Chapter 35

Katniss

She flew to the corner where Mr. Mellark was buried, her ears still buzzing and her gait uneven. Forgetting her injuries, she pushed over piles of bricks and concrete to get to him. Her knees dug into the rocks and rubble covering the floor as she skidded to his side and fell to the floor. He was alive!

Almost as soon as it appeared, her hope began to fade as she got an up close look at just how buried Peeta's father was –up to his collar bone with only his boots sticking out. Her left arm began to burn at the thought of having to dig him out. How was she ever going to save him when she could barely move herself?

This is Peeta's father. His only family he has left. You have to Katniss. This isn't the toughest thing you've ever had to do.

She looked up at his hopeful blue eyes that were clouded with pain. He let out a raspy breath that she could barely hear before giving her a weak smile.

He looked so much like Peeta is made her heart thrum.

"You're alive," she said with a breath of relief. Her voice sounded muffled and funny against the buzzing, but she could at least hear him speak.

"Barely," he groaned. She watched him wince and try to move under the large pieces of concrete and bricks. His eyes moved over to the blown-out windows. "You need to get out of there."

"What? No," she shook her head. "I have to get you out."

She took her gloved hands and began carefully picking away at the shatter glass and bits of the bakery wall that had pinned him down. He was pretty buried – it would take a lot to uncover him.

"Katniss, you're injured," he said firmly, his serious eyes resting on the gash in her forehead.

She shrugged it off and kept digging. "I'm fine."

"What happened?"

Her hands stilled as she moved pieces of debris from the pile that rested on top of his body. "I…there was another bomb. It hadn't gone off yet. I thought they were over and done with, but when I ran past it…it went off. I can't really hear," she admitted, raising her hand to her left ear. The high pitched noise still echoed in her eardrums, the buzzing making her feel slightly dizzy. She'd forgotten about the severity of her injuries in her hunt to find survivors in the Mellark Bakery.

"I'll be fine."

"Your head…"

"Listen, I'm going to be okay. We just have to dig you out. Can you feel your fingers and toes? And move them?"

His gaze grew somber. "I know this is the end of the road for me."

"No," she said firmly. "Don't say that; just stop. Peeta is back in the Seam waiting for you. You have to stay with me – he'll die if I don't bring you home."

"Peeta will be just fine," he insisted. "He has you to take care of him now."

Katniss continued lifting chunks of rubble off his body as the cold settled over her bones once again. The sheer size of some of the rocks resting on top of Peeta's father looks so heavy it made her heart clench. Then again, the thought of leaving poor, sweet Mr. Mellark alive and alone in the bakery to die didn't make her feel much better either.

"I'm not enough," she finally said. "Peeta needs you. I'm not enough for him….especially not after what I did to come here to you."

He raised his eyebrows in question. She stared at him in the dim light, swallowing the lump in her throat. "He didn't want me to go."

"With good reason. How did you convince him to stay?"

"Sleep syrup. It was the only way he'd let me go," she said, tossing another rock off of him.

"He'll forgive you."

She sniffed suddenly, biting back the hot tears that threatened to fall. He sounded so sure that Peeta would forgive her. "No, I….you didn't see the look in his eyes before he….no, he won't forgive me. Not by a long shot," she finally said.

"Peeta is forgiving," he said with a labored breath. "He'll come around if you go home to him."

"I can't. Not without you," she insisted. Grabbing a splintered piece of wood, she kept it by her side to act as a lever. She dug through the rocks and debris, tossing as many to the side as she could.

He looked up at her in the dim light. "The others? Are the others out front?"

Katniss didn't reply, only giving him a curt nod. The images of Peeta's mother and siblings in their mangled states did little to settle her already churning stomach.

"Are they….alive?"

She looked at the poor baker with tears in her eyes. She couldn't find it in herself to shake her head 'no' or even utter the word. He understood from the fat tears that escaped and rolled down her cheeks. He nodded in understanding, his eyes losing some hope.

"Katniss…"

She kept digging.

"Katniss," he said, more firmly this time. "You need to get out of there. Who knows if they'll be back?"

"I can't," she said tearfully, sitting back on her heels. "I can't leave you here to die. I have to bring you home to Peeta."

He coughed slightly, wincing from the weight of the rocks. "I'm in bad shape. No telling what you're going to find under these rocks."

Katniss shook her head as she pictured going back go her house in the Seam empty handed. Telling Peeta that his father had been alive but that she'd had to leave him to die. No, she decided. There was no way she was going to do that.

"No," she stated, her eyes flicking up to meet his. She shook her head firmly and kept digging. She was to the bigger pieces now – these would be no easy feat. Her arm was already stinging wildly and starting to bleed again and her head was now throbbing she realized. What was she going to do? It was still dark; the sun would be rising soon. If Peeta's father was going to move as slow as she thought he was, she would need the cover of darkness to get him back to the Seam. Judging from what she'd seen in the center of town, the Peacekeepers were in no mood to deal with people. If they saw her dragging a merchant man back to the Seam they would surely ask questions.

Questions she didn't have answers to.

"Katniss…"

She looked up.

"You need to leave me and get home," he repeated. "Get somewhere safe before they come back and do more damage. I…don't suspect I'll make it through the night."

Katniss shook her head. "No. I'm not gonna leave you."

"I'm a lost cause."

"I'm NOT going to leave you. I'm not gonna do that."

Katniss reached up and quickly wiped the tear sliding down her cheek with the end of her sleeve. There was no way she was leaving him. Family was important to Peeta. The last time he'd seen his father was in the Hob the night before the bombings. Even he had noticed that their words had sounded like a goodbye. She couldn't bear the thought of those being their last words. That was no way to say goodbye – staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.

She dug and dug with her dirty gloves, pushing piles of rubble and bricks to the side. Before long, all she had left was the biggest piece. Glancing over her shoulder, she groaned. Out over the counter and through the blown out window, the sky was beginning to grow light.

"We have to hurry. Can you push on this at all?" she asked, motioning to the slab of concrete covering his legs. He nodded, his face paling and his lips pressing into a thin line. She grabbed the edge of the slab and tried to ignore the singing pain in her left arm. "Ready? One, two.."

They both let out a terrible grunt as the slab was pushed to the side. She let out a sigh of relief as Mr. Mellark's full body finally came into view. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it was at least in one piece. Her eyes focused in on the shard of glass sticking out of his thigh. Blood seeped from the wound and made her stomach turn. Animal blood was one thing; human blood was another. She looked away and tried to stay calm as she fought to think straight.

Peeta's father looked down at the gash in his leg. "Doesn't look good. I knew there was something sticking out of it….I…" he gasped in pain and let his head fall back against the wall. He rolled it from side to side and opened his eyes to stare at her.

"Its fine," she assured him, playing it off. She pretended to assess the wound and struggled to keep her voice calm and even though she had no idea how to fix a gash the size of the one on his leg. Honestly, she wasn't sure if her mother could either. "If I can get the glass out and make a tourniquet…you'll be fine."

He gave her a doubtful look. "Just pull it out. One step at a time," he sighed though gritted teeth. She watched him clench his strong, angled jaw in agony as she touched the shard of jagged glass in his thigh. His blond hair was matted with sweat and dirt and blood and sticking to his paled face as he tried to keep still.

"Okay. I'm gonna pull it out," she coaxed. Thinking ahead, she quickly removed the thin cord around her waist and wrapped it around his thigh above the gash. Tying it taught, she tried to keep her hands from shaking as her eyes tried to focus in the dim light. The pointed piece of glass had most likely come from the windows beside them being blown out from a bomb. It had lodged itself into his leg and created a gash that she was sure probably went down to his bone.

"I'm ready," he whispered.

"I'm gonna get this out and then we're gonna go back to my mom. She'll stich you up just fine. Good as new," she breathed. "One, two…"

The glass came from his leg with a sickening squishing noise. Blood spurted against her gloved hands making her cry out in surprise. Mr. Mellark cried out in anguish as she fumbled for a moment, trying to imagine what Prim would tell her to do.

Clot it, she thought. She grabbed the edge of his white apron and tore a great rip along the bottom. She pressed the strip into the wound before ripping off another piece to tie it taught. Peeta's father twisted against the rubble around him, his face as white as a sheet in the dim light. He groaned and gasped for air as she tied the white fabric around his leg and held her hands against it. Blood quickly seeped through the fabric and she had to bite back the bile that threatened to come up.

"Just hold this here….I need the rest of your apron," she said in a hurried voice. She heard herself whimper slightly as the bandage grew more and more damp. Mr. Mellark struggled to get his apron all the way off for a moment before shoving it at his leg. Together they pressed and pressed and held it steady. His eyes rose up to meet hers.

"I think…I think it stopped," she said finally. "You're gonna be okay. We did that part, now…now we just have to get you out of here."

Mr. Mellark gasped a few times before looking up at her. "Were you this way…when Peeta was sick?" he winced.

Katniss shrugged. "I guess I….did whatever I had to do."

He gave her a short nod. "No wonder my boy is still alive."

The sky was undeniably lighter as Mr. Mellark reached the bottom back step of the bakery. He groaned and tried not to lean on Katniss too much, but she could tell his leg was hurting. The bleeding had stopped thanks to her belt-turned-tourniquet, and his apron was serving as a makeshift wrapping. He hobbled against her right side as he pressed his lips together into a thin line as he stared at the alley before them. She didn't have to ask him to speak his thoughts; they were abundantly clear: It was a long walk back to the Seam and they would need to hurry. The sun would be rising in less than twenty minutes.

She sighed and tried not to wince as her arm stung. Her hearing was slowly returning in her left ear, and she could almost hear perfectly out of her right. "Think you can make it?"

He sighed as she hoisted his arm around her shoulder. "I might crush you."

She snorted. "Seam women are stronger than they look."

They shared a tiny laugh as she grunted and tried to get her footing. Mr. Mellark was built exactly like his son – not especially tall, but solidly stacked and heavy with muscle. "Ready?"

He gave her a short nod. Katniss watched as he turned and gave the mangled bakery one last look. She paused her movements and let him linger for a second to take in the damage. The wintery wind whipped through the alley as he stood there taking in what was left of his life: A shattered piece of mangled rubble that held the bodies of his murdered family. Katniss looked at the ground for a moment as she realized the man leaning on her had lost almost everything he held dear in a matter of a few seconds. They needed to hurry as much as they could to ensure their safety, but for some reason she couldn't make him leave just yet.

A solitary tear fell down his cheek.

She thought her heart might break. Here was this kind, giving man who was an older version of the man back home that she loved. He had just lost his home, his business, his wife, and two of his sons.

She spoke before she realized it. "You still have Peeta."

He turned to look at her. The liquid from the tear had cut through the dirt on his pale cheek, the track still wet. "What?"

Katniss gulped. "You still have Peeta. I'm sorry…I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner. To warn you. But…you still have Peeta back at my house. He'll be so happy to see you, he-"

He gave her a sad smile as he visibly fought more tears. "I know. You're right. We can go now. Go home to Peeta."

"Right," she agreed, sniffing back her own tears. He leaned lightly on her shoulder and they began to slowly trek back towards her house.

When the sun peeked over the horizon, her stomach fell. They were just at the border of the town and the Seam, right where Peacekeepers tended to patrol. She paused and looked around, giving her aching back a rest. Mr. Mellark shuffled on one leg as he tried not to lean on her. His leg had to be throbbing and he should be letting her help him more, however, she could tell he was trying the best he could to not put too much of his weight on her as they hobbled along.

He followed her gaze, his blue eyes filled with worry. "Do you see anything?"

Katniss listened. The District was eerily silent as the sun began to rise behind the clouds. "No."

He slowly limped forward with her, groaning every few feet. Her arm stung as the hole in her jacket let the cold winter wind blow against the open skin. Her head was throbbing so loud that she wasn't sure if it was due to her hearing loss or her head wound. Every few hundred feet she would look over at Peeta's father and see his sad blue eyes and unruly blonde hair and think of Peeta waiting for her at home.

It doesn't matter if he's still there, her mind told her. You drugged him. He won't want anything to do with you after this.

Drugging Peeta wasn't the best thing to do but she didn't regret it. Especially not after finding Mr. Mellark alive. Peeta could be as angry with her as he wanted to be. Seeing his father's blue eyes open under the rubble, the hopeful look he'd given her…it had been worth going to find him and dig him out. If Peeta didn't want her after this, he would at least have his father. The thought of the sweet man she'd grown to love living without a family for the rest of his life wasn't acceptable in her eyes.

She would make it home.

"Katniss…you need to rest," he panted beside her. "I can feel your shoulders shaking honey."

"No," she panted. "Sun is almost up. We're so close…I need to you get you to my mother."

Mr. Mellark snorted softly. "Think she can patch me up?"

Katniss watched him wince through his smile.

"I do," she sighed.

They continued to slowly hobble along – Peeta's father with his bandaged leg dragging and Katniss with her one good ear and her wounded arm. They slowly made their way into the Seam.

"I'm not sure she'll be able to fix me," he murmured as they turned down another alleyway. She looked over at him.

"Why not?"

He shuddered in agony as he tried to walk again. "It's deep. To the bone, prolly."

Katniss' words caught in her throat. He was right and very realistic about his wounds. She wasn't sure her mother would be able to fix such a horrible gash, but wasn't it at least worth trying?

"I guess I'm being punished for being a rebel."

"You tried to change the world we live in. How do you deserve to be punished like this?" she asked. "You're not. You're alive and ….and you're going to live to see other things. Better things."

He smirked and took a labored step, his boots crunching in the snow. "Like grandkids?"

Katniss balked and looked away quickly, gripping his hand on her shoulder. "Erm…"

Mr. Mellark let out a hoarse little laugh. "Peeta is my only hope now," he said sadly. "I sure did want some though."

"You're not old enough to be a grandpa," she muttered. "Come on. We're close now."

She continued to limp forward with Mr. Mellark leaning on her shoulder. The white ground seemed to go on forever in her view as the sun continued to rise. It was another cloudy day but the snow on the ground reflected enough light that she could soon see. Her house was in view when her vision began to swim. She panted and blinked a few times, trying to get herself to see straight. The cold air bit at the insides of her lungs as she tried to will herself to not think about the cold. They were so close.

Peeta's father paused "Katniss? Katniss? Are you alright?"

She gulped in a breath of the freezing winter air, trying her best to stay on two feet. Her knees shook slightly as she tried to nod, but that only made her dizzier. Her ears buzzed loud and louder until her vision went completely black. Her knees buckled and she hit the icy ground hard.

Okay, so we have some angst here. It will get better. I think ALL of you were happy that I spared Mr. Mellark, lol. I'm so happy so many of you have enjoyed this story! I love hearing your thoughts about these two.

Hope you enjoyed it - have a great rest of the week! *MUAH*