A/N: This chapter went on a little long. Read, review and enjoy!
(26)
I pull my arrow back and aim right for the boy's heart. I want to kill. Kill him. Kill the boy. He ducks down and darts around a couch. I feel anger. I feel pain. I feel the need to kill. He stands up from behind it and I let go of the bowstring. My arrow goes flying straight towards his chest but he moves just in time. I curse on the inside as the arrow hits the wall. I run over to retrieve it, snarling at the fact that he is not dead yet. He must be dead. The boy comes charging towards me. He rams right into my body and knocks me onto the floor. He is so close now, I can smell blood. I flip around before he can raise his knife to me. I get up, disregarding the cuts on my legs. I look for weaknesses in the boy and note that he has a prosthetic leg. If I can disarm him and knock him down, I'd be able to…
Crash! An older boy and a girl barge into the room and knock over a lamp. The boy with the prosthetic leg runs for the other side of the room. The girl screams and the other boy comes running for me. I ready my arrow. I am just about to release it when the boy with the knife rams into my side. The other boy kicks the boy with the knife and he falls down. I see him grab the knife from him. He holds the knife against my throat and says, "Drop the bow."
I don't think he would dare cut my throat so I push him back and point the arrow at his head. He hits me and my bow flies out of my hands. "Katniss!" he yells at me. The name sounds familiar. "Katniss! I'm Gale. Gale!"
Gale. My head swarms around as I search for a place to attach that name to. Then before I know it, he's kissing me. Feelings come flooding back. Yes, I know Gale. I'm kissing him back. After a few seconds, I remember who I am and who he is. That's when I step back. "Gale, I…"
"Don't say anything," he says to me. I look to the ground and see Peeta lying there. He stands up and looks at Gale. Before I can do anything, Peeta punches Gale in the face. Blood comes out of Gale's mouth. I grab Peeta from behind so he can't throw another punch.
"Peeta," I say, holding his arms in a locked position. "Calm down."
He looks at me, his eyes still black.
"It's me, Katniss," I say to him. It takes him less than a second to realize who I am.
"Oh jeez… What was I thinking?" he realizes. I watch his eyes change color. They turn from the cruel black to a brilliant sea blue.
I hear a door swing open on the other side of the room. President Snow walks out. I take my bow in hand and knock another arrow, aimed straight at his heart.
"Now, now… before you shoot, I think you should know the consequences of your actions," Snow says. "You see, right now, all of your dearest friends with exception to the ones in this room are bound to chairs with a soldier pointing a gun to their forehead. If you shoot, my soldier will give the signal to kill them all simultaneously."
"I don't believe it!" I yell back.
"Vedran," President Snow calls to the soldier behind him. The name sounds familiar to me. I could swear I heard it before. "You know what to do."
Vedran punches something on his radio and then I hear a shot ring out from behind one of the doors. I check my patch and see that the 4th dot is gray. Effie.
"Believe me now?" says President Snow.
My breath comes fast and I feel shaky. I feel the need to collapse. I rest my hand on Peeta's shoulder for strength and nod at Snow. I slowly let my bow down and glare at Snow. Then in one swift motion, I spring it back up again and send an arrow straight through Vedran's stomach. He falls in agony and so does his radio.
"Big mistake," Snow pronounces and takes a gun out of his jacket. He aims it at my head. I duck beneath the couch and so do Peeta, Gale and Madge. The shot is fired and it hits the wall behind us. Snow gets frustrated and runs around the couch. The four of us pounce up and run to avoid his shot. He shoots at Madge, but she is quick enough to get away from it. Then he fires at Peeta and misses by a long shot. I reload my bow and aim an arrow for his head. He drops to the ground to avoid my shot.
Before I know what's happening, he jumps up and aims one last shot, a shot that doesn't miss. The bullet hits Gale's leg and he drops to the ground, yelling in pain. It's almost as if time slows down. Madge runs to Gale and I shoot another arrow at Snow which misses him again. The president dashes out of the room through the double doors. As soon as he has cleared out, I drop my bow and run over to Gale. He is moaning in pain, thrashing his arms around.
Then, in a moment, he stops and I hear the creek of a door from behind me. I can hardly believe who is in standing right before us. It's Leanore and in her hands is Revelyn. My heart lightens a great deal as she motions me in the direction out the door. Peeta and I lift Gale up and he seems like he is drifting out of consciousness. A worried Madge follows along the sides. I hear fighting taking place outside; noise of gunshots, punching, pain and fear.
We step outside and I'm so shocked to see that the members of the district have been marched outside, their hands bound in the back. However, several people have gotten loose. I watch as Johanna kicks over several soldiers and takes on an extremely tall man with just a dagger. I see Morrison from afar shooting off a gun. It surprises me to find that Finnick has rejoined the action, fending off soldiers with his trident. Along with them are many other rebels in District 13, taking a major risk to fight for the rebellion.
Leanore directs us up a hill to get away from the violence. "I'd keep him here," she says, instructing Peeta and me to place Gale on a soft bed of grass at the top of the hill. We put him down softly and his eyes close. I drop to the ground and inspect the wound. I need my mother to treat this. Maybe even Prim would do a much better job than I would. I wrap up Gale's wound and tell Madge to stay with him to stop the bleeding.
"No," Leanore says with a worried look. "Madge, you should follow me. I need some help hiding Revelyn. Peeta should stay here while Katniss goes to fight. Trust me."
Madge agrees with a worried look and Leanore walks off with her beyond the hill to a secret entrance to underground. I look to Peeta.
"Is he going to be alright?" I ask him.
"Well, I don't know anything about gunshot wounds, but if you want my honest opinion, I don't think this is as bad as it could be," he answers. "Snow barely got him and it wasn't in the veins, it was more in the fat or muscle, or whatever this is here. Gale should be just fine," Peeta says, pointing to his leg, reassuring me. "Trust me, he won't need a leg like mine," he says, glancing down at his prosthetic leg.
"Thank you," I tell him with a faint smile. I take my bow and run down the hill.
So many things happen in one moment. I reach the bottom of the hill and aim an arrow at one of the soldiers. I let it fly at him and he falls to the ground. Another soldier comes up behind me and I kick him. Another one attacks at my front and knocks me to the ground. He aims his gun at me and just when I think there's a chance something might happen to me, the soldier drops to the ground, dead. From behind him steps forward Haymitch, a knife in his hand.
"I've always wondered what your weapon of choice was, Haymitch," I say to him gratefully as he offers me a hand up.
"Always been a sharp blade, sweetheart," he says, hoisting me up.
"Indeed," a voice says. I feel Haymitch's grip slacken and I fall back. I watch as he collapses to the ground, the smell of blood wafting up to my nose. My heart skips a beat. From behind Haymitch steps President Snow with a giant smirk on his face. I can hardly believe what he has just done. Getting a closer look at him, I see he is dressed in full body armor with mesh stopping anything from penetrating his flesh. I look at the end of my feet. In a sickening moment, I realize what has just happened. There, a body has slumped over me, the body of Haymitch. An ax juts out of his back.
I scream.
President Snow starts trekking up the hill towards Gale and Peeta. I begin to follow him but then he swings around and pulls out a gun. Before I can move, he shoots it and the impact of the bullet is enough to knock me out. The shot is in my arm and the blood already begins to pour out. I panic and look for something to stop the bleeding, in the end just tearing a piece of my shirt off. Everything is spinning. I cannot concentrate on one thing.
I see President Snow on the hill. He is kicking Peeta and the gun comes out again. I'm so afraid he'll shoot it, but in the end, he doesn't. Instead it is lodged into Peeta's skull. He looks too weak to move. I see that Gale has gained consciousness again. His eyes flicker open, but President Snow grabs his head and pulls his body up against Peeta. Another gun comes out. The two of them are back to back, helpless, with guns against their heads.
Time stops as the horror of the moment sinks in. President Snow is standing there in his full body armor with a gun to both Peeta's and Gales' head. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Finnick slit one more throat and then everyone is eerily quiet, directing their attention to the man on the top of the hill, the man with the two guns.
"Alright," he says quietly. Somehow, I hear him. "Who will it be first? Peeta or Gale? Your adoring husband or your charming cousin?"
I breathe in deeply, assessing the situation. With my wound, there is no way that I can run up to stop Snow and everyone else is too far away. Johanna, Morrison and Finnick are all behind me and the only person closer to President Snow than them is Gale's dad. I don't know if he'll do anything to stop Snow from murdering his son.
That's when I see her. I see Leanore walk right up behind Snow, a gun in her hand. Very silently, she creeps up and pulls the gun to his head. He whispers something to her and she nods, hissing back, "Trust me." Why would Snow be addressing her? And furthermore, why would Leanore tell him to trust her? Surprisingly, he lowers both his guns. Then, he hands one to Leanore. "Get back to the hovercraft," she orders him around like an Avox.
He hesitates, but then turns to leave, saying, "Get her where it hurts." She nods and then he runs. To my absolute horror, she raises the guns back to my friends' heads.
"Traitor!" I yell before I have a chance to think.
Leanore lets out a maniacal laugh, a sound I thought she was incapable of making. "You are a fool, Katniss Everdeen."
"Am I?" I glare at her.
"Haymitch spotted me traveling to District 13, so I told him I was heading there to support the rebellion, to find a better life. Think I would be traveling the wilderness on my own? NO. The Capitol placed me there. President Snow said I had to go into the action, get close to you so you would trust me and to pass on your plans to him."
"Why did you do it?" I call out.
"Because he had my mother…" she says, trailing off.
"Your mother?"
"Yes. A few months ago, she mysteriously went missing. Our whole town was all in a panic, losing one of the smartest scientists in the District. Rumors had it that the President came by and picked up my mother to use her to make something for the Games, something similar to those muttations from the 74th Games. I'm convinced he does. He shows me tapes of her, recordings of her voice, evidence that she is alive, everything except her. He says that as soon as I finish my mission, I'll get her back. I'm finishing my mission now, once and for all!"
"Why didn't Snow know about us rescuing people out of the arena?" I wonder aloud.
"He did. It was my job to get a certain person into the arena so that he could kill that person. Unfortunately, she had some sense talked into her," Leanore snarls.
"It was me, wasn't it? Snow told you to get close to me so you could lead me to my death."
"Exactly," she says with a sneer.
"Hold on a second! Why did you try to give me the sleeping draft?" I question her.
"The draft had a special concentration that would have kept you asleep right up until the rescue started. I intended you to wake up and be confused, that way you'd be more likely to do what I wanted you to, more likely to enter that arena. But you turned the tables on me, Katniss. I guess you're smarter than I thought."
"Why? Why, Leanore? I trusted you," I stammer.
"Well of course you trusted me," her voice changes to the sweet little girl she'd been portraying all the while. "Who wouldn't trust a poor helpless girl?"
It takes me a second before I realize, "My father."
"Precisely. He wouldn't let me near you despite all my efforts. You went to the bathroom at the wedding and I was following you. He cut me off on the way, saying I shouldn't be awake so late. Hostile man, your father is," she says.
"My father is not hostile!" I retort.
"It took a lot of convincing to even get to bring in those cookies to you."
My mind flits back to the sugar cookies Leanore brought me all those months ago. I remember Gale interrupted that visit. If he hadn't come, what would have happened next? What about all those times that I left Revelyn with Leanore? I've been leaving my child with a person who was instructed to have me killed. I wonder what she's be doing to my daughter.
Before I can say anything, she continues, "But there was one man who trusted me, one very foolish man who lies right there in the mud. Pity he had to die."
I glance over at Haymitch who looks nothing more than drunk. Haymitch can't be dead. I won't allow it. Looking down at my patch, the color of his dot is not promising.
"The war is already lost for you. It was lost before it began. Through the grace of President Snow's heart, we won't blow up your pathetic town. Instead, you shall suffer as so many people have suffered. Starvation, my friends! These are the real Hunger Games!" Leanore cackles.
Finnick raises his trident and takes aim at her throat.
"Finnick," she says, seeing the wild look in his eyes, "killing me won't do anything."
He doesn't drop his weapon, but he calms down on the inside. "Step away from them," Finnick orders, pointing the ends of his trident at Gale and Peeta.
Leanore smiles, "I'm afraid I can't do that. I was given orders that I have to follow. Katniss, it's your time to make a choice."
I look up at her, Leanore, the girl I trusted. Fine. If she wants to play games, I'll play games. "What are my options?" I gulp down my saliva, trying to keep my throat from drying out, trying to stop myself from appearing weak even though the pain in my arm is unbearable.
"Peeta Mellark," she says, digging the gun deeper into Peeta's forehead, "or Gale Hawthorne."
I look at Gale. Blood is still trickling out of his mouth and his face has turned completely pale. His leg is bleeding profusely. I shift my gaze to Peeta. He doesn't appear very hurt except for a few cuts around his face, but I can tell he is too weak to do anything about his situation.
"I don't have forever," Leanore says. "Decide."
I meet eyes with Peeta. He knows I will never say a name. He swallows deeply then opens his mouth to make the biggest sacrifice.
"Let it be me," a voice says. It is not Peeta's.
"That's easy," Leanore says with a cold heart.
A shot rings out. A shot that was meant for Peeta. Instead, the bullet enters the head of my childhood friend. The one who hunted with me. The one who wanted to run away with me. The one who called me Catnip.
I look to my patch and watch the 6th dot fade. Gale is gone.
-On a side note-
Page 17 of the Hunger Games
"Gale and I agree that if we have to choose between dying of hunger and a bullet in the head, the bullet would be much quicker."
Dark, but true.
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