Price of Rebellion (The Hunger Games)

Chapter Five

Everyone falls asleep that night, but I can't. My dad is still out there, and I don't know if he's alive. He could have been shot by a white armored soldier. He could have been captured and tortured by them. My dad said he would be back by sundown, and it's almost midnight. I have to go see if he is okay.

I look back at my family and Rose, sleeping so peacefully. They won't notice I'm gone, and I'll be back before they wake up. I quietly get up and tiptoe towards the basement door when I feel something poke my back. I turn around to see Rose behind me holding her teddy bear.

"What are you doing up?" I whisper.

"Are you leaving?" She whispers back.

"I have to find my dad. It's not too dangerous outside, I'll be right back." I say, walking up the steps.

"I'm coming with you." I hear her say as she follows me up the steps. I turn around and face her.

"No, it's too dangerous-" I say shaking my head.

"You just said it wasn't." She stubbornly says. I sigh.

"Fine, but you can't tell them where we went when we get back. My mom will kill me if she found out I went outside." I whisper. "And don't say a word once we are outside, just like last time."

She nods and we walk to the first floor, still untouched. She grabs my hand like she did when we got here. We walk out the back door and immediately smell the rubble of the streets and fire from blocks away. Dan's house is just down the street, so we won't be going too far. I didn't plan out a route to get there, but the tricky part is that we will have to cross the stranded street. I point to my back, and Rose jumps on. We walk to the front of my house, and I look both ways. She grips my shoulders, and I sprint across the street and into the neighbor's backyard. I form a sprint to get to Dan's house as soon as we can.

I stop at the fourth one, I see soldier with white armor. I freeze, unsure what to do. He doesn't see me, he can't possibly see me because it's so dark outside. But I feel like he did see me because he takes a half step towards us. Rose taps my shoulder, and points to the woods behind us. I nod and run into the dark woods. I catch my breath, sitting on a cold log. Rose sits next to me, still holding on to her teddy bear. Thank you. I mouth to her. She smiles, and looks down at the bear.

An hour or two has passed, and we have to continue. I tap Rose and my back to tell her we have to go. We walk to the backyard we were last in. I freeze again, the man dressed in white is guarding the house and Rose grips my shoulders even tighter. Without hesitation, I run to the next backyard. I can't be scared, especially with Rose on my back.

We make it to the back of Dan's house out of breath. From looking inside, there are other people at his house, but it doesn't look like a social get together, more like a debate session. My dad sits at the table stressed out, but alive. He is safe and alive and that is all I need to feel okay. I am curious of what they are all doing at Dan's house though.

We back up to the edge of the backyard, spying on them. I duck behind one tree, and Rose ducks behind another one which is less than a foot away from me. There is definitely a disagreement going on, because a few of the men stand up and are screaming things at the others. But what? What can they possibly be fighting about? They all saw what happened to the school.

My dad is one of the few to be standing, but he leaves the room, probably to gather his thoughts. I see a light turn on in an adjacent room, and my dad leans against the wall, rubbing his face in frustration. He looks at the wall, zoned out, but then he walks over to the phone and starts dialing a number. Shit, he is calling my mom, and she will wake up to find that Rose and I are missing. I see him shake his head, as if she told him that we weren't there. I have to go inside, or else he will leave to search for us and possibly run into danger.

I walk towards the back door fully exposing myself to those inside. Rose catches up and holds my hand. Dan recognizes me, and doesn't hesitate to let me in.

"Emma, what are you-" Dan says, but then gets cut off.

"Emma? What the hell are you doing here?" My dad walks in the room angrily.

"I needed to know if you were okay." I say, ignoring the fact that everyone is looking at me.

"I'm fine, but why did you bring Rose here? It's too dangerous out there." He says while hugging us.

"She wanted to tag along, and she refused to stay home without me." I say. "What's going on here?"

"Well, I just called your mother, who is now worried about you and Rose so I have to call her back." I feel a pang of guilt, to have my mom worry about me again. "Dan? Explain." He says while leaving the room.

"You can't just tell a little girl what is going on." A bald man interrupts from across the room.

"Hey, I'm not little. I'm sixteen, and I was there when the school exploded." I say, pointing to my bandaged arm. "And Rose here lost her mother in a crossfire."

Everyone goes silent and looks at the man. He looks at me and then at Rose. "Go ahead." The man says to Dan.

"In other districts, there have been rebellions. There hasn't been one here, so the Capitol wanted to show those districts how powerful they are by bombing the school days ago." Dan explains. Rebellions? "We are debating if we should join the rebellion."

I look over to the mayor, who looks the most stressed out of everyone. "Rebellions? Why? Why would the districts possibly-"

"We don't know. That's all the information we know now." Dan says.

I sigh and take a seat. Rose sits on my lap, and she hugs her bear. "What districts rebelled?" I ask.

"Six, Seven, Eight, Ten, and Eleven." Dan says. "We heard nine may join the rebellion, but it may just be a rumor."

"We are debating if we should fight back. I mean, if we should join the districts in overthrowing the Capitol." Another man says.

There is a moment of silence until my dad gets back in the room. "So I told your mom you and Rose are okay, but you still shouldn't have left." He says taking a seat next to me.

"You said you would be back before sundown. You never returned and I thought about every worst scenario that could have happened to you." I say with tears in my eyes. Blinking them away, I hug Rose close to me.

"I'm sorry. But as you can see, we have a very serious issue here." He says, kissing my forehead. "Go to a bedroom upstairs and go to sleep you two. We will go back home tomorrow morning." My dad says.

"Good night everyone. Sorry about interrupting." I say as I pick up Rose and head up the stairs.

We walk into Stacey's room, Dan's daughter that is my age. Was my age. Dan's wife was a teacher, and Stacey and her brother were students at the school that blew up days ago. They always went to school early.

I shake the memory of the three of them from my mind, and lay down in Stacey's bed with Rose. She falls asleep almost immediately once the blanket covers her. I stroke her soft brown hair, and kiss her on the forehead. I close my eyes, and drift off into a quiet deep sleep.