Chapter 4: Run Away With Me

I win the Quarter Quell, after Haymitch gives up trying to defend his title and protects me at the cost of his own life.

The Rebellion is in full swing in Panem. I retreat to District 12 to hide.

Many of my fellow Victors who were not in the Quell are killed. District 12 is firebombed. The Baker's entire family is murdered on suspicion of aiding the rebels, including Peeta Mellark. He's the Baker's youngest son. Poor boy. I always thought he was kind, for a Merchant.

My mother and sister are killed in the front lines, acting as medics. I am now at a point where the only person I have left to talk to is...

Darius.

The Rebellion continues for many months, but there is no decisive victory yet. The Games for the next summer have been suspended, to focus on the war effort, and I am at least relieved for that. The Peacekeepers sent to try and enforce Twelve do not bother with me up in Victor's Village.

So, I make a plan. I will slip off into the woods and run away. There will be no Reaping this year, so I won't be missed for anything. Gale always said we could do it. And I can do it alone!

Except I don't want to. I have one person who I would not mind having with me. So, the night before I am set to steal away, I leave a note outside my redheaded friend's door:

I am running away into the woods, Darius. I would like you to make a break with me, if you want the chance. I am leaving tomorrow night. This is me letting you know.

I dress in my old blue Reaping dress. Throw over my shoulders a cloak with a brooch. I check my gear and make sure I have all my supplies. Now I just have to leave for the fence and run off into the trees, never to return.

But when I open the door, I am stunned to see Darius before me. He is not in his uniform, but instead in a torn white shirt and some purple trousers. He has a knapsack slung over his shoulder. I cover my mouth and stare in abject astonishment.

"I'm coming with you, Katniss!" And Darius smiles as he takes his hand in mine.

I raise an eyebrow, amused. "The journey will be rough."

"I can handle it," Darius shrugs and I feel him step closer into my personal space.

"Danger everywhere."

I feel a hand go about my waist and pull me flush against him. "That too, I can handle."

"You have to do exactly what I say," I place my hands on his chest. "If I say, 'Set that snare', you say, 'How long?' If I say, 'Shoot that deer', you say, 'Medium or well-done?' If I say, 'Kiss me,' you -"

His lips crash down on mine, and I let out a choked squeak into his mouth. Followed by a purr of triumph. I part my lips for him and slip my tongue into his maw to play with his. My arms splay across his back, playing in his red hair. Darius's limbs go about my own back and waist, but he soon wanders lower, groping my ass and feeling me up. I boldly hitch a leg to his waist, raise my leg to his hips.

We have wild sex on my dining room table. And after we both come, we escape into the woods. After we are a far enough distance and I, my Peacekeeper lover and I share a passionate kiss, by the light of the moon. And Darius tells me the story of how his father actually married the Victor Cassiope Fletch in secret. Inspired, I make a crude bonfire and we Toast the bread over it - District 12's marriage tradition. And we seal it with a kiss. Darius is now my husband.

We live in the woods like the Adam and Eve of that long ago story. We make our home in a cave miles from Twelve as Panem finally falls and becomes a democracy. Still, we do not go back.

Darius knows me and comes in to me and lies with me. He makes love to me until we conceive and bear two children: a boy and a girl.

And as I watch our family play in the meadowlands just beyond the mouth of our little cave, I appreciate how there are much worse Games to play.