Chapter 10: Rebellion
Katniss's P.O.V
It's been 3 years.
Three years since Gale was revived…
Three years since Peeta and I were separated…
Three years since I've become Gale's slave…
Funny how a lot of things changed…
He chose to live off on a land near the thirteenth but still relatively far to project a sense of privacy. He chose to build a little cottage like house furnished with the modern technology thirteenth is proud of.
My mentor…
The last I heard was that Haymitch was forced to be one of thirteenth's soldier and of Peeta…
I never heard from him ever since…
Gale made sure to cut all of my ties with Peeta…
Never a single word will be uttered in my presence when it had something to do with Peeta.
Starving back in twelve would have been nicer than my life now.
At least back then I had my freedom, in a way.
Back then I had rights, I was a person…
Now…
Now, I'm not simply Katniss Everdeen…
I'm Katniss, Gale Hawthorne's sex slave.
Degrading
Miserable
Pathetic
That's what's going on in the minds of the people we go to.
He introduces me as such, his slave.
Guys leer, girls sneer… others look on with envy…
What I would give to swap lives with them…
I tried to kill myself… in vain.
He would always catch me…
Save me…
Prolonging my life in this hell…
I suspect he was just watching me all those times I tried to cut my wrist…
He was always there just in the nick of time.
Looking down on me with that fucking superior smirk on his face.
As if he knew what I had been planning…
After a while I realized that if I killed myself… the deaths that happened for my sake would be in vain.
Prim
I shook my head.
This wasn't the time to reminisce…
I had a job to do…
I pushed the bedroom door open as I let the robe fall on the ground.
As always, my master awaits me with a smirk and a beckoning finger.
I close my eyes…
I can't run away.
With a small shove, the door closes behind me.
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my eyes widened as I continued to look down at the results in my hand.
How-
After every precaution… after every goddamn pill…
Two bright lines stared up at me.
Taunting…
Mocking…
My chest started to tighten, my head throbbed, and my body tensed up. I could feel my airways star to clog up.
No…
This…
This can't be…
I can't…
I can't be pregnant!
Gale can't know of this!
Gale mustn't know of this!
I…I have to get rid of this…
I froze.
What-
Did I just think that?
What… what's wrong with me?
Too long among the likes of them is slowly turning me into a monster…
I gently laid my palm on top of my still flat belly.
Something is growing inside of me…
No
Someone is growing inside of me…
I laid back on the tiled wall and cradled my stomach.
"Don't worry little one… no one's gonna harm you… as long as I'm here you'll always be fine…"
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Gale was going to be away on a skirmish for two weeks.
This was the perfect chance to escape.
No
This is the perfect chance for an escape.
I waited, docile, silent, until the heavy doors closed behind him before I sprang into action.
Clothes fixed in a duffel bag left in the closet near the backdoor.
Canned foods which he didn't know I had left under the sink in the kitchen near the backdoor.
Money he gave me a little while ago.
I hate to take it but… we need all the help we can get... to get away from him.
I shuddered.
I breathed out evenly and slowly caressed my stomach.
It's gonna be okay…
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Clutching the small bag of supplies closer to me as I jogged out of the house, towards the forest at the
back of the house. My heart hammered inside my chest as the distance between the woods and I shortened. Just a little more and then I can operate more freely in the woods.
Taking one last glance behind me, my heart stilled.
Peeta
Peeta's still in there…
My feet skidded to a halt.
I… I can't just up and leave without him.
He's…
Realization and understanding dawned on me.
He's mine.
I straightened my back and turned around, heading into the thinner part of the woods.
Determination flared within me.
If I come out of this alive…
Peeta's gonna come with me.
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I plastered my back against the cold wall and took a deep breath.
Slowly, I inched my face around the corner, and was met with a bare chest.
With a small yelp I tumbled backwards, but before I could land on the ground, strong arms reached pout and held onto me.
Once steady, I looked up, a thank you on the edge of my lips but stopped-
"You."
Before me stood Finnick, the guy who betrayed us.
The guy who sold us off to Coin.
The guy who caused me to separate with Peeta.
"Katniss…" he breathed out.
"You fucking tra-" I started to scream but his hand reached out and lightly held onto my mouth.
"SHH… do you want anybody to hear you?"
I stilled, my mouth closing beneath his hand. He was right.
I couldn't risk being discovered now.
Not after everything I've done and prepared for.
I'm not willing to put all that to waste.
Once he was sure that I wouldn't scream he let go of me.
"I'll take it you want to go see Peeta."
"You know where he is?" I hissed out.
He nodded.
"I can take you there if you want to…"
I looked skeptically at him.
He sighed. "Probably not the best offer I can give you, huh?" he looked at me. "Look, Katniss. I… I'm really sorry about what happened back then. i… I only wanted to protect Annie… and…"
He drew in a breath, and I realized that he was trying hard to not cry.
"They… they killed her… they still killed her…" he mumbled.
"After forcing me to lose my morals, my ethics… my dignity as a human… they… she still killed them."
"Them?"
He looked at me, then at my stomach.
"My child. They killed my unborn child."
I gasped and covered my stomach.
"You know?"
He nodded. "With the amount of oolong tea you're cabin's been ordering…it's not too hard to see… I've been with Annie for the first part of her pregnancy to be able to help her with that… but-"
I clutched his arms, not only for me but also to prevent him from withdrawing into himself. He looked terrible, the bags under his eyes and the shallowness in his cheek attested to that.
"Take me to Peeta."
With one nod at me, he pulled me towards the back of the building.
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"He's staying here?" I gasped out.
He nodded, slowly opening the metal door on the floor.
"All of the others are here as well…"
"Others?"
"The ones who started a mutiny once you had gone missing. Come on." He ducked down and I quickly followed him.
For the people who started a mutiny, this place is seriously under guarded. Well, not that I'm not happy about that… I'm not gonna look a gift in the mouth.
It was dank…
Musty…
I slowly looked around, my eyes adjusting to the eerie darkness that surrounded the place.
"K-Katniss?" a hoarse voice called out.
My head snapped to the left.
That voice!
I could never forget that voice.
"Peeta!" I scrambled towards the voice, stumbling over my feet in the darkness.
Then something skidded across my feet and I instantly fell on the body below me.
Hugging him close, I buried my face in his neck.
"Peeta!"
Peeta
Peeta
Peeta…
It was all I could say…I missed him
I missed his voice
I missed his eyes
I missed his smell…
Come to think of it…
"You stink."
"Gah! You're so blunt!" he exclaimed before his arms locked around my waist, dragging me towards him.
"I miss you."
I said nothing but instead hugged him tighter.
A cough brought us back to reality.
Along with the information that the dank place that was once dark was now filled with an orange light.
Alongside that I found a rather quite large group peering at us amongst the darkness.
A low growl from Peeta had me turning around in time to meet his furious glare aimed at, "Finnick, you bastard!"
He stood up.
I placed a hand on his chest and shook my head.
"He's with us. It's hard to believe but it's true… I'll tell you once we're out of here."
"Come on. Let's go." Finnick nodded up at the ladder before going in first. One by one the people inside climbed up.
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Twenty, there were twenty people, including Peeta, Finnick and I.
Quite a handful if you're going for an escape.
Finnick nodded once before dragging a red-haired guy over to me. "This guy is Greg-"
"You can call me Red for short." The guy's gruff tone cut Finnick off. "I'm the 'pseudo-leader' of the so called FIRE REBELLION."
"Fire rebellion…"
Finnick started to move navigate us slowly towards the nearest exit to the forest.
"Fire… because you are the girl on fire…"
I kept silent.
These people sacrificed their lives for me.
I have to get them out of here.
I slowly crouched down, fumbling inside a hollow tree trunk.
I heaved the duffel bag out of the bag and had it snatched from me by Finnick.
"Hey!"
"I'll take this."
"But-"
He looked pointedly down at my stomach.
I backed down; knowing that I had lost the argument once he used the trump card.
Thankfully, Peeta didn't notice.
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A breath
A step
A whistle
A siren
"Shit!" Finnick swore. "Head on north! Something triggered the alarm! Go run!"
As one, our small group ran, zigzagging across rocks, trees and bushes.
One thought running through our mind.
Survive
An explosion at the center of the group threw me off track for a second.
Peeta immediately dragged me to his side as our group split into two, the large fire in the center preventing anyone crossing.
"Go! There's a warehouse at the north of the border! Someone's waiting for you there! Go! We'll meet you there!" Finnick screamed over the roaring fire and the high-pitched squeals of the siren.
I nodded before turning to our group.
"Come on!"
Running ahead, I could see Red clutching his side from the corner of my eye.
Assessing my group, it was almost half of the original number.
Another whistle passed by and we all instinctively ducked to the right as it exploded against a large tree.
"GO!"
I scrambled up to my feet, Peeta fast on my trail.
Whistles followed by an explosion became the only thing that came to our awareness. The screams, the scrambles, horrific against the red flames chasing us through the woods.
Looking up ahead, the woods ended up in a small clearing.
Bursting forth, we slammed into wired fence. It was too high to climb and too sturdy to be cut.
The tell-tale signs of a whistle drew me out of my daze.
"Everybody duck!" Peeta dove for me as we both fell to the ground, his hands covering my head.
In the nick of a second, the bomb whistled pass the place we once were and exploded against the wall, creating a large hole at the center.
"Through the hole!"
Being closer to the hole, Peeta and I scrambled out first.
Then the others followed.
"Come on Red!"
Red crouched down and yelled out in pain.
"What?" I came closer and gasped.
His side was bleeding, a small steel spike jutting out from the gaping hole.
"Red!"
The area behind him exploded and he screamed out in pain.
"Come on Red! Come on!"
He looked up at me from where he was lying on the ground and shook his head, a sad smile on his face.
"No…"
From behind me, Peeta's arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me away.
Then I saw it.
Blood
Blood pooling around Red's feet.
What's left of it.
The explosion blew his feet off.
The edges of his knees were singed, burnt, bloody-
The smell of burning flesh turning my stomach queasy.
"Thank you… Katniss…" he murmured.
"NOO!" Peeta successfully drew me away, dragging me towards the edge of the encampment.
"No!"
A whistle
Then, right before my eyes, the place where Red once was, Blew up, his body engulfed by flames.
His screams carried over the tingling sound in my ear, his body twitching as the flames slowly ate away at his body.
"RED!"
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"We need to fight back." I mumbled to Peeta as our group trudged along the dense forest.
He tightened his hold around my waist and drew me closer to his side.
"I know."
I looked around.
The group, as far as I can tell, was okay.
Shaken, but okay.
Physically, they were okay.
Mentally… I wasn't sure if they were stable.
I wasn't even sure if I myself am stable.
One thing was for sure though-
I looked up as the forest ended.
This is not the end.
Our group will not simply back down, cower, and hide.
We will come back…
And when we do, Coin will fall.
To be continued
Author's note: hey guys! I know this is a little bit late but here's my Christmas present for you! Happy Holidays! The sequel already has three chapters and I don't know if you guys would still like this story to be continued so… review maybe? Haha
I'd probably post one chapter just to see how that goes though, but I would love to hear from you guys!
Anon replies: Guest: thank you! I'm already feeling a lot better!
Xxxxloverxxxx: thank you for the reviews, I know… it is pretty dark. Haha. Hope you keep on reading!
love lots!
Violet~