Chapter 11
Into The Bunker
(Peeta's POV)
Things are going great. It's been a few days since the zombie incident and nothing crazy has happened. Although, I'm itching to get into a new adventure, maybe even find out some secrets about the town. I'm at Katniss' house and we're having a monster movie marathon, just the two of us. We're currently watching a crappy zombie movie, complete with terrible acting.
"These movies aren't scary at all when you've dealt with real zombies," I say suddenly, making Katniss laugh.
"They're slow!" She says. "Just power walk away from them." Her phone goes off and she looks at it.
"Who's that?" I ask.
"Gale," She sighs. "He won't stop texting me until I give him another chance."
"What did he say?"
"He sent me a winky frown," She hands me the phone to show me. "What does that even mean?"
"Is it even possible to wink and frown at the same time?" I try to do it and Katniss laughs.
"I don't think so," She lays back on her bed. ""I just wish he would move on,"
"And you're not…" I start. "Not seeing any other guys?"
"Of course I am." She says and my heart sinks. "Meet my new boyfriend," She pulls out a fluffy stuffed bear. Oh, I realize, she was joking. I laugh. Maybe I should ask her out.
"So, you know, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, I mean, if you and me would ever, I mean…" I trail off. This is a terrible idea! I can't ask Katniss out. I'll ruin our friendship like… Gale for sure! Think of something else to say! "If you wanted to join me and Delly on this mystery hunt tomorrow. Conspiracy stuff and all that."
"Yeah, sure." Katniss says. "I love doing stuff with my friends." Friends. I force a smile. 'Cause that's all we are. It's all we'll ever be. Friends. I throw myself back on the bed and Katniss blinks at me. "Dude, you're lying on my bra." I look over and sure enough, I am. I sit up quickly and focus back on the movie.
The next day, I wait with Delly by the tree I found the journal in. Using the black light to see the invisible words in the journal, I found out that this tree tree is the entrance to some kind of secret hideout. I'm excited, I really think I can get some information about the author by going into his hideout. I've recently become obsessed with discovering the identity of the author.
"So, you invited Katniss today," Delly says.
"Yeah…" I shrug."
"Are you going to tell her how you feel about her?"
"What? No!" I say. "I don't want to ruin our friendship just like Gale did."
"Peeta, I don't think you should hold your feelings in." Delly says. "It's not good for you."
"I can't do that."
"I'm not saying you should ask her out, I just think you should tell her how you feel, so you can get it off your chest and move on with your friendship."
"What if she doesn't want to be my friend anymore?" I ask.
"She won't do that."
"But Gale-" I start.
"Are you going to start following Katniss around and constantly text her if she doesn't feel the same way?" Delly interrupts me.
"No."
"You aren't Gale, Peeta." She says just before Katniss arrives.
"Sup, guys." Katniss says walking over to us. "What are you doing?"
"We're trying to find a way into the secret hideout, it should be around this tree somewhere."
Katniss examines the tree. "Well, for starters it's not a real tree, it's made out of metal." She looks up. "That branch kind of looks like a lever."
"How are we going to get to it?" Delly asks.
"Easy." Katniss says and without hesitation she starts climbing the tree. She quickly gets to the lever and pulls it, opening a hole with stairs leading down into the earth. When Katniss climbs down from the tree we enter the opening.
(Katniss' POV)
We found a fallout shelter. Whoever did all this has food rations to last until 2020. Peeta picks an empty can up from the floor. "This can was opened recently… Someone has been here." He gets excited. "Maybe it's the author of the journal."
A chill runs down my spine. I don't really feel comfortable being down here. Not with these two kids. Not when I don't know if I can protect them. "What if we aren't wanted here…" I say.
"Oh, Katniss," Delly says. "Are you getting scared?"
I can't let them know how much this place creeps me out. They seem completely unaffected by all this. Is this just an everyday thing for them? I blink. "I'm not scared, I just… If someone's down here… It could get dangerous, that's all." I explain.
"I don't think we're in danger," Peeta shrugs. "If anyone's down here, it's the author."
"Alright, I was just worried about you two," I shrug. This place does give me a bad feeling, but I'm sure my anxiety aside and start exploring.
This place is really cool, I'm just not sure if I want to be down here with two twelve year olds… Just in case something bad does happen. I grin and pull my bow from my shoulder. My dad makes me carry around my bow and arrows when I'm out. He wants me to be prepared for the apocalypse. He's very paranoid about stuff like that. At least I'll have a way to protect Peeta and Delly.
I open a door leading some kind of lab. I take a few steps in, setting an alarm. I freeze and turn to find Peeta running over to me.
"Um…" Peeta flips through his journal, then presses a few buttons on a panel by the door, stopping the alarm. "There we go." I smile as Delly walks in.
We explore the lab area for a few minutes. Looking for any sign of the author… or anyone, I guess.
"Hey, guys," Delly calls. "Come check out this cool metal closet!"
"Okay…" I walk over followed by Peeta. Delly steps out of the closet to make room for us. We step and Delly closes the door behind us. I hear the click telling me she locked us in. "What just happened?"
"You can't come out until Peeta tells you something," Delly says.
"Delly," Peeta pleads. "Please don't."
It's so dark in here. I start looking for a light switch but can't find one anywhere on the wall. Maybe there's a pull chain to turn on the light. I reach up and find one then pull it. Sure enough, the lights come on. When my eyes finally focus, I realize I'm starting right into Peeta's blue orbs. I love Peeta's eyes. Delly's are similar but not quite as vibrant. Peeta's eyes look like deep ocean water. His eyes are so pretty. I force myself to look away.
"So what does Delly want you to tell me?"
"Um…" Peeta says. "Well, I-" Suddenly a door opens leading into another lab area. Peeta steps out of the closet and I follow him. "I don't know what Delly wants me to tell you," He shrugs.
I roll my eyes. He's lying. I'm going to make him tell me. I think I know what Delly wants him to say, and I really do think it would be best if he told me. The real problem is what I'm going to tell him. I can't date him. I mean if we were the same age, I would, but a fifteen year old can't date a twelve year old. That's just wrong.
"You can tell me, Peeta," I say. If Peeta tells me, maybe he'll be able to move on from this crush. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Umm-" Peeta is interrupted when a monster jumps down from the ceiling. I knew something bad was going to happen! Peeta runs over to the closet, I pull an arrow and aim it at the creature. "Delly, let us out, there's a monster!"
"The only monsters are your own inner demons!" Delly calls.
"I'm serious!" Peeta pleads.
"Peeta just tell me," I say. "I won't be upset."
"No."
"No?"
"I'm going to find another way out of here," He says.
"What?" He grabs my arm and starts running, dragging me down a tunnel. I can't believe he thought this was the better option. Was I really that bad of a friend that he thinks I'm going to be pissed if he tells me he has a crush on me? I pick up the pace as the monster gets closer. Then we hit a dead end. We're dead. I push Peeta behind me protectively. Knocking an arrow back, I ready myself for when the creature turns the corner. Down the tunnel, I can hear the creature fighting with something, and it sounds like it's losing. All the sudden, it gets quiet, and a man turns the corner.
"Hurry now," He calls to us. "I scared it off for now, but there's no way of telling when it will come back." He dusts off his clothing. "I wasn't expecting guests. I've been down here for a very long time. Years. Weeks even."
"So you're the guy, right?" Peeta says suddenly.
"The guy?" He asks.
"The author of this journal." He pulls it out.
"Oh, yes." He says. "You must have found it."
"What was that… monster chasing us?" I ask.
"One of my experiments. A shapeshifter. It's able to take the form of anything it sees." The author explains. "Unfortunately, it's escaped from a cage of solid steel. I've gone half crazy trying to catch it."
I look around as Peeta chats with the author. I'm sure Peeta has so many questions. So I walk away to give them some privacy. I pick an empty can up from the ground. I hate litter. I squint at the picture on the label then freeze.
"Peeta," I call looking up. He gave this guy the journal. Crap. Peeta walks over.
"Yes?"
"That's not the author." I whisper.
"What do you mean?" Peeta's eyebrows furrow. I show him the label on the can. The author looks exactly like the guy on the can. "You mean… that's the shapeshifter?" I nod. "And… I gave him my journal, and now the shapeshifter can turn into every creature in that book."
"Yep." We look up to find the shapeshifter greedly flipping through the journal. Okay, we need a plan. "Grab the journal on my que." I whisper.
"What que?" Peeta asks before I lunge toward the shapeshifter. I wrestle it until the journal flies out of it's grip. I start running as soon as Peeta grabs it. When I run past Peeta, I grab his arm and drag him along until he starts running at my pace. That is until the shapeshifter throws itself at Peeta, knocking him down. I turn to find the shapeshifter on top of Peeta trying to grab the journal.
"You leave him alone!" I shout searching for something I can use to stop the shapeshifter. I finally find a valve and start turning it. Water rushes out of a pipe and sweeps all of us along with us. I hope Peeta can swim. I look for Peeta. I find him floating and holding the journal above his head so it doesn't get wet. Then I hit my head and everything goes dark.
(Peeta's POV)
When the water washes us onto a dry patch I start laughing. That was genius of Katniss. Hopefully it killed the shapeshifter or at least swept it far enough away so we don't run into it while trying to find the way out. I even kept the journal safe from the water by holding it over my head.
I look around and find Katniss lying on the ground nearby. My heart drops. I run to her. "Katniss." I try to wake her up. When that doesn't work, I start to panic. I check her pulse but find nothing. I try to think back to the CPR class my dad made me take last year. How many chest compressions are you supposed to do? No wonder I never got my certification. But I can't just sit here and do nothing. So I start the chest compressions. Come on! I don't know what I'm going to do if she dies. It will be all my fault too. I'm the one who asked her to come along on this crazy adventure. I'm the one who decided to find another way out instead of telling her how I felt about her. I try to resuscitate her until I'm exhausted. I wipe at the tears streaming down my face. She's dead.
"This is all my fault!"I cry. "If I had told you when we were in the closet we wouldn't be in this mess… But I was too scared and… and now you're…" I can't finish that sentence. "And I never got to tell you I'm like, in love with you Katniss."
"Umm… Peeta?" I hear Katniss' voice. But Katniss didn't say that. She still lays unconscious on the ground. Am I hearing things? I turn to find Katniss standing there awkwardly. She scratches her arm.
"Katniss?" I blink rapidly. "But then who is-"
"Look out!" She shouts right before I'm tackled by Katniss, who must be the shapeshifter. It pretended it was dead so it could ponce and take my journal, but Katniss blew its cover. This is so confusing. Katniss lunges at the shapeshifter still disguised as Katniss and I watch the two Katniss's fight. Then I look down and find her bow and arrows on the ground a few feet away. I'm no good at archery, but maybe I can use one of her arrows to stab the shapeshifter. Okay. I grab an arrow and watch the fight… There's a huge problem though. I don't don't know which one is Katniss. They are both holding onto the journal and pulling at it like it's a game of tug o war.
"Whoever is the real Katniss…" I start. "Give me a sign." One Katniss winks at me while the other pretends to zip her lips, and I'm brought back the night we snuck into the abandoned Dusk til Dawn grocery store, the night Katniss promised not to tell her friends about the stupid dance I had to do to save everybody from the ghosts haunting the store. I'm sure I've found the right Katniss. So without further hesitation I stab the shapeshifter with the arrow. It screeches and switches between a bunch of different forms, dropping the journal. Katniss moves away from it. The shapeshifter pulls the arrow out but it's going to die. Nothing could survive a wound like that… I hope. The shapeshifter drops to the ground. I smile weakly at Katniss and we start to walk away. The shapeshifter starts laughing and we stop.
"You think you're so clever, don't you Peeta?" It asks. "But you have not idea what you're up against. You'll never find the author. And if you keep meddling in the paranormal activity in this town, you'll meet a fate worse than you could imagine. And this will be the last from you ever take." The shapeshifter transforms into me, only I look like an adult. Then the shapeshifter dies. I blink. I'm going to die at such a young age.
"The shapeshifter can't be telling the truth." Katniss says. "You're going to be alright."
"But… that's me."
"Don't worry about it too much." Katniss grabs my hand.
"But… Why did it change to an adult version of me?" I ask. "Why didn't it just turn into me now?"
"Because it wanted to get this reaction from you." She wraps her arms around me. "Peeta, you're going to be alright… I won't let that happen."
She guides me back to the metal closet and Delly lets us out once I tell her that Katniss knows what I was going to tell her. We leave thelab and Katniss asks Delly to give us a minute. So Delly goes back to the Mystery Shack. I think I know what this is about.
I sit down on a log. "Look, Katniss, about earlier…"I say. "In the heat of the moment… I might have said some dumb things, and… Can't we just pretend none of that ever happened?... Please."
"Hey, hey," says Katniss. "It's okay. I always kind of knew."
"Wait," I say. "You did?"
"Yeah, I mean, did you really think I was that oblivious?" She asks. I look down at my hands. "Listen, Peeta." Here comes the part I was afraid of. This is the part where she ends our friendship. "I'm like super flattered. But I'm too old for you… I mean, you know that, right?"
I sigh. "Delly said telling you would make me feel better."
"Well, how do you feel?"
"Anxious, scared," I say. "Kind of itchy."
"Dude," She laughs. "Don't be itchy. This summer was boring until you showed up. I have more fun with you than, like, practically anyone else. And if you ever stop being my friend I would throw myself into the bottomless pit." Does she really mean all this? "So things won't be awkward now? I just wrestled myself. That was awkward. If you can handle that monster, you can handle a little awkwardness. Right."
"Friends?" I ask.
"Yeah, friends." She smiles. "Oh, and Peeta. See you for movie night tomorrow. Your place this time, okay?"
"Okay."
Then she starts walking home and I'm left all alone. How can everything be so amazing and so terrible at the same time?
(Katniss' POV)
Peeta admitted his feelings for me! I'm glad he got it off his chest. Hopefully things can go back to normal now. It can't happen. A fifteen year old can't' date a twelve year old. It's just wrong. Even if it feels right… I like Peeta too. There, I admitted it to myself. Although, I can never tell Peeta. It's still wrong, even if we both really like each other.
I'm scared for Peeta. I'm worried that what the shapeshifter said might be true. That Peeta's going to die in his early twenties. At least, that's how old he looked. I promised Peeta I wouldn't let that happen, but can I really keep that promise? I'm going to try. I'd risk my life to save Peeta. I've done it before, and I'll do it again because Peeta is worth dying for.
Hey, guys sorry it took a while to update this story. I'm going to update a lot in the next two weeks. Tell me what you think of this chapter in the reviews. I always liked this episode of Gravity Falls so it was very fun to write.