hunted • haymitch abernathy

nine

nine; HEADED FOR 13

The final day of training before their individual assessments quickly approached and Ember was quite certain she hadn't felt this panicked the first time around because, during the fifty-fifth games, she had breezed through her training and her interview by doing absolutely nothing, she had spent half her time pretending to cry while her fellow tributes stared on in amusement, knowing her death would be an easy one.

In the end, their deaths had been the easy ones.

This time around, pretending to be terrible and crying her way through her interview absolutely would not do and only an idiot would believe it again and so Woof had attempted to put together a game plan for her but Ember couldn't take Woof's advice, it'd be suicide.

While she absolutely adored Woof, he was getting quite old and the only two times that Ember was certain he was aware that he was returning to the arena was when he stood and volunteered when Calico's name was called during the reaping and the night they had sat together after the Tribute's Parade.

Ember didn't know what she would do if Woof was the first of the two to go.

She had a plan, one that could backfire on her completely and kill her loved ones but it would help the uprisings her brother had started, it would give the District's hope.

Ember would not fade into the night, she would scream her protest until her throat was raw and her voice was gone and she would continue to do so until she took her final breath.

"Stop trying to eat the bugs." Ember laughed lightly as she grasped Woof's wrist and lowered it before he could shove a bug, likely one of the poisonous ones, into his mouth.

He smiled sheepishly as he allowed her to remove the bug from his grasp, "Figured this would be easier than being stabbed."

Ember snorted at his dark words as she glanced up at Katniss who stared at them with wide eyes and she smiled at the younger girl before she turned her attention back to the older man and shook her head, "Wishful thinking, you'd wake in an Infirmary good as new, better probably."

"More than likely," Woof responded gravely.

Ember tapped his wrist gently before she let it go and returned her gaze back to the screen, pressing it a few times as she attempted to refresh her memory on whether or not certain critters were deadly to eat or not and when she heard a sigh, her eyes flickered up to see Katniss casting glanced her way every few moments, "Something on your mind?"

Katniss remained silent for a few moments while she observed the dark-haired woman before she nodded and spoke in a hushed voice, her gaze flickering to those around them who could be listening, "Do you happen to know a Bonnie or a Twill?" She finally asked when it was clear that no one was listening to her.

Ember frowned in thought as she regarded the names, "I can't say I know anyone by the name of Bonnie but Twill does sound familiar, I can't put my finger on it though. Why do you ask?"

Katniss' eyes shifted around once more, "I met them a few weeks ago, they told me that they were from 8 and they were headed for 13."

Ember stared at the girl in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"

With eyes wide in shock, Ember listened intently to Katniss who, in a hushed voice, told her the story of the two women she had met in the woods on the outskirts of District 12 only a couple of weeks earlier who told her all about the District lockdown, the panic in the streets and the explosion that they had used to their advantage in order to escape the District.

The very same explosion that had been in retaliation to the response her District had over her sister's death as well as the four others that week, at the announcement of Katniss' engagement to Peeta plastered across every screen in the district and how dare the Capitol make them watch while they were dying. The explosion her niece had died in.

It was the next day, in the evening, when Ember was staring at the face of Caesar Flickerman on the screen of the screening room, her eyes unseeing as she thought over all that Katniss had told her about the two brave women from her District.

Were they correct about how habitable District 13 was? She knew what they told Katniss about the footage was accurate, she had seen it herself and her father used to boast that he was one of the few who worked it out without being told by another person. Practically all of 8 knew that the footage was old but few truly thought about the why.

She was snapped from her thoughts when Flickerman said her name cheerfully and she looked at the screen in time to see his blinding smile.

"Ah, Ember Tides." He announced as the man next to him clapped his hands together excitedly, "With a score of, oh, eleven!"

Ember smirked to herself as she thought about her individual assessment earlier that day. She had essentially, just done nothing, only staring up at her assessor's with dark eyes for forty-five seconds before she began to sing a dark tune her father had sang in her home when she and her siblings were young children that the President had banned in Panem.

The member's of the Capitol had gasped in horror at the old tune that flowed from Ember's lips, unspoken words of rebellion hanging in the air as she sang the words that, once upon a time, brought hope to the Districts.

She had no regrets about putting a target on her back, Thread had told her to do whatever it took to rebel throughout the Quell because all they wanted was to bring justice to their sister.

"Dear me, that's fantastic." The other man beamed, "Much better than last time, eh?"

"Indeed." Caesar exclaimed, "Onto Woof Teren, with a score of eight."

Beside her, Woof grabbed her hand and the two shared a smile as Ember shifted and rested her head on his shoulder, neither knowing just how much time they had with the other, a month, weeks, possibly only a few days.

All they knew is that they wouldn't take their time left together for granted.

══════════════════

this chapter is a little on the shorter side but i wanted to fit in katniss telling ember about bonnie and twill and i didn't exactly know what to write for ember's assessment so i skipped it and only put in the scoring. next chapter is the interviews which will be interesting.

thanks for reading!

~r