TWENTY FOUR
DANGEROUS GAME
Talia had never thought of the prospect of being in the arena again. But here she was, preparing for that. The Reaping would be in a weeks time, and Talia had no doubt that her name would be thrown into that pot more times than anyone else. Mags had promised to volunteer for her, but she was still worried about Finnick. He could be in that arena, he could die, and all for Talia's safety. It made Talia sick to her stomach.
Gregory and Denise Riverthorn had been supportive as ever, Mickey, Penny, Samson and Freddy were all lights in Talia's darkness. Reasons to get out of the games if she was picked and Mags failed to volunteer. The day before the Reaping was strange, the whole District was eerie, barely anyone was out, only 1 or 2 of the shops in the Square opened for business. Talia passed by some of the fishermen who were just heading to work, a late start considering it was nearing noon. She paused, watched them walk by and decided to ask.
"Its a bit late, is it not?" She asks.
The two men turn, sorrow in their eyes, "Aye, lass, it is, but we've been forced out to work today, our families are starving, we thought we might last until after the Reaping tomorrow but we won't,"
Talia's hand fumbles in the small purse she wore over her shoulder and she takes out some money. She holds out her hand towards them, "Take this, buy yourself some food, there's a few shops open, the bakery and butcher are, get some food, feed your families,"
"But...We can't accept that money from you," Says one of the men, glancing to his friend.
"Please, what kind of person would I be if I didn't give you money that I really don't need," Talia says, she steps forwards, still holding out the money.
"You'd be a sane one," The other man says.
"What?" Talia mutters and she tilts her head just in time to see two Peacekeepers holding guns emerge from one of the small alleyways.
"What's happening here?" He asks and Talia's hand drops to her side.
"Nothing of significance to Capitol puppets," She snaps, she had a knife in her boot if it really came down to that.
"You'd be smart to watch your mouth," Says one of the peacekeepers.
"I'm past caring," Talia replies, shifting her weight to the other foot and looking at the two men she's offered money to, "I best be going,"
"Us too," The men say and Talia walks forwards and takes the hand of one of the men, her other hand lifts up and she pushes the money into his hand. Her eyes lift to meet his and she nods, before letting go of him and walking away.
The Peacekeepers follow her, she can hear them behind her, but eventually she loses them in a maze of back passages they haven't had the time to learn during their short time in the District.
Her feet carry her to the Square and she pauses below the stage, where the District's people would stand tomorrow to watch the Reaping. The place where usually, children would be the ones stood, waiting to hear the names that would be drawn from the bowls, praying it would not be their name. Talia's mind flickers with memories of her own Reaping day, how it feels like only yesterday when she was thrown into an arena and forced to play either predator or prey.
Her hand runs over the wood of the stage and she can feel a presence behind her. She glances over her shoulder and sees the face of Jamie Kilen.
"Hey Talia," He says and she sends him a smile, she hadn't seen him in a long while, and she had never forgotten his kindness to her.
"Hi Jamie," She says and he walks forward, his hands stuffed in his coat pockets to ward off the cold.
"Weird isn't it?" Jamie asks, looking around the Square.
"Eerie," She says, glancing back to the stage and then back to Jamie, "What brings you out?"
"The Bakery is open today, I was working until my brother came to take over, I wanted a walk," He says and he reaches Talia's side, "Is it stupid to ask how you are?"
She chuckles, "I'm fine, apart from...All this," She gestures to the stage that was decorated in the Capitol's Seal.
"Thats understandable...I have something else to ask," Jamie asks and Talia nods. He looks round over his shoulder and around the Square, "If I ask you to trust me, would you?"
"What kind of question is that?" Talia asks and Jamie lifts his coat and tucked into the waistband of his jeans is a white peacekeeper pistol. Talia gulps, her hand flexes, was it time to reach for the knife in her boot?
"I don't have it to kill you or anything, I have it to protect myself and the District," He says and Talia nods.
"Okay...I trust you..." She replies.
"Good, follow me," He says and the two of them walk quickly towards the edge of the District, a small run down home sits there, right where the District meets the electric fences that surround the whole place. He opens the door and Talia cautiously follows inside. Met by dusty furniture and fallen in bricks. He opens a basement hatch and climbs inside, gesturing for Talia to follow. She does so, climbing down the stairs. Talia reaches the bottom and turns to see a group of 6 including Jamie.
"Welcome to the Rebellion, Pearl," Grins a man with an eyepatch over his left eye, his smile is filled with gaps in his teeth, and his clothes are ragged and old.
"Rebellion?" Talia breathes, surprised by what was waiting for her in this small basement room.
"We're from many places, and we've come together in District 4, orders given by someone you don't know yet, but will know very soon," Says the man, he stands up, and Talia notices he's sporting only one leg, his other is made of rusting metal, "The names Jim,"
"Talia Riverthorn," She replies and he smiles again.
"The Pearl of Panem, should I bow to such royalty?" He asks and the others around him laugh.
"Hilarious. Now, can one of you explain what this is, and why I'm here the day before the Reaping?"
"We're part of a small force of rebels, as Jim said, you'll understand soon enough, don't worry, Finnick knows about us too, in fact, he was the one who told us to show you this...It was our original orders to keep this quiet," Says a slim woman with dyed green hair, "I'm Jada by the way,"
"Henry," Says the boy standing right beside her, "We're twins,"
"Bobby," Says another, he was sitting in front of a computer that had coding written across the screen, "I'm a hacker,"
"And I'm Alana," Says the last person, she had a scar running through her left eyebrow, and down, over her eyelid and to the bottom of her chin, "The scar was a bad accident with a peacekeeper, I'll tell you the story one day,"
"Nice to meet you all," Talia says, "So...What Rebellion are we talking about?"
"The one against the Capitol," Jamie says, folding his arms as he leans against the desk behind him, "You see, the Pearl and the Mockingjay have become symbols if you like, symbols to the Districts of hope, of rebellion, and we're taking advantage of that, and we're going to ready the canons and take the fight to the Capitol's front door,"
"And you're going to do that from a basement in an abandoned building here in 4?" Talia asks, her mind was swimming with possible ways this could end up badly for her and the group of people in front of her, "And where on earth did you come from?"
"We're a mixed bunch, but we've all got one thing in common- District 13," Jim says, his rusting leg shrieking as he stands up, metal grinding against metal. The man scratches a hand through his rough, matted hair and sends a toothy smile towards a confused looking Talia, "District 13 lives,"
"Impossible, the District died 75 years ago in the Dark Days, the Capitol blew the District to bits," Talia replies, looking between each of the people before her, "Unless you have some kind of proof,"
"Henry," Jim smiles, "Time to shine buddy,"
Talia steps forwards to watch Henry pull up video clips from the so called District 13. People dressed in grey, walking around underground, living without the Capitol's intervention.
"They live there and just watch us take part in the Hunger Games every year? Let the other District's starve?" Talia asks, her throat clenched.
"We needed time," Henry says, a video clip of the District above ground, covered over in greenery, ruins of old buildings crumbling to dust playing on the computer.
"I don't think time is a good enough reason to let us all starve, to let these games continue, its been 75 years," Talia frowns, glancing at Jim, her eyes filled with water, her blood was boiling.
"Talia, you have to understand, if we revealed ourselves too early, then we would not be standing here today, we would have been murdered by the Capitol years ago, the only reason they haven't already is because they know about the kind of weapons we house," Jim replies.
"Fine, but what do I have to do with this little group of 6 people?"
"We need a leader, and we need you to know that there will be somethings that have to happen, you have to live, you have to survive...Finnick has been told that if he is taken into the arena he will have to connect with Haymitch Abernathy,"
"If," Talia says, "If he's taken into the arena...What if he isn't?"
"Then there is other plans in place for him, and for you too, but for now, we can't specify, we can only tell you about this," Henry says quickly.
"My head feels like it might explode," Talia mutters, "What happens if I get entered?"
"We have plenty of people lined up to volunteer for you," Jamie says, his eyes glistened, "We've been very thorough,"
"Clearly...So I'm to be some kind of rebellion leader here in 4? I'm not sure whats more dangerous, being here and killing peacekeepers that have guns or being in an arena with 23 other highly trained victors all wanting to get out alive,"
"You are our priority, Talia, if you become the leader of the District's rebel cause, then you will simply be a propaganda, a poster girl if you will,"
"So I go from being the Capitol's pawn to being yours?" Talia snaps, she shakes her head and turns towards the ladder leading out of the bunker, "Good luck,"
She climbs out of it and quickly leaves the abandoned house, her boots crunch on the gravel as she walks and she see's him, stood there, watching. Finnick Odair, looking perfect as ever.
"I see Jamie found you," He says as Talia approaches.
"He did,"
"What did you have to say?"
"I told them to shove their rebellion up their arses...In a much nicer fashion,"
Finnick shakes his head, he couldn't help but chuckle, "I can't get my head around you, Talia. You speak with such a hate for the Capitol and yet you won't stand up and fight when the opportunity comes,"
"No, I will, but I will not be some pawn in another kind of game. I'm not going to dance around in videos for a District everyone believes to be dead. They could have helped us years ago, secretly fed food into the districts, done something, anything and yet they sit in their bunker and watch us face disease, starvation, the games," Talia says, she pushes Finnick aside and keeps walking, "I'm fed up of being what everyone else wants me to be, I'm my own person, Finnick, even you can't see it,"
______________
Do. Not. Control. Talia. Riverthorn.
honestly, i know she's my own character, so i should anyway, but like i love her so much???
anyway, thank you for the support, i love y'all so much!
~lachys-loch
❤️