The Beginning of the End (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 19

   Boggs grabbed her by the arm and brig her to her feet. Iris looked down as she felt all of the others eyes on her. "What were you thinking!" Boggs whisper shouted into her ear. "I just wanted to help." Iris said keeping her calm and still looking down. "Do you know how much trouble you are going to be in!" He whisper shouted again. "Well I'm sorry I don't agree with Coin's rules." Iris said rudely looking up at Boggs. He almost looked startled when she said that. He let go of her and headed off the hovercraft as everyone silently followed behind him. Iris was the last to start walking but as soon as she stepped foot off of the hovercraft she felt uneasy.

   All of district 12 was almost silent. There were very few kids running around some hiding when they saw Boggs marching through the town. Iris didn't bother looking in or taking in her surroundings, her mind was to wrapped up in thoughts of Clove. She did look up every so often to make sure she still saw Clove and Max with the group. Suddenly Snows voice came banging into her head chasing her to hold her ears almost falling over. The whole group stopped and turned around to look at her. Snows voice rang through her head so loudly it's like he was yelling in her ear, She is just going to kill you Iris, you're just another toy in her games, she is trying to use you. Iris felt Cloves hand come and touch her arm but Iris quickly shook it off and stood up trying to act like nothing happened. She looked at the group for a second before Boggs started walking again making the others walk along with him.

   They come across an broken wood house probably older than Iris's ancestors. Boggs walks up and knocks on the door. A man opens the door, he wasn't very tall but he wasn't as short as Clove, he was just as thin as the rest of the people in this town and he also had no hair. "What do you need?" Iris heard the man ask bringing her out of her thoughts. "You are the mayor of district 12 correct?" Boggs asked. "Yes sir, Mayor Undersee." As they got into conversation Iris looked around and met Clive's eyes giving her a questioning look. Iris furrowed her eyebrows but then quickly looked away. She saw movement and looked up but saw that Clove was not in the same spot as before. She felt a hand on her back making her turn around. Cove gently smiled before grabbing her hand and pulling it the nearby woods.

   "Now are you going to tell me what that was about?" Clove asked once they got pretty deep into the woods. "No" Iris replied looking as the ground in front of her making sure she didn't trip on a stick. Clove stopped walking making Iris also stop and turn back to look at her. "What?" Iris asked with a hint of concern in her voice. Clove shook her head but then stepped toward Iris. Clive only left a little bit of space between them as Iris looked into her loving brown eyes. Iris felt Clove gently grab her hand running her fingertips over her palm. It sent shivers down Iris's spine as she looked down but quickly back up into Cloves eyes. Cloves hand slowly reached up and gently placed her hand on the side of her cheek. She could hear distant voices in her head telling her to run away or be anywhere else. Clove slowly started leaning in and closing her eyes. Iris looked down at Cloves lips and wanted to feel them against hers so bad. Once Cloves lips grazed Iris's Snows loud booming voice yelled at Iris making her take a step back from Clove and squeeze her eyes shut. She opened her eyes and looked at Clove who had a startled look on her face. Iris took a deep breath, "We should head back." Iris said walking past Clove and going back in the direction they came from hearing footsteps behind her.

Iris heard Boggs voice in the distance so she kept walking but she felt someone grab her hand making her turn around. She felt Cloves lips crash against hers making her almost fall over. Iris stood there for a second feeling Clove lips on hers and how soft they were, but she quickly came back to her senses and pushed her off of her then without a word turned around and kept walking towards Boggs.

Iris stepped out of the trees and walked up to the rest of the group and saw Boggs and Mayor Undersee shaking hands. Boggs turned back around to the group and Iris saw Clove go stand by someone else. Iris put her head down not wanting to make eye contact with Clove. The rest of the group started walking so Iris followed looking at the ground the whole way. The group stopped walking making Iris almost run into the person in front of her. They turned around and gave her a glare before turning back to face Boggs. Iris looked around her and realized they were at the Hall of Justice. "All right everyone go find a seat... Iris and Clove come here." Boggs said in a booming voice. Everyone scattered finding a seat then Iris followed by Clove walked up to Boggs. "I need you two to sit together." "Sir, if I may ask.. why?" "Because when we are trying to convince a whole district to join the revolution we need hope and right about now you two are the best thing we got." Boggs said looking past Iris and Clove. Iris looked to see what he was looking at and saw Mayor Undersee making his way over. Iris turned back around and make her way up the stairs and found a place to sit down. She saw Clove walk up the stairs and slowly make her way towards Iris and sit in the empty chair next to her. Iris didn't dare say a word to Clove or anyone around her. She saw Boggs and the Mayor come up the steps and walk up to a microphone in the middle of the stage. The Mayor said a few words then made his way to the door at the back of the stage.

After sitting there for a few minutes Iris saw tons of people walking their way, some kids some adults but all of them looked like they hadn't eaten in days. Once everyone settled down Boggs started speaking into the microphone. "I know this is probably very unexpected and you are all scared but.....we no longer need to be scared. We have finally had a chance to give the capitol what they deserve. Will you join us?" Boggs said in his booming voice Iris looked out at the crowd and saw scared and unconvinced faces. Iris stood up and walked towards the microphone. She pulled Boggs back away from the microphone. "You have to have reasons why they should believe you or they will never join you." Iris said looking at Boggs. Boggs nodded then held his hand out towards the microphone. Iris took a breath then took a step towards the micro phone and looked out at the crowd. "I know the capitol has scared us in the past beaten all the districts almost to death, but we can change that.....just like Clove and I changed the ending of the 74th hunger games. There was not supposed to be two victors but we changed that with a little bit of hope. All we need is a little bit of hope to push through the capitol walls and take Snow down. Clove and I will be fighting everyday until he is gone." Iris took a breath pausing for a second, then she felt someone hand come interlock with hers. She looked over and saw Clove looking out at the crowd. Iris looked down at their hands the squeezed Cloves hand before looking back up at the crowd. "We won't be able to do it alone, but if we can change something with a two knives then imagine what we could do with countless guns and and even more weapons. We are here to give you that little push, we will still be your hope, and we will be fighting with you until the ver end. So I ask..... Will you join district 13 in the revolution." Iris looked out a the crowd and they made no noise and their facial expressions hadn't changed from those scared unconvinced faces.

(Thank you so much for 1k reads on my second book and thank you so much for 1.96k reads on my first book. It means so much to me when someone else enjoys my story's just as much or maybe even more than I do. I hope this book is just as good or maybe even better than the other books. Thank you guys so much. Anyways stay safe out there and you guys are the best. :)