if it wasn't necessary." said Paylor.
"That doesn't answer Fred's question," said Bill, "why would District 13 abandon us 75 years ago if they weren't destroyed?"
"If they still exist, I don't think it was a selfish move on their part." said Twill's husband Joe. "I think they had a good reason for abandoning us, maybe they didn't have the resources to help us? And nuclear weapons to hold over the Capitol's head doesn't mean that they had any conventional weapons to give to us... yes... yes, that has to be it, I know it."
"All right that is enough!" said Paylor in her authoritative voice. "For now we settle on sending the Capitol a message that we won't take their crap anymore. There are over 100 textile factories scattered across this city. You all know the people that work there. Do any of you trust them?"
"Under normal circumstances I think I should be able to trust anyone who has suffered at the hands of a Peacekeeper before, which is pretty much everyone." said Cecilia. "But at the same time many of those same people may betray us if it means that the Peacekeepers would be more lenient on them in the future. Everyone in this city has always trusted everyone else, everyone in the city has always helped out everyone else, we've always stuck together."
They all sat there in silence for a few moments, their eyes shifting from each other's eyes again and again. Each waiting for the next to respond.
"I think what it is that we need, is a symbol to rally around." said Paylor. "Anyone who wears the symbol means that they support us, anyone who wears the symbol we know we can trust them, and right now I have my eyes trained on… Katniss Everdeen. She blackmailed the Capitol with a handful of poison berries and survived. Something that the Capitol would never have allowed. Something that the Capitol would never have intended."
Paylor then thought of the few birds that rarely came into their dusty dirty city. She had her eyes on the television in the corner of the room, showing some replays of the Games and her eyes fell on the little gold pin that the District 12 girl wore.
"Katniss Everdeen is a symbol that we can rally around, and she is going to be here for the victor's tour in four months. Katniss Everdeen isn't a girl on fire. Katniss Everdeen… is… a 'Mockingjay'."
They all looked at her as though she was crazy, but only for a moment. The full meaning of Paylor's words struck a nerve in all of them and they then all looked at each other with awe. She then took a pen and paper and drew an approximation of Katniss's pin, and then pushed it to the center of the table for everyone to look at.
"A figurative Mockingjay, to be sure, but it is something that every district citizen in this country will recognize and draw strength from."
It was understood by everyone there.
"Walter?" Paylor addressed another man. "You drive the train to other districts on the Capitol's orders. Could you get a message out?"
"It will be difficult. I only ever exchange a few words with the guys that offload the box-cars in the other districts... but...?"
He seemed hesitant to go on, but a moment later he decided to. He leaned in close over the table and whispered.
"I got back from District 11, yesterday. I exchanged words with one man, though he was very subtle about it and made sure the Peacekeepers backs were to him. I handed him a crate of T-shirts and blue jeans, and he said the words quickly and quietly and then walked away... District 11 revolted on the 9th day of the Games!"
Everyone in the room gasped in surprise.
"Right after Katniss Evergreen covered the little girl with flowers, gave the salute, and then they sent her the bread!" finished the train conductor, Walter.
Paylor squinted and pondered for a moment, and then looked at everyone with a serious face.
"This is what I am talking about." said Paylor. "Much of the Capitol's military is there now to maintain order. And think about it, if both have happened at the same time, District 11 rebelling and us planning to rebel, then I think other Districts will as well, or have already. We have to do it now, others will follow, and we spread the Capitol Peacekeepers thin!"
"It's a long shot at best. We would need to unite with all the Districts, and eventually invade the Capitol, which is very heavily fortified." said Bill. "Us invading the Capitol would possibly be at a cost of tens of thousands of our fighters lives."
"What would you suggest?" asked Paylor rhetorically.
He paused, confused and embarrassed.
"I don't know. Just... not this."
"There is no other plan. This is our only option."
"What if we just plain didn't rebel?"
"And what good would that do?" said old Woof.
Bill was still quiet and had no response.
"Exactly." continued Paylor, "Katniss Everdeen blackmailed the Capitol with a handful of poison berries and the Capitol caved into that blackmail."
"If this rebellion fails then do you know what we will have to endure?" asked Bill rhetorically.
"I will tell you what we are enduring right now!" said Paylor with an angry tone of warning, "My husband, you and I, and my daughters were in the public square last year with everyone else as we all stood and watched while my husband was held down by his arms and legs, accused of a false crime that he did not commit, a small and mild crime of indiscretion, while the Head Peacekeeper put a bullet through his head! And it wasn't just my family that had suffered like that, what about yours too? I remember 3 years ago when your wife was also accused of a small and mild act of indiscretion while she was stripped naked, and tied to a steak, and you had to watch the Head Peacekeeper give her 30 lashes!"
There was a pause as the image filled his mind.
"And don't you dare tell me that that horrible event is not permanently burned into your mind!" said Paylor. "Now tell me, what would you give to strip him naked and give him twice as many lashes yourself?" she allowed for the idea of justice to sink in. "I don't think I need to tell you what I would give to put a bullet through his head!"
He looked ashamed.
"I fear things will get worse if we rebel." said Bill.
"They can't get any worse." Paylor reiterated, "Think. What are the consequences if we do nothing? Your daughter will grow up to become a textile worker, while never having enough to eat. She will go to the reaping for seven years, always hoping she won't be chosen. If she is chosen, she could foolishly hope someone will be either brave enough or foolish enough to volunteer for her. Once she's 19 and in the clear from the reaping, she might be able to marry into the merchant class if she's lucky. The best future she could hope for is she actually wins the Games, and District 8 hasn't had a winner in 14 years. And if she doesn't marry into the merchant class, she will slave in the textile factories till she dies. And her children, and their children will do the same."
He looked at her with a serious face but had no words.
"The Capitol has suffered a defeat at the hands of Katniss Everdeen's poison berries, they are shaken from it, districts are rebelling, the Capitol's forces are spread thin; we have to strike now. Once the 12 districts of Panem have killed all of the Peacekeepers in all the districts, no matter what the cost of numbers of our fighters, and the Capitol's forces will be depleted. Because that is a factor we are missing; without the districts the Capitol is nothing. They are too dependent on us for their 'free enterprise system'. Then we will have cut off all supplies to the Capitol, and we starve them out, and force them to surrender." She paused, allowing for the last part to sink in, and then finished, "And then all of Panem will be free!"
He thought of what Paylor said. They all thought of what Paylor said.
"Okay, I'm in." said Bill, "What do we do?"
"Spread word in the textile factories to people we all trust. Only whisper in their ears, use the noise of the machines for cover. The Peacekeepers will be suspicious. We will only meet for what the Peacekeepers believe to be our weekly poker game. And don't write anything down, we can't afford any incriminating documents to be lost by accident and then found by a Peacekeeper."
"What about the Mockingjay?" said Old Woof, gesturing to the symbol on the paper. "We shall need to protect our identities during the rebellion?"
"Only imprint the image on something that could be destroyed quickly and easily." said Paylor. "Tissue paper that you can set a match to, or a small cookie that you could eat in a second. And when we attack the Peacekeepers for the first time, everyone will wear homemade masks."
"As for getting the message out," said the man named Joe, "we will need to secure several stolen Peacekeepers uniforms with out the Peacekeepers realizing that they were stolen."
"Well this is District 8. We make all of the Peacekeepers uniforms right here." said Cecilia, trying to get everyone to grasp an obvious solution to the problem.
"It will be difficult and it will be tricky. The occasional item of fabric that goes missing from a factory will go unnoticed, but will have to be few and far between. We'll work something out."
The meeting adjourned.
They whispered in the ears of each other in the factories for months. Everyone was in favor of taking action in Katniss Everdeen's name. No one betrayed anyone to the Peacekeepers. Every time the people were forcibly gathered in the square for a citizen's execution or whipping, the people didn't get scared, they got angry, and only strengthened their resolve. Unbeknownst to the Peacekeepers, by the end of November, out of District 8's population of 100,000, the rebels had over 20,000 angry textile workers as fighters and even a few wealthy merchants and all 3 of their Hunger Games Victors.
It was the day of the Victor's Tour. Paylor and her daughters watched the live video broadcast on the television as Katniss and Peeta stepped out of the Justice Building in District 11. They looked like a happy couple as they held hands. It looked like a security crackdown alright. There were more than four times as many Peacekeepers as in the District 11 town square as on any other Victor's Tour, or reaping.
"Thank you." said Peeta as they smiled, held some cards up in front of his own face and started reading. "I thank you the people of District 11 for having us here. It is an honor and privilege to be here with the families and friends of your fallen tributes who brought honor, pride, and dignity to their district; Rue for making it into the top 7, and Thresh for making it into the top 5." He paused for a moment and then put down his cards before he went on. "But if it was not for both Rue and Thresh, Katniss and I would not be alive now. Which is why I would like to donate one month's worth of my winnings to the families of Rue and Thresh, every year for the remainder of my life."
Paylor's jaw dropped. 'Could he do that?' thought Paylor in disbelief and confusion.
There was applause from the crowd. And then the two Victors were gestured to re-enter the Justice Building. Katniss paused. Her eyes were on Little Rue's family. The camera focused on them. Though Rue's oldest sister was a year or two younger than her, she could have been Rue's identical twin.
Paylor and her daughters watched as Katniss walked over to the microphone with a sad look on her face.
"I didn't know Thresh," said Katniss, "I only spoke to him once. He could have killed me, and even maybe win the Games, but he chose to show me mercy. That is a debt I will never be able to repay." she then turned her head to Rue's family. "I did know Rue though. She was more than just my ally, she was my friend. She was an inexpressible comfort to me in my loneliness in the arena." Katniss cried, and tears poured down her face, "I would have given my life if it meant she could come home. I see her, every day, everywhere, all the time. I see her in the flowers that grow in the meadow. I see her in the Mockingjays that sing by my house. I see her in my sister, Prim. She was too young. Too gentle. And I couldn't save her. I'm sorry." she paused for a moment longer, then finished, "Thank you for your children. And thank you… for the bread."
An elderly old man whistled the three note tune that little Rue had whistled to the Mockingjays in the arena. And then in perfect synchronization, every single left-hand in the town square touch the three fingers to their mouths and gave the three fingered salute simultaneously.
And then the TV went to static. Then the Seal of the Capitol, and a feminine voice.
"The Victor's Tour of District 11 has been interrupted because our digital video broadcast system is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Our station engineers and technicians are attempting to correct the problem. Please standby. We apologize for the inconvenience. And we thank you for your patience."
A little too convenient that the transmission would cut out right then and there? That was definitely a form of rebellion and it merely strengthened the resolve of the District 8 rebels.
The next day, and the day after were the broadcasts of Katniss and Peeta in Districts 10 and then 9, however they didn't say anything overdramatic or from their hearts. They just came out of the Justice Building, walked up to the microphone; they pulled out cards, and spoke in a very formal tone of voice from the cards and nothing more. They were definitely prepared speeches that had been written by the Capitol. Clearly, they were under some kind of warning from Snow not to have a repeat of what happened on the stage in District 11. The day after that, they arrived in District 8. Paylor and many of the other rebels had planned this for months, they positioned themselves in pre-selected and arranged designated positions. They were planning to do this in a few days time. This was merely a rehearsal of sorts. They only had one chance to get it right so they had to wait for the right moment to act on it. Katniss and Peeta came out of the Justice Building and did the same thing that they did in Districts 10 and 9. Everyone in the crowd looked up at the Peacekeepers and the camera with defiant faces. A few of the Peacekeepers clicked the barrels of their guns, but then the entire crowd fearlessly took one step forward rather than retreat. Though the family of the District 8 girl looked at Peeta with hatred. Peeta had killed the District 8 girl personally, but for the time being District 8's quarrel was with the Capitol. The same thing happened on the television in all of the other districts. There were the angry faces of the families of all of the people that Katniss and Peeta had killed personally; the family of the District 4 girl. District 2; Cato's family. District 1; Marvel and Glimmer's family. Though the crowds in Districts 4 and 1 still reeked of rebellion. Some of the crowds in some of the districts were angry mobs, and interrupted Katniss in the middle of her speech while she was reading her cards, shouting at her,
"PUT DOWN THE CARDS! TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK!"
However she patiently and stubbornly stuck to the cards.
The day after District 1, Peeta and Katniss arrived in the Capitol. All of the District 8 rebels repositioned themselves at their designated locations that had been planned for months and then rehearsed on the fourth day of the tour. Caesar Flickerman invited the two Victors onto the stage in his TV studio on his talk show. Everyone was watching the live video broadcast in the public square, the Peacekeepers had lowered their weapons, and their attention was on the giant television screens.
"And Here She Is Ladies and Gentlemen, Katniss Everdeen, The Girl On Fire!" said Caesar excitedly.
They both took a seat on the loveseat.
The interview went on for a while with Caesar asking them both several questions.
"Well now Katniss and Peeta, I must ask you both, everyone in the Capitol wants to know? You two survived in the arena against all odds, were prepared to die together in the arena rather than lose each other, and now you have these big houses with in your district, and the Capitol is smothering you in money. What are your plans for the future? Your long-term plans?"
It was Peeta that spoke up.
"Well Caesar I must say, I'm glad you asked that question, because I have something to say in front of everyone."
The Peacekeepers were on the tips of their toes as their attention was on the giant TV screens, the same must've been for everyone in the Capitol as well.
"Katniss Everdeen, in the arena I was prepared to sacrifice myself so that you could go home. But it turned out I didn't need to give up my life, all it cost me was a leg. And I feel that the fates have been generous to me. When the universe offers you something like this, it is a sin to waste it. You saved my life, and therefore it belongs to you now. I owe you everything, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. And then there's merely the selfish factor on my part, I have loved you since I was five years old, and I want you, and I will die of sadness if I have to spend one more day without you. Katniss Everdeen, will you marry me?"
The Peacekeepers attention was never going to be more divided then right at that moment then and there, and the District 8 rebels capitalized on it. In a quick motion, they all pulled masks out of their pockets and put them over their faces, took out a variety of different weapons from under their coats; pipes, crowbars, knives, bricks, and every Peacekeeper in the entire district was attacked simultaneously so no one Peacekeeper could get any backup from any of the others. Some of the Peacekeepers reacted faster than others, they fired volleys of bullets into the mob, several people fell down dead, but the Peacekeeper firing his weapon was grabbed on all sides by 10 different hands, his weapon was yanked out of his arms and he was then beaten to death with the rebels weapons. The District 8 rebels had taken the district in a matter of minutes, while still a live broadcast on the television, President Snow told everyone that he was going to throw Katniss and Peeta a grand wedding in the Capitol.
For poetic justice, a group of captured Peacekeepers there were being held down on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs, and had to watch their Head Peacekeeper get stripped naked by Bill and his wife and then whipped 100 times. Several angry citizens slathering for justice beat him in the face with clubs and pipes before Paylor, still wearing her mask, and holding the Head Peacekeeper's sidearm, put a bullet through his head.
The rebels broke into the Peacekeepers food stores, and provisions were then distributed throughout the district. However, they knew that they would not hold the district, this was simply sending the Capitol a message, though they did steal all of the Peacekeepers weapons and hid them for later use. They evacuated the rebel strongholds a few hours before they estimated that the Capitol would show up. And show up they did. Several thousand Peacekeepers along with aircrafts that bombed the large crowds in the streets and wide-open areas. The aircrafts even bombed a few civilian buildings as punishment to the rebels. Thousands of rebel fighters engaged the Peacekeepers. Many of the Peacekeepers died. Paylor and her friends did not join the fighters, not out of cowardice, but as a strategic retreat. District 8 was lost to the rebels, they knew they would never hold it. Their message to the Capitol had been sent, and the rebellion would continue, only on a more subtle scale.
Paylor got home to her daughters. They also took in another family whose house had been destroyed and the new Head Peacekeeper was not going to replace, at least not soon. The refugee family was grateful. And then there was an announcement that the district was under lockdown. A 24 hour curfew until further notice. No food, no fuel. They wrapped themselves in blankets when they got cold, and they carefully rationed their food. The television showed nothing but static. Sometimes the broadcast came back on where it showed the District 8 public square as certain citizens who had been suspected rebels were being given a bullet through their foreheads.
"And let that be a lesson to the rebels of District 8 for this appalling act of terrorism." said President Snow's voice on the television.
Then the screen went back to static.
The next day the screen came back on for what appeared to be some kind of special broadcast.
"We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you some disturbing information about Katniss Everdeen's family. Gale Hawthorne, cousin of last year's winner of the Hunger Games, has been found guilty for confessing to the Head Peacekeeper for the crime of poaching on the Capitol's land. This shows some controversy towards the repeated unlawful acts committed by the family of The Girl On Fire. We bring you live to District 12 where an example will be made to all district citizens that any and all crimes of any kind will not be tolerated!"
The attractive, tall, and handsome boy who was interviewed on television when Katniss Everdeen got into the top eight was shirtless and had been tied to a post in the public square of District 12, and a tall strong man with a fresh and crisp Head Peacekeeper's uniform lashed a whip against the boy's bare back again and again. On the 20th lash, another Peacekeeper walked up and very firmly and roughly grabbed the Head Peacekeeper's arm, and said that was enough. The Head Peacekeeper knocked the man out by hitting him hard in the head with the butt of the handle of the whip. He continued to lash the boy's back again and again until on the 40th lash a strange girl bursts out of the crowd screaming and stepped right into the 44th lash and took it right in the face. It was not till a moment later that everyone then realized that the girl was Katniss Everdeen.
It was right then and there that the transmission cut out and went back to static.
'Katniss Everdeen took the lash of a whip to the face in defense of another for defiance to a Head Peacekeeper?' thought Paylor. 'She really is our Mockingjay. We will continue to oppose the Capitol in her name, but just like the last time we shall need to wait for the right moment.'
Paylor then determined that Katniss Everdeen, in her attire was not immediately recognizable, and then the Capitol had to cut off the transmission because the whipping of Gale Hawthorne was supposed to demoralize the district rebels and take the fight out of them. Katniss Everdeen's family openly committing criminal crimes such as poaching would discredit Katniss, but her interfering with a flogging backfires the Capitol's whole plan on that, and only strengthens the rebels resolve.
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