The Dark Days (Join If The Odds Were Ever In Your Favor)

Veronica Rose

I heard panic in the air and jumped out the bed. The sweet afternoons had come to an end. I rushed out and got my backpack and woke up Cameron.

"Wh... What?" He asked, sleepily.

I dragged him out the bed and said, "WE HAVE TO GET OUT. GET YOUR BACKPACK. GRAB EVERYTHING YOU CAN! GET A BLANKET. MY BAG'S FULL."

I ran outside, followed by Cameron. I told hold of Cameron's hand and ran into the deep, thick, dense forest. I stopped by and broke of a branch and hid in a den-like place with my brother. It was our secret place that no one could really find because it was covered fully of thick bushes. I told my can of water, and drank a big gulp. Then, I spread the sheets and Cam, took out the blanket that fit both of us in.

"I would rather die, than rebel like this." Cameron said, groaning.

"Shush! Don't you dare say any of those words, Cam. My brother will never give up like that." I said, shaking him up on his shoulders.

He looked frightened and I spoke again, "Look. None of us deserve to be born like this but seeing father and mother in this state, we have no choice other than to hide."

"We've been doing this for ages, Vera! I'm tired of it." he said.

"Speak like a man, Cam! You're not to loose to those fools."

I heard soldiers stomping through the dried up leaves. One of them went past through the place. I got Cameron and got him by his mouth so, that they don't hear him or me breathing heavily. I got my breath for a while and left it out gently.

You just need to move one tiny part of the bush, and that's it. We're dead, and they were already around the corners.

I hear a shot outside my window and slowly get up. I frown then run a hand through my platinum hair in annoyance. Those damn rebels again. One mustve snuck in or something. I pull on a pair of loose faded jeans and put on a dark shirt. I stick my semi automatic in my back pocket then i pull out my favorite knife. Its a gleaming silver one with a brass hilt and is curved deliciously wicked with two dragons on each side that meet at the tip. Yup definitely my favorite.
i walk out of my large town home and am met with a brisk wind. For a second i still as i smell the scent of burning flesh. I take another sniff and suddenly the smell is more pungent. I slowly stroll to the end of the road and on my distant right i can see a group of people in what looks like rags practically celebrating outside of a large burning home which i know was filled with a rather large family. A family that just happens to be closely related to president Snow.
I smile as I approach them silently, walking with a predatory like grace. I quickly analyze that there seem to be about five of them. I pull out my knife and approach the one to the far right, then quickly and silently pull him back and slit his throat like butter. The other four look at me in amazement and fear and before they react I've already pulled out my gun and shot three of them. The one thats literally quivering in fear just makes me smile even larger. I pull him by the dirty scruff of his collar and say "Come on, we're gonna take a tiny little stroll to visit president Snow"

Jackie Rockwell

I sat in the basement of the complex, fiddling with my radio. I had nothing prepared for today, absolutely nothing. It was pathetic, really--I always managed to prepare something, no matter how busy I'd been the day before. Tam had needed me last night, though. I had stayed in her room for hours before she fell asleep, and I had been so tired that I just passed out on the floor.

"Jackie!" One of the kids came running into the room. He looked scared out of his mind. "We lost five signals. I don't know what happened, but I heard someone say four of them were killed!"

I groaned, scrunching my hands against my face. How were we supposed to go out if we weren't even safe in groups of five? And who had gotten killed?! I had friends out there...

No, no. I had acquaintances out there. "Friend" was too intimate a word.

"Alright," I sighed. "Have you told President Coin?" The kid shook his head.

"Well, tell her," I instructed. "And have someone tell Tam to stay in her room. I'm going to go check things out."

Out of no where, there was a rumbling sound coming from one of the soldiers. It was faint and I could hear some words. The pale man pressed something on his helmet and spoke.

"Someone attacked President Snow's relatives," he told his friend.

"We have to go immiedietly."

"But the children, we have to kill them first..."

Spawns. Children. That's what we are. We are spawns. He was calling my parents devils. Sick man.

The darker skinned one ran out of the house but the other one stayed in here, looking around. He peeked through a door which led to my bedroom.

"Where are they?!" he hissed to himself.

My heart was racing.

He walked into the room. What did he want from there? Nothing interesting lies in that room except for my bed and some clothes. Maybe a toy here and there, but nothing else.

"Rutty! Get in here!" the man in my room yelled.

So the dark skinned guy's name is Rutty. What an odd name. He ran inside, panting, looking for his friend.

"In here dimwit," he hissed.

Rutty walked into my bedroom, leaving the door wide open. Now I could see everything, my plain white walls, the old grey curtain blowing from the wind and my rickety bed, ready to collapse. We weren't the richest.

"What'd you fi-," Rutty couldn't even finish his sentence.

That's when I saw it. That's when I knew I did have something valuable in my room.

"Hey, you always got to check kids rooms. Parents think we won't look here becuase children are innocent... ha-ha." the pale man said.

"Logan, that's just one thing. It's not important..." Rutty replied, scratching the back of his neck.

Logan stood up from the floor, shaking his head.

"That's why we should never accept people from districts to work with us. Even though they're on our side, that doesn't mean they're meant to fight. Damn." Logan hissed.

I saw worry twinkle in Rutty's eyes as his adam's apple lifted. Logan slowly walked up to him, anger swallowing his face. Even I felt my stomach jump.

"Dude, I just never knew-" Logan cut him off. "Don't call me 'dude'!"

"Logan, I never knew t-this was important! No one e-ever told me!" Rutty was frightened.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. He's going to die. Isn't he?

"You should know you idiot! This isn't a pendant! It's a damn Mockingjay! A Mockingjay symbol! It's a rebellious sign! The worst thing to show a Peacekeeper like us! It means death!" Logan yelled.

You could see a vein pop out on his forehead even through the glass. My brother let go of me, knowing that I would stay silent now. Either that or he got tired of holding me.

"Okay, that's bad..."

"You think?"

It was intense.

"Rutty. Take it and burn it. Burn it in District Twelve. They have coal there, they'll know how to burn. If they don't listen... you burn them"

I swallowed loudly, scared. They didn't hear but my brother gripped my arm anyway, worried that we'd have to run.

"Alright, going." Rutty grabbed the symbol.

This is no good. No good at all.

Veronica

"I'm sure I saw those two kids running into this forest. And I've seen the girl who was running before." the soldier commented to his partner.

Two kids? Seen the girl before? Is he talking about us?

"You fool! If it was me, I should have recognized her, atleast! You dumb brat." The leader of the soldier army said.

Cameron heard everything they said. He kept looking at me, expecting something for me to do. What could I do? We couldn't run.

"Well... Stop standing there, and GO IN SEARCH FOR THEM!"

The leader shook his head and started walking to the direction of our hide-out. I gripped on to my Mocking Jay, and caught hold of Cameron's wrist. The soldier passed the our hide-out. I peeped through the leaves, and he was far enough from us. We cannot keep hiding in the same place. Somewhere or the other, we are mean't to be caught. I've always known that.

Cameron rested his back, on the rocky-wall.

"Camii, we have to move." I told him, picking my things up.

"What? Now? No! They'll catch us!" he squeaked a little too loud.

I heard a soldier stop walking. He signaled everyone that he had information and his army was in a circle again. He walked around the whole path.

I grabbed Cameron's hand.

1,2,3!

Both of us ducked out of our secret hide-out, and ran. We puffed, and were sweating and panting. But we couldn't stop. They were after us screaming for us to stop. They were even aiming us with bloody arrows! Why do they have to kill people?

We went into a cottage, and told the people in the house, to get us a safe place. They send us down to their storage. It smelled bad, but we were going to do with it. I put down my bag, and fell on the seat there. Man, I was tired.

I approach President Snow's mansion and finally begin to think about what i'm doing. I love killing rebels. I mean i absolutely LOVE it. I love the way they beg and plead for me to let them go. I love how some of the women offer me their bodies in trade of letting them go (which i usually accept to but end up killing them later). And lastly i love love love just their death. It gives me a strange sense of power knowing that i can destroy anything that I don't believe in (which is rebellion) and just end that sort of thinking in someone simply by pulling the trigger or with a quick twitch of my knife towards their neck.
But I love power more. And power can be brought on by torture. And torture can be brought on by... well me. So i swiftly change route and head back towards my town home. When i get inside, my hand still firm as a chain on the rebels' collar, I drag him to my basement. When we get there I flip on the light and take a deep breath of the scent of dried blood which is well hidden by the scent of leather and air freshener. In the center of my basement is, what I like to call, my torture chair. I bind the rebel to the chair and sniff him, the smell of defeat and fear evaporating off of him.
I smile at him and tell him " Now you see I'm very fond of torture and blood. Now i'm especially fond of getting both things from rebels. Now either I get information from you or...well... I get a lot of both those things previously mentioned from you."

Just before Rutty could find us he got distracted by a muffling noise coming from his helmet.

"Hey Logan! We got-," Logan cut him off.

"Already two steps ahead of you!!" he yelled, anger seizing through his voice.

I saw both of them blast through the front door and leave dust brushing after them. They took the symbol.

My brother and I got out of hiding, sure there is nobody here. I felt my heart jump through my skin, as the silence became suspicious.

"Window," was all he had to whisper.

With a quick jump, we got out of the house and onto soil. There was complete silence, as if the bombing seized.

sooooo is anyone gonna post? I mean I'd do it but well i just posted before nike soooo waiting......

Spoiler

I forgot about this SB! :O 'Kay, then. I shall post!

Veronica

Cameron came out of a corner, holding his nose with his left hand and a cloth in the other. It was stinking so bad from a distance, that even I had to hold my nose! I frowned at Cameron with my angry eyes.

"Cameron, put it down! Why are you bringing it here?" I asked.

"Vera, you can use this as our weapon! Like when the soldiers get hold of us or something, you can shove it around their faces! I'm such a genius!" He said, saying it out loudly.

Two girls of the cottage came running down. They looked at us, and ran and hid behind us. They were sobbing and they got frightened as their mother came down, and looked at them.

"Young ladies, I WILL NOT SPARE YOU!" she said.

The two girls gripped my hand tightly, and closed their eyes. I wrapped my arms around them, and Cameron stopped the lady.

"What did they ever do? They're small, leave them alone!" I screamed to her.

"Oh, little miss Toe-Shoe has some guts talking like that. This is MY cottage and I will not allow those brats to walk in here. Now, if you interfere, I shall throw you all out, this that understood?" she said.

I could see Cameron, rising with anger. He immediately took hold of the cloth, and shoved it onto her face. The lady screamed and felt down, holding her hands away from the cloth. Cameron chuckled.

"No one underestimates my sister!" he said. "Now go!"

He turned to us and grinned. I smiled wide at him for saluted him for his heroic action. What would I do without him?

Spoiler

I forgot about this SB!

We were running. That's all I could tell you. I couldn't see anything, hear anything, or feel anything but the sprint. My heart was racing as quickly as my legs were.

There was complete silence from the attacks, but that won't last for long. So, we ran as quickly and swiftly as we could to get out of here. I heard the crunching of leaves next to me. That made me stop.

My brother noticed I wasn't behind him anymore so he stopped as well.

"What's-" he asked but I cut him off.

"Shh,"

The noise was non stop. Crunch Crunch Crunch.

"Where are these damn rebels?" I heard a guy say.