Well here is the second to last chapter. There is more to sum everything up and explain and yada yada yada. You get it? Good. So on with the show.
Disclaimer: I almost forgot I don't own anything. Do I have to keep saying it?
Have you ever felt as though your heart has been ripped open and stomped on the ground, or suffer as if thousands of needles pricked every part of your body going in at least an inch deep? If you haven't, consider yourself lucky. If you have, times that pain by a hundred and you still wouldn't have as much pain as I did when I saw that I had killed Rue. Even mutation form of her death hurt me.
My tears stop flowing. I still ache with sadness. I try and rationalize that I didn't kill Rue, the boy from District 1 did. She was already dead. The mutt wasn't her, it just had her eyes. But every time I thought about that, it sent chills down my spine so I push the disturbing idea far away from me as it would go.
"We should keep moving," I say trying hard to keep my voice from shaking. Gwen nods at me and so we keep walking. I lead since I know this place more than anyone, even more than Peeta because he was lying on a stream bank and probably unconscious too.
No one questions my leadership. But I do. I don't know where to take them. I don't know where I'm going. All I know is… I just want to get away.
We walk and walk. My feet lead me and the others follow. I recognize landmarks but nothing jumps out at me until we reach the cave. The cave where I had kissed Peeta repeatedly. I look back at Gale waiting for his reaction, but his face is stony. I bite my bottom lip and shuffle to the cave, aware of three sets of eyes on me. It makes me uncomfortable but I keep going.
I reach the cave and enter it. It was remarkably unchanged since I was last here. The Capital probably hadn't touched it yet, not for awhile at least. I breathe in deeply and images of a wounded Peeta fill my mind. I relive every emotion, every detail of every little thing I saw in the arena. My body feels like it's on fire, burning with pain and fear.
Stop it, I mentally shout at myself. What was wrong with me? I knew I couldn't run my past, even as far away as the woods.
Something begins to be perceived by me. I ran away from District 12 trying to get away from the games, not to protect my family. But no matter where I go the Hunger Games will follow. They are a part of me and, as much as want to, I couldn't get rid of them.
I exit the cave feeling exhausted from everything in the past couple of days. Gwen looks at my sympathetically and Gale's face was solemn. I share a look with Peeta and he looks pained. I know what the Hunger Games did to him. No matter what part of him would be in my future, I know that he will be in it no matter what. The Hunger Games will keep us tied together even if it tried to pull us apart. I can't live without Peeta no more than I could live without Gale. I attempt to stop thinking for it is making me hurt worse.
Gwen pipes up first. "Now what?" her normal comforting voice is now hollow and it makes me nervous when I don't recognize it.
Gale shrugs. "We can't get out. We're trapped," he says simply. "I'm sorry you guys, but this is it. We lost."
"We can still survive," Peeta says trying hard to sound optimistic. "I mean, Katniss and I survived here and that was with everyone and everything out to get us."
Of course my pessimistic ways has brings everyone down. "Why bother?" I ask. "Why would anybody want to live in this stupid arena?" All of their eyes train on me, so I look at my feet, shuffling them around in place.
I feel Gale's eyes narrow at me. "You rather give up and die then live here?" his voice is cold. I know he is really asking why I killed tributes in the arena if I didn't want live.
I reluctantly pull my eyes up to his. "Yes," I say quietly. I'm proud and impressed that my voice was strong. I could tell Gale's angry. He stood their fuming, until peace-saving Peeta comes along.
"Don't even start," Peeta warns us, "Katniss, Gale has a point; you don't want to be dead. And Gale, Katniss has been through enough. So just drop it right here!" I glare at Peeta though secretly I am thanking him in my twisted mind.
What is wrong with me? I never ever fought with Gale, especially over something so… so… I can't even think of the word. Pointless? That worked. I am changing or is Gale? What can't I talk to him like before? Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why did the Hunger Games have to be in my life?
I curse at them in my mind, but this does as much as cursing the wind. Which does nothing. Trust me, I've tried.
Then a booming sound echoes around the arena, scaring me. I jump high in the air and so does Gwen.
A voice comes on to a loud speaker. I recognize it as Seneca Crane, the Head Gamemaker. "Greeting rebels of the 74 ½ Hunger Games. You've proved you can survive infernos, mutations, and extraordinary amounts of pain." You got that right, I think annoyed. "So we have made a tough decision, but I think you four will be the most joyous with it. You see, people are wondering where you went. And the good inhabitants of the Capital are growing restless without the latest news on the star-crossed lovers. So we're letting you live. Isn't that just peachy?" I raise my eyebrows at his choice of words.
Gwen breaks out in a smile over the news. But Seneca Crane isn't finished yet. "Whoa, hold it right there Gwendolyn." She frowns when she hears her name. "The thing is, we are not going to let you get off that easily. Why would we want you running around with news of what the Capital did to you? And of course there can be no possible future for Katniss and Gale. Oh, you will love what we have in store for you."
That was it. We are left with silence. I exchange a look with Gale. Our bickering is pointless and stupid and immature. The main problem is that I can never have a future with Gale no matter what. Even if I planned never to get married, I still wouldn't even have the option.
No, the main problem at the moment is we have no idea what he is talking about. Then we hear it. Guns go off. The four of us dive to the ground. I end up near Gale and he puts an arm around me as if trying to protect me from the bullets. I hear them whiz past my head, somewhere over top of us. Gwen plugs her ears with her hands.
I don't cover my ears because I hate not being able to hear and by the sound of them I can tell they are not bullets. I glance to where one had nailed itself into a tree. They were…
"Needles!" I gasp to Gale. He looks toward the tree and nods. Gale then starts to rise from the ground. I try to yank him back to the ground when I finally figure out that we weren't being fired at anymore.
I stand up. Peeta and Gwen had already risen, making me feel like a fool.
I see nothing until a man steps out the bushes, holding a gun, but not aimed at us. Similar people step out dressed the same and all carrying a gun. They come around us in a circle surrounding us, guns all pointing at us except for the first man.
He has black hair, and is tall and muscular. He wore an expression of amusement. "Look what we got here," he says with a half smile. His voice wasn't deep like I supposed, but sort of like Gales' and Peeta's.
"A couple of lost travelers?" he jokes, laughing to himself. No one else laughs. "Yes right. We were hired by the Capital to inject you with some sort of Capital-lab medicine that will make you forget everything that happened since you got off that train. It'll add events that didn't happen so you don't remember that you were injected in the first place. It might have some bad side effects such a sore throat and dizziness. But other than that you shall be just fine. Oh and you might be a little forgetful. But why am I telling you this? You won't remember anyways," he gives a sympathetic smile, before continuing. "Right then, go ahead."
He raises his gun to us. Then there is open fire. The first one hits Gwen. She screams before collapsing on the ground. Peeta goes down the same way, his face full of pain.
Then one hits me. I sink to my knees, pleading to myself not to black out. But the pain is excruciating. The last thing I see is horrified expression on Gale's face and then a look of outrage. Then nothing at all.
One more chapter. How about we take 20 seconds to review? Come on people would it kill you to review? It would be great!
