I don't own the Hunger Games! This starts in Catching Fire at the Quarter Quell, so warning if you haven't read it.


"Prim!" I scream as I run. "Prim!" I hear Peeta calling me, but I disregard him. Prim is in trouble. She needs me. Finnick is running too, but he's pushing past me. Another shout of pain in the trees above, only this time it's Gale's. My hands are shaking, scared to look up, but I do. It's a bird. A jabberjay.

"Annie! God they're torturing her! Katniss help! Do you see her?" I pull an arrow and aim for the trees as Finn disappears in search of the girl. Trying to steady my hand, I find the atrocity with Prim's voice. I let my arrow fly and pierce the thing right in the eye. It drops, but soon there's another to take its place. I try to cover my ears from their screams. Prim, Gale, Mom, Madge, Rory, Vick, Posy…

How dare they take their voices to torture us like this? Then I think what if it's real? What if they're locked up somewhere in the Capital being subjected to God knows what because of me. Because I loved them. I know this is all my fault. I didn't convince the districts. Snow's taking it out on me.

"Annie, where are you?" Finn cries out in desperation.

I hear his yell through my clamped fingers. Remembering I'm not the only one suffering, I call out to him, "Finn! Finn!" I find him confused and crying a few yards away. "It's not real. It's not," my throat hitches as I speak. "It's a trick. Just a sick trick to scare us, okay?"

His wild eyes, all a panic meet my own. The birds flock around us, and I am tempted to take them all out. I take my arrow out of the dead jabberjay and we run back the way we came. Suddenly, though, Finnick is lying on his back with a bloody nose. He ran straight into a glass wall. We're incased in some kind of invisible barrier. I see Peeta and Johanna on the other side, but they can't reach us. One hour. I realize. I'm going to be here for one whole hour in this hell. I put my hand up to the glass and Peeta places his up against mine on his side. I don't know what he's saying, but I stare at his lips as they move and I'm assaulted with images of people back home. What could have elicited these cries? Steady tears stream from my face and I finally look in Peeta's eyes. He's stopped talking, I notice but he hasn't left me. I swallow and ask Finn, "You don't think… Finn? They wouldn't right?" I look back at him. He's sitting with his head in his hands, pulling at his hair.

"Yes. They would. That's exactly what I think." He continues to yank at his tresses and then suddenly hits his head against the tree he's sitting against. "Annie…" I hear him say tortured before I lose it and empty my arrows into the black birds.

I cover my ears again while nightmares take hold of my waking mind. One hour of horror.

I know it's over when I feel Peeta's hands over my own. He's trying to release my grip, but can't pry them off. I am frozen. He picks me up and before I know it we're on the beach again.

I open my eyes and launch myself at him. "It's alright, Katniss. It's alright." He squeezes me once and I shake my head as I tear myself away.

"No. You didn't hear it. They got her. They got Prim. She's as good as dead."

"I heard her voice in the beginning, but it wasn't her. It was a jabberjay."

"She's probably dead already."

"That's not true. They can't touch her. They just messed with her voice and put it in those mutts. Prim is fine," Peeta says calmly, soothingly. I am hanging on his every word. I believe him, I realize.

"You think?" I ask.

"What do you think Beetee? Is it possible?" asks Finnick. He's just as desperate to hear the answer as I am.

"Oh yes. They have the technology to alter a recorded voice. Make it say practically anything. The kids back at home learn how to do it."

I feel a little better. Just a trick. I look over at Finnick who's trying to calm down as well. I know the fear I see in his eyes is reflected in my own, but there's no use in hiding it now. We may be pitted against each other shortly, but right now, we're both fragile. We're both just human and there's no use hiding that at this point. Since the day I volunteered, everyone's known my biggest weakness is my sister. I break his gaze and wonder once again, how am I supposed to kill these people? Johanna curses the Capital a few times. They'll have to edit that out, I think. Then she goes to collect my arrows, while Finnick walks to the water, I assume to clear his head.

"Who did they use against Finnick?" Peeta asks.

"Someone named Annie."

"I think that was the girl Mags volunteered for from his district. The Victor that lost it at the reaping. People say she's gone mad, since the games." I nod remembering her and recalling her face. He must love her a lot. A girl that's not all there is the one to break him like this? I guess Finnick isn't the person I thought he was.

Not much time later, we're all sitting around the camp site when a parachute falls. Its twenty-four square rolls from Beetee's district, District Three. We split them up evenly and save a few for later. As everyone tries to figure out what's in what zone in the clock themed arena, a loud voice comes over the arena along with the Capital seal. What the hell is going on?

"We have an announcement to make about a change in the games. It's come to our attention that many people in the Capital and in the districts think Katniss Everdeen from District Twelve has an unfair disadvantage in the Quarter Quell since she is pregnant. To even out her chances, we will allow a volunteer to join the games with the sole purpose of helping her win."

My heart practically stops in my chest. "No." Everyone is looking at me. Beetee, Johanna, Finnick, and… and Peeta. One hand comes up to my stuttering heart, and then in the sky is a face.

Gale.


Thanks for reading! Review if you want. It's always appreciated.