Chapter 15: Typhoon Lagoon
The early morning is still as Peeta and I lie naked, wrapped in each other's arms after making love. All at once, the peaceful and romantic scene is shattered by a knock on the door.
"Come on, guys! Thom is up and waiting!" Dean calls.
Peeta stirs against me, raising his head to look towards the door at the sound. I turn and follow his gaze, before burying my face back into my husband's chest. "No," I whimper. I don't want him to leave me.
But Peeta breaks the spell by rising from the bed we share, kissing me gently as he goes to take a shower.
After we both ready ourselves, we meet outside with Dean, Thom and Effie. Our quintet goes to the rooftop, where the hovercraft is waiting. Dean and Thom shake hands. Dean just catches my eye. Although no words are spoken, although there was no previous discussion, we have placed our hopes in Peeta to win. For his sake. And for mine. Victors always choose between their tributes. It's just a fact of life. I did it for Dean, and Haymitch did it for me.
Turning to Peeta, I take him in my arms and make a big show of kissing him goodbye. We begin to make out. Our lips snap at each other desperately. Our tongues battle for dominance. I moan pathetically into Peeta's mouth. "Hmmmm..."
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Thom and Dean averting their gazes awkwardly, out of respect. I don't care if they see. I can finally kiss my husband openly as any ordinary wife would do.
Too bad I might become a widow soon. Which is why when we break apart, I tell Peeta lovingly but seriously, "You'd better come home to me. Alive."
Peeta kisses me one last time, and then turns to board the hovercraft. Thom follows. I can't stand here and watch that cursed aircraft take my husband from me, so I all but drag Effie and Dean off the roof and down the elevators to the Mentors Bar.
The bar itself is full, so Dean and I take seats at a table with an unobstructed view of the flatscreen TVs. A few of our colleagues will come up and say hello, mostly to Dean.
"What's up there, Cronin?"
"Yeah, how you been, Dean?"
"Just fine Norman, Gideon," Dean smiles in turn.
I am shocked when both these mentors from Districts 10 and 9, respectively, turn and actually speak to me. "We're sorry about your husband, Katniss," Gideon expresses sincerely.
"If he outlasts ours, we'll be rooting for him," Norman adds.
I nod, surprised and touched. "Thank you," I reply quietly.
Norman and Gideon take their leave, rushing to grab a booth as the clock strikes ten and the television feeds go live. I gasp, and Dean raises one eyebrow, intrigued.
The arena is set in an abandoned water park. Pools still filled with water are everywhere, most of which have water slides feeding into them. The Cornucopia is set on an artificial beach just in front of the largest pool. I scan frantically for any sign of my husband, but the cameras have not picked up on me. I only vaguely feel Dean grasp my hand and squeeze it, for support, and I cling to it like a lifeline.
When the gong strikes, the Mentors' Bar goes up in cheers. I keep my eyes glued to the screen. Come on, sweetheart... get supplies and get out of there alive...
Scarcely two minutes in, the footage picks up on Peeta at last. He is fast, despite his age, and still in remarkable shape, thanks to hauling bread and sacks of flour nearly all his life. He has a backpack almost before anyone else and is sprinting out of there even before the first tributes reach the base of the horn. No one intercepts him as he disappears into some bush, clambering along the fake rocks of the park. The clang of metal and cries split the air soon enough.
"Man. And all I got was a wet lumberyard with railroad tracks running through it," Dean grouses. "Why couldn't I have been sent to my death in this place?"
I stare at him hard. "It's not funny," I hiss, and he quickly shuts up. I almost throw away his hand, but think better of it.
The Bloodbath is quick and gleans many casualties. Within the hour, all six Careers are picking over the weapons and the cannons begin to sound. I count fourteen before they stop. I look to Dean, who is now scrolling through the live feed data coming in on our table's data pad.
"Who's left?"
"All six Careers... One guy from 5... one guy from 10... Peeta..."
"Look! There he is!" I point.
The cameras are showing my husband actually scaling one of the tallest water slides in the park. Dean frowns.
"Well, that's just stupid. Why couldn't he take the stairs?"
"Stop insulting my husband! He knows what he's doing!" I scold my apprentice.
"Sorry!" Dean holds up his hands in surrender.
It is tough-going, with the slide dried out of water and some inclines of the curves steep. But, Peeta inches closer to the top. I suddenly remember:
"There should be one more... who was the other guy you mentioned?"
Just then, Peeta reaches the top... only to find an imposing and muscular man waiting for him.
Dean points to the screen. "That guy!" He practically squeaks. I see on his data pad that the tribute is District 9's Lyndon Buckwheat.
"PEETA! RUN!" I scream, ignoring the stares from my fellow Victors.
Too late. Lyndon goes on the attack with a blade that Caesar Flickerman helpfully describes as a shamshir. Peeta parries with his broadsword. Their blades lock, but then must get stuck or tangled as the two men grapple. Peeta loses his balance. He grabs for something to hang onto, but can only grab onto Lyndon. In horror, I watch as both men topple onto the dried water slide. "Honey!"
With no water flowing, it is a bumpy ride down. On one curve, Peeta is actually thrown out of the slide by one jarring bounce and tossed high into the air. His body begins the long plunge into the large pool below. Lyndon isn't so lucky. I wince with every THUD until his body is expulsed from the bottom of the slide and into the pool. After a splash, his corpse floats to the top, dead.
My husband surfaces, very much alive, and I nearly cry in relief. I can't believe he survived that high a fall! I hear Gideon throw down his drink in anger over by the bar.
"GODDAMN IT!" He meets me gaze when he sees I am glaring at him. "No offense, Katniss."
I don't reply, except to say. "Time to keep your promise. Start rooting." Dean's cry out suddenly makes me snap my head back to the screens.
"Peeta, get out of there!"
I see another tribute swimming furiously towards my husband. I learn it is one of the men from District 5. Peeta turns in the nick of time and prepares to fight. The men grapple with each other with only their bare hands, treading water.
Suddenly, there is a BANG! It wasn't a cannon.
I watch in terror as an artificial wave suddenly crests and races for Peeta and his adversary. Of course. Peeta landed in the wave pool. Both tributes are swept away by the wave and carried towards shore. At one point, they go under.
The wave crashes onto the beach, several yards down from the Cornucopia. I search from screen to screen, my eyes wide with concern, fear and intense love. Is he... is he...?
A body suddenly moves on the sand, and I scream with delight, only to be interrupted by a cannon. BOOM.
"District 5. He drowned." Dean reports shortly.
"So quick on those stats," I marvel. "When I was competing, we had to wait till night for the dead faces to appear in the sky."
Peeta gets to his feet. He looks exhausted. I suddenly tense in fear all over again when I realize the Careers are only yards away. I observe the pack. They haven't seen him yet.
And Peeta quickly works out a plan to make sure they don't. Scrambling to his feet, he runs along the beach and onto the cobblestone pathways. Seizing an inner tube from a nearby rack, he disappears into the foliage and wades into a lazy river. Stretching face-down over the tube, he falls asleep and lets the current take him downstream and away from the competition.
"Smart move," Dean praises.
I do the math in my head. "We're already at the Final Eight," I realize.
"And your spouse is among them," Dean points out. "Which means..."
"Miss... Mrs. Mellark," Peacekeepers have approached our table. "Caesar Flickerman requests your presence to talk about your husband."
"Yes, of course," I nod, rising from the table. I lock eyes with Dean to make sure he hears. "Don't let him out of your sight, Dean. Send Effie to find me if anything new happens!"
"On it," he nods.
I leave with the Peacekeepers, who guide me to the same room with green screens where I was interviewed about Dean over a decade ago. Caesar is waiting for me, professional and smiling.
"Just the person I've wanted to see most!" the television host grins. "Katniss! Details, details! I want to hear all about your marriage! How are liking domesticity?"
"I like it fine. Peeta and I fell in love after Dean Cronin won. We were... partners for years, Peeta and I."
"And when did you get married?"
"Right after the Quell was announced. We realized life's too short and we were made for each other. We wed in secret. Middle of the night. Very romantic," I say the last dryly.
Caesar laughs. "Now, if Peeta wins... will you have children?"
I smile slightly. "If we reach that point... we'll talk about it."
Caesar shakes my hand, ending the interview. "Thank you, Mrs. Mellark."
"I like the sound of that, Caesar."
When I return to the Mentors' Bar, I nearly attack Dean at our table. "Talk to me. How is he?"
"Fine, he's fine. Nothing new yet. Except he looks a little hungry. And in an artificial environment like this..."
I finish his sentence for him. "... we may have to rustle up some grub." I scan the joint, observing the Career mentors already chatting up sponsors, mingling with them, sharing one. My eyes zoom in on one lady off by herself. I don't usually seduce sponsors of the same sex, but if she's all that's available... I move to approach, but Dean grabs my arm.
"No," he says. "I'll do it." He approaches the dame and throws an arm over her shoulder. "Hey, good-looking..."
I watch from our table as Dean flirts with the sponsor. Pretty soon, he has her laughing and giggling like a schoolgirl. She drags him out of the bar. Dean shoots me a confident look before he disappears. I sigh and return to my drink. Dean's a good sport.
About an hour later, my apprentice returned.
"Had a good fuck?" I ask.
"Meh," he answers non-committaly. "But it got me some food out of her for Peeta!" He points to a screen. "Look."
Following his gaze, I can see the parachute floating down. It lands right in Peeta's lap, waking him up. He smiles and turns his face skyward.
"I love you, baby," he says sweetly.
"Awwwww..." most of the mentors chorus. I smile tenderly and blow a kiss towards my spouse.
"Dick," Dean snorts. "He should be thanking me."
"Oh, grow up, you big baby," I tease my student. Dean smirks.
"Go to bed," he encourages me. "I'll keep watch."
I am getting a might sleepy. I rise from my chair. "Wake me if anything happens."
"There's only eight of them left and already plenty of bloodshed, but I'll call you with updates. Go to bed, Katniss."
I leave the love of my life in Dean's capable hands, returning to my chambers and falling into a deep sleep.
