The Hunger Games: Different Version (Continued)
After a couple hours worth of sleep, Katniss and Peeta were awoken by a type of alarm that the gamemakers must have set up for the people who were injured.
"Come on then, let's haul you up there, otherwise you might not never walk," said Katniss, before becoming slighly concerned over the thought of not being able to get him up there, "You'll be fine, I'm sorry for being such a burden," Katniss hugged him and then replied, "you couldn't be a burden to me, now get on my back so we can get there."
As Peeta climbed onto her back and draped his arms over her shoulders, she thought 'God help me if anything were to happen to you,' "Ready?" she asked uncertain of what the answer would be, "I'm ready if your ready, but I need you to promise me something," Katniss stared at Peeta with uncalming eyes, "Don't you dare say it! I wouldn't let anything happen to you!" and with that, she set off for the Cornucopia with Peeta draping on her shoulders.
After a fair amount of walking, with a few rest stops in between, they finally reached the Cornucopia, "Well, could be worse, could be a death trap," she knew it was in a way, but didn't want to make it sound worse than it was, just as they entered the feild that lay between them and the Cornucopia's horn, a parachute dropped in front of Peeta, as he opened the latch causing the silver box to break in half, he saw a shiny silver tin, glistening at him from inside.
He quickly grabbed the tin and opened it to reveal a syringe full of a light blue liquid, "here let me do it," Katniss said, holding her hand out for Peeta to pass her the syringe, as he placed it softly in her hands, he extended his leg out for her to inject him.
She was slighlty hesitant at first, but just when she thought she was going to hand it him back, she injected it into his right ankle and he suddenly jumped to his feet, "I feel better already," he said taking Katniss' hand and pulling her towards the Cornucopia.
In the middle of the feild stood a dome, "that must be the arena," said Peeta clutching Katniss' hand tighter, "don't worry, I'm sure we'll be fine," she reassured him.
"But Katniss! What if we aren't, what if I lose you, or you lose me?" Katniss hugged him again, "we won't! I won't let that happen!"
"Remaining Tributes! Rue and Thresh, district 11. Clove and Cato, district 2. Katniss and Peeta, district 12!" the voice that could be heard was not Seneca Crane's, instead it was Caesar Flickerman's, "the time has come for us to commence the game! First to enter the arena are..." a rather long pause followed before he continued to say, "Thresh and Clove!" the names of the two tributes appeared in the sky along with their district numbers and names.
The fight lasted two hours, or atleast it seemed like it and in the end Clove won... being a career tribute, it didn't suprise Katniss or Peeta; the next faces to appear were Rue and Cato's, "it would suprise me if Rue could beat him, but I seriously doubt it, poor girl," noted Peeta as he watched worryingly, ofcourse Peeta was right, after all the muscles Cato had were pretty big, a little too big for one tiny girl to handle, Katniss could see what was coming and she felt a little uneasy about the whole thought of going into combat with either one of the careers, "Clove and Katniss!" shouted Caesar over the speakers.
Bow in hand and arrows on back, she stepped cautiously into the arena, before the bell could sound she looked at Peeta with worried eyes and mouthed the words, 'I love you' to him with the exact same reply back.
As her head flipped back round to face Clove, she could see that Clove was already picking out one of her deadly knives that were concealed in her jacket, "let's see what you got!" she shouted at Katniss, as the bell sounded, Clove threw one of her many knives right at Katniss' heart, she dodged the knife and then loaded her bow and shot it right at Clove's face, it only just caught her cheek, but she could feel no pain.
The fight went on for hours until Katniss aimed an arrow at her heart, Clove ducked, but as she stood back up, the arrow rebounded off the side of the arena and got her in the back.
Clove cried out in pain, barely able to move, "I'm sorry," she whispered whilst shooting an arrow at her heart, successfully putting her out of her misery.
As she exitted the arena, she saw the fury and rage in Cato's eyes and yet when she turned to Peeta, she got the look of happiness and joy, she ran over and hugged him before letting small tears roll down her face, "don't die in there, please!" she cried, but when she thought Peeta was going to have to leave her, Caesar read out the next two names...
"Katniss and Cato!" Katniss looked back at Cato and saw the look of excitement on his face, "he's already contemplated ways to kill me, you can see it in his eyes!" she cried whilst hugging Peeta tighter, "you have to do it! Please, go and win it for me, for us!" he kissed her and then pushed her towards the arena, "okay."
As she edged towards the dome that could be the end of her life, she turned to face Peeta, as she did she stopped dead in her tracks, it wasn't enough for her to just see him as she walked towards what could be her death, she wanted him by her side, always.
"Peeta! I can't do it!" as the words escaped her mouth a voice sounded across the arena, "Katniss Everdeen! You have but ten seconds to enter the dome or else..." Peeta looked Katniss in the eyes from a far and mouthed the words 'Do it, please, for us' Katniss nodded and ran for the entrance.
"Running to your death!" laughed Cato as Katniss entered the dome,
"I prefer to say running towards someone who thinks they can kill me and is probably capable of it, but no one ever said you were going to."
A countdown began and when it reached zero, Cato sprinted at Katniss and lunged towards her heart with his sword, as she dodged, it caught her arm and a shriek of pain escaped her lungs.
"Go on scream for him! It makes everything a lot more entertaining!" Katniss took a deep breath, closed her eyes, opened them and darted forward, "You loved Clove, she loved you but not once did I hear her scream your name!" she said as she dodged his slashes, "I scream for him because... well because... I LOVE HIM!" she screamed as she threw a punch at Cato.
Peeta's eyes were locked on Katniss, tears about to flood them, "so that's how you wanna play it, no swords or bows, just fists, I can play that game," he muttered as he threw his sword to the ground, the dome was soundproof, you could hear what was inside the dome, but not outside the dome, therefore Katniss couldn't hear Peeta's cries as he screamed for her to grab her bow, "Don't let him! I can't see you hurt like that, please! JUST GET YOUR BOW AND SHOOT HIM! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU!" Cato turned and smiled at Peeta before turning back to Katniss and cracking his knuckles, "I'm gonna make the most of this," he smirked.
He flung himself at Katniss and threw two punches at her stomach, winding her, sending her tumbling to the ground.
He sat on her chest, pushed her neck back and hit her repeatedely; as blood trailed out of her mouth, Peeta slumped to the ground and covered his ears whilst screaming "Stop it!" at the top of his lungs, over and over again.
As Katniss lay there, bruised and blooded, she conspicuously reached for an arrow.
Just as Cato removed himself from her upper body, she plunged the arrow straight into his heart and crawled away frantically.
Five minutes she had to wait, until a cannon pronounced him dead and even then she could hardly move, but since there were no more fights that had to take place, the doors were open and Peeta rushed to her side, he hauled her into his arms and shook her, "please, don't die on me, I beg of you!" as she opened her eyes, her face pale with exhaustion and blood loss, she mumbled the words, "I love you," into his left ear.
He sat with Katniss in his arms for a few minutes until a voice sounded, "Congratulations to both district 12 tributes, you are the victors of the 74th hunger games! In order for the hovercraft to lift you back home, you must be out of the dome, so please remove yourselves and head towards an open area of the field," Peeta stared into Katniss' eyes before hauling her onto his shoulders, "my turn."
Once they'd made it to an open area of the field, a hovercraft almost instantly appeared and medics emerged and took Katniss from Peeta's arms, whilst other peacekeepers led Peeta on board.
By the time the hovercraft had landed, Katniss was all stitched up and on her way to recovering, Peeta was first to exit the craft and be greeted by a flood of panem citizens, yet he did not care or even bother to acknowledge them, instead he stood pacing slightly, waiting impatiently for Katniss to emerge.
As she did, she stood at the top of the craft slope and stared down at Peeta smiling, just as she was about to take a step and make her way to him, her breathing became heavy and she fell to the floor gasping for air, "Katniss!" shouted Peeta as he ran to her without hesitation, "Peeta, I want you to know that no matter what anyone tells you, I love you and always have, since that day in the rain, but I think this year there can still only be one victor and it's going to be you," she looked towards the crowd of people tearing over what they saw, "Katniss, I can't live without you, you are the only one who could ever complete me and I loved you even before that day in the rain, right from the moment I saw you, please, don't leave me like this, not yet," as the words came out of his mouth, Katniss' eyes closed and medics rushed to her side, hauling her onto a stretcher and leading her away from everyone.
The next day, Peeta was to go into an interview with Caesar Flickerman and tell him all about becoming victor, but even that he couldn't figure out, how would he be able to do it without Katniss?
"Peeta, I know you miss her, we all do, but you can't change what's happened, I'll see you in the morning, hopefully by then you'll have figured out what you're going to talk about in your interview," said Haymitch as he left the room, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not sleep for the moment he shut her eyes, he could hear Katniss' screams and Cato's fists making contact with Katniss' skin.
Come nine 'o' clock the next morning, he knew exactly what he was going to say, upon entering the room that he was going to speak to Caesar in, he noticed Caesar was wearing a formal black attire, "I'm so sorry for your loss, she will be missed," he said to Peeta, "we aren't going to do an interview but just for the camera I'd like you to speak out a message about Katniss and express how much you'll miss her," Peeta turned to the Camera and awaited the cameraman to tell him 'action'.
"Katniss Everdeen, the most extaordinary girl I've met, nothing could compare to her radiant beauty and her glistening eyes, I wanted to be with her forever, I thought nothing would ever seperate us, but I was wrong, I shall miss her dearly and no matter what happens, she will always be with me. Always."
Before he was about to leave for the train, a peacekeeper named Plutarch Heavensbee approached him and took him aside to a lone room, where no one passed by or through, "You really miss her don't you?" he asked, Peeta nodded and a tear rolled down his face, "I am part of an organisation that plans to overthrow the government and stop the hunger games once and for all, with how much you despise the government, atleast I would think you would..." he paused and Peeta replied with a very sure nod, "Good, we want you to help, with the wrath that will momentarily build up inside you, you can contribute greatly to the cause, so think you're up to it?"
Peeta thought for a moment and then without a single moment more of hesitation said, "ofcourse I'm in, I'm gonna show them that I'm not a piece in their games any longer and that they will never change me! I'll do it not just for you and me but for Katniss!" Plutarch smiled and on that note, the second uprising began.
The End
