Peeta
Something has gone wrong.
I don't know how and I don't know what, but I do know that something in Beetee's plan has gone terribly wrong.
The wire that is supposed to connect to the tree and electrify the beach has been cut and Finnick went running to see what has gone wrong, to find Johanna and Katniss. I tried to go but Beetee still needed a guard and Finnick convinced me that I couldn't make it down the slope to the beach on my Capitol given prosthetic leg.
I should have never let them split us up, I realize. I should have gone with her. After our conversation on the beach, I know that she is planning that I will be the only one that survives this time, she plans on only one person leaving the arena. Me.
And I refuse to let that happen.
I will not let her die for me. What I said to her on the beach was true. If she dies and I live, there will be no life for me back in District 12. She is everything to me, my past, present, and future. If she dies and I live, I will have nothing left. I will become like Haymitch, using liquor to numb my pain and escape the world, just waiting to die so that I can join her in the afterlife.
And it will not be only me that suffers if she dies. Her mother, Prim, Gale Hawthorne (the man who, when I think of him taking my place with Katniss, being with her, marrying her and having kids with her, makes me physically sick), and even Haymitch will never recover. If I die, my family and friends would mourn for me, but they would recover, move on with their lives. But if Katniss Everdeen dies, her mother and sister will not survive. Gale will never recover. Haymitch will not recover.
I will not recover.
It is this thought that spurs me into action and I'm running down the slope as fast as my leg will let me, deaf to Beetee's cries to stop, to stay with him. I have one mission now and it is not to stay and guard Beetee. It is to find the girl I love and make sure that she stays alive.
"Katniss! Katniss!" I'm tearing down the slope, screaming for her, when I hear screams echoing through the jungle and I stop in my tracks. I can't tell if the screams belong to Katniss and then I hear footsteps and voices coming towards me and I drop to the ground, seeking safety behind a large green fern, unsure if the voices belong to allies or Careers.
"The Everdeen girl is dead and if she's not dead already, she will be soon. That only leaves Mason, Odair, Chaff, Mellark, and Volts from 3." I recognize the voice, it belongs to Brutus, the volunteer from District 2 who couldn't wait to get back into the arena. And he must be talking to Enobaria, the bloodthirsty female tribute from District 2. An involuntary shudder goes down my spine when I recall Haymitch telling me that she had her teeth surgically filed into fangs specifically so she could rip out the throats of her opponents.
And Brutus told Enobaria that the Everdeen girl was dead.
Oh God, did the cannon fire and I missed it as I raced through the jungle? Have I already failed in my duty to protect her?
"You find Chaff, Odair, and Volts. I'll go after Mason and I'll take care of her and then I'll find Mellark and I'll send him the same way as his little girlfriend. It'll be easier if we split up." Enobaria is talking now, talking about hunting people down and I don't even care that she's set her sights on me, I'm so worried for Katniss. Brutus agrees and from my hidden viewpoint, I see Enobaria continue on straight, heading towards the lightning tree, while Brutus turns around and goes back the way he just came from. I decide to follow him, hoping that he will lead me to Katniss.
I give Brutus a 30 second head start before I take off after him, trying my best to move as quietly as imaginable, a near impossibility with my prosthetic, which I still haven't fully learned to control after nearly a year. I can only hope that the noises of the jungle will drown out any sounds I may be making.
I'm so focused on where I'm putting my feet, determined not to fall and slow myself up, that I don't hear the crashing of feet through the underbrush. I don't even register that there's someone heading towards us, so when Chaff comes hurtling out of the trees towards Brutus, I'm completely caught off guard.
Chaff has a wild look on his face, his wetsuit is dirty and ripped in places, and he has a smear of blood on his face. His eyes lock onto my face and he's motioning with his hands and shouting at me.
"Peeta! No! Go back!" Chaff is yelling, screaming as loudly as he can, but before I can figure out why Chaff is telling me to go back, a spear goes sailing through the air and buries itself in Chaff's chest, directly at the place where his heart lies.
Chaff's eyes roll back into his head and he drops to the ground, as Brutus walks over to his fallen body and pulls the spear from his chest. The cannon fires and then Brutus turns around and, as if noticing me for the first time, plasters a deadly smirk on his face. He raises the hand gripping his spear, positioning his arm, preparing to launch the spear at me, when I'm suddenly filled with a terrible rage and a blast of adrenaline.
This man wants to kill me and I will not let him, not until I'm sure that Katniss is safe. If he kills me now, he or Enobaria will find Katniss and kill her, if they haven't done so already. With this thought, I run and launch myself at Brutus, knocking him to the ground, causing his spear to go flying out of his reach.
We are rolling on the jungle floor, a whirling ball of punches and kicks, choking and eye gouging, locked together in a deathly struggle. Brutus is bigger than I am but he's also older and in that split second I launched myself at him, I caught him by surprise. As he lands a crippling punch to my face, I bring my bent leg up and knee him directly in the groin, while at the same time delivering a hard chop to his windpipe. The combined pain of the injuries causes Brutus to release his hold on me, giving me the perfect opportunity to grab my knife. I put my knees on the tops of his thighs, making sure that all my weight is focused on pinning him down and then I drive my knife into his heart, only to yank the knife back out and repeatedly stab him. Blood is flying everywhere, landing on my face, my lips, my hair, turning the scene in front of my eyes to red. It is not until the sound of the cannon fires into my consciousness that I realize that Brutus is dead and I look down to find that I am simply defiling a corpse.
I roll off Brutus's body and sit back on my heels, breathing hard, staring at the body of my former enemy. At any other time, I would think about how I am, once again, in a position I never wanted to be in, killing another human being, just another pawn in the Capitol's deadly games. But there's no time for that now because suddenly I hear Katniss's voice and she is screaming for me.
"Peeta! Peeta! Where are you?!"
I pull my knife from Brutus's body and wipe the blade clean on my shirt, tuck it back into my boot, and I am up and running, as fast as I possibly can, towards the sound of her voice.
"Peeta!" Her voice is frantic.
"Katniss! Katniss! I'm coming, Katniss!"
When she yells back, I can tell by the tone of her voice that she has heard my yells.
"Peeta! Hurry Peeta!"
I am running faster than I have ever run in my life, desperate to reach Katniss. I'm thinking that I'm almost there, that I'm finally going to reach her, that I'm finally going to be with her again, when I hear a crack of lightning. I look up just in time to see lightning strike the magnificent tree, sending up a brilliant flash of white, when I'm knocked backwards by the force of an explosion.
My body feels like it's on fire, I'm certain that my prosthetic leg has been wrenched out of place and as I try to sit up and get to my feet, I find that my body seems to be paralyzed, unable to respond to my brain's commands.
Katniss's face appears before my eyes and I try with everything in me to sit up, to stand up, to go to her.
I'm not ready to give up, but I'm suddenly aware of that fact that my surroundings are beginning to blur and spots of color are dancing before my eyes. I lift my head up and just before I lose consciousness, I see a spark and then suddenly…
The sky explodes.
"Mellark! On your feet!"
The sharp bark of the Peacekeepers' voices wakes me from the half-awake, half-asleep state that I've been dozing in since my arrival in the Capitol. I had been dreaming of Katniss and our last talk on the beach, the look in her eyes when I told her that no one needed me, the way my heart jumped in my chest when she said that she needed me, the way she leaned in and kissed me, how real it felt.
"Move it, boy!"
The Peacekeepers yank me up off the cold floor where I've been sitting and roughly shove my arms behind my back and then cuff my wrists together before marching me out of the small dark room that I've been staying in since I was released from the Capitol's hospital. To my surprise, I had no lasting or serious injuries from the explosion in the arena, only minor cuts and bruises. I left the hospital with nothing but a Peacekeeper escort to my room, wearing black pants and a white shirt, a lot of unanswered questions and a head full of confusion. I have no idea how I ended up in the Capitol, I don't know what caused the explosion in the arena, I don't know what happened to the other tributes and, most painful of all, I don't know what happened to Katniss, where she is, or even if she's alive or dead. I've been fighting so hard to stay in that half-awake/half-asleep state because I don't want to let myself think about the possibility that Katniss is dead. I don't dare let myself imagine a world without Katniss in it.
The Peacekeepers march me down a long, dark hallway, the walls of which are painted blood red and the plush carpet underneath my feet matches the walls. It's as if I'm walking down a hallway of blood and suddenly I remember the eyes of the doglike mutts in the first games, how their eyes were exactly like that of the dead tributes, and for one horrible minute, I think that this hallway and carpet are covered in the blood of dead tributes.
Get a grip, Mellark! I mentally chide myself. I don't know where these Peacekeepers are taking me, but I do know that in order to stay alive, I need to be mentally sharp, so I do my best to shake off the thought of my fellow tributes' blood covering the walls and carpet. And just in time because the Peacekeepers have stopped in front of a set of dark wood double doors. One of the Peacekeepers knocks on the doors, three sharp, short knocks. The doors are opened immediately and I'm escorted into a large, opulent room. The walls are covered with gold hangings, the flag of Panem is hanging on the far wall, behind a polished wooden desk and behind that desk sits the president of Panem himself, Coriolanus Snow.
I recognize him immediately, even though I've only seen him in person a few times. It's hard to forget that shock of white hair, the puffy lips that can only be the result of Capitol surgery enhancement, and those snakelike eyes.
"Ah, Peeta Mellark. Just the man I've been wanting to see." President Snow rises from his seat behind the desk, a twisted smile on his face. Being this close to him, seeing that grotesque face, suddenly being hit with smell of blood intermixed with the suffocating smells of roses, I now know why Katniss was so afraid during the Victory Tour.
He motions me forward, indicating that I should take the seat in front of his desk, telling the Peacekeepers to leave us. The doors slam shut behind them and I somehow instinctively know that if I were to get up and race for the doors, I would find them locked. I am trapped here, completely at the mercy of President Snow.
He settles himself behind the desk and looks at me speculatively, the way an eagle must eye the mouse it's about to devour, as he brings his hands together and claps them underneath this chin.
"Peeta Mellark. The baker's boy. That's what they call you, isn't it?" He asks.
My throat suddenly tightens up and it takes a minute to answer.
"Yes, sir."
The president smiles at me, as if he can sense the tension that is rolling through my body and is enjoying my discomfort.
"I imagine that you have many questions as to what happened in the Quarter Quell, how you came to be a guest in the Capitol, and what has become of your fellow tributes."
I nod, wanting nothing more than to know that Katniss is alive and safe.
"And I'll be more than happy to answer your questions," President Snow says, a curious look in his eyes. "But first, let me make the same agreement with you that I made with Miss Everdeen before the start of your Victory Tour. Things will be so much simpler if we agree not to lie to each other, don't you agree?"
I stare at him for a minute, wondering what he possibly thinks I have to lie about. He's the President of Panem, he knows everything, so I nod.
"Good, good." He leans back in his chair and stares at me. "What is the last thing you remember?"
Okay, this I can answer. I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm telling the truth.
"An explosion. I was looking for Katniss and lightning hit the tree. And then something exploded and the next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital."
Snow smiles knowingly before answering me.
"The explosion was caused because someone blew out the force field surrounding the arena. Specifically, Katniss Everdeen blew out the force field, Mr. Mellark. Why do you think she did that?"
I am silent, struggling for an answer. Why would Katniss have blown out the force field? I can't think of any reason.
"She didn't know what she was doing." My answer sounds uncertain, even to my own ears. It's not a lie, but I don't know if it's the truth, either. Did she know what she was doing and if she did, why would she have intentionally shattered the arena's force field?
"You don't think she knew what she was doing? Would your opinion change if I told that Katniss Everdeen was picked up out of the arena by a group of radicals and is at this very moment, right now in District 13 plotting to overthrow the Capitol?" Snow says this quietly and calmly, his eyes never leaving my face.
Everything he says rushes at me and it takes me a minute to comprehend everything he says. I can't decide what is true and what is not true. I'll start with the most obvious. There is no District 13. It was obliterated by the Capitol during the Dark Days.
"There is no District 13." I say, wondering what kind of mind game the President is playing.
Snow chuckles darkly. "How I wish we had been able to destroy them. Unfortunately, that did not happen and we reached an impasse. I'm sure you learned in school that District 13's primary industry was nuclear technology. They made our weapons, our stockpile of nuclear weapons was stored in District 13."
He glances at me as if to make sure that I'm paying attention before he continues.
"District 13 was a strong force in the rebellion of the Dark Days. They continued to fight long after the other districts were defeated. There was a standoff. We had our weapons pointed at them and they had the nuclear weapons stored there pointed at us. A bargain was struck. We would leave them alone as long as they did not strike out against the Capitol. But they would be completely cut off from the rest of Panem. For the past 75 years, our agreement has worked rather well. Or so we thought."
At this point, he stands up from his chair and walks over to the flag of Panem hanging on the wall, studying it for a minute before turning around to face me.
"Unbeknownst to the Capitol, District 13 has been planning to lead another uprising and they have managed to make contacts in the Capitol. My Head Gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee, has fled to District 13, along with his assistant Fulvia Cardew. Ironically, they escaped on the same hovercraft that was used to pull Miss Everdeen from the arena."
He sits back down behind his desk and takes a long drink of water from the glass sitting beside him. When he finishes and sets the glass back down, I notice that the water now has a slight red tint to it. I start to puzzle over why the water in his glass would suddenly appear red, when he shocks me with his next words.
"And now, Mr. Mellark, I need you to tell me everything you know about the radicals and their plans for an uprising."
I stare at him, stunned. Radicals, uprisings, District 13 is alive and planning to overthrow the Capitol? This is all news to me. Up until five minutes ago, I believed that District 13 was annihilated by the Capitol during the Dark Days. That's what we were taught in school, that's what the reports on TV said, showing the still smoldering remains of the district, telling us that it was still too unsafe from the nuclear fumes to be rebuilt. Why would I have any reason to think differently?
"I don't know anything about an uprising." I say and to my surprise, Snow smiles at me. It's not a comforting smile, if it could even be called a smile and not just a twisting of his grotesque lips.
"I believe you, Mr. Mellark. However, I do not believe that Miss Everdeen was as unaware as you are. Indeed, it appears that she knew all along, with every move she made in the arena a part of the radicals' plan, right up until the moment she shattered the force field. Interesting, that she is with radicals now, but you were left in the arena to be picked up by the Capitol…don't you think?"
My heart sinks as his implication becomes clear. He is suggesting that Katniss was involved with the rebels and their uprising, planning to be rescued all along, while leaving me at the mercy of the Capitol. For just a moment, I feel a flicker of uncertainty and then I remember the devastated look on Katniss's face when I volunteered for Haymitch, the tears that rolled down her face as she kissed me when Finnick brought me back to life after I hit the force field, the desperate look in her eyes as we said goodbye at the lightning tree.
No. I may be unsure about whether or not Katniss truly loves me, but I do know that she is incapable of turning her back on someone and leaving them to die. She would never do that to me, no matter what Snow believes.
"Katniss didn't know about the uprising. Neither of us knew anything about it."
President Snow leans forward and studies me for a moment before replying.
"Uprisings lead to war. Do you know what a war will do to this country, Mr. Mellark?"
I shake my head, although I have some idea. The Dark Days had nearly destroyed the country and the districts paid dearly for their rebellion because out of it was born the Hunger Games, and districts were forced to send two of their children to a gruesome death every year. It is anyone's guess what horrific torture the Capitol would inflict upon the districts this time as a punishment for uprising.
"It will destroy Panem. When this country rose out of the ashes, it was a bitter fight for survival. If it wasn't for the Capitol and the protection it gives to the districts, they would have never survived. If the Capitol is destroyed, what do you think will happen to the districts?"
He doesn't wait for me to answer, instead he places both palms on his desk and leans forward. The scent of blood and roses is overwhelming and I have to fight back the urge to gag and cover my nose.
"Thousands upon thousands of people will die. Thousands upon thousands of your people will die. The people in your district. Your family. Your friends. Miss Everdeen. Do you want them to die, Peeta Mellark?"
The picture he paints with his words is terrifying. It's the stuff that nightmares, specifically my nightmares, are made of. The idea of losing Katniss, of somehow being responsible for her death is horrifying. To learn that Katniss is alive and in the next breath hear the most powerful man in the country threaten her life is unbearable.
"No. I don't want anyone to die." I say in a hoarse voice as I lift my eyes up to the president's face. The look on his face tells me that he has me right where he wants me.
"I didn't think so." He leans back in his chair and looks at me before continuing. "If you want to keep your loved ones safe, then you will do exactly as I say from this point forward. Do you understand me?"
I nod.
"Let me tell you what is going to happen next. You are going to sit down and give an interview with Caesar Flickerman. In this interview, you are going to say exactly what you are told to say, nothing more and nothing less. You are going to shut down this uprising or you, and everyone you love, will suffer the consequences."
I stare at President Snow's face as he waits for my answer and a war rages in my mind. I want to tell him no, that I will not bend to his will, that I won't let him turn me into the Capitol's puppet. But there is too much depending on this. The lives of my family and friends. Katniss's life. I won't risk her life. I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
So I do the only thing possible. I look into the snakelike eyes of Panem's president and say yes, that I will do whatever he wants, as a little voice in the back of my mind tells me that I have just made a terrible mistake. A mistake that I, or someone I love, will end up paying dearly for.