Here We Are || HG Sequel

Chapter Two

"Get down!" Ashton screams, throwing himself to the ground and dragging Karalyn and Luke down as well, who were standing on either side of him. Just in time, too, because flying arrows were shot at them. Since the six of them dropped quickly enough, the arrows flew by above them. The rustling in the leaves pauses for a moment, and the others raise their heads to see what had just happened. "Don't move unless I say," Ashton hisses. The others obey him. 

"Well well," a voice from the woods sounds. The others are confused. "Look what The Capital dragged in. Well, in this case, dropped in." The voice belongs to a tall male. He had light brown hair, blue eyes, and a smile that couldn't be trusted. 

"Wait... what?" Ashton stands, but the others remain on the ground. "No way..."

"Way," the boy smiles. Others emerge from the woods, weapons ready. 

"Alex?" Annie gasps, rising. A boy among the others stirs.

"Annie?" Annie runs over to him, the boy dropping his weapon.

"I can't believe it's you!" She throws her arms around his neck, hugging him. He hugs her back, laughing and smiling. 

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Niall steps forward too. "Niall, hey!"

"Long time, man," Niall says, doing a hand shake with Alex. One by one, the others start to realize. These people from the woods, they weren't just random people. They were past victors of The Hunger Games. The six tributes from the crash have all rose, dusting off their clothes and staring in awe at the previous victors around them.

"But wait... this doesn't..." Karalyn starts.

"Make sense?" the tall sly brown haired boy speaks up. "Yeah, tell us about it."

"But you guys are back in the districts. You've been there since you won," Luke says. The boy shakes his head.

"You only thought that. We've been here, the entire time. You see, golden locks," Ashton smirks in the distance, crossing his arms over his chest. "We're all here, because we're just like you. We've all defied The Capital somehow during The Games, or the process of. We've all cost ourselves our victory. We may have survived, but we haven't won anything. And now, you guys have done the same." The others are confused. "Oh come on; you don't honestly think that the hover craft you fell from really crashed on coincidence, do you? No. The Capital wanted you to crash. They wanted you to end up here, with us." He leans closer to the others, whispering. "And here we are. Name's Louis, in case you don't remember." 

"We were all dumped here as soon as The Capital got the chance. We were announced the winners, they would pick us up for the victory tour, and as soon as we were to go home, they spun around and dumped us in this place," Alex explains.

"Where exactly is here?" Rhett steps forward. A dark haired girl steps forward next. 

"We don't really have a name for it. It's just Here. Here, we are. We are Here. I guess you could call it symbolic, in a way." A french boy steps forward, lowering his bow. 

"There's no escape from Here. Once The Capital brings you, you're stuck. But, you all are welcome to join us at our camp. What we have, we'll gladly share." 

"Yeah, come on, join us. We'll uh... show you around," Louis winks. Ashton sighs, rolling his eyes.

"You always were one for mysteries, weren't you, Louis?" Louis laughs. 

"Guess so." As the others stepped forward, Karalyn pulled Ashton's arm, holding him back.

"Are you really going to trust this guy? He shot arrows at us!" 

"Relax, Princess. He's an old friend. Not scared, are you?" he asks with a raised brow.

"Of course not," she protests. "I just think he's a little... shady."

"I can handle shady. I've dealt with crazy long enough; a change is bound to be in order." He looked directly at her when he said crazy. She thanked him with a glare, smacking him on the arm. "So now I have to deal with abuse? You're killing me, sweetheart. Wasn't dying once enough?" Luke pulls her away before she can swing at him again. 

"Don't get wrapped up in fighting with him. You're not going to win." Continuing on to wherever it was that Louis was taking them, it wasn't long before they had arrived. 

"Welcome, new inmates. This, is our sanctuary. Finest one I ever saw, if I do say so myself." There were others there, waiting. There would be others. The six tributes gasped in awe at the complexity and homeyness of the place. 

"Whoa..." Rhett admired.

"Not too shabby, huh?" Alex bragged. 

"Who are they?" a fiery strawberry blonde approaches. "New recruits?" 

"Something of the sort," Louis nods. 

"Well then," she continues, smiling. "Welcome aboard." Louis takes a seat on one of the log benches, grabbing some sort of fruit and biting into it.

"So, you wanna tell us how you got Here? Or names? Names would probably be best to start," he says. "You may know most of us, but we sure as hell don't know you." Ashton stands, ready to introduce everyone.

"For starters," he says, pointing to himself. "Ashton. That's Rhett, Niall, Annie, Luke, and uh, well, I call her Princess, but she doesn't like that too much," Ashton smirks. Louis nods.

"Princess. What's your real name, then?"

"Karalyn," she answers. He simply replies with another nod. 

"Well," the redhead picks up. "I'm Holland. That's Crystal, Alex, Zayn, Emily, Pierre, and Taylor. I assume Louis told you about us?" 

"A bit," Luke answers.

"I can assure you that you'll learn quickly. If we stick together, and help each other, then we'll be all set. We have a few extra beds made up. Most of us share. Hope you don't mind."

"No, thank you," Annie smiles graciously. "We're happy to have the hospitality."

"Well of course; us tributes and victors need to stick together," Alex smiles, putting a comforting hand on Annie's shoulder. He respectfully moves it when Niall stands and takes his place beside her, kissing her on the cheek. 

"Great," Holland smiles. The beds were decently sized. They were built to fit two or three people, but still much roomier than the tent they shared in the games. The sleeping arrangements were thought out. Ashton, Louis and Zayn were in one bed, Karalyn, Annie and Emily were in another. Alex, Niall and Pierre, Luke and Rhett, and finally, Crystal, Holland, and Taylor. 

Once that was arranged, they all sat together and got to known one another. When it got darker, they built a fire, and ate meat from the animals they hunted earlier in the day. "Here, we hunt for our meals. It's a lot like The Games. In a way, you never leave," Zayn informs the new tributes.

"Everything you see Here was made by us. Except well, you know, the land," Alex tries to make a joke. Some laugh.

"So you guys actually managed to escape the games? All six of you?" Emily asked. The others nodded. "Wow. That's..."

"Incredible," Taylor finishes. "Seriously, I admire you guys."

"You admire us?" Karalyn gasped. "You won The Games by tricking everyone into thinking you'd died. Found a way to convince The Capital too! You had them fooled completely." She laughs, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, it was brilliant, but that's what landed me Here. I guess it's okay, though, because I've grown to like Here better than home anyway."

Sitting around the fire, some of the tributes hung out, some talked, and some remained silent. Pierre had been off in the woods. He came back, sitting beside Karalyn on one of the log benches. He sat down, with a flower in his hand. He smiled at her, handing the flower over. "Pour tu, madame," the boy presents his gift. Karalyn was surprised, but smiled just the same.

"Oh, merci, monsieur." Pierre laughed, making Karalyn laugh as well as she thankfully took the pretty flower she had been given. In a way, she was glad that they had crashed. In a way, everyone had their own reasons to be glad that they crashed.