"Jenny, I'm going to the forest would you want to come with me?" I asked her about the woods and she nodded. We got changed into some hunting clothes before tiptoed down the stairs; we loaded our bags with food and snuck out the house as we both crept along side streets and back alleys. We made our way to the weak spot in the fence behind Rooba the butcher. As the scientists walked along that way it was already covered in footprints as Jenny's and mine wouldn't be noticed. With all Thread's security upgrades they hadn't paid attention to the fence, perhaps they thought the idea of wild animals and the terrible weather kept everyone in. Even so we covered our tracks until the trees could conceal us. I got my bow and arrows out and walked deeper into the forest before we get to the lake. I wanted to say goodbye to it being as though I probably would never return. The trip took twice as usual and once we arrived covered we were covered in sweat.
We were so exhausted we didn't even see smoke coming from the chimney, the footprints walking up to it, the smell of steaming pine needles. We were a few metres from the door when we stopped. And it wasn't because of the smoke or footprints, but it was because of the unmistakable click of a weapon behind them. I turned around drawing back an arrow, although they knew the odds weren't in our favour. We saw the white peacekeeper uniform, the light brown iris where my arrows would find a home. But the weapon is dropped to the ground and the unarmed woman was holding something. "Stop!" She cried to us as I was the only one with a weapon now. Jenny and I, but mostly me, hesitated, unable to process what was going on. Perhaps they had orders to get us alive so they could torture us both, but we knew that wouldn't happen. I was going to let my arrow fly when I noticed something in the girl's hand. It was a loaf of bread as it was grey and soggy around the edges with an image clearly stamped in the centre of it. It was my Mockingjay symbol and Jenny noticed it as well. "Ruth that's your pin symbol right." Jenny asked about the symbol and I nodded to as a yes.
It made no sense to me as to why my bird baked into the bread. Unlike the stylish ones I saw in the Capitol, it was not a fashion statement. "What is it? What does that mean?" I said harshly still ready to kill. "It means we're on your side." a voice from behind us said and I thought she must have been in the house. I didn't take my eyes off the current target then I realized that the newcomer was probably armed but they most likely wouldn't shoot because if they did their friend would be dead. "Come around where I can see you." I ordered the person as Jenny had grabbed the gun that the first woman dropped to the ground and pointed it at the second woman. "She can't, she's – ..." The women with the bread began but was cut off. "Come around!" Jenny shouted at the second woman as there was a step and a dragging sound. It took lots of effort to move as another women, or maybe a girl, she looked around Emilie's age. She limped into their view and wore an ill-fitted peacekeeper's uniform while carrying no visible weapon. Her hands were occupied with steadying a rough crutch made from a broken branch. She had a bad leg and I examined the girl's face. Her face bright red, teeth crooked and a strawberry birthmark over one of her chocolate-brown eyes.
She wasn't a peacekeeper or from the Capitol. "Who are you?" I asked warily of the two. "My name's Twill." The woman said as she looked around the age of 35. "And this is Bonnie. We've run away from District eight." She continued to say to us about eight and I thought about District Eight. The screen I saw on the train of the people fighting back in Eight. "Where did you get your uniforms from?" I asked about the uniforms they had on their backs. "I stole them from the factory. We make them there and only I thought this one would be for... for someone else. That's why it fits so poorly." Bonnie said about her uniform she has. "The gun came from a dead peacekeeper." Twill said seeing the two sisters look at it. "The bread in your hand with the bird. What's that about?" Jenny asked about the bird bread. "Don't you know, Ruth?" Bonnie said as both appeared genuinely surprised. I knew they had recognized me because I was standing uncovered and had an arrow pointing at them. Who else would it be? "I know it matches the pin I wore in the arena." I said about the pin that passed the little test of hidden weapons.
