Prim and Punishment Chapter 4, a hunger games fanfic

"Prim and Punishment"

Chapter Four

By Brian Grove

Brian at rescueddoggies dot com

Disclaimer – As I'm British and male, it may come as no surprise that I don't own Hunger Games.

An experienced beta would be welcome.

Previous chapter:- Into the games and Prim tells her story.

Prim and Punishment - Prim and Punishment - Prim and Punishment - Prim and Punishment

Without even thinking, I jumped down from the tree. I should have known she'd agreed to my change of plan too easily. I should have known. I made myself calm down. I needed to be a hunter again. Look for traces. There. She'd gone that way. I ran, not caring if the whole pack of careers were in my path. Then I heard it, an awful scream. It had to be Prim. Even worse than the scream Rue had let out. She wasn't close. She must have got away the moment she was sure that I was asleep.

I was running almost blindly now, I didn't even need to think about where to, my sister's awful screams guided me every step of the way.

Then the screaming stopped. I forced myself to run ever faster and burst into a clearing just as a canon sounded.

The same moment as I saw Prim, blood literally running from so many knife wounds on her body, her white face contorted in agony, the pair from Two saw me. They smiled. "Now it's sister's turn."

I was unarmed. I wanted to tear them apart with my bare hands, and even though I knew they'd kill me, at that moment I didn't care.

As the two from Two faced me, a knife came from behind the girl, flew into the center of her back and she coughed up blood and collapsed.

The boy from two and I both spun around at the same time, and we both saw a girl, the girl from Ten. She took off at a run and the boy from Two ran after her in a rage.

I heard their sounds as they crashed through the forest, getting further and further away, then a brief scream and a canon.

The hovercraft was overhead now, I'd not even noticed it coming. I flung myself over Prim's body and we were lifted away, out of the arena, to safety.

I could hear shouting from the cockpit which quickly died down after the sound of a shot. After that, it seemed to be only seconds before we landed, though it must have been longer than that.

A doctor came on board and smothered my arm where the tracker was with some kind of cream. It felt like the ice cream I'd once eaten in the Capitol, but colder, the cold seemed to go deep into my arm. She sliced into my arm and removed the tracker, then scanned my arm to make sure I was "clean" as she put it, before applying something which literally stuck the wound back together.

"I should tell you to rest it for a few days, but there's not much point, is there?"

I shook my head, not really interested in my arm or even my plans for the Capitol. Ignoring the doctor I turned back to Prim. My dear, sweet, innocent Prim. What have they done to you? And then, they'd laughed! I hated the career districts almost as much as the Capitol. No song for Prim. No flowers. No time to hold her as she died. And, to my surprise, no tears, not yet anyway. Tears could come later. I was numb, and cold, so cold.

On the other side of the hovercraft was the dead body of a girl, the girl from Ten, I thought. If it wasn't for the fact that she wasn't breathing, you could believe that they'd made a mistake and she was still alive. There was a boy sitting next to her, holding her hand, crying. He looked about my age. Her brother maybe?

At the back of the hovercraft was the body of the girl from Two. I forced myself to ignore her, when I wanted to tear her limb from limb with my bare hands. A young girl who couldn't have been more than twelve was facing away from us and resting her head on her sister's chest. The doctor informed me that she'd drugged her so we could talk freely.

I don't know how long I sat there, looking at Prim. I wanted to turn away. This pale lifeless form wasn't how I wanted to remember her, but like so many other things, that wasn't mine to choose.

I was vaguely aware of someone calling my name. Again. This time more loudly.

"Katniss!"

I looked up, angry at the interruption. It was the boy. He looked like he'd been through hell too, so I bit my tongue and refrained from yelling at him.

"We'll be arriving in the Capitol soon," he said. "I was asked to give you these letters."

"Letters?"

He handed me two identical envelopes. I looked at them, as if I didn't know what to do with them.

"Do you want me to read them for you?" he asked.

Read them? Is that what I'm supposed to do now? When I didn't react, he said, "This one is from my sister," he said.

Why would his sister be writing to me?

He cleared his throat. "Dear Katniss. You don't know me, but I know you and I know your sister. If you're reading this letter, it means that I am dead. Hopefully, I died protecting you. I once had an older brother who was a Victor. They tried to make him be like Finnick and do what I know they've been making you do. He thought he could save our family by killing himself, but it didn't work. They poisoned our entire family, except that I had been sent to work at another farm that day. When I got back, they were all dead, except Senata, my brother who is with me in the games. The poison made him sick so he brought up most of it. But it's still killing him, just more slowly. He has trouble even walking now and won't survive much longer."

He paused. It seemed to be the right time to say something. "I'm sorry about your family," I said. It sounded completely inadequate.

He nodded, and continued. "As I'd escaped the poisoning, they made sure I was reaped. When I saw that Prim was reaped, I knew she'd been set up just like I had been. When she told me of her plan to get you out, I swore I'd protect you. They were going to stay near Prim's body to prevent the hovercraft rescuing you. You're must be feeling really bad right now, but you need to snap out of it. You probably have no idea how much you and your rebellion mean to people in the Districts who've never even met you. And when I saw your interview, I knew that promising Prim to help get you out alive was the one good thing I could still do that would mean something. I believe you can beat them. FireGirl, our Mockingjay, it's time to melt some Snow. As I know Prim is going to tell you, You have to win Katniss. Your friend, Esmerelda Pantone."

His voice broke a little as he finished.

I got up and went over to his sister, looking amazingly peaceful in death, this girl I'd never known, but who had given her life for me. I took a deep breath and took Esmerelda's cold hand, then looked at her brother. "I will win. I swear it. I will finish him, finish all of them."

Tears in his eyes, he nodded. He handed me another envelope. "You might want to read this one yourself. It's from Prim," he said.

I almost dropped the envelope even though I'd expected the other letter to be from her. My hands were trembling as I opened it.

"Dear Katniss, It seems weird writing a letter to you when you're asleep in the same room. But a lot of things have been weird lately. For a long time really. I mean, could you ever have imagined your little duck trying to kill the President? I should have guessed he'd have armor, like Cato did in your games. I bet you'd have gone for his face."

Against my own will, I smiled a little. I would have gone for his face, or more likely his throat.

"If you're reading this, my plan worked, which means I'm dead and you're alive and you're probably thinking it's not worth it. Well, you're wrong. You know how you always said you'd never have kids, because you couldn't bear to see them get reaped? I want the other girls in my class to grow up never having to think like that. I want there to be proper doctors in all the districts and enough food for everyone. And I know that the only way that will happen is if you make it happen. Nobody else will. It has to be you. And that's why me dying was worth it, whatever they did to me. Not just because I love you and want you to live, but because of what you mean to people."

What did I mean to people? I was just a not very sociable slave of the Capitol.

"I've been talking with one of the girls about my plan. She's Esmerelda, from District Ten. She thinks the careers will stay with my body, to stop the hovercraft rescuing you when they get my body. That way they'll be able to kill you. So she's going to try to kill them or get them away somehow. She knows they'll kill her for it, but she says it's worth it. So it isn't just me saying it. Don't let people forget her."

I glanced across at Esmerelda's body, then turned over the page.

"I know you won't let me go through with the plan, so I probably had to run away from you. I wanted to run away anyway. I don't want you to have to watch me die, especially if they cut me up slowly like they've been threatening to do. You're probably mad with me right now, but get mad with Snow instead. I know you'll have to kill a lot of people and I know you'll hate it. That's good. It means you're still human. I also know you'll try to do too much alone, like you always do. Remember, when they offer to help you, it isn't just for you, this is their fight too. I'm not saying you have to do everything they say, but don't be too proud or stubborn to accept help. The whole of Panem depends on it. I didn't die for you just because you're my big sister and I love you, but you're also my Mockingjay. I know you want to mourn me, but now is the time to fly, Mockingjay, fly. And don't forget, you promised me you'd win and go back and be nice to Mom. Love, your little duck, Primrose Everdeen."

In brackets underneath, she'd written "quack". It was the quack that did it, the same as it was the ducktail which brought me to my senses when Prim had been reaped the first time. I broke down sobbing making Prim's letter smudge in places.

"Katniss. We'll be dropping you off soon." It was the doctor who'd removed my tracker.

"Dropping me off?"

"We're going to drop you off in one place then fly on to another to lead them away from you. That way, if anyone is out to kill you, we'll be your decoy."

At the word decoy, the ridiculous thought, 'quack' went through my mind.

"Now, we'll give you your bow and the sixty arrows you asked for before we lower you down, though I don't know why you need sixty."

"I'm going reaping," I replied. "One Capitol citizen for every person they sent to the arena."

If she was shocked, she managed not to show it. "That's forty-eight."

"Even I miss sometimes," I pointed out.

She handed me a small metal box.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Press this button to record a message. Press it again when you're done. Press the red button and it'll send the message in what's called a micro-burst, taking a tiny fraction of a second. Someone will be monitoring it all the time, day and night. If it vibrates and this bit lights up, you have a message. Just press the blue button to hear it, hold it down to delete it."

"What if I lose it?" I asked.

"Don't," she replied firmly. "While you're in the Capitol, the backup plan is to go to the restaurant near the training center an hour before dawn. It'll be being watched. But it's risky."

I nodded.

"Talking of restaurants, this bag has food and water, enough for a few days, plus a few changes of clothes and various other bits and pieces."

She got me to step onto the ladder which would lower me down. I felt the familiar charge which held me firmly to the ladder.

"Goodbye, Mockingjay, and good luck," she said. "I doubt we'll meet again."

"Goodbye. Wait! What do you mean? Why won't we meet again?"

"Whenever we land, they'll know something's not right. And they'll have orders to shoot you anyway. You were never meant to leave the arena alive."

"But, why don't you come with me?"

She smiled sadly. "I know how you can make contact. We can't risk my being captured. Once we're away from here, it's nightlock for me."

"But at least let Esmerelda's brother go free."

"She was the last of his family. He wants to go with her. And we'll drop off the little girl from Two at a clinic a few blocks away before we fly off." I confess I hadn't even thought about the little sister of the girl from Two.

I was trapped by the current holding me. More people were going to die for me and I could do nothing about it.

"I will win," I promised her.

"Of that I have no doubt, Katniss." She smiled as I was lowered out of the belly of the hovercraft. Then I realized I didn't even know her name.

Prim and Punishment - Prim and Punishment - Prim and Punishment - Prim and Punishment

Author's notes...

Wow! Two chapters in one day! Please review.

Brian

THE STORY SO FAR

Chapter 1

President Snow forces Katniss to be a prostitute. Prim tries to kill Snow. Katmiss marries Peeta. In the Quarter Quell a sibling has to join each tribute. Prim is reaped again.

Chapter 2

Peeta finds out the truth. Prim decides it's her turn to protect Katniss. Flames and bruises.

Chapter 3

Into the games and Prim tells her story.

Chapter 4

Prim is killed and Katniss is rescued. Letters.