Thank you, ElsterBird, mini13, thesoulwithinme, and darkenedruby for help with my German! (and please keep letting me know what to correct)
When she woke early sunlight was glinting through intensely green leaves above her eyes. The air was sweet with flowers and birds were fluttering through the branches. Pollux and the boy were arguing heatedly.
"Es gibt Landmienen auf dieser Wiese, ich weiß es"
"He's saying there are landmines ahead," Pollux repeated, turning to Jackson.
"Because he put them there," Boggs shouted.
Katniss twisted to them. "What's happening?"
Odair had stretched the map across the fallen leaves and moss. He was bent over it, but his eyes were on the argument.
"You will die if you walk this way!" Peeta cried out. "This road takes my hand!" He held up the wrapped hand. A few leaves clung to the gauze.
Gale yawned and stretched. Katniss climbed to her feet and stumbled over, rubbing her eyes.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Jackson frowned at the map. "He's saying the route we're taking goes through the mines he planted."
"Is he lying?" Boggs asked, handing Katniss a pack of crackers. She took a few and handed the pack to Gale when he walked over.
"Why would he lie?" Odair asked.
"Send us on the wrong way?" Jackson suggested. "Give them time to retreat further?"
"Let's make him walk out in front," Boggs threw out. "That'll get the truth out."
"Is there another route around this road?" Katniss leaned over the map.
"Nothing faster," Pollux answered. He sighed. "Maybe Boggs is right."
"Boggs is never right," Odair said. Katniss tried to hide her smile.
"I will walk in front."
A silence fell upon them. They turned and looked at Peeta. He spoke again.
"I will walk in front. This is how I go home. This road goes home. I will walk in front and show you the mines if I can go home."
"That's madness," Katniss said. "You can't remember where they all are."
"I marked them. For me," he told her. "I put a pattern of stones in the dirt." He looked to Jackson. "It is not a mile; shorter than that of mines. We did not have many and I cannot build more. I do this and you let me go to my family."
"I can't make a trade like that," Jackson said. "I can't let a prisoner go."
"Please," Peeta begged. "My mother is alone now. She needs me to come home. I have to help with the children." His eyes found Katniss. "It is on the road."
Katniss looked at Jackson. He shook his head.
"We could take him to his house," she said quietly. "So she can see he's alive," she added as Jackson shot her a glare. She set her jaw. "So he can tell her that her husband's never coming home." She turned back to Peeta. "Can you agree to that? You show us the safe route and we'll let you see your family. But you have to go on with us."
It appeared as though he wanted to protest, but taking in the surrounding weapons, he gave up. "All right," he nodded, his shoulders slumping. "As long as I can see they are safe."
Jackson pulled Katniss aside as they packed up camp. "You need to be careful, Everdeen."
"What?"
"He's not one of us."
She glanced over his shoulder. Next to Boggs' muscles and scruffy growth, the sparse blond whiskers growing unevenly on his chin made Peeta look even younger.
"He's just a kid."
"He's a Nazi soldier, Everdeen," Jackson hissed firmly. "Don't forget that."
Katniss caught up with Peeta's cautious steps. "What are their names?"
"Pardon?" he asked her.
"Your brothers."
"Hans and Frier," he said. "Hans is 14 and Frier is 11. They are a handful," he admitted as he thought of them. "Hans is better but Frier makes my sister cry. He pulls her hair."
"How old is your sister?"
"Prim is four. She is the only girl. My father loved her very much." He fell silent again. Katniss coughed. He looked to her. "You have brothers?"
"No," she said. "It was just me."
"You are not lonely?" he asked genuinely.
"No," she smile. "I was always with my father." Her smile evaporated.
He looked to the road. "He will be happy when you are home."
"He died. Here." She took a few deep breaths against the weight on her chest.
"Your mother," he murmured. "She knows?"
"She knows."
"This is good. To know. To not know is bad."
She pictured a woman with green eyes and ashy blond hair waiting at a window for her husband and son to come home, not knowing if they ever would. A woman in a black dress by a yellow ribbon on a porch in Virginia.
"Knowing is good," she agreed bitterly.
"It is wrong that they used this road," Peeta grumbled, digging stones from the pavement. He had spotted his mine marker ten yards out and Katniss had followed him back another twenty yards to dig out stones to set them off. It was too dangerous to get close and pull up the Bouncing Betties.
"You did it," Boggs began, but Katniss elbowed him.
"The peasants, the people who work," Peeta explained. "They use this road to get to the town. To sell food. Now they must use the woods. There are animals in there. And soldiers," he said, glancing back.
"Allied soldiers don't kill civilians," Katniss gasped.
"They take their food. And their goods," Peeta said.
"That's not true!"
"Yes it is," Odair said softly.
Katniss looked at him. "What?"
"This is my second tour, Al. You'd be surprised what you'll do when you're starving."
"My mother, she says we help the Allies when they come." Peeta started on a new stone. "So you will go help her family at home."
"What?" Boggs asked.
"Mother is from Poland. My father is traveling before he becomes a teacher," Peeta grunted as he pulled the stone out of the ground. "She comes back here with him. But her father and sister are in Poland. She worries they are not alive anymore. She wants the Allies to come so they will be safe."
"Then why'd you join up with the Nazis?" Boggs spat at him. "You hate your mother or something?"
Peeta looked at him in horror. "I do not hate my mother! My mother is a good woman!" He stood up. Katniss moved in front of him before Boggs could shoulder his weapon.
"Then why are you a soldier?" she asked. "Why are you fighting?"
Peeta turned his eyes to her. "They came at night. Schnee and his friends. They are joining the Nazis. He knows my father is smart. He studied the army history in school. They want him to come with them. He refuses." Katniss saw a shudder go through his body. He knelt back down at the stones. He did not dig again. "Schnee says he knows Mama is Polish. He says that my brothers, my sister, we are unclean. He says if my father does not go with them he will tell the Nazis about Mama and the children." Peeta looked at Boggs. "He has to go. He loves Mama. He loves my brothers and sister." He picked up a rock and stared at it. "They take him out the door. I am so angry. I try to hit Schnee, to get my father back. Schnee says I am strong. I will go with them. Papa says I am too young, but Schnee says I will go.
"It has been a long time," he mumbled. "Papa showed them the roads. But they have more scientists and teachers soon. They make Papa cook now. I do not know how to fight. I cannot shoot a gun well. I shoot a rebel soldier in Paris and I cannot shoot a gun again," he confessed. Katniss saw it raw and living on his nerves. "So they have me bury mines." He looked at his lost fingers. "They go up sometimes.
"We try to get away a few times. To go home and make sure Schnee keeps his word. But we are found out." He stopped. Katniss realized she knew where the story went from there. He started to dig at a fresh rock. Boggs cleared his throat, but he couldn't find any words. Pollux was looking back to where camp was, pretending not to hear.
"There we are," Peeta said, hauling a rock into his arms. "I cannot shoot, but I throw well," he told Katniss. "I would throw the ball at school the farthest."
He took three steps from her towards the road. He stood very still. Peeta tossed the rock forward. It sailed in a perfect arc and landed on the marker in the road. The mine popped and showered dirt down on the road. Katniss uncovered her ears and coughed as dirt wafted over to them.
"Jesus," Boggs whistled.
"How did you do that?" Katniss stared.
"Do?" Peeta asked.
"Throw it like that."
He shrugged. "I see the path and let the rock follow. You try?" He handed her a heavy rock. She lined up the view. She threw it. It arced and fell off the road into the trees.
"Damn. I'm better with a rifle," she muttered.
"It is not the same." he shook his head. "You have to see the arc," he told her. He handed her another rock. She moved to take it and he held her palm in his fingers. "Do you see the marker you want to hit?"
She looked ahead. She could see the small pile of stones. "Yes."
"See the path in the air."
She glanced nervously at him and looked at the space over the marker. The clouds hung low in the sky and she imagined the fluffy white cloud dipped down to guide the rock.
"Throw the stone."
It felt like the sky took the stone from her hand. She watched it sail with precision. It was nearly at the marker when Peeta suddenly cried out, "Cover your ears!" She clamped her palms over her ears and the mine exploded.
She was laughing as they shook dirt and tiny stones from their hair. "Nice work, Everdeen." Boggs looked stunned. "Didn't think you had an arm like that."
"My dad taught me to throw a baseball," she smirked. "I wasn't bad."
"What is Everdeen?" Peeta asked.
"My name. I'm Katniss Everdeen," she flushed.
"Oh."
"What's your last name?" she asked, realizing she did not know.
"Mellark. Peeta Mellark."
"It's nice to meet you, Peeta Mellark," she said, extending her hand. He looked at it for a moment before he took it and they shook hello.
Boggs eyed Katniss. He looked to Peeta.
"There!"
Peeta's joyful cry mirrored the happiness in his eyes. He ran for the house.
Katniss took it in. Settled back off the road fifty feet, it was nestled in a shallow valley between the greenest trees she'd ever seen. The field behind it stretched to the horizon, with patches of tall and young trees stretching towards the blue and white marbled sky. It was like finding heaven after walking through hell. Maybe she was just tired after walking for five more days.
He ran past her and she laughed as Odair shouted for him to stay. He was long gone; the anxiety of the past two days' walk dissipating with each step. His happiness melted a few of her own cares. She was grateful for a reprieve from the gray cloud over her.
He disappeared inside the front door, calling for his mother.
"Damn kids," Boggs scoffed.
"Leave him be," Katniss muttered. "He's home. It's what we all hope for."
She crossed the lawn, dotted with wild flowers. She frowned slightly at the neat garden. Weeds were popping up between the crocuses. They seemed out of place with the tidy little house and perfectly stacked woodpile.
She realized she didn't hear his voice.
"Peeta?"
There was no answer.
"Peeta!"
She ran inside. The screen door slammed behind her. She tore to the first bedroom inside the door as she heard Gale bang inside the house close by.
The full-sized bed was unmade and unkempt. Things were scattered on the floor: a hairbrush, a candlestick, a slipper. A small cot opposite the bed had been knocked over. The mattress was crumpled like a piece of paper. She ran to the next room. Two of the three twin beds were unmade as well. A mirror was broken. There was a red smear on the floor.
She stumbled out of the bedroom as Gale stepped out of the first. His eyes were wide, looking past her into the small sitting room in the back of the house.
She now saw Peeta. Frozen in place. She forced her legs to carry her to him.
It wasn't blood on the wall. It was just red paint. Bright, angry red paint. It stretched across the wall and onto the window.
VERRÄTER.
"Traitor." Pollux whispered it out loud as he entered the living room.
The dry road would have hidden the footsteps of the German soldiers as they retreated in front of the team. It could have been days ago. Maybe yesterday. But they would have gotten here before they did. And if they'd picked them up at home, they knew where he would go. And who would be waiting.
"Hawthorne."
Odair's soft voice came from outside the kitchen door that split the living room and kitchen by the graffitied window. Gale stepped around Peeta. Peeta was still staring at the words, unable to move. Katniss followed Gale silently.
Odair's back was to the door, looking at a small cluster of trees before the rows of vegetables started in the garden. He turned at the sound of their footsteps.
"No, Katniss. Go back inside!" he ordered quickly.
It was too late. She'd seen the pale blue child's foot jutting out from behind the tree. She gasped and cried out, falling to her knees.
Peeta was outside in a heartbeat. "Vat-" He stopped.
Gale, Aurelius and Odair had to drag him back inside as he screamed. Katniss found the chloroform in her bag and knocked him out so he wouldn't hurt himself thrashing wildly on the floor. Gale and Aurelius dragged him to the first bedroom and laid him out on his parents' bed. What used to be his parents' bed, she remembered. They were both gone now.
Katniss stayed by him, unable to go out and see what was left of his family, their corpses piled carelessly like rags. She held Peeta's motionless hand and stared at the single slipper on the floor.
He awoke when dusk had begun to fall. He looked up at her. She didn't need to say anything. He rolled onto his side and faced the wall.
Odair came in. "Um. We're ready." He looked at Peeta's back. "It was quick, Peeta. One bullet in the head. They weren't in pain."
"They were afraid," he told the wall. "They were alone."Katniss touched his shoulder. She left him and walked to the living room.
Gale had dirt on his hands and was sweating after the effort of digging. She watched him rinse his hands in the sink. The water sputtered brown then ran clear. "It was only a few days," she noted.
"Four. Maybe five," Aurelius muttered from the corner. "I'd say four."
Peeta stumbled into the living room. Aurelius moved to take his arm, but Peeta pushed him away. He staggered towards the door and fell into the evening air.
Katniss followed. He was kneeling at the small mound of fresh earth just within the tree line. He crumpled and pressed his face to the ground. She could hear the weeping through the blades of grass.
She stared at the little wooden crosses.
"You hung their shoes," she whispered as Gale came to stand by her.
"I didn't remember their names," he confessed, watching Peeta begin to retch. "I wanted…I don't know."
She looked at the short row of crosses. "Three."
"Yeah. It was a woman and two boys."
"Three." It was louder.
"Katniss?"
"No little girl?"
"What? No," Gale said. "What?"
"There's a little girl," she heard herself yelling. "She's four! She's a little girl! Where is she?"
Peeta was sitting up. The dirt created tracks on his face where the tears were streaking through. "Katniss?"
"Where's Prim?" She was yelling now. "Where is she?"
Peeta half-crawled, half-stumbled over and grabbed Gale's arm. "Where is my sister?"
"What? What?" Gale tried to pull away from their snatching fingers.
"What the hell is going on?" Jackson was outside in minutes. Pollux and Boggs had their rifles out, but neither looked like they were planning on using them.
"There's a girl," Katniss cried out. "He's got a little sister. Where is she?"
Gale looked at Boggs. "We looked all over," Boggs confirmed. "To find the shoes. There's no little girl around here."
Peeta appeared to fall apart in front of her. "He took her," he moaned, falling back to the earth. "He took my sister." He pulled his shirt into his teeth and bit down to shriek.
Aurelius ran over with a chloroform rag, but Katniss stopped him.
"Just...let him."
They helped him back inside. Katniss pulled his shoes off and fluffed the pillow under his head. He let his head fall to the side and he said nothing. It was so familiar.
She moved to the cot across the room and straightened the mattress. She set it upright. It was so small. She realized it was his sister's. Three beds for the cherished boys; one tiny cot for the beloved girl child in her parents' room. She knew she could not sleep on it.
She walked to the living room and claimed the loveseat from Gale.
It was night when the squeaking floorboards pulled her from her frenzied dream. She heard the men around her stirring and she sighed and stretched. The kitchen door opened and closed. Her eyes flew open.
A flash of ashen gold hair moved outside the screen door.
She got up.
She crept around the shoes and packs scattered on the floor and out into the night. The moon was full and hung low in the sky. It made his hair shine silver as he rocked back and forth in front of the mound. The grass was cold on her bare feet. She debated leaving him to grieve in silence. But there was something so familiar about this. She breathed Arlington, fresh again in her eyes and ears and nose and mouth. So she walked over the lawn and knelt down next to him.
He made no noise but she could see he had wept for them long after they put him to bed. He didn't respond to her sitting by him. She chose not to speak either.
The moon passed overhead.
She felt her joints grow stiff and the dew begin to seep into her clothes. She shifted. She heard his breath catch in his throat. "Peeta?"
He broke and turned around, crawling to his feet and moving to the cluster of trees opposite where his mother and brothers had been found. She stood and followed him on aching legs. She reached to embrace him.
"Katniss, please," he cried, hiding his face against an ancient oak tree and trying to push her arms away. "Please leave me."
"Peeta, I-I-" The pain was so familiar. It sucked her inside.
Her mind went numb and blank it the way it always did when it was too much to face. She felt her arms move to his face and pulled him away from the tree to look at her.
His eyes were wet and swollen. His lips were so dark they looked bruised. They were hot against hers as she kissed him. He only hesitated for a moment. He wanted to forget too.
His hands found her shoulders, her ribs, her waist. Pulled her in tighter as they fought away the emptiness that threatened to consume them both.
The tree bark was rough against her back even through the shirt. She relished the scraping and pinching as he drove her against it. She kissed his face as he pressed his forehead into her shoulder. She bit back a shout and gripped her legs around his hips tighter. He grunted into her shoulder and she nearly fell as he pulled away. Her feet found the soft, cold ground and she felt the warmth hit her knee and trickle down her calf. His fist clutched her ribs. They were breathing hard against each other's cheeks.
He released her and stepped backward unevenly, panting. He looked at her with glassy eyes. She felt the bead of sweat traveling down her chest. He looked down and pulled his pants up to his waist, zipping them quickly and buttoning the fly. She picked up her uniform pants from the lawn and said nothing as she pulled the legs back on. He took a few steps away while she searched her hair for leaves and bark. She stilled and watched him look up at the full moon.
They watched the stars.
"I think she is scared," he whispered. "I think she is alone and frightened."
Katniss turned her face to look at him. "We'll find her," she whispered. "She's waiting for us to find her."
He blinked back a tear. "We will find her. I will bring her home."
Katniss thought of their family buried so close by. She thought of Prim in a little dress with a smocked waist and yellow flowers. Saying goodbye.
"We'll bring her home."
