I'd been shot. I'd been hit bad. I was pinned down next to an old fallen tulip poplar, the only thing separating me for that Capitol monster was the up turned root ball. I grabbed a handful of moss and shoved it into the bullet wound stifling a cry. It wasn't much but maybe it'd stop the bleeding long enough for Coryo to finish the job. If I ran he'd shoot me, if I stay he'll find me then shoot me. I dropped my knife when I fell, not that it'd do me much good in a gun fight.
"Lucy Gray" my name coming out of his mouth felt like venom. More venomous then that damn rat snake I hid under his scarf. I wish I'd found a cottonmouth or a timber rattler but alas the forest hadn't provided for me today.
Though could I have killed him? Just moments ago I was ready to run away with that man, start a life with him, have his children. But I saw the ice creep into his eyes when he found that stash of guns. I've seen that same look from the snakes in the arena right before they struck. I'll never know if I would've been able to kill him but I know for sure he'll be the death of me.
Damn the Capitol. One of their snakes finally done me in. There will be no victor of the 10th annual Hunger Games. At least I'm not dying in that horrid arena. My body will rot away with this tree, our corpses nourishing new life. Alone, in private and away from televised eyes. This was once a fine tree, its form still providing shelter for critters, birds and a scared dying girl.
As my eyes scan its trunk and make their way to the canopy that's when I see it. A mockingjay perched on the branch. A mockingjay, the symbol for Capitol failure. A spark of hope ignites in me. I'm not going to die today. These mountains can be almighty tricky to the untrained ear. A sound will ricochet around the basin and you can easily get confused about directions, especially if there's a whole chorus of singers.
"Are You, Are you
Coming to the tree"
I stare at the mockingjay willing it, begging it to take up my hymn.
"Where they strung up a man,
They say who murdered three."
The bird flies in to the canopy my tune filling its chest. It begins to harmonize with me when another picks up the melody. When gun sounds I hunch over waiting for the impact but I don't feel it. He missed. No he's not aiming at me. He's shooting at the jays. But it's no use, hundreds of birds have taken up the psalm and the forest is alive with my anthem.
When I hear the hammer of his gun click on an empty chamber I make my move. I crawl the length of the fallen tree to the edge of the ridge, in the valley I see a pine thicket. Perfect. I set my feet, plant my rear and slide down the hill. As I slam into a pine sapling at the bottom I don't register pain. That's not good, I'm probably in a sort of shock from the blood loss, but I can't worry about that now. I run. I run straight and fast, then I turn, I run and I turn, I jump creeks, I crawl under logs and I put a whole mountain between me and that murderous boy. When I finally stop thunder is rolling through the hills and rain has started coming down. Good, it'll wash away what trail I left, not that that city slicker would be able to follow me anyhow.
I look to the bullet wound on my side, as I peel away the moss I see just how bad it really is. Coryo might've killed me yet. I let the rain wash away the dirt then rip up my shirt to make up a crude bandage. Now what? I can't run away, I'll be dead in a day. I can't go back to district 12, Coriolanus will have made up a story of how I'd attacked him with the snake and the mayor would finally have his reason to see me hang. That's when I remembered her.
There's a healer on the edge of town. I've seen her in the seam many of times buying up 'shine and morphling not regulated by the capitol. Though it's illegal for victims of peacekeeper lashings to seek medical attention, it's said she'll take them in and nurse them back to health. The peacekeepers turn a blind eye to her because she's actually one of their top doctors. Not only do they not want to lose her but they also wouldn't want to acknowledge that one of their own was a district sympathizer. Going to her would be a risk but staying out here means certain death. There's a chance I could sneak in to her house, have her patch me up real quick and be out of town by morning.
As I make my way back to district 12 I come to realize just how weak I am. I stumble and trip over roots, branches and my own feet. There's quite a few times I can feel the darkness creeping in but I know to lose consciousness would mean death. I'm barely aware of when I exit the forest. There's a door in front of me. It takes all my strength and will power to lift my arm. I knock three times and then… darkness…
Afternoon light is streaming in through the cabin window when I wake up. 'Oh no' I think 'Coryo and I were supposed to leave at first light.' I reach over to wake him but no one is there. I'm not in the cabin. Coryo… tried to kill me. As I look around the unfamiliar house I'm in, my eye's land on a vaguely familiar blonde woman standing at a stove stirring a pot.
"Who…. Where…." My voices sounds like gravel and I can't seem to get my thoughts straight. The women looks to me and smiles. She grabs a bowl and scoops a generous portion of what I can now smell is some sort of broth in bowl. As she brings it to me she states:
"When I saw that peacekeeper come in with a snake bite I could only assume he'd killed you, but when I got home there you were, crumpled up on my stope all but dead."
The events of that day came crashing back to me. The cabin, the guns, the gunshot wound, running through the forest. All to wind up here in the healers house… and she knows I tried to kill Coriolanus Snow. All of that just to die here, back in district 12… I begin missing my poplar tree.
"I don't know… I can explain…" I try to rasp out.
"Oh, No need for that. He made up some lie that it had happened on his rounds and I assured him I believed him. But I knew, Only Lucy Gray Baird could charm a snake into helping her get out of a tight spot."
"How long have I been asleep?"
"It's been pretty touch and go for a while. You've been in and out of consciousness for two weeks now but I think you're finally out of the weeds."
TWO WEEKS! I've been asleep for two weeks! The whole district must be after me by now. The mayor, the peacekeepers, Snow.
She helped me sit up and started spoon feeding me the broth. As she did so a small girl of maybe six or seven ran into the room. She was wearing a button down blouse tucked into a plaid skirt but as she bend down to pick up a ball, her back shirt tail poked out her dress like a little duck tail. She scurried out of the room. How selfish of me. I've imposed myself on this kind women that I barely know, a lady that has a family, has a daughter and I assumed she'd risk her life and the lives of her family for me. I started trying to get out of the bed.
"I'm so sorry. But I can't stay here and put your family in anymore danger. If they find me here…"
"Honey, no one's looking for you. Like I said that peacekeeper made no mention of you and then he was on a train to the capitol the next day. He's gone though I can't say he's out of our lives. I can't help but wonder if he's not responsible for this new Capitol ordered fencing project the Mayors been fussing over. As much concern and management he's putting in to it, you'd think he's forgotten all about the death of his daughter. I reckon we all cope in our own ways."
"Fence project?" I asked genuinely confused.
"The Capitol has ordered a fence be built around the district 'To protect us from the dangers of the forest and wildlife' as if that's fooling anybody. It's clearly being built to keep us in rather than to keep critters out. But the Mayor got it up in record time, the Capitol is so impressed there's talk he may get a capitol job and be out of our hair for good."
I don't hear her. I stopped listening when she said 'fence around the district'. It's not true. It can't be true. I bolted out of bed. The pain in my side meant nothing to me as long as I could escape to my forest, my trees, my home. But alas there it was towering over me. I could hear the hum of electricity coming off of it.
That damn venomous snake! The man who murdered three and got away with it, nay got rewarded for it. Now he's caged his songbird… Snow lands on top…