The Runaway Victor | Book II

Chapter Two | Outside the Fence

        Quinn threw on a simple blue shirt with a pair of plain grey jeans, the weather wasn't all too hot. But it was alright, and she had decided she didn't want to turn out like some of the other Victors. Even though she much rather would have stayed in her house, she decided to walk around the District. She hadn't seen it all that much since she had been back. She had seen the square, a few houses, and the remains of the warehouse since she had been back from her tour. Besides that, she knew that her choice to walk around the District may have been because it was easier for her to think a bit more positively with her brain clouded because of the morphling-- it blocked out a lot of thoughts and memories.

"Hi, Quinn!"

        Quinn looked towards a smaller house, it wasn't like the houses in Districts Eleven and Twelve that were two or three walls with a tarp. Outside the front door sat Isabelle, an eleven year old. She had been one of the few Quinn actually spoke to the day she got back when she ran up to greet her. She had sun-bleached hair that was in a frizzy ponytail. Her skin was tan, and her cheeks were a bit sunburned. And her eyes were blue like the ocean.

"Hey," Quinn replied, smiling a bit. "Where's your grandpa?" she asked.

"At the docs," she said quickly, "Where are you going?"

Quinn shrugged, "Just walking around," she replied. "I haven't seen much of the District since I got back."

"Do you mind if I come with?" she asked.

"Oh," Quinn sighed, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to have some company."

        Isabelle smiled and hoped off of the old chair she had been seated in and jogged a bit to get to Quinn's side. The two of them walked through the square, pausing when a few of the kids Quinn's age approached her to greet her. But Quinn was a bit less talkitive with the lot of them, and they must have understood because they didn't stick around all that much.

"Can I show you something?" Isabelle asked.

Quinn raised an eyebrow sharply, "Depends, what is it?"

Isabelle smirked a little, "You'll like it, I promise."

        Quinn sighed and nodded, it didn't take much to convince her to follow her. She probably could have easily been persuaded to do just about anything in fact. She followed Isabelle past some more shacks, and past a few warehouses-- they were getting further and further away from the main part of the District. The more busy part of the District where people were and where the peacekeepers would be. At one point they had begun climbing up a hill, it was a piece of cake compared to what Quinn had gotten used to. Then Isabelle began jogging through a line of trees that hid the fence that surrounded the District. But at the top of the hill, Quinn stopped to look back at the District. She was amazed at the sight of the entire District. She had never notived that most of it was on the hill, and at the top she could even see the Victor's houses.

"Isabelle, where exactly are we going?" she asked as she turned around and began to catch up with the younger girl.

        When she caught up with Isabelle, she saw that she was standing beside the fence. Quinn raised an eyebrow quickly. She had been by the fences once before, but not intentionally.

"The lake," Isabelle replied simply. "It's not that far out."

"The fences aren't eletric?" Quinn asked in reply.

Isabelle shook her head, "If they are, they just aren't on. Saving energy I guess..." she shrugged as she stepped on one wire and pushed it down with the weight of her body so she could easily duck under it.

        Quinn glanced around, hesitant at first. But then she quickly followed Isabelle through the fence. Then the two of them jogged into the safety of the trees, then the two of them slowed to a walk. It had never really occured to her that there could be something outside the fence. In a way, she always assumed there was practically nothing and the trains never even left the Districts.

        The two of them walked until they got the the lake that Isabelle had wanted to go to in the first place. It wasn't too big, but it was big enough that the tree's looked tiny on the otherside. The ground around the lake was rocky, and it had big rocks that they could sit on. As they found a place to sit, Quinn was shocked as to how different it was outside the fence. The tree's seemed more alive, the air seemed cleaner even though there probably wasn't that much of a difference. The nature seemed so peaceful too, it actually looked a bit like what the gamemakers would make an arena like. Then again, ever since she got back she had somehow tied things to the games...birds flew around, squirells scattered around around them. And there looked to be a few ducks on on the lake.

        Quinn could kind of remember days where her father and brother would disappear in the mornings, before the sun was even fully up. Her and her sister would lay in bed, pretending to sleep-- they didn't want to be woken up for something like chores that they two of them were going to do. Then later that same day they would come back with a few squirells or birds, none of them ever asked questions about it. Because they would eat well those nights and the day or two after that. Quinn had always assumed that they bargined with the old woman down at the market for the food. But maybe, if it really was this easy to get out of the fence, they got it themselves...

"They taught us it was dangerous," Quinn said quietly. Still a bit shocked as to just how peaceful out there it was, even to her. That was what surprised her the most. She felt almost normal. "But they are the dangerous ones."

"What do you mean?" Isabelle asked, looking over at Quinn.

Quinn sighed, "The teachers, peacekeepers-- the Capitol taught us that things outside the fences were dangerous. That there was nothing out here for us," she explained, "But it's safer than they are." she said simply, "Sending kids off to kill each other isn't exactly safe."

"What was that like?" she asked, "Being in the games, I mean."

Quinn frowned, forcing her eyes away from Isabelle and towards the water. Then towards the ground, anywhere but at her. "I can't explain it," she said quietly.

Isbelle stayed quiet for a moment, "Everyone here is really proud to have you as a Victor, Quinn."

Quinn scoffed, "There isn't much to be proud of."

"Yeah there is, and you know it too." Isabelle replied sternly. "You got people in all the Districts to think. They aren't all thinking that the games are something that has to happen. They know they have a choice to have a different opinion besides what the Capitol tells them all."

Her words went in one ear and out the other, "I've just caused people trouble." Quinn replied. "More people have died because of me...not just tributes, but people in the Districts."

Isabelle raised an eyebrow, "So?" she replied, "They died because they challenged the Capitol, like you did."

"I don't want people doing what I did."

Isabelle cocked her head to the side. "I think it's cool," she paused, "That people want to end the games and make it so the Districts are all equal."

Quinn didn't say anything.

"You're just like the spark," she stated simply. "Now there's more and more, eventually the Capitol won't be able to put them all out."