21- Orphans and Murderers.
PEETA POV
3 days since we where seperated from Finnick and Delly. We have been looking for them ever since. Or atleast Kai thinks we have but I know that they can handle themselves. Me, however, I'm still looking for Katniss and for all we know, she might actually be with Finnick and Delly. I really hope she is, maybe they could keep an eye on her. I'm just hoping that she isnt dead and one day I'm gonna stumblr upon her dead body.
Its only 7 in the morning, which means we are resting and we will continue our search later. We where going to head for the beach but then thought that the careers will probably be there so there isnt any point in risking it. I let Kai sleep tonight as I'm not that tired and I want to keep a look out for Katniss anyway. I could be wrong about this whole thing, she might not even be in here, I might just be looking for someone who is still in 12 or someone who might even be dead but I just need hope that she is actually in 12 and alive but if she is in here then I need to find her. I dont doubt that Snow would put her in here after what she did. I had been thinking that since it happened. He wouldnt just let her off with a little wipping and a couple weeks in a cell would he? No he's different than that, if he had had the chance, he would have killed her. Atleast this way he might get his wish.
I'm brought out of my thoughts by the sound of a twig snapping. It came from really close. Just as I'm moving to wake up Kai, a small knife flies past my head, opening a 3 inch gash along my cheek. My hand finds Kai and I shake him quickly. "Wake up!" I shout and his head shoots up, almost headbutting me. "Someones here." I mumble and his hand closes around his trident, which I guess Finnick had taught him to use. My hand closes tightly around my sword and I pull myself to my feet.
Everything seems quite for a minute until next minute, someone lunges out of the tree line and throws himself at me. I deflect it easy enough and he rounds on Kai. Thats when I recognise him. He was at mentoring last year. Brutus from 2. Enobaria must be close by, they hardly ever left eachothers sides, or so I'm told. Kai doesnt seem to be as quick as me and Brutus has him pinned to the floor in seconds. "Any last words?" He asks Kai, who seems too stunned to say anything.
I look around quickly to find something to hit him with and my eyes rest on a large rock just next to where I was sitting. I station myself behind him and just as his knife is about to descend on Kai, I speak up. "How about go to hell." I say as harshly as I can, bringing my hand down with the rock in it and hitting him square in the side of the head. It doesnt knock him out though, just gets him down in enough time for me to get Kai up off the floor.
Thats when Enobaria shows up. I dont have a clue where theire tributes are and I'm not quite sure I want to find out. This time me and Kai are ready and when she comes at us, its not hard to kick her aside. Well, not before she gets a good cut going down my arm. The blood starts pouring and I feel myself go light-headed. Kai grabs my arm to keep my steady but its not enough, Brutus is back up and coming for us. He looks down at Enobaria who is already getting back to her feet and laughs at us both. "You're dead." He snarls and the both come at us.
Kai's hand swings out so fast that I dont even know whats happening until Enobaria drops down to the floor, still. Thats when we take our chance and start running. The gash in my arm is making it pretty hard but we run. Kai and is still around my arm as the beach starts to materialise infront of me. "Come on you can make it!" Kai shouts at me, pulling me along.
Suddenly, light filters my vision and I feel my feet sink into something like sand. "Kai!" I hear someone shout and thats when everything goes black.
KATNISS POV
Its been 2 days now since I found out that my family is dead and since then I dont think I've stopped crying. I know Snow did this because of me. He wanted to break me, well guess what? He got his wish. My family is dead, I'm currently in the arena with no idea where the hell Peeta is. For all I know he might be dead and it wouldnt surprise me if he is dead. No, I shoudnt think like that, he cant be dead, he's all I have left in the world. Something tells me that Hope wont survive this arena. I dont want to survive this arena either though. Thats what Snow wanted wasnt it. He did that so that Me, Peeta, Rye, Delly and now Haymitch wont have anything to go back to and we wouldnt want to survive. And its true we dont have anything to go back to so there literally is no point in us going out of here. My baby would grow up in a world without her grandparents and Aunt Prim. She wouldnt even have a home. What if I did survive this arena? He wouldnt make me live in the Capitol would he? I cant raise Hope in a place like that and especially without Peeta. Our group have been camping on the beach since Haymitch and Annie got here. Finnick sticks with Annie every minute and I'm finally starting to realise about her insanity. When she's not freaking out she's kind of amazing. Probably one of the kindest people I have ever met and she is actually really nice to talk to. Her love with Finnick is actually inspiring. How they have managed to still be strong after all this time and everything they went through. "Katniss you want some food?" I hear Uncle Haymitch say behind me. I just shake my head in reply. "Come on, I havent seen you eat since I got here." I feel his hand on my shoulder and I wipe away the stray tears quickly. "Not until I know that Peeta is safe." I say to him and that's when he finally walks away from me. I'm not alone for long though as Finnick appears behind me. "Katniss come on... please." "I cant." I say, the anger bubbling up inside me. Why cant they just lean to leave me alone. I cant eat. He goes silent for a minute and I think its walked away from me. Then the silence is disturbed. "Katniss..." Thats when I snap. "I said I didnt want any!" I shout turning to face him really quickly. He isnt looking at me though, he's looking past me. "No, look." He motions past me and fear spreads through me as I turn around, a lot slower than last time. Finnick helps me up so I can see round the Cornucorpia and I see the one thing that I have been waiting to see. Peeta is walking, well more like hobbling towards us with a male behind him who looks a lot like Finnick. "Kai!" I hear Finnick shout behind me and he sets off running for his little brother. My legs, who seem to have a mind of their own, follow as quickly as they can to get to Peeta.
Just as I am about to get to Peeta, he falls to the ground, taking Kai with him, who was holding on pretty tight to him. Kai pulls himself up and rounds on the tree line, seeing what he is getting at, I pull out my bow and follow his eyes. Someone must be there. Rye appears behind me and runs straight over to his brother. "How is he?" I shout to Rye.
"Not good." Rye shouts back. "I'll get him over there. Finnick help me!" They both drag him back, slowly as to not hurt him anymore and I want nothing more than the follow them but I fear someone is going to materialise any second.
"What happened?" I ask Kai. "Who is it?"
"Brutus. I just killed Enobaria. He's pretty pissed about it." He says and thats when he turns to me. "Am I finally meeting the famous Katniss Everdeen?" He asks and I lat out a small laugh.
"Yes you are." I reply and he is about to laugh when Brutus flies out of nowhere and I feel the pain in my head before I even know whats going on. He has me pinned to the floor and I feel his knee pressing into my stomach. It hurts like hell. "Stop!" I get out but then my voice goes.
Something hits him and he drops onto the floor next to me, I let out a breathe, pain shooting through my stomach, just like that day that Peeta and Rye had that massive fight and my baby ending up going into distress. I really hope that hasnt happened again, especially not here.
"Why dont you pick on someone your own size?" I hear Kai shout and I turn to see him standing over Brutus, his trident pinning the larger male to the ground. "Not a pregnant teenage girl!"
An evilish laugh comes out of Brutus' mouth and he knocks Kai's trident away, tripping him by his feet and Kai falls, plummeting down onto my legs. "Why dont you leave me alone?" Brutus shouts and dissapears from view as he runs off into the woods.
Kai pulls himself back up to his feet and helps me. "You okay?" He asks and I nod.
"Just take me to see Peeta please?" I ask and he nods, linking his arm around my waist and grabbing both of our weapons before walking me over to see Peeta, passed out on the floor, Rye at his head and Delly at his side. Kai drops me to Peeta's other side and I grab his hand. Delly is patching up his wound and Rye is cleaning out the one on his face. As I drop to the ground, I realise that most of the pain has gone and its just a little tingly feeling, almost like she is moving but a little bit more painful than that.
Kai goes to talk to Finnick and despite, Peeta dying infront of me, I try to listen to them as I hear my name mentioned. "What did he do to her?" Finnick asks his little brother.
"He had her pinned to the ground. I dont really know, it sounded painful. I think he had his knee digging into her stomach or something. She seems alright now though." Kai replies.
"I think I should take a look at her." I hear Finn say. Its kind of hard to listen as they both have the same kind of voice and I cant tell which one is which.
"Just let her be with Peeta right now. She hasnt seem him for atleast a week." Kai says and thats when I turn all my attention back on Peeta.
Not long after, I dont know how long exactly, but his wounds are all cleaned and banadaged and we are all just sitting around waiting for him to wake up. From hitting my head on the ground, it split my skin and I had to have my head bandaged aswell. I never knew that sand could do that you but I guess their must have been a rock there or something. Currently, I'm covered in blood. "I might go and get washed up quickly before he wakes up. Anyone coming?" I ask, looking around me. Delly pulls herself to her feet and nods. She is covered in Peeta's blood. Even her suit is. As I stand up, I start to realise how dark is getting, could it be true that we have been waiting all day for Peeta to wake up?
Thats when Rye stands to his feet. "You two go and wash up, I'm going to get fire woods." Rowan stands up to go with him and me and Delly set off for the water.
"Is the baby alright from earlier?" Delly asks me as we walk.
"Yeh, I think so. She's moved since and it felt normal. Its not painful anymore." I reply with a small smile on my face.
"Thats good, Peeta is going to be happy about that." She smiles back and sets off into the water.
It doesnt take long for me to get washed up and remove my bandage, wash it, the put it back on which I need Delly's help with. It feels really good to be finally clean. Rye and Rowan came back a while ago and they already have the fire going as the sky turns dark. Just as I'm walking back to the waters edge, someone shouts my name. I look towards them to see Uncle Haymitch waving me over. Peeta's head moves towards me and I can see that deep blue that I've missed so much. I set off at a run, leaving Delly behind. I know she isnt far behind me though as I can hear her running.
I drop down next to Peeta and his arms go around my almost instantly. "I missed you so much." He says and I feel the tears fall from my eyes.
"I missed you too." I reply and he pulls away to kiss me.
"Hey, dont do that here. I dont want to see that!" Finnick says with a small laugh.
"I dont want to see that either thank you." Rye adds in.
"Hey! I never wanted to see you kissing Gina either but I dealt with that!" A laugh leaves my lips as I say it but I instantly regret it when Rye's face drops. Why did you say that Katniss? Gina's dead.
He looks back at me. "Well I guess you dont have that problem anymore." He says and turns away from us to walk away.
"No, Rye wait! I'm sorry I didnt mean it." But he's already gone.
"Whats going on?" Peeta asks, or more like chokes. My eyes grow wild as I remember that he doesnt know. "Tell me."
I grip his hand tighter and his grips mine with his other one. "Its 12. That night that you where taken, they blew it all up, everything. We got quite a lot of people out into the woods but Snow found them and dropped bombs after taking me and Rye. Everyone is dead. Mum, Prim, Aymee, Masan, Brooke, Lev, even little Holly. Everyone." The tears fall from his eyes and he pulls away from me, lookin around. "We're all thats left. Me, You, Delly, Uncle Haymitch and Rye are all thats left of 12. And if this arena goes to plan their will either by only one of us left or none of us."
He turns to me once again and I can feel the tears in my eyes again. "Holly?" He asks, obviously unable to say anything else.
"I'm so sorry Peeta, its all my fault." I mumble. He pulls me towards him and wraps his arms around my shoulders. "I shouldnt have said anything in this damn arena or they would still be alive."
His hand finds my hair and I can hear him sobbing. "Listen to me, I dont want you blaming yourself. This is as much my fault as it is yours." He says but in no way is this his fault.
"Its all of our faults Peet." Delly says behind us. "Me and Gale last year, we werent meant to both survive. Haymitch had it coming since he won. Katniss with the video. You and Rye where just caught up in everything. You didnt do anything wrong. You won the games in the Capitol way and you never did anything rebellious. Its not your fault at all." The tears are in her eyes now and we all seem to be crying together. Even Finnick is crying. He didnt spend much time in 12 but even if he doesnt say anything we can all tell that it made a big impact on him whilst he was there.
"How did they destroy 12?" Peeta asks.
"Just after the hovercraft took you 3. They blew up the town square. Rye had to carry me back to the fence because I was caught up in a bomb but we got mum and Prim to get as many people out as they could. We all sat at the lake and watched the district crumble. It was the worst day of my life. Mum was running around tending the people with Prim helping her and that night I went to sleep early and next thing I know, I woke up in the arena. Then I found Rowan." I say, shooting a smile at Rowan.
"I'm really sorry about Prim." Peeta says choking on his words. I know he loved Prim. Especially considering he was sitting with me the day she was born as I had heard a stupid rumour in school the day before, 'a lot of mummy's die when they have babies'. I was really upset and Peeta helped me through it. He was actually one of the very first people to hold her. After My mum and dad. I was scared to so he actually held Prim before I did. Once again I'm crying uncontrollably.
"Yeh well after everything I did to try and save her, I guess it wasnt enough. I'm sorry about Holly too." He doesnt reply, just pulls me down once again and we cry together.
That night, Rye and Finn keep watch which means I get to sleep after finally having something to eat with Peeta. He is asleep before I am and I lean my head down on his chest and close my eyes. Everyone else is still awake though. I dont think many people are going to be able to sleep tonight, now that Brutus knows where we are. He isnt stupid enough to attack us though. There is 10 of us and only 1 of him. With that in mind, I drift off to sleep.
I'm in a woods. Not the arena woods but a woods that I recognise even more. Its the woods outside 12. Peaceful and breezy, just the way I like it. I breathe in the familiar scent and smile. Thats when I hear a voice behind me. "Katniss?" I turn, recognising the voice and find Gale standing, leaning against a tree, twirling one of his arrows in his left hand. "I missed you." He says, wrapping his arms around me.
"I missed you too." Happy tears fall from my eyes. "I cant believe that you're here." I say to him.
"I think you and I both know that I'm not actually here." I pull away from him and he keeps his hands on my shoulders. "But we will see eachother again. You just need to wake up and survive. Everything will turn out okay, you'll see."
"I dont want to. I want to stay here with you." I say to him and he laughs at me.
"You have to survive and look after that baby of yours. Yes I know about the baby. You dont think I noticed you where acting weird them last couple of weeks?" He says and I laugh. He always knows when there is something wrong. "Now WAKE UP!"
I have tears in my eyes as I shoot up. Peeta is still asleep which I'm glad about and there seems to be sleeping bodies all around the campfire, even Finnick which means that he has left Rye to watch by himself. I pull myself to my feet and walk over to wear Rye is sitting by the waters edge holding a spear. "When did you get that?" I ask, startling him. He turns to face me and smiles slightly.
"About 2 hours ago, Finnick hadnt gone to sleep then so I just went to the cornucorpia and grabbed some stuff. I grabbed you some more arrows and put them in your sheath for you. I know you where running out since the monkeys." He says and I nod in thanks, taking my seat right next to him and linking my arm around his.
"Everything gonna be okay you know?" I say to him and he faces the water again.
"Hopefully. I just cant stop picturing them burning. Holly must have been so scared." I feel the tears threaten to come again but I hold them in. "And Lev, waning to save Brooke and their unborn child. I just wish I could have warned them somehow, you know?" He asks and I nod.
"Why dont you get some sleep, I'll watch things." I say and he looks at me for a long while before nodding.
"Wake me up if anything happens. I dont want you wandering into the woods on your own." I nod and he walks back over the dying fire, leaving me sitting there, without my bow and arrows. I left them lying next to Peeta with his sword.
I'm about to let my mind wander, as usual when something catches my immediate attention. Screaming. I hear a couple of people stir behind me, one of them I recognise as Peeta. Rye is up. I turn to look at them confused for a minute. Then the scream gets louder and my blood runs cold. "Katniss!" I hear coming from the woods followed by a blood curdling scream. I jump to my feet and the sound.
"Prim!" Leaves my mouth before I can stop it and I grab my bow and arrows ready to stop whoever is torturing my little sister and off I go.
"Katniss wait!" I hear Peeta behind me and I can hear him running and then all of a sudden it stops. All I can hear is my sister. Then it strangely turns to Gale. Then my mother and finally little Holly.
My feet take me towards the sound and I come out in a little clearing similar to the one I first came into when I arrived in the arena. "Prim!" I shout, stopping in my tracks, waiting for the scream.
"Katniss!" That wasnt Prim, it was Kai. I turn to see him and Uncle Haymitch appear. I hear Prim scream again and turn to search for her but a bird flies past me. Its a jabberjay. The birds that where made to mimic peoples voices. It was all a trick. I load my boy and shoot it down. The screaming seems to stop.
Thats when I hear another scream, one I dont recognise. "Kai!" It shouts and his face drains of all colour.
"Penny!" He shouts and runs off.
"Kai! Its not her!" I shout after him but he rounds on me, his face now angry. "Its just a jabberjay, its not her."
"Well how do you think they got that sound? Jabberjays copy." He has tears forming in his eyes and I grip onto his arm as I hear Prim once again. Could it be true that she isnt dead? Do the Capitol have her? "We need to get back. Go!" He starts to push me back in the direction that we came and I grab Uncle Haymitch's hand, pulling him along. Thats when Effie's scream appear and one thing I do know is that the Capitol do have her. Uncle Haymitch starts losing his head. I have to keep pulling him though.
I can see Peeta and I run for him. He's speaking but no words are coming out. His eyes have grown wide and his hands are up but arent moving. I'm really close to him when I hit something. Must be some kind of invisible wall. I fall to floor as the birds swarm us, screams piercing my ears. My hands are over my ears and my knees are at my chest. Kai has pretty much done the same and Haymitch is still trying to bang his way out of this place.
It feels like forever until the birds finally stop. Peeta's voice takes over my ears and I feel his hands on me but I cant think of anything other than Prim. Finn and Annie run past me to get to Kai and I grab Peeta's arm. "Prim!" I shout.
"It wasnt Prim, Katniss. Prim's dead. It couldnt have been her." He says in reply. "It wasnt real." I dont say another word and I allow him to pull me up into his lap and comfort me.
"They would have copied it from when she died." I finally say. "Did she really sound that scared?" I ask, the tears falling again. "I heard Holly. She was screaming your name." I say to him, catching Rye's attention. "She was terrified."
He pulls me to him and allows me to cry. "Shh, its all going to be okay." He says. The real question though, is it really going to be okay? Everyone we have ever known is dead and there is only one of us making it out of this arena alive. Not 2, 1.