Carry Me Home: Chapter 2
Disclaimer: All belongs to Suzanne Collins, I'm just having a play with the plot.
Author's Note: It was so nice to see that some of you have already found my story out there…I can't tell you how much I am enjoying the writing process and am so grateful I get to share it with you. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any comments, questions, feedback or suggestions and I'll do my best to take them on board!
Sae stared cautiously at Haymitch from across the table. She could see that Haymitch was stone cold sober, although he would never be apt to admit it after she had told him off the night before. How long ago that seemed now. At the time she had expected Katniss to come trailing in through the door, having scared Haymitch enough to jolt him out of his drunken stupor to care for her better. Now she considered, perhaps regretfully, that she should not have been so harsh on him. But how could she have known.
Haymitch was out for hours the night before, trailing the outskirts of the district, as well as the area that was once the Seam, and as far into the woods as he dared to go. Now the Peacekeepers had taken over, ordering Haymitch to return back to the Victor's Village after he continuously held up the search by pointing out places they might have missed, urging them to go faster, and shouting at them to against the commands their leader had set for them.
But Sae could see it all now, sitting across the table from her in Katniss' kitchen. The sobriety, tiredness and worry were all working their way across his face in a dark web of shades and crevices.
"Would you like some coffee?" Sae reached over and placed her thin, knobbly hand over the roughness of Haymitch's fingers, folded tightly on the table in front of him.
"Maybe I should go back out there. They need more people. There's not enough of them."
"They have very capable teams Haymitch, you know this."
"Yes but they're not from here. They don't know the district like I do."
"They know what they're doing. They have a better chance than anyone."
A knock echoed down the hallway and into the kitchen, seating itself at the table between them. Haymitch's red eyes reluctantly met Sae's gaze.
"You go." She whispered.
Haymitch scraped the chair back heavily. Whatever he thought could be behind that door, he wasn't anticipating it to be good. Neither of them were. This was what the Hunger Games and rebellion had placed in them.
"They found something. We think you should come take a look at this."
That's all the Peacekeeper had said. That was it.
Haymitch angrily stomped his boots into the ground, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket. Rage was just one emotion crashing into him, and he wasn't even sure what direction it was going in. But it was blinding him. It was blinding him but God knows that's what he needed right now.
It was hard to tell how long they were walking for, just the two of them. He wondered what could possibly be worth the effort of dragging out a Peacekeeper all this way to fetch him. No words were passed, and Haymitch wasn't one to ask questions. Especially not now. He had a crawling suspicion that no matter how long they walked or however much time it took for them to reach where they were going, it was never going to be enough. He would be willing to walk forever if it meant not facing what was ahead.
He heard the low murmur of voices first as they cut through the gentle humming sounds of the woods. He lifted his head, perhaps surprised to see the small team of Peacekeepers not assembled, but still scattered. He squinted his eyes slightly in a mixture of confusion and contempt. Didn't they say they had found something?
"Haymitch, this way. Follow me." The Peacekeeper that had walked over with him started down a hill off to the side.
The leader of the team broke off from his place, coming to join them as they carefully made their way down. "We thought it would be best if you saw this yourself."
The bow was the first object to appear in his line of vision. He felt almost disoriented as his eyes took in its broken pieces, one haphazardly lying against a rock and the other – was that blood?
Haymitch felt his feet move forward as the sounds of the trees around him fell away, engulfing him in a thick, churning silence.
As he neared closer, a scattered sheath of arrows came into view. It wasn't until it was lying at his feet that he saw the single one lying on its own, also covered in blood. Something in his chest turned at the sight of it.
His eyes drew upwards, resting on the rock the arrow had been leaning on. The blood had dried into its crevices, and lay scattered amidst the foliage around it.
"There was clearly a struggle. We found the tracks of the animal heading north-west into the woods, but they disappeared eventually." The head Peacekeeper hesitated slightly. "The blood continued along the tracks too."
"And what about –?" Haymitch turned to face him. His whole body felt clammy.
"No, nothing." The Peackeepers looked at each other briefly before the one that had led Haymitch down continued.
"It's clear that she came in contact with a wild animal. There was a struggle. Depending on where the animal had taken her, and what…what it had done, in the end…" His voice trailed off.
"No," Haymitch shook his head. "Katniss knows the woods. She survived two Hunger Games, for crying out loud! Until I see…until there is proof, I refuse to…"
"This isn't the arena Haymitch. There are no hovercrafts. No television screens. No trackers," The Head Peacekeeper said gently. "Without her bow, she wouldn't have stood a chance. That's why we needed you out here, to see this, it might be all we…"
The words drifted off and away from Haymitch, back into the rest of the woods. Time after time, year after year, he had watched tributes die. Tributes he was meant to be helping, protecting, saving. Time after time he was left helpless. Eventually he had given up and stopped trying. But this. This was the one time he could have helped. He could have protected her. But instead he had left her to her own devices, thinking she was strong enough to do it on her own. But Sae was right. She hadn't been herself. He had known that.
But now it was too late.
"Haymitch?"
He brought his gaze up to meet the Peacekeepers.
"I'm sorry. I know this must be difficult for you, but the Capitol, we need to…"
The Capitol. The Capitol. Something was trying to push through the shock and fog in Haymitch's mind. The Capitol. The Capitol….Peeta. Peeta!
It wasn't too late. There was someone left that needed his protection, needed it now more than ever. And Katniss….he had promised her. Long ago, he had promised her. He would protect Peeta. It was the last promise to her he had left and he wasn't going to break it. He was going to protect Peeta.
"No. Stop."
The Peacekeepers startled at the shift in Haymitch's stance. Haymitch looked up the hill to where the rest of the Peacekeepers had stopped and were watching the trio from afar.
"I want one of you to take me back to the Capitol, and now." Haymitch looked up to the Peacekeepers assembled up the hill. "I want the rest of them to stay here. Tell Sae what has happened and where I am, and make sure that no-one…and I mean no-one…in either this District or the next, or the one after that, and certainly not the goddamn Capitol, finds out about this till I say so. Am I understood?"
"But Haymitch…"
"I said, am I understood!" Haymitch barked.
The Peackeepers remained silent as Haymitch looked back over the broken bow lying across the rock.
"Victors' orders." He finished softly. "It's Victor's orders."
The pain was the first thing to creep into Katniss' consciousness. A hot, searing pain that raged from across her stomach and into her chest. Katniss felt a whimper escape her lips.
"It's okay Katniss, you're safe."
Something cool and wet pressed against her forehead, and Katniss' growing consciousness struggled to grasp a sense of reality. That voice sounded like….too much like…
Katniss' eyes struggled against the sharp light as she blinked against the face peering down at her.
"Rue?"
Even her voice seemed to question itself as it breathed the name.
The eyes hovering above her flickered slightly, but their kindness did not falter.
"No Katniss, I'm Evelyn. Rue was my sister."
Katniss blinked her eyes slowly again.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm glad you're okay. We were worried you know."
Katniss followed the gentle bubbling of words that were spilling from Evelyn's mouth, but her mind felt too heavy to respond.
"You're in District 11 now. I don't know what happened to you or how you got here. But I was out in the fields and, and I heard you, well I thought I heard my sister's name first…but I found you and, and I knew who you were of course. It's okay though, you're okay now."
"Evelyn." A smooth, gentle voice wrapped itself around the room, turning Evelyn's head away from Katniss and towards the door.
"Mama, she's awake."
"I know, I heard. That's very good. But she needs her rest now, yes?"
"Okay, yes mama," Evelyn turned back to Katniss. "It's okay Katniss, you can close your eyes again now. I'll be here when you wake up, I promise."