Chapter One
Disclaimer: I don't own Hunger Games.
Author's Note: Hey guys, I'm back with another HG story. In short, this is Peeta's experience as a prisoner of the Capitol during Mockingjay up to when he finally gets rescued. Like the Hunger Games, some parts will get a little gory, and the overall feel will be dark. So, the first chapter of Just Another Game. Enjoy!
My name is Peeta Mellark. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I was captured. The capitol is using me as a puppet. Katniss was taken in by District 13. She is alive. I will soon be a dead man, in more ways than one.
The Hunger Games. The Quarter Quell. These events swim in my head tirelessly. I strive to remember exactly what happened in that last night, the night that ended it all.
Flashback
"Will they make it back in time?" I asked Beetee, watching the two figures move deeper into the jungle, towards the direction of the beach. The shorter one was Katniss, keeping her bow ready at hand while the taller figure, Johanna, unraveled the wire that would link the sea to the tree that was struck with lightning at midnight.
"The time hasn't changed since you last asked," Beetee replied, his face remaining solemn. His fingers shifted the wire weaved strategically around the tree.
There was no way this plan could possibly fail, not with the amount of wire covering that tree. He glanced up towards where the force field was, and then back down into the jungle before casting his eyes on his work again.
Finnick was standing on the other side of the tree, securing and holding the wire in place while Beetee worked. I couldn't see how any more work was needed on this tree. The tree trunk was swathed in golden wire.
We waited. Standing in one place made me more aware of the humid, muggy jungle climate and the buzzing of insects. I started to grow restless.
Katniss could take care of herself, I knew. But she got into situations that very few could ever get out of.
And one of these times, might be her last. She had her family to go home to. A sister who needed her, people who relied on her. No matter what, Katniss must make it home.
The time passed slowly and the sky grew darker. I noticed Finnick and Beetee's gazes settled on the winding wire leading into the jungle, looking at it attentively as if they were waiting for something to happen. Beetee's fingers were still clasped around the wire.
I crouched down, wanting to see if I could relieve Beetee's fingers of holding the wire. I took a piece of the wire in my hands.
Beetee looked towards me but didn't say anything. His head shifted back and I felt it: the noticeable feel of the wire slackening.
I saw the wire rippling back towards us, somehow disconnected from the other half Johanna had been holding; it bounced back up the slope but stopped a few feet away. Finnick immediately leapt down to the cut end of the wire, examined it, and looked up at Beetee.
"It's been severed," he told him. Beetee nodded and I felt a silent exchange go between them before he said to me, "They're in trouble."
Something clicked in the confusion and I stood up quickly. Finnick shook his head at me. "You protect Beetee. I'll head down there." Without another word, he fled down the slope to the jungle, where I knew Katniss had run into trouble.
Beetee turned to face me as I was about to disagree with what Finnick said and head down there anyway. I needed to get down, to find out what had happened.
At this point, I had felt something was up between Finnick and Johanna…and Beetee…they had something planned before this. Something neither Katniss nor I was apart of.
"No," Beetee cut in, sensing I was about to argue. "This is what they wanted us to do. Split up, destroy our plan."
"What plan?" I said furiously. "The wire's been cut. There is no other plan...at least not one that I know of!"
"I have a backup plan," said Beetee. "But I need to know the area is clear. Trust me here!" Beetee stood up and started straightening the second wire attached to the tree. I had wondered what it was for.
He uncoiled the rest of it; the wire certainly wasn't long enough to extend down to the sea, and Finnick had already taken off. What was he thinking? And Katniss – where was she?
The only relief was that there had been no sound of cannons yet, although that could happen any moment. I knew what Beetee wanted me to patrol the area around the lightning tree and make sure his backup plan was safe. That didn't make any sense, though.
I had no idea what his backup plan was. When the wire sprung back up to us, he seemed to have been expecting it. So I trusted him and his expertise.
I quickly headed out of sight of the lightning tree, knowing time was ticking. The sky grew darker. Tick, tock.
The moment I left Beetee's line of sight and into the jungle, I saw a figure – much bulkier than Johanna, Finnick, or Katniss – emerge from the trees down the slope where Finnick had disappeared off to. I stopped moving and tensed up. Could it be Brutus? Panic set in. Brutus, Chaff, Enobaria. Still alive. Katniss.
I moved from tree to tree, determined to reach Katniss. I took note of the increasing sound of insects, which I unsuccessfully tried to block out. It was definitely there as a distraction. And the fact Finnick had still not returned worried me.
I gritted my teeth. The large figure was starting to head further away, not bothering to conceal where he was as he crashed through the jungle undergrowth. Where was he heading? What had he done?
"Katniss!" I shouted into the night. My only answer was the sound of insects. The noise now became unbearably irritating and loud. It also reminded me lightning would soon strike. We were running out of time. Tick, tock. "Katniss!"
"Peeta!" I froze in my tracks. I never expected Katniss to reply. She wouldn't give any chance of others finding her. She would only do so if it were a last resort. In other words…she had been wounded…or still trying to protect me.
"Peeta!" I heard again. "I'm here! Peeta!" I heard it over and over. "I'm here! I'm here!" My head whipped towards the sound of her voice, and I began to grasp what she was trying to do. Lead the attackers away from me. Was she succeeding? A cannon blast.
"Katniss!" I yelled, scanning the jungle hysterically. This time I got no reply. My voice was no longer trying to battle against the insects. Before my mind could think of another plan, two more cannons had sounded. One could be her! I didn't make a move, staring up at the sky.
Lightning. It flashed across the night sky, lighting up the arena, and hit the tree spot on. I wondered briefly if Beetee's backup plan had worked.
I heard an explosion from behind me, and instinctively dived behind a tree. Was it Beetee's plan to obliterate all of us? To ruin the Gamemaker's own game by blowing up the whole arena? Either way, as far as I could make out, it was over. Any chance of us being alive, it would only be up to the Gamemakers whether or not to end it sooner. I couldn't save Katniss.
I looked up at the sky and wished upon a star.
…
I was blasted away from my tree and skidded downhill before I grabbed onto a tree root and just hung on.
What's going on? Dust flew into the air and I coughed as I attempted to pull myself back up through the collapsing terrain. The sound of several more explosions erupted overhead.
Debris from the torn jungle floor flew down at me and I had no choice but to shield myself behind a barely rooted tree that had already taken damage. The next set of events happened very rapidly. A large hovercraft silently zoned in on me from overhead, where the sky itself seemed to have been bombed.
All of my instinct told me to hang on to the tree, to not give in and be taken by that hovercraft.
Cold metal grasped my sides, which I though to be a hook to pull me up, and tore me away from the arena's ground. The Capitol insignia on the side of the plan confirmed my suspicion.
So this was how it was. Instead of letting us dying in the arena, they would play with our lives as punishment for ruining the brilliant game they had created.
Katniss… she would get the worst of it. I stopped thrashing around in the metal arms. Even if they did release me, was falling to my death better? I felt my body hit the floor of the hovercraft.
A masked man in a Capitol issued gray jacket and pants injected something into my skin before the hovercraft made a turn. My muscles reacted instantly to the injected drug and they began to relax even though I resisted. I flopped to the side of the hovercraft like a rag doll as it eased from the turn and I was unable to move.
My body hit something else. Straining to see out of the corner of my eyes, I caught the unmistakable eyes of District 7's victor, Johanna Mason. So she had been caught as well. Had she turned against us, though? She glared back at me, but, injected with the same drug that affected her muscles, could only shoot axes at me with her eyes.
Was she upset that she had been captured by the Capitol? Or was she still keeping her attitude, even in the midst of all that had happened?
If those series of explosions were of Beetee's making, he had failed. Those who hadn't died already would be lifted up into here and we'd all pay a price. I was aware of another body being dropped off by mine. We were all injected with another dose of something, and the world slowly started to fade.
I concentrated my mind on the last thing I saw before the area was blown up. The star. My wish.
Author's Note: What did you think Peeta wished for? ;) And a cookie for your thoughts on this story! I had to reread the end of Catching Fire many times to make sure I got the scenes right. If I missed anything, please tell me so I can fix it!
Please review :)
