One Fire: A One Direction Fan Fiction

11

11

   Leah and I manage to find a tree with a branch overhanging the now electric fence, and dive down into the snow banks in the meadow at the edge of the district. We shake the snow from our bodies and head to the shack I used to live in, where we’d started keeping our bows and arrows.

   I deposit her at her house and say a bright hello to her family. Her mother, Sagan, stops me and gives me some of the herbs she grows in small pots in their house year-round for Gemma, since her medicine supplies are getting low. I stuff them in my empty game bag and start back towards my house in the dusk.

   When I reach home, Simon, Gemma, my mum, Robin, and two nameless Peacekeepers are waiting for me. The Peacekeepers’ faces are both slightly shocked at my appearance. It’s no secret I’m one of the few who sneak out into the woods. They probably weren’t expecting me back any time soon since they’d somehow brought life to the fence.

   “Hey,” I say to all of them in an emotionless tone.

   “Good, you’re home,” my mum says, she’s at my side in a second, grabbing my game bag from my shoulder. “These two have been waiting for ages. They say they’ve got a message for you from Slater,” she purrs, naming off the new Head Peacekeeper.

   Slater knows Leah’s not the only one to sneak off. He’s just sent these new goons of his to make sure I didn’t return here. He believed I’d either be trapped or electrocuted. I’d already survived the Hunger Games – floods, attacks, pain – I could definitely get over a stupid little fence.

   “Yes?” I ask the two with a raised brow.

   “First, might we ask where you were that was so important as to keep us waiting, Mr. Styles?” one of them says.

   “Just out with my friends,” I respond simply, “All around the district.” There could be two meanings to this. Sadly, the true one was the one they wouldn’t like.

   “What’s in the bag?” the other Peacekeeper asks. I can see by their expressions they aren’t convinced, and I know what they’re looking for, some evidence I’ve been out in the woods, maybe a dead animal or two. They want me to be whipped again. Or, rather, Slater does.

   “Not a lot,” I say truthfully.

   For further proof, my mother digs around in the bag, pulling out the bags of herbs which didn’t grow naturally in the forest.

   “Oh, more herbs from Sagan,” Gemma squeaks. She’s on her feet and taking the bags the second she sees them. “Thank her tomorrow for me, Haz.”

   I nod at her, and then turn back to the Peacekeepers. “You said you had a message?” I interrogate.

   One of the Peacekeepers nod. “Yes, from the Head Peacekeeper, Slater,” he says, “He wanted me to let you know the fences surrounding the district will now have power every hour of the day, every day.”

   “They didn’t already?” I ask, tilting my head to the side for effect. It’s fun to keep character, even though they know where I’ve been and what my habits were.

   “He just thought you’d like to let that little poacher girl know,” the other says harshly.

   “I certainly will,” I respond.

   They each give a nod and file passed me out of my house. Once the door is closed behind them, I join the others on the couches in the front room.

   “Where were you?” my mum demands.

   “In the forest, as usual,” I tell her honestly. “They weren’t joking about the fence.”

   My mum lets out a sigh and I see Robin, Simon and Gemma mimic it. They knew me too well to believe my lies. But I did believe I did a well enough job, even though the Peacekeepers probably didn’t believe me. But I was here and not frying on the fence, so I must have done something right.

   The next few days are slow. Gemma and I are both too old for school, and, with no hunting, I have plenty of downtime. Leah comes over every day and we just sit, watching whatever is on television. Usually, we would only watch during a mandatory Capitol announcement, but without anything to do aside from this and reading, we made an exception.

   The first thing we really do watch is a Capitol made documentary on the war which left the districts impoverished. They reference District Thirteen plenty during it, and even show footage of the Justice building. I keep my eyes trained on the top right of the screen, and I do see the wing of a mockingjay Olive, Caesar and Yew were talking about. But that proved nothing. It was a documentary. What’s to say they just didn’t use footage from one of the reaping days?

   Leah still cuddled up to me as the next program came on, a live news story on a shortage of graphite in District Three, and how, because of this, the manufacturing of some electronics was put on hold.

   District Thirteen mined graphite once they were still in commission, so the coverage was now on the ruins of the district. A reporter stood there in front of their crumbling Justice Building, speaking of the reason why graphite mining cannot take place.

   “What’s that?” Leah asks.

   As an instinct, I use the remote controller in my hand to pause it, freezing the picture, and I let my eyes go up to the top right of the screen. I run the picture from the documentary through my head and try to match the images. Sure enough, the wings of the mockingjays lined up perfectly.