Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games. Suzanne Collin and her publishers do.
A/n: Thank you guys so much! I love the support from each one of you! It means so much to me! So here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!
I'm sitting in the meadow of District 12. The flowers are in full bloom. I'm close to the fence but I have no desire to even go under it. The warm breeze blows my hair into my face, I'm wearing it down. I smile, running my hand through my hair. I like the feeling of the silky strands between my fingers. I lie back on the green grass and stair up at the sky. I close my eyes and lose myself in the beauty of it all. I can feel the presence of someone near me but I don't feel alarmed. I feel the gentle touch of small fingers touch my cheek and I smile.
"Mommy." A tiny voice whispers. I don't open my eyes just yet. I hear the smallest grunt and a flop to the ground next to me. I chuckle but quietly as not to alarm my intruder. I open on eye, the eye closest to the little girl sitting next to me. She has her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting on them as her little face crumples up in thought. Her dark curls fall just below her shoulders and is braided down her back. Suddenly her eyes widen and I hear her squeal in delight. I quickly shut my eye so she doesn't suspect I've been watching her. I hear the grass rustles as she moves. Then she starts to sing to me.
"Deep in the meadow, under the willow" her tiny voice sings out in a clear beautiful sound. Her hands pull through my hair and I can't help but open my eyes.
"What are you doing, Dahlia?" I ask her. She smiles brightly.
"I'm singing you awake, mommy!" she says.
"That's sweet, but that's a lullabye, To make you go to sleep."
"Nuh uh! It's an awake song. Cause when you sings it to me I want to stay awake and listen all night long." She says, proudly. This is definitely my daughter. She stars down at me and I see her father's eyes look into mine. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I sit up and pull her into my lap but she is careful to sit in. I glance down and see the cause as to why she's cautious.
"Daddy says I has to be careful when I sit in your lap cause of my brother." She says and places a tiny hand on my bulging stomach.
"Katniss!" someone yells and I'm shook until I open my eyes. I'm awake too quickly and I grab my knife and barely register that it's Peeta. He lifts his hands in surrender and I drop the knife.
"I'm sorry! But we need to move." He says, picking up the knife and slipping it into his belt.
"It's okay. I was just having a really good dream." I tell him. He smiles and kisses me.
"What about?" he asks. I take his hand and place it on my stomach.
"Her." I tell him. He grins and I look out to the beach. Everyone is gathered and watching as a parachute falls to the ground. Peeta pulls me to my feet and we join the rest of the group. We've received more bread, identical to what we were given the night before. I'm grateful for it because I'm ravenous. I quickly eat my share and want more. I stare at the 8 remaining rolls and my mouth waters but I don't ask for more. We need to ration the food as much as we can. 8 rolls will divide perfectly after the next person dies. No one says a word but I know we're all thinking it. I realize that in order for either of us to make it out alive we need to get out of this alliance. It's only a matter of time until I get Johanna's axe to my skull. We gather our weapons and head to a safer part of the beach to avoid a gamemaker attack. Once settled I pull Peeta to the water.
"Come on, I'm going to teach you to swim." I tell him. He doesn't argue. He gets into the water and I join him. I don't bother taking of his belt to teach him since I'm not actually going to teach him anything. But I show him a few tricks because I see Joahanna watching us. She quickly loses interest and goes to nap. The others are too busy with other things to notice us. I look down at my itching arms and notice they are peeling. I pick up a handful of sand and rub it over my skin the scabs practically fall off. I show Peeta what I've discovered and help him to rid his own body of the hideous wounds.
"Listen, we need to make a break for it. It's down to 8 and we have a better chance on our own." I tell him. He nods.
"Let's stay until the last two careers are gone. I think Beetee is coming up with a trap for them or something." He says. I groan but he's right. If we leave now we have two sets of people after us.
"Fine." I tell him and then yell to the beach.
"Hey Finnick, I know how to make you pretty!" I say. H practically runs to the water and I show him how to get the scabs off. The three of us scrub ourselves until we are tinged red but we have baby smooth skin. We go back to the camp and Beetee fills us in on his plan. Finnick wakes Johanna before she can have a fit about missing something.
"Okay, we are on the beach, which I think is the safest place to be in this arena." Beetee begins. He tells us that Brutus and Enobaria aren't here because we are. Makes sense I guess. They are probably just on the edge of the jungles waiting for the prime opportunity to attack us. I apparently say this out loud.
"Exactly, Katniss." Beetee says. I look up, confused.
"Huh?"
" You are right. They'd be hiding along the edge of the jungle." He says.
"Oh."
"So here's the plan. We plan a 12 o'clock strike at the lightning tree." He says. He fills us in on how he plans to draw the electricity from the tree down to the beach and into the water using the wire, electrocuting anything in it's way.
"How do you know it will work?" Johanna asks.
"I invented it. But the current must pass through it. It won't create it on its own. We'll be far enough into the jungle when it strikes to be safe. But we will eliminate the seafood as a food source. But Katniss has found other edible things in the jungle, right?" he says.
"Yes. We also have sponsors." I remind them
"Good. But we must work as a team so it's up to you four." He says .
"I don't see why not. If it works, they're dead if not, no harm done." I say with a shrug. Peeta laces his fingers with mine.
"I agree." He says. Finnick looks to Johanna, of course he won't' go if she doesn't.
"Fine. It's better than actually finding them." She says.
We leave the camp to inspect the tree and my need for food begins to weaken me. I stop us and look at them.
"I'm sorry. I need to eat." I'm embarrassed. I'm so used to being hungry but this is something more.
"Don't apologize, Katniss. You are pregnant, you need to eat." Peeta says. I still don't like it.
I go hunt for a nice dinner while the others inspect the tree. The tree rats aren't alarmed by me and I easily take down three of them. I gather a few bunches of nuts and avoid the berries I see hanging from a tree nearby, although my mouth waters at the sight of them. I could really use something sweet. I go back to the others just as Beetee digs a knife into the tree. It flashes blue and he backs away.
"Just as I thought." He says. I look to Peeta and he just shrugs. I hand the rats to Finnick to clean because the last time it made me sick. I sit down and shell a nut and pop it into my mouth. It does nothing but tease my hunger but I know that it's just not me that craves the food. I hand the spile off to Johanna and she taps a tree while Peeta tosses the nuts at the force field. Finnick finishes cleaning the rats and cubes them. He stakes each of them on a stick and fries them on the field. The smell hits me instantly and I'm lunging at the meat. I sink my teeth into a piece, the juices running down my chin and I actually moan.
"Katniss?" Peeta asks, looking at me. I look up at him and I turn beat red.
"I'm sorry! I can't help it." I tell him.
"Dude, it's the kid. I've seen worse, trust me." Finnick tell him, slapping him across the back. He just laughs and we sit in silence for the rest of the meal. Night begins to fall and we head back to the beach for the evening.
Once there, Finnick dives for oysters and fishes before we fry the food source. We sit around the waters edge, Beetee playing with the wire and shell the oysters. A parachute falls to the ground with another 24 rolls from Beetee's district. With the remaining eight we have 32 rolls. We take 5 leaving seven, enough for only one.
"Hey look!" Peeta says and pulls out a perfect pear from an oysterl, no bigger than a pea from the shell. He takes my hand and places it in my palm.
"For you." He says and closes my fingers around it and turns my hand over to kiss it. The pearl is smooth and cool against my skin. I kiss him softly before eating an oyster. Even though wou've not done anything today, I'm exhausted. I excuse myself and go to the hut to sleep.
The next morning I'm shaken awake. Everyone is ready to move. Apparently it's after noon.
"Why didn't anyone wake for me a watch?" I ask.
"You needed to rest. We took care of it." Peeta tells me. I don't know why but this makes me angry.
"I'm not helpless, Peeta! God! You all treat me like a piece of glass that's ready to shatter! I'm still me!" I tell them. I grab my bow and sheath and sling them over my shoulder and stomp off toward the lightning tree. No one follows me. I turn around.
"Are you guys coming or not?" I say. They all mumble something but they follow. Once we reach the tree, Beetee carefull lays out the wire around the base of the trunk and down to the ground. This takes most of the day and the moon has come out to haunt us.
"Katniss, Johanna, run the wire down to the beach and drop it into the water." Beetee says, handing the cylinder to Johanna.
"Why don't I go with her instead?" Peeta says.
"No, we run faster and we don't have time." I tell him. I'm still angry at him but I'll get over it.
Johanna takes the first lead with the wire. We run but carefully so she can un-coil the wire. I stay ahead of her, bow loaded, ready for attack. After a few hundred feet I take a turn at the wire. It's harder than it looks. We reach the beach and suddenly the line slags and coils at my feet. Something's not right. I don't have time to register before Johanna takes the cylinder from my hands and hits me over the head. I fall to the ground, stars flutter before my eyes. I can't see anything but I feel the sharp blade of my knife cut into my forearm. I knew she was just trying to get me alone to finish me off. I sit up but she pushes me back down to the ground.
"Stay down, will you!" she says and I hear footsteps.
"Come on. She's good as dead!" Johanna says. I open my eyes and see Brutus and Enobaria follow her from the beach. She's been with them all along. I press my hand to my head but feel no blood, just a giant knot. The blood however gushes from the cut in my arm. I sit up, woozy from the blood loss but find my bearings. I somehow manage to stand up and run. I have to get to Peeta and the others. I lift my arm to check my wound and I'm splatter in the face with my own blood. I find some moss and wrap it around my arm but it's already soaked. I don't have time to find more. I run as fast as I can, the jungle tilting like a boat on the sea. I panic as I hear footsteps come down the slope from the tree. I duck behind a bunch of vines and see Finnick rush by me.
"Johanna! Katniss!" yells. I don't move until I see him head for the direction Johanna led the careers. I move out, trying to run again, my head throbs with every step. The moss is completely soaked and I can feel my blood pool in my hand and fall to the ground. The boom of a cannon makes me halt.
"Peeta!" I scream. It can't be him! I can't lose him! I run faster but fall to the ground, tangled in something. It's a net! It must be one of Finnick's net to trap me and he's waiting with that trident. I grip the thin web, trying to free myself and I catch a look of it shimmering I the moonlight. It's not a net after all but Beetee's wire. I stand up and it falls to my feet in curls. I follow it to the base of the trunk of the lightning tree, careful not to touch it. It's close to midnight and when the tree is struck the wire become deadly.
"Peeta?" I whisper but nothing responds. I whisper again and a moan comes from someone lying a few yards from me. It's Beetee. He's unconscious but I try to get answers from him. He doesn't respond. I shake him violently, tears falling, begging him to tell me where Peeta has gone. He raises his hand to me and he's holding a knife wrapped in the wire. I see that the knife swings from wire that hangs around branch of the tree, that is only a foot maybe two from the force field. I gasp. Did he try to put the knife into it?
I remember when I shot the arrow up into the sky I caught a glimpse of the real world just outside of the arena. Is that what he was trying to do? The blood loss is growing and I place my hand over my stomach. I'm killing her. I just know it.
"Katniss!" I hear Peeta yell. He must have figure out something has happened. I can't protect him if they come. So I draw them to me. Anyone within the area will be killed instantly when that lightning hits.
"Peeta! I'm here!" I yell. I know that with his leg, he won't make it before the lightning strikes. I suddenly hear two sets of footprints coming toward me. It's Finnick and Enobaria. It worked. They can't see me because of the ointment. I load my bow and zero in on Enobaria. Another cannon fires and Peeta screams for me. Finnick and Enobaria are good as gone. I spring back and count in my head at the people left, my enemies. I catch on the word and stop. Enemy? These people are not my enemy. They are products of the games. They are made to be my enemy. I drop the bow and realize that Enobaria is not my enemy. It's Snow. I grab Beetee's wire, wrapping it around my arrow and reload. I turn to the force field and aim for the wavering square. I release it and the wire flies behind the arrow just as the lighting hits the tree. I'm thrown backwards but I see my arrow hit the field and pieces begin to falls from the sky in fiery sheets. I can't move. The only though I have is my baby.
"I'm sorry." I whisper as I see a star shine in the real sky above me. I stare blankly above me as the hovercraft appears and plucks me from the ground. Johanna was right; I'm good as dead.
