Thank you for continuing to read my story, I hope you're enjoying it and please let me know any thoughts you may have!
I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.
Chapter Fifty
I'm glad when we get back to 12, despite the required banquet, which I just drink my way through. Pertha ignored me for most it, although I don't blame her, I'm just a constant reminder to her that Maysilee never came home.
The day after we get back Effie calls to inform me about all of the wedding preparations and photo shoots that will be required of Katniss and I just say yes when there's a pause in conversation. Does she really think I have any interest in this stuff? I just have to make sure that Katniss doesn't cause the rebellion before we're ready. The last thing we need is Snow scaring off District 13, like it or not, we need their help.
It doesn't take me long to hit The Hob and buy almost everything Ripper has on offer; I know from experience that as winter gets colder it becomes more difficult for her to make the booze so I'm stocking up while I can.
On my way back I can see a huge crowd gathered in the square, which is strange for this time of year. There's been nothing scheduled so I push my way through, hoping for a closer look. As I do I can see people looking at me with worry and my first thought is what have I done now?
But when I can finally see what's happening I know that I'm not to blame.
Gale is shirtless and tied to a post with a turkey pinned to the top. A new peacekeeper is standing over him and whipping him hard, causing deep cuts in Gale's back. It's horrific and I find myself scanning the crowd to see if Katniss is here, I don't know what she'll do if she sees this but I know it won't be good.
I can't see her but I'm interrupted by Darius, one of our peacekeepers who regularly visits The Hob, stepping forward and shouting, "Okay, that's enough!"
The man with the whip doesn't think so, though, and turns around, punching Darius in the face and knocking him out. The whole crowd gasps and I can feel them shuffling away as the whip comes down on Gale's back, again.
Five minutes later he's passed out and I'm wondering what I should do; Katniss would never forgive me if I just left him there but it's pretty clear he's been caught poaching and there's nothing I can do. Why else would there be a turkey presiding over him? Most of 12 know that he and Katniss hunt in the woods every Sunday.
"No!" A voice shrieks and I can see that Katniss has run in to the square, placing herself between the peacekeeper and Gale. The whip comes down on her face seconds later. "Stop it! You'll kill him!" She continues to shout.
The peacekeeper lifts his arm again but by now I've dropped my liquor and I'm stumbling over Darius and in to the centre of the square. "Hold it!" I yell. I grab Katniss and inspect her chin. "Oh, excellent! She's got a photo shoot next week modelling wedding dresses. What am I supposed to tell her stylist?" This man seems like the kind of peacekeeper who will defend the Capitol until the end so I'm hoping that this scares him a little bit. My skill of thinking on my feet is more active than ever right now.
"She interrupted the punishment of a confessed criminal," says the man.
"I don't care if she blew up the blasted Justice Bbuilding! Look at her cheek! Think that will be camera ready in a week?"
"That's not my problem," he replies but I can tell he's starting to worry.
"No? Well, it's about to be, my friend. The first call I make when I get home is to the Capitol. Find out who authorised you to mess up my victor's pretty little face!" I'm really sticking the boot in, now and I can see that Peeta is making his way through the crowd to join us.
"He was poaching. What business is it of hers, anyway?"
"He's her cousin," says Peeta, holding Katniss' other arm, "And she's my fiancée. So if you want to get to him, expect to go through both of us."
That's when Purnia, a woman from The Hob, steps forward. "I believe, for a first offence, the required number of lashes has been dispensed, sir. Unless your sentence is death, which we would carry out by firing squad."
"Is that the standard protocol here?"
"Yes, sir," says Purnia as well as a few others.
"Very well. Get your cousin out of here, then, girl. And if he comes to, remind him that the next time he poaches off the Capitol's land, I'll assemble that firing squad personally." He wipes the whip before coiling it back around his waist and leaving.
Katniss rushes over to Gale and starts fumbling with the knots but someone passes a knife to Peeta and he manages to cut him free.
"Better get him to your mother," I say and we manage to buy a table off a woman in the market to use a stretcher. Once Gale is strapped on to it myself, Peeta and some workers from the mines begin to walk towards Katniss' house. I tell her to put some snow on her cheek and Gale's crew mates retell the story of what happened.
Apparently, Gale went to Cray's house with the turkey but he wasn't there. Instead, he met our new Head Peacekeeper, Romulus Thread, who put him under immediate arrest and was sentenced to whipping in the square straight away.
We reach Katniss' and Clara opens the door, her mouth slightly agape as she sees who we're carrying on the stretcher.
"New Head," I say and she just nods.
Clara spreads a white cloth on the table and we slowly lower Gale on to it before her and Prim get to work. Katniss was right in the arena when she said she's not like her mother; the way Clara and Prim get to work on the herbs and stews just amazes me.
"Did it cut your eye?" Asks Clara to Katniss.
"No, it's just swelled shut," says Katniss.
"Get more snow on it," she says before returning to Gale's wounds.
"Can you save him?"
"Don't worry," I say, in some sort of attempt to calm her down. "Used to be a lot of whipping before Cray. She's the one we took them to." Clara glances at me and I know we're both thinking about the time after my Games. A time when a tribute from 12 dared to undermine the Capitol and those he loved were forced to pay the price. It's easy to see the similarities.
I tell Gale's crew mates to go home and give them a few coins just in case the worst happens and they're all punished for Gale's crimes.
Gale's mother, Hazelle, soon arrives and we spend the next hour or so all watching as Clara and Prim attempt to heal the many gashes on Gale's back. It looks disgusting and painful in equal measure and I'm struggling not to get pulled back in to memories of the arena and the horrific injuries I had to see.
Katniss soon becomes hysterical and is shouting at her mother to give Gale something stronger to ease the pain. She has tears forming in her eyes and there's a kind of fear in them that you only see when someone is terrified about losing someone they love. She becomes so manic that Clara orders Peeta and I to remove her from the room so we have to physically drag her in to one of the bedrooms and pin her down.
Whilst she's crying Peeta takes me to one side and tells me that she thinks President Snow isn't impressed by their star crossed lovers performance and that she's found out about the uprising in 8. Apparently, she saw a news report on it at the Mayor's house. I'm not sure if this is good or bad.
"She wants us to all run," says Peeta but I just sigh. I can see the appeal of running away but you can never outrun Snow and with a full on rebellion just waiting to happen would we want to?
Once she's settled down Clara comes in and I tell her everything that Gale's friends said.
"So it's starting again?" She says "Like before?"
"By the looks of it," I reply. "Who'd have thought we'd ever be sorry to see old Cray go?" I never thought I'd be saying those words. Ever since I found out about him telling tales to the Capitol about me and Vieve my opinion of Cray has been incredibly low, especially when he's notorious for paying the poorest of women to spend a night with him. He's definitely vile but he didn't hand out whippings in a second like Thread.
There's a knock on the door and Katniss' face flashes with panic. The only person this could be is peacekeepers.
"They can't have him," she says.
"Might be you they're after," I say.
"Or you."
"Not my house, but I'll get the door."
"No, I'll get it," says Clara but we all follow her, anyway.
She opens the door to find Pertha's daughter, Madge, standing on the porch with a small box. I know that she and Katniss have become quite close since the Games but I don't know much about her. What I do know is that she gave Katniss the mockingjay pin that has become the symbol for rebellion all over the country.
"Use these for your friend," says Madge and Katniss opens the box to find six syringes of morphling. "They're my mother's. She said I could take them. Use them, please." She runs away in to the building storm before anyone can speak.
"Crazy girl," I mutter and turn around to see Clara plunging one of the syringes in to Gale's arm.
I rarely see Pertha, she's always meant to be ill, but it looks like she's just hooked on morphling and who can blame her? She lost her twin at sixteen in the cruelest way, maybe dosing up on morphling is the only way she can get through the day.
"What is that stuff?" Asks Peeta.
"It's from the Capitol. It's called morphling," says Clara.
"I didn't even know Madge knew Gale," says Peeta.
"We used to sell her strawberries," replies Katniss.
"She must have quite a taste for them," I joke trying to lighten the mood but the look on Katniss' face suggests this was a bad move.
"She's my friend," she spits.
Gale eventually goes back to sleep and, despite everyone being prepared to stay the night, Clara sends us all home. As soon as I'm inside I dial Effie's number and tell her that we need to rearrange the photo shoot because they've made some changes to 12, I try to be as vague as possible for all of our sakes.
"This is going to mess everything up but I suppose there's nothing to be done!" She screeches and I have to hold the phone away from my ear to stop it ringing. "Anyway, seeing as I've finally got you on the phone, I was wondering if you would like to give Katniss away?"
I laugh and say, "The sooner the better!" But as soon as I've said it I feel strange, almost guilty. I try to imagine me walking Katniss down the aisle and the image is just wrong. She looks miserable and I look like a mess. No, I definitely don't want that.
"Fine, I'm sure we can find someone else. Goodbye, Haymitch."
I slam down the phone and go in search of some booze, I'm running low but I don't want to ration it. I need to drink and that's how I spend the next two days, locked inside away from the storm and blacking out once I've drank too much.
On the third day Katniss and Peeta come over and drag me outside for a walk, although I'd much rather be sat inside in the warm. I know they want to discuss what's happened, which I know we should, but I'm starting to get fed up of monitoring them all the time.
"So we're heading in to the great unknown, are we?" I finally say once we're away from Victors' Village.
"No," says Katniss, "Not anymore."
"Worked through the flaws in that plan, did you, sweetheart? Any new ideas?"
"I want to start an uprising."
All I can do is laugh, she may have the same goals as me but she has no idea how to achieve it. I've been part of an organised rebellion for years that is only now coming to fruition and she thinks she can just start an uprising with the three of us?!
"Well, I want a drink," I say once I've finished laughing. "You let me know how that works out for you, though."
"Then what's your plan?"
"My plan is to make sure that everything is just perfect for your wedding. I called and rescheduled the photo shoot without giving too many details."
"You don't even have a phone."
"Effie had that fixed. Do you know she asked me if I'd like to give you away? I told her the sooner the better."
"Haymitch," Katniss pleads.
"Katniss," I snap, mimicking her voice. "It won't work."
We stop talking as we pass some workers with shovels and it's then that we can see out over the square. We all stop at the same time and take in the sight; the whole area has been transformed. There are machine guns, a whipping post and even a gallows. It's as if the Hunger Games arena has come to 12 and we all know who's responsible for it.
"Thread's a quick worker," I say and seconds later I can see smoke billowing up in to the air. We all know what's happened; The Hob is on fire.
"Haymitch," says Katniss, "You don't think everyone was still in-"
"Nah, they're smarter than that. You'd be, too, if you'd been around longer. Well, I better go see how much rubbing alcohol the apothecary can spare."
I walk off towards the square but the sense of foreboding is immediate. During the reaping there is always a chill sent through my body but this is a hundred times worse, this is no longer a place for the market and celebrations. This is a place for death.
It turns out that the apothecary will not sell me any rubbing alcohol so I'm forced to go home and work out how I'm going to ration what little alcohol I have left.
As I'm boiling cabbage for a stew the phone rings and I, begrudgingly, answer.
"Hello," I groan.
"Haymitch, it's Plutarch. I've managed to untap your phone but I can't speak long."
"That suits me fine. What's wrong?"
"Districts Three and Four have been in rebellion for two days, which means that three districts are taking a stand against Snow!"
"It's not enough," I reply. I can't get too excited quite yet.
"I know but it's a start. I also thought you should know that Finnick has been involved and…his parents have died. Annie and Mags are fine but I just thought you should know."
"What's he doing taking part in a rebellion?! Snow's going to hear about that straight away! He'll be killed!"
"Maybe he thinks the time is right to take a stand. Look, I have to go. Goodbye."
And in true Plutarch fashion he ends the conversation as quickly as he's started it.
My first thought is that I should tell someone but who? If I told Katniss I don't know what she would do but I'm sure it would get us all killed. She wants to start an uprising but how, exactly? I desperately want to tell her but I know her better than she knows herself sometimes and she needs to find out everything at the right time or else we'll be paying for it but with her would-be boyfriend still recovering from his injuries I know that is definitely not the time. No, the less she knows for now, the better.