Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games
Rated for: implied violence and death.
Stumble
A look behind, to see how far away the Tracker-jackers are.
One stings her cheek.
She keeps running. Slower than before.
It's her first day on the boats in District 4. She leans over to cast the line wider. The water glistens below.
A moment of teetering.
Her head rushes towards the water.
It's too far down.
Strong arms grab her around the stomach and haul her backwards. A man laughs. He puts her back on deck, telling her to be more careful next time.
The footsteps are ahead of her. She hears a scream. She still doesn't look.
She has to reach the lake. If she gets into the water, the tracker-jackers will leave her alone. That's all she has to do.
Another one flies by her arm. One foot falters.
The other is placed down.
Her school reports are terrible. She might have a talent for bringing in the fish but she can't do her work. She handed in her report to her parents and then ran to hide.
She's stupid.
That's what they call her in school. It makes her cry.
Her mother finds her in her room. She holds her and tells her that they can sit together in the evenings and go over anything she finds hard. Some people find studying hard. That's all.
It takes a few seconds but Zita smiles.
She swings her arm at the next one. Peeta overtakes her.
She falls.
Almost.
Her run becomes a pain-filled, head-long stumble.
She knows how to fight. Every time someone calls her stupid, she just attacks them. She's been sent out of school more times than anyone in her class. She's nearly gotten a whipping on the boats.
Everything is going wrong. She can feel it.
But she doesn't know how to stop herself from lashing out.
One time, she just runs back home. Her little brother is there. He asks her why she's home. She explains.
He holds one of her hands and smiles at her. She feels her anger melt away.
"Hitting people's bad. So you just gotta stop."
"Just like that?" she asks with a wry smile.
"Yeah." He keeps smiling. "Just be happy instead."
Colours swirl around her. It hurts to breathe. Cato's yells seem far away.
There's a misstep.
She flings her arms out for balance.
The tackle hits her hard.
And she's falling.
Falling headfirst into darkness.
With no way to get back.
She opens her eyes to find Quintus sitting next to her, holding her hand.
His lips land on hers and she lies back down.
For once, she doesn't want to get up.
She doesn't tell Quintus she's going to volunteer. She just does it. She has to, to prove she's more than a stupid, mindless thug.
He was holding her.
She doesn't note his failure to catch her as she walks from his open, shocked hands.
She didn't fall in the first place.
She feels her foot flying through the air.
Another sting. That makes five.
But she doesn't know how many are needed to kill you. So she can still hope to get back up.
She barely knows her district partner. But he watches her. She ignores him. She's too focussed on not messing up.
They're training. She runs with her axe, the only weapon she really knows how to use, when her foot slips.
The blade glints in the dull light of the basement.
She feels all eyes upon her.
The landing is going to be painful.
An arm snakes around her abdomen, almost winding her, and places her back on two feet. Her axe is handed back to her.
She asks him why he helped her. He shrugs and says that her volunteering saved his sister. She stuck her arm up and saved her. He put his arm out to catch her.
He walks away, leaving her even more confused than before.
She crashes. Hard.
For a moment, her hands twitch as though she'll force herself back up. Her gaze lifts just enough to see Cato, Clove, Marvel and Peeta continue to run away from her as hallucinations swirl around her.
She screams as tracker-jackers cover her.
Darkness sets in. She opens her eyes.
And continues to fall.
Fin