A/N: Please read and review!
Through all the smoke and the fog, I can barely see farther than my outstretched hand. The fingers of my other hand are locked around Peeta's like a vice. I can feel the panic reaching all the corners of the square as people realize what's happened, and suddenly, my thought's are all coming in urgent bursts: Find Gale. Find Prim and my mother. Get out.
"This way." Gale is suddenly there, more shadow than solid. He grabs my free hand and tries to lead me away from where I'm headed, to the middle of the square, to where I know Prim must be. "Katniss, come on! There isn't time." He sounds urgent, but I can't let Prim go, not again. I cannot – will not – do it.
"I need to find her!" I shout, nearing hysterics. My eyes are frantically trying to penetrate through the smoke – to see anything at all – but it's impossible.
"We have to – " he begins again, but I cut him off.
"No." I insist, pulling away from him. If he won't help me then I'll go alone.
"Katniss," Peeta's voice is very close, though he's barely visible. "Katniss, you can't." he says softly. Gently, even. And that's the last straw – I'm sick of this, of everything, of people telling me what to do and how to act. Sick of people telling me to smile and paint a pretty picture on my face. I am sick of being told that I can't stop anyone, I am sick of having no control. Even when I try to rebel, to change something, to make people see, it doesn't matter. If anything, the Capitol just has more control over me now.
But this – this I do control. And I will not let Prim go again. I won't put her through that, or my mother, if I can help it.
Before I can stop myself, I'm shaking my head. I don't know if he can see it or merely sense it, but Gale knows what I'm doing before I do it. "Stop– " he begins, but I've already ripped my hands free from theirs.
"Meet me at our spot!" I shout with as much force as I can, but saying anything is getting hard, the smoke is so thick. Both of them shout something in response, but I don't really hear because suddenly I'm not there any more. My feet are flying beneath me, blazing through the mass of people. If it weren't for the steady pound of my heels on the stone, I'd think I was flying.
When I think I've reached the middle of the square, closer to where the explosion went off, I slow down. "Prim? Prim!" I shout into the haze, hoping that she'll hear me above the noise. I shout until my voice is rough and gravelly, until my throat feels like it's edged in sandpaper. "Mom? Where are you? Prim? It's me, it's Katniss!"
All of a sudden, something warm and pulsing grabs my hand, holding it fast. But the relief is gone as quickly as it comes when I realize the hand around mine is much bigger than Prim's or my mother's, much rougher. Before I can defend myself, another huge hand presses over my mouth, silencing any sort of scream that could rise from my raw throat. The hand that was around mine moves and suddenly I'm bound by arms that must be as thick as tree roots, and twice as strong. There is no point in struggling – I've never been strong in hand-to-hand combat – but I do anyway.
I'm so stupid, I think. It was a trap, of course it was. But surely the Capitol has easier, cleaner ways to kill me if that's what they're after. Why go through all this trouble? So someone else must be controlling the whole thing. But who?
The person that's binding me is moving – running, judging by the thick whip of wind on my face. I wonder where he's taking me, if Peeta and Gale will wonder what's happened to me.
And Prim. My mother. What will they think when I haven't come for them, when I don't come back? I considering fighting again, biting the hand over my mouth, kicking the shins of my attacker. After all I've got nothing to lose.
As if reading my mind, a voice, deep and strangely familiar, growls in my ear. "Don't bother fighting. There's not much point where we're going."
For the next twenty minutes or so, he runs. Whoever it is must be superhuman, because, even with my added weight, they haven't slowed. For the first ten minutes, the world was invisible; I couldn't see anything, but the thick smog. But as we moved away from the square, the smoke thinned, clearer and clearer till it was no more than a film of gray on everything. Despite my situation, I found that I was glad to see again; blindness, I've realized, like deafness (even temporarily), is not something I enjoy.
I recognize where we are now, though – the back alleys of the Seam. It's familiar though I haven't been here in ages it seems, not since the reaping. The streets are barren and empty, everyone having fled for their homes, or still stuck in the square. It's like a ghost town.
"Not far now," he says, slowing slightly, as we approach a familiar stretch of flat field, and the metal fence that's far in the distance.
When we reach the fence, he sets me down roughly, still binding my arms behind my back so tight that they feel like they might pop out of their sockets. He stands behind me carefully, so that I can't see his face. "You first," he prods me a little. I pause a second before going through, considering my options. If I run fast enough, I can probably manage to get away. I know these forests better than anyone. As I slip beneath the metal, poised to sprint, there is a grunt, and I feel the heavy grip of his fingers around my wrist. "I'll catch you." He warns, again reading my thoughts.
"Where are we going?" I ask lightly, as he ties my wrists together behind me with a rough knot of rope, trying not to sound afraid. He lets me walk for myself, guiding me with the occasional push or direction.
"You'll figure it out." He answers roughly, poking me forward. "Turn right."
We walk in silence for what seems like an hour, though I know it's much less. I recognize the woods, every tree or overturned rock, and it calms me, being in here again. I start to plan. I know now that there's no use in trying to fight my captor without a weapon. I probably could outrun him, if he wasn't expecting it. If I get caught again, though… the risks are high. But if Gale and Peeta listened to what I said, went where I told them, they might find me. I'm not far from Gale's and my spot. One chance…
Suddenly the heavy silence is broken. "So you did find her." The voice is not familiar – smooth, and distinctly female, with a strong Capitol accent. My knees lock beneath me. I can't tell where it came from, or who spoke it – there's no one in sight. "We were starting to worry. You've been gone a long time." The girl continues. Coming from above, I think. My eyes flick up to the treetops where I see the silhouettes of two people sprawled out on the lower branches of a tall pine tree, cast in shadow. Without warning, the smaller of the two – the one who was speaking – drops to the ground, landing catlike in a crouch. "Well," she says, straightening and taking long, graceful steps towards me. As she comes closer, I can make out her features, and these are familiar. Porcelain skin, wide dark eyes – long, deep red hair. "I think it's time we introduced ourselves."