2

Katniss

As I regained consciousness I told myself that absolutely no one was going to put me back to sleep. I was determined to heal and figure out my purpose, regarding what Peeta had told me in my dream. I slowly cracked my eyes open for the blinding whiteness of the room further worsened my pounding headache. I stretched my stiff body, moaning in pleasure at the process. It always felt good to stretch after a goodnight's sleep. I missed that feeling. After my dad had died, and most certainly after the first games, getting a good night's rest was hard to come by. I flung the sheets off the bed and swung myself so my legs dangled from the bedside. I examined almost every inch of my body, finding mostly deep tissue bruising and a certain tenderness when I pressed on my abdomen. Curious, I hitched up my hospital gown only to find a bandage. I ripped it off, exposing a straight line of cautiously placed stitches. There was a knock on my knob-less door, and after a slight pause it slid open. Haymitch invited himself inside, both of us blushing as I quickly covered myself.

"Sorry about that, sweetheart."

"What do you want?" I asked with my oh-so-famous scowl blasted in his immediate direction. After all, he was the one who put me back to sleep in the first place.

"Listen here, sister. Don't you be mad at me. I put you back under for your own good. Now, seeing as you're awake, we can get your testing done and finished with."

"What testing?" I asked, full of suspicion.

"Testing that will get you out of the hospital and hopefully training." Haymitch smiled, knowing I'd do just about anything to get out of this cage.

"Training? Haymitch, what's going on here? You still never told me where we are." What could I possibly need training for? Are they putting me in the games once again? After I had destroyed their little playground, you'd think they would have the sense to destroy me too. I had questions and they needed some answers. "And don't you dare think about putting me under again." I said with intensity.

"Don't worry about that for right now, sweetheart." Haymitch said bluntly. I knew it was no longer a threat for he looked me straight in the eyes as he said it. I could trust him with every ounce of my being. He was one of the only ones I could. Not many were left now. Poor Cinna.

"Okay, I'll ask and you answer." I commanded, taking control of the conversation.

"Yes, ma'am."

"So…after the explosion, what exactly happened?" I wanted the full account. Not the hazy one that played through my mind since I had woken up.

"We flew the hovercrafts into the area and saved…" He paused slightly, recognized the confusion in my expression, and quickly stated, "You know what, let me start from the beginning. It will probably make things a lot less confusing. Just don't ask questions until the end. I would rather not have you interrupt me." I nodded, signaling him to continue. I was anxious to hear everything. "Okay, so right now you are in the hospital wing located under the remains of District 13." I raised one eyebrow and opened my mouth, but was cut off by Haymitch as he continued his tale. "Yes, I know. It's quite bizarre, but some of the members of 13 survived the bombing of the Capitol and rebuilt their district underground, safe from enemy's eyes. How they survived? Beats me. I haven't even gotten around to ask that question myself. Thankfully, they have a superb medical staff that basically brought you back from death. Don't know how they did that either; I'm just thrilled you're still alive. But anyways, while you were in the area, a bunch of us were planning your escape, as well as the other victors that helped get you out. You, little missy, were our main priority, however, after you caused that scene with lightning, we weren't sure you were going to make it." Haymitch became sullen and looked down. "When we finally got to you, you were in pretty bad shape, you know…since you were closest to the explosion. You and Beetee were sent straight to the emergency room in the craft where they began working immediately. No one was allowed to see you for two weeks…something about giving you a stupid infection." Haymitch took a deep breath. I didn't dare interrupt, except I did anyways.

"What happened to me though? Broken bones…?" I asked timidly. His body went rigid and I could tell from his eyes that he was remembering something.

"Well, I'm really not sure on all the details. It was classified as confidential information. I tried to get it out of them while you were in surgery, but no alas. I only know it was bad because I saw you lifted up into the craft. Just take it for granted that you're still alive and on the road for a full recovery." I could sense he knew more than what he was letting on to. I didn't want to push him, after all, it was probably better I didn't know.

"Oh….Okay, and what about my mom and Prim? Did you get them too?

"Questions till the end, huh, Miss Everdeen?" Haymitch smirked. "Don't fret, all your loved ones are safely located in District 13."

"Peeta? Where is he?" As soon as I asked the question, I wished I hadn't.

"Well, you see now, Katniss…we couldn't get to him fast enough. The Capitol has him-" I stopped listening to Haymitch. No. No. No. NO. This wasn't happening. He had told me he was alright. I needed for him to be okay. He needed to know. I needed for him to know. We were supposed to live happily ever after, right? We were going to put a stop to Snow and the Games once and for all. We were the Boy with the Bread and the Girl on Fire, star-crossed lovers from District 12. The Capitol citizens' favorites. How could Haymitch let this happen. He promised me he would save Peeta from the arena no matter what.

"How could you? YOU PROMISED ME!" I yelled in Haymitch's face. He stood up as the door to my room opened up. Tears were streaming down my face as all my anger flowed into my clenched jaw and curled fists. I was stuck to the spot. Thinking was making my head hurt. It was as if I couldn't think about it at all. Something was trying to block the situation out of my mind and when I tried to think about it, it hurt, like I was thinking about everything at once, but nothing at all. So I decided to just not think.

"Is now a bad time?" questioned the man wearing a white doctor's uniform. "We'd like to take her back for her examination before we can discharge her. I can come back another time, perhaps?"

Haymitch stumbled out of the room, pushing past the man, almost causing him to hit the ground. The man looked at me for an answer. We stood in silence as I didn't think. Just as he was about to exit the room I calmly expressed. "Get me out of here."

The man smiled and assured the process wouldn't take very long if I was indeed ready to be discharged. "Please follow me, dear."

I followed him down too many white hallways lined with more knob-less doors for me to count on two hands. Left. Right. Right again, until we reached our final destination. He led me into another soulless room with an examination table smack dab in the middle of it all. I sat down and the man said something about waiting for the doctor to come in.

I ran through my disorganized thoughts as I waited yet again. Peeta. He was captured by the Capitol. He most likely is being tortured. There was only one thing I could do. I was going to save him. Even at the cost of my life.