"Prim and Punishment"

Chapter Eleven

By Brian Grove

Brian at rescueddoggies dot com

Disclaimer – As I'm British and male, it may come as no surprise that I don't own Hunger Games.

An experienced beta would be welcome.

Previous chapter:- Public revenge on the boy from Two.

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The immediate aftermath of the attack on the train was a tremendous wave of searches for me, combined with a dusk to dawn curfew, an imposition unheard of in the mighty Capitol. I found myself being moved from one place to another, always under cover of darkness, but it seemed inevitable that I would eventually be found.

Suddenly, it was announced that the searches were being called off and the curfew cancelled. The Mockingjay had struck in District Four. I couldn't understand that, but the family I was with at the time knew no more than I did.

The very next day I was bundled into an empty freight train bound for District Eleven. I was to stay in one specific wagon on the train and someone would meet me. This train was far from the High Speed tribute trains. It rumbled slowly across the countryside, taking more than four days to reach District Eleven. My pack of food and the bottles of water were nearly empty by the time we reached Eleven. The train made frequent stops, mostly to change the crews. That gave me the chance to slip off the train and find somewhere to do my bodily necessities. Once, I wasn't quick enough to return and had to jump on the train as it began to pull away. I'm still amazed that nobody spotted me that time.

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"Hello, Katniss," said a woman's voice. "I'm Seeder."

I'd done as I'd been instructed, stayed in the train wagon until nightfall after we'd arrived in Eleven, waiting until someone came for me. I wasn't expecting a woman who looked like she was about sixty years old. She had black hair and olive skin, which made her look like she could have been from the Seam, until I remembered that the Seam wasn't there any more. Only her gold eyes would have made her look out of place in my old home.

"I'm sure you'd like a shower and something to eat," she said cheerfully, "then I'll take you to where you will be staying for a while."

Seeder, it turned out, had been a Victor, which was why she had luxuries like showers and plenty of food in a district where starvation was even more common than in my own district.

"As she opened the door, she said, "Welcome to District Eleven's Victor's village. I'm glad we managed to get you out of the Capitol in one piece."

"How did you manage to make it seem I was in District Four?" I asked her.

"Your friend, the one who can shoot an arrow?"

"You mean Gale?"

"That's right, they said his name was Gale," she agreed. "He killed one of the head Peacekeepers in Four using one of your arrows. Don't worry," she added, seeing my look of concern, "we got him out of Four before the body was even discovered."

The rest of my time in the house was mainly occupied by small-talk, until she said, "It's time to go."

Days of barely moving on the train, with nobody to change the dressings on my leg, had left it stiff and sore, so walking took us longer than she had planned. Finally we wet met by a man, standing at the corner of a crossroads, just outside a village.

"I'll leave you with him now." Turning to the man, she said, "Take care of her, her leg's troubling her, even if she won't say so."

"I'll treat her like one of my own," he replied to her.

Seeder nodded and turned back the way we had come.

"I can carry you if you like," the man offered when he saw me struggling to walk, though he looked relieved when I refused. "We've not far to go now." He looked familiar to me, as though I'd seen him somewhere before.

He didn't carry me, but he did end up supporting me by the time we reach a small house, even smaller than my house in the Seam had been.

He opened the door and helped me inside. I was met by a group of children, a woman standing behind them. "I told them to go to bed, that you wouldn't want any fuss, but they all wanted to stay up to meet you."

For a moment I felt faint, as though I'd seen a ghost. The eldest girl in front of me was almost a replica of Rue. Now I knew where I'd seen the man before. On the Victory tour. This was Rue's family. What could have possessed them to bring me here? Where my very presence would be a reminder of their child and sister, who I'd been unable to save? Having me here would be like opening up a wound and prodding it, the whole time I was here.

"No," I gasped. "This is wrong."

The nine-year old mini-Rue looked upset. "She doesn't like us," she said to her smaller siblings.

"No!" I cried. "It's not that at all. But you can't want me here!"

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I lived and Rue... didn't."

Her mother had given me a sad smile, so I turned to her. "Having me here, I must be a reminder of what you've lost. They shouldn't have asked you..."

"Katniss," she said softly. "Nobody asked us to have you, we volunteered."

"But why?" I breathed, almost unable to believe that this family, torn apart by the games, could possibly want me with them.

"Children. Time for bed."

After a few moans of disappointment, and kissing their parents good night, they all went through a door into another room.

"Sit down, Katniss," their father said. "You need to take your weight off that leg."

He steered me to one of the plain wooden chairs at the table.

I sat down.

"Katniss," he began. "We lost Rue the moment she was reaped. You didn't kill her, it wasn't your fault."

"I should have been there. I left her to be a decoy while I blew up the food. Then I waited around until my hearing started to come back. If I'd just got back to her quicker..."

"Katniss," her mother argued. "You might have saved her at that moment, but there was no way you could have given her back to us. We were sure that her last days would be spent alone and frightened until she would die alone with nobody to care for her. Instead she found a friend, you helped heal her burns, shared your food with her and even your sleeping bag."

"She shared with me too," I pointed out. "And when I was with her, it was like having a little bit of home."

"And when she was dying," her mother continued, ignoring my interruption, "it was unlike any other death I'm seen in the arena. She wasn't just a tribute, she was loved and cared for. You were there for her when her father and I couldn't be. You held her hand and sung to her. Did you know, when they brought us her body to bury, someone had put your flowers in with her? They'd done something with them so they still looked fresh."

That surprised me. There was someone with a bit of humanity involved with the games?

Her voice, which had begun to falter as she'd spoken about me holding her daughter's hand, finally gave out. Her husband continued for her. "We were able to bury her with those flowers, some in her coffin, some next to her marker stone."

We were silent for a few moments, then he spoke again. "We don't have much, I'm afraid, not like the Victor's house you're used to..."

"I hardly ever used it," I said. "I preferred to go back to our old house, in the S..." My voice broke. The Seam... The Hob... The whole of District Twelve... all gone, because of what I'd done in the Capital.

I found myself enveloped in the strong arms belonging to Rue's mother. She was stroking my hair the way my father used to do when I was tiny.

I don't know how long we stood there, me sobbing like I haven't done for years, her just holding me.

When I finally pulled myself together, I felt embarrassed. I'd never met these people before, really, and I'd been crying like a baby. "Some rebel I am," I sniffed.

"Katniss," Rue's father began, "You said that when you were with Rue, you felt like you had a little bit of home."

I nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"We know you've lost almost everyone you ever knew as well as your home. We don't have much, but we'd like it very much if you wanted to make this your home. We are here for you whenever you need us."

I was stunned. My own mother didn't think I was worth staying alive for, yet this couple I barely knew... I nearly lost it again, but I swallowed hard, determined to keep myself together this time.

"I'm putting you in danger being here, you and the children," I objected.

"That's our decision to make, not yours," her father said, speaking sternly for the first time. "If we are attacked, you are to get yourself out as far and as fast as you can."

"But..."

"Katniss. The Capitol like to put siblings of victors in the games, just like they like to use the Victors' children. The only hope we have of all of Rue's brothers and sisters living is for you to win, for the Capitol to lose. You are too important to lose."

His wife continued, "You must win, for Rue, for your sister, four our children, for all those who will be reaped in the future. And to win you have to stay alive, whatever the cost."

They sounded almost desperate, so although I had no intention of running away if their family was attacked, I just nodded.

"I'm afraid you're in with the children. We don't have anywhere else."

"That's okay," I assured her.

The children shared two beds between all of them, which didn't surprise me. Sharing a bed was common in the seam as well.

"Next to me," pleaded the nine-year-old, the one who, more than any of the others, reminded me of Rue.

I dreamed that night of Prim, Buttercup curled up at her feet, then Prim walking, hands tight, towards the stage after her name was called for the first time. Time flashed forward and she was earnestly telling me, "You have to win." Over and over again, the boy from Two was torturing her. I ran to stop him, but each time her canon fired before I could reach her. His laughter echoed in my mind.

The door crashed in with a huge bang, and Peacekeepers stormed the house. They shot Rue's parents with two clean shots, dragged the youngest children out of the bed and dispatched them just as quickly. The nine-year-old was screaming at me, "Why did you come? It's all your fault!" before one of the Peacekeepers shot her too. The peacekeeper turned to face me and it was President Snow.

"Wake up, wake up," I heard a voice pleading with me.

I opened my eyes, afraid what I might see.

The nine-year-old was shaking me, while the other children were all staring at me, obviously frightened.

Their father came in. "Anything wrong?" he asked.

"Sorry," I said. "Just a nightmare."

He nodded. "Well, if you're okay?"

"I'm fine," I confirmed, and he left.

But as I settled back down on the bed, I didn't feel fine.

The nine-year-old, whose name I still didn't know, although I'm sure Rue had told me the names of all her brothers and sisters when we were in the arena, spoke hesitantly. "When we had nightmares, Rue would hold us, until we went back to sleep."

I smiled. I could just see Rue doing that. I'd done the same for Prim many times.

"Would you like me to hold you?" she asked.

I was going to say no, until I realised that, in truth, there was nothing I'd like more right at that moment.

I allowed her to wrap her arms around me.

"Feel better now?" she asked.

I nodded, because it was the truth. I did feel better. Just as in that short time together in the arena, Rue had taken away my loneliness and made me feel at home despite the circumstances, in this arena, my arena, the whole of Panem, her little sister had the same effect. For the first time in a long time, I felt at home.

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Author's notes...

I guess nobody likes my vigilante Katniss as there are STILL NO reviews to the previous two chapters!

Nobody seems to like my abandoned puppy named Katniss either. Her brother, Peeta, and her sisters, Rue and Prim, were all adopted, but Katniss remains in my animal refuge, unwanted so far. You can see her in my facebook /brigrove

Please review.

Brian

THE STORY SO FAR

Chapter 1

President Snow forces Katniss to be a prostitute. Prim tries to kill Snow. Katmiss marries Peeta. In the Quarter Quell a sibling has to join each tribute. Prim is reaped again.

Chapter 2

Peeta finds out the truth. Prim decides it's her turn to protect Katniss. Flames and bruises.

Chapter 3

Into the games and Prim tells her story.

Chapter 4

Prim is killed and Katniss is rescued. Letters.

Chapter 5

Her first kill... almost.

Chapter 6

Katniss attacks a square full of people.

Chapter 7

Another day another dozen.

Chapter 8

"There is no District Twelve." Katniss striked back at the Air Force.

Chapter 9

Unexpected help and capture.

Chapter 10

Public revenge on the boy from Two.

Chapter 11

Meeting Rue's family. A new home.