hunted • haymitch abernathy

twenty

twenty; FREEDOM IS CLOSE

Sleep came sporadically for Ember, interrupted by dreams of Woof's final words, the tortured sounds of her loved ones, dreams of Snow's face when she told him no and how Paige had dropped dead mere days after that. She dreamt of Thread, in his grief, instigating the uprising the night of the star-crossed lover's engagement and the chaos that had followed before the lockdown had gone into place. She dreamt of everything, tossing and turning uncomfortably in the sand until she couldn't take much more of her nightmares.

She'd gotten up slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes. It was still dark out when she assured Beetee that she was alright to take over. Once he settled, she pulled her knees to her chest and stared at the water lapping against the sand.

She wrapped her garotte around her wrist and then back, over and over, as she listened out for anyone attempting to lay siege on their camp.

The lockdown had lifted after seven days of being contained to their homes where school had been cancelled, and the factories were shut down.

Citizens of District 8 were forced to listen to their televisions, which wouldn't turn off as they played nothing but static until a Peacekeeper would drag anyone they suspected to have lit the fuse into the town square, where they were then executed.

Ember had seen dozens die during the rioting and twenty-seven more men and women killed in the days after before it was over and they were allowed to leave their homes.

But she knew how the Capitol played. She should have known that wasn't the last of it.

District 8 had re-opened after those seven days, and Thread had left to work in the morning after he had promised them, his niece especially, that he wouldn't do anything stupid. He'd kissed them both on the cheek and ruffled their hair to the sounds of harmonised protests.

Ember had sent Bondi to school with a warm hug and an assurance to see her in a few days after she'd kissed her forehead. President Snow had requested her appearance in the Capitol for a meeting with him and then attendance at the party held at the mansion, celebrating the victory tour coming to a close.

Bondi had made her promise to say no to whatever he wanted her to do this time, and Ember had lied to her niece.

She would do whatever Snow asked of her because she knew if she even thought of the word no in his presence, the likelihood of Bondi's name being called for the games before her final eighteenth year was up was astronomically large.

Ember was on the train when she saw the plane.

It felt like a dream, watching on as the largest factory in the district, where Thread and Bondi both worked, had blown to nothing.

She had to go into her meeting with President Snow and do her damnedest to sit and stay polite when all she wanted was to launch herself over his desk and rip into his throat with her teeth, tear his eyes out, and claw that sympathetic look layered with a sick delight off his face because he sat at his throne as he flicked her family from her one by one as if they were nothing more than inconveniences on a chess board.

When she met with Calico and Aspen that night, she learned that Thread hadn't been in the building when the bombs fell, but no one could locate Bondi. They held onto one another as they wept, mourning the brutal loss of that bright and wonderful teenage girl.

Ember had learned why Thread hadn't been in the factory that day when he should have been was because the Peacekeepers had dragged him out minutes before, let him watch the bombs fall before they waited for him to realise that they hadn't hauled his niece out too. They waited for that realisation to set in before they gave him his punishment.