Peacekeepers: The 49th Annual Hunger Games

Gazelle

Ev

I'd heard of Alma Coin. She was a woman that, like me, used to sing to the children in the berry fields. My mother was one of those children, and she taught the songs to me as I was growing up. But no one had ever seen Alma in the District after she retired. Some said she was dead. Others said she was just hiding. Those people were correct, because here she was, living on the outskirts of District Eleven.
"You, my dear, are a brave young girl," she said with a warm smile that calmed me a bit. She reminded me of my mother in so many ways; calm, kind, sweet.
"He kissed me," I said, looking at the other people in the room then back at her. "A-are they going to kill me?"
"No, sweetheart," Alma said, stroking my hair. "No. No one will hurt you as long as you do what we say. Mason was just taken to the Capitol, correct?"
I sniffled, but nodded. "Snow's using him as a Peacekeeper." I said, looking up at them. I looked and felt tiny compared to them. Tiny and weak.
"We know. And we're going to need your help."
"With what?" I asked. Alma looked at the man that carried me in and gave a slight, tiny nod. The man began to clear everyone out except for Alma and I.
"We need you to continue defying the Peacekeepers." Alma whispered. I practically spat out my laughter.
"That's real likely. They'll torture me or kill me or make me an Avox. It's not happening," I said and started to stand.
"Miss Greenly," Alma said as she pulled me back down. "We're hoping to end the Capitol's ruling for good." That sentence shocked me into a state of utter disbelief. The Games had always been there, ever since the Dark Days. We weren't allowed to talk about the Dark Days anymore, but certain few, Mason and I, did anyway.
Alma told me that she couldn't tell me any more until I agreed, so, regretfully, I did. Expecting her to tell me more, I was let down when she told me to go back at the same time next week, so that I wouldn't draw attention to myself with my whereabouts.
That night may have been the worst night of my life, aside from my mom dying. I slept in my bed. Not a tree. My bed. And I desperately missed the damp, hard, uncomfortable but familiar tree branch that carried millions of memories with it. Happy memories. The memories that make me want to tear my hair out because all Mason wanted was to make more happy memories. He wanted to marry me.
And of course, I had to go in and yell at the poor man. Thinking back, the look on his face when I threw the ring, made my stomach lurch in a hundred different directions, but mostly, it just made me want to throw up what little food I had in my stomach- the food Mason risked his life to get.
He put his name in the reaping extra times to get extra food for me. He was willing to die so that I'd have a little bit more food to sustain myself. God. I thought. I threw him away.
That night, I didn't sleep again. But it wasn't because Mason had kept me up. It was because missing Mason kept me up. The lack of his arms around me made me queasy. The lack of his smell made my veins feel like they were bursting. I needed him to even feel somewhat human.
I needed Mason.

•••••••••

It had been a month since Mason left. Each week, I would go to Alma's and listen to more stories about her days working here. Turns out, she was not as old as she looked. Barely 25, actually, but hours out in the sun had been damage to what was supposed to be her young, fresh face.
She sustained an injury, putting her out of work, since she was paralyzed and rendered unable to walk for a few years at least.
Each night without Mason was the same. I cried until tears were etched onto my face, and even when I woke up for work each morning, I couldn't even hide the puffiness and redness from the night before.
Every time I passed Point, I could see a little grin appear on his face that made my blood run cold. Something about the look in his eyes made me terrified. He looked like he was a starving lion and I was a gazelle. I knew that he was planning his next attack.
I'd broken his nose, and he planned on doing something so much worse. And after he kissed me like that, and was still coming after me after I beat him, something told me he enjoyed a struggle.
That struggle came after I was leaving Alma's one evening. It was well past curfew, and I was promised that all the Peacekeepers had gone to bed and it would be an easy walk back home. The air was extremely warm, despite it being January and my breath fogging in front of me. The only sound in the night was the sound of my boots crunching the snow under me. Each crunch made me sick to my stomach, like Snow was watching me.
Actually... It did feel like someone was watching me. You know that feeling when you know that you're being watched? That feeling in the pit of your stomach when you just know that something isn't right, and it stars to creep up your throat? That feeling was all around me, and it made me want to cry.
My emotions went from anxiety to terror as a thick, warm hand clamped over my mouth and another hand held my arm behind my back.
I tried to scream out for help, but it was muffled. Who would come save me anyway? Everyone in District Eleven was too scared for their own wellbeing. No one would come help me, because they knew they'd face the same fate as I would.
I was half dragged, half carried, to the whipping post. This was exactly like a few weeks ago, only this time, it was dark, I had no clue who my attacker was, or what he wanted to do to me, and it was empty other than myself and my attacker.
I couldn't even cry as I was shackled into the whipping post, a familiar hand gripping my wrist.
Panic set in, and I was struggling against the chains, knowing that Point was choosing now for his revenge on me, when no one would be there to help, and no one would be there to stop him from completely killing me.
"You shouldn't have fought, girl," his voice sneered as he leaned down and kissed me full force. I cried out again as I fought to keep my mouth closed and pull away again.
There was a sharp, searing pain down my arm as Point dug a knife into my skin. "STOP FIGHTING!"
"LET HER GO!" A familiar and deep voice calls out. Oh my god... Could he really be here?!
It was. Mason Bridges was standing there in a Peacekeeper uniform, standing up for me, and dare I say it, he looked hot.
"Let her go, Commander Point. She's done nothing." His voice was that of regality and composure, different than the Mason I knew, but still adorable.
"She broke my nose," Point growled.
"After you sexually assaulted her." Mason said as he stepped over and unshackled me. "Legally, she was allowed to and even if she wasn't. Punishment must be inflicted within 28 days of the incident." How much did Mason know? It didn't matter, because now I could count on him to keep me safe. Mason didn't look at me yet, as I fell down and looked up at the two of them. I was shaking so badly I couldn't tell if it was from fear or the weather.
Mason's hair was somewhat darker than I remember, his face more muscled and tanner than it was before. I struggled not to burst into a fit of happy tears at the sight of him. I had to hold myself back from pouncing into his arms. Glancing down at his hands, I recognized the straw rings. Our straw rings.
He kept it.
I didn't understand how, after the last time we spoke and saw each other, he still wanted to keep his promise to me.
"Who do you think you are?" Point growled as he looked at Mason.
"I'll have you know, President Snow appointed me Head Peacekeeper of Eleven." I couldn't hold back a gasp.
He'd barely been there a month. What had happened!? Why did Mason say yes to that? Head Peacekeepers had to do... The beatings. Mason would never agree to doing that!
Point asked all the same questions before Mason held up a hand and said, "Stop. I do not have to answer to you anymore. And now, I'm taking this one home. If I see you speaking to her again, you'll be whipped, is that clear?"
Point grumbled a "Yes sir." My eyes widen, seeing Point referring to Mason as 'sir'. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
Mason didn't say anything the entire walk to my home. His stony silence scared me to death. We'd been apart for a month and he just saw me being assaulted and he couldn't even ask me if I was okay? We'd reached my house before I started an apology, but he's already talking over me.
"What were you doing out so late, Ev?"
"E-excuse me?" I stammer. His voice was cold and hard, and it was almost as though he didn't know who I was. My chest burned, but I pretended at the tears were from the cut on my arm.
"Why. Were. You out so late?" He repeated.
"That's all you have to say to me?" I whispered. "Mason, I've missed you so much and you won't even look me in the eye." I reach out and touch his hand, and it's obvious that the touch sends just as many sparks down him spine as mine. I reach up, take his face in my hands, and stand on my tiptoes, kissing him lovingly, trying to get a taste of all our memories. He just barely kisses back. I slump down, my chest aching as I pull back, thank him for walking me home, and quickly disappearing inside. That was not at all how I imagined our reunion going.