Chapter Twenty One
The warmth of the sunrise is always an inviting thing, especially when you know that the winter months are almost over. Walking over to the buck, you can hear the crunching sound of the sound underneath our feet, both of us obviously not making the effort to be quiet; I think he might be just as tired as I was.
"So is it over," he asks.
"Don't know," I say. "We did get to meet the leader of the group. Turns out it was Snow's grand daughter."
He stops walking; probably he is as shocked as we were.
"Snow, as in President Snow?" he says in disbelief.
"Yes," I say.
"And she is…," he says.
"Last we saw she blew herself up, not wanting to get caught," I say.
The buck is heavy and finally after a couple of minutes Liam finally shows up to help. He is happy to see me, and cannot wait to get back to District Twelve.
"There is only one thing that I miss," Liam says.
We both look at him and shake our heads. It is the most obvious thing but it is funny seeing it from the other side.
"Come on, loverboy," I say rustling his hair. "Let's get back."
Walking out in the open, I want to make sure that Katniss sees us from the scope of the rifle. More than likely she has already spotted us. The scope gives a reflection and I know that it is on purpose to confirm that she sees us. Once we are within visibility, I see her already out there on the street.
"Went hunting," I say. "And found these two."
"Hey Catnip," Gale says to her. "Something different about you though."
Could it be that Katniss is already showing and that people would be able to tell? Her face goes from the smile that she had, to one of no emotion. Her eyes quickly connect with mines and I know that she must be nervous about people finding out.
"Nope," he says. "The thing that was different just left. You know smiling does help you look at least a little bit more pleasant."
"See, that is what I had already told her," we hear from Haymitch who has obviously walked out with her.
Katniss shoots Gale a look and I know that her thoughts of her pregnancy have been vanished by Gale's comment.
"Well actually, the smile," she says. "Comes from us finding someone."
She turns around and calls out her mother. As she steps into the street, finally I feel the weight of the buck. Looking to the side I see Gale had already let go of the buck and is making his way over to her mother.
Haymitch comes over and helps us bring over the buck to the house where we are currently staying.
Looking back I see that Gale is talking with her mother. Katniss walks alongside me, and just smiles. There is a little hop to her step. Well at least that is how I see it, if I were to ever bring it up to her, she would deny it. Those are the moments when we are alone.
After we had eaten breakfast the main question on everyone's mind.
"Where you able to make contact with the Capitol," says Katniss.
"Handheld radios that we were issued do not have that capacity," he responds.
"Well what about the one on the hovercraft?" I ask.
"That was my plan for tomorrow," he says.
"Risky," says Haymitch. "They might be waiting for us there. Who knows how many more of the enemy are out there."
"I think we can start to move back thought," continue Haymitch. "You up for a walk?"
We all make the plan to start to head back to our crash site. It is a more of dangerous plan, as we could be walking into an ambush.
We start the trek back to the crash site. Gale and Liam take point as they have been trying to plot a safe course back to the crash site since we left for the edge. Katniss's mother and Haymitch are in the middle with Haymitch covering her. Katniss follows behind and finally I cover the rear.
The day is beginning the same way as any other day, but this time as we move it is almost like we have a purpose. This time it isn't about being a hero sacrificing yourself for the others. This time it is about the simple fact that we all make it back home. Even the forest is beginning to come alive with movement. I think in the distance we hear a bird singing. I think it is a bird, although with the fact that Katniss is next to me, there is really no way to know.
The trees have this slick look to it. My hand rubs onto on the trunks of the trees and rubbing my fingers between each other. Did it rain, I wonder, or is it the fact that the ice is melting and finally soon it will be spring. We make it to the edge of the woods between the housing developments. In its better years it could have been a park.
It is where I see it. In the distance, I see it, hidden by the trees and by the high grass, looks almost like it has been eaten up by a past life. The swing set, looks almost rusted through. We didn't walk through here on the way out. It seems that Gale is taking us through the route that he went through that night
Katniss without even noticing it, extends her hand and touches the chain of the swings. Looking back at it wiggle through the air, she sees me and smiles. It reminds me of those times that we would spend in the school swing set. It was silly I know, but every time we would go there she would always ask me to push her on the swings.
"You never did back when we were in school," she says.
"Well I always wanted to," I say.
"Then why didn't you?" she says. "Was I really that intimidating?"
I stop the swinging and she just looks at me.
"No, I mean you would never believe this but," I say. "You were just that beautiful. I mean who would have thought that you would ever look at me the way that I looked at you."
She looks back towards the school.
"Your right," she says laughing. "I don't believe you."
The way she looks at me now as we walk through the ancient play ground, I know that she is thinking of the times that we spent there. Probably she is thinking of the times that we will have with our little girl on the swing set back home. It just seems so close right now. District Twelve looks like the trees, so close that you can just lift your hands up and touch it.
Passing through the playground it is almost a sad moment. The trees begin to die out and instead of hiding us in the canopy, now expose us. The sadness hit me, because all I can see is the same street that we were on. I can still see the bullet holes in the homes. It is the same ghost town that we were first in. The cars haven't moved, the grass grows uncontrollably but weird that it doesn't grow too high. There is this uneasy feeling that races through the pit of my stomach. Almost like a prey being lured into a false sense of security. It is what we would do when we are hunting, this development feels too safe, it fees too easy.
Finally the sun is beginning to set which causes the houses to be extract lit up.
"We have to take cover," says Haymitch. "I suggest we do not pick the two story house at the end of the block."
We all smile although we do not find it any funnier. and we decide to settle in on one of the houses.
"Liam," I say. "Cover the home with Katniss, Gale and I will go ahead in and do some recon of the crash site."
Katniss turns around and places her pack on the ground. The way her face looks and I know that something is up. In fact I look to Haymitch and he also thinks that something is up. Most of the time whenever people walk away from the group then it is to talk privately. Katniss knows that we can tolerate each other, Gale and I, but to go out and scout anything would be a leap without her.
"Peeta," Katniss begins to protest.
"We are just going to see, doing a little scouting," I say. "I will not be long, just go and come back. I would go by myself but I know that you would want to cover me. I promise no hero stuff, just want to make sure that tomorrow we can approach it with no issues."
I turn to Gale and he just looks at me trying to find the words. Trying to understand what I am trying to say. He finally makes a small gesture and says.
"Yeah, don't worry Catnip," Gale says. "I will make sure to look out for him."
She grabs my hand almost like she wants me to tell her, stop me, I don't know. I merely grab it, look straight in her eyes, and kiss her hand. She turns away starting to walk back towards the house. Halfway up she turns back and looks at me, with her eyes of worry. I don't want to worry her if what I am thinking is unfounded. The only one that can tell me if it true is him, he could tell me that I am crazy, that I am over thinking it.
I turn around and see that Gale is already walking towards the crash site. Once we are in the woods, he stops and turns to me. Obviously he is not prepared to go anywhere near the crash site until we get this out in the open.
"So we are far enough," he says. "Don't think anyone followed us. Want to tell me why you lied to all of them?"
I turn around and look at him.
"There are things that are not adding up," I say. "Didn't you find it a little easier coming back? I mean where is everyone, didn't you notice that no one, no gun fire, nothing?"
He steps back and looks around almost as if he hadn't really noticed.
"Look, I don't know what is going on, I am just as suspicious as you are," he says.
"It feels like a trap, almost like they are waiting for us to do something," I say. "I didn't want to say anything to anyone because it may be that I am just paranoid. I have never trusted any government; the only people I trust are the ones who are here right now."
This has implications. I do trust him. He was after all the one who gave me the nightlock pill, when no one would. No one else would even consider me giving up my life, even though everyone knew that I was a liability, that I would endanger them all.
"If you want we can go and check out the crash site and see."
I stick out my hand.
"After you," I say.
We continue walking into the woods. This time though the moon lights up the trees. There is no noise, nothing. The uneasy feeling continue to choke at my throat. If we are being watched, or if they are waiting for us there would be at least some evidence of that. No one is this good, not even Katniss. There we slowly make our way around the trees, looking for wires of any kind. In the distance he signals to stop. We both put on the goggles and look for any heat signatures, but find none.
"Should we try?" I suggest making a movement towards the hovercraft.
"Too dangerous," he says looking around. "I promised her I get you back in one piece, and I intend to keep it."
He turns around and we walk back towards the house. All the while I keep on thinking, that it is too easy. I don't know why but it all seems like it was harder trying to find the base that it was escaping.
Once I see the house, we walk towards it flicking on and off the flashlight twice in order to not get shot. We walk through the door and see that everyone is already getting ready to sleep. Seems like Liam would be taking first watch. Haymitch is already passed out, and probably will be up in a couple of hours to take a shift. With the amount of people that we now have, the shifts would probably be only two hours or so, so we will all be nicely rested tomorrow.
Walking over to Katniss I see that she is sitting there waiting for me to come back. She looks at me and stands up.
"Follow me," she says walking to another room. It seems that Katniss has something to tell me or at least ask me. Once inside she half closes the door.
"Katniss about before," I start.
"What was that about?" she interrupts.
"Katniss, I don't know, it may be nothing, but I am getting that same feeling, like something is off, like we are walking into a trap or something," I say. "I am sure you feel it, please tell me that you do."
She looks at me, a little unsure. Could it be that I am just imagining it? That it could be that for the first time in a long time, we were just lucky that no one was chasing us, even though the exit door that we never locked.
"I believe you," she tells me.