Hey Guys.
Sorry I've been so out of it, but you know everything that has been going on with me for the past couple of weeks. With the holidays and everything, it was just that much harder to go on.
Anyway, I wanted to get this chapter up, so please review!
Welcome death, quoth the rat, when the trap fell. -Thomas Fuller.
The others thought it was a little weird that I had left with Cato and came back without him, but when I jokingly reassured them I didn't kill him and hide his body in the forest, they calmed down with laughter.
Glimmer fussed a little about me carrying so much, because she had picked up on my broken rib. I was able to calm her down, but only because she made me sit while they skinned the animals.
Roan was curled up in the corner of my arm, and I buried my nose into his hair, soft and smelling faintly of pine needles.
Cato or anyone could say anything they wanted about Roan; I didn't care if he came from a rape, or even if he dropped from the sky into my arms. He was my son, and nothing anyone said would change that.
Least of all Cato.
Speaking of whom, the jackass in question arrived when the food was halfway done cooking, my palm and fingers still a red outline on his face.
Marvel opened his mouth to say something, but Glimmer hit him hard in the chest with her elbow and he shut his jaw with a snap.
I still had to resist the urge to plunge an arrow into Cato's shoulder.
I should have known better than to start to trust him…to even begin, for a moment, to even like him…
Shaking my head, I threw a blanket over my shoulder, hiding my chest from view as I fed Roan.
I took the food that was offered to me, but when he wasn't looking, I sneaked some onto Finn's plate. He must have noticed, but he didn't say anything, for which I was grateful.
For a long time, we all just sat around, eating and trying not to think of the empty place in our midst where Coral should have been.
Glimmer and I were taking first watch, Roan sleeping in my backpack (I had turned it into a sleeping bag of some sort for him).
"Will you be willing to tell me who was the father of Roan? Was it really your District partner?"
I jolted, realizing that Cato (and the rest of Panem) were really the only ones who knew about Roan's dad. The others didn't.
I fixed my eyes on a point in the horizon, not wanting to see her face when I told her this.
The whole story came out, this time a little easier; maybe the fact that Rye hadn't just died in my arms had something to do with it.
When I was finished telling her, she reached out and took my hand, making me look at her.
Her eyes were shimmering with tears, and her bottom lip was red, like she had bit it several times throughout the course of my story.
"The same thing happened to me."
I must have been staring at her in shock, because she smiled a little, sad smile.
"I never told anyone this. When I was training for the Games, I was so focused I really didn't have time for dating. I mean, I went out on dates with boys and gossiped about them, but I wasn't the kind to sleep with them."
Glimmer shifted a little, running her hand up and down the side of Roan's cheek, his small breaths making little puff puff sounds.
"One of the head trainers seemed to…favor me. Always offering me other lessons, trying to get me alone with him. Being the stupid little girl I was, I didn't catch on."
My horror was slowly mounting.
"One day, when I was about 13, maybe 14, I had stayed at training late. He asked me to come to his office because he had some books he wanted to lend me, and some tapes, on the past games. He touched me then, and I ran. I didn't say anything, because I was too scared. Me, a Career, scared."
I still held one of her hands, and I squeezed it reassuringly.
"Then, New Year's party. I was wearing a dress, made of satin."
Now the look on her face when she saw the shirt we put on Coral made sense.
"I felt so beautiful and pretty and powerful. Then, he brought me back to his office to give me some more books and he…he raped me. I was a virgin."
Glimmer looked up at me one more time, and this time, I saw the depth of the devastation and fear a young girl had to face.
"I was pregnant after that…but I miscarried because I didn't know. I had been training even harder, putting my body through too much…when I passed out while climbing a wall, I found out only to be told I lost my baby. I never told anyone."
Now, the way she took to Roan and the protectiveness she had over small children made sense.
"I must have changed, because I was pushed to volunteer more and more. They must have thought they were going to lose a potential victor, and they didn't want that. But those things were a wake up call. I guess you can say I found my humanity again."
I hugged Glimmer tight, ignoring the hot tears that soaked my shirt.
There was a stronger friendship between us now. We shared something, something that most other girls didn't. They didn't know the feeling of degradation, of being forced to be so close to someone who wants nothing more than to hurt you. They didn't know those feelings that came with rape.
And her baby…how could she have stood to carry on after losing her baby? I would never have been able to live if I had lost Roan…even more if I hadn't known I was pregnant and it was inadvertently my fault he had died.
For the rest of the night, Glimmer and I talked, sharing horror stories of what happened to us, what we felt, how we moved on. I think it was the first time she, and I for that matter, ever really talked about it.
When the sun rose in the morning, I felt fifty pounds lighter.
Well, the peace was too much to ask for.
We had decided to stay for another day, just to catch up on rest. My rib was feeling better, so I was finally able to sleep on my side.
Then, all the birds went quiet.
My eyes shot up to meet Marvel's. We knew what this meant.
"EVERYBODY TO THE WOODS!"
Cato threw Finn over his shoulders so he could clutch his back, and Thresh grabbed Rue. I had Roan, and we all sprinted.
Not even three seconds after we had hastily abandoned our campsite, the hovercrafts appeared.
Peacekeepers descended from ropes, searching our campsite with guns drawn.
One shouted, having spotted us running away, and then suddenly, we were engaged in battle.
One Peacekeeper grabbed my arm, jerking me to a halt, but I used the momentum and round-house kicked him, all the while keeping Roan clasped to my chest.
All the air rushed out of the man in a woosh but then he jerked, red blossoming from the wound in his chest and trickling from his mouth.
A sword was stabbed straight through his white uniform.
Behind him was Cato, hands and face spattered with red, eyes wild and feral.
For one long moment I just stared at him, at the boy who I thought I could trust.
His eyes looked sad, and when they saw me, I saw fear.
Fear?
What did Cato have to fear?
And then we were in a whirlwind of battle again before I could think more into it.
Roan was crying, and I had no choice but to climb a tree. I couldn't put him down, he would get taken or crushed. I used my bow and arrows to pick off Peacekeepers, but most of them were too close to my friends for me to be comfortable risking it.
Thresh hauled Rue and Finn over to me, and when they climbed, I protected the three of them, shooting before we could be shot.
Clove was spinning, throwing her knives with deadly accuracy. She once threw one so hard it tore right through the man and imbedded itself in the skull of another.
Glimmer was twisting around in ways I had never seen, hand to hand combat, even with guns on the other side, a cinch for her.
Rue had her hands over her ears and her eyes closed tight, lips moving like she was praying. Finn had his arms wrapped around her, probably to comfort her, or to keep from falling off the branch.
Cato and Marvel were back to back, wielding swords and spears respectively.
Strange how they didn't trust each other much before, and now they trusted the other to keep them alive.
It could have been an hour or it could have been a minute, but the battle slowly died down, and there was nothing left but bloody bodies, panting teens, and smoking bullet holes in the bark of trees.
Slowly, the birds started singing again.
Marvel came over and reached his hands up, shouting, "Rue, drop down!"
Apparently trusting him with her life, Rue uncovered her ears and dropped down, Marvel catching her and swinging her to the ground.
"Keep your eyes close for a while, OK?"
Rue nodded, shutting her eyes and leaning against the tree.
Marvel shouted out, "Finn, your turn!"
Obviously a little more apprehensive than Rue, he hesitated before jumping, but Marvel caught him and whispered something in his ear. Finn blushed a little but nodded.
I was very confused until I saw him gently take Rue's hand and lead her a little ways away from the carnage.
"I know you would never throw Roan out of a tree, but you can drop and I'll catch you."
Although Marvel didn't have the bulk to him that Cato did, he was tall and muscular. He could easily catch me.
Putting my trust in him, I wrapped myself around Roan and fell out of the tree, avoiding branches and enjoying the rush before I was caught in Marvel's arms.
"Thanks."
I was set back on my feet, and I saw Glimmer and Clove make their way over to me.
"We need to get away from here. They are going to be found soon, and I don't want to know what's going to happen after that."
Clove looked a little worried, eyebrows pulled down to meet in a deep 'V' between her eyes.
"Why do they want us so badly?"
Thresh was the one who answered, surprisingly.
"We're dangerous. We're killers. Well, most of us. We're too dangerous for them to let run around, especially when they've given us every reason to fight against them."
At once, Glimmer, Marvel, Clove and Cato clenched their jaws, like they were remembering something particularly painful.
Making a mental note to ask them about it, I surveyed the woods, trying to figure out what was going on around us.
Suddenly, I saw a tree that was all too familiar.
Carved on the bark was a small arrow, initials KE, DE, PE, SE and RE above and below it.
About three feet to the right was another tall tree, this one with another arrow carved and more initials. GH, PH, RH, VH, RH and BH.
"Oh my god…"
Glimmer followed my point of view and noticed the carving.
"What is that?"
I handed her Roan and ran my fingers over it, remembering the day so many years ago when I had been in the woods with Gale, about a week after Roan had been born.
I explained for the rest of them, who all looked so confused.
"About a week after Roan had been born, I had come out hunting…and I had been feeling sentimental, so I carved, with my cousin, the initials of all of my family and his family…"
Walking over, I pointed at all the initials.
"Katniss Everdeen, Dahlia Everdeen, that's my mother, Primrose Everdeen, Sage Everdeen, my father, and Roan Everdeen."
Pointing at the other initials, I ranted off quickly, "Gale, Posy, Rory, Vick, Rose and Bolton."
Cato caught on the quickest.
"This is the woods around District Twelve…"
I nodded, and everyone had different reactions.
Some of them were jumping up and down with excitement, and some of them just deflated, like all the weight they had been carrying around for the past couple of days vanished.
The Career's of our group tensed even more.
While the others debated about whether we should go closer to District Twelve ("We can get help!" "Yeah, but what about the peacekeepers?") or just stay put ("We don't know if the Capitol is looking for us! We don't want to endanger any other people!"), I walked over to the tree.
Reaching back to my quiver, I pulled out another arrow and carved quickly a few more lines, ignoring the pain it brought in my knuckles.
When I was done, I walked back to the others and joined the debate, not noticing the eyes that were on me.
Saviors of the best kind, Peeta and Rye Mellark.
You will be missed.
74th Hunger Game Victims, Rest In Peace.
Kind of a cheesy, sappy ending, but I couldn't help myself.
Who wants more Cato and Katniss in the next chapter!?
Please review, and thank you so much for all the other reviews you guys have left! You are the best!