Pure As Ivory, Driven As Snow - A Hunger Games Story

Part 2 - The Void

Why? Why him? Why not take them all away for questioning and torture, why just kill him? She knew she would probably never get an answer. But then she saw the other man fighting the Peacekeepers that had just approached from the van, and when one of them punched him in the side, she realized he was loosing. And so was she, and so was he - her son. They would take her away, cut him out of her, or kill her. She would lose him. She got up, and ran straight through the forest to her side. Gunshots were fired and hit the trees right beside her. Men yelled and screamed, but somehow, she couldn't believe it, their voices faded into the background as she ran and ran and didn't stop or look back.

Sweet Lewis, she thought to herself. You're safe with me. All of this happened so incredibly fast, her non-existent goodbye to Tam who'd left his life to get her safe, her vow to protect her son and her naming him Lewis, after his father. And, at last, whispering „I'll never forget you" Tam's way. It all went by in a rush, and in what felt like hours later, she had sobered up and awoke in a clearing. She took the time to cry and mourn everything that had happened. She didn't actively take it, she just had to. It was still dark night, and it certainly was the darkest night of her life. She felt Lucy's energy, Lucy's ghost again. That is what it must have felt like to flee from her stalker and killer Coryo all those years back. But weirdly, she felt her presence very much as an ongoing presence, she wasn't gone. Not here, not now. Lucy Gray's spirit was real. And for the moment, that gave her comfort. And ultimately, the strength to go on. She gathered a few mushrooms and edible plants while singing the Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird, and went on.

She walked for hours, as she felt that if she stopped, the sun would come out too soon, and it felt like a threat. As long as it was dark, she now felt safe and protected. But after a few hours, it was inevitable the sun would come out. As soon as she saw it rise, she turned around, looking over her shoulder. But all she could see was woods and all she could hear was birds. Beautiful. After a while she realized they were mockingjays. She must've come far enough from the district borders to hear them just everywhere. And it was a delight.

Suddenly, she heard a sound approaching, hovering over the forest. And it wasn't just approaching, it was already there. She took cover by rolling under a bush just as the Hovercraft passed by the clearing. Clearly, they had now mobilized what they could in order to find her. She realized she was now a threat to Snow, just like Lucy had been all those years ago. What a time to be alive, she thought, sarcastically.

The shelter was dense and excellent yet she still felt so out in the open. She didn't dare to move, or to imagine what they would to to her, or her son, if they ever found her. For a moment, until it passed by, she didn't even breathe. She was on the run, and she felt it now really for the first time since leaving for the woods right after the other man besides Tam and Chive, whose name she didn't even know, told her to run. She lay there for an hour before crawling back out and now feeling weirdly calm despite everything. She felt confident there was something beyond the District's borders, and for the first time, she thought why wouldn't there be? It was probably easy for the Capitol to keep them confined and thinking there was truly nowhere to go. But there was and she knew it. She disciplined herself, gathered food and even built a few traps. She kept it up for three days without anything interfering. She just kept heading North, accompanied only by her will to save Lewis, and her determination that there was something there. And the mockingjays, singing and humming with her.

It was during the third night something happened. She felt like she was being watched, and she was right. There was a figure standing not too far away from her, and they were watching, but then, they disappeared. She was scared out of her mind, and she thought one running away probably meant he was going to get reinforcements. She got up and ran again, getting hit by branches, stumbling and slipping on the rain-soaked undergrowth, falling multiple times in the dark, navigating through the trees. It was crazy, but all of the insanity she was witnessing, had witnessed ever since she left the District, also sharpened her instincts and reminded her of who she was at her core – a Covey. She felt another side of herself she had forgotten or neglected, and it was so alive in her now – a sense of freedom and self-determination, and making it against all odds, no matter how dire the circumstances were. She felt powerful, in tune with a part of her that was very primal. But after she ran for an hour, reality kicked in and her body was so exhausted she basically collapsed.