Strangers // For Marree

[Marree's Secret Santa]

Slipping through the underbrush, your fingers reach for the wire fence that surrounds the District. Dirty hands grip the metal as you take in all the activity inside the borders. People. More people than you had seen in a year. It was a long trek to District Two but you had slipped in and out of the lower districts too many times. Too many locals had seen your face and noted it was out of place. A new district, a new life. One you would gladly welcome.

You're underfed from the last week roughing it in the wild, dodging peacekeeper patrols, and the mutts they let lose in the wilderness. The smell of food from nearby houses make your mouth water and suddenly you're thinking of the ways to get your hands on some nutrients. Steal it? You tried to keep yourself honest in the past but the dull pain in your stomach is pushing your morals to the breaking point. With a quick glance around the area to make sure it was clear, you start pawing at the dirt to get under the fence. The dirt in District Two is thin and you quickly run into solid rock. They sealed the ends of the fence in the bedrock. Of course they would. Eyes dart up to stare through the fence again. From your spot you can see the edge of the District. Stores and homes carved into the side of slopping hills. The mountains in the distance where people must be mining away at the minerals inside. Maybe, if you were slick enough, you can snag a job as a miner. You didn't know the first thing about the trade, but you could try. Running was beginning to take a toll on you. Maybe life inside the walls is better than surviving outside of them.

A young person was walking close by. Reaping age, but other than that you could tell very little. They were bundled up in thick winter clothes, hiding most of their features. There's something forgiving about children, maybe you could convince this child to forgive you.

Numb fingers grabbed at the fence, the chill of the metal hardly registering on frozen skin. Your arms pull your weak body up but your feet fail to find a hold and you tumble to the ground. Desperation grips your heart as the figure walks further and further away. Joints creak and muscles scream as you jump back onto the fence, the metal shaking beneath your weight. Clambering up the metal, you reach the top and swing a leg over. The scene before you catches your eye- an entire District going about their business. People well fed and wrapped in warm clothes. Those were rare even in District Five. This was as far west as you had come before and the luxury these people lived in... well you were too jealous to be outraged. You wanted to be a part of it.

Your body makes a move to swing your other leg over and descend the fence with some grace but your body is too worn out. Instead you lose your balance and fall the entire way to the dirt. A pain shoots through your leg, teeth grit together to keep from screaming. The figure is walking farther away and you can't let them- this child, this random stranger is supposed to be your savior. Or at least that is what your malnourished mind thinks.

Pushing yourself to your feet, you limp after the citizen.

"Please!" you gasp, grabbing onto the person's sleeve with fingernails coated in dirt.

You forget what this must look like to this poor civilian. A twenty year old something woman with twigs in her hair, clothed in only a thin shirt and worn out overalls pleading for help. Every inch of you is coated in dirt, you have dried blood on your clothes from the last run in with the peacekeepers and now you can barely stand from your fall from the fence. In your sorry state they should turn you in to the authorities. Yet you look up at them with fear in your hazel eyes.

"Please, you have to help me!"