DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.
Words not spoken in English will be italicized.
Warning: Violence in this chapter.
Chapter 122-The End II
Katniss dives down into the river to escape the fast moving knife heading for her chest. She feels the knife go right by her left arm as she feels the frigid cold water hit her face. She sprints up and sees Jasper take off into the woods, far away from the river. She knows he is heading deep into the forest to get away from the village, wanting her as far away from the tribe as possible. Katniss forgoes grabbing the knife behind her and reaches around to make sure her bow and arrows are still securely strapped to her back as she takes off, her legs moving as fast as possible as she runs on pure adrenaline. She sees Jasper run to a flat terrain and then stops. She slows her pace as she approaches him and grabs an arrow, ready to shoot.
When they are face to face, he says to her, "I never see your savage friends here."
Katniss looks around and realizes she does not know this area. She has a hunch what this area is but remains silent. They stare each other down as they slowly circle around each other. She sees an axe in his hand, an extremely sharp one.
"Why now?" Katniss asks as she continues to move in a slow circle.
He shrugs and says, "The timing was never right. Now it is. I wanted you to experience a different kind of suffering than what Geffen wanted. He wanted you to suffer physically. See you take your last breath, me-I wanted to see you suffer emotionally."
"How is killing me making me suffer emotionally?"
He smiles as he says, "Your family will, just like my family suffered when Marvel died."
Katniss glares at him as he says, "Things have changed for you. When Geffen was in charge, you didn't have anyone besides your lover boy. But you left him so, he obviously didn't matter. Now, you have your successful husband, your daughters, and a newborn son. With you dead, they suffer. What will your husband do? Raise three children by himself? Go back to the girl from 2? The girl who is about half of your size. I mean, I know you just had a baby and all, but-you've put on weight."
"That will never happen, because you are the one who is going to die" Katniss says seething with anger.
"Look at it this way, you can be with your sister again. The one you sacrificed your life for. That is, if there really is a heaven, maybe, you can both suffer in hell while another woman raises your children."
Katniss screams at him as she releases her arrow. He tries to move away but unlike last time, is unsuccessful and the arrow plunges into his shoulder. Before Katniss can reach for another arrow she is tackled to the ground, her bow knocked out of her hands. Feeling the wind knocked out of her, she tries to get up when suddenly she feels hears a thud in the snow. She instinctively gets up and sees a trail of blood on the white snow, along with the axe, and half of a hand. Her hand.
She looks down and sees only her thumb remaining on her left hand, the blood quickly coming out and dripping onto the ground, the white snow beginning to turn red.
In shock, she doesn't feel anything as she bends down and grabs Gale's knife that was strapped to her lower leg. Surprising herself, she lounges for Jasper, her knife penetrating his already injured shoulder. She feels his knee punch her stomach, causing her to stumble backwards. Gale's knife still in her hand, she holds onto it tightly as she braces herself for another tackle. She feels herself hit the ground again, this time able to hold onto her weapon. Lying on her back, using only her elbow to fend off his axe, she feels her own blood drip onto her face as she uses all of her strength to prevent the axe from coming down on her head. She thrusts her knife into his stomach, and knocks the axe out of his hands. She hears him finally scream as he pulls the knife out, and she moves onto her stomach to lift herself off the ground but screams out in pain as she puts weight on her severed hand. She feels her knife plunge into her back and she screams even louder than before, the pain unbearable. She feels the knife pulled out of her and she rolls to the side, missing his next plunge.
She looks over and sees the axe far beyond her reach, and manages to get to her knees when she sees him move towards her. He does not notice her crouch as he raises his arm up, ready to thrust the knife into her neck to end it all when suddenly, he feels stinging in his eyes.
Grabbing a fist full of snow, Katniss throws the snow into his eyes, causing him to stumble back, and she throws her body onto him, forcing him on his back. She straddles him as she fights for control of the knife, using only one hand. She moves her head to avoid his hand grabbing her face, and when she feels his fingers grab her cheek, she turns her head and bites them.
He curses at her as he pulls his hand away, and Katniss uses the opportunity to take the knife out of his strong grasp. With the knife now her hand, she raises her arm up and pauses.
No longer fighting back, her looks at her in defeat as he says, "Go on, do it. I'm not afraid to die."
Katniss stares at the arrow still in his shoulder, and sees the dark red pools of blood beginning to form around his head. She feels her own blood run down her back, knowing that her blood and his was causing the pool to get bigger and bigger.
With her hand still high in the air, she blinks a few times as she hears the words, 'Death is no longer your salvation' inside her head.
Knowing that both of them were slowly dying, and with Strong Wind's words repeating over and over in her head, she tosses the knife away as far as she can and slowly moves off of him.
She places her severed hand under her right arm as she rises to her feet. Looking at the ground, she begins to walk away as she hears him shout, "Kill me!"
She stops walking and continuing to stare at the ground she says, "The games are over, the war is over, my time killing others is done."
With her body still turned from him she resumes walking away as she hears him shout, "What the hell did you just say?"
"The Capitol will deal with you, that is, if we both survive" she says as she looks up and stops dead in her tracks, her body going stiff.
Surrounding them in a circle was a pack of wolves, attracted to the scene by the smell of their blood.
She stands her ground as the wolves slowly approach, realizing that her bow and arrows were out of reach, she closes her eyes as she prepares for the end. A few moments pass when she realizes she's still alive, and opens her eyes to see the wolves heading away from her, and towards Jasper.
Reaching over and activating the distress watch on her left hand, she removes the watch and drops it the ground. Knowing that Gale will come soon, she closes her eyes as she feels a gust of wind hit her face, letting the wind guide her.
Knowing that she needs to get to her son, she begins walking away from the open area and into the woods. Unable to explain even to herself why she was heading in the direction she was, she moves quickly and finds a large tree. She approaches the large trunk of the tree and sees Prim standing before her, smiling at her.
"You saved me" Katniss says to her.
Prim continues to smile as she turns and walks away, her long blonde hair blowing in the wind. Katniss moves to go after her, but sees a large hole at the bottom of the trunk. Moving down onto her knees, she bends down and looks inside the tree. She sees a small fur bundle and immediately reaching her hand inside, feels Jackson's body. She cries out in happiness as she gently pulls him out. Using her good arm she grabs his back as she uses her other arm to pull him close to her body, his eyes fluttering open. Repositioning herself so that her back is up against the tree, she kisses her son and holds him close as the snow begins to come down heavily, Jackson making babbling noises in response. Knowing that dusk was about to approach, she sits with Jackson in the snow when he begins to fuss, she lifts up her fur cover and shirt and pushes her bra up, reaching for her breast so she can feed him.
She begins to have trouble breathing as Jackson hungrily takes her nipple into his mouth, beginning to suck as Katniss holds him in her arms. She sees a trail of her blood on the ground and feels her eyes tear up as Jackson continues to nurse.
Once he is finished she cradles him in her arms as leans her head back against the tree, unable to keep her eyes open any longer, she feels her head go limp as she closes her eyes. Relieved that her son is safe and that help was on the way, she breathes deeply as she fights to hang on, trying to ignore the excruciating pain she was in.
