"We got caught up playing Allies" echoed in her ears as she swung the machete down and into the guards head outside the cornucopia.
"Plucked from the masses" she heard as her eyes narrowed on the group inside surrounded by food and supplies. Laughing as they held the camera in their hands. Live streaming their 'victory' as another child lay dead at their feet.
You could hear Flickerman's grating voice coming through a feed one of them had managed to hack their way into. Only barely though as their laughter and mockery of the other tributes rang through the metal structure. Bouncing and repeating as if a jabberjay were singing it back.
Flickerman's warning of her approach fell on deaf ears. 5 second delay. Her machete chopped one of the larger boys down to size long before the others thought to even remove the smiles from their faces. The girl was next. Her scream hung in her throat as the weapon sliced through her neck.
One boy fought back. A small thing. Shorter than her. For a moment she wondered his age. But just a moment. As she blocked his knife, swiping it away, before cutting his hand off. His screams came back tripled. Once from his lips. Once from the cornucopia. And once from Flickerman crying and trying to convince the last boy, the last coward, to get out of the corner and run.
Here she found him. The last tribute. The capital favorite. Blood soaked her clothes. Her hair was plastered to her neck and sweat dripped from her nose. "You stupid bitch! Do you know who my father is?! You'll never be anyone! You'll never be able to go home!"
She took a shaky breath as he continued to scream expletives at her. 'One more' she told herself. 'Only one more.' Then she could go home. Wherever home was now.
By the time she was done hacking at the boy she could barely move her arm. The canon sound in her ears barely louder than the blood pounding in her head. She could hear her heartbeat. Feel her pulse in her temples and hands.
The machete fell to the floor as she looked back to the illegal stream of the talk show to see Flickerman sobbing on the floor. Her hand gripped the hair of the fallen tribute as she heard the whirl of the ships arriving to take her and the bodies of the fallen tributes home. Her legs wobbled as she stepped towards the mouth of the cornucopia. She placed the now severed head of the boy in front of the camera on the table they'd been playing games on. His dead eyes streaming for all of Panem to see. Augustus Flickerman was the last to die.
She stepped out into the faux sun and looked up into the sky as two capital planes approached. A tear streamed down her face as she pushed every bit of her breath from her lungs in a guttural scream. Her knees went out as she tasted blood from the scream and she hit the ground. She laid back on the ground weak from exhaustion as a cage like claw descended from one plane and the other landed to begin the cleanup process. As the claw slipped gently around her and lifted her into the air she closed her eyes and slipped into a dark unconsciousness.
Victory.
She gasped as she sat upright in her bed, her sheets drenched in sweat and her cheeks stained with tears. She looked around desperately to try to put her hands on a weapon only to see her pillows and her cat around her. Her chest heaved in panic as her eyes adjusted to the soft sunrise outside her window and she slowly came back down. Her room. Her racing mind slowing down to remind her. This wasn't the games. This wasn't the arena. This was home. And she was safe.
She rubbed her face taking deep breaths as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. Casimir would be up soon and she needed to get his school things ready and get to her shop. As she rolled out of bed she slipped her feet into a worn pair of house slippers and wrapped a thin housecoat around herself. She knew she'd have to purchase new clothing for herself soon. Another blip on a radar that she didn't even know for sure existed.
She stepped out into the cool air and walked through her garden. Peppers, tomatoes, a few beans. Herbs and spices. Even a few potatoes. She smiled to herself as she realized her modest garden was getting bigger and better every day. Next it was the chickens. 16 eggs total. More than enough for the two of them.
"Cas! Breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes!" She called down the hall knowing full well that he was awake and sketching. He was always up before the sun. He loved to sketch the sunrise.
She found a tune in her head as she set a pan on their stove cracking three eggs in it and starting to scramble them as she grabbed a few mushrooms and some bell pepper adding them to the mix as she hummed aimlessly.
Cas wandered in a beanie stretched over his head to keep his ears and scalp from getting cold. He moved a magnet sticking an elaborate drawing of a chicken on the fridge. "I saved you some hot water." He told her sitting at their little two person table and packing his math homework up.
She smiled glancing over at him as she put some eggs on a plate and got one of the last couple of biscuits out of the bread box for him. She sat the plate in front of him and pulled the beanie back kissing his bald head. "Thank you Cas. You sleep well?" She asked.
He scowled pulling it back down over his ears. "Better than you I'm sure. Make tea and put the bags on those bags under your eyes." He told her with a smirk.
She scowled. "Cheeky little asshole." She said making him laugh. "I'll do that. I'm gonna go get us a squirrel from that girl. See if the guy has anymore biscuits too."
"The guy?" He asked arching an eyebrow. "Don't act like you don't know their names. Katniss and Peeta. We watched both of their games live. I know you don't like talking about the games but…"
She dropped a cup of water on the floor before hiding the shake at the mention of the games. "Cas…" she whispered, her eyes flashing with fear as she looked over at him. "Don't…"
He hung his head. "Sorry. A squirrel would be good. Or a rabbit. That stew you made a few weeks ago was really good." He mumbled.
She took a shaky breath and nodded. "Thank you. I've got you some nuts and dried figs. Some banana chips, a piece of bread, and some butter." She told him packing up his lunch bag.
She was in a bit of a daze as she helped him get his things together and walked him to school. School for him was different than it had been for her or even for him in the capital. Classes of a hundred plus split amongst a few teachers spread too thin. Here though they were barely rebuilding. The population of the entire district was little more than five hundred.
She watched the other thirty or so students filing into the rebuilt building with the two older women waving them all in. "I love you." She told him hugging him at the door. She knew he was probably too old for hugs, at age twelve, but she couldn't resist it.
"Gotta go. See you later." He told her rubbing her back gently. He gave her a smile as he pulled back. "See you at three sis." He told her taking his lunch bag from her and heading inside.
"Alright. I love you baby. Mom will be here when you get out."
She turned her head to the side seeing a man kissing his daughter on the head and watching the little girl run towards the building happily and hugging one of the older women. She offered him a soft knowing smile before heading to her small little shop to unload her vegetables and begin making more jams and herb blends.
It was only when she reached her door and went to get her keys out that she noticed the man still behind her. She glanced back and smiled softly again. "Can I help you?"
"Hey. Yeah. I'm sorry." He smiled up at her. "I just noticed you'd taken over this place. It's nice to see some places returning. Or opening."
She looked up at the little storefront she'd bought for pennies. In a war torn district like this it was almost overpayment. The previous owners had died in a fire bomb after all. She nodded. "I'll be open in about an hour. Just gotta make a couple of things. Spice blends. Jarring jams and such." She said finding herself lost in his eyes and smile.
He nodded and pointed off to the small rebuilt bakery across the street. "That's mine. I'll be there all day. If you need anything." He told her with another soft smile.
She blushed softly before blinking herself back to reality. "I was going to step over there in a bit. See if you had any biscuits. My brother loves them. And if your…partner? Had any squirrels. Or a rabbit." She added unsure of her words.
"Katniss? Yeah. I think we have a couple. Are you the one who makes the jalapeño jam? She's obsessed with it. Eats it on everything. She's been mixing it with goats cheese and it's amazing. I was fixing to make some biscuits. I'll save you some." He replied excitedly.
She laughed softly. "I have some jalapeño jam that was just fixing to go on the shelf. I'm happy to bring it to you and her." She told him.
He grinned back. "Thank you. That would be great. I'm Peeta by the way." He said holding a hand out to her.
She took it slowly her hands feeling small and soft compared to his. "I'm M…" she paused before she said her full name. She clearly knew who he was. His games were legendary for more than one reason. His partner the stuff fairytales were written about. Though she knew of him well she didn't know how informed he'd stayed since moving back to his district. "I'm Alice." She told him shaking his hand slowly.
"Alice." He smiled. "I'll see you soon then, yeah?" He asked stepping back towards his little bakery.
She nodded stepping inside and closing the door as he walked off, still smiling softly. She took a shaky breath. If he knew her he didn't say anything. Something she was much appreciative of.
"It costs a lot more than your life."
She swallowed back anxiety and forced herself to continue into the shop and begin work as she pushed the images to the back of her mind. Images of her games and images of his. One day she'd tell him that he was the reason after her games she'd ended up in District 12.
Hiding. In a firebombed district. Pretending she was normal. Pretending she was good. Pretending one day they wouldn't come looking for them all. History would repeat itself one day. It was inevitable.