The Runaway Victor | Book II

Chapter Twenty-Nine | Welcome to District Thirteen

The flight to Thirteen wasn't that long at all. But knowing that everything was fine now, that she would actually have a bed to sleep in again, some food, maybe a drink or two...it made it so easy to drift off into a light sleep. So that may have made the ride seem a lot shorter than it was. Vessalmen had seated himself beside Quinn so he gave her a nudge, waking her up.

The dim lighting in the ship had been replaced by more light because the ramp had been lowered, and Hannah had already been escorted from the ship with Franks, and there had been applause too but it had begun to stop. Quinn looked around and saw a few others from Thirteen waiting to follow her off of the ship. But Orion wasn't there anymore, he was gone.

"Where's Orion?" Quinn asked looking up at Vessalmen as he stood up.

"Hospital," he replied simply. "No worries though, he should be up and around soon." he said with a small, reassuring smile.

Quinn nodded, and stood up. Vessalmen remained a step or two ahead of her as they began their walk down the ramp. Suddenly the room was full of more applause and cheers, people were all over. They wore all gray, a uniform of some sort. She listened to the cheers, people were cheering for her. Her eyes jumped to different people, all of which were happy to see her. She tried to look past them all, and she caught a few glimpses of other ships.

"Welcome to District Thirteen, Quinn Maverick!" a man grinned, clapping along with other people as Vessalmen men stopped in front of a metal door that was closed. He pressed a button or two next to it and the. Pulled it open, only to reveal a fairly large elevator. He stepped in and then waited for Quinn before pressing a few more buttons and pulling the metal bars that made the door shut again. Then the elevator jolted to life, and began to lower it self.

"Enjoy the warm welcome?" Vessalmen asked.

Quinn looked at him for a moment before back through the bars. Watching floors go by one after another. People walked around almost every one. She took a small step forward and looked up, then down, then back at Vessalmen again.

"It's huge..." she muttered looking back out at the floors that they kept going past.

He nodded, "We went underground before the bombing, we've been down here ever since." he explained simply. "It'll take some getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it." he assured her. "Today will be quite relaxing for you, but tomorrow you'll start a schedule like everyone else here."

She nodded, not really hearing what he said. At least she didn't really care at that very moment. She knew they were going to Thirteen, but she hadn't been expecting them to do every single thing under ground. When the elevator came to a complete halt, Vessalmen stepped out first and led Quinn to a door with a small window to look through. He grabbed the handle and slid it open only to reveal a small compartment. There was a small bed that was attached to a wall, a small projected screen on the wall by the bed of the symbol of Thirteen. Then there was a table with two chairs around it, then a door that was closed that probably went to the bathroom.

"Here's your apartment," Vessalmen smiled, "The dresser has clothes for you to change into. In fifteen minutes Boggs will be here to give you a tour of the District, then escort you to Command to meet with President Coin. Then you'll be brought to lunch from there." he explained her already busy schedule even though she had only just arrived.

She gave a curt nod as she stepped in and he shut the door behind her leaving her alone in the apartment that she had been assigned. She looked around, unsure of what to do. So she started by walking over to the dresser and pulling it open to reveal a bunch of grey tops, then in the next drawer was a assortment of white under garments, then in the third and final drawer were grey pants to go with the top. That was the only thing she had, was it all everyone had? She sighed and grabbed something from each drawer and kicked off her shoes before turning and walking into the small bathroom. There was little room, but it was still better than living in the woods like she had been.

Quinn sighed and turned on the water faucet to the sink, grabbed a small hand towel and got it wet. Then cleaned her face with it before stripping out of her clothes-- tossing everything but her jacket into a pile. Then she pulled on all the clean clothes while making a mental note to take a shower after she was done and in the compartment for the night.

Once Boggs came to get her, he showed her around the entire District. He showed her the arsenal with nuclear weapons, the bunker where the ships were. In those places people were building more or repairing them. Then he showed her to the cafeteria, the training center, the hospital, the tech center where they were working on creating new weapons. The tour was long, and Quinn was still absolutely amazed at how big Thirteen actually was.

Then once the tour was over, just like Vessalmen had told her, Boggs brought her to Command. A large office of sorts with a long table in the center and two people sitting at the table. A woman with pin straight grey hair, practically the same shade as her grey uniform. She had a thin face too, then the other person was a man with dark hair, and had the familiar tan skin that was common in District Four.

The woman looked up at Quinn and smiled kindly at her. "Quinn Maverick," she said as she stood up from her seat. "It is an honour to finally have you here in District Thirteen with us, we've been awaiting your arrival for a long time." she said as she approached Quinn and awkwardly hugged Quinn's shoulders. Quinn felt her entire body tense up at the sudden action. The woman took a step back and put her hands on her shoulders, "You must know that we in Thirteen are behind you one hundred percent. What happened to you in the Games are horrid, and we are so proud that you have decided to ally with us to stop the games."

"I...I never really agreed to anything." Quinn replied.

She sighed and nodded, "We'll discuss that in Command in the morning." she smiled, "But now, Quinn I think you'd like to meet Sargent Samuals." she said motioning to the man. "Boggs and I will give the two of you some privacy."

With that, Boggs and President Coin stepped out of the Command room leaving Quinn with Sargent Samuals.

"Otto Samuals," he introduced himself as he held out his hand. "I...I don't really know how to introduce myself." he said, pausing. "Your mother was my older sister," he stated, when he opened his mouth to say something else, Quinn stopped him.

"You're my uncle?!" she asked abruptly, "How did you get to Thirteen? When?"

"A few years before you were born, I tried to get your parents to come with me. But they insisted that it was too dangerous to try..." he explained.

Quinn felt her stomach doing flips, and her head began to spin. Just like that she had a family again. Just like that she had someone Snow could use against her.