Hello everyone! I am extremely sorry for how long it took to get this chapter posted. I've had it written for awhile but I just didn't post it for whatever reason. Thank you to everybody who has read, reviewed, added this to your favorites, or followed this story. I couldn't have done it without you. Now on with the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
Someone knocks on the door and thinking that it's Rory, I freak out. I back away into the kitchen and my mother answers the door.
"Oh hello there Christopher, come on in," she says.
I let out a breath of relief at the fact that Rory isn't the one at the door and so I walk into the living room.
"Hi Christopher," I greet him.
"Hello Primrose," he says with a kind smile.
I lead him over to the table although he has been to our home many times before and would be able to get there himself. He pulls out the chair that he usually sits in and sits down next to my mother. I quickly grab some goat cheese and bring it to the table.
As supper goes on my mother and Christopher talk to each other, but I keep thinking about Rory. I can't seem to get this guy out of my thoughts! As I replay it over and over again, I can't help but feel excited about the fact that he smiled after I kissed him. He has to like me in the same way that I like him if he smiled after I kissed him, right?
"What's on your mind Primrose? You look very happy," Christopher asks me.
I hesitate for a moment before my mother says, "Oh she's just happy because she kissed a boy."
"Really?" Christopher says, lifting his eyebrows in question.
"Mom!" I whine, my cheeks heating up.
She and Christopher just chuckle at my obvious embarrassment which makes me sink in my chair even further.
It feels almost like normal. Except my dad is dead. And my sister is in the Games. My happy mood disappears quickly.
After we calm down and finish the meal, Christopher leaves and my mother and I go over to the television.
It's dark in the arena and Katniss is in a tree, waiting for the pictures of the dead tributes to be cast in the sky. The only dead tribute is the girl from District 8 which leaves half of the tribute to continue on. For some weird reason when they show the recap of the District 8 girl's death, they only show her getting cut by Cato and don't show Peeta going back to her. I don't really question it.
Almost immediately after the death recap Katniss falls asleep, drained from hiking all day long. My mother and I turn off the television and get ready for bed, both exhausted from the long day. When we are all ready we snuggle up next to each other on her bed and fall asleep.
Usually my dreams are about Katniss dying in the arena but tonight my dreams are of Rory.
I leave my house to meet Rory in the meadow. It's a sunny day and I fight the urge to skip down the street like a little kid going to play. My light blonde hair is resting by my waist and I'm wearing a pale pink dress that flows just past my knees.
When I reach the meadow I find Rory sitting in the grass waiting for me. I admire how good he looks in his dark red T-shirt and some shorts. His dark hair is moving with the wind in front of his eyes, causing him to keep swiping it out of the way.
I walk over to where he is and sit down on the grass next to him. I rest my head in his lap and start to make a crown out of the flowers I found on the way. After I finish the crown, I sit up and put it on his head with a smile.
He chuckles and says, "Now I'm as pretty as you."
I blush but keep my eyes locked on his. He takes a hand out from behind him and caresses my cheek before pulling my face to his and capturing my mouth with his own. I don't kiss back immediately because I'm just trying to comprehend what's happening but once I do, I start to kiss back. I tangle my hands into his hair as he rests his on my waist.
When we break apart to breathe he smiles at me with the happiest expression I've ever seen and wanting to keep seeing him this happy, I lean in for another kiss. We are only inches away from our second kiss when I'm suddenly awoken by the sound of Caesar Flickerman's voice coming from the living room.
I am confused for a moment but then realize that it's only the television. I groan when I remember how good my dream was and slowly get out of bed to go find my mother.
"Oh sorry, did I wake you up?" she asks when I walk into the living room.
"Yeah, but it's fine," I say while rubbing my sleepy eyes.
"Well I feel bad because you looked like you were having a really good dream," she says with a slight smirk, making me think she knows what my dream was about.
My cheeks heat up but my mother just chuckles.
"It's fine Prim, everyone has those dreams at your age," she tells me which causes my cheeks to heat up even more if possible.
I go over to the couch and sit next to her as she turns the television's volume back up. On the screen Caesar is talking about all the tributes that are left, starting from District 1 and going through to District 12. Right now he is talking about Finch, the girl tribute from 5. He is talking about how the Gamemakers told him that she aced the edible plants test and seems to be pretty resourceful.
He goes pretty quickly through the other tributes until he gets to District 11 where he starts to talk about Rue. According to Caesar, Rue has flawless accuracy with a slingshot and she can pretty much fly from tree to tree without making a sound. I feel so torn whenever I think of her because my sister is up against her in the Games. I obviously want my sister to win but I don't want Rue to be killed. She is so young and has so much more life in front of her. I bury my face in my hands and fight the urge to cry.
I manage to pull myself together by the time that Caesar starts to talk about Katniss. He tells the camera about her resourcefulness and her ability to hunt using the snares that she made with some wire in her backpack. He doesn't mention her ability with a bow but he probably doesn't know because the Careers have the only bow in the entire arena so Katniss hasn't been able to get her hands on it.
He then goes on to talk about Peeta. Caesar says that he is very strong and is pretty good at wrestling. None of this is new information to me so I just ask my mom to switch it to the channel that shows the Games.
Katniss is in awful shape. She hikes slowly through the woods with no clue about where she is going. From what I can see she is extremely dehydrated which is making her super slow and disoriented. If the Careers found her she would be killed for sure. Even Rue could take Katniss's own knife and kill her and Katniss wouldn't be able to fight her.
I hold onto the hope that Katniss will be able to find the pond that isn't too far away from her. If she keeps going in the direction that she is headed in now, she will make it before the day is done.
"Prim, you should really get ready for school," my mother tells me.
I frown and peel my eyes away from the television for the first time in what seems like ages.
"Fine," I mumble and go into the bedroom to grab an outfit.
As I slip my dress over my head I think about how awkward it might be when I see Rory today. Will he pretend that my kiss never happened or will he demand answers? I'm probably overthinking things, but I'm nervous about our relationship. I just have to hope that no matter what he will still want to at least be my friend.
There is a knock on the front door and I hear my mother answering it.
"Oh hello Rory. Prim is in the bedroom, but she'll be out in a bit," she tells him.
I instinctively smile when I hear his name and quickly grab my book bag before rushing out of the bedroom and into the living room.
He smiles when he sees me and I can't help but smile back. I tell my mother goodbye and walk outside with Rory. Together we walk side-by-side to school. We don't talk but when he offers his hand I immediately take it.
We only talk when we get to the school and have to split up.
"Have a good day, Prim."
"You too, Rory," I tell him before walking to my first class.
I silently tell myself that things will be less awkward later, as I slide into a seat in the back of the class.
As always I don't pay attention to my classes and just wait eagerly for lunch where I will be able to see some updates on Katniss. When lunch finally rolls around I practically sprint to the lunchroom and quickly find a seat. My friends come and sit by me and start talking about who knows what, but I only focus on the same group of teachers coming up to me with the tablet.
I feel the same anticipation that I felt yesterday come to me with such force that I run up to the teachers instead of waiting and ask if I can watch the updates in the lunchroom instead of the small dark room. They tell me yes and hand me the tablet so I take it and run over to the table that my friends are sitting at. When I get there I set the tablet in the middle so we can all see it.
When I press the play button I'm relieved to see that Katniss is still alive and moving. It shows her walking until she eventually collapses right by the pond. I gasp in horror, thinking that she died, but then she sits up and crawls into the water. My heartbeat slows down when the tablet shows Katniss filling up her water bottle using the pond water.
Then just like that, it's over. Charity wraps her arm around my shoulders and lets me lean into her. I don't know why I feel so upset, Katniss now has water which she desperately needed and is doing much better. I should be jumping up and down with joy, but I'm just sitting down in shock.
I know why I'm upset. This was the closest Katniss was to death. It was terrifying. Everything just got real.
For the rest of lunch I just sit and stare at the wall until my next class. I don't remember the rest of my classes because I keep replaying the moment Katniss collapses in the mud. At the end of the day Rory and I walk home without saying a word to each other. Even when we separate, no words are shared.
When I walk into the kitchen I find my mom sitting on the couch watching the Games. Together we watch the Games until Christopher comes over for supper. After he leaves I hurry into bed and fall fast asleep.
The next day is one of the worst in terms of watching the Games. When I first turn on the television in the morning I'm met with the image of Katniss sprinting away from a wall of fire. At first she does pretty well running away, but when she has to stop because she can barely breathe, she is nearly killed by a fireball. She immediately starts running again but the fireballs just follow her. Finally she can't run anymore and has to stop for a little while and as she rests a fireball comes and pierces her calf. Her scream of pain makes my heart shatter into a million pieces.
Luckily she is able to avoid any more and gets to a pond where she cools her burns and rests. By now I know that there is no point in going to school so I tell my mother that I'm not going and she just says it's fine. After a while of resting in the pond the Careers burst out of the woods.
My mother screams and I fight the urge to close my eyes and never open them again. As Katniss scrambles out of the lake I repeat the mantra "she won't be killed" over and over in my mind, hoping that if I say it enough it will be true. She stumbles her way to a large tree and quickly scales until the branches are too thin.
Down below the Careers are arguing about who is going to kill her eventually Cato just ignores them and starts climbing. For every branch Cato climbs Katniss climbs two more up until he climbs onto one that is too thin and he crashes down to the ground. For a second I hope that he has broken his neck, but then I realize how awful that sounds. He quickly bounces up and growls at Katniss while Glimmer knocks an arrow and tries to shoot Katniss. She misses.
Katniss looks like she just ate something sour with the expression she makes at Glimmer holding the bow and not her. I almost laugh at how mad she is.
The Careers start to argue again about how they will kill her and Peeta stops them by saying that they should just wait her out because she'll have to come down at some point.
I groan at hearing Peeta come up with the idea. It's not helping me prove that he is trying to help her.
The rest of the day is fairly uneventful. Katniss just sits in the tree until she gets some burn medicine from a sponsor. She applies the cream to her calf and her hands until I can see her visibly relax from the instant relief the cream brings. If only we had that here, I think bitterly. The Careers sort through their weapons and tell stories of their home Districts.
Just before the sun sets, Katniss is alerted of something rustling in the trees. When she looks over to check out what made the noise she is suddenly looking into Rue's big brown eyes. Katniss looks like she is about to say something to the girl but she is reminded of the Careers resting down below when Rue points to the ground. Quickly, as if she doesn't have much time, Rue points to something above Katniss's head and when she lifts her head to see what it is faced with a nest of tracker jackers hanging right above her head.
My stomach does a huge flip when the camera zooms in on the nest.
The camera switches to show Caesar Flikerman informing the viewers of the lethal insects that lie above my sister's head. "Tracker jackers are genetically engineered wasps whose venom causes searing pain, powerful hallucinations, and in extreme cases... death."
Tracker jackers were first created by the Capitol during the Dark Days to use against the rebels and after the war they destroyed all the nests near the Capitol, but left the nests in the Districts untouched. Because of this, my mother and I have dealt with many miners who have come to us with tracker jacker stings. From this, I know that due to Katniss's small frame if she got more than a few stings, she would most likely die and before that the hallutions would be dreadful. Not a very comforting thought.
When Katniss looks back at Rue, the girl is making a sawing motion with her arms and pointing towards the Careers. As soon as Rue points towards the Careers, it dawns on me. They're going to drop the nest on the Careers.
After Katniss nods, Rue flees before any of the Careers can notice her. Katniss quickly grabs her knife and quietly climbs up to the tree and sits on the branch that has the tracker jacker nest hanging off of. She just sits there until the Capitol anthem starts and then she starts sawing the branch, using the anthem to cover the sound. When the anthem ends Katniss climbs back down to her original branch and falls asleep, without finishing the branch.
After Katniss is fast asleep I decide that I should also get some sleep and I fall asleep right on the couch.
I wake up to a loud thud and at first think that it was only Buttercup knocking something off the counter but when I look up, I see that it was something that happened in the Games. As I rub my eyes I can hear the distinct buzzing of a tracker jacker coming from the screen and when I open my eyes I'm greeted with a gruesome scene.
The Careers are screaming as tracker jackers swarm them. All but two of them start running toward the lake. The two that are left behind are Glimmer and the District 4 girl. Glimmer is trying to fight the insects off with her bow but obviously it is not doing anything and she collapses. The girl from 4 tries to run to the lake but falls to the ground fighting off the hallucinations.
The camera shows Glimmer, mutilated and in some sort of coma. I nearly throw up at the sight of her. Her body is covered with oozing green bumps the size of oranges and they all still have the stingers in them. Her face is unrecognizable with all the swelling that the stings caused.
As I watch the tracker jackers slowly leave her I think back to her interview where she looked so beautiful in her golden dress and her shining green eyes. Now she lies, gone is the woman trying to win over the crowd in her interview, now she is just a girl who probably won't wake up again. All because of my sister.
I shudder and force myself to not think about it. She is just doing what it takes to survive, if she doesn't then she won't come home.
After all the tracker jackers have left to pursue the Careers, Katniss scampers down the tree and starts sprinting in the opposite direction of the lake. I notice that she is looking pretty wobbly and when I take a good look at her I notice that she too was stung. There is a lump on her knee, her cheek, and her arm.
My mother comes into the main room and sits next to me on the couch.
"How is she?" my mother asks hesitantly.
"She was stung," I state, trying to stay calm.
"How many times?" she asks sadly, already knowing what she was stung by.
"Three."
My mother sighs, wraps an arm about my shoulder, and pulls me close to her.
Katniss finds a little pool and quickly submerges herself under the water and then drags herself onto the rocks. Green liquid oozes out of her stings after she takes the stingers out and I can see Katniss turning green herself. She suddenly stands up and starts walking through the trees.
She stops when she reaches Glimmer and nearly throws up at the sight of her. Glimmer's cannon booms letting Katniss know that she needs to work quickly. I sit in shock as I watch my sister break a dead girl's fingers to grab a bow that might just save her life. Katniss begins to hyperventilate as she tries to yank the sheath of arrows and I begin to cry at the scene that is unfolding in front of me.
The arrows get caught on the girls soulderblade when Katniss tries to yank it off. My tears make the scene blurry but I can tell that Katniss had to flip Glimmer's body over and pull the arrows off of the body. She looks up to see Peeta running through the trees, calling her name. When he finally reaches her she tries to get up and run from him but the venom causes her to be unsteady.
"Run! Katniss, go! They're coming, you have to run!" Peeta screams at her.
She quickly gets up and stumbles through the trees. The camera changes to a view of Cato crashing through a tree and running into Peeta.
"Where is she?" Cato yells.
"I don't know," Peeta answers.
"Yes you do! Now tell me!" He screams while pulling out his sword with shaky hands.
"I said that I don't know. What else do you want me to tell you?" Peeta tells him.
With a growl, Cato swings his sword at Peeta but Peeta manages to duck out of the way.
I sit frozen in terror as the two fight. Both have many tracker jacker stings all over and you can tell that the venom is starting to take it's hold of them by the way their movements are slowed and how their eyes unfocus at random times. Peeta manages to stab Cato in the arm with his spear but Cato quickly takes his sword and slashes it across Peeta's thigh with his good arm.
Peeta lets out a cry of pain and starts to stumble away from Cato. To my surprise Cato starts to run in the opposite direction of Peeta as if he is being chased by something terrifying. I assume that the hallucinations finally got the best of him.
Peeta manages to limp all the way to a streambed and the camera shows him covering himself with mud before switching to one focused on Katniss. She is laying on the ground screaming as the things her mind has created overcome her. The screaming ceases and she just curls up into a ball and gives up.
She's dead. At least, she will be.
The one person who was secretly on her side, is lying in a streambed, waiting for death. The Careers will want their revenge. And now she is lying unconscious in the woods
I guess this is how it ends, and if this is the end of Katniss Everdeen, then I guess it must be the end of me as well.
Hoped you enjoyed this chapter! I had a review on my last chapter asking if I was going to do the other books in the trilogy and my answer is that I'm planning on it. Hopefully that cleared some stuff up. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a review or PM me. Stay safe and healthy! :)