The Ocean Rolls Us Away
Chapter 49: Finnick
"Wait!" I shouted after Annie, running towards the front door she had just stepped through.
Panicked, I threw open the door and ran down her front steps. I glanced around and saw that she'd already made it half way down the street towards town.
"Annie!" I shouted desperately, trying to get her attention. "Annie!"
No matter how loudly I yelled after her, she never turned around. Part of me wondered if she could even hear me over the voices and images that I was sure were tumbling in her mind. Just the simplest things could set her memories off, so what the hell was this going to do to her?
"Annie! Come on, please!" I pleaded loudly, running after her, but she still didn't turn around.
Seconds later, she suddenly stopped in front of the Victors Village gate and glanced around frantically. I started to call out to her again as I grew closer to her, thinking that she'd finally heard me, but my voice was cut off. Three gun shots pierced through the air, making me stop in my tracks.
I stared at Annie in panic, wondering if I was about to see her body fall dead to the ground. But instead, I saw flames suddenly claw up at the sky and heard angry, screaming voices echo in my ears. Within seconds Annie's body started to quiver, and I ran towards her, fear pumping through my veins.
"Annie!" I shouted at her, as her hands slowly raised to her ears. I knew right away that she was about to have a breakdown, but instead of falling to the ground like I'd assumed she would, her body started to stumble frantically towards town.
My eyes widened in disbelief, "Annie, don't-" I started to reached towards her as I ran, but she never heard me.
Panic was gripping me. What was Annie thinking, diving into danger like that? It was stupid and reckless, but she was so afraid for Bress that it didn't matter to her. She was going to get her self hurt or worse...I couldn't even imagine what could end up happening to her. Peacekeepers wouldn't care that she was a victor. If she was caught in the wrong place at the wrong moment, she could easily end up dead.
Fearfully, I chased after her as her body disappeared into town. I had to get to her and stop her before she put her self in danger. Bress would be able to handle him self, but she would not. If anything she was already starting to retreat to that place where she lost control of her self. And if I didn't get to her in time, she might get so panicked that she lost all sense of reality, and put her self in even more danger than before.
"Annie?" I shouted desperately, as I passed through the Victors Village gate and into the town.
"Annie!" I shouted again, my voice catching in my throat. I never heard any response from her.
I told my self that it was because the noise coming from the center of town was so loud she couldn't hear me, but I knew that it was really because she'd gotten too far away.
I ran through a street of dark buildings towards where the flames had first reached up into the sky. That was where the shouting and screaming was coming from. As I got closer to the center of town, I heard loud shots ring in my ears again. I glanced around hoping to see if maybe Annie had shrunk back into the darkness in panic, but my eyes never found her.
My heart was pounding in my chest, and my breath shortened as I ran. Where the hell was she? I thought to my self frantically. And how had she managed to get away so fast? Was she that stricken with worry that she'd overcome her panic?
At that moment, the empty street curved towards the center of town, and I broke into the square. Immediately my heart sank to my stomach.
Everything was consumed by disaster. Buildings burst with flames, people scattered, holding signs bearing the mockingjay symbol Katniss had worn in the arena, and hurling revolution in the faces of cameras. Peacekeepers beat crazed revolutionaries into a bloody submission, but worst of all, Annie was nowhere in sight.
I breathed deeply into my lungs. Then I dove into the crowds and started to call out her name.
"Annie!" I shouted over the bitter voices. I heard nothing, but the sounds of desperation in others. Her voice was nonexistent.
"Annie!" I continued to press through the crowds, and called out her name again. That was when my eyes found her. Fear was written across her face, her eyes widened, and her arms were stretching out towards something frantically.
I looked over in the direction of what she was staring at, and saw Bress defending a girl from an infuriated peacekeeper. Seconds later, the peacekeeper raised his club and slammed it down on Bress' back, knocking him to the ground unconscious. The peacekeeper then beat Bress with multiple vicious blows before turning away, and charging back into the crowd.
The girl Bress had been protecting, whom I then realized was Kately, Bress' girlfriend, bent down over him in sobs. Seconds later Annie was kneeling by her side, bending over his body as well. I immediately ran over to them.
"Annie," I said her name and she looked up at me, miserable tears streaming down her cheeks. It was clear that she was using every bit of strength she had not to break down, because her entire body was trembling.
Hurriedly, I kneeled beside her, "We've got to get him out of here. Help me lift him up."
Shakily, she and Kately helped me to lift him off the ground and drag him away from the scene. We didn't bother to try and take him back to Annie's house, because the crowd was too dangerous. Instead we took him down a dark street towards the small house where Kately lived.
When we reached the house, Kately ran up to the door, unlocked it, and then we hurriedly brought Bress inside. Gently, I laid him down on the small couch and finally saw what the peacekeeper had done to him. His head had been hit by the club repeatedly, so that large bruises formed around the side of his face, and blood ran from his ear and mouth. Hurriedly I pulled off his shirt, and saw the swollen black bruise running across his back and up his spine.
"Oh God," I heard Kately choke on her tears, as she took in the sight of Bress' injuries.
Annie, shakily fell to her knees beside the couch and placed her hand on his back. Her entire body trembled as tears flooded down her face.
I immediately knelt beside her and placed my hand on her shoulder. Annie looked up at me with red eyes, and then suddenly as I stared heartbrokenly into her eyes, tragic sobs leapt from her throat, and her body collapsed against my chest. Silently, I wrapped my arms around her, and held her in my arms as she wept.
Change was coming to Panem. And if that night had shown me anything, it was that that change bore a heavy sacrifice that innocent people were going to have to pay.
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you think! Look for the next one soon!
