DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.
Words not spoken in English will be italicized.
Chapter 16-Revelations
The next morning Katniss was jolted awake by the little sleep she got by Gray's foot, kicking her. "Come on, time to go" he said in an aggravated tone. After she got to her feet, he took her off into the woods to let her use the bathroom, she and Rain had to have assistance from him and Warren since he still wouldn't untie them (another thing she hated herself for). She couldn't imagine how Rain was feeling. All she could think about was how she was going to free herself and kill both of them.
Once Gray brought her to back to their campfire, she saw Rain waiting with Warren, she had a dead look in her eyes that Katniss had never seen before. Katniss tried to give a look of sympathy but Rain continued to stare at the ground below her.
They headed off, of course not getting anything to eat. While they walked Katniss starting discreetly looking at the ground, trying to see if she could find any small but sharp rocks. Anything that she could hide but be able to try to cut her ties with. It was hard finding what she was looking for with all the snow. Katniss did notice that it was a lot warmer today, spring was approaching whatever spring was all the way up here.
Suddenly, after about 30 minutes of walking, she saw in the corner of her eye a jagged rock small enough to fit into her hand. She immediately feigned tripping and fell down, doing a backward landing so that her hand could feel around for the rock. While the landing looked odd and hurt like hell, she was able to reach for the rock after just moving her hands around twice. She closed the rock tightly around her fingers, concealing it, its sharp edges cutting into her skin.
Gray was only half paying attention when she fell so he didn't suspect anything. He shouted, "Damn girl on fire you clumsy idiot" and reached down to help her up. Katniss was surprised he did that.
He read the look of surprise on her face. "Can't have you injuring yourself trying to get up from that backwards landing you just did. I need to take you to Geffen in perfect condition."
She gave him another puzzling look, hoping he would elaborate more. She had no idea who this Geffen was or why he wanted her dead.
He took the bait. "I told you before Geffen is the leader of the group Warren and I were with. Our group had heard that you had left District 12 and were up here with the savages. You see, my group never cared for your rebellion. We liked Panem the way it was, sure the Capitol could be bastards at times but overall life was good for us in District 1. Just because you came from dirt didn't mean we all had to suffer as well. And now, because of you, our homes were destroyed and we are forced into a new way of life. With a woman president we don't want. Geffen is going to make sure you are brought to justice, I can't wait to see how he plans to kill you, I hope slowly. Then we plan to take your body back to Paylor and hang you from the new Capitol square."
Katniss gave him a look that showed how pathetic she thought that plan was. He then replied by saying, "A few of us are willing to sacrifice our freedom if it will incite another rebellion, we hope it will inspire others. Trust me our group is not the only group out there. A lot of people want to see you dead."
Katniss got chilled by his words, how cold and calculating they were. She wondered why if she was hated that badly they never just came to get her in District 12. Surely they knew how to get there. She tried not to think about it anymore after that, she still had a job to do. Getting her and Rain away from Gray and Warren and back to the tribe.
After about two hours of walking, Gray decided to take a break. Katniss figured hunger was probably a factor. He let Katniss sit down by a tree, her back leaning up against it. Warren however decided to drag Rain off, no doubt planning to rape her again. After they were gone Gray turned to Katniss and said. "I'm going to try to find us a little something to eat, I hope you don't mind me trying your bow out. Warren will be back to keep watch over you two after he's finished with her."
The minute Gray was out of sight Katniss started frantically rubbing the rock against the ropes. It took a few tries for her to find a rhythm since she couldn't see what she was doing, but then she got the hang of it. It was slowly starting to work, cutting her own hands in the process. After about 5 minutes of working on the ropes, Katniss heard a slight whistle in the trees, her eyes shot up, scanning the area where she heard the sound. She then saw bird feathers peeking out from the leaves, she whistled back, then Red Bear poked his head up. He had another tribesman with him-Otter, both of their faces painted black. Katniss jerked her head for them to approach. They did and quickly untied her and took the tape off her mouth. She said in a low voice, "Rainbow is over there with another man, he's hurting her, go quick." She then pointed in the direction they were in. Red Bear shook his head and said, "We found you this morning, we decided not to approach until it was safe. Hawk and White Wolf went to get Rainbow."
Suddenly, Rain and the other two tribesman approached. Katniss went running to Rain and embraced her and said, "I'm so sorry."
Rain wrapped her arms around Katniss and said, "It's over now".
Katniss approached Warren's body, she saw an axe in his head. Hawk came over and took the axe out of it. He was slumped down by a tree. "He was doing it up against the tree this time." Rain said coming up behind Katniss. "All of the sudden I hear a thud behind me and he's on the ground."
Katniss reached down in Warren's pants and removed the two handguns he had in each pocket. She handed one to Rain. Katniss turned to the tribesman and said, "We have to find the other man."
Red Bear nodded and the six of them headed off in the direction Gray went. They followed his tracks deep into the forest. It appeared Gray was following animal tracks. His movements were all over the place. The six of them eventually followed the tracks to a large hill. The hill had a lot of trees and a rocky side. Katniss immediately went to alert, if Gray was at the top of the hill he would have perfect aim at them. Katniss shouted "take cover" but she was too late. Not even a second after shouting her warning bullets were heard. Katniss frantically looked around while ducking behind a tree to see where the shots were coming from.
She peeked her head out, trying to get a look, she heard more bullets being shot, but not in her direction. She saw Red Bear and White Wolf shooting their arrows at the hill, she looked in the direction of where the arrows were heading and saw Gray making a run to a larger tree for cover. She took out her gun and tried took a shot, a bad one. Even during the rebellion Katniss never used a gun. She needed to get her hands on a bow. She didn't think to ask any of the tribesmen to use theirs before running off to find Gray. Big mistake.
The four tribesmen headed up the hill after Gray, moving at a very fast pace. Katniss moved from behind the tree to find Rain, she gasped when she saw Rain laying on the ground, near the base of the hill.
Katniss ran over to her and fell to her knees. Rain had been shot in the chest, bleeding heavily. Katniss took off her outer fur layer and then removed her shirt and starting applying pressure to the wound. She then put her fur layer back on, her bare skin getting cold from the cool air. Rain was breathing heavily and said to Katniss, "Remember what I told you, about letting go of your resentment to the people who mattered most, and to the Capitol. You have to start over."
Katniss shook her head in understanding, tears beginning to fall from her cheeks "I'm really glad I met you."
Rain smiled and said, "Me too, when this is over, please go back to District 9 and tell my mom I love her, she lives at my house, but she was away when you came to see me so you didn't get to meet her. Please tell her."
"I will I promise" Katniss responded.
Katniss heard gun shots coming from over the hill. She looked up but couldn't see anything but birds scattering away.
Rain reached up and touched Katniss's face, struggling to keep her eyes open. "I hope wherever I go, I'll get to see Jackson again." Rain strained to get the words out.
The tears were openly running down Katniss's face, she couldn't contain her emotions the way she usually could.
Rain gave Katniss an ominous look. She looked at Katniss as if she was seeing into the future at that moment. Rain said in a calm demeanor, almost as if she wasn't in pain, "Hating him won't bring you happiness."
She took her last breath and turned her head to the side, closing her eyes.
Katniss wrapped her arms around her body, burying her head in her chest, crying uncontrollably. After a few minutes her sobs calmed down, the tears still flowing down her face. She heard footsteps approach and she looked up. She saw Red Bear and Hawk carrying Otter. He was dead, shot by Gray.
The three tribesmen looked upon the scene and bowed their heads. Red Bear said to Katniss, "The white man is dead, after he shot Otter I was able to get a clear shot of his head with my axe."
Katniss nodded her head once and said, "Thank you for coming to find us."
"I am sorry about Rainbow" he responded.
"I'm sorry too" Katniss said as the tears continued to fall.
Red Bear showed Katniss where they hid their horses. Katniss rode with Red Bear while Otter's horse carried his and Rain's body back to the area the other two tribesmen Red Bear was given were. Right before they reached the area Red Bear warned Katniss that they found two people wandering in the forest who they believed were from the Capitol. Red Bear decided to leave two guards with them while the four of them continued looking for her and Rain.
Sure enough, Katniss saw two people she presumed were from Panem's military. Their attire not a whole lot different from what was worn during the rebellion. She saw that Paylor was still sticking with all black.
It was a woman and man, both looked pretty young. They were tied up, but their mouths were not bound. The woman said in a shocked voice, "Mockingjay?"
"My name is killing bird" Katniss responded harshly. They both gave her a bizarre look after hearing her speak in Sioux.
"Why have you captured us?" the man asked.
Katniss looked at him in disbelief. "Why is the Capitol here? Why are you spying on us and why are you following us?"
"It's not what you think" the woman began to say but the man cut her off and said, "We can't trust her, she's with them."
"That's right, you shouldn't trust me. But if you want to live, you better cooperate. Who is your squad leader? I know you have one." Katniss gave a menacing stare at the two soldiers on the ground before her.
"We're not telling you a thing" the man shot back.
"Very well then" Katniss said in a calm voice. She reached for her bow that was returned to her by Hawk after he killed Gray and shot an arrow right in the man's shoulder. He stifled his cries but the woman could not contain hers.
"Who is your squad leader?" Katniss repeated. The five tribesmen looked on without any emotion on their faces. They couldn't understand anything that was being said, but they trusted Katniss.
"Like I said, I'm not telling you." He repeated.
A second arrow went in the other shoulder. This time he did cry out in pain.
"Stop it, you'll kill him" the woman cried.
"That's the point" Katniss responded blankly. She knew she was not acting herself but she didn't care. She was still recovering from her ordeal with Gray and from losing Rain, she was overcome with grief. She hadn't felt this out of control since Prim died.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you with them" the woman spat.
"That's none of your business. I need to be on guard after just learning there are people in Panem after me, I was just taken by some of them, and you could be one of them for all I know."
The woman's tone changed when she said, "The militia groups."
Katniss stiffened, "Yeah, I guess you could call them that."
"No, that's who they are. That's why we were sent here, to protect you from them." The woman was no longer speaking with disgust at Katniss.
"Lead by who? TELL ME" Katniss screamed. Her anger was out of control, if they didn't tell her who their leader was, she was going to shoot both of them in the throat. She was tired of the Capitol's games, why would the military protect her in secret? She wanted answers from the squad leader and wanted to give this person a stern warning to get the hell away. She didn't need their protection.
"Gale Hawthorne" she replied.
Katniss dropped her bow and passed out.
