26: District Twelve

Prim POV

Every few hours, I glance towards the screen. I don't expect any news to come, but it's a habit from when Katniss was still being displayed in the Games. Where is Katniss now? Could she have been killed during the explosion? I would think that we would know about that. The Capitol have kept quiet though.

If Katniss is alive, will she be coming home? Maybe she was just injured by the explosion. Maybe she's being treated in one of the Capitol's hospitals now and once she's better she'll come back. But I know that this won't happen. The Capitol could easily take this as an opportunity to kill her after all of the rebellion she's done.

It would crush so many people. Every day now as I walk by, I can hear whispers about Katniss and the Capitol. How she saved Melanie from being whipped to death, or how she outsmarted the Capitol twice in the Games. Rumours about how she escaped the arena in a hovercraft filled with people loyal to her. If only. It could have happened. It should have happened.

There's a knock at the door and I get up to open it. Maybe it's Peeta again, coming over to try to cheer me up with cookies and cakes and freshly baked bread. It's nice of him to try, but he doesn't understand what it's like to have a sister missing, maybe dead. Maybe being tortured. All of his family are safely in the bakery.

I twist the handle. It isn't Peeta. It's Rory Hawthorne. I almost mistook him for Gale at first. He has the same hair, the same build. "Hello. Why are you here?"

"I thought you might want somebody to talk to," he says. "I understand what it's like. Gale was in the Capitol too, and he's been in the Games too before. He could have been captured or killed by them. He was always trying to stir up rebellion in the people and they hated him for that."

"They hated Katniss as well," I say quietly, stepping out of the way so that he can come in. "Everybody else loved them though. Have you heard the rumours, the ones about Gale and Katniss escaping in hovercrafts to a safe place?" The door clicks shut behind him and I lead him to the sitting room.

"Yeah," he says. "Everybody at the Hob is gossiping about it. They all want those rumours to be true. It's wishful thinking though, I think. Gale would have come back for us if he did escape. And Katniss.. I'm sorry Prim, but Finnick Odair was tearing her arm apart with his trident. She probably bled to death. Her allies betrayed and killed her."

"She wouldn't have bled to death," I correct him. "It would take quite a long time. Probably about half an hour. The Capitolites would have got to her sooner. No, if she was killed, it would be by Snow and the Capitolites."

"Maybe. I think Gale is probably in some Capitol prison now. God knows what they'll do to us. Maybe they'll get Romulus Thread back, seeing as Katniss and Gale aren't here to oppose Snow anymore."

"What could have happened though?" I think aloud. "Why would Finnick have stabbed Katniss in the arm, not the chest or throat? That's what he would have done if he tried to kill her. And Beetee with the arrow? What purpose did that have? And why did the Games go offscreen after that?"

"I don't know. But it had to be something big. They never cancel the Games, it has literally never happened before. The only thing that came close was last year when they let Gale and Katniss win. I've watched every Hunger Games there has been. And Gale wasn't in danger, so why isn't he back unless the Capitol imprisoned him. And they would only do that because of a direct act of rebellion."

"What's so special about the arm though? Wait.. He wasn't trying to kill her. Rory- the trackers are in their arms. They were trying to escape and Beetee shooting the arrow must have caused the force field to explode.. They use force fields to keep tributes in the arena Katniss told me.. They must have escaped and that's why the Capitol imprisoned Gale and stopped the Games!"

I take a deep breath after the sentence and my heart flutters like a bird taking its first flight. Katniss isn't in the Capitol, she's escaped to some rebel base. She's safe and happy and alive and they'll probably come back for me and Rory soon. Maybe I shouldn't look so happy in front of Rory, his brother's probably being interrogated by the Capitol right now about rebellion plans. But I can't bring myself to feel sad now that I know that Katniss is safe.

"Does that mean that we are openly at war now?" Rory asks. "I mean, seeing as they interrupted the Hunger Games and took tributes out and the Capitol have imprisoned Gale, I would say that there is open war between us and the Capitol. Don't you think so?"

"I suppose, yeah. Do you think that means that they'll start attacking us?" I ask him.

"I don't know. Probably. We should get out of here. They'll probably try to take us alive seeing as you mean enough to Katniss for her to volunteer for you and they'll probably get more info out of Gale if they torture me."

"Where could we go? There are going to be people here who would turn us in for money and safety, we would have to leave District Twelve. And I would need to take mum and you would have to take your mother and Posy and we would have no food or any of the things we need to survive."

"We could go to the woods," he suggests. "I could hunt for us. We could bring them with us, it's not far. We could make it out of here, I know we could. Gale often talked about it, but Katniss wouldn't leave with him, so we stayed here."

"Do you think your mum and Posy will come though? Do you think that my mum will believe us?"

"Even if she doesn't, we have nothing to lose. If it turns out that we were wrong, we could just come back. Or you could leave her behind.."

"I'm not leaving my mother behind," I interrupt him. "Go and find your family and tell them. I'll explain to mum."

He nods and runs out of the door. I head upstairs to Mum's bedroom. She's been up there almost all day ever since Katniss disappeared. She'll be glad to know that Katniss is safe with the rebels. I twist the doorknob and open it slowly. Mum is lying in bed; her dirty blonde hair is ragged as if she hasn't brushed it in days. I step closer.

"Mum. I think I know what happened to Katniss."

She grabs me around the shoulders tightly. Her eyes stare into mine. They've sunken into her skull and have a slightly crazed look. I've seen it before in patients who've lost a limb when we come in to tell them what can be done. It's a look of desperation. It's scary to see that look on Mum, but much better than the blank, vague look that she wore after Dad died.

"What? Where is she? Have you had news from her?"

Her hands grasp even tighter and I can feel her nails digging into my skin, even through my clothes. Her breath goes right in my face- it smells as if she hasn't washed for days.

"Mum, please stop, you're hurting me."

Her grip loosens, but she carries on staring into my eyes. The look of desperation is still there; she's just restraining herself around me. At least she still has feelings now.

"Katniss escaped the arena. Finnick was taking out her tracker and Beetee shot the lightning arrow at the force field to break it open so that rebellion hovercraft could come in and save her," I rush the words out. "She's probably safe now, in some secret rebel base, and that's why the Capitol aren't showing anything."

She lets go of my shoulders completely and I can see the relief in her eyes. She takes my hands in hers and there is a heartfelt smile on her face. It must be the first time that she's smiled in weeks.

"But we need to go. They've taken Gale and they'll be at war with us. If we want to help the rebellion, we need to get out of District Twelve. Rory is getting his family, then we need to go into the woods. Pack some food and clothes and Katniss's bow."

"OK. Thank you Prim, you've stayed strong throughout these past few days. I should have been here for you more, I should have been the one thinking about this. Instead I've just been lying here. I promised you that I wouldn't repeat what happened after your dad died and I nearly did. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You were just worried about Katniss. I understand; I was too. You don't need to worry about me anymore though. I can take care of myself now. You did this because of your love for Katniss. If I had needed you to help me survive, you would have done everything you could."

"I would have and I will in future," she promises, touching the end of one of my plaits. "Maybe Katniss's people will find us. We can help treat their wounded if it will be war soon."

I nod and turn away from her for a second to get a bag. She follows me downstairs to the kitchen to pack a few loaves of bread and some fruit. I put in the book of plants that my father left me. We'll need to eat plants and forage when we're in the forest with Rory. Meat alone isn't healthy.

I pack some simple and comfortable clothes from the wardrobe. None of the fancy dresses that were given to us by the Capitol. No dresses at all. They'll only get caught on twigs. Some trousers and tops. One thick, woollen jacket that Katniss bought me for my thirteenth birthday. There might be some cold nights, even if it is spring now.

We wait in the living room for Rory and his family. Mum tries to comb the tangles out of her hair and I suck on the ends of mine impatiently. The Capitolites could be coming for us at any moment. I want to get out of here as quickly as possible. Katniss would give up the war for me, I know it.

Finally, Rory and his sister and mother come back. They carry a few bags, Rory has some rope and an old bow. One of the ones that Katniss made. Hazelle looks almost as tired as my mother does and fear is clear on Posy's face. Poor girl. I approach her. "You're going to be OK. Don't worry. We're going to be safe."

"Only if we get out of here quickly," Rory interrupts. "There are Capitol hovercrafts here, large ones. They're going to bomb us, people from the merchant sector who escaped told me. They're waiting outside, we need to warn the people from the Seam and get out."

"What? How many?" Is Peeta OK?

"Fifty people came from the merchant sector. Peeta's with them," he says, reading my thoughts.

"Let's go."

We run. I haven't run properly for a long time. My legs get tired quickly, but I can't stop. For Katniss, I remind myself panting. We head towards the Seam. When I look back, I can see plumes of smoke rising- covering the horizon. The sight adds an extra touch of fear and speed.

"Run!" I shout. "Everybody, follow us to the woods. They're bombing Twelve."

People turn their heads. They all recognise me as Katniss's sister and Rory from the Hob. They trust us. The men who are outside run inside to collect their families; women grab their children and join us. Hazelle Hawthorne has headed to the mines with Rory. I lead the people to the fence and show them how to climb through.

They are all gathered behind me. I'm leading people, just like Katniss did. These people trust me to save them. I'll do all that I can, I promise to myself. The crowd are relying on me, I realise. Without Rory and I, they would have stayed in their houses and prayed or wouldn't have known about the danger until it was too late.

They won't bomb the forest, I hope. But there aren't many of us. Fifty people from the merchant sector, another few hundred from the Seam. Where's Peeta? We need to organise these people. I catch sight of Peeta's blonde hair through the crowd. People from the Seam normally have brown hair.

Where is Hazelle with the people from the mines? Most of the people were at work, she could have saved over a thousand people if she made it. What if they've bombed the mines already though? Hazelle could be dead now. So many people have died already, how many people must have been in the merchant sector. Thousands of people were there, but only fifty are escaped.

How many people are there in this whole District that died? Even if we manage to save thousands, there will still be hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions that we left to die a fiery death. Their deaths won't even help the rebellion in any way, they weren't soldiers. The Capitol were doing this just because they could.

"Peeta!" I call as he approaches me. "Help me organise these people. Hazelle should be coming with people from the mines soon. They were only a few minutes away. Where are your family?"

"They didn't make it," he replies. "My mother and father were in the bakery and didn't notice until the bombs fell on top of them. The only reason that I escaped was because I was out walking. Is your mother here?"

"Peeta, I'm so sorry. My mother is over there." I gesture to where I can see my mother comforting a group of people from the Seam, reassuring them that they're all going to get out of here and go to a rebellion base. The bombs seem to have shaken her back to her normal self.

"There's the mine people," Peeta says. He lifts me up so that I can see over the heads of the people that we rescued. There are more than I could possibly have hoped for. They line up along the fence as far as I can see. Hazelle managed to get so many people, definitely over a thousand. Some bear burns and scars, but there are maybe one thousand five hundred people there.

I need to address them from somewhere they can hear me. I squirm out of Peeta's arms and climb a tree, holding onto the little pieces of bark like Katniss showed me to a while ago. I pull myself up to the first branch and stand up, clinging to the trunk with one arm and start to speak.

"District Twelve! Listen to me!"

Some people turn their heads, many more carry on pushing through and trying to find their families. I don't blame them, I would be doing the same.

"Be quiet and follow my lead or the Capitol may yet kill us!" I yell as loudly as I can. More people turn around to me and pull other with them. It's enough.

"Everybody who can bandage a wound or treat a burn, go over there," I shout, gesturing to the left. "Anybody who is wounded, go with them. That counts small wounds too, they can become infected. We'll need scouts in District Twelve to find people who can help us, as long as they aren't from the Capitol bring them to us."

People nod and murmur and there is a shift of people towards the left. Luckily, most of the people are not injured, most got out before the bombs hit. There are only eighteen people who can heal wounds, my mother and myself included, and around one or two hundred who are wounded. They are mainly small wounds, but I can see one boy who's lost an eye; a girl in her mother's arms who seems to have a crushed leg and a few other major looking injuries.

Quite a few of the young men from the mines seem eager to be scouts and find help for us. I just hope that they don't run into any peacekeepers. They would kill them easily as they are much better armed than we are. Maybe I should have just instructed the people to go deeper into the forest.

But then how would the rebels find us? If we stay here at the edge and send scouts, the rebels will be able to find us and take us to one of their bases. They need soldiers don't they. Most of the people here are strong and able bodied, with some good food and training they could join the rebel army.

"Is it true that Katniss escaped the Hunger Games?" someone shouts out from the crowd. The rumours spread quickly here. "Is that why they bombed us?"

"Yes!" I yell to the crowd. I hope goes unsaid. "Yes, but it's more than that. The Capitol want you to continue slaving away in the mines for them and getting your children taken and killed for their entertainment and to give you nothing in return. But we won't allow that anymore. They hate us because we're finally realising that they aren't all-powerful."

"Katniss! Katniss! Katniss!" the cry takes up in the crowds and I smile. "Primrose!" somebody yells. "Primrose Everdeen! Our saviour and leader!"

And somehow, the crowd goes over from shouting Katniss's name to shouting mine. One man makes the District Twelve salute, the one which used to be farewell but has now become the sign of the rebellion. It's slightly overwhelming. I'm not the rebel leader, that's Katniss or Gale but not me.

But then the whole crowd are saluting me. They need a leader, I realise. And I helped save these people's lives. They need me. It's my duty to help them. "Primrose Everdeen! Primrose Everdeen! Primrose Everdeen!" The cries are deafening and come from all quarters of the crowd.

The wounded men and healers are calling and the scouts, the men are calling and the women are calling and even the young children are calling. They are all looking to me to save them. Not to Katniss, nor to Gale but to me. I'm a symbol of the rebellion too now, not to the entirety of Panem, but to these two thousand or so people, I'm their mockingjay.

"To the rebellion!" I call. "To freedom from the Capitol."

xXx-X-xXx

Well, that's the end of this fanfiction. Thanks to everybody who read this far and to everybody who followed, favourited and reviewed. You were wonderful. I hope that you enjoyed this and the prequel, if you liked the story or have constructive criticism, please leave a review. The sequel is on my profile, the title is 'Revolution'.

-MoonOfPluto