Chapter 2 - Unveiling
The steel cabin smelled like gasoline, cold and a dirty metal. In a corner near a pile of rifles, Katniss knelt, held her stomach, and vomited. She was free. "Temporary insanity" was the judgement the judge gave. He sounded equal parts sad and disappointed.
Immediately after the ruling, she opened her mouth but she was pulled off her feet before she could say a word. Two strong hands began maneuvering her towards the exit even before the judge had a chance to stand. The witnesses and jurors surged towards her, but Peeta knocked them away with a trunk-like arm.
Peeta pulled her through the masses. On her other hand was a tall, black man who shouldn't have been there. "Beetee?" she said? He smiled, though you could tell he was intently focused on moving her out of there.
"Hold on," Beetee said. "We've got to get to our ride."
And then they were in the sky. And she wasn't going to die anymore. She wa sure, so very sure it was all over at last. So much had happened. Prim. Cinna. Rue. So many people who died, many by her. She was ready for death. She felt like she deserved it. But apparently that wasn't to be.
Her stomach felt like it was full of soap and toilet water. She pulled her eyes shut and released everything that was inside. Then she made her way back to a seat. Outside the craft, white rooftops blurred past. The dirt streets were mostly empty. She could see someone had spraypainted the Mockingjay in black at a cross-streets. She looked up, and saw blue sky and clouds. White clouds that carried on as if nothing had happened.
Peeta talked to the pilot, who seemed nice enough. She was happy to see Peeta again, but she didn't talk to him. Her emotions were too out of whack. She didn't want him to see her cry, or for her to lash out and take something out on him. For all his strength, he was always as gentle as a little boy.
The sun was setting outside, so the inside of the unlit craft became crowded with shadows. She had a few moments to herself as they set off to whatever Beetee had to show her. She wondered how he got to the courthouse, and how he had hired this aircraft. Maybe it belong to whoever took it by force. Maybe that's the way things would always be.
A heat began in her veins. The temperature was low at first, just a little warm in her arms. But her heart began to pump the hot lead around her body until she began to thought of that bastard Snow and everyone he'd killed. She thought of this country, filled with people who were free but could they run a country? Who was going to bring in the coal? Or fix the buildings when they broke down? Snow had always held all the cards. And now that he was gone, no one had any clue has to proceed. She sure didn't. And even dead his awfulness continues, like a curse over everyone. Of course he had to die. But she wished somehow things didn't have to be like this.
"Where are we going?" she asked, her words tumbling out into the noisy, cold air. She immediately wshed she hadn't said anything. She looked outside and wondered how high up she was. How far she would fall.
"Never mind. It doesn't matter," she said. "Everything has already been ruined. We're going to keep starving, fighting and freezing, and being scared. That's the way it has to be."
"Maybe not," Beetee said. "There's something we need to show you."