22

THE BUNKER

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Jaime barged into Evelyn and Finnick's bedroom door to see them reading to Aeliana together, his sister looked up, "Jaime, what's wrong?"

"They need you in the command room. It's Peeta," he informed her, glancing between the three in the room but letting his eyes linger on his younger sibling.

"Stay here, I've got it," Finnick smiled at her with a nod, the girl shot up to her feet and ran with her brother at her side to the command room. They were just in time to see the Capitol broadcast get interrupted multiple times with the propaganda video that they had filmed in District 12.

Peeta's face was chiselled, much more than what it usually was. His cheekbones were prominent and made him look lifeless. He appeared as if he had been tortured and malnourished for weeks on end. He had no hope in his hollow eyes. He was just a robot that was controlled by the Capitol. A mutt.

"Oh my God," Evelyn muttered, her hand rising to her mouth in shock at his features as she stepped up to be at Katniss' side. Evelyn didn't pull back as she felt her hand reassuringly touch Katniss's arm. 

"Beetee's in," Heavensbee smirked brightly.

The song that Katniss had been singing interfered Peeta's speech, catching his attention, "He sees it," Evelyn whispered.

"Katniss, are you there?" his voice was almost as broken as he was, cutting through the District 12 girl's heart.

Katniss ran to the screen just as Caeser Flickerman started to speak, "Peeta, please continue. You were telling us about these savage attempts."

"The attack on the damn," his voice was breaking with every word, "Was a callous and inhuman act of destruction-" the singing and propaganda broke through once more, making the boy sit forward in his chair, "Think about it, how will this end? What will be left? No one can survive this. No one is safe now. Not here in the Capitol, not in any of the districts. They're coming Katniss. They're going to kill everyone in District 13, you'll be dead by morning-"

Peacekeepers pulled Peeta away as the screen cut off to the Capitol symbol, leaving them in complete silence. 

"He's warning us" Haymitch stepped out from the shadows. "That was a warning."

"No shit," Evelyn muttered. She straightened her shoulders, set her face and took a deep breath. "You need to get them out. All of them. Peeta-"

"We have to get him out before they kill him!" Katniss cried, almost falling to her knees but putting up a brave display in front of everyone else.

"Is there anything in the air?" The President asked one of the technicians who worked on the computer, his eyes scanned the screen but he shook his head simply, "He was in the mansion, he could've overheard something."

"Possibly," Plutarch grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest.

There was silence in the room, Evelyn felt her eyes on Katniss before they drifted over to Haymitch who also looked at his friend with worry. Katniss' brown eyes were depleted from all hope, whatever hope remained dripped from her eyes in salty tears down her rosy cheeks.

Evelyn turned to face Coin to wait for an answer "It's time for an air raid drill."

Evelyn glanced to the District 12 girl beside her and motioned her head to the door. An alarm started to sound around the whole of District 13. Outside of the command room she could see the other citizens walking down to the lowest subsection of the compound.

The two girls split off without a word; Katniss going towards the canteen to find her sister whilst Evelyn looked for Finnick and Aeliana. She only hoped that they were still in their room despite the voice that sounded around them repeatedly telling them to follow the protocol.

"Fuck!" she screamed out and hit the door twice with her first once realising that neither of them were there. Evelyn turned quickly and gasped out, her hand on her chest at the sight of Atlas and Elodie running towards her.

"Evelyn? What are you still doing up here!" Atlas screamed and took one arm whilst Elodie took the other. They started to run to the stairwell, the girl in their arms groaning as they made contact with her arm.

"Aeliana and Finnick-" she tried to say but Atlas cut her off with his deep voice.

"We watched them run out as soon as the alarm started," he pushed the door open and both let go of her arms but waited for her to go first. With the water sprinklers raining over them, the three almost slipped down the stairs in what looked like miles behind the crowd that ran below them.

Evelyn's eyes caught on something, a figure slumped over the stairs and soaked by the water. It didn't register in her mind who it was until she was right above the woman, "Katniss?"

The District 11 girl took off faster than the others and pulled the girl on fire up to her feet, "Thank you," Katniss gasped out, her hair also dripping wet from the water spraying from above.

The four previous victors ran through the stone doors and into the large room. The bunker was not only filled with rows upon rows of bunk beds, but also the terrified District 13 population that huddled together in groups of friends and families.

Katniss ran off without a word to her mother whilst Atlas and Elodie, hand in hand, followed Evelyn as she walked up and down each row calling out, "Finnick! Aeliana?"

"Mommy?" she heard behind her.Evelyn stopped in her tracks and turned to see her daughter standing in front of Finnick's legs with watery eyes and damp hair, "Momma!"

Evelyn gasped out and ran to her daughter, picking her up in her arms tightly and bringing her daughter to her chest with Aeliana's legs wrapping around her mother's torso. Finnick embraced her as well with their daughter between them. "I thought we lost you," he mumbled into his fiance's hair weakly.

"You can't get rid of me that quickly, Odair. Not when we have a wedding to plan," she laughed. The whole building shook and knocked a few people over, others shouted out in fear but Finnick only held onto his girls tighter than before, "Let's sit down, yeah? I have a feeling that this is going to be a long evening."

⋆

It went like that for most of the night and all through the morning. The bombs would hit the compound above them and shake the whole building. All Evelyn could do was play with her daughter's hair as she whimpered, her eyes staring up at the cracks on the ceiling that only grew in size with each explosion.

"Momma, I'm scared," Aeliana cried on the bed; darkness surrounded them with only lights from the occasional torch to illuminate the room, though it was still scarce.

Evelyn pulled Lina up so that she was sitting between her two parents, Finnick's hand still rubbing circle's on his fiancé's arms graciously, "I have an idea," Finnick spoke for the first time in a while, opening his eyes from his troubled slumber, "Your mother says that you like to sing, why don't you try and cheer us all up?"

"That's a good idea," Evelyn nodded towards her daughter who pushed her blonde strands behind her ears.

"Runaway with me, down to the meadow. To watch the first flower of spring bloom through the frost, and where the golden sun does glow," Aeliana sang quietly, another shake of the room cut her off and made her scramble back into Finnick. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her head as their daughter continued to sing.

"Runaway with me, to escape this fear," Evelyn sang a little louder, gaining the attention of a few bunks around her but she didn't seem to care. She was used to the spotlight on her, "The Snow won't follow us through the dark, I promise to always be at your side, my dear."

"Runaway with me, I refuse to hear the terror of the gun," her daughter picked up the next verse and sang it with pride, "Come with me, we can run."

Evelyn pushed her own hair from her face, shifting on the bed that was everything but comfortable with the metal pole supporting her, "Runaway with me, before it's too late. I'll run away with you, I'll do anything, just wait."

Lina's lips parted once more, her eyes drifting between shutting and opening slowly as the sleep finally started to take over, "Runaway with me, down to the meadow. All we will take is a flower, It's all we need against his power."

"I'll run with you," a hoarse voice came from a bunk not too far, Evelyn pointed her torch that way to see Elodie sat with her head resting on Atlas' arm and looking over solemnly, "If you run with me."

Evelyn motioned to her daughter who rested her head on her father's lap and then to the bed above them, a finger on her lips as Finnick picked up Aeliana and gently placed her on the bed above them. "I'll be right back," she kissed his temple and took the torch in her own hands before stepping quietly to Elodie who looked too tired to sleep. Haymitch lay wide awake on the bed beside them.

"I haven't heard you sing in years," she remarked and sat on Haymitch's bed without his permission, but he didn't mind. He even moved up to give her more room.

Elodie weakly smiled and shuffled closer to Atlas. His arm wrapped around her waist tighter and he pulled the blanket up to cover her more. She smiled into his touch as Evelyn watched them. She had been so wrapped up in her work that she hadn't even noticed their blossoming relationship.  

Evelyn shook her head with a small smile and Elodie just innocently shrugged her shoulders. "Young love," she remarked. Elodie raised her eyebrows before motioning to the ring on her friend's hand as if to say 'really?'. Evelyn also shrugged innocently.

"I hate to call your fiancé a cheapskate, but he proposed with a ring that I brought," Haymitch muttered behind her. She turned to find him laying with his arms crossed over his chest and his hat pulled over his eyes. She could still see his smirk.

Evelyn shushed him, "I haven't told Jaime yet. He isn't exactly Finnick's biggest fan."

"I saw him a few hours ago with Octavius, you're safe for now."

"Octavius?" a smile spread on her lips. They both deserved to be happy. "Good."

"You're happy?" Atlas asked from behind Elodie. She had assumed that he was sleeping, but evidently not. He didn't move out from under their blanket and spoke with his eyes shut.

"With Finnick? Yes. It's everything I've ever wanted. A family."

"Good. If he hurts you again-" Atlas spoke but was cut off by the girl tucked under his arms. Every time she spoke, it was like music to his ears. 

"If he hurts you again, I'll shove his trident so far up his ass-" Elodie was cut off by Haymitch.

"I'll cut off his-"

"Okay, okay, okay! I think I get the message"

All three of her friends chuckled quietly as to not wake the rest of the bunker. 

The world worked in mysterious ways. All four of them had experienced the worst thing imaginable, yet somehow they came out stronger. It brought them together. She didn't know where she would be without them. 

Elodie had always been a shoulder to cry on; she had slept her bedroom floor for weeks after her Games and held her hair as she hunched over the toilet.

Atlas had always waited for her at the Capitol so she didn't have to ride for hours alone, even if they did sit in silence and sip on bourbon. He had been the one to re-build her father's wheelchair after the Peacekeepers destroyed it during the riots.

Haymitch had been the one to save her daughter and brother and advocate on her side with Coin. 

Without them, she would be a shell of herself. 

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

I had originally planned a story called Meadow's Ballad for Haymitch and his life before/after the games. this was before the ballad of songbirds and snakes book came out and I thought that Lucy Grey was too similar to who Meadow would have been.