The last thing I remember was the explosion. I remember shooting my arrow, connected to Beetee's wire, at the force field. The 'chink in the armour' he'd called it. I remember the racking pains through my body as my world was being obliterated around me. Sounds so deafening I thought my body would be irreparable. The last thing I remember from the arena was being lifted by a hovercraft. Then, I remember something else, a voice, one that sends shivers down my spine.
"Ah, Katniss. So I hear you're pregnant." Then laughter, from more than one voice. And headaches. Horrid, vivid and intense headaches. My memory is still fuzzy from my injuries. All I know is that I've been fading in and out of consciousness for a long time.
I opened my eyes slowly to find myself strewn across an unfamiliar military style bed. I slowly sit up and take stock of my surroundings. The room is made of white, padded walls with a small security camera in the top left corner. The bed is small with a single blanket and no pillow. There are no windows and only one door, which appears to be made out of some sort of metal. I could probably walk the length of the room in a few steps. I was wearing a plain white shift with short sleeves and a hem that went past my knees. I lie back down on the bed and look at the ceiling. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from panicking too much. I can feel my heart pounding unsteadily in my chest. Where the hell am I? Why can't I remember?
A crackling, fuzzy noise erupts from the surveillance camera.
"Please remain calm, Katniss. Everything is fine." A man's gravely voice orders from a small speaker. I jump slightly and sit erect on the edge of the bed, searching for the source of the voice. I open my mouth to speak but no words come out. I clear my throat and try again.
"Haymitch?" I said nervously, "Is that you?"
Silence.
I started biting my lip. I had been sure it was Haymitch, but I was probably wrong. Haymitch wouldn't put me in this… cell.
The crackling noise began again and I started.
"It is." Haymitch replied, his voice strained. Wrong again, Katniss! I chided myself, Haymitch would put you in here.
"Thank God." I sighed in relief, "Let me out and we can talk."
"I can't do that."
"What? Is the door stuck or something?" I joked, although my heart rate had skyrocketed.
"No, the door works perfectly. However," He said reluctantly, "You are not allowed out."
It took me a few seconds for it to sink in. Haymitch locked me up. Haymitch locked me up. Haymitch. Damn, I was angry.
"Katniss, we need you to answer a few questions-"
"You can shove your questions straight up your arse! Where the hell am I?!" I yelled over the top of him, standing from the bed, my fists clenched angrily at my sides.
Unfortunately I still couldn't find the source of the voice, so I made do by staring directly down the lens of the camera. There was a fury in my eyes and self that I didn't know I could generate. It probably seemed childish that I was mad at Haymitch, I should feel glad that he was nearby, right? Well I wasn't. Not this time.
"Katniss," He began, his voice was calm but firm, "You have to calm down."
"Screw that!" I yelled again, "And screw you, Haymitch, you drunken bastard! Let me out!" This was completely ridiculous, if he didn't let me out soon I was going to have to do something drastic. I didn't know what, but I'd think of something. I always did.
"Listen here-" He said angrily.
"No." How dare he lock me up like this?
"Katniss-"
"No." Was I just some pile of nothing to be locked up on a whim?
"You can be such a stubborn, little-"
"Haymitch!" A faint voice from the speaker interrupted, "Let me." The speaker clicked off and the room was silent.
I stood there for a while, anger still pent up with adrenaline pulsing erratically through my veins. When it was obvious that they weren't going to talk to me again, I sat back down on the bed and covered my face with my hands. How could he do this to me? Haymitch is my friend, why would he imprison me like I was a threat?
Don't forget, there are other people in on it too, I thought miserably. I wrapped my arms around my middle.
And screamed.
The speaker exploded, crackling with life as several different voices started speaking at once.
"Katniss!"
"What happened?"
"What did she do?"
"Shut up!"
The voices keep shouting, but I blocked them out easily. I trail my hands over my stomach in horror, how could I not have noticed this before? My abdomen stuck out further than it had last time I had seen it, in fact, it was the most it had ever been.
It was too far out to be fat, and too... fleshy to be bloating. Which left me with few other alternatives.
But I'm still a virgin, I thought, my mind racing with a million possibilities, I couldn't be pregnant.
"No," I whispered and I began to clutch at my swollen belly, "no, no, no, no, no!"
I began to panic, I must have been in here for more than a month, maybe even two for this much… development. I started to cry. Not just a few tears, I was screaming and howling and making a scene. What have they done to me? I heard people at the metal door, big metal gears clinking and turning.
No, I thought, they can't come near me, I won't let them! Monsters!
I scrambled off the bed and into the furthest corner from the door, just as a swarm of people burst in.
I knew them all. Peeta, Gale, Finnick, Haymitch, Heavensbee, followed by a few medics that I had seen at my first Hunger Games.
"Get away from me." I hiss as they approach ever closer.
"Katniss, it's me," Peeta says in a reassuring voice, "It's Peeta."
"Really?" I spat, "And here I though you were President Snow." With that, a searing headache pounded into my skull and wedged itself firmly in my brain. President Snow. I cried out and clawed at my head. The memory of the voice flooded back to me.
"So I hear you're pregnant."
President Snow, I thought, finally making the connection. I screamed in agony before the pain was too much too bear, and then I blacked out.