Chapter 10: Powder Keg
Andy Mellark, Age: 19, Baker, District 12
Dawn lit up the sky, the air already felt warm, and a summer haze hovered over the hills beyond District Twelve's coal-stained rooftops.
He tiptoed through the bakery, the small bag over his shoulder stuffed with stale baked goods, just the ones his father said he could take. But he didn't say I could wake him and Mom up, and Piper will insist on tagging along if she hears me, so actually avoid all the creaky boards this time.
He managed to slip out the back door without making any noise, and lengthened his stride as he headed down the road towards the Meadow, skirting around the Seam so not to run into anyone.
There was an old, twisted oak tree near the edge of the Meadow, leaves just being touched with the morning sun by the time he reached it. He stepped close, brushing his fingers against the rough, grooved bark.
"Morning, merchant boy," said someone several feet above his head.
He startled, almost tripping over a root before he regained his balance. "Damn it, Etta!"
"Ha! Got you!" Etta Char dropped out of the tree, black braids swinging and gap-toothed grin firmly in place. "You make it too easy, Andy."
He rolled his eyes and held out his bag. "As promised."
She took it and peered inside. "Excellent! I cleaned out the perishable stuff Katniss's pantry yesterday, so this is perfect timing."
"Did you check Abernathy's place? Katniss has a key, right?"
"Yeah, it's by her front door, but Haymitch almost never has food in his house unless Katniss brings it."
"Why doesn't he have a housekeeper or something? He could afford it."
"Katniss said he used to, but didn't get another after she died years ago." Etta gave him back his bag and retrieved her own from behind the tree. It looked full. "Come on, lots of ground to cover!"
Andy followed her back towards the Seam. "How early were you out in the woods this morning?"
"Ridiculously. Got two trapped rabbits and an assortment of edible plants. Ran out of time to really hunt, though."
"Next time you have to take me with you."
"Well, you're still too loud to take hunting, but next time I go check traps and gather, maybe…" She smiled brightly, gray eyes sparkling, then picked up her pace.
Etta was not the only sort-of student Katniss Everdeen had ever had, but she was currently the only one still in school and able to devote more time and energy to foraging in the woods. That would end soon; Etta was eighteen and about to graduate. She'd most likely end up working in the mines.
She'll hate it. Andy had graduated a year ago, but his future was secure with the bakery. Guess we won't get to hang out as much as we've been for the past few years.
He hoped they would still do this, though. Dropping off food and herbal medicines on the doorstep of the Seam residents most in need was, for most of the year, Katniss's self-imposed duty. And open secret. The last three years, though, Etta and Andy had been proud to fill in for the Victor while she away in the Capitol for the Hunger Games, and she seemed to appreciate their help. Although, they stuck to food, as even Etta wasn't entirely confident when it came to medicinal herbs and their preparation.
They moved through the Seam's alleys quickly, Etta leading the way, leaving a couple loaves of bread and some berries at one house, a rabbit and dandelion greens at another. The houses they visited most often were the ones with the most children, the absent or dead parents, the sick family members. They were helping.
Yet Andy wished he could do more. Grandpa always said to be kind, partly because you never know when you'll regret being cruel or even just neglectful.
Andy's father also said similar things sometimes, often around Games season, always with a distant look in his eyes. Once, while a little drunk the evening of a Reaping, he'd even told Andy why he wanted kindness to be so important in their family.
"My mother treated my little brother like shit, maybe because he was the best of us, and the rest of us just stood by and let it happen. Then he died."
He hadn't just died, though. He'd died in Katniss's Games, after their love story had given them both a chance to come home. He'd bled out in her arms during the finale, after surviving weeks of fights and injuries and exposure to the elements.
Apparently their family had fallen apart after that. Andy's grandmother hadn't lived long past the 74th Games, and the Mellark's middle son had drank himself to death before Andy hit Reaping age. Andy could hardly remember him now.
All or at least partly because Peeta had almost survived, just to die a horrible death when victory was within reach for the star-crossed lovers from District Twelve.
There's gonna be another finale today.
Once Andy and Etta's bags were empty, they headed back towards town.
"Your dad's not going to be worried?" he asked.
"He knows I'll be out and about today." She glanced at him. "So, we watching the finale on the big screen?"
"Might as well. Not like I'll have to mind the bakery today." Everything tended to get canceled by official order in honor of the final day of the Games. "Breakfast at my place first?"
"Sounds good to me."
The town square was crowded when Andy and Etta got there. The sun had just risen in the Arena, turning the water droplets on leaves and grass from the previous night's rain into a million tiny diamonds. The southeast end of the lake was roiling with a couple "sea serpent" mutts the commentators were calling "criminally underused."
I guess that's one way to put it.
The two remaining Careers were waking up, as was the boy from Five. It didn't take long for the Four boy to realize that the One's leg injury would prevent him from fighting and took him out relatively fast.
For once.
As usual, Twelve's citizens remained silent as stone while the babbling of the commentators over the loudspeakers reached a fever pitch.
We don't have anyone left to cheer for. But I know which Victor I'd prefer.
After seeing the One's final tribute die from a distance, the boy from Five emerged from his hiding place and started across the open meadow towards the Cornucopia. The Four immediately caught sight of him "Sick of hiding, Five? Come and get me!"
They met between the Cornucopia and the lake, the Career with a curved sword, the outlier with a metal-shafted spear he used like a quarterstaff.
Gill Docker kept shouting dares, threats, insults, as the fight commenced.
Darien Lopez didn't say a word.
All of the Careers had sustained at least minor injuries from the spider mutts on Day Five, and that was how Darien got the upper hand in the end. He slammed the end of his spear right into Gill's bandaged upper arm. Gill yelped in pain and faltered for a split second.
Darien took that moment to drive his spear into Gill's stomach. The boy from Four, despite dodging enough to avoid a killing blow, howled and dropped his sword, grabbed the spear with both hands. Out of his mind with the shock and pain.
During the fight, they had moved closer to the lake's edge. Spear still in him, Gill tried to grab his sword off the ground and failed, then stumbled towards the lake. He managed to get the spear out as he collapsed in the shallows.
The other boy followed him into the water, standing over his kneeling opponent, still silent.
"Kill me, you fucker!" Pink-tinted spit flew out of Gill's mouth as he screamed, looking up at Darien. "You want to! Like one of us killed your brother! You want revenge!"
Doesn't he?
Even the Capitol commentators had gone quiet by the time Darien finally spoke.
"It was a Two who killed my brother."
Gill stopped yelling and stared, confused, as Darien knelt in the water beside him.
"It was Cassius from District Two. He killed Damien, and Aster, his district partner. Then the girl from Twelve killed your District's tribute, and Cassius killed her, then the girl from Three killed him...Pebble, Ina, Cassius, Kori, Four, Two, Twelve, Three...and all the rest. Around and around, every year, ever Games. It never stops. And the people who enjoy watching them all die don't remember their names."
"What…" Gill coughed wetly. "What the fuck are you on about?"
"Why are you here? For the honor and glory of your district? Maybe I could see the argument, if you were going up just against other volunteers, other trained killers, instead of young children, too...but even then. We're not much more than kids ourselves, are we? Just kids dying pointless deaths."
The Four was going very pale as blood continued to drain from his stomach wound. "If it's all so...pointless...why...why did you volunteer, then?"
"Because it was the only way anyone would listen." Darien pulled out his thin dagger. "You're in pain. I'll make this fast."
"Fuck you," Gill spat.
"I'm sorry." In one swift motion, Darien grabbed Gill's head and shoved the dagger into his ear. The cannon fired.
As the Four boy's body fell back into the water, before the trumpets rang out, Darien looked up at the sky. "He never knew any better!" he shouted. "None of them did! What it's all for, huh? Tell me that, Panem! What are these Games for?"
The victory announcement came a couple seconds later, and the broadcast was cut off earlier than usual after a finale.
While the Head Peacekeeper called for everyone to disband and go about the rest of their day, Etta grabbed Andy's hand and looked at him wide-eyed. "What the fuck was that?"
"I...I don't know."
However, as they left the square together, Andy could hear whispers, see furtive looks, feel the hopeless air that usually hung around Twelve's Games-watching crowds dispersing like mist under a golden sunrise. He'd heard and seen and felt these things before, sometimes, during the Games and Victory Tours, but never on such a large scale.
He could sense the massive shift even though he couldn't put a name to it yet.
Something's changed. And if it's changed here, in Twelve of all places, then the same thing must be happening in some of the other districts.
When Etta showed up on his doorstep the next morning and told him that the district fence was electrified for the first time in ages, he could finally put a name to that shift. Several names, in fact. Resistance. Rage.
"How the hell are they going to recap that?" Etta said as they sat on the bakery's back steps eating cheese buns. "And what do you think he even going for? Darien, I mean?"
When Andy met her gaze, he knew they were thinking the same thing, even if they didn't dare to say it out loud yet.
Rebellion.